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LIEUTENANTS MELVILL and COGHILL (24th REGIMENT) DYING TO SAVE THE QUEEN’S COLOURS.

An Incident at the Battle of Isandlwana.

Painting by C. E. Fripp.

South Africa
and the
Transvaal War

BY

LOUIS CRESWICKE

AUTHOR OF “ROXANE,” ETC.

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

IN SIX VOLUMES

VOL. I.—FROM THE FOUNDATION OF CAPE COLONY TO
THE BOER ULTIMATUM OF 9TH OCT. 1899

EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK

1900

[Pg v]

PREFATORY NOTE

In writing this volume my aim has been to present an unvarnished tale of
the circumstances—extending over nearly half a century—which have
brought about the present crisis in South Africa. Consequently, it has
been necessary to collate the opinions of the best authorities on the
subject. My acknowledgments are due to the distinguished authors herein
quoted for much valuable information, throwing light on the
complications that have been accumulating so long, and that owe their
origin to political blundering and cosmopolitan scheming rather than to
the racial antagonism between Briton and Boer.

[Pg vii]

CONTENTS—VOL. I.

[Pg viii]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS—Vol. I.

[Pg ix]

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE—Vol. I.

1851.—First Basuto war.

1852.—Sand River Convention, granting independence to Transvaal Boers.

1853.—Province of British Kaffraria created.

Introduction of representative government in Cape Colony.

1854.—Convention of Bloemfontein and Treaty of Aliwal, granting
independence to Orange Free State.

Free State abandoned to Dutch.

1855.—Establishment of a Constitution for South African Republic; not
completed till 1858.

1856.—Natal created a separate Colony. 2000 German legion and 2000
German labourers arrived.

1858.—War between Orange Free State and Basutos.

1859.—First railway constructed.

1865.—British Kaffraria incorporated with Cape Colony.

War between Free State and Basutos.

1867.—First discovery of diamonds near Orange River.

First discovery of gold in Transvaal.

1868.—Annexation of Basutoland.

1869.—Discovery of diamonds near Lower Vaal River, where Kimberley now
stands.

Commercial Treaty concluded between Portuguese Government and the South
African Republic, which led to British claims to Delagoa Bay.

1871.—Annexation of Griqualand West (Diamond Fields). Basutoland added
to Cape.

1872.—Responsible Government granted to Cape Colony.

Cetchwayo succeeds his father, Panda, as king in Zululand.

1872-75.—Delagoa Bay arbitration.

1874.—Ichaboe and Penguin Islands annexed.

1875.—Delagoa Bay award.

1875-80.—Lord Carnarvon’s scheme for making the different colonies and
states of South Africa into a confederation with common administration
and common legislation in national matters.

1876.—Fingoland, Idutywa Reserve, and No-Man’s-Land annexed.

Acceptance by Free State of £90,000 for Griqualand West.

Khama, Chief of Bamangwato, seeks British protection against Boer
aggressions.

1877.—Annexation of Transvaal by Sir T. Shepstone, after the country
had been reduced to a state of anarchy by misgovernment.

1877-78.—Gaika and Gealika rebellion.

1878.—Walfish Bay proclaimed a British possession.

1879.—Zulu war. Transvaal declared a Crown Colony.

1880.—Basuto war. Sekukuni campaign.

Boer protest against British rule at a mass meeting held in December at
Paardekraal (now Krugersdorp).

They seize Heidelberg.

South African Republic established.

December 16.—Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius proclaimed South African
Republic by hoisting flag on Dingaan’s Day. Kruger made President on
December 17. British treacherously surrounded at Bronkhurst Spruit,
December 20, when about 250 of 94th Regiment, after losing nearly all
their men, surrendered. Colonel Bellairs besieged in[Pg x] Potchefstroom, but
Boers retire when shelled. December 29.—Captain Elliot treacherously murdered while fording the Vaal.

1880-81.—Reinforcements sent out December and January.

Griqualand West incorporated with the Cape.

1881.—Transvaal rebellion. Pretoria Convention, creating “Transvaal
State” under British suzerainty.

Sir George Colley takes command of our troops, January. His attack on
Laing’s Nek repulsed with heavy loss. Colonel Deane and Majors Poole and
Hingiston killed.

1881.—Severe engagement near Ingogo River, Feb. 8. British repulsed
after 12 hours under fire. Sir E. Wood joined Colley with
reinforcements. Orange Free State neutrality declared. Colley and Majuba
Hill, Feb. 27; Colley killed with 3 officers and 82 men; 122 men taken
prisoners.

Sir F. (now Lord) Roberts sent out, Feb. 28.

Armistice proposed by Boers, March 5; accepted March 23.

Peace proclaimed, March 21.

Potchefstroom surrendered with honours of war in ignorance of armistice,
April.

Commission appointed to carry out Treaty of Peace, April 5.

Convention agreed to, ceding all territory to Transvaal, with the Queen
as suzerain, and a British resident at Pretoria, Aug. 8.

Convention ratified, Oct. 25.

Evacuation of Transvaal by British troops began on Nov. 18.

1884.—London Convention restoring to the Transvaal the title of “South
African Republic.”

Annexation of Damaraland by Germany.

Boer Republics of Stellaland and Goshen set up in Bechuanaland.

Boers seize and annex Montsioaland; sanctioned by proclamation;
withdrawn on remonstrance.

Ultimatum by Sir H. Robinson, requiring protection of frontiers.

British annexation of Southern, and protectorate of Northern
Bechuanaland.

Basutoland made independent.

Port St. John annexed.

British flag hoisted in Lucia Bay, Zululand (ceded to England in 1843,
by Panda).

1884-85.—Sir Charles Warren’s expedition.

1885.—Annexation of Bechuanaland to Cape Colony.

1885.—British protectorate over Khama’s country proclaimed as far as
Matabeleland.

Discovery of great goldfields in Witwatersrandt, Transvaal.

1886.—Opening of principal goldfields in Transvaal.

British Government put a stop to Boer raids into Zululand, and confined
them to a territory of nearly 3000 square miles; to be known as the “New
Republic.”

1887.—British annexation of the rest of Zululand.

British treaty with Tonga chiefs, in which they undertook not to make
treaties with any other power.

1888.—”New Republic” annexed to South African Republic.

Treaty concluded between British and Lo Bengula, the Matabele king, in
which he undertook not to cede territory to, or treat with, any foreign
power without British consent.

1889.—Charter granted to British South Africa Company.

1890.—First Swaziland Convention, giving Boers certain rights to a
railway to the coast.

British and German “spheres of influence” defined by formal agreement.

1891.—Southern boundary of Portuguese territory fixed by treaty with
Great Britain.[Pg xi]

1893.—Responsible government granted to Natal.

Matabele war.

1894.—Malaboch war.

Question of “commandeering” British subjects raised in South African
Republic.

Second Swaziland Convention, placing Swaziland under Boer control.

Annexation of Amatongaland.

Annexation of Pondoland.

British subjects exempted from military service by Transvaal Government,
June 24.

Protest by British Government against closing the Vaal Drifts, as
contrary to Convention; Nov. 3. Agreed to Nov. 8.

1895.—Crown Colony of Bechuanaland annexed to Cape Colony.

Proclamation of Reform movement by Uitlanders in Johannesburg (National
Union), Dec. 26.

Jameson Raid—he crossed the frontier with a force from Pitsani Pitlogo,
Dec. 29.

Sir H. Robinson telegraphed to Jameson to retire, Dec. 30.

Mr. Chamberlain and Sir H. Robinson sent order to stop hostilities, Dec.
31.

1896.—Dr. Jameson’s party, outnumbered and without resources, defeated
by Boers near Krugersdorp, Jan. 1.

Fight at Vlakfontein, and surrender of Jameson, Jan. 2.

Johannesburg surrendered unconditionally by advice of British
Government, Jan. 2.

Dr. Jameson and other prisoners handed over to Sir H. Robinson, Jan. 7.

1897.—Judicial Crisis in South African Republic.

Annexation of Zululand to Natal.

1899.— Petition of Uitlanders to the Queen, May 24.

Conference, at Bloemfontein, between Sir A. Milner and Kruger, May 30.
Terminated without result, June 6.

British Despatch to Transvaal, setting forth demands for immediate
acceptance, Sept. 8.

Unsatisfactory reply, Sept. 16.

Troops despatched to Natal, Sept. and Oct.

Insulting Boer Ultimatum, making war inevitable, Oct. 9.

Orange Free State joins with the Transvaal.

[Pg 1]

SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR

INTRODUCTION

The Transvaal War—like a gigantic picture—cannot be considered at
close quarters. To fully appreciate the situation, and all that it
embraces, the critic must stand at a suitable distance. He must gaze not
merely with the eye of to-day, or even of the whole nineteenth century,
but with his mind educated to the strange conditions of earlier
civilisation. For in these conditions will be found the root of the
widespread mischief—the answer to many a riddle which superficial
observers have been unable to comprehend. The racial hatred between Boer
and Briton is not a thing of new growth; it has expanded with the
expansion of the Boer settlers themselves. In fact, on the Boer side, it
is the only thing independent of British enterprise which has grown and
expanded since the Dutch first set foot in the Cape. This took place in
1652. Then, Jan Van Riebeck, of the Dutch East India Company, first
established an European settlement, and a few years later the burghers
began life as cattle-breeders, agriculturists, and itinerant traders.
These original Cape Colonists were descendants of Dutchmen of the lower
classes, men of peasant stamp, who were joined in 1689 by a contingent
of Huguenot refugees. The Boers, or peasants, of that day were men of
fine type, a blend between the gipsy and the evangelist. They were
nomadic in their taste, lawless, and impatient of restrictions, bigoted
though devout, and inspired in all and through all by an unconquerable
love of independence. With manners they had nothing to do, with progress
still less. Isolation from the civilised world, and contact with
Bushmen, Hottentots, and Kaffirs, kept them from advancing with the
times. Their slaves outnumbered themselves, and their treatment of these
makes anything but enlivening[Pg 2] reading. From all accounts the Boer went
about with the Bible in one hand and the sjambok in the other,
instructing himself assiduously with the Word, while asserting himself
liberally with the deed. Yet he was a first-rate sporting man, a shrewd
trafficker, and at times an energetic tiller of the soil. The early
settlements were Rondebosch, Stellenbosch, and Drakenstein, in the
valley of the Berg River. Here the Dutch community laboured, and smoked,
and married, multiplying itself with amazing rapidity, and expanding
well beyond the original limits.

Dutch domination at the Cape lasted for 143 years after the landing of
Van Riebeck, but gradually internal dissensions among the settlers
resulted in absolute revolt. Meanwhile the Dutch in Europe had lost
their political prestige, and the country was overrun by a Prussian army
commissioned to support the House of Orange. In 1793, in a war against
allied England and Holland, France gained the day, and a Republic was
set up under French protection, thereby rendering Holland and her
colonies of necessity antagonistic to Great Britain. After this the
fortunes of the Cape were fluctuating. In 1795 Admiral Elphinstone and
General Craig brought about the surrender of the colony to Great
Britain. Later on it was returned to the Batavian Republic at the Peace
of Amiens, only to be afterwards recaptured by Sir David Baird in 1806.
Finally, in 1814, our claim to the Cape and other Dutch colonies was
recognised on payment of the sum of £6,000,000 sterling.

Now for the first time began the real emigration of the British. They
settled at Bathurst, near Algoa Bay, but though their numbers gradually
swelled, they never equalled the number of the inhabitants of Dutch
origin.

At this time South Africa was an ideal place for the pioneer. The
scenery was magnificent. There were mountain gorges or kloofs, roaring
cataracts, vast plains, and verdant tracts of succulent grasses. There
was big game enough to delight the heart of a race of Nimrods. Lions,
elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, antelopes, and birds of all kinds,
offered horns, hides, tusks, and feathers to the adventurous sportsman.
All these things the nomadic Boer had hitherto freely enjoyed, plying
now his rifle, now his plough, and taking little thought for the morrow
or for the moving world outside the narrow circle of his family
experiences. With the appearance of British paramountcy at the Cape came
a hint of law and order, of progress and its accompaniment—taxation.
The bare whisper of discipline of any kind was sufficient to send the
truculent Boer trekking away to the far freedom of the veldt. Quantities
of them took to their lumbering tented waggons, drawn by long teams of
oxen, and put a safe distance between themselves and the new[Pg 3]-comers.
All they wanted was a free home, conducted in their own gipsy
fashion—their kraals by the river, their camp fires, their flocks and
herds, and immunity from the vexation of monopolies and taxes. And here
at once will be seen how the seeds sprang up of a rooted antagonism
between Boer and Briton that nothing can ever remove, and no diplomacy
can smooth away. The Boer nature naturally inclines to a sluggish
content, while the British one invariably pants for advance. The
temperamental tug of war, therefore, has been one that has grown
stronger and stronger with the progress of years. The principles of give
and take have been tried, but they have failed. Reciprocity is not in
the nature of the Boer, and without reciprocity society and States are
at a standstill. The Boer is accredited with the primitive virtues,
innocence, sturdiness, contentment. If he has these, he has also the
defects of his qualities. He is crafty, stubborn, and narrow, and
intolerant of everything beyond the limits of his native comprehension.
Innovations of any kind are sufficient to fill him with suspicion, and
those started by the British in their first efforts at Cape government
were as gall and wormwood to his untrammelled taste. These efforts, it
must be owned, were not altogether happy. There was first a
rearrangement of local governments and of the Law Courts; then, in 1827,
followed a decree that English should be the official language. As at
that time not more than one colonist in seven was British, the new
arrangement was calculated to make confusion worse confounded! The
disgust of the Cape Dutch may be imagined! The finishing touch came in
1834. By the abolition of slavery—humane though its object was—the
Cape colonists were exceedingly hard hit; and though the owners of
slaves were compensated to the tune of a million and a quarter (the
slaves were valued at three millions sterling), they continued to
maintain a simmering resentment. Added to this came the intervention of
the missionaries, who attempted to instil into the Boer mind a sense of
the equality, in the sight of Heaven, of the black and the white races.

At this time 12,000 Kaffirs had crossed over the border and invaded the
settlements, dealing death and destruction wherever they went. They were
finally repulsed by the British, and Sir Benjamin D’Urban, the Governor
at the Cape, proclaimed the annexation of the country beyond the
Keiskamma, on the eastern boundary of the Colony, as far as the Kei. But
no sooner had he accomplished this diplomatic move in his wise
discretion, than orders came from the British Government to the effect
that the land was to be restored to the Kaffirs and the frontier
boundary moved back to its original place—Keiskamma. Sir Benjamin
D’Urban carried out these orders much to his disgust, for he deemed the[Pg 4]
annexation of the province to be necessary to the peace of all the
surrounding districts. But this was neither the first nor the last
occasion in the history of Cape government on which men of practical
experience have had to give way before wise heads in Downing Street
arm-chairs.

This action on the part of the Government was as the last straw to the
overladen camel. The patience of the Dutch Boers broke down. The
introduction of a foreign and incomprehensible tongue, the abolition of
slavery, and finally the restoration to the despised Kaffirs of a
conquered province, were indignities past bearing. There was a general
exodus. Off to the neighbourhood of the Orange and the Vaal Rivers
lumbered the long waggon trains drawn by innumerable oxen, bearing, to
pastures new and undefiled by the British, the irate Boers and their
household gods. It was a pathetic departure, this voluntary exile into
strange and unknown regions. The first pioneers, after a long and
wearisome journey to Delagoa Bay, fell sick and retraced their steps to
Natal only to die. The next great company started forth in the winter of
1836. Some went to the districts between the Orange and the Vaal
Rivers—the district now known as the Orange Free State; others went
into the country north of the Vaal River—the district now called the
Transvaal; while others again went beyond the mountains to the district
now named Natal. Here the Boer hoped to lead a new and a peaceful life,
to encamp himself by some river course with his kraal for his sheep and
his goats, the wide veldt for his carpet, and the blue dome of heaven or
the canvas of his waggon for his untaxed roof. But his hopes were of
short duration. The poor trekker—to use the vulgar phrase—had fallen
out of the frying-pan into the fire. He had fled from the “British
tyrant” only to encounter the Matabele Zulu savage. A terrible feud
between the Bantu tribes was then causing much violence and
blood-spilling, and the Zulu chief Moselekalse, having driven the
Bechuanas beyond the Limpopo, had established the kingdom of the
Matabele. With this chief, the Boer Potgieter and a party of burghers,
on exploration intent, came suddenly into collision. Some of the Boers
fled, the rest were promptly massacred. Those who remained alive made
plans for self-defence. They lashed their waggons together to form a
laager, and within it placed their women and children in partial safety.
They then gave the warriors of Moselekalse a warm reception. The fight
was maintained with great energy, the Zulus raining assegais over the
waggons, while the Boers returned the compliment with their firearms.
For these they had plenty of ammunition, and relays of guns were loaded
and handed out gallantly by their women from within the laager.[Pg 5] The
Boers were victorious. Their aim was true, their pluck enormous, and
after a sharp engagement the enemy were forced to retire. The savages
were not vanquished, however, till terrible damage had been inflicted on
the laager. Not content with the loss of many of their number, their
sheep and their cattle, the plucky Boers started forth to punish the
Matabele. Though few in number the burghers had the advantage of rifles,
and succeeded in triumphing over the enemy and establishing themselves
at Winburg, on the Vet River, to west of Harrismith. Later on the Boer
farmers prepared to trek into Natal. They had prospected the place and
found it entirely suited to their agricultural needs. Water and game
were plentiful, and the whole country was fertile as a garden. Here they
proposed to settle down. At Port Natal—now known by the name of
Durban—was a party of Englishmen with whom the Boer explorers got on
friendly terms. Both Englishmen and Boers were aware that the district
was under Zulu sway, and it was decided that the chief, Dingaan, should
be interviewed as to the approaching settlement of the Boers. The wily
Zulu received his late enemies with every show of amity. He offered them
refreshments, he made entertainments for their amusement. He finally
agreed to cede such territory as was demanded by the Boers, provided
they would secure to him certain cattle that had been stolen from him by
a chief named Sikonyela. This the Boers agreed to do. They promptly
travelled to see Sikonyela, and by threats, persuasions, or other
mysterious means, extracted from him his ill-gotten gains. With the
restored cattle the whole party of Boers then passed on their way from
Drakensberg to Natal, full of the hope of finally making a settlement in
a region so well suited to their pastoral instincts.

On again visiting the chief Dingaan, they were again received with
honour. More festivities were arranged, and the date of the signing of
the treaty was fixed for the 4th of February 1838.

The day came. The burghers arrived in the customary picturesqueness of
woollen shirts, round hats, rough coats, and leathern veldt-broeks.
Dingaan, amiable to excess, insisted that they should accompany him to
his kraal, and there make a formal leave-taking. They were requested to
leave their arms outside as an earnest of good faith, and, with some
suspicion, they acceded. Their reception was splendid. Their health was
drunk, the calabash passed round, and then—then, at a given signal from
the chief, the Zulu hordes rushed in, fully armed and raging. In less
time than it takes to describe the deed, the defenceless company of Boer
farmers were slaughtered in cold blood—slaughtered before they could
lift even a fist in self-defence! This horrible act of treachery served
to do away[Pg 6] at one fell swoop with the whole Boer party. Their bones,
piled in a heap without the kraal, alone remained to tell to their
kindred the tale of their undoing. The Zulus then proceeded in their
tens of thousands to attack the nearest encampment, and cut down all who
came in their way. Men—women—children—they spared none. The tidings
being carried to the outer encampments of the Boers, they prepared
themselves for the worst. They and their gallant vrows, who fought
with as cool and obstinate a courage as their husbands, resisted the
onslaught staunchly and successfully; but they paid dearly for their
boldness. Their cattle were demolished, and their numbers were miserably
thinned. Some thought of retiring from Natal; some contemplated revenge.

The pathetic state of the Boers attracted the sympathy of the Englishmen
then in Natal, and they joined hands. Potgieter and Uys then commanded a
force, and marched out on the enemy, but unfortunately fell into an
ambush and were slain. Among the dead were the commandant Uys and his
son.

Then the Englishmen, not to be behindhand in the fray, came to the
rescue. Though there were but seventeen of them, they went out
accompanied by 1500 Hottentots to meet the enemy. They followed the
retreating savages beyond the Tugela, when suddenly they found
themselves face to face with a fierce multitude of 70,000 Zulus. A
conflict of the most terrible kind ensued: a conflict the more terrible
because at the same time so heroic and so hopeless. From this appalling
fight only four Englishmen escaped. These had succeeded in cutting their
way through the enemy; the rest had been surrounded, and died fighting
valiantly, and were almost buried among the dead bodies of their
antagonists.

But this was not to be the finale of the Boer resistance to the wild
Zulu. The above tragic engagement between the Englishmen and Zulus took
place in April 1838. By December of the same year they had gathered
themselves under the banner of their fine leader Andries Pretorius, a
farmer from the district of Graff Reinet, and started forth again to
meet the treacherous Dingaan, and pay him the debt they owed him.

A word or two of this Pretorius, after whom the now notable town of
Pretoria was named. He was a born leader of men: he was a Cromwell in
his way. At that date he was forty years of age, in the prime of
strength and manhood. He was tall, and vigorous in mind as well as in
body, calm and deliberating in counsel, but prompt and fiery in action.
His descent is traced from one Johannes Pretorius, son of a clergyman at
Goeree in South Holland, one of the very early settlers—a pious and
worthy man, whose piety and worth had been inherited by several
generations.[Pg 7] Like the rest of his countrymen, Pretorius would brook no
control. Though he was indubitably brave and immensely capable, he had
the conservative instincts of his race. He shrunk from all innovations,
he disliked everything connected with civilisation that might in the
smallest degree interfere with the personal liberty of the individual.
Freedom was as the very breath of his nostrils, and here was the great
link between this really exceptional man and the body of his pastoral
followers.

Pretorius, bent on the punishment of the treachery of Dingaan, set out,
as has been said, with his expedition in the winter of 1838. This
expedition has been named by the Boers the Win Commando. He had but
three small pieces of cannon and a force composed of about four hundred
white men and some native auxiliaries, yet the admirable tactics of
Pretorius, the stout hearts and fine shooting of his followers, combined
to bring about a victory over the Zulus. These were totally routed, and
lost one third of their number.

The bravery and splendid persistence of the Boers filled all hearts with
admiration, particularly when, after several well-directed attacks, they
eventually succeeded in utterly breaking the Zulu power. Dingaan was
dethroned and driven into exile, and his kraal and property burnt. A
Christian burial service was read over the place where lay the bones of
the assassinated Retief and his companions. The date, the 16th December
1838, on which the Zulu power met its first check from white men, is one
ever remembered in Boer history. It goes by the name of Dingaan’s Day,
and is annually celebrated with great rejoicings throughout the
Transvaal.

The Boers had now succeeded in inspiring wholesome awe in the heart of
Panda, the new chieftain who occupied the place once held by his
brother, the exiled Dingaan. He was not a person of bellicose
disposition, and thinking discretion the better part of valour, was
ready enough to swear to keep peace with his late enemies. In these
circumstances the Boers with prayer and thanksgiving were able to pursue
the promptings of their long-checked ambition. Soon several hundreds of
waggons drawn by long teams of oxen came lumbering into Natal, for the
purpose of establishing there the Republic, which had so often been
planned out in imagination and never yet found any but an abortive
existence. This ideal State was eventually formed and called the
Republic of Natalia, and it enjoyed for several years an independent
existence.

As Natal became the first cause of armed conflict between the British
and the Boers, its then position in regard to the authorities at the
Cape may as well be reviewed. Though the new Republic maintained its
perfectly independent existence, its inhabitants were still mentioned by
the Governor of Cape Colony as British subjects.[Pg 8] It must be remembered
that prior to the occupation of Natal by the Boers, and the formation of
their cherished Republic, the Governor of Cape Colony had issued a
proclamation announcing his intention of occupying Natal later on, and
stating that the emigrants—who were then making active preparations for
the attack of Dingaan—- were British subjects. In Great Britain,
however, the authorities had not yet decided to follow the advice so
often given by their representatives at the Cape. They were still
declaring it inexpedient to extend their territory, and likewise their
responsibilities, in South Africa. But the incursion of the Boers in the
neighbourhood of Port Natal put a new complexion on affairs. The British
Government began to open its eyes to the value of a seaport, with two
good harbours on the South African coast, as a colonial possession. It
could not fail to recognise also that the members of the new State were
already bitter foes to the British and their ways; and that it would be
dangerous to allow them to establish themselves as an independent power
on the coast, and entirely throw off their duty of allegiance.
Accordingly Sir George Napier, the then Governor of the Cape, sent
troops to occupy Natal. He remained undecided as to the mode of dealing
with the emigrant Boers, however, for, while declaring them British
subjects, he yet was not prepared to afford them protection from attacks
of the natives. It is scarcely surprising that this half-and-half
paternity of the Government failed to satisfy the men whose kith and kin
had fallen in their numbers at Weenen and the Hill of Blood, and the
consequent disaffection of the Boers grew deeper as signs of British
authority increased.

But at first, in the rest of their territory outside Natal the Boer
Government remained unmolested. Their district was bounded by the sea
and the Drakenberg mountains, the Tugela and Umzimubu Rivers, and there
for a time things went well. Pretorius was Commandant General in Natal,
Potgieter Chief Commandant in the allied Western Districts. The
legislative power was in the hands of a Volksraad of twenty-four
members, whose ways were more vacillating and erratic than advantageous.
“Every man for himself and God for all” seemed to be the convenient
motto of this assembly, except perhaps on urgent occasions, when
Pretorius and Potgieter were called upon as joint dictators to settle
some knotty problem relating to external affairs.

At the close of 1840 this Volksraad commenced negotiations with the Cape
Government with a view to getting their independence formally
recognised. The Governor at the Cape was again in the old quandary.
While he personally desired to put an end to troubles from within and
without by establishing a strong government[Pg 9] over the whole country, he
was crippled by the Ministry at home, which was consistent in
maintaining its policy of inconsistency, and tried to maintain its hold
on the Cape, while steadily refusing to increase Great Britain’s
responsibility in South Africa.

The demands of the Volksraad (presented in January 1841) were scarcely
acceptable at headquarters. The nature of them is interesting, and shows
the then attitude of people who described themselves as “willing and
desirous to enter into a perpetual alliance with the Government of Her
Majesty.”

They bargained that the Republic of Natalia was to be acknowledged as a
free and independent State, in close alliance with the British
Government. If attacked by sea by any other power, Great Britain might
interpose either by negotiation or arms. If Great Britain were at war,
however, the Republic was to remain neutral. Wine, strong liquors, and
articles “prejudicial to this Republic,” were to be taxed more highly
than other things, which would be taxed as for a British Colony. British
subjects residing in the Republic would have equal protection, and the
same taxes as burghers, while in case of war every assistance would be
given to a British or Colonial force marching through the territory. The
slave trade would not be permitted, and every facility for the
propagation of the Gospel among the neighbouring tribes would be
afforded. The Republic guaranteed to make no hostile movements against
natives in the direction of the Colony without permission of the
Governor, unless circumstances of violence, or the inroad of tribes,
rendered immediate action obligatory.

There were other clauses of less importance which need not be specified.
Suffice it to say, that while these terms were being considered, a
cattle and slave-stealing Boer raid, headed by Pretorius, took place.
The excuse for the proceeding was the lifting of certain of their own
cattle, but the action served as an object lesson for those in power at
the Cape. The Volksraad was politely informed that the Boers were still
British subjects, and a letter from the Home Government to Sir George
Napier was received, stating that Her Majesty “could not acknowledge a
portion of her own subjects as an independent Republic, but that on
their receiving a military force from the Colony, their trade would be
placed on the footing of the trade of a British possession.” But the
Boers flouted authority—they refused to accept the situation. They put
forth a proclamation appealing against the oppression of man and to the
justice of God, with all the fervour of the Old Testament Christians
they were.

The arrogance of Pretorius and his crew had now so seriously increased
that Sir George Napier, seeing danger ahead, decided to[Pg 10] establish a
camp near the border of the State, and Durban was occupied. Captain
Smith, in command of some three hundred men, made a rapid march across
country to Natal, merely to be informed that the Boers had placed
themselves under the protection of Holland.

It may be noted that when this statement reached the ears of the King of
Holland, he emphatically repudiated it. He addressed the British
Government, saying “that the disloyal communication of the emigrant
farmers had been repelled with indignation, and that the King of Holland
had taken every possible step to mark his disapproval of the
unjustifiable use made of his name by the individuals referred to.”
Captain Smith, who fortunately had not been imposed upon by what the
Boers considered their neat ruse, made preparations to attack them. But
he overestimated his own or underrated his adversary’s strength. He fell
into ambush and lost heavily. He was then driven to entrench himself in
Durban. One of his men managed to escape, however, and by riding to
Grahamstown through dangerous country, contrived to convey the
intelligence of Captain Smith’s misfortune, and to bring reinforcements
to his aid. These reinforcements arrived in Durban harbour on the 25th
of June 1842. At sight of the British frigate and the goodly display of
redcoats, the Boers, who had been besieging Captain Smith for a month
with three guns and six hundred men, made good their escape, leaving
Pretorius no alternative but to make terms. Thus Natal became a British
possession.

In 1844 the place was declared to be a dependency of Cape Colony. Many
of the emigrants admitted themselves to be British subjects and remained
there, but the great majority took to their waggons and lumbered back
across the Drakenberg to their old settling-place.

There the original Voortrekkers had scattered themselves on both sides
of the Vaal River, and helped to found the Transvaal and the Orange Free
State. As may be imagined at this juncture, the natural hostility to the
British, which has now become part of the Boer character, was growing
apace. The voluntary exiles from Natal, on moving to the north of the
Orange River, determined to evade the British, and proclaim the whole of
that locality an independent Republic. The authorities at the Cape,
however, frustrated the new struggle for independence. They laid claim
for Great Britain to the whole territory east of E. long. 22° and south
of S. lat. 25°, with the exception of the land already owned by Portugal
or by friendly native chiefs.

CAPE TOWN, DEVIL’S PEAK, TABLE MOUNTAIN, AND LION’S HEAD FROM TABLE BAY.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen

It may be remembered that one of the causes of the great Trek was the
restoration of their province to Kaffirs, thereby according to[Pg 11] the
blacks an independence that was not enjoyed by the Boers. No
astonishment, therefore, will be felt at the exasperation of the Boers
when they found that the Cape Government had entered into treaties with
the Griquas—treaties which seemed to them to promise more freedom to
the savage than was accorded to themselves. Grievances of many
kinds—some real and some ridiculous—continued daily to occur. Things
serious and things trivial were liable to cause them equal indignation.
According to Livingstone, the ignorant followers of Potgieter—who were
posted at Magaliesberg, a thousand miles from the Cape—were moved to
wrath merely by the arrival of Herschel’s great telescope at the Cape
Observatory! What right, said they, had the Government to erect that
huge instrument at the Cape for the purpose of seeing what they were
doing behind the Kashan mountains?

But of just grievances they had several, and these Pretorius, as
spokesman of his people, wished to lay before the Governor at the Cape.
Sir Henry Pottinger, who occupied that post in 1847, unfortunately
declined the interview; consequently affairs went from bad to worse. In
the end of the year Sir Henry Smith arrived as Governor of the colony,
and great things were expected of him. He knew the native races, he knew
the Boers, and they both knew him. Pretorius, who was arranging a final
emigration from Natal, was summoned to confer with the new Governor. Sir
Henry wished to gauge the feelings of the farmers prior to issuing a
proclamation (dated February 3, 1848), declaring the Queen’s sovereignty
over the whole country between the Orange and Vaal Rivers to eastward of
the Quathlamba Mountains. According to Pretorius, the conference was an
unsatisfactory one. He assured the Governor that his people would never
consent to it. Sir Henry Smith nevertheless considered himself justified
in taking the step, and the Home Government, whose policy it had been to
consolidate the peaceful native States along the border, eventually
coincided with his view.

No sooner was the proclamation generally known than the horde of
Pretorius’ followers flew to arms. They swept southward, driving every
British official beyond the Orange River. Major Warden, the Resident at
Bloemfontein, where a British fort and garrison had been placed some two
years before, was forced to capitulate.

Sir Harry Smith, on becoming acquainted with the news, at once offered a
thousand pounds for the arrest of Pretorius. He also began a march to
the front. The Governor thought that he had but to come, see, and
conquer; but he was mistaken. He had tough work before him. The Boers,
about a thousand strong, had entrenched themselves in a formidable
position. They were superior in point of numbers, horses, and guns to
Sir Harry’s forces; but he pursued[Pg 12] his way, nothing daunted. He stormed
the position, and, after a hard fight, scattered the enemy. They fled
from Boomplaats, where the engagement had taken place, and hastened back
across the Vaal to their native haunts. The date of the battle was the
29th of August 1848, and the father of President Kruger is said to have
been the first man to fire a shot at the British on that occasion!

After this period various dissensions arose in the Boer camp between
Pretorius, who styled himself “Chief of the whole united emigrant
force,” and Potgieter, who looked upon himself somewhat in the light of
a rival. While these worthies fell out Sir Harry Smith saw the
annexation carried through, and the territory of the modern Free State
was united to Cape Colony, under the title of the Orange River
Sovereignty. The contumacious Boers took themselves off with their
leader across the Vaal, and fresh European settlers came in and
established themselves in the fertile plains that were deserted. For
some time after this things prospered, and Sir Harry saw before him the
prospect of a new self-governing Dutch colony, which would resemble and
equal those of Natal and the Cape. But he reckoned without his host, and
all that he had taken the trouble to do was ultimately undone. In 1852
the Government at home declared its policy to be the ultimate
abandonment of the Orange River Sovereignty. For this pusillanimous
policy there were several reasons, the greatest being a fear of a Basuto
rising and the trouble it would entail. The British Government therefore
decided to maintain its rights over the Transvaal no further, and by the
Sand River Convention, signed on the 17th of January 1852, the emigrant
farmers beyond the Vaal River were given the right to manage their own
affairs, subject only to the condition that they should neither permit
nor encourage slavery.

About this time commenced the threatened rise of the Basutos in the
neighbourhood of the Orange River territory. The Basutos are a branch of
the Bechuana race, who had been formed by their chiefs Motlume and
Moshesh into a powerful nation, which could hold its own against Boer or
Zulu. With this race the Home Government desired to have nothing to do,
and the Colonial Office, viewing the political game as not worth the
candle, definitely withdrew from the Orange River Sovereignty, leaving
the Free State to come into being, and devise its own plans for
overawing its enemies on the other side of the border. Accordingly, in
1854, Sir Harry Smith’s programme of annexation was entirely wiped out,
British sovereignty renounced, and the Orange Free State left to become
a Republic and take care of itself![Pg 13]

CHAPTER I

THE GROWTH OF THE TRANSVAAL

Fifty years ago there was no Transvaal. To-day its area is rather larger
than Great Britain. It extends over some 75,000,000 acres.

Originally, at the time of the great Trek, a small portion of land was
seized from natives who fled before the pioneers, and settled in what is
now known as Matabeleland. Other Boers soon joined their comrades, and,
by applying the steady policy of “grab and hold” (a policy that,
unfortunately, has not been imitated by ourselves), they gained strip on
strip and acre on acre of land till the Transvaal became the vast
province it now is. It expanded first into a portion of Zululand; later
on, lapped over into Swaziland. By degrees it encroached on the British
boundaries, and most probably would have gone on encroaching had not
active steps been taken to save the north from the invaders.

The original Voertrekkers, or pioneers, came in three detachments.
British-born subjects, but discontented with British civilisation, they
moved on from Natal, whence they were chased by the Union Jack, and
settled themselves first in land captured from King Umziligatze,
secondly in Lydenburg and Dekaap, and thirdly in the Zulu country. The
history of this Zululand expansion remains to be told. At present it is
interesting to follow the geographical growth of the state which has
become so troublesome, and whose self-assertion has increased according
to its size.

Originally each Boer was entitled to a farm with a minimum of 6000 acres
of the “Transvaal,” and this custom of apportioning 6000-acre farms
lasted as long as the Kaffir lands lasted. The Boers, always working on
the principle that “God helps those who help themselves,” helped
themselves freely, sometimes with bloodshed and sometimes without, until
they became owners of vast tracts of country, whose boundaries had never
been discussed, far less fixed.

Land was apparently cheap at that time, for trustworthy authorities
declare that it was purchasable at from a farthing to a penny per acre.

The area of the Transvaal before the Boers began to migrate[Pg 14] there has
been eloquently described as the hunter’s Arcadia. Mr. Gordon Cumming
gives a graphic account of the scene:—

“It was truly a fair and boundless prospect. Beautifully wooded plains
and mountains stretched away on every side to an amazing distance, until
the vision was lost among the faint blue outlines of the distant
mountain ranges. Throughout all this country, and vast tracts beyond, I
had the satisfaction to reflect that a never-ending succession of herds
of every species of noble game which the hunter need desire pastured
there in undisturbed security; and as I gazed I felt that it was all my
own, and that I at length possessed the undisputed sway over a forest,
in comparison with which the tame and herded narrow bounds of the
wealthiest European sportsman sink into utter insignificance.”

The number of elephants and lesser game bagged by Mr. Gordon Cumming
after this touching meditation fully bore out his hopes.

But the most interesting account of the Transvaal, before the invasion
of white men, is to be found in Captain William Cornwallis Harris’s
account of his expedition into the interior of South Africa in the years
1836 and 1837. He paints the new country in colours lively and
alluring:—

“Instead of the dreary waste over which we had lately passed, we might
now imagine ourselves in an extensive park. A lawn, level as a
billiard-table, was everywhere spread with a soft carpet of luxuriant
green grass, spangled with flowers, and shaded by spreading
mokaalas—a large species of acacia which forms the favourite food of
the giraffe. The gaudy yellow blossoms with which these remarkable trees
were covered yielded an aromatic and overpowering perfume—while small
troops of striped quaggas, or wild asses, and of brindled gnoos …
enlivened the scene.

“I turned off the road,” he continues, “in pursuit of a troop of
brindled gnoos, and presently came upon another, which was followed by a
third still larger—then by a vast herd of zebras, and again by more
gnoos, with sassaybys and hartebeests pouring down from every quarter,
until the landscape literally presented the appearance of a moving mass
of game.”

Further on he describes the extensive and romantic valley of the
Limpopo, “which strongly contrasts with its own solitude, and with the
arid lands which must be traversed to arrive within its limits; Dame
Nature has doubtless been unusually lavish of her gifts. A bold mountain
landscape is chequered by innumerable rivulets abounding in fish, and
watering a soil rich in luxurious vegetation. Forests, producing timber
of the finest growth, are tenanted by a multitude of birds, which, if
not generally musical, are all gorgeously attired;[Pg 15] and the meadows
throughout are decked with blossoming geraniums, and with an endless
profusion of the gayest flowers, fancifully distributed in almost
artificial parterres. Let the foreground of this picture, which is by
no means extravagantly drawn, be filled in by the animal creation
roaming in a state of undisturbed freedom, such as I have attempted to
describe, and this hunter’s paradise will surely not require to be
coloured by the feelings of an enthusiastic sportsman to stand out in
striking relief from amongst the loveliest spots in the universe.”

A recent traveller discourses pathetically over the changes that have
come over the country, which at that time was described as “the
Zoological Gardens turned out to graze.” He says the lawyer and
financier thrive where in recent years the lion and the leopard fought
for food, and townships have sprung up on spots where living Boers have
formerly shot big game.

As an instance of the truth of this lament, one may make some quotations
from Mr. Campbell’s valuable article, “The Transvaal, Old and New.” He
says, “The advent of British folk and British gold and brains led to a
change, and land, by reason of British purchases, became more valuable,
and beacons and boundaries became necessary.” Here we may see the thin
end of the wedge. We may picture the first lawyer and the first
financier advancing with Arcadia parchment and bank-note in hand.

The Boers steadily sold their best and surplus lands, and these the
British as steadily bought, till the value rose from their original
price of one penny an acre to half-a-crown, and then five shillings.
Subsequently, in many cases, as much as ten, and even twenty shillings
an acre was offered for ordinary raw arable land. But of that time too
much has to be said to be recounted here.

THE BOER CHARACTER

In discussing the events of the past with a view to obtaining light on
the development of the present, it is needful, and indeed just, to
inquire into the character of the Boers as a race. It is a complex
character, with multitudinous lights and shades, so subtle and yet so
marked, that they are difficult to define accurately. It is therefore
necessary that the opinions of many writers on the subject of the Boer
temperament should be taken—of writers who have made it their business
to look upon the subject with the eye of the historian rather than the
eye of the advocate, and who may be trusted to have given their verdict
without passion or favour.

But regarding one fact connected with the case, all writers of[Pg 16]
practical experience are inclined to agree. They declare that the Boer
of the past was a very much finer fellow than the Boer of the
present—finer morally and physically; and that in his obstinate
determination to resist the march of progress he has allowed himself to
suffer deterioration. The reason for this deterioration is not difficult
to comprehend. In the first place, as we all know, nothing in creation
stands still. We must advance, or we go back. Both in moral and in
mental qualities we must maintain our vitality, or practically ossify!

The Boer, from having been essentially a sporting man and a free and a
robust tiller of the soil, has come under the influence of schemers, who
have played upon his natural avarice, and polished his inherent cunning,
till these qualities have expanded to the detriment of those earlier
qualities for which the Boer of to-day still gets credit, but which are
fast dying out of the national character.

In one respect there has been little change. In the matter of his native
piety he remains as he was. The Boer, if one may use a phrase recently
coined by Lord Rosebery, is an “Old Testament Christian.” No one can
describe his race better than the writer who says of the original
settlers in 1652, that “they are a mixture in religion of the old
Israelite and the Scotch Covenanter.” There is some question about Boer
hypocrisy, and Dr. Theal says on the subject, “Where side by side with
expressions of gratitude to the Creator are found schemes for robbing
and enslaving natives, the genuineness of their religion may be
doubted.” But it must be remembered that in bygone centuries the world’s
morality differed much from that of the present day, and therefore the
Boer, who has not progressed in proportion to the world at large, can
scarcely be judged by the ethics of the world at large. To be just, we
must look at him as a being apart, and place him always in the frame of
the seventeenth century. Some historians declare that the Boer borrowed
from the French refugees much religious sentiment. Other
authorities—and these, considering the Boer disinclination to
expansion, seem to be right—declare that under the French influence he
deteriorated.

COLONEL of the 10th HUSSARS.

(H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.)

Photo by Gregory & Co., London.

He was by nature bloodthirsty and cruel, but these qualities always
found for themselves a comfortable apology in the Old Testament. The
Boer prided himself on his likeness to the Israelite of old, and his
enemies to the Canaanite, whom it was doing God a service to destroy. He
kept all the rites of the Church with rigid punctuality. He partook of
the Communion (the Nachtmaal) once every three months, and the whole
community gathered together from great distances to share it. The
observances were made the occasion for rejoicing and merrymaking, for
the holding of fairs, the[Pg 17] transfer of cattle, the driving of bargains
in hide or ivory, or other goods necessary to traders. He has been
described by a friend of his people “as, according to his own lights, a
citizen pioneer, a rough, God-fearing, honest, homely, uneducated
Philistine.”

The opinion of his ancient enemy, Cetchwayo, differs, however, from this
estimate. Sir Frederick Godson has told us that this potentate informed
his brother, who was his captor, that the Boers were “a mean,
treacherous people, people who trusted no one, not even each other, and
their word was not to be trusted.” He had had ample opportunities of
forming a judgment by experience. And there are many of us nowadays who
are inclined to agree with him. Cetchwayo further asserted that “the
British were making the greatest mistake they ever made in befriending
them; for if they had not rescued the Boers from him, he would very soon
have eaten them all up.”

As regards the military organisation of the Boers, it may be described
as similar to that of the Republic of Greece or that of mediæval
England. Every man, from the age of sixteen to sixty, considered himself
a soldier. Every man, when the country demanded his services, was ready
to get under arms—to protect his hearth and home in the face of a
common enemy.

The country was divided into districts, and these districts were
subdivided into wards. To each of these wards was appointed a
field-cornet, who had military duties when a commando was called out.
The officer who took the chief command of the field-cornets was styled
the commandant. This arrangement first originated in the early days of
their emigration to the Cape, when the natives, lawless and inimical,
were perpetually bursting out without rhyme or reason. Naturally prompt
defence became necessary. To many people the Boer appears to be a
“first-class fighting man.” Certainly he is determined, obstinate, and,
in his peculiar fashion, brave. But there are others who can recall
events in the battle with Dingaan, in the tragedy of Majuba Hill, which
scarcely add to the honour of the Boer as a soldier. It has been said
that the Boer prefers to do his fighting without risking his skin, but
this may be somewhat unjust. He is ready enough to risk his skin, but he
is equally ready that some one shall pay for the risk, and he makes him
pay by fair means if he can—if not, by foul.

However, Livingstone knew his man, and thus it was that he wrote of him:
“The Boers have generally manifested a marked antipathy to anything but
‘long shot’ warfare, and sidling away in their emigrations towards the
more effeminate Bechuanas, have left their quarrels with the Kaffirs to
be settled by the English, and their wars to be paid for by English
gold.” Obviously their methods[Pg 18] of warfare were, to say the least of it,
curious. Sometimes they would drive a battalion of friendly natives or
slaves in front of them, and shoot down their enemies from behind the
shelter of these advanced guards. Occasionally they employed a method
similar to that used against the Zulus of Dingaan. According to
Livingstone’s essay, written in 1853, and not published till after his
death, “the Boers approach the Zulus to within 300 or 400 yards, then
fire, and retire to a considerable distance and reload their guns. The
Zulus pursuing have by this time come sufficiently near to receive
another discharge from the Boers, who again retire as before. This
process soon tires out the fleetest warriors, and except through an
accident, or the stumbling of a horse or its rider’s drunkenness, no
Boer ever stands a chance of falling into their hands. The Boers report
of themselves that they behaved with great bravery on the occasion.” In
fact they said that they had killed from 3000 to 5000 Zulus, with the
loss to themselves of only six men. Mr. Fisher, in his book on “The
Transvaal and the Boers,” avers that in the subsequent war with the
Griquas—who, being the bastard children of the Boers, possess many of
their peculiarities—the two opposing parties kept at such ludicrous
distances that the springboks quietly grazing on the plains between were
frequently shot instead of the combatants.

SOME DOMESTIC TRAITS

For the domestic character of the Boer we will consult the Scandinavian
traveller Sparrmann, who gives us one of the earliest sketches of the
Boer “at home.” Though the illusion that the industrious and cleanly
Hollander was merely transplanted from one soil to another is somewhat
dispelled, the picture is generally acknowledged to be a true one.

“It is hardly to be conceived,” he wrote in 1776, “with what little
trouble the Boer gets into order a field of a moderate size … so that
… he may be almost said to make the cultivation of it, for the bread
he stands in need of for himself and his family, a mere matter of
amusement…. With pleasure, but without the least trouble to himself,
he sees the herds and flocks which constitute his riches daily and
considerably increasing. These are driven to pasture and home again by a
few Hottentots or slaves, who likewise make the butter; so that it is
almost only with the milking that the farmer, together with his wife and
children, concern themselves at all. To do this business, however, he
has no occasion to rise before seven or eight o’clock in the morning….
That they (the Boers) might not put their arms and bodies out of the
easy and com[Pg 19]modious posture in which they had laid them on the couch
when they were taking their afternoon siesta, they have been known to
receive travellers lying quite still and motionless, excepting that they
have very civilly pointed out the road by moving their foot to the right
or left…. Among a set of beings so devoted to their ease, one might
naturally expect to meet with a variety of the most commodious
easy-chairs and sofas; but the truth is, that they find it much more
commodious to avoid the trouble of inventing and making them…. Nor did
the inhabitants exhibit much less simplicity and moderation; or, to
speak more properly, slovenliness and penury in their dress than in
their furniture…. The distance at which they are from the Cape may,
indeed, be some excuse for their having no other earthenware or china in
their houses but what was cracked or broken; but this, methinks, should
not prevent them being in possession of more than one or two old pewter
pots, and some few plates of the same metal; so that two people are
frequently obliged to eat out of one dish, besides using it for every
different article of food that comes upon the table. Each guest must
bring his knife with him, and for forks they frequently make use of
their fingers. The most wealthy farmer here is considered as being well
dressed in a jacket of home-made cloth, or something of the kind made of
any other coarse cloth, breeches of undressed leather, woollen
stockings, a striped waistcoat, a cotton handkerchief about his neck, a
coarse calico shirt, Hottentot field-shoes, or else leathern shoes with
brass buckles, and a coarse hat. Indeed, it is not in dress, but in the
number and thriving condition of their cattle, and chiefly in the
stoutness of their draught oxen, that these peasants vie with each
other. It is likewise by activity and manly actions, and by other
qualities that render a man fit for the married state, and the rearing
of a family, that the youth chiefly obtain the esteem of the fair
sex…. A plain close cap and a coarse cotton gown, virtue and good
housewifery, are looked upon by the fair sex as sufficient ornaments for
their persons; a flirting disposition, coquetry and paint would have
very little effect in making conquests of young men brought up in so
hardy a manner, and who have had so homely and artless an education as
the youth in this place. In short, here, if anywhere in the world, one
may lead an innocent, virtuous, and happy life.”

When viewing this study of rustic indolence, we must remember also the
conditions under which it was found. The natural fertility of the
country, the demoralising influence of slave-owning, the great heat of
the climate, were responsible for the change that so soon came over the
primitive Dutch character. Dr. Theal’s account of the Boer adds colour
to the picture given by the Swede, and shows us that a[Pg 20] certain sense of
refinement was lurking in the stolid and not too picturesque
disposition:—

“The amusements of the people were few…. Those who possessed numerous
slaves usually had three or four of them trained to the use of the
violin, the blacks being peculiarly gifted with an ear for music, and
easily learning to play by sound. They had thus the means at hand of
amusing themselves with dancing, and of entertaining visitors with
music. The branches of widely extended families were constantly
exchanging visits with each other. A farmer would make his waggon ready
regularly every year, when half the household or more would leave home,
and spend a week or two with each relative, often being absent a couple
of months. Birthday anniversaries of aged people were celebrated by the
assembling of their descendants, frequently to the number of eighty or a
hundred, at the residence of the patriarch, when a feast was prepared
for their entertainment. These different reunions were naturally
productive of great pleasure, and tended to cement the friendship and
love of those who otherwise might seldom see each other. The life led by
the people when at home was exceedingly tame. The mistress of the house,
who moved about but little, issued orders to slaves or Hottentot females
concerning the work of the household. If the weather was chilly or damp,
she rested her feet on a little box filled with live coals, while beside
her stood a coffee-kettle never empty. The head of the family usually
inspected his flocks morning and evening, and passed the remainder of
the day, like his helpmate, in the enjoyment of ease. When repose itself
became wearisome, he mounted his horse, and, with an attendant to carry
his gun, set off in pursuit of some of the wild animals with which the
country then abounded. The children had few games, and, though strong
and healthy, were far from sprightly.”

A KAFFIR KRAAL IN THE TRANSVAAL.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.

A dislike for the English seems to have been felt by the Cape Dutch very
early. This dislike later hostilities must have heightened; but as far
back as 1816 we learn that even shrewd and sensible farmers were heard
to declaim against our methods of scientific agriculture, and resist all
efforts at its introduction into their work. One of them, when informed
of the saving of time and labour that certain implements would effect,
answered with characteristic conservatism. “What,” said he, “would you
have us do? Our only concern is to fill our bellies, to get good clothes
and houses, to say to one slave, ‘Do this,’ and to another, ‘Do that,’
and to sit idle ourselves and be waited upon. As to our tillage, or
building, or planting, our forefathers did so and so and were satisfied,
and why should not we do the same? The English want us to use their
ploughs instead of our heavy wooden ones, and recommend other
implements[Pg 21] of husbandry than those we have been used to; but we like
our old things best.”

This preference for the old instead of the new has been the rock on
which friendship between Briton and Boer has split. All ideas of reform
have been met with suspicion—a kind of suspicion that, though now
confined to the Boers, was very prevalent in Europe a hundred years ago.
The present writer in extreme youth met here, in advanced England, a
grandam of ninety (the mother of a very distinguished politician), who
stated that she could “never make a friend of a man who took a bath.” It
will be seen by this how prejudice may become a matter of habit all the
world over.

Mr. Nixon tells a story of an equally conservative Boer. This worthy
went to a store at Kimberley with bundles of tobacco for sale. The Boer
carefully weighed them out with some scales of his own that were
evidently an heirloom. The storekeeper reweighed the bundles, remarking
on the antiquity of the scales, and observing that they gave short
weight. He suggested the use of the store scales as the standard for
computing the price, which was to be fixed at so much a pound. But the
Boer would not hear of it. “No,” said he, “these were my father’s
scales, and he was a wise man and was never cheated, and I won’t use
anybody else’s.” The storekeeper dryly remarked that he did not desire
to press the matter, since he found himself a gainer by £12 in
consequence of the Boer’s conservative instincts!

Many writers urge that the Boer is naturally uncivil, that he lacks the
true feeling of hospitality. The original Boer, before he was seized
with a hatred for the British, was more justly speaking lacking in
civility than what we term uncivil. He knew nothing of the art of being
obliging to his fellow-creatures, merely because they were his
fellow-creatures. He would entertain a stranger, and ask nothing in
return, but he would do so without courtesy, and would put himself out
of the way for no one. The traveller might take him or leave him,
conform to his hours and habits entirely, and, to use the vulgar phrase,
“like them or lump them” as his temperament might decide. “Africanus,”
who, in his book on “The Transvaal Boers,” writes of them with judgment
and without prejudice, gives a very true sketch, which exactly describes
the strange blend of piety, indolence, ignorance, and ferocity which we
are endeavouring to study. He says—

“The Dutch farmer is in some respects very unlike his supposed
counterpart in England. His pursuits are pastoral, not agricultural, for
in most parts of South Africa the want of irrigation renders the
cultivation of cereals impossible. His idea of a ‘farm’[Pg 22] is a tract of
at least 6000 acres, over which his flocks and herds can move from one
pasture to another. His labourers are all natives, and though, before
the advent of storekeepers, he used often to make his own clothes, boots
(veld-schoen), and harness, he looks on actual farm-work as a menial
pursuit. He was, and is, wont to pass whole days in the saddle, but, to
an English eye, his horses seem unkempt and often ill-used. The
magnificent herds of game which wandered over South Africa sixty years
ago tempted him to become a keen sportsman, but he has never shown much
‘sporting instinct,’ and the Boer is responsible for the wanton
destruction of the African fauna. The unsophisticated Boer is a curious
blend of hospitality and avarice; he would welcome the passing stranger,
and entertain him to the best of his ability, but he seized any
opportunity of making money, and the discovery that hides and skins were
marketable induced him to slaughter antelopes without the slightest
forethought. That the Boer is no longer hospitable is very largely due
to the way in which his hospitality has been abused by stray pedlars and
ne’er-do-wells of various kinds. He still retains a sincere and
primitive piety, but his belief that he is a member of the chosen people
has sometimes tended to antinomianism rather than to strict morality.
His contempt and dislike for the Kaffir has preserved the Dutch stock
from taint of black blood, and although there is a large Eur-African
population, it has sprung partly from the old days of domestic slavery,
partly from the laxity induced by the recent influx of low-class
Europeans. The Boer has a strong national feeling, and although not
exactly daring as a rule, he is perfectly ready to risk his life in what
he believes to be a good cause. He fights better behind cover than in
the open, and has a profound contempt for soldiers who expose themselves
unnecessarily. At the same time, he is capable at times of embarking on
a forlorn hope. As regards his private character, his notions of honesty
and of truth are lax. But then, from bitter experience, he assumes that
the stranger will try to cheat him, and it is not surprising that he
should consider a certain amount of finesse justifiable. He is
comparatively free from that drunkenness which is the besetting vice of
the low-class Englishman in Africa.

“Although he is incredibly ignorant, and very self-satisfied, it is
somewhat irritating to notice the way in which the town-bred Englishman
is apt to depreciate him. It is not so certain as the latter thinks that
an ignorant peasant is necessarily a lower type of man than a ‘smart’
and vicious shop-boy.

“The most unpleasing trait in the Boer character is his callousness,
amounting to brutality, in the case of natives and of animals.”

It must always be remembered that in discussing the early Boer[Pg 23] we are
discussing the peasant, and that neither his ignorance nor other
shortcomings must be viewed in comparison with the failings of persons
of a higher social grade. When the Boers left the Cape Colony they had
no knowledge of what the word education meant. The state of public
education in 1837 was deplorable. There were missionary schools and a
few desultory teachers, who had in very few cases the mental or the
moral qualities to fit them for the task of instruction. The most they
did was to teach the young idea how to read or scribble its name. For
this they received trifling fees, but doubtless these fees were no more
trifling than the services rendered. Such free schools as existed, and
were nominally supported by Government, were so indifferently managed
that they were treated with contempt, even by the farmers. So long as
they could thumb out their favourite passages of the Psalms, and sign
what few documents they required, they were content. Of their ignorance
they were even inclined to be proud. Their own notions of geography and
history seemed to them infinitely preferable to any that might be
offered, and in this state of blissful ignorance they trekked away from
Cape Colony to learn no more. When they started forth, some, it is
averred, imagined by steadily working north they would reach Jerusalem;
others, covered with faith, and armed with gospel and sjambok, sincerely
believed that eventually they would reach the Promised Land.[Pg 24]

CHAPTER II

THE ORANGE FREE STATE

The young State, almost before it was fledged, found itself engaged in
military operations with the Basutos, and an arbitrator nominated by the
British Government was appointed. But the good offices of the
commissioner were to no purpose; despite the defining of boundaries and
the laying down of landmarks, the natives broke out afresh. An
engagement followed, and the Basutos were defeated. As a consequence, a
large tract of land (the conquered territory) was annexed by the Free
State, yet even this was insufficient to quell the fury of the farmer’s
inveterate foes, and later on they broke out afresh, only to be again
overthrown. In the year 1861 they appealed for help to the Governor of
the Cape and were declared British subjects. It was then that a definite
boundary line between Basutoland and the Orange Free State was laid
down. The population of Basutoland is estimated at about 130,000. The
people are by nature warlike and energetic. Some authorities declare
them to be the most intelligent of the Kaffir tribes. They are a branch
of the Bechuana race who were formed by their chiefs, Motlune and
Moshesh, and held their country—the Switzerland of South
Africa—against both Zulu and Boer. This aggressive and ferocious tribe
was devoted to plunder, and remained well-nigh exempt from punishment in
consequence of its mountain fastnesses, which were almost impregnable.
The Basutos formed a continual menace to the Boers of the Free State
until Great Britain assumed their direct control in 1884. It is now
governed by a Resident Commissioner under the High Commissioner for
South Africa. It is divided into seven districts, and subdivided into
wards, presided over by hereditary chiefs allied to the Moshesh family.
Laws are made by proclamation of the High Commissioner, and administered
by native chiefs. Europeans are not allowed to settle there.

But to return to 1854. The relations between the two Boer States soon
became strained. Jealousy commenced and continued to simmer. Then the
Boers, alarmed lest the Government would again follow them up, and lest
their treatment of the natives should be[Pg 25] investigated and stopped,
began to discourage the presence of visitors across the Vaal. Of course
missionaries were the most unwelcome of all.

With the terms of the Sand River Convention they had soon become
impatient, and to help to an understanding of this impatience some of
the Articles of the Convention may be quoted:—

Article 1.—”The Assistant-Commissioners guarantee in the fullest
manner on the part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers
beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to
govern themselves according to their own laws, without any interference
on the part of the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be
made by the said Government on the territory beyond, to the north of the
Vaal River; with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the
British Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly
intercourse with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter
may inhabit that country, it being understood that this system of
non-interference is binding upon both parties.”

Article 2 arranges, in case of misunderstanding, for a subsequent
delimitation of boundaries.

Article 3.—”Her Majesty’s Assistant-Commissioners hereby disclaim all
alliances whatever, and with whomsoever of the coloured nations, to the
north of the Vaal River.”

Article 4.—”It is agreed that no slavery is or shall be permitted or
practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the emigrant
farmers.”

Article 5 provides for mutual facilities and liberty to traders and
travellers on both sides of the Vaal River.

Article 6 allows the “emigrant Boers” to obtain ammunition in British
colonies and possessions, “it being mutually understood that all trade
in ammunition with the native tribes is prohibited both by the British
Government and the emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River.”

Article 7 stipulates for the mutual extradition, “as far as possible,”
of criminals, and mutual access to courts of justice.

Article 8 validates, for purposes of inheritance in British
possessions, certificates of marriage issued by the proper authorities
of the emigrant farmers.

Article 9 allows free movement of all persons, except criminals and
absconding debtors, between the British and the Boer territories.

As we see, the Convention had declared that slavery would not be
practised in the Transvaal, but though the original declaration may have
been made in all good faith, the Boer by degrees, and after the lapse of
years, found it expedient to acquire native “apprentices,” who could not
change master nor task without permission.[Pg 26] They began to fear that
these natives could not be dealt with, as they were in the habit of
dealing with them, without fear of comment from such British visitors as
came across them; and they therefore attempted to block up the path of
travellers, refusing them a passage through the Republic, and in some
instances ordering the expulsion of visitors across the Vaal. About this
time one of the most gruesome of all the many massacres in which the
Boers were concerned took place. One Potgieter (not the Potgieter who
was the rival of Pretorius), in charge of a small party of thirty men,
women, and children, went forth to barter ivory unlawfully with Makapau,
a Kaffir chief. The Kaffirs, owing the Boers a grudge for many a day,
pounced on the whole party, leaving not one behind to give an account of
the awful tragedy. The chief Potgieter was flayed alive, and his skin
made into a kaross or cloak. The Boers were swift to revenge. President
Pretorius, with an army of some four hundred, set himself to track down
the assassins. The Kaffirs fled at the approach of the enemy, enclosing
themselves in a huge cave, where they hoped to escape detection. This
cave was blockaded by the Boers. Here the unhappy blacks went through
all the horrors of famine and thirst, and when their agony became
unbearable, and they sallied forth in desperation in search of water,
they were remorselessly shot down one by one. Nine hundred in all were
killed outside the cave. Within was more than double that number who had
perished in the frightful agonies of starvation. President Kruger
himself was a witness of the terrible scene, and took an active share in
his countrymen’s revenge. And this was not the first nor the last time
in which he figured conspicuously in the bloody records of his country’s
history. It was only on the occasion of the Jameson Raid that Oom Paul
awakened to sentimental qualms regarding the spilling of blood.

BLOEMFONTEIN FROM THE SOUTH.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.

THE GRONDWET

To thoroughly grasp the methods of the New South African Republic, it
may be interesting to study some of “the Articles” of a Grondwet or
Constitution, which superseded those originally adopted by the
Potchefstroom Raad. The Grondwet was started in 1857, and was framed
entirely to suit the then condition of the Boer community. The ordinary
idea of a written constitution was at that time unknown, and the meaning
of such words as “rigid” or “elastic” was, of course, beyond their
comprehension. These only developed a significance when the judicial
crisis of 1897 put a fresh face on Republican affairs.

Article 4 states that “the people desire no extension of territory,[Pg 27]
except only on principles of justice, whenever the interests of the
Republic render it advisable.”

Article 6.—”Its territory is open to every stranger who submits
himself to the laws of the Republic; all persons who happen to be within
the territory of this Republic have equal claim to protection of person
and property.”

Article 8.—”The people claim as much social freedom as possible (de
meest mogelyke maatschappelyke vryheid), and expect to attain it by
upholding their religion, fulfilling their obligations, submitting to
law, order, and justice, and maintaining the same. The people permit the
spread of the Gospel among the heathen, subject to prescribed provisions
against the practice of fraud and deception.”

Article 9.—”The people will not allow of any equality between
coloured and white inhabitants, either in Church or in State.”

Article 10.—”The people will not brook any dealing in slaves or
slavery in this Republic (will geen slavenhandel, noch slaverny in deze
Republick dulden).”

Before passing on to other sections, Article 10 calls for attention. In
spite of its terms, the Boers of that period had a practice which might
be described as sailing very near the wind. The “apprenticeship” of
children taken prisoners in the native wars was uncommonly like
slave-owning. They were called “orphans”—sometimes they had been made
orphans by the conquerors—and they were then “apprenticed” to the Boer
farmers till grown up. Though opinions differ on this point, it has been
asserted by those who know that there was a curious system of “transfer”
connected with these so-called apprentices, and that even when grown
they seldom gained their liberty save by escape.

Further articles entrust legislation to a Volksraad chosen by vote of
the burghers, providing at the same time that the people shall be
allowed three months’ grace for intimating to the Raad their views on
any prospective law, “those laws, however, which admit of no delay
excepted.” Others constitute an Executive Council, “which shall also
recommend to the Raad all officers for the public service”; others refer
to the liberty of the press; restrict membership of the Volksraad to
members of the Dutch Reformed Congregations; state that “the people do
not desire to allow amongst them any Roman Catholic Churches, nor any
other Protestant Churches except those in which such tenets of the
Christian belief are taught as are prescribed in the Heidelberg
Catechism”; and give the Volksraad the power of making treaties, save in
time of war or of imminent danger.

The members of the Raad were to be twelve in number at least, and were
to be between the ages of thirty and sixty. They must be burghers of the
Dutch Reformed Church, residents, and owners[Pg 28] of landed property in the
Republic; no native nor bastard was to be admitted to the Raad. At the
age of twenty-one every burgher, provided he belonged to the Dutch
Reformed Church, was entitled to the franchise. The election of the
President to a five years’ term of office was in the hands of the
burghers, and in this office he was to be supported by an Executive
Council consisting of the Commandant-General, two burghers qualified to
vote, and a Secretary. All the able-bodied men of the Republic, and if
necessary natives, were liable to military service.

No sooner was the Grondwet arranged than Marthinus Wessels Pretorius,
the son of the chief Andries Pretorius,—who died in 1853—was elected
President of the South African Republic. The next few years were spent
in internal dissension, consequent on the ambition of the President and
the jealousy of his political rivals. Finally Lydenburg, which had
struggled to proclaim itself an independent Republic, yielded, and
affairs relating to the government of the country seemed to be mending.
Still there were always Messrs. Kruger and Schoeman, two adventurous
politicians, who kept things lively in the councils of the State. On the
retirement of Pretorius from the Free State Presidency in 1864, and his
re-election to that of the South African Republic, Mr. Kruger was
appointed Commandant-General, and for the time being his ambitious
longings were appeased.

At that period the white population consisted of merely about thirty
thousand all told. The native community almost trebled the Dutch. Mr.
Bryce, in his “Impressions on South Africa,” describes the then state of
the affairs of the Republic as anything but satisfactory: “There were
hundreds of thousands of natives, a few of whom were living as servants
under a system of enforced labour which was sometimes hardly
distinguishable from slavery, while the vast majority were ruled by
their own chiefs, some as tributaries of the Republic, some practically
independent of it. With the latter wars were frequently raging—wars in
which shocking cruelties were perpetrated on both sides, the Kaffirs
massacring the white families whom they surprised, the Boer commandos
taking a savage vengeance upon the tribes when they captured a kraal or
mountain stronghold. It was the sight of these wars which drove Dr.
Livingstone to begin his famous explorations to the north. The farmers
were too few to reduce the natives to submission, though always able to
defeat them in the field, and, while they relished an expedition, they
had an invincible dislike to any protracted operations which cost money.
Taxes they would not pay. They lived in a sort of rude plenty among
their sheep and cattle, but they had hardly any coined money, conducting
their transactions by barter, and they were too rude to value the
benefits which government secures to a civilised people.”[Pg 29]

TRANSVAAL DISSENSIONS

Among other things an attempt was made on the part of the Boers to annex
the Orange Free State. President Pretorius crossed the Vaal in 1857, at
the head of a large commando, with the intention of seizing on the
neighbouring territory. He was doomed to disappointment, however, for
his intended raid was stopped by the timely resistance of the forewarned
President of the Orange Free State. An encounter was happily avoided
through the intervention of Mr. Kruger, and finally the two Republics
decided to mutually recognise each other’s independent States.

But the ambitions of Pretorius merely smouldered. He still kept a greedy
eye on the Orange Free State, and machinated for the union of the two
States into a gigantic whole. He therefore refused the Presidency of the
Transvaal for that of the Free State, in the hope of gathering into his
own hands the reins of both governments. He was again disappointed,
however, and in 1864 he returned and was re-elected President of the
Transvaal.

The return of Pretorius was the signal for temporary peace. During his
second Presidency, however, the little rift within the lute—the rift of
insolvency, which eventually wrecked South African independence—began
to be observable.

Mr. Nixon, who took great pains to acquaint himself with the true state
of the country, says “that the intestine disturbances and the incessant
Kaffir wars had well-nigh exhausted the finances of the Republic. The
exchequer was only tardily replenished under a loose system of taxation.
The Boers have never been good taxpayers, and no Government has been
able to enforce the proper payment of taxes due to the State. A decade
after its establishment the Republic was practically insolvent. Even as
early as 1857 the Government was compelled to issue mandaten, or
bills, wherewith to raise money to buy ammunition, and to pay its
servants. In 1866 a regular issue of paper money was sanctioned by the
Volksraad. This was followed by further issues, until, in 1867, a
Finance Commission found that there were more notes in circulation than
had been authorised by the Volksraad. Nevertheless, the financial
requirements of the State became so pressing that still more issues had
to be made, and in 1870 there were over £73,000 worth of notes in
circulation. The notes were declared a legal tender, but the Government
were unable to keep up their value by artificial methods. They fell to a
low ebb, and passed from hand to hand at a discount of about 75 per
cent, from their nominal value.”

In 1867 occurred two events which served to change the whole[Pg 30] political
and financial outlook of the Transvaal. Diamonds were discovered in the
district of Kimberley. Gold was unearthed in Lydenburg. From that hour a
procession of European miners began slowly to march north from the Cape.
A highway was opened up between the two promising districts, and diggers
of every race, pioneers bent on the propagation of modern ideas,
teachers, missionaries, and traders of all kinds, attracted by the
promise of wealth, flocked to the scene and settled themselves among the
trekkers.

ZULU DISTURBANCES

After this period, when, as stated before, small but promising
quantities of gold had been unearthed, it was no longer possible to
prevent parties of miners and speculators from trickling into the
Transvaal, to the annoyance of its inhabitants. Outside, too, there were
troubles, disputes, and skirmishes with the Zulus, and further north was
waged a fierce fight between the Boers and the chief of the Bapedi, one
Sekukuni, whose father had signed away his independence to the Boers,
and who refused in his turn to abide by the conditions of the compact.
In this fight Sekukuni was successful, and the Boers, worsted and
discontented, and believing that the Almighty was displeased with them
and with their President, Mr. Burgers, retired from the campaign. At the
same time, in the south, Cetchwayo was itching to be on the warpath, and
the general state of affairs suggested a possible annihilation of the
Transvaal by an uncontrollable horde of natives. Things went from bad to
worse, and in October 1876 Lord Carnarvon remonstrated with the
President of the South African Republic regarding the unprovoked
barbarity of the Sekukuni war, which had again been renewed. The reason
for the interference of Lord Carnarvon is to be found in the following
despatch, forwarded by Sir Henry Barkly, the then Governor of the
Cape:—

“As Von Schlickman has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not without
reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his memory, but
truth compels me to add the following extract from a letter which I have
since received from one whose name (which I communicate to your lordship
privately) forbids disbelief:—

“‘There is no longer the slightest doubt as to the murder of the two
women and the child at Steelpoort by the direct order of Schlickman, and
in the attack on the kraal near which these women were captured (or some
attack about that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all
the wounded! This is no mere report; it is[Pg 31] positively true.” And in a
subsequent letter the same writer informs me that the statements are
based on the evidence, not alone of Kaffirs, but of whites who were
present.

“‘As regards the even more serious accusations brought against Abel
Erasmus’ (the Kruger’s Post field-cornet), ‘as specially alluded to in
my letter to President Burgers, on the 28th ult.’ (viz. of treacherously
killing forty or fifty friendly natives, men and women, and carrying off
the children), I beg to invite your lordship’s attention to an account
derived, I am assured, from a respectable Boer who accompanied the
expedition, and protested against the slaughter and robbery of friendly
Kaffirs, committed by order of the above-named field-cornet.

“‘Should I not shortly receive such a reply from the President to my
letters of last month, as to convince me that his Honour has taken
effectual steps to check such outrages and punish the perpetrators, I
will enter another protest, if only for form’s sake.

“‘Seeing, however, that Aylward, who is said to boast, whether truly or
not, that he took part with his brother Fenians in the murder of the
police constable at Manchester, as well as in the attempt to blow up the
Clerkenwell prison, had succeeded Schlickman in the command of the
Steelpoort Volunteers, I question whether the Government of the South
African Republic has the power, even supposing it to have the will, to
put a stop to further atrocities on the part of this band of
“Filibusters,” as they are commonly styled in the newspapers.

“‘In my opinion it will be requisite to call in the aid of British
troops before this can be done, and I am not without hope that one of
the results of the mission on which Sir T. Shepstone is about to start,
will be a petition from persons of education and property throughout the
country for such an intervention on the part of her Majesty’s Government
as will terminate this wanton and useless bloodshed, and prevent the
recurrence of the scenes of injustice, cruelty, and rapine, which
abundant evidence is every day forthcoming to prove, have rarely ceased
to disgrace the Republics beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang
into existence.'”

Von Schlickman was an ex-Russian officer, commanding a force of
filibusters which had been engaged by the Transvaal Government, and his
men being unpaid, were allowed to reimburse themselves by cattle or land
seized from the natives.

As a natural consequence, the war assumed a character of unrestrained
ferocity. On receiving this information Lord Carnarvon wrote that his
Government “could not view passively, and with indifference, the
engagement of the Republic in foreign military[Pg 32] operations the object or
the necessity of which had not been made apparent.”

The quarrel with the chief had originated, as stated, in a Boer claim to
his land, and the Boer President in replying urged the natural right of
the Boers to all the land of the Transvaal. The chief magistrate at that
time was President Burgers, a man who, if report may be believed, was
far superior to those with whom he associated. This man, a Cape
Dutchman, and sometime minister of the Reformed Church, had been called
to the onerous post of President of the South African Republic in 1872.
He was bent on the advancement of his nation, and his intelligence was
remarkable. He was a man of sterling character, fanciful, enthusiastic,
an idealist even, with a horror of slaveholding, and a hankering for the
pure life of the humanist. In a measure he was too much in advance of
the people with whom he was connected. To them he was something of a
Freethinker, a man too ready to judge for himself while the Gospel was
at hand to judge for him. Such liberal views were not in accord with
peasant limitations. His desire to raise his country to the level of
other nations, to bring commerce and railways within touch of his
people, savoured of heresy. The appreciation for civilisation was so
strong within him that he is even said to have carried it to extremes,
to have favoured the prompt and regular payment of taxes, and to have
executed an elaborate design for an international coat-of-arms! Now this
reformer, like most reformers, was not appreciated among his own people.
He had no police to support him, no means of putting pressure on those
who should have served his cause. The Conservative party, with Mr.
Kruger at their head, did their best to circumvent every innovation and
to save themselves and the country from what they believed to be the
dangerous inorthodoxy of their President. Mr. Burgers in his posthumous
“Vindication” outlines some strange hints regarding the character of his
compatriots, which outlines may now be readily filled in by personal
experience. He therein asserts that had he chosen to publish to the
world a faithful description of the Transvaal Boers, they would have
forfeited the appreciation gained from the Liberal party in Europe. Mr.
Burgers’ reserve is much to be regretted, as a few sidelights thrown on
the Boer character at that period might have helped to educate the
Liberal party of whom he spoke, and thereby saved much of the
vacillation of policy for which the country now has to suffer.

SERGEANT-MAJOR of the 2nd DRAGOONS.

(ROYAL SCOTS GREYS.)

Photo by Gregory & Co., London.

[Pg 33]

THE POLITICAL WEB

Before going further, we must examine the situation between the Governor
of the Cape, the President of the South African Republic, and the Home
Government.

When we look back at Boer history, we find the details of annexation and
restoration repeating themselves with the consistency of the chorus of a
nursery rhyme. What the Government of the Cape accomplished the
Government at home proceeded promptly to undo, till the problems
connected with Boer liberty and British rights became so tangled and so
intricate that they could only be solved by the sword.

It may be remembered that in 1854 Sir George Grey, the then Governor of
the Cape, applied himself to the puzzle. He started with the best hopes.
He saw before him a vista of labour, of argument, of contradiction, but
the tangles, he believed, could eventually be smoothed out. In the
anxiety to avoid trouble and responsibility, and possibly in an amiable
desire to conciliate the parties at home, the Imperial Government had
conceded territories and alienated subjects without having made an
effort to discover the wishes of the people, or to try a free form of
government suited to South Africa. He was in favour of a Federal Union
wherein the separate Colonies and States, each with its local government
and legislature, should be combined under one general representative
legislature, led by a responsible Ministry, specially charged with the
duty of providing for common defence. This plan of Federal Union seemed
to appeal to the Burghers of the Orange Free State, for the Volksraad
decided that “a union of alliance with the Cape Colony, either on the
plan of federation or otherwise, is desirable.” Sir George Grey was not
permitted to pursue his policy, for the British Government decided
against the resumption of British sovereignty over the Orange Free
State. The same forward and backward movement, the same sort of
political chasé et croisé, was again carried on from 1876 and 1877 to
1881. It was decided that a Federal Union should be created between such
African Colonies as were willing to join. To further this scheme Sir
Bartle Frere, after a long and arduous career in India, was appointed
Governor and High Commissioner by Lord Carnarvon, the then Colonial
Secretary. But Sir Bartle was too late. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who
had been sent out to the Transvaal on Special Commission to confer with
the President on the question of Confederation, had already annexed the
Transvaal. The reasons for the annexation were many and excellent.
Firstly, the Trans[Pg 34]vaal Republic, vulgarly speaking, was out at elbows.
It was bankrupt, helpless, languishing. The sorry sum of 12s. 6d.
represented the entire wealth of the Treasury. The Zulu chief Cetchwayo
was waiting to “eat up” the Boers, and the Boers were unceasing in their
efforts to encroach on Zulu territory. But the deplorable state of
affairs is better described by quoting Sir T. Shepstone’s letter on the
subject.

“It was patent to every observer,” writes Sir T. Shepstone, “that the
Government (of the Transvaal) was powerless to control either its white
citizens or its native subjects; that it was incapable of enforcing its
laws or of collecting its taxes; that the Treasury was empty; that the
salaries of officials had been and are months in arrear; that sums
payable for the ordinary and necessary expenditure of government cannot
be had, and that such services as postal contracts were long and
hopelessly overdue; that the white inhabitants had become split into
factions; that the large native populations within the boundaries of the
State ignore its authority and laws; and that the powerful Zulu king,
Cetchwayo, is anxious to seize upon the first opportunity of attacking a
country the conduct of whose warriors has convinced him that it can be
easily conquered by his clamouring regiments.” He again writes: “I think
it necessary to explain, more at length than I was able to do in my last
despatch, the circumstances which seem to me to forbid all hope that the
Transvaal Republic is capable of maintaining the show even of
independent existence any longer, which induced me to consider it my
duty to assume this position in my communications with the President and
Executive Council, and which have convinced me that, if I were to leave
the country in its present condition, I should but expose the
inhabitants to anarchy among themselves, and to attack from the natives,
that would prove not only fatal to the Republic, but in the highest
degree dangerous to her Majesty’s possessions and subjects in South
Africa.”

The proclamation of the annexation of the Transvaal was issued on the
12th of April 1876, and on the previous day Sir T. Shepstone wrote:
“There will be a protest against my act of annexation issued by the
Government, but they will at the same time call upon the people to
submit quietly, pending the issue. You need not be disquieted by such
action, because it is taken merely to save appearances, and the members
of the Government from the violence of a faction that seems for years to
have held Pretoria in terror when any act of the Government displeased
it. You will better understand this when I tell you privately that the
President has from the first fully acquiesced in the necessity for the
change, and that most of the members of the Government have expressed
themselves[Pg 35] anxious for it—but none of them have had the courage openly
to express their opinions, so I have had to act apparently against them,
and this I felt bound to do, knowing the state and danger of the
country, and that three-fourths of the people will be thankful for the
change when once it is made.”

As a matter of fact the annexation was received with rejoicing all over
the country. “God save the Queen” was sung, and special thanksgiving
services were held in many of the churches. The Union Jack was run up,
the Republican flag hauled down without a dissentient voice. The arrival
of British troops—the first battalion of the 13th Regiment—was hailed
with curiosity and pleasure, the Boers with their women and children
turning out to meet it and hear the band play. The financial effects of
the new departure were magical. Credit and commerce were at once
restored. Valueless railway bonds rose to par, and the price of landed
property was nearly doubled. On the Queen’s birthday, the first after
the annexation, the 24th of May 1877, the native chiefs were invited to
attend, and the Union Jack was formally hoisted to the strains of the
National Anthem. This same flag was within a few years ignobly hauled
down during the signing of the Convention at Pretoria, and formally
buried by a party of Englishmen and loyal natives. But for the time
being all seemed pleased with the new state of affairs. As Mr. Haggard
says, it is difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of
the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule and the quiet
acquiescence of the remainder at this time, with the decidedly
antagonistic attitude subsequently assumed. His description of the
situation in “The Last Boer War” seems to be more near the truth than
any forthcoming: “The Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position
of a man with a knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one
stronger than he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly
accepts, but afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate.
In the same way the inhabitants of the South African Republic were in
the time of need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the
recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts had
been paid and their enemies had been defeated, they began to think that
they would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own
account with a clean sheet.”

In the management of affairs it appears that Mr. Burgers began to set an
example of the policy which Mr. Kruger has since followed: the policy of
trying to sit on either side of the fence. Mr. Kruger has struggled more
and more violently to accomplish this feat as the years advance and he
advances in years. He has tried to grab the advantages attendant upon
the possession of gold mines and[Pg 36] schemed to acquire a great financial
status, and yet at the same time to keep up his affectation of piety and
to maintain his pristine condition of bucolic irresponsibility. Brought
face to face with Sir T. Shepstone’s scheme for annexation, Mr. Burger
privately encouraged the proposed action of the Government—he and his
colleagues even stipulating for pension and office—while publicly he
lifted up his protest against the innovation.

The Boer, with his usual craft, had decided that the British Government
should set him financially on his feet, which feet he meant promptly to
use for running away from his responsibilities. Some declare that the
policy of Sir T. Shepstone was premature, that he should have waited
until the Boer had soaked further in the slough of insolvency into which
he was fast sinking. But Sekukuni was threatening, and on the
south-eastern frontier Cetchwayo, with a force some thirty thousand
strong, was waiting his opportunity. The promise of the future was a
general holocaust, in which Boer men, women, and children, farms and
flocks would be annihilated. Sir T. Shepstone, had he been other than a
Briton, might have stayed his hand and waited till the Boers were
effectually swept away, but being a Briton he acted as such, doubtless
arguing that,

THE WEB THICKENING

It must be remembered that between the Zulus and the Boers no boundary
line had ever been fixed, and that for over a dozen years the Zulu
chiefs had repeatedly implored the British Governor in Natal for advice
and help in their dealings with these aggressors. It had been part of
the Dutch policy—if policy it may be called—to force the Zulu
gradually to edge further and further from the rich pasture lands
sloping eastward of the Drakensberg Mountains, and spreading to right
and left into the north and west of Zululand. Little notice had been
taken of their petitions, and the Zulus had determined to take the law
into their own hands. Cetchwayo, therefore, when the news of our
annexation of the Transvaal reached him, was like a wild beast baulked
of its prey. He was anxious for an occasion for his young warriors “to
wash their spears” in the gore of his enemies, and was naturally
disappointed to find them under the protection of the white man. The
Natal Government attempted to soothe him—to promote peace. He remained
sullen and simmered. He vented his spleen by putting several young[Pg 37]
women to death for having refused to marry his soldiers. On being
remonstrated with by the Natal Government, he expressed himself with
engaging candour. His own words, without comment, describe the character
with which we had to deal.

“Did I ever tell Mr. Shepstone,” his Majesty cried, “that I would not
kill? Did Mr. Shepstone tell the white people I made such an
arrangement? Because if he did he deceived them. I do kill; but I do not
consider that I have done anything yet in the way of killing. Why do the
white people start at nothing? I have not yet begun. I have yet to kill.
It is the custom of our nation, and I will not depart from it. Why does
the Governor of Natal speak to me about my laws? I shall not agree to
any laws or rules from Natal, and by so doing throw the large kraal
which I govern into the water. My people will not listen unless they are
killed, and while wishing to be friends with the English I do not agree
to give my people over to be governed by laws sent to me by them. Have I
not asked the English to allow me to wash my spears since the death of
my father, Upandi, and they have kept playing with me all the time,
treating me as a child?” … A good deal more followed in this strain.
Since his accession the gallant Cetchwayo had decided to “wash his
spears” in the blood of his neighbours, and whatever the British might
have to say in the matter, wash them he would. It was obvious,
therefore, that a ruffian of this kind, backed by a bloodthirsty
following, was a permanent danger to our Colony of Natal and to its
white inhabitants. Something must be done to remove the disquiet caused
by the utterances of the savage. Sir Henry Bulwer (the Governor of
Natal)—to conciliate the king and to allay his fears lest his
territory, like that of the Boers, should be annexed—proposed that a
commission should investigate the rival claims of Boers and Zulus on
border questions, and settle them by arbitration. But what Sir H. Bulwer
proposed Sir Bartle Frere, High Commissioner in South Africa,
disapproved. He felt that Cetchwayo and his host would be a standing
menace to the borders of Natal. Nevertheless he agreed to a discussion
of the vexed boundary question between Boer and Zulu, in which the
commissioners declared unanimously against the claims of the former.
Certain land only to west of the Blood River, held by the Boers and
unchallenged by the Zulus, was confirmed to the Dutch settlers in their
occupation of the same. But to this decision Sir Bartle Frere considered
it expedient to add some saving clauses. These demanded, first, that
Cetchwayo should adhere to the guarantees he had given and not permit
indiscriminate shedding of blood; second, that he should institute from
his existing military system the form of tribal quotas; third, that he
should accept the presence of a British[Pg 38] Resident; fourth, that he
should protect the missionaries and their converts; and lastly, that he
should surrender certain criminals and pay certain fines. His Zulu
Majesty was given thirty days to consider the subject. Instead of
considering he flouted it. The result was war.

THE ZULU WAR

According to the opinion of Sir Bartle Frere there was, and for a long
time had been, a growing desire on the part of the great chiefs to make
this war into a simultaneous rising of Kaffirdom against white
civilisation. A spirit of mutiny had been in the air since the terrible
events in India in 1857, and there was a general conviction among the
native tribes that the authority of Great Britain would eventually be
overthrown. Now the most powerful of all the native tribes in South
Africa were the Zulus, whose military organisation had long been
celebrated, and who had earned a great reputation since the days of
Gaika, and more especially in the time that followed when Chaka, who was
a born warrior, brought the gigantic army into a state of marvellous
efficiency.

A few words regarding the career of this great chieftain may be found
interesting, for to him is accorded the credit of the indubitably
warlike and brave disposition of his countrymen. This man, who has been
at times called the Attila and the Napoleon of South Africa, was born in
1783. He became chief officer to Dingiswayo, a man of remarkable
ability, who studied European military systems and modelled on their
principle a highly efficient army. Chaka, heir to a chieftainship of the
Amazulu tribe (the Zulus proper), took the fancy of Dingiswayo, who
elevated him first to a post of high command, and eventually to the
vacant Zulu chieftainship. On the death in battle of Dingiswayo, Chaka
assumed the command of both tribes, to which he gave his name. The
already excellent army he proceeded to improve till it became one of the
most efficient military organisations ever originated in an uncivilised
country. The whole kingdom was ordered on a military footing, and
expanded so wondrously that the original two tribes at first commanded
by Chaka became an hundred, each tribe having been defeated in warfare
and incorporated in the Zulu nationality. His policy, unlike that of
Cetchwayo later on, was not to destroy but to subdue, and thus he soon
ruled with undisputed sway over a complete empire covering the desolated
regions of Natal, Zululand, and the modern Boer States. His methods of
military training were entirely Spartan; his discipline was a discipline
of iron. Disobedience was met with the[Pg 39] penalty of death. To tread out a
roaring bush-fire, or capture alive a wild beast, were some of the tasks
imposed as daily training for his would-be warriors. An order was an
order, and this, however dangerous or seemingly impossible, had to be
obeyed by individual or regiment on pain of the most horrible forms of
death. It may easily be imagined that this stern regime was calculated
to create a military following of the most brave and adventurous order.
Naturally enough, all the other Kaffir tribes looked to the Zulus as
their leaders and champions in the contest. Captain Hamilton Parr tells
a tale of an old Galeka warrior who said to a native magistrate, “Yes,
you have beaten us—you have beaten us well; but there,” pointing
eastward, “there are the Amazulu warriors. Can you beat them? They say
not. Go and try. Don’t trouble any more about us, but go and beat them
and we shall be quiet enough.” This anecdote serves to describe the
general sentiment of disdain for British authority which Sir Bartle
Frere detected almost immediately after his arrival among the natives,
and to account in a measure for what has been declared to be his
high-handed policy. He was convinced that we could never expect peace
among the chiefs until we had satisfied them who was master. A lesson
was necessary to show that the British Government could govern and meant
to govern, and that lesson he felt must be taught sooner or later. For a
long time Cetchwayo had been instigating rebellion and preparing for
war. As may be seen from Lord Carnarvon’s letter of the 24th of January
1878 to Sir Bartle Frere, the Government was fully conscious of the
existing necessity to protect the Transvaal and to maintain British
prestige in South Africa. The despatch runs: “It seems certain that the
Zulu king has derived from his messengers the unfortunate idea that the
Kaffirs are able to cope with the Colony on more than equal terms, and
this belief has, as was inevitable, produced a very threatening change
in his language and conduct towards the Transvaal Government. It is only
too probable that a savage chief such as Cetchwayo, supported by a
powerful army already excited by the recent successes of a neighbouring
tribe over the late Government of the Transvaal, may now become fired
with the idea of victory over her Majesty’s forces, and that a
deliberate attempt upon her Majesty’s territories may ensue. Should this
unfortunately happen, you must understand that at whatever sacrifice it
is imperatively necessary that her Majesty’s forces in Natal and the
Transvaal must be reinforced by the immediate despatch of the military
and naval contingents now operating in the Cape, or such portion of them
as may be required. This is necessary not only for the safety of the
Transvaal, for the defence of which her Majesty’s Government are
immediately concerned,[Pg 40] but also in the interest of the Cape, since a
defeat of the Zulu king would act more powerfully than any other means
in disheartening the native races of South Africa.”

On this subject Sir H. Bulwer wrote: “There has been for the last eight
or nine months a danger of collision with the Zulus at any moment.” And
in November 1878 he said: “The system of government in the Zulu country
is so bad that any improvement seems hopeless. We should, if necessary,
be justified in deposing Cetchwayo.”

Consequently, Sir Bartle Frere was not surprised when all efforts to
reduce Cetchwayo to yield to British demand failed. As time went by it
became clear that enforcement of these demands must be placed in the
hands of Lord Chelmsford and the military authorities, and accordingly,
on the 10th of January 1879, the Commander-in-Chief of the forces of
South Africa crossed the frontier.

As the frontier extended for some two hundred miles, to assume a purely
defensive attitude would have been impossible. Our forces so placed
would not have been sufficiently strong to resist an attack made at
their own time and place by a horde of some ten to twenty thousand
Zulus. Lord Chelmsford had no alternative, therefore, but to invade
Zululand.

ISANDLWANA

The force under Lord Chelmsford’s command was divided into four columns.
These were composed partly of British soldiers, partly of Colonists, and
partly of blacks. The first column, under Colonel Pearson, crossed the
Lower Tugela; the second, under Lieutenant-Colonel Durnford, R.E.,
consisting of native troops and Natal Volunteers, was to act in concert
with column three; the third, under Colonel Glyn—but directed by the
General, who assumed all responsibility—crossed the Buffalo River; and
the fourth, under Colonel Evelyn Wood, entered Zululand from near
Newcastle on the north-west. The plan was for the four columns to
converge upon Ulundi, in the neighbourhood of the king’s kraal, where
fighting might be expected to begin.

Map of Zululand and adjoining Portions of Natal.

The crossing of the Buffalo River was effected without difficulty or
resistance, and ten days after the central column formed a camp at the
foot of the hill Isandlwana (the Little Hand). On the morning of the
22nd the Commander-in-Chief advanced at daybreak, for the purpose of
attacking a kraal some miles distant. The camp at Isandlwana was left in
charge of a force of some eight hundred mixed troops—regulars,
volunteers, and natives. Strict orders to[Pg 41] defend and not to leave the
camp were given, but in spite of these orders portions of the force
became detached. Suddenly, unobserved by them, there appeared a dense
impi of some twenty thousand Zulus. The savage horde rushed shouting
upon the small British detachments, rushed with the swiftness of
cavalry, attacked them before they could unite, and swooping down with
tremendous velocity, seized the camp and separated the British troops
from their reserves of ammunition. In face of this warrior multitude our
troops were defenceless. A few moments of wild despairing energy, a
hand-to-hand struggle for life between the white man and the
bloodthirsty savage, groans of wounded and yells of victory, and all was
over. Of the six companies of the 24th, consisting of more than half the
infantry engaged, but six souls escaped. The rest died where they fell,
with no kindly hand to give them succour, no British voice to breathe a
burial prayer. But some before they dropped managed to cut their way
through the ring of Zulu spears. Two gallant fellows, Lieutenants
Melvill and Coghill, almost succeeded in saving the colours of the first
battalion of the 24th Regiment. They made a bold rush, but merely
reached the Natal bank of the Buffalo to be struck down. The colours,
wrapped[Pg 42] round Melvill’s body, were discovered in the river some days
afterwards.

The Zulu plan of fighting, in this case so successful, is curious. The
formation of their attacks represents the figure of a beast with horns,
chest, and loins. While making a feint with one horn, the other,
unperceived in long grass or bush, swoops round and closes in on the
enemy. The chest then advances to attack. The loins are kept at a
distance, and simply join in pursuit.

The news of the disaster spread fast. Sir Bartle Frere, on the morning
of the 24th, was awakened by the arrival of two almost distraught and
wholly unintelligible messengers. Their report, when it could be at last
comprehended, seemed too horrible for belief. That they had escaped some
terrible ordeal was evident; that they were members of the company of
naval volunteers that formed part of the General’s army, their uniform
proclaimed. But of the General they could say nothing—he might be dead,
he might be missing—all they knew was of their own miraculous escape
from a scene of slaughter. Colonel Pulleine they declared was dead, but
further news had to be awaited with anxious hearts.

Meanwhile Lord Chelmsford had heard the horrible news. The camp had been
seen in the possession of the Zulus. Worn and weary with heavy marching
in a baking sun, he and his troops began to retreat. At nightfall,
thoroughly jaded, they returned to a grim scene. All around lay the
still silent dead—the corpses of the comrades they had parted with but
a few hours before. There, amid the pathetic wreckage, were they forced
to lay them down to rest!

Fortunately the Zulus, having plundered the camp, had made off, and the
British force was able the next day to proceed to the relief of Rorke’s
Drift. At Rorke’s Drift the now world-celebrated defence of Lieutenant
Bromhead, of the 24th, and Lieutenant Chard, R.E., took place. These
young officers had been left with one hundred and four soldiers to take
charge of a small depôt of provisions and an hospital, and to keep open
the communication with Natal. Some hours after the disaster of
Isandlwana their post was attacked by Dabulamanzi (brother of Cetchwayo)
and over three thousand of his finest warriors. The little garrison had
made for themselves a laager of sacks of maize and biscuit-boxes, and
behind these they defended themselves so stubbornly and so heroically
throughout the night of the 23rd, that the Zulu chieftain, discomfited
and harassed, eventually retired. For their magnificent pluck the two
young officers received the Victoria Cross. Their action had saved Natal
from invasion by the enemy. Of the little garrison seventeen fell and
ten were wounded. The loss of the Zulus was about three hundred.

THE DEFENCE OF RORKE’S DRIFT, 22nd to 23rd JANUARY 1879.

Painted by Alphonse de Neuville, Etched by L. Flameng.

Reproduced by special arrangement with the Fine Art Society, London.

[Pg 43]

Colonel Pearson’s column, as we said, crossed the Lower Tugela near the
sea, with the intention of joining the other columns at Ulundi. On the
way thither he was attacked by a Zulu force at Inyesani. This force,
though it more than doubled the strength of his own, he drove back with
heavy loss, and marched to the Norwegian Mission station, Eshowe. On his
arrival there on the 23rd of January, he learnt the awful news of the
disaster, and instantly sent his cavalry back to Natal, fortified his
station, and waited there the arrival of reinforcements.

The third column, commanded by Colonel Evelyn Wood (consisting of 1700
British soldiers, 50 farmers under Commandant Pieter Uys, and some 300
blacks), reached Kambula in safety, and fortified a post there. Colonel
Wood harassed the enemy by frequent sallies, however, and on one
occasion the attack on the Zlobane Mountain lost about ninety-six of his
men. Among these were Colonel Weatherley, his young son, and Commandant
Uys. The following day the British laager was attacked by a horde of
Zulus, who were routed. In this engagement Colonel Wood, Colonel Buller,
and Captain Woodgate especially distinguished themselves.

Lord Chelmsford, with a force of soldiers and sailors, marched in April
from Natal to the relief of Colonel Pearson at Eshowe. He arrived there
in safety, after having encountered and beaten back the Zulus at
Ginginlova: yet it was not until the 4th of July that the troops
eventually reached Ulundi, where the final battle and victory took
place. But of this later.

AFFAIRS AT HOME

Two days after the arrival of the news of the disaster at Isandlwana,
Parliament met. The reverse in Zululand naturally engrossed all
thoughts. Questions innumerable were addressed to Government, as to the
strength of reinforcements to be sent out—as to the further necessity
for war at all—as to the so-called high-handed action of Sir Bartle
Frere, and the so-called blunders of Lord Chelmsford. Scapegoats were
wanted, and, as a natural consequence, the two most energetic and
hard-worked of the Queen’s servants were attacked.

A political pitched battle was imminent. The Ministers declined to
withdraw their confidence from the Lord High Commissioner, though they
passed on him censure for his hasty and independent proceedings. That
the members of Government had a high appreciation of his great
experience, ability, and energy was apparent, for they declared they had
“no desire to withdraw in the present crisis[Pg 44] of affairs the confidence
hitherto reposed in him, the continuance of which was now more than ever
needed to conduct our difficulties in South Africa to a successful
termination.” On the 19th of March 1879 the Secretary of the Colonies
wrote to Sir Bartle Frere, to the effect that Ministers were unable to
find, on the documents placed before them, “that evidence of urgent
necessity for immediate action which alone would justify him in taking,
without their full knowledge and sanction, a course almost certain to
result in a war.”

The day for discussion of South African affairs in the Upper House
arrived.

Lord Lansdowne moved, on the 11th of March, “That this House, while
willing to support her Majesty’s Government in all necessary measures
for defending the possessions of her Majesty in South Africa, regrets
that the ultimatum, which was calculated to produce immediate war,
should have been presented to the Zulu king without authority from the
responsible advisers of the Crown, and that an offensive war should have
been commenced without imperative and pressing necessity or adequate
preparation; and the House regrets that, after the censure passed upon
the High Commissioner by her Majesty’s Government, in the despatch of
March 19, 1879, the conduct of affairs in South Africa should be
retained in his hands.”

A keen debate ensued. The Opposition clamoured for the recall of Sir
Bartle Frere, as the example of independent action set by him might be
followed by other and more distant representatives of the Crown. The war
was ascribed to Lord Carnarvon’s impatience for South African
confederation and his “incurable greed” for extending the limits of the
Colonies, and the annexation of the Transvaal was declared to be a
mistake, unless the Government was prepared to send out a large military
force to South Africa.

The Government combated these arguments. They denied they had censured
Sir Bartle Frere, and stated that they had passed no opinion on his
policy, but merely asserted as a principle that “Her Majesty’s advisers,
and they only, must decide the grave issues of peace and war.”

It was argued that war with Cetchwayo was inevitable sooner or later,
and that the Lord High Commissioner had thought it advisable to be
prompt in the matter. His conduct, it was true, had not the entire
approval of the Ministry, but every one knew it was unwise to change
horses in crossing a stream, and his action had not been such as to
outweigh the many considerations which required the continuance of his
service in South Africa.

Lord Beaconsfield, addressing the House, defended Sir Bartle Frere, and
expressed opinions on the policy of confederation as opposed to that of
annexation, opinions which afford so much[Pg 45] instruction in regard to our
relations with the Transvaal that they are best repeated in their
entirety.

“I generally find,” he said, “there is one advantage at the end of a
debate, besides the relief which is afforded by its termination, and
that is that both sides of the House seem pretty well agreed as to the
particular point that really is at issue; but the rich humour of the
noble duke (Duke of Somerset) has again diverted us from the
consideration of the motion really before the House. If the noble duke
and his friends were desirous of knowing what was the policy which her
Majesty’s Government were prepared generally to pursue in South Africa,
if they were prepared to challenge the policy of Sir Bartle Frere in all
its details, I should have thought they would have produced a very
different motion from that which is now lying on your lordships’ table;
for that is a motion of a most limited character, and, according to the
strict rules of parliamentary discussion, precludes you from most of the
subjects which have lately been introduced to our consideration, and
which principally have emanated from noble lords opposite. We have not
been summoned here to-day to consider the policy of the acquisition of
the Transvaal. These are subjects on which I am sure the Government
would be prepared to address your lordships, if their conduct were
clearly and fairly impugned. And with regard to the annexation of the
province, which has certainly very much filled the mouths of men of
late, I can easily conceive that that would have been a subject for fair
discussion in this House, and we should have heard, as we have heard
to-night, though in a manner somewhat unexpected, from the nature of the
resolution before us, from the noble lord who was recently the Secretary
of State for the Colonies, the principal reasons which induced the
Government to sanction that policy—a policy which I believe can be
defended, but which has not been impugned to-night in any formal manner.

“What has been impugned to-night is the conduct of the Government in
sanctioning, not the policy of Sir Bartle Frere, but his taking a most
important step without consulting them, which on such subjects is the
usual practice with all Governments. But the noble lord opposite who
introduced the subject does not even impugn the policy of the Lord High
Commissioner; and it was left to the noble duke who has just addressed
us, and who ought to have brought forward this question if his views are
so strongly entertained by him on the matter, not in supporting a
resolution such as now lies on your lordships’ table, but one which
would have involved a discussion of the policy of the Government and
that of the high officer who is particularly interested in it.

“My noble friend, the noble marquis (Lord Salisbury), who[Pg 46] very recently
addressed the House, touched the real question which is before us, and
it is a very important question, although it is not of the expansive
character of the one which would have been justified by the comments of
the noble lords opposite. What we have to decide to-night is
this—whether her Majesty’s Government shall have the power of
recommending to the sovereign the employment of a high officer to fulfil
duties of the utmost importance, or whether that exercise of the
prerogative, on their advice, shall be successfully impugned, and that
appointment superseded by noble lords opposite. That course is perfectly
constitutional, if they are prepared to take the consequences. But let
it be understood what the issue is. It is this—that a censure upon the
Government is called for, because they have selected the individual who,
on the whole, they think is the best qualified successfully to fulfil
the duties of High Commissioner. The noble lords opposite made that
proposition, and if they succeed they will succeed in that which has
hitherto been considered one of the most difficult tasks of the
executive Government; that is to say, they will supersede the individual
whom the sovereign, in the exercise of her prerogative, under the advice
of her Ministers, has selected for an important post. I cannot agree in
the general remark made by the noble duke, that because an individual
has committed an error, and even a considerable error, for that reason,
without any reference either to his past services or his present
qualifications, immediately a change should be recommended, and he
should be recalled from the scene of his duties.

“I remember myself a case not altogether different from the present
one,” continued Lord Beaconsfield, alluding to Sir James Hudson, who,
when Minister at Turin, had been charged with having expressed himself
unguardedly upon the subject of Italian nationality. “It happened some
years ago, when I was in the other House. Then a very high official—a
diplomatist of great eminence, a member of the Liberal party—had
committed what was deemed a great indiscretion by several members of his
own party; and the Government were asked in a formal manner, by a
Liberal member, whether that distinguished diplomatist had been in
consequence recalled. But the person who was then responsible for the
conduct of public affairs in that House—the humble individual who is
now addressing your lordships, made this answer, with the full
concurrence of his colleagues—denied that that distinguished
diplomatist was recalled, and said that great services are not
cancelled by one act or one single error however it may be regretted at
the moment. That is what I said then, with regard to Sir James Hudson,
and what I say now with regard to Sir Bartle[Pg 47] Frere. But I do not wish
to rest on that. I confess that, so keen is my sense of responsibility,
and that of my colleagues, and I am sure also that of noble lords
opposite, that we would not allow our decisions in such matters to be
unduly influenced by personal considerations of any kind. What we had to
determine is this, Was it wise that such an act on the part of Sir
Bartle Frere as, in fact, commencing war without consulting the
Government at home, and without their sanction, should be passed
unnoticed? Ought it not to be noticed in a manner which should convey to
that eminent person a clear conviction of the feelings of her Majesty’s
Government; and at the same time was it not their duty to consider, were
he superseded, whether they could place in his position an individual
equally qualified to fulfil the great duties and responsibilities
resting on him? That is what we had to consider. We considered it
entirely with reference to the public interest, and the public interest
alone; and we arrived at the conviction that on the whole the retention
of Sir Bartle Frere in that position was our duty, notwithstanding the
inconvenient observations and criticisms to which we were, of course,
conscious it might subject us. And, that being our conviction, we have
acted upon it. It is a very easy thing for a Government to make a
scapegoat; but that is conduct which I hope no gentleman on this side,
and I believe no gentleman sitting opposite, would easily adopt. If Sir
Bartle Frere had been recalled—if he had been recalled in deference to
the panic, the thoughtless panic of the hour, in deference to those who
have no responsibility in the matter, and who have not weighed well and
deeply investigated all the circumstances and all the arguments which
can be brought forward, and which must be appealed to to influence our
opinions on such questions—no doubt a certain degree of odium might
have been diverted from the heads of her Majesty’s Ministers, and the
world would have been delighted, as it always is, to find a victim. That
was not the course which we pursued, and it is one which I trust no
British Government ever will pursue. We had but one object in view, and
that was to take care that at this most critical period the affairs of
her Majesty in South Africa should be directed by one not only qualified
to direct them, but who was superior to any other individual whom we
could have selected for that purpose. The sole question that we really
have to decide to-night is, Was it the duty of her Majesty’s Government
to recall Sir Bartle Frere in consequence of his having declared war
without our consent? We did not think it our duty to take that course,
and we do not think it our duty to take that course now. Whether we are
right in the determination at which we have arrived is the sole question
which the House has to determine upon the motion before it.[Pg 48]

“The noble duke opposite (the Duke of Somerset) has told us that he
should not be contented without being made acquainted with the whole
policy which her Majesty’s Government are prepared to pursue in South
Africa. If the noble duke will introduce that subject we shall be happy
to discuss it with him. No one could introduce it in a more interesting,
and, indeed, in a more entertaining manner than the noble duke, who
possesses that sarcastic faculty that so well qualifies him to express
his opinion on such a matter. I think, however, that we ought to have
had rather longer notice before we were called upon to discuss so large
a theme, which has now been brought suddenly before us. If the noble
marquis who introduced this subject had given us notice of a motion of
this character, we should not have hesitated for a moment to meet it. I
have, however, no desire to avoid discussing the subject of our future
policy in South Africa, even on so general a notice as we have in
reference to it from the noble duke. Sir Bartle Frere was selected by
the noble lord (Lord Carnarvon), who formerly occupied the position of
Secretary to the Colonies, chiefly to secure one great end—namely, to
carry out that policy of confederation in South Africa which the noble
lord had successfully carried out on a previous occasion with regard to
the North American Colonies.

“If there is any policy which, in my mind, is opposed to the policy of
annexation, it is that of confederation. By pursuing the policy of
confederation we bind States together, we consolidate their resources,
and we enable them to establish a strong frontier; and where we have a
strong frontier, that is the best security against annexation. I myself
regard a policy of annexation with great distrust. I believe that the
reasons of State which induced us to annex the Transvaal were not, on
the whole, perfectly sound. But what were the circumstances under which
that annexation was effected? The Transvaal was a territory which was no
longer defended by its occupiers. The noble lord opposite (Lord
Kimberley), who formerly had the Colonies under his management, spoke of
the conduct of Sir Theophilus Shepstone as though he had not taken due
precautions to effect the annexation of that province, and said that he
was not justified in concealing that he had not successfully consummated
his object. The noble lord said he had not assembled troops enough in
the province to carry out properly the policy of annexation. But Sir
Theophilus Shepstone particularly refers to the very fact to show, that
so unanimous and so united was the sentiment in the province in favour
of annexation, that it was unnecessary to send any large force there to
bring it about. The annexation of that province was a necessity—a
geographical necessity.“

Sir HENRY BARTLE FRERE, Bart.

Photo by Maull & Fox. London.

[Pg 49]

TOWARDS ULUNDI

It may be remembered that Lord Chelmsford’s original idea had been for
Colonel Pearson’s column to march from Eshowe to the chief’s kraal at
Ulundi. In consequence of the disaster, however, Colonel Pearson decided
to remain where he was. He constructed a fort for the protection of the
garrison against an army of some 20,000 Zulus lying in wait between
Eshowe and Tugela. On the 30th of January all the troops came within
this embryo fort, and as tents were forbidden, officers and men had to
make the best of what shelter the waggons afforded. The troops spent the
time in completing the fort and cutting roads, and early in February
excellent defences were completed. Though in hourly expectation of
attack they seem to have kept up their spirits, for an officer in Eshowe
wrote:—

“The troops inside consisted of three companies of the 99th Regiment,
five companies of the second battalion of the 3rd Buffs, one company of
Royal Engineers, one company of the Pioneers, the Naval Brigade, a body
of Artillery, and nineteen of the Native Contingent, amongst them being
several non-commissioned officers, whom we found exceedingly useful, two
of them being at once selected as butchers, whilst two were ‘promoted’
to the rank of ‘bakers to the troops.’ Others attended to the sanitary
arrangements of the garrison, and altogether they were found to be also
exceedingly useful. As a portion of the column, the company of Pioneers
under the command of Captain Beddoes did a great deal of very important
work. This company was composed of ninety-eight natives, one captain,
and three lieutenants, and their proceedings in connection with the
making of the new road were watched with much interest. They worked with
the Naval Brigade, about three companies of soldiers, and several men of
the Royal Artillery. This road was found useless, in consequence of the
numerous swampy places at the foot of each of the numerous hills which
occurred along the route. Very thick bush had to be cut through, and at
first but slow progress was made. The road, as is generally known, took
a direction towards the Inyezane. Whilst out on one occasion, the road
party saw a torpedo explosion which took place about three miles from
where the party was working. It had been accidentally fired by Kaffirs,
who were unaware of the clangers connected with the implement, and it is
believed that several of them were killed. The road was altogether a bad
one. The relief column used it on their way up, but only the Pioneers
and the mounted men went by that route on[Pg 50] the way back. In fact, it
would have been useless to have attempted to use it for the passage of
waggons. Whenever the road party went out they were fired on by Kaffirs,
but of course shots were returned, and many a Zulu warrior was knocked
over whilst the work was being proceeded with. Everything in camp was
conducted in a most orderly manner. We were roused at half-past five
sharp, and at eight o’clock, sharp, lights were out. For one month we
existed very comfortably on full rations, but at the end of that time we
were put on short rations, made up as follows:—One pound and a quarter
of trek-oxen beef, six ounces of meal, one ounce and a quarter of sugar,
third of an ounce of coffee, one sixth of an ounce of tea, one ninth of
an ounce of pepper, and a quarter of an ounce of salt.

“Life of course was very monotonous. The bands of the two regiments
played on alternate afternoons, and every morning they were to be heard
practising outside the entrenchment. The most pleasant part of the day
was just after six o’clock, when we used to be enlivened in the cool of
the evening by the fife and drum band playing the ‘Retreat.’ The water
with which we were supplied was indeed excellent, and the bathing
places, I need not say, were very extensively patronised. The grazing
was not nearly sufficient for the cattle, and from the first they must
have suffered very much from want of nourishment. You will have heard of
the fate of the eleven hundred head of oxen and the span of donkeys
which we sent away from the camp in expectation of their reaching the
Lower Tugela. They left us in charge of nineteen Kaffirs, but at the
Inyezane they were attacked by a large body of Kaffirs. The natives in
charge of the cattle decamped and reached the fort in safety, and the
enemy got possession of the whole of the cattle, which they drove off.
The donkeys were all killed with the exception of one, and this
sagacious animal surprised everybody in camp by returning soon after the
Kaffirs had come back.”

The prices of food at this time were scarcely in keeping with those of
the London market. A bottle of pickles fetched 25s., and a ham £7, 10s.!
Milk was purchasable for 23s. a tin, and sardines for 12s.

As may be imagined, the arrival of Lord Chelmsford at Eshowe was a
matter for general thanksgiving. One who was present records in
Blackwood’s Magazine the joy on the arrival of the first outsiders:
“On the afternoon of the 3rd of April, the column detailed on the 31st
of March (about 500 whites and 50 blacks, and the mounted infantry, with
one gun) left the fort under General Pearson, to meet the relief
column…. A solitary horseman was seen towards 5 p.m. galloping up the
new road to the fort. He[Pg 51] had an officer’s coat on, and we could see a
sword dangling from his side. Who is he?… He proved to be the
correspondent of the Standard. ‘First in Eshowe,’ he said, ‘proud to
shake hands with an Eshowian.’ A second horseman appeared approaching
the fort, his horse apparently much blown, Who is he?… The
correspondent of the Argus (Cape Town). They had a race who would be
first at Eshowe, the Standard winning by five minutes!” Thus ended
happily the crushing anxiety under which Colonel Pearson and his party
had lived, and the foretaste of the future triumph seemed already to
remove the memory of many weeks of bitterness.

Serious differences of opinion soon arose between Lord Chelmsford and
Sir Henry Bulwer, the Governor of Natal, but on the intricacies of these
it is unnecessary to dwell; suffice it to say, that they were in a
measure the cause of Sir Garnet Wolseley’s arrival on the scene somewhat
later, as Sir Garnet united in his own person both supreme civil and
supreme military power.

A complete account of the movements of the various columns during the
dreary months that elapsed before the final victory at Ulundi on the 4th
of July cannot be attempted here. The history of skirmishes and raids,
of daring sorties, of captures of cattle, and gallantry of troops, of
hopes and disappointments, of successes and scares, of hardships and
horrors, would fill many pages that must be otherwise occupied.

Yet one tragic and memorable event of the war cannot be passed over, for
we lost a gallant volunteer whose young life was full of promise and
distinction. At the beginning of June the Prince Imperial of France,
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, having studied at the Military College at
Woolwich, and desiring to see war in all its reality, was attached to
the Quartermaster-General’s department at General Newdigate’s camp. He
set out with a reconnoitring party consisting of Lieutenant Carey of the
98th Regiment, six men of Bellington’s Horse, and a Kaffir. The place
they intended to reach was situated between the camps of Lord Chelmsford
and General Wood. Having gained a picturesque spot near a brook which
forms a tributary to the Tlyotyozi River, the Prince decided to sketch.
He was a clever draughtsman, and had some ability in recognising the
capabilities of positions. The party afterwards moved on, examining
various empty kraals by the way. At one of these they halted, and the
Prince gave orders to “off-saddle” for an hour. The place seemed
deserted; there were remains of a recent cooking fire, and a stray dog
or two sniffed suspiciously at the strangers. Round this spot near the
river tambookie grass about six feet in height formed a screen. The
officers made coffee, turned out their[Pg 52] horses to graze, and lay for a
short rest in the peaceful security of a complete, or seemingly
complete, desolation.

But unknown to them, fifty Zulus, tiger-like, had crawled from ambush
and were preparing to spring. It was from the cover of the river
vegetation that they eventually burst forth. A hurried order to remount,
and the crash of rifles at a distance of twenty yards followed. The
tragic scene is well described by Mr. A. Wilmot in his “History of the
Zulu War”:—

“At this time the party were standing in a line close to their horses,
with their backs to the kraal and their faces turned eastward, the
Prince being in front and nearest to the Zulus. Then with a tremendous
cry, ‘Usutu!’ and ‘Lo, the English cowards!’ the savages rushed on. The
horses immediately swerved, and some broke away. An undoubted panic
seized the party; every one who could spring on his horse mounted and
galloped for his life. There was no thought, no idea of standing fast
and resisting this sudden attack. The Prince was unwounded, but unable
to mount his charger, which was sixteen hands high and always difficult
to mount. On this occasion the horse became so frightened by the firing
and sudden stampeding as to rear and prance in such a manner as to make
it impossible for the Prince to gain the saddle. Many of the others saw
the difficulty, but none waited or tried to give the least assistance.
One by one they rushed their horses past, Private le Tocq exclaiming as
he went by, lying across his saddle, ‘Dépêchez-vous, s’il vous plaît,
monsieur!’ The Prince, making no reply, strained every nerve, but, alas!
in vain, to gain the back of his horse, holding his stirrup-leather with
his left hand and the saddle with his right. With the help of the
holster he made one desperate effort, but the holster partially gave
way, and it must have been then that the horse trod upon him and
galloped off, leaving his master prostrate on the ground. The Prince
then regained his feet and ran after his friends, who were far in
advance. Twelve or thirteen Zulus were at this time only a few feet
behind him. The Prince then turned round, and, sword in hand, faced his
pursuers. From the first he had never called for help, and now died
bravely with his face to the foes, fighting courageously to the last.

“It is thought that the Zulus hurled their assegais at him, and that he
quickly fell dead, pierced through the eye by a mortal wound.”

There is a certain sad satisfaction in remembering that this noble
youth, the hope of France, the worthy descendant of a great name, should
have died as a soldier and without more than a moment’s suffering.

The rest of the party had galloped off at full speed, thinking[Pg 53] each was
engaged in the business of getting away. Lieutenant Carey, who has been
blamed for not having stood by the Prince in his perilous position,
shouted orders and imagined they were followed, and in his hasty retreat
had not time to do more than believe the whole party thus surprised were
galloping away together.

Arguments regarding this deplorable affair have been so many that it is
best to quote the evidence taken at the court-martial and the statement
of Lieutenant Carey:—

“The Court is of opinion that Lieutenant Carey did not understand the
position in which he stood towards the Prince, and, as a consequence,
failed to estimate aright the responsibility which fell to his lot.
Colonel Harrison states that the senior combatant officer, Lieutenant
Carey, D.A.Q.M.G., was, as a matter of course, in charge of the party,
whilst, on the other hand, Carey says, when alluding to the escort, ‘I
did not consider I had any authority over it after the precise and
careful instructions of Lord Chelmsford as to the position the Prince
held.’ As to his being invariably accompanied by an escort in charge of
an officer, the Court considers that the possibility of such a
difference of opinion should not have existed between two officers of
the same department. The Court is of opinion that Carey is much to blame
for having proceeded on the duty in question with a portion only of the
escort detailed by Colonel Harrison. The Court cannot admit the
irresponsibility for this on the part of Carey, inasmuch as he took
steps to obtain the escort and failed in so doing. Moreover, the fact
that Harrison was present upon the Itelezi range gave him the
opportunity of consulting him on the matter, of which he failed to avail
himself. The Court, having examined the ground, is of opinion that the
selection of the kraal, where a halt was made and the horses
off-saddled, surrounded as it was by cover for the enemy, and adjacent
to difficult ground, showed a lamentable want of military prudence. The
Court deeply regrets that no effort was made after the attack to rally
the escort, and to show a front to the enemy, whereby the possibility of
aiding those who had failed to make good their retreat might have been
ascertained.—Signed by General Marshall; Colonel Malthus, 94th
Regiment; Major Le Grice, R.A.”

On this report a court-martial was summoned by Lord Chelmsford for the
trial of Lieutenant Carey for having misbehaved before the enemy on the
1st June 1879, when in command of an escort in attendance on the Prince,
who was making reconnaissances in Zululand; in having, when the Prince
and escort were attacked by the enemy, galloped away, and in not having
attempted to rally them or otherwise defend the Prince. The Court, under
the presidency of[Pg 54] Colonel Glyn, consisted of Colonels Whitehead,
Courtney, Harness, Major Bouverie, and Major Anstruther.

Judge-Advocate Brander prosecuted, and Captain Crookenden, R.A., was for
the defence.

When the Court opened the plan of the ground was proved.

Corporal Grubb said the Prince gave the order “Off saddle” at the kraal,
and “Prepare to mount.” The Prince mounted. After the volley he saw
Carey putting spurs to his horse, and he did the same. He saw Abel fall,
and Rogers trying to get a shot at the Zulus. Le Tocq passed him and
said, “Put spurs to your horse, boy; the Prince is down!” He looked
round and saw the Prince under his horse. A short time after the
Prince’s horse came up, and he (Grubb) caught it. No orders were given
to rally.

Le Tocq was called and said: The Prince told the natives to search the
kraals, and finding no one there they off saddled. At the volley he
mounted, but, dropping his carbine, stopped to pick it up. In remounting
he could not get his leg over the saddle. He passed the Prince, and said
in French, “Hasten to mount your horse.” The Prince did not answer. He
saw the Prince’s horse treading on his leg. The Prince was in command of
the party. He believed Carey and the Prince would have passed on
different sides of a hut in fast flight, and it was possible that Carey
might have failed to see that the Prince was in difficulties. It was 250
yards from where he saw the Prince down to the spot where he died.

Trooper Cochrane was called and said: The Prince was not in the saddle
at the time of mounting. He saw about fifty yards off the Prince running
down the donga with fourteen Zulus in close pursuit. Nothing was done to
help him. He heard no orders given, and did not tell Carey what he had
seen until some time after. He was an old soldier. He did not think any
rally could have been made.

The Court then adjourned to the next day. On reassembling, the first
witness called was

Sergeant Willis, who stated that he had seen Trooper Rogers lying on the
ground by the side of his horse, close to the kraal, as he left the
spot. He thought he saw the Prince wounded at the same time that Trooper
Abel threw up his arms. He thought the Prince might have been dragged to
the place where he was found after death, and that a rally might have
been made twenty yards beyond the donga.

Colonel Harrison being called, stated that Carey was senior combatant
officer, and must therefore have been in command of the party. Carey
volunteered to go on the reconnaissance to verify certain points of his
sketch. The Prince was ordered to go to[Pg 55] report more fully on the
ground. He had given the Prince into Carey’s charge.

Examined by the Court, Colonel Harrison stated that when the Prince was
attached to his department he was not told to treat him as a royal
personage in the matter of escort, but as any other officer, taking due
precaution against any possible danger.

Dr. Scott (the Prince’s medical attendant) was then called, and stated
that the Prince was killed by eighteen assegai wounds, any five of which
would have been fatal. There were no bullet wounds. The Prince died
where the body was found.

This closed the case for the prosecution.

The defence called again Colonel Harrison, who testified to Carey’s
abilities as a staff officer, and said he had every confidence in him.

Colonel Bellairs was also called, and stated that it was in consequence
of the occurrence of the 1st June that Carey had been deposed from his
staff appointment the day previous to his trial.

Lieutenant Carey here submitted that his case had been pre-judged, and
that he had been punished before his trial.

The following is Lieutenant Carey’s statement:—

“On the 31st May I was informed by Colonel Harrison, A.Q.M.G., that the
Prince Imperial was to start on the 1st June to ride over the road
selected by me for the advance of the column, for the purpose of
selecting a camping-ground for the 2nd June. I suggested at once that I
should be allowed to go with him, as I knew the road and wanted to go
over it again for the purpose of verifying certain points. To this
Colonel Harrison consented, reminding me that the Prince was going at
his own request to do this work, and that I was not to interfere with
him in any way. For our escort, six Europeans of Bettington’s Horse and
six Basutos were ordered. Bettington’s men were paraded at 9 a.m., but
owing to some misunderstanding the Basutos did not turn up, and, the
Prince being desirous of proceeding at once, we went without them. On
arriving at the ridge between Itelezi and Incenci, I suggested waiting
for them, but the Prince replied, ‘Oh no; we are quite strong enough,’
or words to that effect. We proceeded on our reconnaissance from there,
halting about half-an-hour on a high hill overlooking the Ityotyozi for
the Prince to sketch. From here the country was visible for miles, and
no sign of the enemy could be discovered. We then descended into the
valley, and, entering a kraal, off saddled, knee-haltering our horses.
We had seen the deserted appearance of the country, and, though the
kraal was to the right, surrounded by mealies, we thought there was no
danger in encamping. If any blame is attributable to any[Pg 56] one for this,
it is to me, as I agreed with the Prince that we were perfectly safe. I
had been over this ground twice before and seen no one, and the
brigade-major of the cavalry brigade had ridden over it with only two or
three men, and laughed at me for taking so large an escort. We had with
us a friendly Zulu, who, in answer to my inquiries, said no Zulus were
about. I trusted him, but still kept a sharp look-out, telescope in
hand. In about an hour—that is, 3.40 p.m.—the Prince ordered us to
saddle up. We went into the mealies to catch our horses, but took at
least ten minutes saddling. While doing so, the Zulu guide informed us
he had seen a Zulu in the distance, but as he did not appear concerned,
I saw no danger. The Prince was saddled up first, and, seeing him ready,
I mounted, the men not being quite ready. The Prince then asked if they
were all ready; they answered in the affirmative, and he gave the word,
‘Prepare to mount.’ At this moment I turned round, and saw the Prince
with his foot in the stirrup, looking at the men. Presently I heard him
say, ‘Mount,’ and turning to the men saw them vault into their saddles.
At this moment my eyes fell on about twenty black faces in the mealies,
twenty to thirty yards off, and I saw puffs of smoke and heard a
rattling volley, followed by a rush, with shouts of ‘Usutu!’ There was
at once a stampede. Two men rushed past me, and as every one appeared to
be mounted, I dug the spurs into my horse, which had already started of
his own accord. I felt sure no one was wounded by the volley, as I heard
no cry, and I shouted out, ‘Keep to the left, and cross the donga, and
rally behind it!’ At the same time I saw more Zulus in the mealies on
our left flank, cutting off our retreat. I crossed the donga behind two
or three men, but could only get beyond one man, the others having
ridden off. Riding a few hundred yards on to the rise, I stopped and
looked round. I could see the Zulus after us, and saw that the men were
escaping to the right, and that no one appeared on the other side of the
donga. The man beside me then drew my attention to the Prince’s horse,
which was galloping away on the other side of the donga, saying, ‘I fear
the Prince is killed, sir!’ I immediately said, ‘Do you think it is any
use going back?’ The trooper pointed to the mealies on our left, which
appeared full of Kaffirs, and said, ‘He is dead long ago, sir; they
assegai wounded men at once.’ I considered he had fallen near the kraal,
as his horse was going from that direction, and it was useless to
sacrifice more lives. I had but one man near me, the others being some
200 yards down the valley. I accordingly shouted to them to close to the
left, and rode on to gain a drift over the Tombokala River, saying to
the man at my side, ‘We will keep back towards General[Pg 57] Wood’s camp, not
returning the same way we came, and then come back with some dragoons to
get the bodies.’ We reached camp about 6.30 p.m. When we were attacked
our carbines were unloaded, and, to the best of my belief, no shots were
fired. I did not see the Prince after I saw him mounting, but he was
mounted on a swift horse, and I thought he was close to me. Besides the
Prince, we lost two troopers, as well as the friendly Zulu. Two troopers
have been found between the donga and the kraal, covered with assegai
wounds. They must have fallen in the retreat and been assegaied at once,
as I saw no fighting when I looked round.”

The court-martial condemned Lieutenant Carey, and he was sent home under
arrest. But eventually, owing to the intervention of the bereaved
Empress, and many sympathetic friends, the unfortunate officer was
released. The news of the calamity was received with profound grief
throughout the country. Some mourned the death of a Prince, some sighed
over the extinction of Napoleonic hopes, officers regretted the loss of
a promising comrade, and mothers spent tears of sympathy for the great
lady, Empress and mother, who had thus been bereft of her only child.

THE VICTORY

To return to the progress of the war. On the 26th of June the
long-expected junction of the columns was on the eve of being effected.
Cetchwayo was pretending to make overtures for peace, though at the same
time his people were endeavouring to enter into alliance with rebellious
Boers. He even sent the sword of the Prince Imperial as a
peace-offering. On the envelope, however, his amanuensis, one Cornelius
Vjin (a Dutchman), pencilled the fact that the king had 20,000 men with
him. The reply of Lord Chelmsford was as follows:——

“If the Induna, Mundula, brings with him the 1000 rifles taken at
Isandlwana, I will not insist on 1000 men coming in to lay down their
arms, if the Zulus are afraid to come. He must bring the two guns and
the remainder of the cattle. I will then be willing to negotiate. As he
has caused me to advance by the great delay he has made, I must now go
to the Umvolosi to enable my men to drink. I will consent, pending
negotiations, to halt on the further bank of the river, and will not
burn any kraals until the 3rd of July, provided no opposition is made to
my advance to the position on the Umvolosi, by which day, the 3rd of
July, at noon, the conditions must be complied with. If my force is
fired on, I shall consider negotiations are at an end, and to avoid any
chance of this, it is best[Pg 58] that Mundula come to my camp at daybreak or
to-night, and that the Zulus should withdraw from the neighbourhood of
the river to Ulundi. I cannot stop the general in command of the coast
army until these conditions are complied with.”

Of course nothing was seen of Mundula, and preparations were made for
the reception of the enemy. Newdigate and Wood laagered their waggons
and prepared for the arrival of an impi of some 20,000 Zulus advancing
from Ulundi. On the following day a large force under Colonel Buller
advanced to Nodwengu kraal, and some stragglers were killed. One of
these was struck by Lord William Beresford, who, in the sporting manner
characteristic of him, cried, “First spear, by Jove!”

On the morning of the memorable 4th of July the army, crossing Umvolosi
River, marched to a higher plateau—where once the Zulus had vanquished
the Boers—there to prepare for battle. The Zulus, some 20,000 strong,
after many war dances and cries, were marshalled forth by their king to
an open plain between the Nodwengu and Ulundi kraals. Our troops were
formed up in a hollow parallelogram, in the centre being the native
contingent with ammunition waggons. The four sides of this parallelogram
were formed of eight companies of the 13th Regiment, five of the 80th
Regiment, the 90th, 58th, and 34th Regiments, together with the 17th
Lancers and the mounted irregulars. At the corners and centre artillery
was placed.

The Zulus advanced steadily, in horn fashion, with their characteristic
coolness and courage. The deadly fusillade from our guns had no
perceptible effect. On and on they came, surging in a dense brown
crescent, till within twenty yards of the British lines, when, with the
hail and storm of bullets crashing and blinding them, they hesitated!
That moment’s hesitation was fatal—their one chance slipped! A few
warriors rushed onwards, many wavered, and gradually the powerful horns
were broken and disorganised. Then our Lancers with a gallant charge
dashed into the fray, plunging into the black swarm that still met fury
with fury. Captain Edgell was killed, and many other officers had
miraculous escapes. Once the enemy strove to rally, but the effort was
hopeless, and the magnificent Zulu warriors were forced at last to turn
and flee. Their defeat was signal. Though the enemy numbered 20,000 to
5000 of our troops, the Lancers with the Irregular Horse did splendid
work, and ere all was over 1000 Zulus bit the dust.

Then came the final march to Ulundi. This place, wholly deserted, was
fired, and while the sky glowed with red and gold reflections of the
conflagration, the victorious forces, worn out yet triumphant, returned
to the laagered camp they had left at daybreak.

THE BATTLE OF ULUNDI—FINAL RUSH OF THE ZULUS. THE BRITISH SQUARE IN THE DISTANCE.

Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.

[Pg 59]

The first news of the victory was carried to the Colony by Mr. Archibald
Forbes, the war correspondent of the Daily News, who was himself
wounded in the struggle. Starting instantly after the decisive battle,
in fourteen hours he rode a distance of 110 miles to the nearest
telegraph station at Landman’s Drift, on the Buffalo River. In thus
exposing his life in the interests not only of his journal but his
country, he for ever associated himself with one of the most interesting
and thrilling campaigns of the century.

Lord Chelmsford’s despatch gives a concise description of the day’s
work:—

“Cetchwayo, not having complied with my demands by noon yesterday, July
3, and having fired heavily on the troops at the water, I returned the
114 cattle he had sent in and ordered a reconnaissance to be made by the
mounted force under Colonel Buller. This was effectually made, and
caused the Zulu army to advance and show fight.

“This morning a force under my command, consisting of the second
division, under Major-General Newdigate, numbering 1870 Europeans, 530
natives, and eight guns, and the flying columns under Brigadier-General
Wood, numbering 2192 Europeans, 573 natives, four guns, and two
Gatlings, crossed the Umvolosi River at 6.15, and marching in a hollow
square, with the ammunition and entrenching tool carts and bearer
company in its centre, reached an excellent position between Nodwengu
and Ulundi, about half-past 8 a.m. This had been observed by Colonel
Buller the day before.

“Our fortified camp on the right bank of the Umvolosi River was left
with a garrison of about 900 Europeans, 250 natives, and one Gatling
gun, under Colonel Bellairs. Soon after half-past seven the Zulu army
was seen leaving its bivouacs and advancing on every side.”

“The engagement was shortly afterwards commenced by the mounted men. By
nine o’clock the attack was fully developed. At half-past nine the enemy
wavered; the 17th Lancers, followed by the remainder of the mounted men,
attacked them, and a general rout ensued.

“The prisoners state that Cetchwayo was personally commanding and had
made all the arrangements himself, and that he witnessed the fight from
Gikarzi kraal, and that twelve regiments took part in it. If so, 20,000
men attacked us.

“It is impossible to estimate with any correctness the loss of the
enemy, owing to the extent of country over which they attacked and
retreated, but it could not have been less, I consider, than 1000
killed. By noon Ulundi was in flames, and during the day all military
kraals of the Zulu army and in the valley of the Umvolosi were[Pg 60]
destroyed. At 2 p.m. the return march to the camp of the column
commenced. The behaviour of the troops under my command was extremely
satisfactory; their steadiness under a complete belt of fire was
remarkable. The dash and enterprise of the mounted branches was all that
could be wished, and the fire of the artillery very good. A portion of
the Zulu force approached our fortified camp, and at one time threatened
to attack it. The native contingent, forming a part of the garrison,
were sent out after the action, and assisted in the pursuit.

“As I have fully accomplished the object for which I advanced, I
consider I shall now be best carrying out Sir Garnet Wolseley’s
instructions by moving at once to Entonganini, and thence to Kmamagaza.
I shall send back a portion of this force with empty waggons for
supplies, which are now ready at Fort Marshall.”

All were rejoiced that Lord Chelmsford should have been able to gain
this victory before the arrival on the scene of Sir Garnet Wolseley, and
there were many among his friends who regretted when he resigned.

The following quotation from the London Gazette explains the most
conspicuous of the brave deeds that were done during this campaign,
though there were many more which came near to rivalling them, so many,
indeed, that it would have been impossible to have given honours to all
who deserved them:—

“War Office, June 17.

“The Queen has been graciously pleased to signify her intention to
confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross on the undermentioned
officers and soldier of her Majesty’s army, whose claims have been
submitted for her Majesty’s approval for their gallant conduct during
the recent operations in South Africa, as recorded against their names,
viz.:—

“Captain and Brevet-Lieutenant-Colonel Redvers H. Buller, C.B., 60th
Rifles, for his gallant conduct at the retreat at Zlobane on the 28th of
March 1879, in having assisted, while hotly pursued, by Zulus, in
rescuing Captain C. D’Arcy, of the Frontier Light Horse, who was
retiring on foot, and carrying him on his horse until he overtook the
rear-guard; also for having on the same date and under the same
circumstances conveyed Lieutenant C. Everitt of the Frontier Light
Horse, whose horse had been killed under him, to a place of safety.
Later on Colonel Buller, in the same manner, saved a trooper of the
Frontier Light Horse, whose horse was completely exhausted, and who
otherwise would have been killed by the Zulus, who were within eighty
yards of him.

“Major William K. Leet, first battalion 13th Regiment, for his[Pg 61] gallant
conduct on the 28th of March 1879, in rescuing from the Zulus Lieutenant
A. M. Smith of the Frontier Light Horse, during the retreat from
Zlobane. Lieutenant Smith while on foot, his horse having been shot, was
closely pursued by the Zulus, and would have been killed had not Major
Leet taken him upon his horse and rode with him, under the fire of the
enemy, to a place of safety.

“Surgeon-Major James Henry Reynolds, Army Medical Department, for the
conspicuous bravery during the attack at Rorke’s Drift on the 22nd and
23rd of January 1879, which he exhibited in his attention to the wounded
under fire, and in his voluntarily conveying ammunition from the store
to the defenders of the hospital, whereby he exposed himself to a cross
fire from the enemy both in going and returning.

“Lieutenant Edward S. Browne, first battalion 24th Regiment, for his
gallant conduct on the 29th March 1879, when the Mounted Infantry were
being driven in by the enemy at Zlobane, in galloping back and twice
assisting on his horse, under heavy fire and within a few yards of the
enemy, one of the mounted men, who must otherwise have fallen into the
enemy’s hands.

“Private Wassell, 80th Regiment, for his gallant conduct in having, at
the imminent risk of his own life, saved that of Private Westwood of the
same regiment. On the 22nd of January 1879, when the camp at Isandlwana
was taken by the enemy, Private Wassell retreated towards the Buffalo
River, in which he saw a comrade struggling and apparently drowning. He
rode to the bank, dismounted, leaving his horse on the Zulu side,
rescued the man from the stream, and again mounted his horse, dragging
Private Westwood across the river, under a heavy shower of bullets.”[Pg 62]

CHAPTER III

SIR GARNET WOLSELEY AT PRETORIA

Our disaster at Isandlwana caused enormous excitement in Pretoria. Great
and unconcealed rejoicing among the Boers took place; work was
suspended, all heads were put together to make capital out of Great
Britain’s misfortunes. Notices were sent out on the 18th of March,
summoning the burghers to a mass meeting to be held some thirty miles
from the town. These meetings, it must here be noted, were scarcely
attended by invitation. A large number of the people appeared on
compulsion, brought “to the scratch” by threats. One of the menaces, a
favourite one according to Mr. Rider Haggard, was that those who did not
attend should be made “biltong” of when the country was given back.
Biltong is meat cut into strips and hung in the sun to dry. The result
of the notices, backed by threats, was a meeting of some three thousand
armed Boers, who evidently meant mischief.

The threatening aspect of the Boers caused the corps known as the
Pretoria Horse, a corps raised for the purpose of acting as cavalry on
the Zulu border, to be retained for service in and around the capital.
While matters stood thus, and the general discontent seemed to portend
even further hostilities, Sir Bartle Frere went to Pretoria for the
purpose of discussing affairs with the Boer leaders. These all clamoured
for their independence. They had gone as far as to assert it by stopping
posts, carts, and persons, and sending armed patrols about the country.

Nothing definite resulted from this attitude, however, for before very
long the conclusion—the successful conclusion—of the Zulu war appeared
imminent, and those in revolt against British authority saw plainly that
there would shortly be troops in plenty at hand to restore law and
order. Consequently for the time being they subsided. The loyal
inhabitants of the Transvaal entertained Sir Bartle Frere prior to his
departure, and at the public dinner given on that occasion at
Potchefstrom, he took the opportunity to assure them that the Transvaal
would never be given back! It may be interesting to some to know, that
at a public meeting on the 24th of[Pg 63] April in Pretoria, within a week of
the breaking up of the camp which had been threatening its safety, the
following resolution was passed:—

“This meeting reprobates most strongly the action of a certain section
of the English and Colonial press for censuring, without sufficient
knowledge of local affairs, the policy and conduct of Sir Bartle Frere,
and it desires not only to express its sympathy with Sir Bartle Frere,
and its confidence in his policy, but also to go so far as to
congratulate most heartily her Majesty the Queen, the Home Government,
and ourselves, on possessing such a true, considerate, and faithful
servant as his Excellency the High Commissioner.”

Having made allusion to Sir Bartle Frere’s departure, it may be as well
to explain that before the battle of Ulundi it was arranged that Sir
Garnet Wolseley should be sent out from home to supersede Lord
Chelmsford in the command of the army, Sir H. Bulwer as Governor of
Natal, and Sir Bartle Frere as High Commissioner of the Transvaal,
Natal, and all the eastern portion of South Africa. Sir Garnet reached
Cape Town on the 28th of June, and proceeded without delay to Natal.
But, as we know, before he could reach the seat of war the battle of
Ulundi was won.

The fighting was now at an end; the Zulus expressed themselves beaten,
and Cetchwayo, after an exciting chase, which space does not permit us
to describe, was taken prisoner on the 28th of August. He was afterwards
removed to Cape Town, and rooms were given him in the castle.
Hostilities having happily terminated in Zululand, Sir Garnet Wolseley
then started for Pretoria. He there finally set up the government of a
Crown Colony with a nominative Executive Council and Legislative
Assembly.

One of his first acts on reaching Pretoria was to issue a notable
proclamation. It ran thus:——

“Whereas it appears, that notwithstanding repeated assurances of
contrary effect given by her Majesty’s representatives in this
territory, uncertainty or misapprehension exists among some of her
Majesty’s subjects as to the intention of her Majesty’s Government
regarding the maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the
territory of the Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all grounds
for such uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once and for
all beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby proclaim and
make known, in the name and on behalf of her Majesty the Queen, that it
is the will and determination of her Majesty’s Government that this
Transvaal territory shall be, and shall continue to be for ever, an
integral portion of her Majesty’s dominions in South Africa.”

On the same subject Sir Bartle Frere, writing to England, said[Pg 64] that he
was very certain “that to give up the Transvaal is as little to be
thought of as surrendering Ireland or India.” In his opinion the Boer
malcontents were few and inconsequential, most of the leaders and
instigators being foreigners, who were personally interested in making
themselves prominent, owing to the prevailing notion that the country
would be given up. As to the effect of the abandonment of the Transvaal
on the prospects of confederation he said: “To every colony concerned
such a step would appear as a confession of weakness, of infirmity of
purpose, and of disregard for solemn pledges and obligations, which
would destroy all respect, all wish to belong to a Government which
could so behave.”

In writing to Sir M. Hicks Beach, in December 1879, Sir Bartle gave his
personal impression of the feeling in Pretoria at the time of the
annexation:—

Viewed in the light of later events, these opinions are extremely
interesting and cannot be disregarded.

OFFICER of the 16th LANCERS.

Photo by Gregory and Co., London.

Before passing on, it is necessary to state that during the period from
1878 to 1879, the native chief Sekukuni—Cetchwayo’s dog, as the blacks
called him—had become obstreperous. He had been engaged in raids into
the Transvaal—raids of the same character as those which, as has been
already mentioned, had helped to bring about the collapse of the
Republic. Colonel Rowland’s expedition, which started in November 1878
for the suppression of this ruffian, was baffled by fever and horse
sickness. Colonel Lanyon in the following June returned to the attack,
and was on the eve of success, when Sir Garnet Wolseley (who arrived
late in that month) sent orders to cease operations. These orders he
found, on reaching the[Pg 65] Transvaal, to be a mistake. Sekukuni was not a
person to be trifled with nor ignored, so the campaign began again in
November, with the result that within a period of eight days the chief’s
stronghold was taken and himself made prisoner. About fifty Europeans
and some five hundred Swazi allies were killed or wounded.

Here we see, within one year, how much was done for the protection of
the Transvaal at the cost of British money and British blood. Looking
back, it is easy to perceive that, but for our intervention, the South
African Republic would have been slowly but effectually swallowed up.
Cetchwayo and Sekukuni between them would have made a meal of the
Transvaal.

The brilliant and complete success of Sir Garnet Wolseley was highly
praised, and the names of Colonel Lanyon, Captain Clark, R.A., and
Captain Carrington especially mentioned as deserving a share of the
credit for the accurate information they had collected during the
previous months.

So much having been done for the security of the Boers and for the
maintenance of British prestige, it is no marvel that Sir Garnet
Wolseley thought himself justified in expressing the trend of British
policy in plain terms. At the dinner given at Pretoria on the 17th of
December 1879 he took the opportunity of making the British programme
well understood. He declared with emphasis that there could be no
question of resigning the sovereignty of the country. “There is no
Government,” he said, “Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical,
who would dare under any circumstances to give back this country. They
would not dare, because the English people would not allow them!” At
that time it was evident that Sir Garnet had never heard the story of
the philanthropic Belarmine, an individual who gave himself to the
she-bear to save her and her young ones from starvation. Or, if the tale
was known to him, he probably took it for what it was worth, and never
foresaw that the British Government would emulate the action of the
self-sacrificing lunatic, and spend precious blood for the sole purpose
of nourishing and resuscitating the powers of a languishing enemy.

MR. GLADSTONE OUT OF OFFICE AND IN OFFICE

But British speeches and proclamations had ceased to impress the Boers.
They had had too many of them, and they began to think the British
Government a somewhat knock-kneed institution whose joints had ceased to
hold together. Sir Garnet Wolseley, however, with characteristic energy
and determination, dealt with the malcontents one by one, converting
them, and causing them to[Pg 66] sensibly consider on which side their bread
was buttered. Indeed, so diplomatically did he conduct his work, that a
sop was given to the aggressive Pretorius, who, instead of being put in
prison as he deserved, was offered a seat on the Executive Council, with
a salary attached. This he was inclined to jump at, but, at the time,
public feeling ran too high to allow of his making a decision. The fact
was that the political speeches delivered by Mr. Gladstone in the south
of Scotland, during the months of November and December 1879, were
putting a new complexion on affairs. They were reprinted all the world
over, and they were profusely circulated among the Boers. The Boer
leaders and obstructionists at once saw in this British statesman their
saviour, and were convinced that, on the return of Mr. Gladstone to
power, their independence would be assured. They therefore sent Messrs.
Kruger and Joubert as a deputation to the Cape, and these two gentlemen
persuaded the Cape Parliament to reject the Confederation Scheme then
being proposed by Sir Bartle Frere. Selections from the attacks on the
Government, from which the Boers then derived their encouragement and
support, are here reprinted in order that the sincerity of Mr.
Gladstone’s attitude may be examined.

Speaking in Edinburgh, he said of the Government:—

“They have annexed in Africa the Transvaal territory, inhabited by a
free European, Christian, Republican community, which they have thought
proper to bring within the limits of a Monarchy, although out of 8000
persons in that Republic qualified to vote upon the subject, we are
told—and I have never seen the statement officially contradicted—that
6500 protested against it. These are the circumstances under which we
undertake to transform Republicans into subjects of a Monarchy.”

Now, Sir T. Shepstone’s despatches show that the ground on which the
Transvaal was annexed was because the State was drifting into anarchy,
was bankrupt, and was about to be destroyed by native tribes. He said
“that most thinking men in the country saw no other way out of the
difficulty,” and Carlyle has taught us what is the proportion between
thinking men and the general public. He also said, in the fifteenth
paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of the 6th of March 1877,
that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of the
community, out of a total adult male population of 8000, had been
presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its
difficulties and dangers, and praying it “to treat with me for their
amelioration or removal.” He likewise stated, and with perfect truth,
that many more would have signed had it not been for the terrorism that
was exercised, and that all the towns and villages in the country
desired the change.[Pg 67]

Mr. Gladstone went on to say:—

“We have made war on the Zulus. We have thereby become responsible for
their territory; and not only this, but we are now, as it appears from
the latest advices, about to make war upon a chief lying to the
northward of the Zulus; and Sir Bartle Frere, who was the great
authority for the proceedings of the Government in Afghanistan, has
announced in South Africa that it will be necessary for us to extend our
dominions until we reach the Portuguese frontier to the north. So much
for Africa.”

At Dalkeith he remarked:—

“If we cast our eyes to South Africa, what do we behold? That a nation
whom we term savages have, in defence of their own land, offered their
naked bodies to the terribly improved artillery and arms of modern
European science, and have been mowed down by hundreds and by thousands,
having committed no offence, but having, with rude and ignorant courage,
done what were for them, and done faithfully and bravely what were for
them the duties of patriotism. You may talk of glory, you may offer
rewards,—and you are right to give rewards to the gallantry of your
soldiers, who I think are entitled not only to our admiration for
courage, but to our compassion for the nature of the duties they have
been called to perform—but the grief and pain none the less remain.”

At Glasgow he continued in the same strain:—

“In Africa you have before you the memory of bloodshed, of military
disaster, the record of 10,000 Zulus—such is the computation of Bishop
Colenso—slain for no other offence than their attempt to defend against
your artillery, with their naked bodies, their hearths and homes, their
wives and families. You have the invasion of a free people in the
Transvaal, and you have, I fear, in one quarter or another—I will not
enter into details, which might be injurious to the public
interest—prospects of further disturbance and shedding of blood.”

These speeches, as may be imagined, did an incalculable amount of
mischief. Besides fanning the smouldering sparks of discontent, they
served up catchwords wholesale for that section of the British public
whose political machinery is largely fed by catchwords. But, as has been
decided by axiom, “any stick will serve to beat a dog with,” and the
Transvaal difficulty was a convenient weapon for the attack on the
Government. The real feeling of the Boer community was an outside
matter, and, as we shall presently see, had nothing to do with the case,
though in March 1880 Mr. Gladstone had the satisfaction of receiving a
letter from a committee of Boer malcontents, wherein “he was thanked for
the great sympathy shown in their fate.” The thanks were a little
premature. In April 1880 the elections took place, and Mr. Gladstone
came into power[Pg 68] with a large majority. Then he was asked the great
question: Would he maintain his oft-repeated pledge to retain the
Transvaal, or would he continue to take up the tone of his Midlothian
denunciations?

The riddle was shortly to be solved. In the debate on the Queen’s Speech
the Prime Minister thus expressed himself: “I do not know whether there
is an absolute union of opinion on this side of the House as to the
policy in which the assumption of the Transvaal originated. Undoubtedly,
as far as I am myself concerned, I did not approve of that assumption. I
took no part in questioning it nor in the attempt to condemn it,
because, in my opinion, whether the assumption was wise or unwise, it
having been done, no good but only mischief was to be done by the
intervention of this House. But whatever our original opinions were on
that policy—and the opinions of the majority of those who sit on this
side of the House were decidedly adverse to it—we had to confront a
state of facts; and the main fact which met us was the existence of the
large native population in the Transvaal, to whom, by the establishment
of the Queen’s supremacy, we hold ourselves to have given a pledge. That
is the acceptance of facts, and that is the sense in which my right
honourable friend, and all those who sit with him, may, if they think
fit, say we accept the principles on which the late Government
proceeded. It is quite possible to accept the consequences of a policy,
and yet to retain the original difference of opinion with regard to the
character of that policy as long as it was a matter of discussion.”

And shortly after he wrote to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert:—

“It is undoubtedly matter for much regret that it should, since the
annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of
Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that
territory, but it is impossible to consider that question as if it were
presented for the first time. We have to deal with a state of things
which has existed for a considerable period, during which obligations
have been contracted, especially, though not exclusively, towards the
native population, which cannot be set aside.

“Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of
South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders,
which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal,
but to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the Queen cannot
be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal, but,
consistently with the maintenance of that sovereignty, we desire that
the white inhabitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to the
rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to manage their local
affairs. We believe that this liberty may be most easily and promptly
conceded to the Transvaal as a member of a South African
Confederation.”[Pg 69]

THE COMMENCEMENT OF REBELLION

When the Liberal Ministry came into power, it will be observed, Mr.
Gladstone’s attitude changed, and that he was compelled to abandon the
sympathetic tone of his Midlothian speeches. How far he really meant to
be bound by the promise made that “the Queen cannot be advised to
relinquish her sovereignty over the Transvaal” is not known, for later
on, in June 1881, in a letter to the Transvaal loyalists, he explains
that there was “no mention of the terms or date of this promise. If the
reference be to my letter of the 8th of June 1880 to Messrs. Kruger and
Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter justifies the
description given. Nor am I sure in what manner, or to what degree, the
fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I then said her
Majesty’s Government desired to confer on the white population of the
Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about being made in its
bearing on the interests of those whom your committee represents.”

This letter was a masterpiece of one whose talent for ambiguity was
becoming world famous, and a stone in shape of a loaf was thus hurled at
the heads of the expectant loyalists.

But to return to the events of 1880. Finding that the Premier was no
longer to be the mainstay of their hopes, the Boers began to renew their
agitations. These agitations, it will be remembered, during the end of
the Zulu war and Sir Garnet Wolseley’s arrival in the Transvaal, were
merely suppressed, because at that time British ascendency throughout
the country seemed to be established. An excellent opportunity for
rebellion now suggested itself. The Cape Government was engaged with the
Basuto war. Sir Owen Lanyon, who succeeded Sir T. Shepstone in March
1879, had supplied a body of 300 or more volunteers—mostly
loyalists—to assist in the military operations, while the only regiment
of cavalry had been sent elsewhere by Sir Garnet Wolseley. Big things
have often small beginnings, and the Boer rebellion, that has brought so
many complications in its train, commenced with a very small incident. A
certain Bezeidenhout, having refused to pay his taxes, had, by order,
some of his goods seized and put up to auction. This was the signal for
the malcontents to attack the auctioneer and rescue the goods. So great
became the uproar and confusion, the women aiding and abetting the men
in their disobedience of the law, that military assistance was summoned.
Major Thornhill, with a few companies of the 21st Regiment, was sent to
support the Landrost in arresting the rioters, and special constables
were enrolled to[Pg 70] assist him in restoring order. But these united
exertions were unavailing. All attempts to carry out the arrests were
openly set at defiance. This scene occurred on the 11th of November
1880. On the 26th Sir George Colley—who had relieved Sir Garnet
Wolseley as Commander-in-Chief—was applied to for more troops. Sir
George, who was daily expecting an outbreak of Pondos, and a possible
appeal for help from Cape Colony, merely suggested that the “authorities
should be assisted by the loyal inhabitants.” This, it must be owned,
was hard on the royalists, who from that time to this have had to pay
dearly for their allegiance to the Crown. A mass meeting was held at
Paade kraal, where Krugersdorp now stands, and the rioters unanimously
decided to commit their cause to the Almighty, and to live or die in the
struggle for independence. Thereupon Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and
Joubert were elected a triumvirate to conduct the Government, and on the
16th of December 1880 (Dingaan’s Day) the Republic was formally
proclaimed, and its flag again hoisted. The proclamation, dealing with
the events of the preceding years, and offering terms to her Majesty’s
Government, was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon. The Boer leaders therein
expressed their willingness to enter into confederation and to guide
their native policy by general rules adopted in concurrence “with the
Colonies and States of South Africa,” and at the same time declared that
they had no desire for war or the spilling of blood. “It lies,” they
said, “in your hands to force us to appeal to arms in self-defence.”

On the very day of the proclamation, however, blood was shed. Commandant
Cronjé, with a party of burghers, marched into Potchefstroom for the
purpose of printing the proclamation. They promptly seized the
printing-office, and Major Clarke, who thought it advisable to
interfere, was refused admittance. Soon after a Boer patrol fired on our
mounted infantry, who returned the compliment. That was the signal for
the opening of hostilities. On this matter it may be urged that Boer
reports differ from ours, but Boer veracity may be defined by the
algebraic quantity x, and cannot be accepted. Lieutenant-Colonel
Winsloe, of the 21st Regiment, who was commanding at a fort outside the
village, signalled orders to Major Clarke to begin firing. This officer
was fortified in the Landrost’s office with a small force of some twenty
soldiers and twenty civilians, while the Boers occupied positions in the
surrounding houses. The siege lasted two days (during the 17th and the
morning of the 18th), and then when one officer (Captain Falls) and five
men had been killed and the thatched roof fired, Major Clarke deemed it
best to surrender. Colonel Winsloe held the camp throughout the war,
surrendering only after an armistice was declared.[Pg 71]

A still more terrible disaster was in store. Mr Rider Haggard, who is
perhaps the best authority on the subject, describes it as a “most cruel
and carefully planned massacre.” Other writers, however, hold that the
outrage could scarcely be called a massacre, since Colonel Anstruther
had been fully warned of the risks he ran of Boer treachery and Boer
artifice. It appears that Colonel Anstruther had received orders from
Sir Owen Lanyon to concentrate his forces in Pretoria. Accordingly, he
marched from Lydenburg—situated about 180 miles from Pretoria—with
such troops as he had at his disposal. These were two companies of the
94th Regiment. They were accompanied by three women, two children, and a
ponderous train of luggage-waggons. Their progress was necessarily slow,
but the Colonel, in spite of having been warned of Boer ways and Boer
tactics, evinced no anxiety. Indeed, from all accounts it appears that
he followed the good old British habit of under-estimating the enemy’s
physical, while over-estimating his moral, qualities. For this reason he
probably disregarded the precautions necessary after the warnings he had
received on starting. Be this as it may, on the 20th of December he and
his long waggon-train were nearing a point called Bronker’s Spruit,
about thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly there appeared a
huge crowd of some five hundred mounted Boers. From this crowd a man was
seen approaching with a white flag. The column, about half a mile in
length, halted; the band ceased; Colonel Anstruther advanced to the
parley. The messenger then handed a letter. It was an intimation of the
establishment of the South African Republic, and declared that till Sir
Owen Lanyon’s reply to the proclamation was received, and they were
aware whether war was or was not declared, they could not allow the
progress of troops. The Colonel’s reply was plain. He was ordered to
proceed to Pretoria, and proceed he would.

Then, before Colonel Anstruther had rejoined his column, a volley was
poured in on them by the farmers, who, emerging from the cover of rocks
and trees, had gradually closed round the troops. A vigorous but short
resistance followed. The Boers, skilled by long practice in marking
their most cherished enemies, picked off the officers one by one. Seven
out of nine dropped to their guns, while a perpetual hailstorm of
bullets beat over men, women, and waggons. In a few minutes so many were
disabled that the Colonel, himself mortally wounded, had to surrender.
Out of the party 56 were killed and 101 wounded. One of these was a
woman.

A great deal was said at the time by British sympathisers of the
kindness of the Boers to the prisoners and wounded of their antagonists;
but the opinions of Mr. Rider Haggard and Sir Owen[Pg 72] Lanyon are worth
considering. The former, in writing of this engagement, says that “after
the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to walk into
Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to give him a
horse, or even allow him to use his own…. I may mention that a Zulu
driver, who was with the rear-guard, and escaped into Natal, stated that
the Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His statement
was to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of the
survivors, who stated that all the bodies found in that part of the
field, nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the column,
had a bullet-hole through the head or breast, in addition to their other
wounds.” The Administrator of the Transvaal in Council thus comments on
the occurrence in an official minute: “The surrounding and gradual
hemming in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots
from which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unprovoked attack
of the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther’s force, is a proceeding of which
very few like incidents can be mentioned in the annals of civilised
warfare.”

Sir Owen Lanyon, writing from the scene of action in Pretoria,
says—”The Boers were very clever in being kind to our wounded soldiers,
for they well knew that such action would obtain sympathy at home. But
where it was impossible for their deeds to become known their conduct
was far from creditable to them. Poor Clarke and Raaf were kept for two
months in a dark room, and were only allowed out twice for exercise.
Barlow was robbed of everything, and only left the clothes he stood in.
A Hollander, who is secretary to Cronjé at Potchefstrom, is still
wearing the rings of poor Captain Falls, who was shot. Englishmen have
been murdered, flogged, and robbed of everything. The Boers at
Potchefstrom forced the prisoners of war to dig their trenches, and some
were shot from the Fort while so employed. Woite and Van der Linden were
shot as spies, because they had been in the Boer camp and left it some
days before they proclaimed the Republic. Carolus, a Cape boy, was shot
by Boer court-martial because he left the Fort when food became scarce.
A white man and nine natives were similarly shot without any trial.
Explosive bullets were used, notwithstanding that Colonel Winsloe
pointed out to the Boer leader in a letter that such was against the
rules of war.”

There is ample evidence that acts of treachery and barbarity similar to
and worse than those mentioned by Colonel Lanyon were perpetrated by the
insurgents.[Pg 73]

THE FATE OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT

The sole officer who escaped from the massacre at Bronker’s Spruit was
Captain Elliot, who was subsequently treacherously murdered while
crossing the Vaal. The account of this tragedy was given by Major
Lambart in a report to Sir George Colley, and should be read by all who
wish to get a fair view of the events of that period, particularly by
those who insist on our brother-relationship to the Boers:—

“Sir,—I have the honour to report, for the information of his
Excellency, that as I was returning from the Orange Free State on
December 18 (where I had been on duty buying horses to mount Commandant
Ferreira’s men for the Basuto war, and also remounts for my troop of
Mounted Infantry and the Royal Artillery), when about thirty miles from
Pretoria, on the road from Heidelberg, I was suddenly taken prisoner by
a party of twenty or thirty Boers, who galloped down on me (all around),
and, capturing the horses, was taken back to Heidelberg. After being
there some six or eight days, I was joined by Captain and Paymaster
Elliot, 94th Regiment (the only officer not wounded in the attack on the
detachment of the 94th Regiment), who arrived with some forty prisoners
of war of the 94th Regiment. On the following day (the 24th of December)
we received a written communication from the Secretary of the Republican
Government, to the effect ‘that the members of the said Government would
call on us at 3.30 that day,’ which they did. The purport of their
interview being ‘That at a meeting of Council they had decided to give
us one of two alternatives. (1) To remain prisoners of war during
hostilities in the Transvaal. (2) To be released on parole, d’honneur,
that we would leave the Transvaal at once, cross into the Free State
under escort, and not bear arms against the Republican Government during
the war.’ Time being given us for deliberation, Captain Elliot and
myself decided to accept No. 2 alternative, and communicated the same to
the Secretary of the South African Republic, who informed us, in the
presence of the Commandant-General, P. Joubert, that we could leave next
day, taking with us all our private property. The following days being
respectively Christmas Day and Sunday, we were informed we could not
start till Monday, on which day, having signed our parole d’honneur,
my horses were harnessed, and we were provided with a duplicate of our
parole or free pass, signed by Commandant-General, and escort of two men
to show us the road to the nearest[Pg 74] drift over the Vaal River, distant
twenty-five miles, and by which P. Joubert personally told us both we
should cross, as there was a punt there. We started about 1 p.m. from
the Boer camp, passing through the town of Heidelberg. After going about
six or eight miles I noticed we were not going the right road, and
mentioned the fact to the escort, who said it was all right. Having been
‘look-out’ officer in the Transvaal, I knew the district well. I was
certain we were going wrong, but we had to obey orders. At nightfall we
found ourselves nowhere near the river drift; and were ordered to
outspan for the night, and next morning the escort told us they would
look for the drift. In spanning at daybreak we again started, but after
driving about for some hours across country, I told the escort we would
stop where we were while they went to search for the drift. Shortly
after they returned and said they had found it, and we must come, which
we did, eventually arriving at the junction of two rivers (Vaal and
Klip), where we found the river Vaal impassable, but which they said we
must cross. I pointed out that it was impossible to get my carriage or
horses over by it, and that it was not the punt the General said we were
to cross. The escort replied it was to Pretorius’ Punt that the General
told them to take us, and we must cross; that we must leave the carriage
behind and swim the horses, which we refused to do, as we should then
have had no means of getting on. I asked them to show me their written
instructions, which they did (written in Dutch), and I pointed out that
the name of Pretorius was not in it. I then told them they must either
take us back to the Boer camp again or on to the proper drift. We turned
back, and after going a few miles the escort disappeared. Not knowing
where we were, I proposed to Captain Elliot we should go to the banks of
the Vaal and follow the river till we came to the proper punt. After
travelling all Monday, Tuesday, and up till Wednesday about 1 p.m., when
we found ourselves four hours, or twenty-five miles, from Spencer’s
Punt, we were suddenly stopped by two armed Boers who handed us an
official letter, which was opened and found to be from the Secretary to
the Republican Government, stating that the members were surprised that
as officers and gentlemen we had broken our parole d’honneur and
refused to leave the Transvaal; that if we did not do so immediately by
the nearest drift, which the bearers would show us, we must return as
prisoners of war; that as through our ignorance of the language of the
country there might be some misunderstanding, they were loth to think we
had willingly broken our promise. We explained that we should reply to
the letter, and request them to take it to their Government, and were
prepared to go with them at once. They took us back to a farm[Pg 75]house,
where we were told to wait till they fetched their Commandant, who
arrived about 6 p.m., and repeated to us the same that was complained of
in our letter of that day. We told him we were ready to explain matters,
and requested him to take our answer back to camp. He then ordered us to
start at once for the drift. I asked him, as it was then getting dark,
if we could start early next morning, but he refused. So we started, he
having said we should cross at Spencer’s, being closest. As we left the
farmhouse, I pointed out to him that we were going in the wrong
direction, but he said, ‘Never mind, come on across a drift close at
hand.’ When we got opposite it, he kept straight on; I called to him,
and said this was where we were to cross. His reply was, ‘Come on.’ I
then said to Captain Elliot, ‘They intend taking us back to Pretorius,’
a distance of some forty miles. Suddenly the escort (which had all at
once increased from two to eight men, which Captain Elliot pointed out
to me, and I replied, ‘I suppose they are determined we shall not
escape, which they need not be afraid of, as we are too keen to get over
the border’) wheeled sharp down to the river, stopped, and pointing to
the banks, said, ‘There is the drift; cross.’ Being pitch dark, with
vivid lightning, the river roaring past, and as I knew impassable, I
asked, ‘Had we not better wait till morning, as we do not know the
drift?’ They replied, ‘No; cross at once.’ I drove my horses into the
river, when they immediately fell; lifted them, and drove on about five
or six yards, when we fell into a hole. Got them out with difficulty,
and advanced another yard, when we got stuck against a rock. The current
was now so strong, and drift deep, my cart was turned over on to its
side, and water rushed over the seat. I called out to the Commandant on
the bank that we were stuck, and to send assistance, or might we return?
to which he replied, ‘If you do we will shoot you.’ I then tried, but
failed to get the horses to move. Turning to Captain Elliot, who was
sitting beside me, I said, ‘We must swim for it,’ and asked could he
swim? to which he replied, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘If you can’t, I will stick to
you, for I can.’ While we were holding this conversation, a volley from
the bank, ten or fifteen yards off, was fired into us, the bullets
passing through the tent of my cart, one of which must have mortally
wounded poor Elliot, who only uttered the single word ‘Oh!’ and fell
headlong into the river from the carriage. I immediately sprang in after
him, but was swept down the river under the current some yards. On
gaining the surface of the water, I could see nothing of Elliot; I
called out his name twice, but received no reply. Immediately another
volley was fired at me, making the water hiss around where the bullets
struck. I[Pg 76] now struck out for the opposite bank, which I reached with
difficulty in about ten minutes; but as it was deep, black mud, on
landing I stuck fast, but eventually reached the top of the bank, and
ran for about two thousand yards under a heavy fire the whole while. The
night being pitch dark, but lit up every minute by vivid flashes of
lightning, showed the enemy my whereabouts. I found myself now in the
Free State, but where I could not tell, but knew my direction was south,
while, though it was raining, hailing, and blowing hard, and bitterly
cold, an occasional glimpse of the stars showed me I was going right. I
walked all that night and next day till one o’clock, when I eventually
crawled into a store kept by an Englishman called Mr. Groom, who did all
in his power to help me. I had tasted no food since the previous morning
at sunrise, and all the Dutch farmers refused me water, so without hat
or coat (which I had left on banks of Vaal), and shoes worn through, I
arrived exhausted at the above gentleman’s place, who kindly drove me to
Heilbron, where I took the post-cart to Maritzburg. I fear that Captain
Elliot must have been killed instantly, as he never spoke, neither did I
see him again. I have to mention that both Captain Elliot and myself, on
being told by South African Republican Government that the soldiers who
had been taken prisoners were to be released on the same conditions as
ourselves, expressed a wish to be allowed to keep charge of them, which
was refused, but we were told that waggons, food, and money should be
supplied to take them down country. But when they reached Spencer’s Punt
over the Vaal were turned loose, without any of the above necessaries,
to find their way down country. They met an English transport rider
named Mr. F. Wheeler, who was going to Pietermaritzburg with his waggon,
which had been looted by the Boers, and who kindly gave them transport,
provided them with food, and is bringing them to the city, which, as I
passed them at the Drakensburg on Tuesday, they should reach on Sunday
next—consisting of one sergeant and sixty-one men, all that remain of
our Leydenburg detachment and headquarters of the 94th Regiment.—I have
the honour to remain, Sir, your obedient servant,

“R. H. Lambart,

Captain Royal Scots Fusiliers.”

Major Lambart’s report speaks more eloquently than many descriptions as
to the character of the “simple-minded Boer.” We discovered to our cost
during the Indian Mutiny that the “gentle native” was not all our fancy
painted him, and it may be as well to realise that our simple-minded and
pious brother in the Transvaal is scarcely so righteous as we have been
led to suppose.[Pg 77]

THE ORANGE RIVER AT NORVAL’S PONT.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.

LAING’S NEK

Since we have been tracing the causes of the Boer rebellion, it may be
advisable to refer to a letter written on the 28th of December 1880 by
Sir Bartle Frere to Mr. F. Greenwood, editor of the St. James’s
Gazette. He therein throws a most important light on the political
position. He wrote: “In 1879, when I was among the Boers in the
Transvaal, I found that the real wire-pullers of their Committee were
foreigners of various nationalities, notably some Hollanders (not
Africanders), imbued with German Socialist Republicanism, and an
Irishman of the name of Aylward. I was told he was a man of great
natural ability, educated as a solicitor, an ex-Fenian pardoned under
another name (Murphy, I think), for turning Queen’s evidence against
others who had murdered the policeman at Manchester. Emigrating to the
Diamond Fields, he was tried, convicted, and suffered imprisonment there
for homicide. When he came out of prison he betook himself to the
Transvaal and had a command of foreign free lances under Mr. Burgers,
then President of the Transvaal Republic, in his unsuccessful attempt to
take Secocoeni’s stronghold. After the annexation of the Transvaal he
came to England and published one of the few readable books on the
Transvaal, and went out to Natal during the darkest hours of our Zulu
troubles, seeking employment; but he was an impossible man, and was
urging the Boers to rise at the same time that he was offering his
services to me and Lord Chelmsford. Finally he settled at
Pietermaritzburg, where he was, when I last heard of him, as editor of
the Witness, writing anti-English republicanism and sedition with much
ability, especially when opposing the Cape Government and its governor,
whom he never forgave for warning the Boers against following Fenian
advice. When I was in the Transvaal and afterwards I found him always
connected with any opposition to the English Government. He knew all the
leaders of the simple-minded but very suspicious Boers, and had gained
their ear, so that he had no difficulty in persuading them to reject any
good advice I offered them—’Wait-a-bit’ being always the most
acceptable suggestion you can offer to a Boer.

“Directly I heard of the attack on our troops in the Transvaal, I felt
assured that my old acquaintance was pulling the wires with a view to
create a diversion in favour of his old colleagues in Ireland.

“The attack took place apparently near the farm of Solomon Prinsloo, one
of the most bitter malcontent Boers, who was always a firebrand, and
who, when I visited the Boer camp in 1879, was with difficulty held back
by Pretorius and Kruger from directing an attack[Pg 78] upon us in Pretoria. I
very much doubt whether, without some such external instigation, the
Boers would have broken out….

“The facts I have mentioned and many more about Aylward are on record in
Scotland Yard, and in the Colonial Office, and I am anxious you should
know the truth and not attribute too much of the blame in this sad
business to the unfortunate, misguided Boers, the victims of his bad
advice, still less to any fault of Colonel Lanyon’s administration.”

Sir Bartle was right in his conjecture, for Aylward had joined the
insurgents and was one of the acknowledged leaders of Joubert’s staff.

Major-General Hope Crealock, in a letter to Sir Bartle, wrote (January
7, 1881): “A young Irishman named S——, who knew Aylward in Natal, and
who was under my command in the Natal Pioneers, called on me to-night
and told me Aylward formerly used to boast of being a Fenian, and vowed
he would pay the English Government off for what he had got, by raising
the Boers whenever Ireland was rising; and within the last few days has
written to him saying he gloried in being one of the instigators of the
present Boer revolt, &c., &c. He wrote from Utrecht….”

It will be seen from these quotations that our relations with the
Transvaal, hostile as they may have been, were scarcely true
relations—that the real enmity and rancour, the blood-spilling and
wretchedness that commenced at this period, and are at the moment of
writing still continuing, were due, firstly, to party spirit in Great
Britain, and secondly, to the machinations of adventurers, who, having
no status elsewhere, put the ignorance of a race of farmers to their own
vile uses.

To return to the events of the last chapter. When Sir Owen Lanyon heard
of the misfortune that had befallen Colonel Anstruther’s troops, he
issued a proclamation placing the country under martial law, and Sir
George Colley, dreading the results of bad blood raised between Boers
and British soldiers by the affair at Bronker’s Spruit, caused the
following general order to be published:—

“Headquarters, Pietermaritzburg,

December 28th, 1880.

“The Major-General Commanding regrets to inform the troops of his
command, that a detachment of 250 men of the 94th Regiment, on its march
from Leydenburg to Pretoria, was surprised and overwhelmed by the
Boers—120 being killed and wounded, and the rest taken prisoners. The
attack seems to have been made while the troops were crossing a spruit,
and extended to guard a long convoy. The Major-General trusts to the
courage, spirit, and discipline of the troops of his command, to enable
him promptly to[Pg 79] retrieve this misfortune, and to vindicate the
authority of her Majesty and the honour of the British arms. It is
scarcely necessary to remind soldiers of the incalculable advantage
which discipline, organisation, and trained skill give them over
numerous but undisciplined forces. These advantages have been repeatedly
proved, and have never failed to command success in the end against
greater odds, and greater difficulties, than we are now called on to
contend with. To all true soldiers the loss we have suffered will serve
as an incentive and stimulus to greater exertions; and the Major-General
knows well he can rely on the troops he has to command, to show that
endurance and courage which are the proud inheritance of the British
army. The stain cast on our arms must be quickly effaced, and rebellion
must be put down; but the Major-General trusts that officers and men
will not allow the soldierly spirit which prompts to gallant action to
degenerate into a feeling of revenge. The task now forced on us by the
unprovoked action of the Boers is a painful one under any circumstances,
and the General calls on all ranks to assist him in his endeavours to
mitigate the suffering it must entail. We must be careful to avoid
punishing the innocent for the guilty, and must remember, that though
misled and deluded, the Boers are in the main a brave and high-spirited
people, and actuated by feelings that are entitled to our respect. In
the operations now about to be undertaken, the General confidently
trusts that the good behaviour of the men will give him as much cause
for pride and satisfaction as their conduct and gallantry before the
enemy, and that the result of their efforts will be a speedy and
successful termination to the war.”

The proclamation had a good effect, particularly among the Dutch, who,
though loyal to the Crown, were much in sympathy with their kinsmen in
the Transvaal. On the 23rd of January 1881, General Colley sent an
ultimatum ordering the insurgents to disperse. Of this no notice was
taken until General Joubert, from Laing’s Nek on January the 29th, sent
the following reply:——

“To Sir George P. Colley.

Sir George Colley started on the 24th of January from Newcastle for the
border. The road from Newcastle to Laing’s Nek runs up a precipitous
hill for three miles, and thence leads down the steep mountain of
Skheyns Hoogte. The movement of the column was slow and laborious, the
roads, if roads they could be called, were almost impassable owing to
great ruts, mud-holes deep enough to bury a waggon up to the bed-planks,
with boulders and other impediments thrown in.

Here, as Laing’s Nek is so prominent a feature in our history, it may be
well to give Mr. Carter’s concise description of the geographical nature
of the position:—

“Laing’s Nek is the lowest point in an unbroken ridge which connects the
Majuba Mountain with hills running right up to the banks of the Buffalo
River. A slight cutting, not more than four or five feet deep, forms the
waggon road over this ridge; from the waggon road on either side the
ground runs up somewhat abruptly, and is stony and irregular. How gentle
the rise is to the Nek from the level ground in front of it towards
Newcastle (and along which the approach is by the main road), may be
judged from the fact that a horse can canter easily up the slope, or for
the matter of that, over the two miles of ground which lead to the foot
of the slope. From the top of the ridge to the level ground at the base
is not more than five hundred yards. The chain of hills, in the centre
of which is the Nek, is semicircular, the horns of the crescent pointing
towards Newcastle, and offering strong positions for any force intent on
defending the only practicable approach to the Nek; but to occupy these
flank positions a large body of men would be necessary, as the area from
point to point is great. On the reverse, or Coldstream side of the Nek,
the ground at the foot of the incline is broken and marshy, a regular
drain for all the water running from the surrounding hills.”

DRUM-MAJOR and DRUMMERS, COLDSTREAM GUARDS.

Photo by Gregory and Co., London.

To return to the troops. While this column was advancing, the Boers were
also advancing in a parallel line to the Nek. The following day, 25th,
the British column reached the high ground overlooking the Ingogo River,
where they encamped (here the engagement of the 8th of February took
place). At dawn on[Pg 81] the 26th the column again laboriously mounted the
terrible steeps leading to Mount Prospect, and fixed their camp about
four miles from the Nek. Owing to the abominable state of the weather
the nearing of the Nek was not attempted, and attack was postponed till
the following day. The night was passed at Mount Prospect, and a laager
made.

At six o’clock on the morning of the 28th the advance was sounded, and
at 9.55 a.m. the guns began shelling the Nek. The Boers were not yet
ready. Some took shelter behind the walls of Laing’s Farmhouse, while
others kept on the heights above, covered by the ridge from shells.
Those in Laing’s kraals had a warm time when the Naval Brigade began to
play on them with their guns, and they soon evacuated the place.

Those on the Nek, after being for twenty minutes under a hot fire, were
beginning to think they had had enough of it, when our lines ceased
firing, and the mounted squadron advanced to take[Pg 82] a hillock—the most
advanced spur of the Boer left flank position. The 58th also prepared to
charge. The officers commanding the mounted squadron were Major Brownlow
and Captain Hornby, while Colonel Deane, Major Essex (an officer with a
charmed life, who survived Isandlwana and the engagement at the Ingogo
heights), Major Poole, Lieutenant Elwes, and Lieutenant Inman were in
front of the 58th. The leading companies of the 58th having got half-way
up the rise—a heavy business considering the slipperiness of the
slopes—the first troop of the mounted squadron charged the kopje, going
to right and left of the lines taken by the 58th. No sooner were they
within sight of the Boers than they were greeted by a heavy fire that
emptied half their saddles. Still, those who were left mounted, reformed
in a pouring shower of bullets, and again charged.

But gallantry was of no avail, for there was no reserve to back up the
charge of mounted troops. Seventeen men were killed and wounded, and
thirty-two horses killed.

The repulse of this charge took place just as the 58th gained sight of
the foe, who, flushed with triumph, could now turn their attention from
the mounted troops to the right flank of the 58th. The men, worn out
with their sufficiently arduous task of climbing, crushed together, in
consequence of their not having been ordered to deploy before making the
ascent, dropped like nine-pins under the heavy fire of the Boers. Before
the order to deploy could be carried out, volley after volley was
delivered into their ranks, and an enfilading fire was opened by the
Boers on their right flank with disastrous results. Meanwhile the Boers
were well under cover behind their sheltered trenches, and it was
impossible, while the 58th were coming to closer quarters with them, to
fire from the plains below without risk to the assailants. As a natural
consequence, therefore, the Boers, skilled as they are in marksmanship,
were able at their leisure to pick off each man as he approached.

Seeing that the Boers were more than a match for him, Colonel Deane
resorted to the bayonet. But, just as the order was being obeyed his
horse was shot under him. Rising again on the instant, and crying “I am
all right,” to encourage his men, he rushed on, heading his regiment,
and again fell, this time mortally wounded. Major Hingeston, who then
took command, fell also, and his gallant brother officers, Major Poole
and Lieutenant Dolphin, shared the same fate. They were at that time
within some thirty yards of the enemy. So great was our loss that the
charge could not be sustained, and many officers, who still persisted in
emptying their revolvers on the enemy, were severely wounded. At last
there was nothing for it but to fall back. The Boers, intoxicated with
victory, now[Pg 83] boldly came out from cover, and poured volley after volley
on the retiring men. But for the guns at the base of the hill, which
were now able to play on the enemy, these must have been entirely swept
away. So small was the margin between our men and the victors, that but
for the nicety of this artillery practice many of the men of the 58th
must have been accidentally killed. During the retreat Lieutenant
Baillie, carrying the regimental colours, was mortally wounded. Such
magnificent deeds of heroism took place on this occasion that of
themselves they would form an inspiriting volume. Lieutenant Hill of the
58th earned the Victoria Cross by his repeated deeds of valour in saving
soldiers under heavy fire.

The whole force fell back towards the camp, the casualties amongst the
58th being seventy-three killed and one hundred wounded. A flag of truce
was sent forward to the enemy, and both parties engaged in the sad work
of burying their dead and removing the wounded.

Report says that on this occasion Kaffirs or Hottentots were seen to be
fighting among the Boer ranks.

Very pathetic and very manly was the speech addressed by Sir George
Colley to the camp on the evening after the fight:—”Officers,
non-commissioned officers, and men,—I have called you together this
evening, being desirous of saying a few words to you. I wish every one
present to understand that the entire blame of to-day’s repulse rests
entirely upon me, and not on any of you. I congratulate the 58th
Regiment for the brave and noble manner in which they fought to-day. We
have lost many gallant men, and amongst them my intimate friend, Colonel
Deane. (Emotion.) I might say, however, that notwithstanding the loss of
many troops to-day, we have not lost one atom of the prestige of
England. It is my duty to congratulate Major Brownlow on the gallant
charge he made this day. Owing to the loss we have suffered, I am
compelled to await the arrival of reinforcements, but certainly we shall
take possession of that hill eventually, and I sincerely hope that all
those men who have so nobly done their duty to-day will be with me then.
Good-night.”

Of the mistakes that marked this attack it is unnecessary to write, for
they have been freely discussed, and those who were responsible have
laid down their lives in payment of whatever errors in judgment they may
have committed.[Pg 84]

INGOGO

Life in camp continued as usual until the 7th of February, when an
escort proceeding with the post from Newcastle to the General’s camp,
having encountered the enemy, been fired at, and forced to return, Sir
George Colley thought a demonstration in force would be sufficient to
deter the Boers from further interference with the line of
communication. Consequently the next morning, the 8th of February, he
marched with five companies of the second battalion of the 60th
Regiment, four guns and thirty-eight men of the Mounted Squadron. The
force crossed the river Ingogo, then only knee-deep, and gained a
plateau in shape like an inverted L, the base being the side nearest
Newcastle. On arrival here an orderly suddenly reported that the enemy,
concealed among boulders and large blocks of granite, was waiting in
great force. Almost immediately afterwards about a hundred mounted Boers
became visible on the right. The order was given to prepare for action,
and, just as the guns were on the point of firing, the Boers wheeled
round and went off. They galloped away to the bottom of the ravine,
followed by a shell which, unfortunately, burst beyond them. The Rifles
were also firing, but unsuccessfully, at the retreating riders. Soon it
became apparent, however, that the British party was surrounded on all
sides by the enemy, who were comfortably screened by the tall tambookie
grass and the immense boulders that were to be found in clumps all round
the position. Our men were also hiding behind rocks and boulders, and
firing whenever a Boer head became visible. Soon after, the engagement
opened in earnest. A hot fire was kept up by the 9-pounder in charge of
Lieutenant Parsons, R.A., to which the enemy replied, directly the gun
was discharged, by a hail of bullets aimed at the gunners while they
reloaded.

In order to rout the Boers from their cover, an order was given to the
mounted men to charge. At that moment the Boers fired a heavy volley,
which incapacitated most of the horses and forced Major Brownlow to
retire to the plateau. Fortunately only one of the men was wounded. The
artillerymen now suffered considerably, having no shelter but the
doubtful shelter of their guns, which afforded a convenient mark for the
Boers. As soon as the General, who was going from point to point with
his usual coolness, saw the state of affairs—ammunition and even
gunners having run short—he sent to Mount Prospect camp for
reinforcements. Still the fight continued. The Boers now steadily and
surely crept to close quarters, while the British columns became
momentarily thinner[Pg 85] and thinner. Yet every man continued to hold his
ground till hopelessly struck down. Hopelessly is a word used advisedly,
for many who were struck down rose several times and continued to fire
till mortally wounded.

Of the splendid gallantry of the force it is impossible to say enough.
The fighting continued for six terrible hours through rain that fell
literally in torrents, in an arena where wounded and dying lay thick,
their despairing cries mingling with the continued growl of thunder
interspersed with the roar of artillery. Then a white flag was displayed
by the Boers. But, when the Rev. Mr. Ritchie in return displayed the
British white flag, he was instantly fired upon. The object of the use
of the white flag on the part of the Boers was to enable them to take
advantage of the temporary inaction to make rushes to cover nearer to
the British lines than that they had previously occupied! The fighting
began, and, for the small body of British troops, continued
disastrously. At last, when darkness came on, both sides were forced to
cease firing. Now and then, only when a flash of lightning lit up the
terrible scene, the firing of bullets demonstrated that the Boers were
still thoroughly on the alert.

The darkness descended, and in the middle of the pouring rain and the
murky obscurity the noble British dead were counted. The wounded were
also tended as well as it was possible to tend them when water and
restoratives were wanting, and the only relieving moisture had to be
sucked from the storm-drenched grass. Finally, the General, viewing the
deplorable state of the men, decided to withdraw the force from the
field. It was plain that any renewal of attack on the morrow by the
reinforced Boers could but mean annihilation or surrender. So the
remnants of the force started on their return journey. This was now a
terrible task, the Ingogo, which had been crossed at knee-depth, had
swollen dangerously; the gentle stream had become a torrent. The bed of
the river being full of holes, it was in some places some ten to twelve
feet deep.

Of the perils by field and flood it would be impossible to speak at
length. Mr. Carter, who was present at the melancholy fight and a
witness of all connected with the reverse, gives in his wonderful
narrative of the Boer war an interesting description of the misery of
that return march:—

“Knowing that moments were precious in the then state of the river, I
went ahead with the advance guard and crossed the stream; it was then
nearly up to my armpits, and running very swiftly. By holding my rifle
aloft, I managed to keep it dry, but every cartridge in my pockets was
under water. Only with the greatest care, and thanks to a knowledge of
the whereabouts of the treacherous hole[Pg 86] in the drift, did I manage to
keep on my legs. On gaining the opposite bank, I scooped up and drained
off a helmetful of the precious fluid, and then urging on through the
next ford—an insignificant one compared to the first—gained admission
at Fermistone’s hotel, after being duly cross-questioned through the
keyhole of the door. Some hot tea and whisky was recommended by the
host, and palatable it was. In a short time the other “Correspondent”
arrived, minus his rifle. He had been carried down the stream like a
cork, and only saved from drowning by being washed against some reeds at
a bend of the river. He decided that he had had enough of the march for
that night, and elected to go to bed. Next came in the General, and a
gentleman who claimed to be a surgeon (a Transvaal surgeon) escaped from
the Boer lines. He had been allowed free access to the camp at Mount
Prospect, and had accompanied the Ingogo expedition, but not as a
surgeon. From the General I learnt that there had been some men washed
down the stream in spite of the precaution adopted of joining hands.”

The return to camp was still more trying. The roads were slippery as
glass, and men and horses, thoroughly worn out, dropped exhausted by the
way. But it is needless to dwell on this melancholy event—an event
rendered so much more melancholy by regret for sublime effort wasted in
the support of a Government that was at that very moment entertaining
the proposals for craven surrender.

MAJUBA

On Sunday, the 27th of February, Sir George Colley made his last move.
During the afternoon of the previous day the General, who was a great
theorist, had been cogitating some scheme which he only communicated to
Colonel Stewart, and to one or two others. No sooner had “lights out”
been sounded, than an order was passed round for detachments of the
58th, third battalion of the 60th Rifles, Naval Brigade, and
Highlanders, to parade with three days’ rations. Then the order came
that the force was to form up by the redoubt nearest the main road on
their left. At ten a start was made, the General and staff riding in
front, with the 58th leading, followed by the 60th, and the Naval
Brigade in the rear. The direction taken was straight up the Inguela
Mountain. Arrived on a plateau about half-way up, the troops proceeded
by a path, narrow almost as a sheep path, which winds across the
steepest part of the mountain. Great boulders edged the hillside, and
masses of rock hung perpendicularly above the surface of the ground. One
false step and the climber would have been hurled down some thirty
feet,[Pg 87] to be dashed to pieces against the stones, or entangled in the
bush. This march was conducted in strict silence, no voice being raised,
and indeed not a breath more than was required for climbing expended.
Men and officers, all were bent on the one great feat of mounting and
gaining the summit. The march continued over loose stones, and boulders
and obstacles multifarious—sometimes round wrong tracks, owing to
mistakes of the guide, and sometimes over grass and glassy slopes, where
a man could make progress merely by means of hands and knees. Thus the
force stealthily ascended, creeping up in ones and twos, the General and
staff leading the way in ever-increasing darkness and silence.

So heavy was the work of ascent that, when at last they reached the top,
the troops almost dropped from exhaustion. It was this exhaustion that
is said by some to have influenced the General’s plans, but others
declare that he was not likely so to be influenced. Instead of
attempting at once to throw up a rough entrenchment, he refused to
permit it, declaring that the men were already over fatigued. A slight
entrenchment might have made all the difference in the sad history of
Majuba, but the General gave no orders to entrench, and thus the troops
were left open to the enemy.

At early dawn, on looking towards the Nek, it was obvious that a large
Boer force was there congregated, while at the base of the mountain was
the right flank of the Dutch camp. Gazing down from the great height
which had been so perseveringly gained, all hearts warmed with a glow of
triumph and of anticipation. The rocket tubes and Gatlings would soon
arrive, and then those below would be awakened to the tune of the guns!
From their point of vantage it seemed as though the British had the
Boers at their mercy.

The hilltop of Majuba was hollowed out basinwise, and there seemed only
a necessity to line the rim of it in the event of a rush from the enemy.
But the suspicion that the Boers would creep from ridge to ridge, and
mount the crest, never dawned on any one. In the dense darkness it was
impossible to become acquainted with the nature of all sides of the
hill, and the troops imagined them all to be equally impregnable.

Mr. Carter, who was there, says that at this time some twenty
Highlanders stood on the ridge watching the lights of the enemy, and
pointing to the camp below them, and laughingly repeating their
challenge, “Come up here, you beggars.” They never imagined it would be
possible for them indeed to come! He further states his belief that the
reason why no entrenchments were attempted was that every staff officer
on Majuba felt certain “that the Boers would never face the
hill—entrenchments or no entrenchments on the summit—as long as the
British soldier was there.” For this[Pg 88] almost fatuous belief in their own
security these gallant soldiers were destined to pay heavily.

So soon as daylight served to show our troops standing against the
sky-line, the enemy began to advance at the base of the mountain. The
first shot on that eventful day was fired at a Boer scout by Lieutenant
Lucy of the 58th, but the General, hearing it, sent word to “stop that
firing.” Silence again reigned. But in the meantime the Boers were
crawling cautiously up the hill after leaving their horses safely under
cover. About 6 a.m. they opened a steady fire, to which the British
troops responded cordially. The Boer bullets, though doubling those of
the British, did little damage, as the troops were partially sheltered
within the basin of the hilltop. Thus the fight continued till nine,
none of the officers at that time even suspecting that the enemy would
venture to “rush” their stronghold. No one was wounded, and nothing was
to be seen on any side of the hill, as the Boers kept closely under
cover. At this juncture many men, worn out and fatigued, laid themselves
down to sleep. Suddenly Lieutenant Lucy appeared asking for
reinforcements, and saying that the fire was “warming up” in his
direction. Some minutes later the General, who was perpetually moving
round the line, cool, collected, and calculating as ever, flashed a
message to Mount Prospect camp, ordering the 60th Rifles to be sent from
Newcastle to his support.

Later the General espied two Boers within 600 yards or so of him
mounting the ravine, and pointed them out. He had scarcely done this
when Commander Romilly fell. This gallant sailor was deservedly popular,
and gloom suddenly spread over the hitherto cheerful force. Still, no
one dreamed that the Boers would really get to close quarters. The first
awakening came when the firing, which had been till then in single
shots, poured upwards in volleys. From the sound it was evident that the
enemy was much nearer than had been supposed. The Highlanders, who were
facing this unexpected fusillade, were soon reinforced by the reserves
which had been ordered to their assistance.

The 58th, 92nd, and Naval Brigade disappeared over the ridge to meet the
enemy, and vigorously returned their fire. For one moment that of the
Boers appeared to slacken; then suddenly there came a precipitate
retreat of our men, the officers shouting, “Rally on the right! rally on
the right!” This order was obeyed, the troops describing a semicircle
and coming back to the ridge to a point at left of that from which they
had been so suddenly driven. But the momentary retreat had been
demoralising. At this standpoint the men had become hopelessly mixed
up—sailors, Highlanders, and 58th men all in a wild melee. Over this
hetero[Pg 89]geneous mass the officers had lost their personal influence.
While order was being restored the Boer firing ceased. The pause was
just sufficient to allow breathing time, for they almost instantaneously
reopened with redoubled vigour. Their shooting was scarcely successful,
but a hail of lead from the upturned muzzles of rifles continued to
traverse the thirty yards which now separated the foes. The enemy
numbered only about 200, but they hoped by rapidity of fire to hold the
British in check till their comrades should come to the rescue. Mr.
Carter thus graphically describes what was really the last despairing
effort of our men:—

“The order was given in our lines, ‘Fix bayonets,’ and immediately the
steel rang from the scabbard of every man, and flashed in the bright
sunlight the next second on the muzzle of every rifle.[Pg 90] ‘That’s right!’
cheerily called Major Fraser. ‘Now, men of the 92nd, don’t forget your
bayonets!’ he added, with marked emphasis on the word bayonets. It was
the bayonet or nothing now, and the officer’s words sent quite a
pleasant thrill through all. Colonel Stewart immediately added, ‘And the
men of the 58th!’ ‘And the Naval Brigade!’ sang out another officer,
Captain MacGregor, I think. ‘Show them the cold steel, men! that will
check them,’ continued Fraser, whilst volley after volley came pouring
in, and volley after volley went in the direction of the enemy. But why
this delay? The time we were at this point I cannot judge, except by
personally recalling incidents in succession. When the bayonets rang
into the rifle-sockets simultaneously with the reopening of the Boers’
volleys, I felt convinced that in two minutes that murderous fire would
be silenced, and our men driving the foe helter-skelter down hill. After
the bayonets had been drawn and fixed, and remained fixed, our men still
firing for at least four or five minutes, and no order came to ‘charge,’
I changed my opinion suddenly.”

Here we may imagine the agony—hope, doubt, suspense—that passed like a
lightning flash through the minds of all who were present.

The uproar at this time grew appalling. Commands of the officers, the
crash of shot, the shrieks of the wounded, all helped to aggravate the
din. Boers were fast climbing the mountain sides, and the troops, worn
out and almost expended, were beginning to lose the spirit of discipline
that hitherto had sustained them. The officers stepped forward boldly,
sword in one hand and revolver in the other, but to no purpose. Only an
insignificant number of men now responded to the command.

THE BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL.

Drawn by R. Caton Woodville, from Notes supplied by Officers present.

The officer to the left, with the glass in his hand, is General Colley,
who, to facilitate his ascent of the hill, took off his boots, and,
during the engagement, wore only socks and slippers. He, with others, is
urging the soldiers to maintain their position. The Highlander with the
bandage on his face was wounded, but bravely continued to fight. The
Highlander on the right, apparently asleep, was shot dead while taking
aim. The officer in the immediate foreground towards the right, to whom
the doctor is offering a flask, is Major L. C. Singleton, of the 92nd
Gordon Highlanders, who died of his wounds. The figure pressing forward
on the extreme left of the picture is the Special Correspondent of the
Standard newspaper.

Mr. Carter declares that when Lieutenant Hamilton of the 92nd asked Sir
George Colley’s permission to charge with the bayonet, he replied, “Wait
a while.” Such humanity was almost inhumanity, for waiting placed at
stake many lives that might have been saved. The correspondent says:—

“Evidently Sir George Colley allowed his feelings of humanity to stand
in the way of the request of the young officer. We were forty yards at
the farthest from the enemy’s main attacking party. In traversing these
forty yards our men would have been terribly mauled, no doubt, by the
first volley, but the ground sloped gently to the edge of the terrace
along which the enemy were lying, and the intervening space would be
covered in twenty seconds—at all events, so rapidly by the survivors of
the first volley, that the Boers, mostly armed with the Westley-Richards
cap rifle, would not have had time to reload before our men were on
them. I am not sure that the first rush of the infantry would not have
demoralised the[Pg 91] enemy, and that their volley would have been less
destructive than some imagined. If only a score of our men had thrust
home, the enemy must have been routed. At a close-quarter conflict, what
use would their empty rifles have been against the bayonets of our men,
who would have had the additional advantage of the higher ground? If the
bayonet charge was impracticable at that moment, then, as an offensive
weapon, the bayonet is a useless one, and the sooner it is discarded as
unnecessary lumber to a soldier’s equipment the better. It was our last
chance now, though a desperate one, because these withering volleys were
laying our men prostrate; slowly in comparison with the number of shots
fired, but surely, despite our shelter. Some out of the hail of bullets
found exposed victims. In a few seconds our left flank, now practically
undefended, and perfectly open to the Boers scaling the side of the
mountain in that direction, would be attacked with the same fury as our
front.

“Looking to the spot Cameron had indicated as the one where the General
stood, I saw his Excellency standing within ten paces directing some men
to extend to the right. It was the last time I saw him alive.”

It is unnecessary to dwell further on the tragic events of that unlucky
battle. After midday our troops retreated, and the retreat soon became a
rout. At this time Sir George Colley was shot. Dismay seized all hearts,
followed by panic. The British soldiers rushed helter-skelter down the
precipitous steeps they had so cheerfully climbed the night before, many
of them losing their lives in their efforts to escape from the ceaseless
fire of the now triumphant enemy.

WHERE COLLEY FELL.

ROUGH CAIRN OF STONES ON MAJUBA HILL.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.

Before leaving this sad subject, it may be interesting to note a Boer
account of the day’s doings which is related by Mr. Rider Haggard in his
useful book on “The Last Boer War”:—

“A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a
friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free State
in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who gave
us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest willingness.
He said that when it was discovered that the English had possession of
the mountain, he thought that the game was up, but after a while bolder
counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called for to storm the hill.
Only seventy men could be found to perform the duty, of whom he was one.
They started up the mountain in fear and trembling, but soon found that
every shot passed over their heads, and went on with greater boldness.
Only three men, he declared, were hit on the Boer side; one was killed,
one was hit in the arm, and he himself was the third, getting his[Pg 92] face
grazed by a bullet, of which he showed us the scar. He stated that the
first to reach the top ridge was a boy of twelve, and that as soon as
the troops saw them they fled, when, he said, he paid them out for
having nearly killed him, knocking them over one after another ‘like
bucks’ as they ran down the hill, adding that it was ‘alter lecker’
(very nice).”

A complete and reliable narrative of affairs on that fateful day in the
ridge below Majuba was given in the Army and Navy Gazette. It is here
reproduced, as it shows the finale from the point of view of an
eye-witness of one of the most lamentable fights known in British
history. The correspondent says:—

THE SIEGE OF PRETORIA

As may be remembered, Sir Owen Lanyon’s proclamation announcing martial
law was read, and the town handed over to the military government.
Colonel Gildea (introduced by Colonel Bellairs) acted as Commandant of
the Garrison, Major F. Mesurier, R.E., was in charge of the Infantry
Volunteers, and Captain Campbell, 94th Regiment, filled the post of
Provost-Marshal. Sympathisers with the Boers were ordered to leave the
place on pain of being handed over to the Provost-Marshal to be dealt
with by military law.

It was decided to evacuate the town, and form two laagers, one at the
camp, and one between the Roman Catholic church and the jail. In the
camp the women and children were to be placed, while the Infantry
Volunteers garrisoned the convent laager. Within the convent, women and
children were packed tightly as sardines, while the nuns turned out on
errands of mercy. All night and all day, scarcely stopping to eat a
mouthful, men worked, sandbagging windows and doors—building barricades
and defences of various kinds. Waggons were sent round to gather all
families within the shelter of the camp. Rich and poor, good and bad,
some 4000 souls, were herded together in tents for their protection.
Here they remained for three months, enduring hardships of the most
variegated and worrying kind, and loyally waiting for the relieving
column that never came.

Descriptions of the rations served out to each man daily are not
appetising: Bread, 11⁄4 lb., or biscuit, 1 lb.; coffee, 2⁄3 oz.; sugar,
21⁄2 oz.; meat, 11⁄4 lb.; tea, 1⁄6 oz.; and salt, 1⁄2 oz. These were
reduced as the siege proceeded. The meat was trek beef, a leathery
substitute for steak, and the biscuits were veterans, having “served” in
the Zulu and Sekukuni campaigns, and now being nothing better than a
swarm of weevils. Life in Pretoria was enlivened by occasional sorties
against the Boer laagers, where the enemy was supposed to number some
800 strong. The laagers were distributed at distances of four and eight
miles from the town, and were connected by a system of patrolling, which
rendered communication from within or without almost impossible. A few
messengers (natives) occasionally came[Pg 96] into the town, but these were
mostly charged with the delivery of delusive messages invented for
special purposes by the Boers. There was an ever-present
difficulty—that of keeping the natives in check. Many examples of Boer
cruelty to these poor blacks are recorded, and they naturally shuddered
at the prospect of once more being delivered over to the rule of the
sjambok.

Mr. H. Shepstone, the Secretary for native affairs, took immense pains
to keep things quiet among the various chiefs. He said he had but to
lift his little finger, and the Boers would not hold the field for a
couple of days. Almost every native he knew would be in arms, and by
sheer weight of numbers would overpower the Boers. Several of the chiefs
sheltered refugees, and Montsiwe gathered his force in the hope that he
would be allowed to come to the relief of Potchefstroom. Government
reports regarding the loyalty of the natives were numerous, and the
natives’ longing to come to the assistance of the British in fighting
their ancient oppressors was obvious. The subsequent desertion of these
people whom Great Britain had taken under her wing, is one of the most
grievous of the many grievous things that accrued from the exercise of
British “magnanimity.” Sir Morrison Barlow and Sir Evelyn Wood both
agreed that the natives were “British to a man!” They were thoroughly
sick of Boer cruelty, and the Kaffirs and Basutos had learnt to look to
Great Britain for a reign of peace. Rather than again be ruled by the
Boer despots, they were ready to spill the last drop of their blood, and
only the high principled, almost quixotic action of the British
officials prevented the utilisation in extremity of this massive and
effective weapon of defence. Besides the garrison in Pretoria there were
other forts defended by soldiers and loyalists, forts which were none of
them taken by the enemy. These were Potchefstroom, Rustenburg,
Sydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom. The fort of Potchefstroom was
surrendered during the armistice by fraudulent representations on the
part of the Boers.

The absorbing topic of the time was naturally the future of the
Transvaal. Hope warmed all hearts and helped every one to keep up a
fictitious air of cheerfulness. All thought that the rebellion would
serve to strengthen the British in their determination to establish an
effectual Government in the country and promote an enduring peace. The
suspicion that the territory would be given back would have come on
these hoping, waiting, and longing sufferers like a blast from the pole.
Fortunately it was not given to them to foresee the humiliating end of
their staunch endurance. Anathemas long and deep were sounded at the
mention of Dr. Jorissen, who was looked upon as the fuse which set
alight the rebellious temper of the Boers.

General Sir EVELYN WOOD, G.C.B., V.C.

Photo by Maull & Fox, London.

The enemy, however, never directly attacked the town. They contented
themselves with attempting to steal cattle and skirmishing, and
generally harassing those within. Such fights as these were mainly due
to British initiative, and these were not fraught with success to us. Of
this period it is pitiful to write. British valour and endurance were
exhibited to the uttermost, and many gallant actions at different
sorties might be recorded. So also might be given, did space allow, many
instances of Boer cunning and Boer treachery—notably the acts of firing
on the flag of truce, and on ambulance waggons. There can be no doubt
that the firing on the flag of truce by the Boers was intentional. Their
own explanation of the cause of this uncivilised proceeding may be taken
for what it is worth. It appears that their troops were divided in
opinion—that one party wished to continue fighting while another wished
to surrender. Hence the exhibition of double-dealing which had so
confounding an effect on their enemies, and so convenient a one for
themselves. The Boers on the Majuba Hill fired on a flag of truce, the
attack at Bronker’s Spruit was made under cover of the white flag, and
delay at Ingogo, to cover their movement from shelter, was gained by
means of the same vile expedient.

When the news of the British reverses at Laing’s Nek and Majuba reached
Pretoria there was general consternation. But, as yet, none knew of the
crushing blow that was still in store. On the 28th, 102 days after the
hoisting of the Republican flag at Heidelberg, there came the almost
incredible news that a peace had been concluded involving the surrender
of the Transvaal to the Boers. At first it seemed impossible that the
British Government could have consented to leave its loyal supporters in
the terrible position in which they now found themselves. All who had
sat patiently through trouble and trial, working with might and main,
suffering from endless ills, in peril of their lives, and deprived of
property and home, now joined in one heartrending wail of woe and
disappointment. The consternation that followed the announcement of the
ignoble surrender is thus described by Mr. Nixon, who was an eye-witness
and sharer of the general grief and humiliation:—

“The scene which ensued baffles description. The men hoisted the colours
half-mast high. The Union Jack was pulled down and dragged through the
mud. The distinctive ribbons worn round the hats of the men as badges
were pulled off and trampled underfoot. I saw men crying like children
with shame and despair. Some went raving up and down that they were
Englishmen no longer; others, with flushed and indignant faces, sat
contemplating their impending ruin, ‘refusing to be comforted.’ It was a
painful, distressing, and humiliating scene, and such as I hope never to
witness again. While[Pg 98] I write, the remembrance of it comes vividly
before me; and as I recall to mind the weeping men and women, the
infuriated volunteers, and the despairing farmers and storekeepers, half
crazy with the sense of wounded national honour, and the prospect of
loss and ruin before them, my blood boils within me, and I cannot trust
myself to commit to paper what I think. The lapse of two years has but
deepened the feeling which I then experienced. The subject may perhaps
be only unpleasant to people at home, but to me personally, who have
seen the ruin and dismay brought upon the too credulous loyalists, the
recollections it stirs up are more bitterly mortifying than words can
describe.”

Mr. Rider Haggard, who at this time was at Newcastle, has also recorded
his experiences on the unhappy occasion. He says:—”Every hotel and bar
was crowded with refugees who were trying to relieve their feelings by
cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour, originality, and
earnestness that I have never heard equalled; and declaring in ironical
terms how proud they were to be citizens of England—a country that
always kept its word. Then they set to work with many demonstrations of
contempt to burn the effigy of the right honourable gentleman at the
head of her Majesty’s Government, an example, by the way, that was
followed throughout South Africa.” Talking of the loyal inhabitants in
the Transvaal on whom the news burst ‘like a thunderbolt,’ he explains
that they did not say much—because there was nothing to be said! They
simply packed up their portable goods and chattels, and made haste to
leave the country, “which they well knew would henceforth be utterly
untenable for Englishmen and English sympathisers.” Here was another
great trek—a pathetic exodus of British loyalists whom Great Britain
had betrayed. Away they went, these poor believing and deceived people,
to try and make new homes and new fortunes, for as soon as the Queen’s
sovereignty was withdrawn houses and land were not worth a song, and
their chances of earning a living were now entirely over, on account of
their mistaken loyalty.

The condition of the town is thus described in a journal of the
period:—

“The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the water-furrows unclean
and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches; the houses
showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay; the side paths, in many
places, dangerous to pedestrians—in fact, everything the eye can rest
upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this once prosperous
city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, betake himself to the
outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive the same sad evidences of
neglect, public grounds unattended, roads uncared for, mills and other
public works[Pg 99] crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs of decay most
strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over this lately fair
and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a ‘deserted village,’ a
‘city of the dead.'”

RETROCESSION

The Government, through the medium of the Queen’s Speech, had announced
its intention of vindicating her Majesty’s authority in the Transvaal.
This was in January 1881. About that time President Brand, of the Orange
Free State, formed himself into a species of Board of Arbitration
between the contending parties—Boers and British. The reason for this
intervention was threefold—first, he genuinely desired to avoid further
bloodshed; second, he as genuinely hoped, under a mask of neutrality, to
advance the Dutch cause throughout South Africa; and third, he amicably
wished to put himself in the good graces of the British Government.
Prior to General Colley’s death Mr. Brand had urged him to allow peace
to be made, and to guarantee the Boers not being treated as rebels if
they submitted. General Colley was no quibbler with words. He would give
no such assurance. He proposed, in a telegram to the Colonial Secretary,
to publish an amnesty on entering the Transvaal to all peaceable
persons—excepting one or two prominent rebels. On the 8th of February
(the day of the battle of the Ingogo), a telegram was received from
home, promising a settlement upon the Boers ceasing from armed
opposition. This showed that the Government had early begun to put their
foot on the first rung of the ladder of disgrace—it can be called by no
other term—and that the “climb-down” policy was already coming into
practice. An unfortunate game at cross-purposes seems to have been going
on, for Mr. Brand was proposing to Lord Kimberley that Sir H. de
Villiers—the Chief-Justice of the Cape, should be appointed as
Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to arrange matters, while at the
same time Sir George Colley was telegraphing a plan to be adopted on
entering the Transvaal, a plan which should grant a complete amnesty
only to Boers who would sign a declaration of loyalty.

Lord Kimberley welcomed the suggestion of Mr. Brand, and agreed, if only
the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with power to “develop
the permanent friendly scheme”; and “that, if this proposal is accepted,
you now are authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our
part.” At the same time the War Office informed General Colley that the
Government did not bind his discretion, but was anxious to avoid
effusion of blood. Lord[Pg 100] Kimberley’s telegram was forwarded to Colley
and to Joubert. Colley was dumfounded. He telegraphed back: “There can
be no hostilities if no resistance is made; but am I to leave Laing’s
Nek in Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated
and short of provisions—or occupy former and relieve latter?”

Lord Kimberley’s reply was characteristically ambiguous. The garrisons
were to be left free to provision themselves, but Sir George was not to
march to the relief of garrisons or occupy Laing’s Nek if an arrangement
were proceeding.

Meanwhile President Brand and Lord Kimberley held an unctuous
telegraphic palaver, which may diplomatically be viewed as the beginning
of the end. This humiliating end was hastened by the fiasco of Majuba on
the 27th of February, though before it came to pass Sir Frederick
Roberts was despatched with reinforcements to Natal. Sir Evelyn Wood
assumed temporary command of the forces after Colley’s death. Colonel
Wood was asked by Lord Kimberley to obtain from Kruger a reply to a
letter General Colley had forwarded before Majuba, requesting a reply in
forty-eight hours. The reply, an ingenuous one, came on the 7th of
March. Kruger was glad to hear that her Majesty’s Government were
inclined to cease hostilities, and suggested a meeting on both sides. On
the 12th of March Lord Kimberley telegraphed to Sir Evelyn Wood, saying
that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition, a Commission would
be appointed to give the Transvaal complete internal self-government
under British suzerainty, with a British Resident to look after the
natives.

The Boers at the same time made a communication. They refused to
negotiate on the basis of Lord Kimberley’s telegram of the 8th, as it
would be tantamount to an admission that they were in the wrong. They
would accept nothing short of the restoration of the Republic with a
British protectorate. This the Home Government accepted, and thus the
“climb down” was complete.

On the 23rd of March 1881, Sir Evelyn Wood, under orders from the
Ministry, signed a treaty on behalf of the British, while the Boer
leaders did the same on behalf of their constituents. By it, the Boers
engaged to accept her Majesty as Suzerain “of the Transvaal, with a
British Resident in the capital, but to allow the Republic complete
self-government, to operate in six months’ time. The Suzerain was to
have control over the foreign relations of the Transvaal, and a Royal
Commission for the protection of the natives and the decision of the
boundary of the Republic would be appointed. Persons guilty of acts
contrary to laws of civilised warfare were to be punished; and property
captured by either party was to be returned.” In conclusion, it was
arranged that all arms taken by the[Pg 101] British Government when they
annexed the country were to be handed back.

The Commission appointed by her Majesty’s Government consisted of Sir
Hercules Robinson, who replaced Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape; Sir Henry
de Villiers, now Chief-Justice of Cape Colony; and Sir Evelyn Wood;
President Brand was present in a neutral capacity. Though nominally
under the control of the British Government, its actions were pro-Boer.
In justice to Sir Evelyn Wood, it is necessary to state that he did no
more than obey orders laid down by his Government. Indeed it is said
that when he was required to make the disgraceful peace, he called his
officers around him, and asked them to witness that he was merely
obeying orders, so that in days to come he might not submit a tarnished
name to posterity.

Sir Frederick Roberts, on his arrival at Cape Town, was therefore
informed that his services were no longer needed. Sir Evelyn Wood
retained a force of 12,000 men in Natal, but the Government had decided
on peace at any price, and peace was therefore restored.

THE BETRAYED LOYALISTS

Of the sufferings of the loyalists we must say little. Suffice it to
picture the breaking up of homes gathered together with much patience
after years of steady labour; the insults daily endured from a people
who now held Great Britain in contempt; the disappointment and
indignation, the wretchedness and despair caused to all who had
faithfully adhered to the Crown.

A petition was drafted to the House of Commons, but signatures were
comparatively few. Many had no hope of redress from Great Britain,
others naturally feared further Boer oppression. Some passages of the
petition ran thus:—

“That your petitioners believe that the annexation was acquiesced in by
a majority of the inhabitants, and was looked upon as an act calculated
to create confidence and credit to the country, a belief which is borne
out by the fact that almost all the old officials appointed by the
former Government, or elected by the people, remained in office under
the new Government; and your petitioners further believe, that if the
promises expressed and implied in the annexation proclamation had been
carried out fully in the spirit of the proclamation, the whole of the
inhabitants would, in time, have become loyal subjects of her Majesty.

“That the annexation was followed by an immediate accession of
confidence, and it marked the commencement of an era of progress[Pg 102] and
advancement, which has steadily increased up to the present time,
despite the numerous drawbacks and disadvantages to which the country
has been subjected, and some of which have been the result of Imperial
action.

“That, notwithstanding the promises expressed and implied in the
annexation proclamation, the country has been governed as a Crown
Colony, and no opportunity has been afforded to the inhabitants of
controlling the policy which has regulated its administration, and your
petitioners are in no way responsible for the late lamentable war, or
for the disgraceful peace which has concluded it.

…….

“That the value of property increased at least threefold during the
English occupation, and that the increase progressed in a ratio
corresponding with the reliance placed on the promises of English
officials. Indeed, some of your petitioners are prepared to state, on
oath if required, that they invested money immediately after or in
direct consequence of a statement by a Governor of the Transvaal or a
Minister of the British Crown.

“That the towns are almost exclusively inhabited by loyal subjects, and
English farmers and traders are scattered all over the country.

…….

“That most of the loyal inhabitants intend to realise their property,
even at a sacrifice, and to leave the country, but that those who are
compelled by force of circumstances to remain in it will be deprived of
the protection and security afforded by English rule, and they
respectfully submit they have a right to ask that the fullest and most
substantial pledges be exacted from the contemplated Boer Government for
their safety, and for the exercise of their privileges as British
subjects.”

In reference to the unfortunate natives, and the humiliating peace, Mr.
Rider Haggard, who had been Shepstone’s private secretary, wrote
pathetically to Sir Bartle Frere from Newcastle, Natal:—

“June 6, 1881.

“I do not believe that more than half of those engaged in the late
rebellion were free agents, though, once forced into committing
themselves, they fought as hard as the real malcontents…. The natives
are the real heirs to the soil, and should surely have some protection
and consideration, some voice in the settlement of their fate. They
outnumbered the Boers by twenty-five to one, taking their numbers at a
million and those of the Boers at forty thousand,[Pg 103] a fair estimate, I
believe…. As the lash and the bullet have been the lot of the wretched
Transvaal Kaffir in the past, so they will be his lot in the future….
After leading those hundreds of thousands of men and women to believe
that they were once and for ever the subjects of her Majesty, safe from
all violence, cruelty, and oppression, we have handed them over without
a word of warning to the tender mercies of one, where natives are
concerned, of the cruellest white races in the world.

“Then comes the case of the loyal Boers, men who believed us and fought
for us, and are now, as a reward for their loyalty, left to the
vengeance of their countrymen—a vengeance that will most certainly be
wreaked, let the Royal Commission try to temper it as they will.

“Lastly, there are the unfortunate English inhabitants, three thousand
of whom were gathered during the siege in Pretoria alone, losing their
lives in a forsaken cause. I can assure you, sir, that you must see
these people to learn how complete is their ruin. They have been pouring
through here, many of those who were well-to-do a few months since,
hardly knowing how to find food for their families.”

On this subject Colonel Lanyon, who since the first outbreak had been
shut up in Pretoria, also wrote tragically:—

“March 29, 1881.

“Last night the saddest news I ever received in my life came in the
shape of a letter from Wood…. After three Secretaries of State, three
High Commissioners, and two Houses of Commons had said that the country
should not be given back, it seems a terrible want of good faith to the
loyals that this decision should have been arrived at. The scene this
morning was a heart-breaking one; the women, who have behaved splendidly
all through the siege, were crying and wringing their hands in their
great grief; the children were hushed as if in a chamber of death; and
the men were completely bowed down in their sorrow. Well they might, for
the news brought home ruin to many, and great loss to all. I am ashamed
to walk about, for I hear nothing but reproaches and utterances from
heretofore loyal men which cut one to the very quick…. How I am to
tell the natives I know not, for they have trusted so implicitly to our
promises and assurances…. One man who has been most loyal to us (an
Englishman) told me to-day, ‘Thank God my children are Afrikanders, and
need not be ashamed of their country!'”

The feelings described by Sir Owen were openly echoed by all sensible
men who knew anything of the country: they were certain[Pg 104] that it was not
within the power of Boer comprehension to understand “magnanimity” in an
opponent. To the Boer, as to many an Englishman, this long-sounding word
seemed more neatly to be interpreted by the more ugly but concise term
“funk.”

Sir Bartle Frere, writing of Sir George Colley in a letter to a friend,
expressed his opinion roundly:—

“March 31, 1881.

“Let no one ever say that England lost prestige through Sir George
Colley. I do not like the word so much as ‘character’ or ‘conduct’ which
create it. But no country ever lost real prestige through defeat.
Nelson, wounded and repulsed at Teneriffe; Grenvil, overpowered and
dying on the deck of the Revenge, did as much for England’s prestige
as Marlborough at Blenheim or Wellington at Waterloo. Sir George Colley
miscalculated his own and his enemy’s strength, but he had nothing to do
with disgraceful surrender, and I am sure had rather be where he now
rests than sign a disgraceful peace, which is the only thing that can
injure England’s prestige.”

Mr. R. W. Murray, of the Cape Times, writing to Sir Bartle Frere,
thought bitterly indeed.

“Ask your English statesmen,” he wrote, “if, in the history of the
world, there was ever such a cruel desertion of a dependency by the
parent State. How can England hope for loyalty from South Africans? The
moral of the Gladstone lesson is, that you may be anything in South
Africa but loyal Englishmen.”

These letters, taken haphazard from volumes of correspondence on the
melancholy event of the time, serve better than the words of an outsider
to show the terrible position in which the “magnanimity” of the British
Ministers had placed their countrymen. One more extract and we must pass
on.

COLOUR-SERGEANT and PRIVATE, THE SCOTS GUARDS.

Photo by Gregory & Co. London.

Colonel Lanyon, writing again to Sir Bartle Frere, said:—

“April 26, 1881.

“The Boers are practically dictators, and have been ruling the country
in a manner which is simply humiliating to Englishmen. Active
persecution is going on everywhere, and consequently all that can are
leaving the country. Thirty families have left Pretoria alone; B—— and
M—— have left, having been frequently threatened because of their
having been members of the Executive, and those two poor fellows J——
and H—— are completely ostracised for the[Pg 105] same reason. They are
both ruined men, practically speaking, and all because they trusted to
England’s assurances and good faith….

“But hard as these cases are, I feel that the natives have had the
cruellest measure meted out to them, and they feel it acutely. The most
touching and heart-breaking appeals have come from some of the chiefs
who live near enough to have heard the news. They ask why they have been
thrown over after showing their loyalty by paying their taxes and
resisting the demands made upon them by the Boers during hostilities.
They point out that we stopped them from helping us, and that, had we
not done so, the Boers would have been easily put down. They say that,
as we so hindered their action, it is a cruel wrong for us now to hand
them back to the care of a race which is more embittered against them
than ever, and who have already begun to harass them because of their
loyalty. These points are unanswerable, and I do not see how we can
reply to them.”[Pg 106]

CHAPTER IV

THE CONVENTIONS

As may be remembered, Sir Evelyn Wood was ordered to conclude an
armistice, whereby the troops that had garrisoned the Transvaal might
evacuate it. In the case of Potchefstrom, the execution of this design
was treacherously prevented by Commandant Cronjé. This officer, after
the armistice had been arranged, withheld the news from the garrison,
and prevented supplies from reaching the fort. As a natural consequence,
he became a national hero, and led the burghers against Dr. Jameson in
1895 and the forces on the Western frontier in 1899.

The armistice was concluded in March 1881, and in August the Convention
of Pretoria was signed. Some form of inquiry was held into the conduct
of persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of
civilised warfare, but the whole thing proved to be a mere farce; and,
as a matter of fact, not one of the perpetrators of murder and other
crimes during the course of the war was brought to justice. The
Commission insisted on a definite agreement for the purpose of securing
British persons from oppressive legislation, but, as we know, Boer
promises were as completely pie-crust as Boer contracts were mere waste
paper.

At the beginning of June Mr. Gladstone wrote a letter in answer to that
received from the loyal inhabitants. In this he said:—

“Her Majesty’s Government willingly and thankfully acknowledge the loyal
co-operation which her Majesty’s forces received at Pretoria and
elsewhere by the inhabitants, and we sympathise with the privations and
sufferings which they endured. I must, however, observe that so great
was the preponderance of the Boers who rose in arms against the Queen’s
authority that the whole country, except the posts occupied by the
British troops, fell at once practically into their hands. Again, the
memorialists themselves only estimate the proportion of settlers not
Transvaal Boers at one-seventh. Nearly, though not quite, the whole of
the Boers have appeared to be united in sentiment, and her Majesty’s
Government could not deem it their duty to set aside the will of so
large a majority by the only possible means, namely, the permanent
maintenance of a powerful military[Pg 107] force in the country. Such a course
would have been inconsistent alike with the spirit of the Treaty of
1852, with the grounds on which the annexation was sanctioned, and with
the general interests of South Africa, which especially require that
harmony should prevail between the white races.

“On the other hand, in the settlement which is now in progress, every
care will be taken to secure to the settlers, of whatever origin, the
full enjoyment of their property, and of all civil rights.”

The pledges conveyed in the last sentence received such fulfilment as
they were to have by the insertion in the Convention of the following
clauses:—

“Article XII.—All persons holding property in the said State, on the
8th day of August 1881, will continue to enjoy the rights of property
which they have enjoyed since the annexation. No person who has remained
loyal to her Majesty during the recent hostilities shall suffer any
molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable to any criminal
prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such
hostilities, and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in
the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights, and protection for
their persons and property.

“Article XXVI.—All persons, other than natives, conforming themselves
to the laws of the Transvaal State (a) will have full liberty, with
their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the Transvaal
State; (b) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses,
manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (c) they may carry on
their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit
to employ; (d) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons
and property, or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes,
whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed
upon Transvaal citizens.”

The Convention itself is now well known, but brief allusion to it may
not be out of place. The preamble is important, and runs as follows:—

“Her Majesty’s Commissioners for the settlement of the Transvaal
territory, duly appointed as such by a Commission passed under the Royal
Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the 5th April 1881, do hereby
undertake and guarantee, on behalf of her Majesty, that from and after
the 8th day of August 1881 complete self-government, subject to the
suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and successors, will be accorded to
the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, upon the following terms and
conditions, and subject to the following reservations and
limitations….”

The new State was to be styled “The Transvaal State.” A British Resident
was appointed, and the right to move British troops[Pg 108] through the State
guaranteed. External relations were to be under British control, and
intercourse with foreign Powers to be carried on through her Majesty’s
diplomatic and consular officers. The independence of Swaziland was
guaranteed. Article 4 of the Sand River Convention, forbidding slavery,
was re-affirmed in Article 16. Natives were to be allowed to acquire
land, and to move about the country “as freely as may be consistent with
the requirements of public order.” Complete freedom of religion was
established. Protection to loyalists was guaranteed by the Triumvirate.
The British Resident was given wide authority in native affairs; was, in
fact, constituted as an official protector of natives. The boundaries of
the State were defined, and it engaged not to transgress them.

The government of the country was handed over to the Triumvirate, who
engaged to summon a Volksraad as soon as possible. The Volksraad when it
assembled, however, was disinclined to ratify the Pretoria Convention.
The burghers wanted the Old Republic of the Sand River Convention, and
fretted at the idea that they should have agreed to acknowledge British
suzerainty. This acknowledgment was made a condition of the grant of
autonomy, and the British Resident in Pretoria was to have large powers
in the direction of native affairs. The position of the post of British
Resident was to be similar to that held by a British Resident in one of
the Native States of India. “Africanus,” in his useful book on “The
Transvaal Boers,” thus describes the practical difference between the
status of the two officials: “A Resident in an Indian State, though
sometimes exposed to the risk of assassination, or of a general mutiny,
is known by the inhabitants to have behind him the enormous military
force of the Indian Empire, whereas the unhappy Resident at Pretoria was
given no means of enforcing any protests which he might be called upon
to make. His only course was to report disobedience to the High
Commissioner; and if the disobedience was not of such a character as to
force the Imperial Government to undertake military measures, it was
sure to be overlooked. Thus the Resident, so far from controlling the
policy of the Transvaal, was reduced to the position of counsel holding
‘a watching brief.'”

As will be seen, the interests of the Uitlanders were protected, but no
provision was made by the Convention for future immigrants. Mr. Kruger,
whose assurances at the time were believed to be sound, had promised to
place them on equal footing with the burghers as regards freedom of
trade. His words were: “We make no difference as far as burgher rights
are concerned. There may, perhaps, be some slight difference in the case
of a young person who has come into the country,” but the term “young[Pg 109]
person,” it was afterwards explained, had no reference to age, but to
time of residence in the country.

Mr. Kruger, as leader of the reactionary section of the Boers, finally
became the President. The rival of Mr. Kruger was Mr. Joubert, otherwise
known as “Slim Piet,” on account of his wily ways, and between them from
that day up to the present time considerable jealousy existed. They were
always of one accord, however, in struggling to slip or squeeze out of
any Conventions with the British. The first contravention of treaty
engagements was the return of the State to the old title of South
African Republic. The Home Government feebly remonstrated—it was too
sunk in the slough of “magnanimity” to do more. As a natural result the
Boers snapped their fingers at such remonstrances. After taking an inch
they helped themselves to an ell! They had engaged to respect
boundaries, but soon they began to lap over into Zululand and
Bechuanaland.

The Boer process of expansion is simple and time-honoured. A case of
spirits is exchanged for the right to graze on land belonging to an
independent chief. The cattle graze, the master locates himself. If the
intrusion is resented, a campaign follows, and the stronger ousts the
weaker. Sometimes the Boer lends his services in warfare to a petty
chief, and those services are rewarded with a grant of land.

When the British annexed the Transvaal and conquered Sekukuni, the other
chiefs submitted to the British Government. On the resumption of Boer
rule, however, the chiefs were inclined to defy their authority. The
territories of the Mapoch, Malaboch, and Mpefu were assigned to the
Boers by the Convention of 1881, and consequently quarrels began. In
1883 Mapoch broke out against authority, and there was a campaign to
subdue him. Malaboch became obstreperous in 1894, and Mpefu followed his
example in 1898. Most of the campaigns arose over the refusal to pay the
hut tax. Before the Mapoch campaign in 1883 the Volksraad made a change
in the terms of the franchise. It may be remembered that for burgher
rights a residence of one year in the country and an oath of allegiance
were necessary conditions. It was arranged that in future all candidates
for citizenship must have resided and been registered in the Field
Cornet’s lists for five years, and must pay the sum of £25.

About this time Messrs. Kruger, Du Toit, and Smith travelled to England
to agitate for a new Convention. The Transvaal Government had “broken
the spirit, and even the letter,” of the old Convention, and Lord Derby
in the House of Lords expressed his opinion that “it would be an easy
thing to find a casus belli in what[Pg 110] had taken place.” In spite of all
this, Mr. Gladstone in 1884 obligingly agreed to a new Convention. By
examination of its terms, it will be seen how far and how ignobly the
Government went on the road to concession. By this Convention the
British Resident was replaced by a diplomatic agent; the old title of
South African Republic was restored; the Republic was allowed to
negotiate on its own account with foreign Powers, limitations on
treaty-making alone being imposed. Complete freedom of religion was
promised, and the Republic agreed to “do its utmost” to prevent any of
its inhabitants from making any encroachments upon lands beyond the
boundaries laid down. Article 14 will be seen to be verbally similar to
Article 26 of the Pretoria Convention of 1881, only the words South
African Republic being substituted for Transvaal State. Nothing was
said about the preamble to the Pretoria Convention or the question of
British “suzerainty.” The word was omitted from the new text; but it was
supposed to be operative as before. Over this matter there has been so
much argument that, unless we can devote a volume to solving the
Convention riddle, it is best left alone. We must allow that the
ambiguity of an already ambiguous Ministry had here reached its climax!
Certain it is that the Transvaal representatives returned to inform the
Raad that the suzerainty had been abolished, and that statement they
were allowed to maintain without contradiction! As a natural consequence
of this indecision and weakness on the part of the then Government,
subsequent Governments have been placed in an unenviable quandary. The
Boers contend that the omission of the word “suzerainty” in 1884 was
intentional, and designed to permit the State to style itself an
independent Republic, while all level-headed persons are fully aware
that no Republic could have been granted complete independence while
under a weight of debt for money and blood spent for years and years to
save it from collapse and annihilation. Moreover, the guarantee of
independence of the Transvaal was so unmistakably a result of suzerainty
that the repetition of the word was unnecessary.

MR. KRUGER

Of the man who now began to play so prominent a part on the political
stage, the world at that time knew but little. Even now opinions
regarding him are many and varied, and it may be interesting to read, in
close juxtaposition, sketches of his character and ways which have from
time to time been drawn by those who have come in contact with him.[Pg 111]

Perhaps no more impartial sketch can be presented than that of Mr.
Distant, a naturalist, who visited the Transvaal about eight years ago.
He said:—”President Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger was born on the
10th October 1825, in the district of Colesburg in the Cape Colony, and
is without doubt the greatest and most representative man that the Boers
have yet produced. Uneducated, or self-educated, he possesses a very
large amount of that natural wisdom so often denied to men of great
learning and of literary cultivation. With many prejudices, he is
fearless, stubborn, and resolute, and he really understands Englishmen
little better than they understand him. In his earlier days he has been
a somewhat ardent sportsman and a good shot. He has been engaged and
honourably mentioned in most of the Kaffir fights of his time….
Socially, he has always lived in a somewhat humble position, and it is
to the credit of his nature as a man that he bears not the slightest
trace of the parvenu. Plain and undistinguished in appearance, he
combines the advantages of a prodigious memory with a remarkable
aptitude for reading his fellow-man, and this last quality would be more
valuable were it not leavened by a weakness in resisting flattery and
adulation. He is very pious and self-reliant, which is provocative of
bigotry and hot temper; and surrounded and approached on all sides by
clever and often unscrupulous financiers and speculators, his scutcheon
has worn wonderfully well, and his character and reputation passed
through many fiery ordeals. He is also a rough diplomatist of no mean
rank.”

The picture is distinctly interesting, but it does Mr. Kruger an
injustice. Mr. Distant says that “he understands Englishmen little
better than they understand him.” Surely this remark is an insult to Mr.
Kruger’s great sagacity. He long ago “took the measure” of the
Englishman, and he has enjoyed himself immensely in seeing how far it
was possible—vulgarly speaking—to “try it on” with the British nation.
If Mr. Kruger could be induced to write a book entitled “My Life and
Games with the British Government for the last Twenty Years,” he might
afford our politicians some useful and instructive entertainment.

To Mr. Distant’s portrait of the President of the South African Republic
another and a later one may be appended. It is drawn by the able pen of
Mr. Fitzpatrick, the author of “The Transvaal from Within.” “In the
history of South Africa the figure of the grim old President will loom
large and striking—picturesque, as the figure of one who, by his
character and will, made and held his people; magnificent, as one who,
in the face of the blackest fortune, never wavered from his aim or
faltered in his effort; who, with a courage that seemed and still seems
fatuous, but which may well be[Pg 112] called heroic, stood up against the
might of the greatest empire in the world. And, it may be, pathetic too,
as one whose limitations were great, one whose training and
associations, whose very successes, had narrowed and embittered and
hardened him; as one who, when the greatness of success was his to take
and hold, turned his back on the supreme opportunity and used his
strength and qualities to fight against the spirit of progress and all
that the enlightenment of the age pronounces to be fitting and necessary
to good government and a healthy State.

“To an English nobleman who, in the course of an interview, remarked,
‘My father was a Minister of England and twice Viceroy of Ireland,’ the
old Dutchman answered, ‘And my father was a shepherd!’ It was not pride
rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been
worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was
a shepherd, and is—a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be
right and good for his people, and it may be not; but it is sure that he
realises that to educate would be to emancipate; to broaden their views
would be to break down the defences of their prejudices; to let in the
new leaven would be to spoil the old bread; to give unto all men the
rights of men would be to swamp for ever the party which is to him
greater than the State. When one thinks of the one-century history of
this people, much is seen that accounts for their extraordinary love of
isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much,
too, that draws to them a world of sympathy. And when one realises the
old Dopper President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of
civilisation, from which his people have fled for generations—trying to
fight both Fate and Nature, standing up to stem a tide as resistless as
the eternal sea—one sees the pathos of the picture. But this is as
another generation may see it. To-day we are too close, so close that
the meaner details, the blots and flaws, are all most plainly visible:
the corruption, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity—all the
unlovely touches that will by-and-by be forgotten, sponged away by the
gentle hand of Time, when only the picturesque will remain.”

PAUL KRUGER,

President of the Transvaal Republic.

Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.

Mr. Fitzpatrick speaks somewhat more plainly in another place:—

“Outside the Transvaal Mr. Kruger has the reputation of being free from
taint of corruption from which so many of his colleagues suffer. Yet
within the Republic and among his own people one of the gravest of the
charges levelled against him is, that by his example and connivance he
has made himself responsible for much of the plundering that goes on.
There are numbers of cases in which the President’s nearest relations
have been proved to be concerned in the most flagrant jobs, only to be
screened by his influence; such[Pg 113] cases, for instance, as that of the
Vaal River Water Supply Concession, in which Mr. Kruger’s son-in-law
‘hawked’ about for the highest bid the vote of the Executive Council on
a matter which had not yet come before it, and, moreover, sold and duly
delivered the aforesaid vote. There is the famous libel case in which
Mr. Eugene Marais, the editor of the Dutch paper Land en Volk,
successfully sustained his allegation that the President had defrauded
the State by charging heavy travelling expenses for a certain trip on
which he was actually the guest of the Cape Colonial Government.”

The light thus thrown on the dealings of Mr. Kruger is not a solitary
gleam. It may be remembered that during the period of British rule in
the Transvaal he had an appointment under Government. The terms of his
letter of dismissal can be found on page 135 of Blue-Book, c. 144, and
involving as they do a serious charge of misrepresentation in money
matters, are useful when viewed in line with the above quotation.

Mrs. Lionel Phillips imagines that every one must by this time have
gauged the nature of the President, as she herself has done. She says:—

“Paul Kruger is so well known from the many portraits and caricatures
that have appeared in recent years, as well as descriptions of him, that
one from me seems superfluous. His clumsy features, and small cunning
eyes, set high in his face, with great puffy rings beneath them, his
lank straight locks, worn longer than is usual, the fringe of beard
framing his face, even his greasy frock-coat and antiquated tall hat
have been pourtrayed times without number. He is a man of quite 75 years
of age now, and his big massive frame is bent, but in his youth he
possessed enormous strength, and many extraordinary feats are told of
him. Once seen he is not easily forgotten. He has a certain natural
dignity of bearing, and I think his character is clearly to be read in
his face—strength of will and cunning, with the dulness of expression
one sees in peasants’ faces. ‘Manners none, and customs beastly,’ might
have been a life-like description of Kruger. The habit of constantly
expectorating, which so many Boers have, he has never lost. He is quite
ignorant of conversation in the ordinary acceptation of the word; he is
an autocrat in all his ways, and has a habit of almost throwing short,
jerky sentences at you generally allegorical in form, or partaking
largely of scriptural quotations—or misquotations quite as often. Like
most of the Boers, the Bible is his only literature—that book he
certainly studies a good deal, and his religion is a very large part of
his being, but somehow he misses the true spirit of Christianity, in
that he leaves out the rudimentary qualities of charity and truth.”[Pg 114]

GERMANS AND UITLANDERS

It appears that a German traveller, Herr Ernest Von Weber, as long ago
as 1875, had cast a loving eye on the Transvaal. He wrote:—”What would
not such a country, full of such inexhaustible natural treasures,
become, if in course of time it was filled with German immigrants? A
constant mass of German immigrants would gradually bring about a decided
numerical preponderance of Germans over the Dutch population, and of
itself would by degrees affect the Germanisation of the country in a
peaceful manner. Besides all its own natural and subterraneous
treasures, the Transvaal offers to the European power which possesses it
an easy access to the immensely rich tracts of country which lie between
the Limpopo, the Central African lakes and the Congo (the territory
saved for England by Mr. Rhodes and the Chartered Company). It was this
free unlimited room for annexation in the North, this open access to the
heart of Africa, which principally impressed me with the idea, not more
than four years ago, that Germany should try, by the acquisition of
Delagoa Bay, and the subsequent continual influx of German immigrants to
the Transvaal, to secure the future dominion over this country, and so
pave the way for a German African Empire of the future. There is, at the
same time, the most assured prospect that the European power, who would
bring these territories under its rule, would found one of the largest
and most valuable empires of the globe; and it is, therefore, on this
account truly to be regretted that Germany should have quietly, and
without protest, allowed the annexation of the Transvaal Republic to
England, because the splendid country, taken possession of and
cultivated by a German race, ought to be entirely won for Germany; and
would, moreover, have been easily acquired, and thereby the beginning
made and foundation laid of a mighty and ultimately rich Germany in the
southern hemisphere. Germany ought at any price to get possession of
some points on the East as well as the West Coast of Africa.” Part of
Mr. Von Weber’s ambition was subsequently realised.

In 1884 the introduction of Germany upon the political scene was
successfully accomplished. The hoisting of the German flag at Angra
Peguena was due to the unscrupulous and clever machinations of Prince
Bismarck. The new German Colony comprised Damaraland and Great
Namaqualand, and between it and the Boer Republic lay the Kalari Desert
and Bechuanaland.

Now, the Bechuana chiefs were old enemies of the Boers. A[Pg 115] good deal of
border fighting took place, and at last the Boers established their
authority over a district which they christened “The New Republic,” and
which was annexed to the Transvaal in 1888. They endeavoured to capture
in the same way Stellaland and Vryburg, but on this subject the British
Government had something to say, and for once they said it definitely.
Sir Charles Warren with a military force took these districts under
British protection. This expedition was resented by the Cape Dutch and
their English friends, Messrs. Spriggs and Upington, who hastened to
Bechuanaland to effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles
Warren’s force. Owing to the firmness and decision of Sir Charles Warren
and his supporters, Sir Charles Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and Mr.
Mackenzie, their anti-Imperialistic efforts fortunately failed!

It must be remembered that in Cape Colony the Dutch sympathies had, for
the most part, been given to the Boers. Racial ties in Africa are
strong, and at the time of the war many people, not thoroughly disloyal,
felt that there had been aggression on the freedom of the Republicans,
and were inclined to admire the efforts of the Boers to repel that
aggression. There were others, too, who believed that, owing to fear of
rebellion on the part of the Cape subjects, Great Britain had been
forced into chicken-hearted surrender, and this belief naturally
encouraged the Cape Dutch to assume that, on emergency, the policy of
the Empire might be directed by threats of rebellion.

Much of the bad feeling was due merely to political agitation. The
association known as the Africander Bond was started as a species of
political nursery wherein to expand the ideas of the budding Boer, and
“coach” him in his duties as a free-born subject. “A little knowledge is
a dangerous thing,” as we all are aware, and it seems to have been the
object of this organisation to implant just sufficient knowledge in the
mind of the ignorant farmer to foster his hostility to Great Britain,
without encouraging him to progress sufficiently to gauge the advantages
to himself of peace and goodwill with a sovereign power. Before the
existence of this organisation he was contented to choose as his
Parliamentary representative some sound and respectable citizen, a
British subject, or some colonist who, well versed in the British
tongue, could understand the laws at first hand. But machinating
politicians conceived the notion that the dissatisfied Boer might be
made to dance marionette-wise while they pulled the strings, and they
promptly went to work to pretend he could think for himself, and
proceeded to inflate his mind with so vast an idea of his own political
importance that he even began to conjure up dreams of an entirely Dutch
South Africa on an Africander[Pg 116] basis, with the Vierkleur in place of the
Union Jack floating bravely over his head!

For his benefit the Cape patois was promoted to the rank of a
language. Parliament expressed itself both in English and so-called
Dutch, while Blue-Books and official papers were printed in bi-lingual
fashion, for the convenience of farmer members, who, for the most part,
could neither read, write, nor speak the language of the Netherlands!

The battle-cry of the Bond was “Africa for the Africander” and the
“Elimination of the Imperial factor.” The Colonists naturally grew to
imagine that, as Great Britain was powerless to govern, government on
their own behalf would be advantageous. In justice it must be said that
the Eastern Province and Natal adhered to the Crown, though the Western
Province was led by the nose by the Bond.

From this time Mr. Hofmeyr—a man of great ability, and generally
devoted to the Africander cause—became an important factor in the
political caucus. Mr. Rhodes also was conspicuous. At that date he was
inclined to lean toward Africander principles, but, like all great men
on seeing the error of their judgments, he readjusted his theories—with
the results we all know.

The expedition of Sir Charles Warren was entirely successful. As has
been said, a Protectorate was established over Bechuanaland.

The country south of the Moloppo River, whose chief towns are Mafeking
and Vryburg, became a Crown Colony. It was afterwards transferred to the
Cape. The territories of Khama, Sebele, and Bathoen still form an
Imperial Protectorate.

When gold was first discovered, the fable of “the dog in the manger”
began to be enacted in the Transvaal. The Boers were quite incompetent
to start mining operations on their own account, and yet were intolerant
of the presence of outsiders who were willing to expend their energies
in the business. Gradually, however, they agreed to admit foreigners on
terms which on the surface were fairly liberal, and became indirectly
almost extortionate.

These foreigners—British, Americans, Germans, and Poles—were the
antithesis of all that Boer traditions held dear. To begin with, they
were progressive; they were also energetic and commercial, and their
motto, instead of being “God will provide,” was the practical one of
“Carpe diem.” The dawn of the “golden age” has been described, and
there is no reason, therefore, to dwell on the attractions which
converted the Transvaal, for many, from a fortune-hunter’s goal to a
permanent home. Unfortunately these Uitlanders were not bound up in
Transvaal politics. The ways of the stolid and the ignorant, the narrow
and the bigoted, were not[Pg 117] their ways; they had no sympathy for
“masterly inaction,” and this the Boers knew.

In 1887, to protect themselves from the outsider, the Republicans
arranged that invaders could not be admitted to burgher rights under
fifteen years. The Uitlanders agitated for increased privileges, and in
1890 a “Second Raad” was created. For this Chamber it was necessary to
take the oath of allegiance, to reside two years in the State before
being entitled to vote, and another two before becoming eligible for
election.

Upon the scene now came Dr. Leyds, a Hollander of certain ability, a
cosmopolitan schemer, and as such naturally opposed to the prestige of
Great Britain. He had his ideal of a great Africander Confederation! On
the other hand, there was Mr. Rhodes, who had also his ideal—that of a
Confederated South Africa stretching to the Zambesi. Fortunately, with
Mr. Rhodes went the Cape Dutch. And here we may break off to consider
the Colossus, as he has been called. His enemies were many. By some it
was asserted that Mr. Rhodes was at heart no Imperialist; by others he
was declared to be merely an unscrupulous adventurer. But, as the proof
of the pudding is in the eating, so must any criticism of this
marvellous man be confined to results.[Pg 118]

CHAPTER V

MR. RHODES

Of the chief personage in the political and financial history of South
Africa it is desirable we should know something definite, though space
does not allow of any long appreciation of all he has accomplished for
the advancement of the empire. The Right Hon. Cecil John Rhodes was born
in 1853. He was the fourth son of the late Rev. Francis W. Rhodes,
Rector of Bishop Stortford. In 1871 he went to South Africa, there to
join his brother Herbert, who was engaged in cotton-growing in Natal.
His constitution was delicate, and it was believed that a journey to the
Cape would be beneficial to him. In 1872 he returned in much better
health to England, and entered Oriel College, Oxford. While there he
contracted a chill, and found himself again under orders to return to
South Africa. At that time Herbert Rhodes had forsaken cotton-growing,
and had become fascinated by the prospect of wealth offered by the
diamond fields in the locality now known as Kimberley. The two youths
joined hands, and in 1873 we find the elder brother leaving his claim in
charge of the younger, the hard-working, astute, and masterful Cecil,
whose name has become almost a household word. The young man, who took
his degree at Oxford in the interval of his work, brought to every task
he attempted an educated mind and a certain dogged obstinacy, which
caused him to surmount all difficulties. He prospered amazingly. But
money, instead of numbing his activities, only sharpened them, and he
soon began to formulate his ideal—the Utopian dream of an entirely
British Africa from the Cape to the Zambesi!

THE MATABELE WAR—DEFENDING A LAAGER.

Drawing by R. Caton Woodville.

His most conspicuous financial work was the De Beers Company, of which
we have treated elsewhere. From one big venture he went to others more
gigantic still. The famous Chartered Company and the splendid province
of Rhodesia came virtually into existence as the result of his
magnificent foresight. In 1881, in Basutoland, Mr. Rhodes, the
newly-elected member for Barkly West, had the good fortune to meet
General Gordon, who was[Pg 119] struck at once by the immense ability of the
young man. In character, it seems, they were the extremes that meet!
These two men, of equally strong personality, had an antagonism of
character which, clashing, gave forth a resonance that was vastly
inspiriting.

Gordon and Rhodes would take long walks together, and discuss the
affairs of nations. The General, who was as dictatorial as his
associate, on several occasions severely criticised the opinions of
young Rhodes. “You always contradict me,” he declared. “I never met such
a man for his own opinion. You think your views are always right, and
every one else’s wrong. You are,” he went on to say, “the sort of man
who never approves of anything unless you have had the organising of it
yourself.”

It was a new edition of the pot calling the kettle black, and afforded
much amusement to onlookers.

On another occasion Gordon begged him to remain in Basutoland and work
with him, but Rhodes refused. He demonstrated that his work lay in
Kimberley, and there he would remain. “There are very few men in the
world,” argued Gordon, “to whom I would make such an offer. Very few
men, I can tell you; but, of course, you will have your own way.”

Once, when they were together, Gordon related to Rhodes the story of an
offer of a room full of gold which had been made to him by the Chinese
Government, after the suppression of the Tai-Ping revolt. “What did you
do?” asked Rhodes. “Refused it, of course. What would you have done?”
said Gordon. “I would have taken it,” answered Rhodes, “and as many more
roomfuls as they would give me. It is no use for us to have big ideas if
we have not got the money to carry them out.”

When Gordon went to Khartoum he invited Rhodes to accompany him, but
Rhodes refused. He accepted the offer made by the same post of the
Treasurer-Generalship in the Scanlin Ministry. In 1884 he became
Deputy-Commissioner for Bechuanaland, which, as the key to South Africa,
he determined to keep under his watchful eye. He was at the same time
Treasurer-General of Cape Colony. In 1889 he became Director of the
British South Africa Company and Chairman till the fiasco of 1896, at
which time he was Premier of Cape Colony. In addition to holding these
posts, his activities have been unending. He has been the moving spirit
in every enterprise for the expansion and development of South Africa.
He has gained the esteem of the loyal Dutch, and has succeeded in making
himself feared if not beloved by the disloyal. His great work of
attempting to weld together the two races into one united people is for
the nonce suspended, but should life be spared him he[Pg 120] will doubtless
see the realisation of his dream. In addition to his other labours Mr.
Rhodes was Commissioner of the Crown Lands in 1890-94, Minister of
Native Affairs 1894-95, and served in Matabeleland in 1896.

RHODESIA—UNCIVILISED

In sketching the history of Rhodesia it is necessary to go at least as
far back as our friend Chaka, the great chieftain of the Zulus, whose
military prowess has been described. In the days of this warlike
personage, Matshobane, who governed the Matabele tribe on the north-west
of Zululand, preferred to submit to Chaka rather than to be “eaten up.”
Matshobane was the grandfather of Lobengula, who is intimately
associated with the infant history of this promising country. His son
Mosilikatze, however, was not so amenable to Zulu discipline. He broke
out, annihilated all men, women, and children who happened to come in
his way, and betook himself finally to remote regions where he had no
masters save the lions. Later on, in 1837, he conceived the ingenious
notion of exterminating all the white men north of the Orange River; but
the white men were too much for him, and so he promptly retired to fresh
fields and pastures new—in fact, to the country now known as
Matabeleland. Its inhabitants were then settled between the Limpopo and
the Zambesi. Here he again carried on his fell work of extermination. Of
the horrors of his triumphant progress nothing need be said. They are
best left to the imagination. It is enough to explain that the tribes of
the Makalas, Mashonas, and others that happened to be in the way, were
speedily wiped out. The Matabele, reigning in this vast now almost
desolate region, soon became the terror of other tribes. The ravagers
continued their fiendish operations, and finally set up military kraals
and installed their chief in the principal of these at Buluwayo.

How long this state of things would have endured it is difficult to say.
Fortunately there appeared on the scene a man—The Man—who conceived in
his mighty brain a way to clear this Augean stable and transform it into
a comparative fairyland. Mr. Cecil Rhodes came—he saw—and he conquered
in all senses of the word. He decided that British civilisation must be
extended to this “hinter-land”—as the Boers called it—and, being a
keen man of the world and no sentimentalist, he argued, moreover, that
British civilisation might be made to pay its way! The idea that Mr.
Rhodes is “the walking embodiment of an ideal,” without personal
ambition in his schemes, is as absolutely absurd as are the reverse
pictures[Pg 121] that have been painted of him. He is no angel and no ogre, Mr.
Rhodes is one of Nature’s sovereigns, who, conscious of his power and
the limitations of human life, uses every minute at his disposal to
write his name large in the records of his country. And, since his name
is large, he wants as a natural consequence a large and clear area to
write it in, and that area he means to have!

Matabeleland.

Now, Mr. Rhodes had decided that the British were the best
administrators of South Africa, and that if the British shirked the task
it would be undertaken by some other nation. He saw the key to South
Africa in his hands—he saw the Boer overspreading his borders, he saw
Germans and Portuguese intriguing for footholds—there was but one
course open, and he followed it. On the 30th[Pg 122] of November 1888,
Lobengula, the chief of the Matabele, signed a document giving the
British the right to search for and extract minerals in his territory.
Upon that the British South Africa Company was started. In 1889 a
charter was granted by the Imperial Government. The Company was created
with a capital of one million sterling. There were eight directors,
three appointed by the Crown, and five elected by the shareholders. Mr.
Cecil Rhodes occupied the position of managing director. In a brief
space of time the wildernesses and the forests were traversed, roads
were made, and a strong protective force installed in the country. Dr.
Jameson was appointed administrator at Salisbury. A railroad was planned
and forts were built. These were occupied by the Company’s police.

While the pioneers were at work prospecting for gold, and improving the
country in all manner of ways, Lobengula became cantankerous. It must be
remembered that he suffered from gout, for which he was treated by Dr.
Jameson. Now, Lobengula without gout was sufficiently savage to cause
much apprehension; with it, it is impossible to describe the nature of
the alarm he must have occasioned. He fell out first with the Mashonas
for trivial reasons, and murders were committed. Dr. Jameson then came
to the conclusion that, if the place was to be held at all, Lobengula
must be crushed. More commotions followed. The Matabeles and Mashona
tribes between them contrived to render the country uninhabitable. The
peaceable Europeans would stand it no longer. The Matabele war ensued.

The High Commissioner gave Dr. Jameson permission to protect the
country, and the forces advanced in two columns upon Buluwayo. Major
Patrick Forbes acted as commander-in-chief, with Major Alan Wilson as
next in command. This column, with guns, baggage, and attendant blacks
(who assisted as camp-followers), kept as much as possible to open
country to avoid surprise. They marched from the Iron-mine Hill, at the
source of the Tokwe River.

The second column, commanded by Colonel Goold Adams, was composed in
equal numbers of Bechuanaland police and South Africa Company’s mounted
men. In all they numbered about 450. It was accompanied by some 1500
Bemangwats under their chief.

With Major Forbes’s column were Dr. Jameson, Sir John Willoughby, and
Bishop Knight Bruce. The advance was carefully managed. The column
destroyed all military kraals in its line of march, skirmishing at
times, but cautiously providing against attacks of the enemy. One of
these attacks took place while the force was in laager, on the 25th of
October. A Matabele army, 5000 strong,[Pg 123] made three savage onslaughts,
but were driven back on each occasion with heavy loss.

The column still continued to advance, and Lobengula, hearing of its
victory and approach, sent forth to meet it a company of pure Zulus, the
flower of his army.

The Imbezu and Ingubo in front of the Matabele army then approached the
laager that was being formed near the source of the Imbembesi River.
They advanced with all their accustomed dash, and a warlike intrepidity
worthy of Chaka, their renowned ancestor.

But they could make no stand against the Maxim and machine guns, and in
a few hours all was over. Lobengula’s day was practically done!

On hearing of the victory he set fire to his kraal himself, and fled
towards the Zambesi, leaving his magazine, whenever the flames should
reach it, to explode with ferocious uproar.

In November 1893 the Chartered Company’s force came into possession of
the smoking, deserted region. Messengers were sent in search of the
chief. Lobengula was courteously advised to surrender. His personal
safety was assured to him by Dr. Jameson, but he refused to listen.
Efforts were then made to capture him. After a long and fatiguing march,
news was brought in that Lobengula’s waggons had been seen on the road
the day before.

Major Wilson, with a well-mounted party, went off to follow the spoor,
being advised to return before dark. This he did not do. He remained for
the night beyond the Shangani River, and by daylight reached the waggons
of the chief.

Lobengula’s followers immediately attacked the small company of
thirty-four Europeans, which was speedily annihilated. Some of these
might have escaped, but they preferred, though largely outnumbered, to
fight side by side with their comrades till the last!

Very little remains to be told. Lobengula endeavoured to arrange terms
with the British force, but his messengers and money never reached their
destination. Babyane and four other indunas—followed after a few days
by others—came to inquire what terms of peace would be granted. They
were required to surrender their arms before returning to their kraals,
which they did with alacrity. Most of the natives followed their
example, being well satisfied with British rule. The death of Lobengula,
of fever and gout, in January 1894 put an end to further complications.[Pg 124]

RHODESIA—CIVILIZED

So far we have seen the establishment of the British in a hitherto
absolutely savage arena. It may be interesting to hear what travellers
have had to say regarding the region that has recently become our own.
Its present aspect, and its prospects for the future, are best learnt
from authorities who have personally inspected the place. Mr. Charles
Boyd discourses thus on the subject:—

“When you have got out of the train before the corrugated iron building
which stands on the edge of the illimitable grey, green veldt, to mark
where the great station of the future is to arise, there is one feature
of Buluwayo which is making ready to seize hold upon you. It is not,
perhaps, the most important feature, but it is conspicuous enough to
entitle it to a first place in any jotting of local impressions. It is
what a logician might call the differentia of Buluwayo. Put it bluntly
it comes to this, that you have arrived in a community of gentlemen. A
stranger making his way about the brown streets, neat brick and
corrugated iron buildings set down on red earth, and divided into
alternate avenues and streets—’little New York,’ said a policeman
complacently—a stranger pauses to ask himself if he dreams, or if the
Household Brigade, the Bachelors’ Club, and the Foreign Office have
depleted themselves of their members, and sent them, disguised in
broad-brimmed hats and riding-breeches, to hold the capital of
Matabeleland. Young men of the most eligible sort are everywhere. Some
of them are manifestly youthful, others are well on in the thirties,
there is even a sprinkling of men of years; but the mass of the
population presents the same aspect of physical fitness, that
indefinable something besides, which is perhaps not to be expressed save
under the single head of ‘race.'” In fact, our authority asserts that
nowhere can be found a healthier, shrewder, or friendlier set of men. He
believes in them, and in the discipline that has toughened them to meet
the real needs of life, and kept them alive to a sense of their
political and social importance. He says—

“Buluwayo now possesses a population of 5000, a mayor and corporation,
daily and weekly papers, and several public buildings, including banks,
clubs, and an hospital built as a memorial to Major Wilson.

“The rapid increase in the value of land at Buluwayo is shown by the
fact that whilst in 1894 the average price of a town stand was £103, in
1897 it had advanced to £345. By the opening of the railway, in November
1897, it is placed in direct communication with[Pg 125] Cape Town, and a
still greater increase in value may be anticipated.”

“TO THE MEMORY OF BRAVE MEN.”

THE LAST STAND OF MAJOR WILSON ON THE SHANGANI RIVER, 1893.

Painting by Allan Stewart.

Reproduced by special arrangement with the Fine Art Society, London.

Things in Rhodesia are as yet expensive, but Mr. Boyd thinks that
railroads will have a cheapening influence. He quotes some present
prices, which would make the hair of a Londoner stand on end! Imagine
the feelings of the comfortable cockney who found himself face to face
with a breakfast bill for nine shillings! For this modest sum Mr. Boyd
was supplied with tea, ham, eggs, marmalade, and toast, in fact, the
little commonplace things that we have come to consider as the natural
fixtures of the metropolitan table!

Of the library, whose foundation-stone was laid by Sir Alfred Milner, he
speaks in highly favourable terms. He says that in laying the
foundation-stone no one seemed more keenly impressed than the High
Commissioner himself. He prophesied the foundation of a rich university
at Buluwayo to replace that other and easy one which a library is avowed
to supply. At this some one smiled. But Sir Alfred rebuked him for the
frivolity. He had seen enough, Sir Alfred declared, of the temper of
this place, to believe a university at Buluwayo to be a consummation
neither fanciful nor impossible. In regard to the agrestic qualities of
this new district, Mr. H. Marshall Hole has spoken at some length in an
article which appeared in an issue of Colonia, a magazine published by
the Colonial College, Hollesley Bay, Suffolk. He declares that “the
great advantage of Rhodesia as an agricultural country is the facility
with which irrigation can be carried on; the conformation of the land is
undulating, and even the so-called ‘flats’ are intersected in all
directions by valleys, each of which possesses its watercourse, so that
by the simple expedient of throwing a dam across these valleys, water
may be stored and led on to the adjacent fields as required. The soil is
in all parts naturally fertile, but the farmer sometimes has great
difficulty in reducing it to a proper state for cultivation, owing to
the roots and growth which must be exterminated before the seed is sown.
The strongest ploughs and the most careful harrowing are required for
this work, otherwise the settler will have to face the annoyance and
delay of broken ploughshares, and the disaster of a crop choked by
tangle-grass and weeds. The crops to which farmers have hitherto most
devoted themselves in Rhodesia are mealies (maize) and forage (oat hay).
These find a ready market at all times, as they form the staple food of
horses. The next most popular crop is potatoes, which do well, are not
liable to disease, and are in so great request that they sometimes fetch
1s. 6d., and seldom fall below 3d. per pound in the market. All kinds of
English vegetables prosper with very little trouble, beyond careful
watering in dry weather, and weeding during the rains; but, for some
unexplained[Pg 126] reason, vegetable culture is left almost entirely to the
coolies or Indians, who, despite their very primitive methods of
irrigation and tillage, make immense profits thereby.”

Further on he says that farms of about 3000 acres may be bought at from
£250 to £2000, according to their situation as regards neighbouring
towns, or the extent of cultivation done on them; and while the farmer
will not derive much more than a bare subsistence for the first year or
two, he may, by combining dairy-farming and timber-cutting with his more
extensive operations, make both ends meet at any rate, and enhance the
value of his land without being out of pocket. One with a small capital
has, of course, a better chance of immediate profit, and such an one
would do well to join some established and experienced man in
partnership, or as a pupil, in order to learn something of the business
before entering it finally. His advice to adventurous youth is, “By all
means go, if you can manage to put together enough money to pay your
passage and to keep yourself for two or three months after your
arrival.”

Of the towns he speaks appreciatively. “We have buildings of a very
substantial type, built for the most part of brick. There are blocks of
rooms which form bachelor ‘diggings’ for single men, and small but
comfortable suburban houses for families, while the railways on the east
and west afford facilities for the importation of excellent furniture.
Eight years ago it was so difficult to obtain furniture that every
little packing case was carefully treasured, its nails drawn out and
straightened, and its boards converted into tables, stools, and shelves.
To-day it is no uncommon thing to find pianos and billiard tables in
private houses in Buluwayo, and even in Salisbury, which has not yet
been reached by the railway, while the club-houses at both places are
models of comfort and luxury.”

A writer, who signs himself “W. E. L.,” in British Africa says of
Rhodesia, “That the soil is mostly very fertile; in Matabeleland alone
6000 square miles are suitable for cultivation without any artificial
irrigation, or other extensive preliminary work. In 1891, a commission
of Cape Colony farmers visited the country, and reported favourably on
the land from an agricultural standpoint. Mr. Lionel Decle said, ‘I am
the first traveller who has crossed Africa from the Cape to Uganda, and
I must say the British South Africa Company may certainly boast of
possessing the pick of Central Africa on both sides of the Zambesi.’

“Teak forests cover 2000 square miles in North-West Matabeleland; and
Mashonaland is very well timbered, mostly with trees of the acacia
family.

“The native crops are rice, tobacco, cotton, and india-rubber. All
European vegetables can be grown to perfection, especially[Pg 127] cabbages,
lettuces, beetroot, turnips, carrots, and onions. There were in 1897
over eighty market gardens in the neighbourhood of Buluwayo, and for the
half-year ending September 1897, the value of the produce sold was
£9630.

“Fruit orchards are being planted, and nearly all fruit appears to
flourish, especially grapes, figs, oranges, peaches, almonds, walnuts,
lemons, bananas, quinces, apricots, pomegranates, and apples. All kinds
of European cereals can be grown, and maize does well.

“The average rainfall is 30 to 35 inches, 90 per cent. of which falls
during the wet season—November to March.

“The temperature rarely touches freezing point, except on the highlands
round Salisbury and Fort Charter, and owing to the great elevation (4000
to 5000 feet) of most of the country, rarely exceeds 90° in the shade.
In the low-lying Zambesi valley, however, it is very hot from December
to March.”

Of the mineral wealth, it seems as yet dangerous to prognosticate.
Prophecies are many, and there is every reason to believe that the mines
will be prolific as those of the Transvaal. In regard to this matter,
however, time alone can show.

GOLD

It may be remembered that in and after 1854, the Boers commenced to
block up the path of travellers, and in some cases to cause expulsion of
visitors across the Vaal. Doubtless this policy of expulsion originated
in the nefarious traffic in “apprentices,” which they wished to carry on
uninterruptedly, but there was also another reason for their
precautions. Stray discoveries of gold had been made from time to time,
and gold prospectors began to take an uncomfortable interest in the
district. Now the Boers had no desire to open up their country to the
mining population, or to run any risks which might interfere with their
hardly won independence. After the discoveries of the German explorer
Manch, however, they were unable entirely to resist invasion. The ears
of the public were tickled. The hint of nuggets in the Transvaal
naturally drew thither a horde of adventurous Europeans who would not be
denied. The first immigrants betook themselves to Barberton, and some
three or four years later to the Witwatersrandt. These appear mostly to
have been Scotsmen, for President Burgers christened the earliest
goldfields Mac Mac, in consequence of the names of the invaders. Miners
and speculators of all kinds commenced to pour into those districts,
some to make a fortune as quickly as possible, and rush off[Pg 128] to spend it
elsewhere, others to settle themselves in the country and develop
schemes for financial outlay, profitable alike to themselves and to the
land of their adoption. Now these permanent visitors were scarcely
appreciated by the Boers. They foresaw the alien transformed into the
citizen, and objected to him. The power which they had acquired, both by
long years of hardship and long hours of scheming, they wished to keep
entirely in their own hands. With the arrival of further settlers they
feared this independence would be materially weakened. In order that
further possible citizens might not be attracted to the Transvaal, the
Volksraad passed a law calculated to damp their ardour. This law imposed
on all candidates for the franchise a residence of five years, to be
accompanied by register on the Field Cornet’s books, and a payment of
£25 on admission to the rights of citizenship.

The first discoverers of the great goldfield are reported to be the
Brothers Struben, owing to whose perseverance and patience the
Witwatersrandt became the Eldorado of speculators’ dreams. In 1886 this
locality was declared a public goldfield by formal proclamation, and the
South African golden age began.

In a little while the regions north of the Limpopo began to be
investigated, and each in their turn to yield up their treasures. In
1888 a concession to work mineral upon his territory was obtained from
Lobengula, the Matabele king. A year later the British South Africa
Company was founded. The Company having obtained its charter, no time
was lost. In 1890, we find the now noted pioneer expedition plying its
activities in Mashonaland.

Mr. Basil Worsfold, in a most instructive article in the Fortnightly
Review, affords an excellent insight into the energy that characterised
the Company’s proceedings:—”In the space of three months, a road 400
miles in length was cut through jungle and swamp, and a series of forts
was erected and garrisoned by the Company’s forces. After the Matabele
war, which occupied the closing months of 1893, the prospecting and
mining for gold was commenced in Matabele, as well as in Mashonaland,
and at the present time Buluwayo, Lobengula’s kraal, has become the
chief centre of the industry. These operations were checked by the
revolt of the Matabele and Mashona in 1896, but since that period gold
mining has been steadily progressing. The Buluwayo yield for December
1898 amounted to 6258 oz.: while that of the four last months—September
to December—of the same year was 18,084 oz., of the value of about
£70,000!”

A MATABELE RAID IN MASHONALAND.

Drawn by W. Small, from Sketches by A. R. Colquhoun, First Administrator of Mashonaland.

The other fields which yield gold are the Transvaal, Lydenberg, and De
Kaap fields, and the Klerksdorp and Potchefstrom fields. The output of
these fields continues to grow apace, but how much[Pg 129] longer the growth
will be maintained is uncertain. The opinion of Mr. Hamilton Smith, who
wrote to the Times on the subject in 1895, is worth consideration. He
says, “In 1894 the value of the Randt gold bullion was £7,000,000, and
this without any increase from the new deep-level mines; these latter
will become fairly productive in 1897, so for that year a produce of
fully £10,000,000 can be fairly expected. Judging from present
appearances, the maximum product of the Randt will be reached about the
end of the present century, when it will probably exceed £12,500,000 per
annum.”

It is interesting to find that Mr. Smith’s maximum figure was already
exceeded in the year 1898, when the total yield of gold was 4,295,602
oz., valued at £15,250,000!

The following table, based on Mr. H. Smith’s and Dr. Soetbeer’s
estimates, affords us an opportunity for comparing the South African
output with that of other countries, and the world’s present supply with
that of former years:—

Of the stimulus given to railway construction by the establishment of
the gold industry Mr. Worsfold speaks with authority. He says, “To-day,
Johannesburg—built on land which in 1886 was part of an absolutely
barren waste—is approached by three distinct lines, which connect it
directly with the four chief ports of South Africa—Delagoa Bay, Durban,
Port Elizabeth, and Cape Town. Of these lines the earliest, which
traverses the Free State from end to end, and links the Randt with the
Cape Colony, was not opened until July 1892. The Pretoria-Delagoa Bay
line was completed in the autumn of 1894; and the extension of the Randt
railway to Charlestown, the connecting-point with the Natal line, was
not effected until the following year. These, together with some
subsidiary lines, represent a total of 1000 miles of railway constructed
mainly under the stimulus of the gold industry in the Transvaal. To this
total two considerable pieces of railway construction, accomplished in
the interest of the gold industry in the Chartered Company’s
territories, must be added. Of these, the first extended the main trunk
line of Africa from Kimberley successively to Vryburg and Mafeking, in
1890 and 1894, and then finally to Buluwayo in 1897,[Pg 130] and the second,
the Beira line, by securing a rapid passage through the ‘fly country,’
brought Salisbury into easy communication with the East Coast of Africa
at the port so named. Taken together, they measure 930 miles. It should
be added also that arrangements are already in progress for the
extension of the trunk line from Buluwayo to Tanganyika—a distance of
about 750 miles. This will form a new and important link in Mr. Rhodes’
great scheme of connecting Cape Town with Cairo.”

The telegraph advanced more speedily even than railroads, and the
population has kept pace with wire and rail. Johannesburg has a
population of 120,800 souls, and Buluwayo, a savage desert not long ago,
has now an European society of over 5000 persons. It is therefore
somewhat questionable if Mr. Froude is justified in his opinion that
diamonds and gold are not the stuff of which nations are made. Nations,
if they are to expand, must be fed, and while diamond and gold mines
give up of their wealth, we are assured of sufficient food to foster
expansion. That done, it remains merely with the Government of the
flourishing nation to decide whether its work shall be little or large.

It is curious to note that in spite of the disturbance in the Transvaal
the mines continued to maintain their position, with the result that the
gold output from the Randt for July shows a considerable increase upon
previous months. According to the official figures received from the
Chamber of Mines, the returns were as follows:—

The production in June 1899 was:—

And in July 1898:—

This table shows that during the twelve months since July 1898 the
production of gold on the Randt has increased by 100,000 ozs. a
month—equivalent to 1,200,000 ozs. a year. It will be found that, if
these returns are compared with the estimates made by competent[Pg 131]
authorities, the actual output is far in excess of all estimates,
following is the gold output table, Transvaal, to July 1899:—

Government Returns; some additions to be made for Rhodesia.

DIAMONDS

The discovery of diamonds in South Africa was made by a curious
accident. One day a trader travelling along in the neighbourhood north
of Cape Colony happened to stop at a farm. While there, he was
interested in a small child who was toying with a bright and singularly
lustrous pebble. His curiosity was aroused, and he suggested that the
thing might be rare enough to be of some value. Thereupon the stone was
sent to an expert in Grahamstown, who declared it to be a diamond. The
stone weighed twenty-one carats and was valued at £500. From that date
search was made in and around the locality, and more diamonds, smaller
and of inferior quality, were found. During the years 1867-68 nothing
very active was done, though now and again these precious stones were
discovered near the Vaal River.

In the month of March, 1869, the world was startled and began to open
its eyes. The diamond known as “the Star of Africa,” weighing some
eighty-three carats in its raw state, was obtained from a Hottentot.
This individual had been in possession of the valuable property for some
time, and had kept it solely on account of its rarity as a charm. The
stone was eventually sold for the sum of £11,000.

The north bank of the Vaal where the discoveries were made was, at that
time, a species of “No-Man’s-Land.” The southern bank[Pg 132] belonged to the
Free State, but for the other side there were many claimants, none of
whom could prove a title to it. The community of miners which there
gathered was consequently lawless and ruffianly, and its mode of
government was distinctly primitive.

The various claimants, notably the Griqua Captain, Nicholas Waterboer,
commenced disputes regarding the valuable portion of the Free State
territory, and finally it was decided to submit to British arbitration.
President Brand refused the offer, but President M. W. Pretorius of the
South African Republic, who had grievances against the Barolong,
Batlapin, and Griqua tribes, agreed. A Court was appointed, the Governor
of Natal acting as umpire. The interests involved were many, and on the
subject of their rights the various claimants seemed somewhat hazy. The
Free State was not represented, and the umpire, acting on the evidence
of Mr. Arnot (the agent of Nicholas Waterboer) gave judgment against the
South African Republic, and allowed the claim of the Griqua Captain,
including in the award the tract claimed by him in the Free State. The
complicated situation is thus described by Mr. Bryce in his “Impressions
of South Africa”:—

“As Waterboer had before the award offered his territory to the British
Government, the country was forthwith erected into a Crown Colony, under
the name of Griqualand West. This was in 1871. The Free State, whose
case had not been stated, much less argued, before the umpire,
protested, and was after a time able to appeal to a judgment delivered
by a British Court, which found that Waterboer had never enjoyed any
right to the territory. However, the new Colony had by this time been
set up, and the British flag displayed. The British Government, without
either admitting or denying the Free State title, declared that a
district in which it was difficult to keep order amid a turbulent and
shifting population ought to be under the control of a strong power, and
offered the Free State a sum of £90,000 in settlement of whatever claim
it might possess. The acceptance by the Free State, in 1876, of this sum
closed the controversy, though a sense of injustice continued to rankle
in the breasts of some of the citizens of the Republic. Amicable
relations have subsisted ever since between it and Cape Colony, and the
control of the British Government over the Basutos has secured for it
peace in the quarter which was formerly most disturbed.

“These two cases show how various are the causes, and how mixed the
motives, which press a great power forward even against the wishes of
its statesmen. The Basutos were declared British subjects, partly out of
a sympathetic wish to rescue and protect them, partly because policy
required the acquisition of a country naturally[Pg 133] strong, and holding
an important strategical position. Griqualand West, taken in the belief
that Waterboer had a good title to it, was retained after this belief
had been dispelled, partly perhaps because a population had crowded into
it which consisted mainly of British subjects, and was not easily
controllable by a small State, but mainly because Colonial feeling
refused to part with a region of such exceptional mineral wealth. And
the retention of Griqualand West caused, before long, the acquisition of
Bechuanaland, which in its turn naturally led to that northward
extension of British influence which has carried the Union Jack to the
shores of Lake Tanganyika.”

KIMBERLEY, AS SEEN FROM THE ROCK SHAFT.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.

Griqualand West, whose capital is the salubrious Kimberley, was settled
in 1833 by the Griquas or Baastards, a tribe of Dutch Hottentot
half-breeds. As we have seen, the territory was claimed by the chief,
Waterboer, and his claim was allowed by the Governor of Natal. When he
subsequently ceded his rights, the province was annexed to Cape Colony,
but with independent jurisdiction. In 1881 it became an integral part of
Cape Colony. Griqualand East comprises No-Man’s-Land, the Gatberg and
St. John’s River territory, under eight subordinate magistrates.

A word, before passing on, of Kimberley. This town, hitherto known as
the City of Diamonds, has now the distinction of being the casket where
Mr. Rhodes, with the price of £5000 on his head, was incarcerated. Its
real birth dates from 1869-70, when all the world rushed out to win
fortune from its soil. Happily at that time Mr. Cecil Rhodes happened to
be in the neighbourhood. With his usual gift of foresight, he recognised
that some process of amalgamating the various conflicting claims and
interests, and merging them in one huge whole, would be necessary if the
value of diamonds was to be kept up. He invented a scheme, and
succeeded—the great corporation, the De Beers Consolidated Mining
Company, limited the output of diamonds to an annual amount such as
Europe and the United States were able to take at a price high enough to
leave an adequate profit. This arrangement has, in a measure, had the
effect of depopulating the place. At least it has thinned it of the
crowd of adventurers who previously infested the region and struggled to
maintain an independent existence there. In the absence of these loafers
the town is civilised, and comparatively refined. There are groves of
gum-trees to promote shade, and thickets of prickly pear, which have
ever a rural, though touch-me-not aspect. The low-storeyed houses, built
bungalow-wise, have an air of capaciousness and ease; and further out,
in Kenilworth, there are comfortable dwellings, surrounded with trees,
and suggestive of a certain suburban picturesqueness. This region owes
its cheerful and well-ordered aspect entirely to Mr. Rhodes, who is[Pg 134] at
the same time the parent and the apostle of all progress in South
Africa.

The diamonds have their home in beds of clay, which are usually covered
with calcareous rock. These beds are the remains of mud pits, due to
volcanic action. Mr. Bryce, in his “Impressions of South Africa, says:—

“Some of the mines are worked to the depth of 1200 feet by shafts and
subterranean galleries. Some are open, and these, particularly that
called the Wesselton Mine, are an interesting sight. This deep hollow,
one-third of a mile in circumference and 100 feet deep, enclosed by a
strong fence of barbed wire, is filled by a swarm of active Kaffir
workmen, cleaving the ‘hard blue’ with pickaxes, piling it up on
barrows, and carrying it off to the wide fields, where it is left
exposed to the sun, and, during three months, to the rain. Having been
thus subjected to a natural decomposition, it is the more readily
brought by the pickaxe into smaller fragments before being sent to the
mills, where it is crushed, pulverised, and finally washed to get at the
stones. Nowhere in the world does the hidden wealth of the soil and the
element of chance in its discovery strike one so forcibly as here, where
you are shown a piece of ground a few acres in extent, and are told,
‘Out of this pit diamonds of the value of £12,000,000 have been taken.’
Twenty-six years ago the ground might have been bought for £50.”

To encourage honesty in the miner good wages are given, and ten per
cent. is allowed to finders of valuable stones who voluntarily deliver
these to the overseer. Apropos of this subject, Mr. Bryce relates an
amusing tale, which, if not true, is certainly ben trovato: “I heard
from a missionary an anecdote of a Basuto who, after his return from
Kimberley, was describing how, on one occasion, his eye fell on a
valuable diamond in the clay he was breaking into fragments. While he
was endeavouring to pick it up he perceived the overseer approaching,
and, having it by this time in his hand, was for a moment terribly
frightened, the punishment for theft being very severe. The overseer,
however, passed on. ‘And then,’ said the Basuto, ‘I knew that there was
indeed a God, for He had preserved me.'”

Before leaving the subject of diamonds, it may be interesting to note
the material increase of the products of the mines year by year. The
following is a table of statistics of the De Beers Consolidated Mines,
Limited, since its formation, 1st April 1888:[Pg 135]—

TABLE OF STATISTICS.

CHAPTER VI

THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY

We have dealt with the exodus of the trekkers, and with the land that
subsequently became the Transvaal. It behoves us now to discuss the
difference between that primitive pastoral region of the early century
and the busy country that may, for distinction sake, be styled the
Transvaal of to-day.

Modern geographers apply the name of the Transvaal to the tract of
country between the Limpopo River on the north, and the Vaal River on
the south. It is bounded on the east by the Lobombo, and the Drakenberg
Mountains, which run parallel to the Natal coast, and on the west by
British Bechuanaland. On the east lie Portuguese Territory and British
Zululand, on the north Rhodesia, on the west British Bechuanaland, and
on the south the Orange Free State and Natal. The important rivers are
the Limpopo or Crocodile River, so named in compliment to its reptile
inhabitants, and the Vaal, a tributary of the Orange River. This rises
among the Drakenberg Mountains, and, curving, flows west as a boundary
between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The Limpopo rises
between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and sprays out north-east,
north-west, east, and south-east, reaching the sea in the neighbourhood
of Delagoa Bay. After leaving the Transvaal, owing to the presence of a
cataract, it is however unsuitable for purposes of navigation. The
district of the Transvaal varies in height from 2000 to 8000 feet above
the level of the sea. The Hooge Veld, the uplands of the Drakenberg
Mountains, rises from 4000 to 8000 feet above the sea, and between them
and the outer slopes of the Lobombo range is a vast tract of some 20,000
square miles of arable land, called the Banken Veld. It furnishes a
splendid grazing ground, and corn grows in profusion. The Bosch Veld or
Bush Country comprises the centre of the country, and runs west into
Bechuanaland. This district is largely infested with the tsetse fly, an
insect whose sting means death to almost all domestic animals. Besides
this, it is the home of malaria and other fevers. The Hooge Veld, which
has a drier, colder, and more healthy climate, is[Pg 137] largely used for
breeding cattle, and as a grazing ground for sheep and oxen. It is here
that, in later days, the gold-mining activity proceeds, as almost
everywhere there are believed to be rich auriferous deposits. Its
mineral deposits have been the attraction of the Transvaal, for the
coal-fields invited the attention of some of the first speculators. In
fact, the first railway line of the district ran between Johannesburg
and a colliery.

Besides coal may be found silver, copper, and lead. But the great
attraction, Gold, has for the last ten years lured all the money from
the pockets of the enterprising. Other metals, such as cinnabar, iron,
and tin are, for the nonce, like Gray’s violet, “born to blush unseen,”
until some ingenious person discovers in them a subtle attraction.

To show the financial changes which have come over the country within
the last ten years, Mr. Campbell, late Vice-President of the Chamber of
Mines, Johannesburg, has written a valuable article. In it he gives us
the following agrarian position in the Transvaal of the present by areas
and by values:—

Areas.

But land is valuable not by area merely, but by intrinsic value, and the
Boers have sold much of their best land, and taken British gold for it,
and when we come to the figures in the Government Dues Office at
Pretoria, we have—

Value.

The net deductions in the Dues Offices are, that the whole of the farms
and private lands in the Transvaal, under the mere Boer occupancy, are
valued by the outside world at £933,200, whereas to-day, by the addition
of the British buyer and holder, they are now valued by the world at ten
millions sterling! In figures given above, all land occupied for mining
or town sites is excluded.

The current yield of gold is computed at the rate of seventeen and a
half millions sterling per annum. This is the vitalising source of
African trade and African progress. It pays the interest[Pg 138] on nearly all
South African Railways, is responsible for a large portion of the costs
of Government in the Cape Colony, Orange States, Natal as well as
Pretoria. And yet the working bees—the white British community of
Johannesburg—who have helped to enrich the hive containing the whole of
South African interests, have been neglected, if not betrayed, by the
Mother Country. They have been deprived of arms, of liberties,—they
have suffered insult and disdain, and Great Britain, until forced to do
so, has moved not a finger in their defence. The Transvaal, one of the
richest districts of the world, merely wants good and sustained
government—a government that will grant to all respectable white men
free and equal rights. When this shall come to pass, its splendid
resources will be developed. The Indian Ocean trade will be supplied
with steam coal. The country will sustain itself, and will also export
food stuffs, and trade in iron, hide, wool, tin, and quantities of other
things, whose value has hitherto been ignored. All that is needed is a
dignified acceptance of British responsibilities. South Africa was
bought by the paramount Power nearly an hundred years ago, and has since
then been administered—if not entirely wisely and well—at least
administered, by that Power. British sweat has rained on the country,
British muscle has toiled in the country, British blood has flowed in
streams over its face, and British bones are mixed with the shifting
grains of its sand. It now remains for British sovereignty to wield its
sceptre and make its presence felt.

PRETORIA FROM THE EAST.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.

ACCUMULATED AGGRAVATIONS

Since it is impossible to enter into all the intricacies of foreign
political relations with the Transvaal, we will return to the
Uitlanders. They became more and more unwelcome as their numbers
increased. Many Acts were passed, each serving to render more impossible
their chances of obtaining the franchise. The fact was that Mr. Kruger,
having brought his State to a condition of bankruptcy almost identical
with that which existed when Sir T. Shepstone annexed the Transvaal, was
struggling to carry on a divided scheme, that of grabbing with both
hands from the Uitlander financialists, while endeavouring to maintain
with close-fisted obstinacy the exclusiveness, irresponsibility, and
bigotry of the primitive trekker. He knew that if he granted full
political rights to the outsiders he would no longer be master of his
own misguided house. He said as much, and pointed out that were he to do
so there would be no alternative but to haul down his flag. This being
the case, there was no resource but to transform[Pg 139] the so-called free
Republic into an absolute oligarchy. Much has been said of the “Russian
despot,” but this century can present no more complete spectacle of
despotism than that of Mr. Kruger. The Emperor of Russia, autocrat as he
is, is guided by the traditions of his empire and the machinations of
his ministers, but Mr. Kruger has allowed himself to be reasoned with
and influenced by none, and his word has been in reality the only form
of law or justice on which the Uitlanders have had to rely. Such system
of government as there was was corrupt. Smuggling flourished under the
very eye of the officials, and the Field Cornets, whose business it was
to act as petty justices, collect taxes, and register arrivals of
new-comers, kept their books in a manner more in accord with their
personal convenience than with accuracy. Hence, when it came to the
question of the naturalisation of the Uitlanders, the books which should
have recorded their registration were either withheld or missing.
Settlers in the Transvaal between the years 1882 and 1890, owing to this
irregularity, were debarred from proving their registration as the law
required. Speaking of this period, Mr. Fitzpatrick, in “The Transvaal
from Within,” says:—

“In the country districts justice was not a commodity intended for the
Britisher. Many cases of gross abuse, and several of actual murder
occurred, and in 1885 the case of Mr. Jas. Donaldson, then residing on a
farm in Lydenburg—lately one of the Reform prisoners—was mentioned in
the House of Commons, and became the subject of a demand by the Imperial
Government for reparation and punishment. He had been ordered by two
Boers (one of whom was in the habit of boasting that he had shot an
unarmed Englishman in Lydenburg since the war, and would shoot others)
to abstain from collecting hut taxes on his own farm; and on refusing
had been attacked by them. After beating them off single-handed, he was
later on again attacked by his former assailants, reinforced by three
others. They bound him with reims (thongs), kicked and beat him with
sjamboks (raw-hide whips) and clubs, stoned him, and left him
unconscious and so disfigured that he was thought to be dead when found
some hours later. On receipt of the Imperial Government’s
representations, the men were arrested, tried, and fined. The fines were
stated to have been remitted at once by Government, but in the civil
action which followed Mr. Donaldson received £500 damages. The incident
had a distinctly beneficial effect, and nothing more was heard of the
maltreatment of defenceless men simply because they were Britishers.”

Nevertheless the hostility between the two races was growing apace, and
every ambition of the Uitlanders was promptly nipped in the bud.[Pg 140]

Reforms were at first mildly suggested. Bridges and roads were required,
also a remission of certain taxes, but suggestions, even agitations,
were in vain. In regard to the franchise question—the crying question
of the decade—Mr. Kruger turned an ear more and more deaf. There are
none so deaf as those whose ears are stopped up with the cotton-wool of
their own bigotry. This bigotry it is almost impossible for enlightened
persons to understand. As an instance of the almost fanatical ignorance
and prejudice with which the Uitlanders had to contend, we may quote the
letter of Mr. Kruger when requested to allow his name to be used as a
patron of a ball to be given in honour of her Majesty’s birthday. He
replied:—

On another occasion, when the question of locust extermination came
before the first Raad, the worthies to whom the conduct of the State was
confided showed a condition of benighted simplicity that can scarcely be
credited.

“July 21.—Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King
Pharaoh, sent by God, and the country would assuredly be loaded with
shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand
of the Almighty.

“Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain, quoting largely
from the Scriptures.

“The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared
by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed. His farm was
then devastated.

“Mr. Stoop conjured the members not to constitute themselves terrestrial
gods, and oppose the Almighty.

“Mr. Lucas Meyer raised a storm by ridiculing the arguments of the
former speakers, and comparing the locusts to beasts of prey, which they
destroyed.

“Mr. Labuschagne was violent. He said the locusts were different from
beasts of prey. They were a special plague sent by God for their
sinfulness.”

SERGEANT and BUGLER, 1st ARGYLE AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS.

Photo by Gregory & Co., London.

[Pg 141]

Their deliberate unenlightenment, had it not been so tragic for those
who suffered in consequence of it, must have been almost comical. On one
occasion the question of firing at the clouds to bring down rain was
discussed, and declared to be impious.

“August 5.—A memorial was read from Krugersdorp, praying that the
Raad would pass a law to prohibit the sending up of bombs into the
clouds to bring down rain, as it was a defiance of God, and would most
likely bring down a visitation from the Almighty.

“The Memorial Committee reported that they disapproved of such a thing,
but at the same time they did not consider that they could make a law on
the subject.

“Mr. A. D. Wolmarans said he was astonished at the advice, and he
expected better from the Commission. If one of their children fired
towards the clouds with a revolver they would thrash him. Why should
they permit people to mock at the Almighty in this manner? It was
terrible to contemplate. He hoped that the Raad would take steps to
prevent such things happening.

“The Chairman (who is also a member of the Memorial Commission) said the
Commission thought that such things were only done for a wager.

“Mr. Erasmus said they were not done for a wager, but in real earnest.
People at Johannesburg actually thought that they could bring down the
rain from the clouds by firing cannons at them.”

These quotations are not offered in the spirit of ridicule. The
Uitlander question is too serious for joking. They are reproduced to
enable those who have no knowledge of the Boer—his petty tyrannies and
annoying and irritating habits, and the vexatious regulations from which
the Uitlander continually suffered—to form an idea of the terrible
mental gulf which existed between oppressor and oppressed. As the
constant dropping of water will wear away stone, so the constant fret of
Boer treatment wore out the patience of their victims!

It soon became very difficult for even sons of Uitlanders born in the
country to obtain the franchise. The naturalised subject resigned his
own nationality, and acquired the duties of the citizen and the
liability to be called on for military service, only to find out that he
could not even then enjoy the rights of the citizen. He felt much as the
dog in the fable, which let drop his piece of meat for the sake of a
reflection in the water. New laws and regulations continually came into
force for the ostensible purpose of improving the state of the
Uitlander—laws which in reality were created to bamboozle him still
further. What chicanery failed to accomplish the remissness of officials
successfully brought about, and the discomfort of the foreign
inhabitants was complete. Beside domestic[Pg 142] there were economic
grievances. The position in a nutshell is given by one of the
unfortunates:—

“The one thing which we must have—not for its own sake, but for the
security it offers for obtaining and retaining other reforms—is the
franchise. No promise of reform, no reform itself will be worth an
hour’s purchase unless we have the status of voters to make our
influence felt. But, if you want the chief economic grievances, they
are—the Netherland Railway concession, the dynamite monopoly, the
liquor traffic, and native labour, which, together, constitute an
unwarrantable burden of indirect taxation on the industry of over two
and a half millions sterling annually. We petitioned until we were
jeered at; we agitated until we—well—came here (Pretoria Gaol); and we
know that we shall get no remedy until we have the vote to enforce it.
We are not a political but a working community, and if we were honestly
and capably governed, the majority of us would be content to wait for
the franchise for a considerable time yet in recognition of the peculiar
circumstances and of the feelings of the older inhabitants.”

Mrs. Lionel Phillips, as the wife of an Uitlander, has also written her
plaint. She says:—

“To show that the grievances of the Uitlanders are indeed real, let me
call your attention to a few facts. What would women residing in
peaceful England say to the fact that one cannot take a walk out of
sight of one’s own house in the suburbs of Johannesburg with safety? The
Kaffirs, who in other parts of South Africa treat a white woman with
almost servile respect, there make it a most unpleasant ordeal to pass
them, and in a lonely part absolutely dangerous.

“Even little girls of the tenderest age are not safe from these
monsters. This is, of course, owing to the utterly inadequate police
protection afforded by the Government, the ridiculously lenient
sentences passed on horrible crimes, and to the adulterated drink sold
by licensed publicans to the Kaffirs on all sides. What would be said
if, when insulted by a cab-driver, it was found that the nearest
policeman was the owner of the cab in question, and refused to render
any assistance or listen to any complaint?

“The educational grievance has been so widely circulated that it is
needless to mention it now; but what is to be expected of a Government
composed of men barely able to write their own names?

“Of course I, as a woman, do not wish to enter into the larger questions
of franchise, monopolies, taxation, &c., but being myself an Africander,
and well able to recognise the many good qualities of the Boers, you
will quite understand that I do not take a pre[Pg 143]judiced view of the
situation, and I am in a position better than that of most people to
understand the grave reality of the Uitlanders’ grievances.”

MONOPOLIES AND ABUSES

Of the scandals leading out of the Netherlands Railway concession and
the dynamite monopoly it is needless to speak. These monopolies were
little more than schemes having for object the diversion of money from
the pockets of the British into those either of the Boers or their
trusty satellites in the Hollander-German clique. As an instance of the
modus operandi, an article relative to the railway monopoly in the
Johannesburg Mining Journal may be quoted:

Rt. Hon. CECIL JOHN RHODES, P.C.

Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.

Perhaps the dynamite monopoly was even more aggravating than the railway
one. Mr. Fitzpatrick says it has always been “a very burning question
with the Uitlanders. This concession was granted soon after the
Barberton Fields were discovered, when the prospects of an industry in
the manufacture of explosives were not really very great. The
concessionaire himself has admitted that, had he foreseen to what
proportions this monopoly would eventually grow, he would not have had
the audacity to apply for it. Of course, this is merely a personal
question. The fact which concerned the industry was that the right was
granted to one man to manufacture explosives, and to sell them at a
price nearly 200 per cent. over that at which[Pg 145] they could be imported.
It was found, upon investigation after some years of agitation, that the
factory at which this ‘manufacture’ took place was in reality merely a
depôt in which the already manufactured article was manipulated to a
moderate extent, so as to lend colour to the President’s statement that
a local industry was being fostered. An investigation, held by order of
the Volksraad, exposed the imposition. The President himself stated that
he found he had been deceived, and that the terms of the concession had
been broken, and he urged the Raad to cancel it, which the Raad did. The
triumph was considerable for the mining industry, and it was the more
appreciated in that it was the solitary success to which the Uitlanders
could point in their long series of agitations for reform. But the
triumph was not destined to be a lasting one. Within a few months the
monopoly was revived in an infinitely more obnoxious form. It was now
called a Government monopoly, but ‘the agency’ was bestowed upon a
partner of the gentleman who had formerly owned the concession, the
President himself vigorously defending this course, and ignoring his own
judgment on the case uttered a few months previously. Land en Volk,
the Pretoria Dutch newspaper, exposed the whole of this transaction,
including the system of bribery by which the concessionaires secured
their renewal, and among other things made the charge which it has
continued to repeat ever since, that Mr. J. M. A. Wolmarans, member of
the Executive, received a commission of one shilling per case on every
case sold during the continuance of the agency as a consideration for
his support in the Executive Council, and that he continues to enjoy
this remuneration, which is estimated now to be not far short of £10,000
a year. Mr. Wolmarans, for reasons of pride or discretion, has declined
to take any notice of the charge, although frequently pressed to take
action in the matter. It is calculated that the burden imposed upon the
Witwatersrandt mines alone amounts to £600,000 per annum, and is, of
course, daily increasing.”

Between the years 1890 and 1895 there were many negotiations over
Swaziland. The South African Republic, ever anxious to extend its
borders, longed to advance eastward to the sea. Negotiations were
started in regard to this arrangement. The Transvaal had recognised the
British occupation of Rhodesia, and the British in return agreed to
allow the Transvaal to make a railway through Amatongaland to Kosi Bay,
and acquire a seaport, if, within three years, it joined the South
African Customs Union.

But Mr. Kruger, luckily for Imperial interests, would not entertain the
idea. He did not want to come into confederation with the Cape. The
Orange Free State, however, joined the Cape system, and the South
African Customs Union was started. The advan[Pg 146]tages to the Free State of
this arrangement, though unforeseen, were many; the principal being the
privilege of importing, unmolested, arms and ammunition over the Cape
Government railway lines. Finally, in 1895, the administration of
Swaziland was transferred to the South African Republic on certain
conditions. It was not to be incorporated with the Republic, European
settlers were to have full burgher rights, monopolies were forbidden,
English and Dutch languages were to be on an equal footing, and no
duties higher than the maximum tariff rates imposed by the South African
Republic or by the Customs Union were to be allowed. The territory of
Amatongaland was annexed by the British in 1895, and the Transvaal thus
lost its one chance of an outlet towards the sea.

THE FRANCHISE

The much-vexed question of the Franchise continued to rankle in the
hearts of the Uitlanders. Its ramifications had grown so complicated
that even lawyers in discussing the matter continually found themselves
in error. We may therefore be excused from attempting to examine its
niceties, or rather its—well—the reverse. In 1893 a petition, signed
by upwards of 13,000 aliens in favour of granting the extension of the
Franchise, was received by the Raad with derision. In 1895 a monster
petition was got up by the National Union, an organisation formed for
the purpose of righting the wrongs of the Uitlanders. During the great
Franchise debate in August 1895, Mr. R. K. Loveday, one of the Loyalists
in the war, in the course of an address dealing with the subject,
expressed himself very definitely and concisely, and in a manner which
could not be refuted. He said—

“The President uses the argument that they should naturalise, and thus
give evidence of their desire to become citizens. I have used the same
argument, but what becomes of such arguments when met with the
objections that the law requires such persons to undergo a probationary
period extending from fourteen to twenty-four years before they are
admitted to full rights of citizenship, and even after one has undergone
that probationary period he can only be admitted to full rights by the
resolution of the First Raad? Law IV. of 1890, being the Act of the two
Volksraads, lays down clearly and distinctly that those who have been
eligible for ten years for the Second Raad can be admitted to full
citizenship. So that, in any case, the naturalised citizen cannot obtain
full rights until he reaches the age of forty years, he not being[Pg 147]
eligible for the Second Raad until he is thirty years. The child born of
non-naturalised parents must therefore wait until he is forty years of
age, although at the age of sixteen he may be called upon to do military
service, and may fall in the defence of the land of his birth. When such
arguments are hurled at me by our own flesh and blood—our kinsmen from
all parts of South Africa—I must confess I am not surprised that these
persons indignantly refuse to accept citizenship upon such unreasonable
terms. The element I have just referred to—namely, the Africander
element—is very considerable, and numbers thousands, hundreds of whom,
at the time this country was struggling for its independence, accorded
it moral and financial support, and yet these very persons are subjected
to a term of probation extending from fourteen to twenty-four years. It
is useless for me to ask you whether such a policy is just and
reasonable or Republican, for there can be but one answer, and that is
‘No!’ Is there one man in this Raad who would accept the Franchise on
the same terms? Let me impress upon you the grave nature of this
question, and the absolute necessity of going to the burghers without a
moment’s delay and consulting and advising them. Let us keep nothing
from them regarding the true position, and I am sure we shall have their
hearty co-operation in any reasonable scheme we may suggest. This is a
duty we owe them, for we must not leave them under the impression that
the Uitlanders are satisfied to remain aliens, as stated by some of the
journals. I move amongst these people, and learn to know their true
feelings, and when public journals tell you that these people are
satisfied with their lot they tell you that which they know to be false.
Such journals are amongst the greatest sources of danger that the
country has. We are informed by certain members that a proposition for
the extension of the Franchise must come from the burghers, but,
according to the Franchise Law, the proposition must come from the Raad,
and the public must consent. The member for Rustenberg says that there
are 9338 burghers who have declared that they are opposed to the
extension of the Franchise. Upon reference to the Report he will find
that there are only 1564 opposed to the extension. Members appear afraid
to touch upon the real question at issue, but try to discredit the
memorials by vague statements that some of the signatures are not
genuine, and the former member for Johannesburg, Mr. J. Meyer, seems
just as anxious to discredit the people of Johannesburg as formerly he
was to defend them.”

In spite of all that was said and done, however, no progress was made.
The debate was closed on the third day, the request[Pg 148] of the memorialists
was refused, and they were referred for satisfaction to the existing
laws.

About this time the Transvaal came very near to war with Great Britain.
As before stated, Mr. Kruger was much bound up with the affairs of the
Netherlands Railway Company and its Hollander-German promoters. He
attempted to divert the stream of Johannesburg traffic to Delagoa Bay,
for the purpose of keeping profit from the pockets of the British. The
freights, however, were evaded by unloading the goods at the frontier,
and taking them across the Vaal in waggons. It was easy thus to forward
goods—between Johannesburg and Viljoens Drift—direct by the Cape
Railway.

But Mr. Kruger was not to be defeated. In October 1895, he closed the
drifts or fords of the Vaal to all waggon loads of goods from Cape
Colony. Unfortunately the President had over-reached himself. The people
of Cape Colony and those of the Free State were indignant, and the High
Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, and the Cape Premier, Mr. Rhodes,
both brought their influence to bear on the President. He was obdurate.
Mr. Chamberlain, the new Colonial Secretary, came to the rescue. He put
his foot down, and a determined foot it was. He sent an ultimatum to Mr.
Kruger announcing that closure of the drifts after the 15th of November
would be considered an act of war.

The drifts were reopened. But the Netherlands Railway Company still
stuck to their tariffs and their aim of depriving the British Colonies
of the custom dues and railway rates on the traffic of Johannesburg.
Consequently this thorn in the side of the British Colonists was left to
fester.

SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES—BOUND FOR THE GOLD-FIELDS.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.

Day by day the discontent grew, and the cry of “No taxation without
representation” became the Uitlanders’ motto. They perceived that they
were deprived of rights, yet expected to serve as milch cows for the
fattening of a State that was arming itself at all points against them,
and they came to the conclusion that some strong measures must now be
taken for their protection. The Chamber of Mines and the Transvaal
National Union had spent some time in advocating purely constitutional
methods, the Chamber of Mines exploiting the grievances of the Gold
Mining industry, while the National Union struggled for general reforms
which should make the conditions of Uitlander life less intolerable than
they were. The Reformers, whose chairman was Mr. Charles Leonard, a
solicitor of good practice in Johannesburg, were mostly men of the
middle and professional classes. The capitalists, being anxious to keep
in with the Transvaal Government, were some[Pg 149]what shy of the National
Unionists; while the working men on their side were suspicious of the
motives of the Reformers, and were chary of lending themselves to any
scheme which might conduce to the profit of the millionaires. The
National Union clearly expressed its aims in a manifesto which ended
with the exposition of the Charter which its members hoped to obtain. It
said:

“We want—

1. The establishment of this Republic as a true Republic.

2. A Grondwet, or Constitution, which shall be framed by competent
persons selected by representatives of the whole people, and framed on
lines laid down by them.

3. An equitable Franchise Law and fair representation.

4. Equality of the Dutch and English languages.

5. Responsibility to the Legislature of the heads of the great
departments.

6. Removal of religious disabilities.

7. Independence of the Courts of Justice with adequate and secured
remuneration of the Judges.

8. Liberal and comprehensive Education.

9. Efficient Civil Service, with adequate provision for pay and pension.

10. Free Trade in South African products.”

The Manifesto wound up with the pertinent question, “How shall we get
it?”

The “how” was to have been decided at a public meeting fixed for the
27th of December 1895, and subsequently postponed till January 8th,
1896. But what the National Union proposed the Jameson Raid disposed.
The meeting was destined never to take place!

THE REFORM MOVEMENT

Before 1895 the wealthier members of the community refused to entertain
the suggestion of coercive measures, but after the Volksraad in session
revealed the real policy of the Government, even they began to perceive
that revolutionary action might become obligatory. Though the
capitalists were advised by those who knew to avoid spending money on
hopeless efforts at reform, and to steer clear, if possible, of the
political imbroglio, they eventually joined hands with the Reformers.
How the egg of the Jameson conspiracy came to be laid no one exactly
knew. Certain it was that those who looked for the hatching of a swan,
were[Pg 150] confronted with a very ugly duckling indeed! Arms and ammunition
were purchased, and these, concealed as gold-mining impedimenta, were
smuggled into the country. Messrs. Leonard and Phillips, two prominent
Reformers, consulted Mr. Rhodes as to future affairs, but Mr. Rhodes was
in the awkward position of acting at one and the same time as Managing
Director of the Consolidated Gold Fields in the Transvaal, Prime
Minister of the Colony, and Managing Director of the Chartered Company,
and consequently was a little vague in his propositions. After some
conversation, he decided that he would, at his own expense, keep Dr.
Jameson and his troops on the frontier “as a moral support.”

Later on in September Dr. Jameson visited Johannesburg, and made his
arrangements in person. It was agreed that he should maintain a force of
1500 mounted men, fully equipped, and that besides, having with him 1500
spare rifles, and some spare ammunition, there should be about 5000
rifles, three Maxims, and 1,000,000 rounds of ammunition smuggled into
Johannesburg. The idea was, that the Uitlanders would prepare their
revolt, and that should Dr. Jameson’s services be needed, Johannesburg,
with 9000 armed men and a fair equipment of machine guns and cannon,
would be prepared to co-operate: at that time it seemed no difficult
matter to seize the fort and magazines at Pretoria for the time being.
It was in course of repair, and in charge merely of a hundred men, most
of whom could be relied on to be asleep or off duty after nine o’clock
at night. The plan of seizing the fort, capturing the ammunition, and
clearing it off so as to enforce their views without bloodshed seemed
perfectly feasible, and Dr. Jameson readily agreed to lend himself to
the scheme for giving such “moral support” as was required by the
Uitlander Reformers. Of their part in the affair it is difficult to
speak impartially. It appears on the surface that they induced this man,
for no personal motive either of financial gain or political power, to
lend himself willingly to be the tool of the aggrieved Uitlanders, who,
when the time came, were too vacillating between their fear of the
Republic and the desire for their own individual good, to support the
person whom they had chosen for their champion, and who so
disinterestedly was prepared to risk both life and position in their
service! It was decided, however, that the Reformers should arrange a
revolution, which would have the effect of forcing the hands of the
Transvaal Government. The High Commissioner, as they imagined, would
come on the scene as a final arbitrator. Dr. Jameson’s troops, who had
acted so effectively in the Matabele campaign, were to be kept at
Pitsani[Pg 151] on the Bechuana border, in order if necessary to come at a
given signal to the rescue of the Uitlanders. The idea was not without
precedent. Sir Henry Loch, two years before, in dread of a Johannesburg
rising, had considered the advisability of placing troops on the border.

So as to justify his action to the directors of the Chartered Company
and the Imperial authorities, the following undated letter was sent to
Dr. Jameson, Mafeking:—

“Dear Sir,—The position of matters in this State has become so
critical, that we are assured that at no distant period there will be a
conflict between the Government and the Uitlander population. It is
scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate what is now matter of history;
suffice it to say, that the position of thousands of Englishmen, and
others, is rapidly becoming intolerable. Not satisfied with making the
Uitlander population pay virtually the whole of the revenue of the
country while denying them representation, the policy of the Government
has been steadily to encroach upon the liberty of the subject, and to
undermine the security for property to such an extent as to cause a very
deep-seated sense of discontent and danger. A foreign corporation of
Hollanders is to a considerable extent controlling our destinies, and in
conjunction with the Boer leaders endeavouring to cast them in a mould
which is wholly foreign to the genius of the people. Every public act
betrays the most positive hostility, not only to everything English, but
to the neighbouring States.

“Well, in short, the internal policy of the Government is such as to
have roused into antagonism to it not only practically the whole body of
Uitlanders, but a large number of the Boers; while its external policy
has exasperated the neighbouring States, causing the possibility of
great danger to the peace and independence of this Republic. Public
feeling is in a condition of smouldering discontent. All the petitions
of the people have been refused with a greater or less degree of
contempt; and in the debate on the Franchise petition, signed by nearly
40,000 people, one member challenged the Uitlanders to fight for the
rights they asked for, and not a single member spoke against him. Not to
go into details, we may say that the Government has called into
existence all the elements necessary for armed conflict. The one desire
of the people here is for fair play, the maintenance of their
independence, and the preservation of those public liberties without
which life is not worth living. The Government denies these things, and
violates the national sense of Englishmen at every turn.

“What we have to consider is, what will be the condition of things[Pg 152] here
in the event of a conflict? Thousands of unarmed men, women, and
children of our race will be at the mercy of well-armed Boers, while
property of enormous value will be in the greatest peril. We cannot
contemplate the future without the gravest apprehensions. All feel that
we are justified in taking any steps to prevent the shedding of blood,
and to ensure the protection of our rights.

“It is under these circumstances that we feel constrained to call upon
you to come to our aid should a disturbance arise here. The
circumstances are so extreme that we cannot but believe that you and the
men under you will not fail to come to the rescue of people who will be
so situated. We guarantee any expense that may reasonably be incurred by
you in helping us, and ask you to believe that nothing but the sternest
necessity has prompted this appeal.

It was arranged that Dr. Jameson should start from camp on the night of
the outbreak at Johannesburg—either on the 28th of December or on the
4th of January—according to notice which would subsequently be given.
From this moment, however, doubts began to fill the minds of the
Reformers. They were dissatisfied with the quantity of arms they had
been able to smuggle into the town; there was a want of cohesion among
the different sections, of those interested; they went so far as to
disagree as to what flag they were going to revolt under. The Reformers
were evidently not all of Dr. Jameson’s opinion, that the Union Jack was
the one and only flag under which they could hope for justice—they
were, as we know, only comrades in suffering but not compatriots, and
besides this, many declared that reform and not annexation was what they
were anxious to secure.

Dr Leander Starr Jameson.

Photo by Elliott & Fry, London.

Here we have before us what made the complicated riddle of the Raid.
Since it has defied all the Œdipuses of the century, we will not
endeavour to unravel it. Did the Reformers set all their grievances
aside before the paramount question, “Under which flag, Jameson?” or did
they make use of the flag argument to cover a series of vacillations
which prevented them from acting up to the rules of the conspiracy they
themselves had set on foot? Did Mr. Rhodes engage in the plot for the
sake of financial gain? Did he do so out of sympathy for the “cause,” or
did he attempt a magnificent political coup? And lastly—Did that
unhappy scapegoat, the gallant Jameson, launch himself on the wild
mistaken[Pg 153] escapade to rescue his fellow-countrymen from oppression, to
serve his private ends financial or political, or from the sheer spirit
of adventure which, in some degree, animates every British heart? Who
shall say?

THE CRITICAL MOMENT

It was arranged, as has been mentioned, that the rising at Johannesburg
should take place on the night of the 4th of January. The arsenal at
Pretoria was to be seized, and Dr. Jameson with his troops was to make
his appearance, assist the Reformers in urging their claims, and, if
necessary, save the women and children from possible violence.

“According to the original plan,” says Mrs. Lionel Phillips in her
“South African Recollections,” “what with the smuggled rifles, those in
private hands, the spare weapons to be brought by Jameson’s men, and
those men (the Reformers) themselves, Johannesburg must have mustered a
little army of not less than 5000 men, to say nothing of the guns which
might possibly be captured in the arsenal. It was believed that with
this force the town could be held against any attack that might be made
by the Transvaal forces, and that, upon a failure in the first assault,
the Boers would have adopted their well-known tactics of cutting off
supplies, with a view to starving the town into submission. To meet this
contingency the town was provisioned for two months, and it was supposed
that the British Government would never sit still and allow the
Uitlanders to be forced into capitulation in the face of the wrongs
which they had suffered. In November, when Jameson came to Johannesburg,
the supporting force had dwindled to 800. The telegrams apprising the
Reformers of his advance spoke of 700, and in reality he started with
less than 500 men.”

But by the time the plot should have neared completion, the
conspirators, as has been shown, had ceased to be of one accord on the
subject. On Christmas Day Mr. Leonard interviewed Mr. Rhodes in Cape
Town, and represented to him the divided state of affairs. Meanwhile the
Reformers in Johannesburg desired to make known to Dr. Jameson their
change of front, and, to prevent him starting on the expedition,
despatched two messengers to Pitsani Camp by different routes. These
messages were received on December the 28th, and with them other
telegraphic ones from Mr. Leonard and Mr. Rhodes explicitly directing
the expedition not to start.

The news that Dr. Jameson had started, in spite of these[Pg 154] messages, came
on the Reformers like a thunderclap. They were not ready—they had not
sufficient arms to fight with, and they were not of one mind. The doing
had been easy enough, and they had fancied the undoing would be as
simple. They had laid their gunpowder train without thinking of the
number of firebrands that surrounded it! Amazement gave way to
indignation, and the Reformers were not slow to hint that Mr. Rhodes or
Dr. Jameson had disregarded the messages in order to further their
personal ends. The most charitable decided that the Doctor’s starting
was due merely to misunderstanding. Many rumours of discontent and
disturbance were floating about, and it was believed that some of these
might have reached the Doctor’s ears and influenced his actions. Anyway
the Reformers were at sea. All they could do was to arm as many men as
possible with a view to defence—to holding the town against any attack
that might be made by the Transvaal forces, and to decide to take no
initiative against the Boers. No uneasiness was felt regarding Jameson,
for it was believed that he was well supported by not less than 800 men,
and that the Boers would stand a poor chance against a body so well
equipped and trained as his was supposed to be. The position taken up is
explained in a notice of the Reform Committee in the Johannesburg
Star:—”Notice is hereby given, that this Committee adheres to the
National Union Manifesto, and reiterates its desire to maintain the
independence of the Republic. The fact that rumours are in course of
circulation to the effect that a force has crossed the Bechuanaland
border, renders it necessary to take active steps for the defence of
Johannesburg and the preservation of order. The Committee earnestly
desires that the inhabitants should refrain from taking any action which
can be considered as an overt act of hostility against the Government.”