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^yITH

THE BOERS IN THE TRANSVAAL.

WITH

THE BOERS m THE TRAA^SVAAL

AND

OEAISTGE FEEE STATE

1880-1.

CHAELES L. NORRIS-NEWMAN,

SPECIAL ■VTAK COBKESPONDENT AXD AUTHOR OF "IN ZULULAXD WITH THE BRITISH.

Second Edition,
WITH NEW MAP OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC

AND

TEXT OF THE CONVENTION OF 1884.

LONDON:

ABBOTT, JONES & CO., LIMITED,
4, Adam Street, Strand.

[_All rights reserved.^ VA-V-' "

tONDON :
FRINTED BY HARRISON AND CONS, ST. MARTIN's LANK,

PnrUcn in Ontinart/ to Ihr Majesty.

dH-

liTScriljcb

TO THE MEMORY

OF THE LATK

MAJOR-GENERAL SIR GEORGE POMEROY COLLEY,

K.C.S.I., C.B., C'.M.G.,

WHOSE EMINENT SERVICES, BOTH CIVIL AND MILITARY, WERE BEGtJK

AND ENDED IN SOUTH AFRICA ; AND BY WHOSE EARLY DEATH, — WHJ]i!i LEADING THE

BRITISH FORCES AGAINST THE TRANSVAAL BOEKS, HIS

QUEEN LOST A FAITHFUL SERVANT ;

HIS COUNTRY, AN ABLE SOLDIER AND DIPLOMAT ; NATAL, THE BEST GOVERNOR

SHE EVER HAD ; AND THE AUTHOR, A VALUED FRIEND.

11114G5

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Cape History 1

CHAPTER 11.
Cape History — (^continued) 11

CHAPTER III.
Natal Founded IJ^

CHAPTER IV.
Great Exodus Northwards 32

CHAPTER V.
Oraxge Free State Settled ext . . ... 43

CHAPTER VI.
Transvaal Founded ,56

CHAPTER VII.
Transvaal Progress GO

viii Contents.

CHAPTER YIII.

PAGE

Tkaxsvaal Axxexatiox ,.....,. 7-i

CHAPTER IX.
Teaxsvaal and Secocoeni 83

CHAPTER X.

Laxyon's Transvaal . • 94

CHAPTER XI.
The Octbeeak 107

CHAPTER XTI.
The First Action 117

CHAPTER XI I] .
Capi'Ain Elliott's Mcrdeu— Xatal's Xkutkality . . 125

CHAPTER XIV.
The Rimtisu Advance 136

CIIAPTI<]R XY.
Lang's Nek MG

CJlAl'Ti:i{, X\I.
Ingogo Fight \ru

('ii.\i'Ti;i{ x\ii.

My Joornet 1G8

Contents. ix

CHAPTER XYIII.

PAGE

EXPERIEXCES IX THE BOER Ca-AIP 182

CHAPTER XIX.
The Amajuba . 198

CHAPTER XX.
The Armipttce , . .217

CHAPTER XXI.
The Besieged Towns .231

CHAPTER XXII.
The Besieged Towns — {coidlniiea) ..... 244

CHAPTER XXIII.
The Royal Commission 253

CHAPTER XXIY.
Transfer of Government 267

CHAPTER XXV.

The Last Threads ; or, The Transvaal of Yesterday . 279

CHAPTER XXVI.
General Review ... 293

■X Contents,

APPENDIX.

PAGE

South African Chronological Table 309

Glossary of Local Terms used ix South Africa . .314

A. Anxuxation of the Transvaal . . . . .317

B. Copt of Protest and Eesolution of the Transvaal

Executive Council 322

C. Proclamation 323

D. Letter to Colonial Secretary from Transvaal Dele-

gates 326

E. Proclamation by the Bokr Triumvirate . . . 332
r. Despatch on the Action at Bi;(;inkhorst Spruit . . 336

G. Tm; First Battle of Lang's Nek 338

H. The Fight at the Inuogo 344

I. The Amajuba Fight 350

K. Letters, etc., relating to Peace Nkgotiations . . 351

L. The Potchefstrom Surrender 360

M. The Royal Commission 363

N. The Convention 370

0. The Transvaal Yolksraad '^17

P. The Nkw Transvaal Yoia'sraad 379

Q. Boeb Losses 381

R. Convkntion iiKiwKKN IIku Majesty the Queen of
the IJnitei> Kin(;pom of Gijkat I^iutain and

Ikelani) AM) nil. Sol III AiKUAN U'l.i'i p.i.ic . . 385

ai»im;m)a.

Notices of the I'oer Leaders ..... 303

INTRODUCTION.

It would be altogether impossible to commence a detailed
account of the recent disturbances in the Transvaal without
going back to the earliest days of the foundation of its settle-
ment, in order to get at the original causes and effects which
have, in the course of about forty years, led again to a collision
between the two leading white races in South Africa, and a
series of disastrous native wars — not yet finished, I fear — and,
therefore, in order to enable my readers to have a clear and
thorough conception of the state of aftairs in the Transvaal
just j^revious to the outbreak of 1880, it Avill be necessary for
me to begin with the days of the Cape settlement Ity the
English ; and to show, gradually and consecutively, how the
recent sad state of aftairs has been brought about. The result
is due partially, I admit, to the peculiarities and untractable-
ness of the Boers themselves ; but, principally, to the un-
doubted mismanagement and wilful blindness of the Imperial
authorities both at home and out here, as evidenced by the
various and contradictory policies pursued by successive
Governors,

For_maD y years South Africa was a terra incof/nita to all
in Great Britain except to the oflBcials whose department had
t he governm ent thereof. To others tlie idea simply was that
tji e Cape was the half-way port between Ji^nglanci and India,
a naval and military station of more or less importance, which
gave employment to a certain numFeFof colonial otiicials and
contributed little, if anythTu"g7^6"t be general wealth or welfare
of the great British Empire. Thes e ideas received little or
no modification until diamonds and subsequently gold, copper,
and~otEer jniire'rars ^vel^e~lx)und -rn aaah quantities^a s to cause

xii Introduction.

a rush of people of all classes from Great Britain and various
other parts of the globe. Then, indeed, the Home Govern-
ment and people woke up to the importance of the British
South African Colonies, and set to work to reorganize the
systems of government then in vogue — by strengthening the
hands of the colonial authorities, laying down a detinite policy
and striving to weld the dift'crent Colonies and Free States
into something like unity. A tide of emigration set in, rail-
ways and other works were projected, and a grand future was
prophesied for South Africa — how justly time will prove. As
showing how South Africa was despised and undervalued as a
field for emigration up to that time, the following extract from
a semi-ofl&cial work on Australian Emigration (published in
London about twenty years ago) will go far to justify my
opinions and corroborate my remarks. After referring to the
advantages of Australia this work continues : —

" With all our boasts of an ' Empire on which the sun
never sets' — a travestie, by the bye, of an old Spanish saying,
which subsequent events have made a rhodomontade as empty
as may one day be our own — England has two colonic^ onUj,
besides those in the Pacific, to which a man can emigrate.
The first, Canada, is one of the most unsuitable possible in
point of climate or locality ; the first forbidding labour of an
agricultural kind during the greater portion of the year, and
the second dc^manding a longer time before actual location
than is consumed by a voyage to Australia ov New Zealand,
where domiciliation and employment await the emigrant at
once on his arrival. The second emigration colony, //" it cun
he HO nillrd, is South Africa ; the chief gains of the colonists,
for the most part Dutchmen, arising from tbe disputes they
can foment between the natives and the autlioritics, in the
hope of profiting l)y the expenditure of the Commissariat, of
wliich J'>ngbind has had but too lamentable proof in the
expenditure of many millions, for no cailhly ])nrp()se than
that, of ciialiliiiL,^ Ibc Cajic ('ob)nists to lake advantage of the
English determination to preserve the integrity of the empire
at any cost. ]>eyond these two colonics. w(> have, nolwith-
Btunding the vustness of our colonial cnipire, no other location

Introduction. xiii

but the Australian and New Zealand Colonies worthy of a
moment's consider;! tion to the intending emigrant. Canada,
on the first decadence of the English power — and that may
n.ot be far distant — will naturally fall into the United States
of America, if the union last so long ; and South Africa is
scarcely worth consideration, as a colonial dependency, upon
any terms, either in point of produce or political advantages.
As for the new settlements in South Africa, they can be
characterized as little less than deliberate frauds committed
on English ignorance, though with Government sanction ; not
one of their pretensions being realized, or ever likely to
become so. '

This is strong and plain language, but is undoubtedly a
faithful reproduction of the opinion of the bulk of the people of
Great Britain at that time upon South African settlements ; and
with little alteration would fairly represent the written opinions
of the more recent celebrated semi-historians who have visited
South Africa for literary purposes since she sprang so suddenly
up into prominent notice. Ideas almost similar have been
extensively circulated, even up to the present time, by nearly
the whole of the London Press ; while even those most inter-
ested, and most hopeful of the future of South Africa, either
as a Confederated State or Crown Colony, can but honestly
admit the truth of the greater portion of these remarks, and
long for the powers of self-government granted to Australia and
Canada.

Bearing these views in mind at the commencement, it will
not be difficult to trace and comprehend the consecutive events
which have led up to the present still unsatisfactory state of
afi'airs, by, on the one hand, rekindling the slumbering feelings
of race hatred already bitter enough between the tAvo dominant
white races in South Africa ; while, on the other, creating
bitter feelings between the colonists themselves and the
Imperial Government. Both races combined have been and
still are barely sufficient to manage the conduct of their own
interior affairs, and control the large native population, con-
sisting both of those belonging to the soil and the refugees
from other surrounding tribes, the former of whom migrate

xiv Introduction.

further north as civihzation advances, while the latter seem
only too glad to come under the more settled s^'stem of govern-
ment of the white race, and quickly learn all the evils, but
only slowly appreciate and conform to the benefits, consequent
thereon.

In the whole history of the world there have been known
only two systems of colonizing a new country, the inhabitants
of which were totally' uncivilized, viz. : — quick and ruthless
extermination, and a constant war of the one against the other,
as always practised by the Dutch South Africans and in
America ; or the slower and more difficult method of amal-
gamation and protection. Which of the two systems — for
both have been tried — has succeeded best out here, every one
understanding the occurrences of the last half-century will be
able to judge. So far as the Boers and those natives more
immediately in and around the Transvaal are concerned, I hope,
in the course of this work, to clearly show the course of events
up to now, and the probable outcome in the not far-distant
future.

Having thus explained my object, and the means by which
I hope to attain it, I need no apology for occupying the first
few chapters of this work with a chronological history, com-
plete though epitomized, of the Cape Colony. To follow out
and gain a fair view of both sides of a question, even in
momentous European aff"airs, is undoubtedly a matter of very
great dilficulty, for the reason that Britons are not generally
ncquainted with the subject, have little or no knowledge of
the country in which such all'airs occur, and are not actually
present on or near the scene of action at the time. How much
more bo, when the scene of action lies in South Africa, a
country, until within the last half-contury, little thought of or
appreciated liy tliu population of (ireat Britain, cither as an
availabh; field lor ciiiigiation, or a valuable addition to the
colonial cnijiire. And, notwithstanding the unpleasant I'act of
.lolm l>iill luiviiig had to i)ay dcaily in men, money, and
r(']»utatioii lor the; inanngcnK'nt (or niisinanagcnient ?) of South
AlVican all'airs duriuj^ flic greater jtorf ion of that time ; and in
Bpite of the published — thongli in some things misleading —

IntrodiLction. xv

works of such eminent men as Froude, Trollope, Bissett, Xoble,
and others, and the teachings of the recent wars, I venture to
doubt whether even now the average British taxpayer, unless
in some way personally connected with the South African
Colonies or States, knows more of the exact position of aft'airs,
and what has led to them out here, than can be gathered from
the hasty telegrams, and one-sided views espoused through
party and prejudice, and expressed by both the Home and
part of the Colonial Press.

The late rising in the Transvaal, following so quickly on
the Zulu War, and costing the country such a large amount
of blood, treasure, and even obloquy, having attracted more
attention throughout the whole civilized world than almost any
other South African event of this century, it has been sug-
gested to me that a concise, but unprejudiced review of the
origin, progress, present position, and probable ending of the
Transvaal question, might serve to elucidate much that has
hitherto been misunderstood, and throw the light of truth upon
much previously concealed. I have therefore entered upon
the work con amove, in the belief that, from my intimate
knowledge of the country, its history, people, and customs,
gained during a six years' residence in South Africa, as a con-
stant contributor to the Home and Colonial Press, and a special
war correspondent throughout the recent campaigns, my state-
ments of facts will merit the attention of the reading public ;
my not hastily formed opinions, the candid though fair
criticism of those who may difler from them ; and the whole
work, the approbation of those more directly interested in the
subject therein treated. And if the publication of this volume
conduces to the development of a more liberal feeling towards
our future colonists, the Boers — the early pioneers of civiliza-
tion, colonization, and European dominion in South Africa —
and to a clearer insight into the many difficult questions now
troubling, and likely for many years to trouble, that impor-
tant portion of Her Majesty's realms, my labours in connec-
tion therewith will not have been in vain. I cannot conclude
this somewhat discursive but necessary introduction without
acknowledging my indebtedness to many works previously

XVI

Introduction.

written on Idndred topics ; but esj^ccially to Noble's " South
Africa, Past and Present," than which a clearer, more succinct,
reliable, or ably written work on the whole question has never
3'et been published ; and I am therefore doubly glad at being
able to make use of such an authority for much of the early
history of the Boers, as well as in again bringing before the
public its value as a work of reference on all South African
affairs.

Natal, October, 18S1.

WITH

THE BOERS IN THE TRANSVAAL

CHAPTER I.

C A P E n I S T O R Y.

Early Cape History — Forefathers of the Boers— Settlement of the Dutch East India
Company — Extension of Colony — Dissatisfaction of the Settlers — Mode of Life
— English Eule — Eestoration of Dutch Rule — Improved Govrrnmeut System —
Recapture by and Final Cession to Great Britain — Native Troubles, 1811-12^
Eastern Frontier fixed at Great Fish River — " Slaghters Nek " Rebellion —
Cotnmencement of British Immigration — Political Condition — Struggles for
Liberty — High-handed Proceedings of Lord C. Somerset— FLrst Royal Coni«
mission — Its Recommendations.

The descendants of the early mixed Dutch population of the
Cape now inhabit and are spread over a large proportion of the
•whole of South Africa ; throughout the Cape Colony, especially
in the more retired portions, the population is mostly of that
origin. In Natal there is still a small portion, now, however,
rapidly amalgamating with the English ; hut for the real
sample of the early " Voor-trekkers " we have to go to the
Orange Free State and the " Transvaal Republic," where we
find them the principal inheritors of the land — living thereon
in the same rough, simple, uneducated and solitary manner
that was so great a characteristic of their forefathers, and one
of the principal causes of their voluntary exodus into the
wilderness, beginning in 1833 and lasting until 1852. From
time to time there have been various names applied to these
men, such as Dutch Boers, Afrikanders, and Dutchmen ; but

2 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

these titles are all more or less misleading or incorrect. It
must not be forgotten that although originally the Cape of
Good Hope was a Dutch settlement, established purely for
the advancement of the exclusive rights of trade of the Dutch
East India Company, which owned and governed it, yet
even previous to its first capture and final cession to Great
Britain, its population, then very mixed, was largely reinforced
by events in Europe arising out of the persecution of tlio
Protestants. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, in IGSo,
by Louis XIV., and the religious persecution of the "Waldenscs
in Piedmont and the Italian Alpine districts, drove hundreds
of families of all classes in life to seek homes in other and
more tolerant lands. The Dutch Government then generously
stepped forward, seized the opportunity, and offered them an
asylum. Many of these exiles afterwards emigrated to the
Cape, introducing a new element of success and addition to
the industrial resources of the country, viz. vine culture, the
first vineyard in Constantia being planted in 1G88, and they
materially helped to found the basis upon which the present
successful Cape Colony has arisen. So tha t it will easily be
understood that the introduction of the French Huguenots,
Flemings, Germans, Moravi ans, Picdmontesc, Sav oyards and
otliers, gave frosJi vigour to the enfeebled me rcantile settle-
im'Ut, and entirely iiltefecl the character a nd natTonality of its
inhalutants. The new-comers brmight witli them their love
of Irecdorn, simple habits, and religious i leas, which soon
began to clash with the sellish monopoly, and autocratic
system of Government then pursued by the dillorent Dutch
Governors. Uiion llicir s[)r('a(l inland thoy si ill kcjtt together
as far as possible in natioiuil connnnnitics ; so tbat in time
districts l)ccamc eitlier entirely French, Dutch, or German, as
the case niigbt be, wliilc llic nationality of the early ]iure Dutch
inhiibitiuits, being mixed, both witli tin; natives, and later on
with tli(! I'higlisb, idler tlieir arrival in the colony, soon
became lost or amalgamated. Delbre, however, the close of
the last century tb(^ dilVerent languages or dialects had become
less used and spoken, and a kind of Dutch patois, now termed
Afrikander Dutch, was and is now, in the 0. F. State and

Extension of the Colony. 3

Transvaal, almost uiiivGrsally spoken by the inliaLitants, and
used in connection with all but official business. Moreover,
although some traces of a national feeling in favour of the
Fatherland may have lingered, the late Judge Watermeyer,
himself of Dutch extraction, says that " substantially every
man in the colony, of every hue, was benefited when the
incubus of the Dutch East India Company was removed and
the colony came under British government."

For a long time after its final capture by the English and
the close of the Dutch Government, the Cape remained
purely a military and naval station ; but its limits were being
gradually extended by its inhabitants, until at last they came
into contact with several powerful native tribes on the
east and north, creating a series of disputes about the pro-
prietorship of the soil, which have broken out periodically
during this century as the white race advanced, and have
lasted with gradually increasing severity and force until the
present time. And this was not all ; for slave ry in all its
\v prst forms was legally recognized by the Dutch Government
(the first cargo of slaves from Guinea being brought to the
Cape in 1G58, and the last in 1807), and eventually pro duced
ruptures between the two races . Later on, its~abolition by
the English in 1834 confirmed the previous bitter feelings
against the more civilized system of government then intro-
duced, and led to an enormous increase in the numbers
of those dissatisfied ones who " trekked " further into the
interior, out of range of any official restraint, where they
were able to enjoy that nomadic life which was so suited
to them, obtaining sustenance by killing the game, everywhere
plentiful at that time, and living upon the produce of their
horses, cattle and sheep. This kind of life had also its
drawbacks ; for, owing to the steady increase in their flocks,
the scarcity of water and constant droughts, it became neces-
sary for these pastoral patriarchs to •' trek " still further
away. Thus they became totally unaccustomed to any other
restraining influence than their own wishes and requirements
necessitated. Most of them, however, had been brought up
in all the strictness of the Protestant, Lutheran, Calviuist,

£ 2

4 11 'i ill the Boers in the Traiisi'aal.

or "Dutcii Pieformed Churches ; and, being deeply read in
the simple teaching of the Bible, were able to maintain a
fair amount of civilization, which, ho\Yever, decreased as the
5'ounger generations sprang up, uneducated and devoid of any-
visible examples.

The following extract from a comprehensive work on South
African History and Geography, written by Mr. G. M. Tlieal,
and published by the Lovedale Press, a South African Missionary
Institution, brings out very clearly the mode of life then existing
among the inhabitants, and will still apply to the more remote
l)ortion of the Transvaal Boers: — "In Cape Town and its
neighbourhood, the ordinary comforts and conveniences of life
were obtainable, and were enjoyed by most of the whites ; but
on the lone farms in the interior, comfort, as it is understood
now-a-days, was an unknown word. The hovels in which the
graziers lived seldom contained more than two rooms, and
frequently only one,"- — in which, I may add, the whole family
of perhaps two or three generations lived; — "they were destitute
of the most ordinary furniture. The great waggon-chest, which
served for a table as well as a receptacle for clothing, a couple
of camp stools, and a cartel or two — wooden frames with a
network of strips of raw hides stretched across them — were the
only household goods possessed by many. Crockeryware, so
liable to be broken in long land journeys, they could not reason-
ably be expected to have had ; but it is diflicult to account
for their being without such common and useful articles as
knives and forks. A great portion of their clothing was made
of the skins of animals ; their blnnkcts, like those of the natives,
were karosscs of skins. They lived in this manner, not from
necessity, but through choice and custom. Many of them were
very wealthy in flocks and herds, but, having become accustomed
to a nomad life, hey considered as a superfluity everything that
conld not easily bo removed in a waggon from place to place
without damage. A gun, ammunition, and a waggon were
the only products of mechanical skill that were absolutely
indispensable to a gra/^ier; with these he could provide himself
with every other necessary. Some cotton goods for shirts and
clothing for females, hats, colTee and sugar, were almost the

English Rule. 5

only otlicr articles lie ever tliou£,'lit of purcliasing. Poverty, in
llicit sense of the word which implies a hick of the mefins of
sustaining life, was unknown throughout the colony. Every
white person had food in ahundance, and might have had mora
of the comforts of life if their use had been known or their
want felt. The people of the interior were rude, ignorant, and
sometimes cruel. The last of these qualities was the efiect
l^artly of their holding human beings in slavery, and partly from
their having had for a long period the native races of the
country at their mercy, without any check from the Govern-
ment."

Notwithstanding all the efforts of successive Governments to
provide for their civil and religious wants, by takiug in the districts
inhabited by them — thus enlarging the colony — by appointing
magistrates and clergymen to minister to their requirements,
they improved very little until the transfer of government to the
English in 1795. The Dutch inhabitants, for the most part,
then made the best of circumstances, and accepted the change
in government, accompanied as it was by most liberal 2')romises
for the future — with the exception of a portion in the more
remote districts. In Graaf-Reinet, which district was established
as a magistracy in 1796, many of the Burghers refused to take
the oath of allegiance, joined those of Swellundam, ejected their
Landdrosts, and rose in open rebellion. This necessitated the
first advance of British troops into that part of the country to
awe the refractoi-y and install the new magistrate in his office.
Sir John Barrow accompanied this force, and afterwards
published his well-known work on South Africa, which was the
lirst book written on the subject, and obtained much attention
and popularity at the time, while giving much publicity to
South African affairs. Border quarrels with the natives,
brought on principally by cattle thefts and retaliation, but
ending in victory to neither side, were constant throughout the
first seven j'ears during which the English Government held
the Cape ; and finally a sort of patched-up peace was made with
the Kaffir tribes and Hottentots, just previous to the execution
of the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, by which the colony reverted
to its original owners. During the British occupancy, however.

6 Vilth the Boers in the Transvaal.

over £1,000,000 sterling bad been siDcnt on defensive audotber
purely military works, wbicb materially assisted tbe onward
l^rogress of tbe colony. Tbe first tbiug done by tbe new Dutcli
Governor Janssens, was to journe}- tbrougbout tbe colony,
visiting tbe frontiers, settlers, and native cbiefs, listening to
tbcir grievances, and striving earnestly to provide for tbeir
remedy in tbe future ; and tins was tbe earliest and first step
taken in tbe rigbt direction towards a juster, truer, and more
liberal treatment of bolb tbe wbite and black iubabitants of tbo
Cape Colony.

Tbe improved administration tbus begun bad little time given
it to develop, as upon war breaking out again in Europe
between En gland and France, tbe importance of sucb a station
for naval and military purposes was so great tbat a fleet and
compiement_ofjo kliers wa s sent out to reca pture it. TITiswas
done byGeneral Sir D. Baird, after a gallant tliougb useless
defence made ^y~ General Janssens at tbe bead of Ins iTirtcli
io j'ces a nd native~~allies . Tbe capitulation was confir med
sb ortly afterwards, j iid in 180G, tbe Cap e again came under
Rnfjpli ^nvf^y nment. nnd bas remained so ever since. Tbe
total population at tbat time was about G2,000, exclusive of
Kaffirs, divided as follows : — 21,000 wbitcs, 2G,000 slaves, and
15,000 Hottentots; witb a revenue of under £100,000, Capo
Town alone bad about 1,200 bouses, inbabited by 5,500 wbitcs,
and 10,000 slaves. Mr. Noble, in bis work, sa3's, witb reference
to tins period : — ** Tbe Cape of Good Hope for some j^ears after
tliis continued to be regarded l)y tbo Dritisb Government as
merely a temporary possession by concjuest; but tbe acbicvc-
ments of tbe allied forces in Europe baving secured a permanent
])cace, in 1814, a convention was tlien agreed to, between tbe
Prince, Sovereign of tbe restored and United Nctberlands, and
His Majesty tbe King of Great IBritain, by wbicb, in considera-
tion of certain cbarges provided by tbe latter for tbe defence of
tbo Low Countries, and tbcir settlement in union witb Holland,
tbe colony of tbe Capo of Good Hope, togctbor witb Demorara,
Essequibo, and Ijcrbice, was ceded in perpetuity to tbo ]3ritisli
Crown. Tbe colony tlius definitively became a sbarer in tbo
importauco of tbe mother country, and in tbo benefits of her

Eastern Froniier. 7

commercial power." Things, after this, went on quietly and
slowly, hut progressively, the presence of a large military force
necessitating a heavy expenditure, and producing a corresponding
amount of agricultural industry and commercial activity. The
condition of the towns improved rapidly, hut the larger and
more scattered rural jiopulation was still far hehind in educa-
tional and social advantages. Being in isolated positions, and
far away from one another, the young people of both sexes had
little or no communication with others than those in their own
immediate family circle, so they necessarily grew up without a
knowledge of even the rudiments of education, with selfish
views, and bigoted and narrow-minded opinions. As these also
narried and had families it became necessary for them to leave
the paternal home and "trek" away still further, with the
share of cattle, &c., given them for a start by their relations,
as is customary among them. As the eastern border of the
colony had been lixed at the Fish Eiver in 1778, and the
country beyond swarmed with Kaffirs (many of whom were
settled even to the west of the border or within Cape territory),
there was little inducement for these men to go eastward.
Consequently, as a vast expanse of country more suited to pastoral
pursuits, and less thickly populated with natives, lay away to
the north, they chose tha' direction and soon began to establish
themselves over the then almost imaginary northern border line.
To do away with or lessen cattle-thieving and border quarrels,
steps were taken by the Government, on the recommendation
of Colonel Collins, in 1809, to drive out all the Kaffirs, then
living in the colony, over the Fish River, and to compel them
to remain there. A force to effect this oly'ect was collected,
consisting of some military and some Burghers, the former
under Colonel Graham, and the latter under Mr. Stockenstrom,
the first English Lauddrost of Graaf Reinet. The end in view
was attained, though with the loss, through treachery, of Mr.
Stockenstrom and several Burghers ; and for some time after-
wards a chain of forts, about a mile apart, defended the Fish
River border and kept the Kaffirs in check, Grahamstown
becoming the advanced head quarters of the military.

Again, for some years, peace reigned, and was only broken

8 With the Boers in the TraiisraaL

by an attempt at rebellion in 1815, brought about by a party of
Dutch Burghers in a quarrel of one of them, Bezuideuhout,
with his Hottentot servant. The interference of a field cornet,
their own appointed local officer, was resisted, and the escort
accompanying him was fired upon by Bezuideuhout, v>'ho was
thereupon quickly shot. His relatives assembled to urge and
carry out reprisals, and tried to obtain the aid of the natives
against their so-called tyrants. The officer in command of
the nearest military station promptly arrested the ringleader,
H. Prinsloo, and martial law was proclaimed. The insurgents,
however, assembled in arms, but finding the native chiefs would
not assist them, and seeing the strong preparations made by
the military for their punishment, the leaders fled, while their
followers laid down then* arms and appealed for mercy. Some
of the latter were pardoned, but over thirty were tried for high
treason, in Uitenhage, and five of them Avere found guilty and
executed. Their names were Hendrick Prinsloo, Cornelius
Faber, Abraham Bothma, Stephanus Bothnia, and Theunis de
Klerk. The others were transported or banished, and thus ended
the " Slaghters Nek" rebellion. But the bitter feelings then
created have borne fruit ever since. In 1820, a scheme was
proposed by Lord Charles Somerset, the then Governor, to
induce English emigrants to fill up the border districts or
neutral ground (then recently evacuated by the Kaffirs), by
free land gi*ants ; and the British Government having voted
£50,000, just after the close of the great war with Napoleon
Bonaparte, large numbers being unemployed at the time,
there were nearly 100,000 applications, of which only about
5,000 were accepted and the persons sent out. These settlers,
consisting of Enghsh, Scotch, and Irish, after many trials and
vicissitudes, succeeded in finally establishing themselves, and
to tlieir energy and perseverance that part of the country now
called the Eastern Province owes its present proud position
of being first and foremost in agriculture, commerce, and
entcr])risc.

Between 1820 (in which year the lioyal observatory was
founded) and 1834, when the first great Kaffir war broke out,
Bomc civil and jiidifial reforms were carried out; the liberty

Hicrh-handed Pj'occcdijics.

<>•

of the Press was secured after a hard struggle — with which the
name of John Fairbairn is iudehbly connected — and native
affairs were phiced on a different basis. But all this was as
nothing, as against the system of absolute despotism of
Government carried out by Lord Charles Somerset, which
quickly provoked the love of liberty and spirit of grumbling
inherent in the English nation. In these struggles for more
liberty and a less oppressive system of government, the more
recent English colonists were joined by their Dutch brethren.
Mr. Fairbairn, in describing the condition of the colony in
1827, paid the following high tribute to the character of the Cape
Dutch population : — " For industry, loyalty, filial attachment,
and all the features and virtues of a rising community, they
would stand high in comparison with any nation on record.
Their love of freedom also is strong and unquenchable, and
their notion of it is simple and just ; they despise declamation,
and seldom, if ever, use the word ' liberty.' But, speak to
tliem of security to person and property, — of the power of
checking a bad and foolish Government by a popular assembly,
— of aiding the judge in the discovery of truth, and standing
between the accused and the rancour and blindness of a
political bench, — of regulating the taxes by the local knowledge
of those who have to pay them, — and you will at once perceive
that, without having read, they have the law of liberty written
in their hearts."

Similar language has been more recently used by the
Transvaal Boers in their declarations, during the struggle for
independence, and shows that the same feelings exist among
them now as formerly. Public feeling at that time ran so
high that steps were taken to call together public meetings for
the consideration and expression of their grievances, in order to
make them more fully known to the Government. But a
high-handed proclamation was issued by the Governor in 182"J,
notifying that public meetings for the discussion of official and
political subjects were contrary to the ancient laws, and any
contravention thereof would be severely punished. He also
resuscitated a number of old laws of the Dutch East India
Company; including one prohibiting all trade with Kaffirs.

JO With the Boers in the Transvaal.

But the most important, and that which prodacecl the worst
ellect, uutloubteilly, was one which prevented any of the
colonists or their servants from going about the country with-
out an official j)ass, under penalty of being arrested and thrown
into prison. This was an invasion of the rights of the sub-
ject, such as has been rarely heard of or exercised in a so-
called free country; and its outcome was not long in showing
itself. Not being able to meet together to discuss matters
publicly, the colonists got up a memorial addressed to Earl
Bathurst, which came before the House of Commons and re-
sulted in a Pioyal Commission being formed, consisting of
three independent members, Messrs. Bigge, Colebrook, and
Blair, who visited the country and concluded their report in
18"2G. Some of the recommendations contained therein and
subsequently carried out were: — The separation of the colony
into two provinces, the ^yestern and Eastern ; the appointment
of a chief magistrate on the frontier, uniting in his hands the
civil and military power in connection with the treatment of
the border natives ; the appointment of a supreme and circuit
courts; the abolition of all monopolies ; the apiJointment of
civil commissioners instead of landdrosts, several districts
being sub-divided and new magistrates established ; and,
finally, the English language was ordered to be exclusively
used in all official proceedings and documents. As far back as
1823, all documents issued from the Colonial Office had been
drawn up in English, as also were all official notices in the
colony, after 1825 ; but the order for the employment of the
]']nglish language exclusively in judicial acts and tluoughouttho
colony did not take ellect until the yer.r 1827.

CHAPTER II.

CAPE HISTORY — COllUnUcd,

First Liylithouto aivl Newspapers — First Commissioner-General, Mr. Stockenstrom
— Treaty with Ngaika — Second Kaffir War, 1818 — Eastern Border extended to
tbe Keiskamma River — Kat River Hottentot Settlement — Border Raids and
Reprisal* — New Native System introduced — Di>content of the Farmers — Third
Kaffir War, 1834-35 — Energy of Colonel (Sir H.) Smi h— Fingoes located
between Fi&h and Keiskamma Rivers — Country annexed up to Kat River —
Abolition of Slavery — Beginning of Race Hatred— Ay 1 ward's Plea for early
Boer Independence — Native Wars, 181(3-8, 1850-3, 1S7C-7.

The first lighthouse at Green Point was erected on the
coast of South Africa in 1824, and the same year saw the
publication of the first Cape newspaper, TJie South African
Commercial Advertiser, in Dutch and English, by Mr. Greig,
of Cape Town, under the joint supervision and editorship of
Messrs. Fairbairu and Pringle. The former of these gentlemen
was an able writer, brilliant speaker, and humane philanthropist ;
while the latter was also an able writer, a poet of no mean
merit, and a personal friend of Sir Walter Scott. He was also
the first librarian to the South African Public Library, the
beginning of which was formed in 1761, though it was not
made much use of, as a public institution, until the year 1800,
on the publication of the first Government Gazette, which
occurred towards the close of the first British occupation.
From this time commences a new era in South African history.
Mr. (afterwards Sir) Andries Stockenstrom, who had been
officially connected with the government of the border colonists
and natives all his life, and who had an intimate knowledge of
the peculiarities of both the Boers and Kaffirs, was the first
Commissioner-General appointed to take charge of the Border
under the recommendations of the Pioyal Commission. But
the anomaly of the position was soon made manifest ; as, owing
to his disapproval of the system hitherto in vogue of military

12 Wilk the Boers in the Transvaal.

patrols and Burgher reprisals, and his being totally at variaucG
with the ideas of his immediate superior, the Governor, it
seemed impossible for the civil and military powers to work
together.

The state of affairs on the border with the natives was nov/-
becoming critical ; and from the time of Lord Charles Somerset's
acknowledgment of Ngaika as the supreme chief of the Amascosa,
tribes in Kaffirland, in 1817, troubles commenced, first between
Ngaika and other Amascosa chiefs, who refused to acknowledge
his supremacy, and in which we supported Ngaika ; and then
between the Border colonists and the Avhole of the natives
combined. A cattle dispute led to a combined attack of natives
upon Ngaika, who was defeated with great loss, and compelled
to fly to the mountains. The Colonial Government then camo
to his assistance, sent 4,000 troops under Colonel Brcreton iu.
1818, routed the enemy under Ndlambe, reinstated Ngaika,
and captured 20,000 head of cattle, half of which were given
to Ngaika, and the rest divided as compensation among those
Boers and colonists along the Border who had suftered from
the Kaffir raids. Shortly afterwards the beaten tribes re-united
invaded the colony under their celebrated prophet chief,
^lakauna (the Lynx). They cleared the district of its iuhab«
itants and their stock, penetrated as far as Uitenhage, and
even attacked the garrison town, Grahamstowu, with such
bravery as to render the issue doubtful but for the reinforce-
ments of Hottentots and guns which camo up, and succeeded in
driving off the invaders. This severe lesson frightened tho
colonists so much that they determined to follow up their slight
advantage while they were able. An enormous combined forco
of mihtury, ]>urghers, and native allies was poured into Kaffir-
land, breaking up the power of the various tribes, and capturing
30,000 head of cattle. This closed tho second Kaflir war,
after which tho boundaries of tho colony were again extended
eastward of tho Chumie and Keiskamma llivers, tho country
between iliem and tho Fish llivcr being neutral, and to remain
unoccupied ; advanced posts were established in Forts l^caufort
and Wiltshire, now tho centre of British KalVraria. Lord C.
Somerset again visited the IVoiilicr aii<l interviewed Ngaika,

Hottentot Settlement on Kat River. 13

who agreed, though unwiRingly, a year afterwards to the
settlement of the neutral territory. It was also proposed to
locate some Scotch Highlanders on the Kat Paver, and some
other settlers on the Ibeka. These plans, however, were never
carried out ; but the country did not remain long unoccupied,
both whites and blacks soon moving into it. Among the latter
was Macomo, the eldest son of Ngaika, who was allowed to
occupy the very key of Kaffirland without interference by the
Government for some time, until his attacking and plundering
propensities overcame his feelings of respect for the military
power. His tribe, in the course of a squabble with some loyal
Tambookies, captured their cattle and murdered many of the
men. After this, of course, he was driven out of the tract of
land in 1829, and retreated, vowing vengeance against the
white race. Six months afterwards the old chief, Ngaika, died,
leaving his " great son," Sandilli, a minor, under the regency
of Macomo, who was only the "right-hand son." But in this
way the latter gained an enormous increase of power, and con-
solidated the tribes wherever possible.

The clearance of this country, and the necessity for placing
some buffer between the Kaffirs and whites, gave Mr. Stock-
enstrom the occasion and power to carry out a scheme which
had previously occurred to him, of settling the scattered
descendants of the original Hottentot tribes in locations in that
district ; and, the Government sanction being obtained, the
scheme was soon carried out. The abolition of the semi- slavery
laws for the Hottentots in 1828, although at the time much
condemned and regretted by the farming portion of the com-
munity, was eventually of great benefit to the country. Large
numbers of Hottentots had just been released, and the chance
of settling themselves in a free life, and under the guidance of
civilizing influences, was eagerly seized by many. To the
number of nearly 5,000, they were soon settled down on the
Kat River, and became an orderly and industrious portion of
the colony, and valuable allies in the native wars which occurred
in succession in 1819, 1823, 1829, and 1830; until in 1851,
when, to the surprise and horror of the colonists, these men,
who had been always well treated by the English, joined the

14 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

Kaffirs, and were beaten "uitli them, uben their hands were
forfeited and given up to European families. In those earlier
Native wars Burgher " commandoes " were constantly called
out to assist the military, causing dissatisfaction among the
farmers, and heavy losses to their herds, homes, and businesses.
After 1831 the Commissioner-General for Frontier Affairs, Mr.
Stockenstrom, again set himself against these border raids and
" commandoes," as being both injurious to the colonists and
unsettling to the natives. On one occasion he refused his
sanction to the military entering Kaffirland with troops on
another "commando." This brought matters to a crisis; and
as his views did not coincide with those of the Government, or
meet with their approbation — though strongly supported by
all the Boer and colonial farmers — he applied for leave to visit
England, and while there his office was abolished. During
this period a tribe of Kaffirs, under Lyali, had occupied, like
Macomo, on sufferance during good conduct, a portion of the
Kat River settlement ; but they were again forcibly removed
beyond the Chumie and Keiskamma Ilivers.

Matters remained in stain quo until, in 1834, Sir B. Durban
was appointed Governor. Acting under instructions from
home, he commenced a policy of friendly intercourse and
conciliation with the various frontier chiefs, and desired to
enter into treaties with them, and appointed men of high tact,
knowledge, and standing as resident agents among them.
But, while he was carrying out these schemes, the Gaika tribes
united, to the number of about 20,000, under the chief
command of ]Macomo and Lyali, invaded the country without
any warning, and spread devastation along the Albany and
Somerset ]jorder Districts. The missionaries were the only
people not attacked by them, although many had narrow
escapes. The Governor at once ordered Colonel (afterwards
Sir Harry) Smith to the frontier, and this officer's wonderful
feat, in journeying GOO miles from Cape Town to Grahamstown
in six days, is still remcnibcrcd both by natives and colonists.
'J'hc military g.inisons in the country had, unlbrtunately, been
considerably reduced during preceding years ; but every
available man was sent to the front, and all the liurghers were

Colonel II. Sniil/is Energy. 15

placed under arms, wliile martial law was proclaimed, and the
Governor himself went forward to tlie scene of action. A
vigorous attack was made on the principal points of the
enemy's country, resulting in a complete victory and terms of
peace heing sued for by some of them. These were not
accepted, and the whole country was scoured hy the troops,
who released and brought away with them over 15,000 Fingoes,
the remnants of some early Kaffir tribes dispersed by the
conquests of Charka and ^Moselekatze in the north and north-
east, and held in subjection and a kind of absolute slavery by
the Amascosa tribes. In five months things were settled, and
Hintza, the last chief who held out, surrendered, and under-
took to deliver 50,000 head of cattle and 1,000 horses, to give
up for punishment the murderers of some traders, and to give
two hostages (his own son and brother) for the due fulfilment
of the treaty terms. Hintza himself accompanied Colonel
Smith's party despatched to receive the cattle. But, having
previously sent secret instructions to form an ambush and
drive the cattle out of reach, he was shot, while endeavouring
to escape, after a series of adventures Avell described by
General Bissett in his book entitled "Sport and "War; or,
Fighting and Hunting in South Africa." His son Sarili was
then raised to the chieftainship, and concluded a treaty of
peace with the British. The country of the defeated tribes,
up to the Kat Biver, was annexed to the Cape, and British
residents were appointed over the various divisions and
locations. The rescued Fingoes, to the number of nearly
17,000, were then located between the Fish and Keiskamma
Bivers ; and they have remained there ever since, proving
faithful subjec's, orderly servants, and useful allies in the
more recent wars. Colonel Smith was appointed the first
British Chief Commissioner of the new province, and the seat
of government was established at King "Williams Town.

From this time the questions with regard to slavery, and the
better treatment of the native tribes, became national ones,
and were brought strongly before the Home Government; and
after much inquiry they terminated in the total emancipation
of slaves Ihroutrliout the whole of the British dominions on

I.J IJ^iifi tJie Doers in the Transvaal.

DeC'imlicv 1st, 1834. This led to a conscqueut dissatisfaction
and iriin:ra{ioii of the Dutch portion, and the trial of many
new systems of native policy. From the year 1808, when the
English Parliament had passed a law abolishing the foreign
slave trade, it was seen that the total abolition of slayery was
merely a question of time. The price of slaves — once the
supply was stopped — rose very high, notwithstanding that the
cargoes of the slavers captured by British men-of-war were
brought to the Cape, and the rescued slaves were apprenticed
for a term of fourteen ^years to those colonists who desired to
avail themselves of the opportunity and applied for them ;
while the position of the Hottentots, under the oppressive
laws then proclaimed for their government, was little better
than that of the slaves themselves, until those laws were
abrogated in 1828, whereby all persons of colour, not Kaffirs or
slaves, were placed on the same footing as the white people.
The policy of this was shown by the successful establishment
of the Ivat River Settlement before referred to. Hitherto
there had been little, if any, race hatred or national jealousy
exhibited by either the foreign or English colonists towards
the others, except when the use of the English language was
universally enforced, and the conduct and strictness of the
new courts of law pressed, as they thought, hardly upon them.
But at the first sign of the intention of the British Govern-
ment to take steps, first to alleviate the condition of the slaves,
and then for their emancipation, such a strenuous resistance
was offered to the scheme that, in the then disturbed state of the
country, it was thought unadvisablc to enforce the law framed
in 1830, appointing guardians to the slaves, and regulating
the punishment which it would be lawful to inflict upon them ;
and intimation was sent to the Governor, Sir Lowry Cole, to
that effect. However, owing to the renewed exertions of
philanthropists at home — proniincnt among whom were Lord
Jirougham, Itcv. Dr. Philips, and ^Ir. J^'owell Buxton — a law
Avas passed in 1833, whereby all slaves should become free on
the Ist of December, 1831, throughout the whole of the British
dominions (thus anticipating by nearly thirty years the American
Slovo Abolition Law). But it was further provided, in the

Pica fo7' Boer Independence. 1 7

interests of their masters, that they should be entitled to retain
the slaves as apprentices for four years longer — upon proper
application being made. In consideration for this deprivation
of their vested rights, and the confiscation of money value, a
sum of £20,000,000 was voted willingly by the Parliament of
Great Britain by way of compensation. Valuers were appointed
by the Government, and in the Cape Colony alone nearly
40,000 were released, and appraised at ^3,000,000, or about
^680 each. Of this, £1,200,000 was paid, the rest being
unclaimed or in many cases refused.

This period may be regarded as the actual starting j)oint
from which begins the history proper of the Emigrant Boers.
Their plea for being independent and free subjects, even at
that time, is so ably and plausibly given from their own point
of view by their admirer and champion, Mr. Aylward, in his
*' Transvaal of To-day," that it merits reproduction. He
says : — " In 1833, a large number of farmers found themselves,
without any desire on their parts to become British subjects, in
the position of ' accidents of territory ' ceded to the British by
the Dutch. The sovereignty over the land on which they
dwelt was undoubtedly vested in the European Government of
Holland ; but it is an important question whether the cession
of territorial sovereignty can really be held to include the
transfer of people as serfs from one Government to another. A
serf is undoubtedly a person attached, and owing certain servi-
tude to the soil on which he is born. I know of no law,
human or Divine, by which the rights of the Dutch inhabitants
to remove from the soil transferred to the sovereignty of
England can be denied. Therefore, if any one of those
* subjects by cession ' desired to remove himself, with his
belongings, to the Dutch East Indies, there could be no
objection to his doing so ; nor, because he fell under British
dominion by the cession of the Cape territory, could he have
been prevented from returning to other Dutch territory and to
his Dutch allegiance, I hold that he had only become a
British subject in relation to his occupation of British territor_y,
and that it was perfectly open to him to cease to be a subject
by quitting that territory. It is certain that if the Emigrant

iS IJ^if/i tl:c Boers i:i the Transvaal.

Boers had passed on, iu their flight from British rule, to lands
suhject to the authority of other states they would have again
become foreign subjects, and would 'no longer have been com-
pelled to own an allegiance to England. But the land to
which the Boers retired did not happen to belong to any recog-
nized or constituted authority. They fled from what they
rightly or wrongly considered to be misrule, into ' the desolate
places of the earth,' where no man was master. . . . The
Boers did not want to be British subjects. They found, what
even Englishmen to-day are complaining of, as an inconvenience,
if not an evil threatening their very existence. They said they
were badly protected as against the aborigines of the country —
a set of thieving savages, whose conduct on the frontier in
1878 seems to differ very little from what they were guilty of
in 1834. The Boers knew that the territory then actually
under British rule in South Africa was limited ; and, gathcriag
together their flocks and herds, they proceeded to march out of
it to ' fresh fields and pastures new.' It must never be said
that any hatred of civilized government, as such, led to this
step. This would be a base calumny on the character of a
body of men whose motives were as pure as those that actuated
the * Pilgrim Fathers ' — Englishmen who left England for
conscience sake."

The Cape Colony itself was again engaged in 1846—8 in
another great Kaffir war, entitled the ^Yar of the Axe, from its
arising through a native having stolen an axe, and being
brought down as a prisoner manacled to a Hottentot. The
guard was attacked by Kaffirs, who, not being able to undo
the manacles, and being eager to release the Kaffir, cut olT
the Hottentot's arm, and left the poor wretch to bleed to death.
This again was followed by a fifth war in 1850, which lasted
until 1853 — in which year a new Constitution was granted to
the Cape — and by the more recent campaigns of 187G-7
against the Gaikas and Galekas. With the other events and
rapid progress of the Cape Colony between 1835 and 1880 wo
have nothing further to do.

CHAPTER III.

NATAL FOUNDED.

Causcfj of the Great "Trek" — Over the Orange" River — Coutact with Natives —
Ooveriunent Steps to pi-event the Exodus— Boers trek to Natal— Emigrants'
Proclamation — Conflicts with Zulus — Hardships and Exploits of Boers — Their
Procliuialion of Independence — Death of Dingaan and Corouatioa of Um panda
— British Interference and Authority claimed— Arrival of Captain Jervis and
Troops — JLijor Charteris on the Condition of the Boers — Troops Withdrawn —
Captain Jervis's Farewell Address — Boer Independence Re-proclaimed — Repub-
lican Government Established — Towns Laid Out — Reassertion of British
Sovereignty — Captain Smith's Arrival with more Troops — First Collision between
Boers and British — The Military Besieged — ]\Ir. King's Journey with Despatches
— Relief sent from Cape under Colonel Cloete— Dispersal and Submission of
Boers — Lenient Terms given — Accei^tanoe of Conditions — Natal Proclaimed
British Colony — Retirement of the Dissatisfied Boers over Berg.

The primary causes of the great Boer exodus from the Cape
Colony can be briefly summarized, and arose principally from
the manner in which the Home and Cape Governments treated
the natives from time to time : — 1st. In connection with the
laws relating to Hottentots being allowed to leave their masters
en masse, and settle down on locations, or under missionaries,
and other laws interfering with or restraining the treatment of
household servants ; 2nd. In the liberation of all their slaves
on the 1st of December, 1834, which deprived their masters of
what they had ahvays looked upon as valuable property ; and,
occurring as this did, in the middle of a harvest season — the
slaves mostly leaving on the day of their liberation, and few of
the farmers having applied to keep them for the further term of
four years' apprenticeship, as allowed by the law — the masters
were left in a helpless condition, and their agricultural and
pastoral pursuits brought suddenly to a standstill ; and, 3rd.
Owing to the unsatisfactory manner in which the native
question was settled after the war of 1831, during the Lieu-

c 2

20 Wiih the Boers in the Transvaal.

tenant- Governorsliip of Sir Andries Stockenstrom, who advocatecl
the firm operation of the Glenelg treaties, iu which more
liberty was given to the KafBrs, and less protection to the
Colonists against the plundering propensities of their more
savage neighbours. Even in 1825, many of the border farmers
had penetrated the country beyond the Orange Eiver, then
thinly inhabited by a mixed race called the Griquas, descended
from the aboriginal Cape Hottentots, and by the remnants of
those native tribes who, flying from the persecution of the
powerful northern nations, had settled down wherever they
found water, pasture, and game, sufficient to keep themselves
and their few cattle. The nomad Bushmen, the original in-
habitants of the soil, were either obliged to leave it, being
robbed of all they possessed by the stronger nations, sought
the protection of the new-comers, or relapsed entirely into a
wild life, being hunted and killed wherever and whenever
found.

It was into this country that the farmers first began to drive
their herds for better pasturage and water in the seasons of
drought that frequently occurred in the northern Cape districts.
They gradually began a trade with the natives, and in course
of time acquired land by purchase, or leased it from the
Griquas on easy terms. The Government at once tried to
prevent this migration. Orders were given for all Colonials
to return, and Stockenstrom went over the Orange River
among them himself to see that the Government instructions
were carried out. But everything that was done was unavailing
to stop the spread of these hardy and determined pioneers,
who, finding that there was no law to jjrevent them, still
continued hiring land or sending their cattle to graze, and
maintained their rights. Then came the rumours of discontent
at the probable emancipation of the slaves, and other causes of
dislike to the Government. Large parties, having heard of
the Natal country to the cast, started from Uitenhagc and
other parts on exploring tours. The Commandant of the
Frontier, Colonel Somerset, then the Chief Commissioner, and
the Governor, all tried to remove the discontent which existed,
and ullay the consequent excitement, but to no purpose. The

Boers Trek to Natal. 21

Attorney-General, Mr. Olophant, \vlien appealed to for repressive
and prohibitory legislation, simply referred the Government to
the old Dutch proclamations. " But," he said, " the class of
jiersons under consideration evidently mean to seek their
fortunes in another land, and to consider themselves no
longer British subjects, so far as the colony of the Cape of
Good Hope is concerned. Would it, therefore, be prudent or
just, even if it were possible, to prevent persons, discontented
with their condition, trying to better themselves in whatever
part of the world they please ? The same sort of removal
takes place every day from Great Britain to the United States.
Is there any effectual means of arresting persons determined
to run away short of shooting them as they pass the boundary
line ? I apprehend not ; and if so, the remedy is worse than
the disease. The Government, therefore, if I am correct in my
conclusions, is, and must ever remain, without the power of
eft'ectually preventing the evil — if evil it be."

Mr. Noble says on the same subject : — " Wise measures on
the part of the Government at that time might have directed
and led the movement, and introduced among the tribes
beyond the limits of the colony a more civilized colonization,
the influence of which would soon have extended to the centre
of Africa. But, unfortunatel}*, nothing was done. The emi-
grants were laughed at for crossing the boundary ' for freedom
and grass,' or spoken of as ' professional squatters,' who in
the boundless interior saw scope for the indulgence of their
natural propensities." " The Frontier Boer," wrote the ablest
writer of that day, "looks with pity on the busy hives of
humanity in cities, or even in villages ; and, regarding with
disdain the grand, but to him unintelligible, results of com-
bined industry, the beauty and excellence of which he cannot
know, because they are only intellectually discerned, he tosses
up his head like the wild horse, utters a neigh of exultation,
and plunges into the wilderness."

One party under the command of Piet Uys started ^^•ith
fourteen waggons from Uitenhage in 1834, and succeeded in
finding a pass over the Drakeusberg, by which they reached
Durban, in Xatal, where they found a small English truding

2 2 JJ'^ith the Boers in the Transvaal.

settlement. A.fter remaining there a short time, shootinpf
elephants and other large game, "which then aboiindcd, on
hearing of the Kaffir war at the Gape they retnrued home. In
1835-36, the exodus increased, until large detachments,
having sold their farms and dead stock for -svhat they would
fetch, and taking with them only their waggons, horses, oxen,
and sheep, began their march from almost all the eastern
districts into the interior and to the north-east. The earlier
emigrants went away under the guidance of an old Albany
farmer, Louis Trichard, and were quickly followed by another
l^arty under Gert Maritz from Graaf-Eeinet, and by a number
of families under the leadership of Uys, Landmann, and
Piudolph. They met with kindness and sympathy from the
English settlers all along their route, who expressed much
regret at their departure.

A prominent — " Voortrekker " — figure is now introduced on
the scene, in the person of Mr. Pietcr Eetief, descended from
a good old Huguenot family, born and bred in the Paarl,
whence he moved to the eastern frontier, and there dwelt for
twenty j'eiirs in high estimation. He held the official position
of Field Commandant of his district, and was the mouthpiece
of the discontented Boers, whose needs he represented con-
stantly and straightforwardly to the authorities. No attempts
being made to redress their grievances, ho also joined the
others, but, before crossing the boundary, ho addressed a
manifesto to the Government, declaring their motives in
taking such a step, and the relations which they wished to take
up with the Colony and any native tribes they might meet
with. In this document, signed by him " by authority of tho
farmers," ho stated : — " We quit this colony under tlu^ full
assurance that the English (iovernment has nothing more to
require of us, and will allow us to govern ourselves without its
interference in the future. We propose, in the course of our
journey, and on arriving in the country in which wo shall
permanently reside, to make known to tlu; luiliNc Iribes our
intentions, and onr desire to live in peace and friendly inter-
coui'se with IIkmi. We, lire r(!S()lv(>d, wlier(n'er we go, that wo
will nplidld the first principles of liberty ; but while we shali

Conflicts wiih Zulus. 23

tate care that uo one shall he held in a state of slavery, it is
our determination to maintain such rcc,ailations as may suppress
crime, and preserve proper relations between master and
servant." This was followed by a declaration of the reasons
which induced their course of action (which I have given at
the beginning of this chapter) ; but there is little doubt that
many were induced to join the exodus from false rumours,
w^iich were circulated by interested parties, and certainly
inlluenced the more uneducated among them. Others looked
forward to finding a better country to the north, from the
descriptions given by those who had been there ; while, lastly,
there were many religious bigots of the advanced " Dopper "
type, who likened their exodus to that of the Israelites, and
who hoped in time to reach the "promised land" spoken
about in the Bible. It will be best, at this portion of the
history of the emigrant Boers, to follow the steps of those Avho
penetrated into Natal ; to show what difficulties they had to
contend with, both from the nature of the country and from the
Zulus ; and to follow them throughout their short stay there,
their quarrel with the English, and the subsequent settlement
of some of them, and the return of the others to the Transvaal
and Orange Free State.

The first small party which penetrated into Xatal was
followed in 1836 by a second and larger one, under the leader-
ship of Gert Maritz and Pieter Ketief, a combination of whose
names was given to the present capital and seat of government
in Xatal, Pietermaritzburg. They soon came in contact with
Dingaan, at that time King of the Zulus, a tribe who had
depopulated Natal, and finding an English settlement on the
coast and fearing disputes about land, they determined to
"proceed into Zululand for the purpose of obtaining a cession of
land direct from the King himself. Upon their arrival,
Dingaan promised them what is now Natal, upon condition of
their making a neighbouring native chief, Sikonyella, restore
a large number of cattle stolen from the Zulus. This they
succeeded in doing, and they brought back, from beyond the
Drakensberg, sixty horses and seven hundred oxen. A treaty
was then prepared by Mr. Owen, an English missionary, who

24 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

had resided for some time near the King's royal kraal at
Umgungunhlova, when Eetief and his party were feasted for
two days, and this treaty was formally proclaimed. The
Dutchmen were then invited to make a farewell visit to the
King within the enclosure occupied solely by his own huts,
and to leave their arms outside, as was customary. To this
Ketief incautiously acceded, and after they had partaken of
some native beer, and had a short " indaba," they were set
upon by several thousands of Dingaan's armed soldiers, placed
in ambush, and nearly all slain. Diugaan followed up this
massacre by sending parties of his warriors over the Tugela
into Natal, and they attacked, without warning, all the small
parties of Dutchmen carelessly encamped in various directions.
They completely sm-prised and slew to a man one large party
on the Blaukranz river, and then spread southward. But the
other Boers were warned in time, converted their waggons into
strong laagers and beat the Zulus off, while the small English
settlement in the Bay sent a small party of whites and native
allies across the Tugela to cause a diversion : but they were
repulsed with loss, and upon the Zulus advancing to the
attack of Durban those left took refuge in a ship in the Bay.

Shortly afterwards 400 more Boers came over the Drakeus-
berg, and another advance was made into Zululand, ending
in defeat and the loss of their most gallant leader, P. Uys,
and his no less gallant son. ]^ut in December following,
having been further strongly reinforced, a party of 550 well-
armed and mounted men, under Andries Prctorius and Carl
Landmann, crossed the Tugela and gave battle to the Zulu
forces of Dingaan, estimated at 1*2,000 men, near the Umsla-
toosi river, and after a severe light defeated them entirely,
killing over 2,000, and driving back with them into Natal
over 5,000 head of cattle. They burned the King's kraal
down to the ground, and established themselves in conlidenco
in Pictcrmaritzburg, Durban, and other places, feeling con-
scious that they had effectually broken, at any rate for many
years, the lighting power and will of the Zulu nation. A
brother of Dingaan, named Umpanda, living at that time as a
refageo in Natal, then made advances of friendship towards

Dingaan and Uvipanda. 25

the Dutch ; and at last an alliance, offensive and defensive,
was entered into between them. A combined force was sent
ai^'ainst Dingaan, who was again defeated and had to fl}' for his
life, being shortly afterwards killed by a tribe to the north
with wiiom he had taken refuge. Umpanda was immediately
proclaimed supreme chief of the Zulus in 1840, by Andrics
Pretorius, before a large assemblage of Boers and natives on
the banks of the Eiver Umvoloosi. The Boers then reserved
to themselves the greater portion of the whole territory from
the Black Umvoloosi to St. John's river, and assumed para-
mount authority even over Umpanda himself. As an indemnity
for their previous losses they received from him 3G,000 head of
cattle, of which 14,000 were delivered to those of their friends
who had come over the Drakensberg only to help them, while
the remaining 22,000 were taken into Natal and divided between
themselves and those Avho had claims for losses caused by the
Zulu nation. The whole of the territory thus claimed they
intended making into an independent Picpublic, under the name
of the " Zuid Afrikansche Maatschappij," and arrangements
to forward this object were quickly projected and carried out.
This scheme did not, however, find favour with the Cape
authorities, who still considered the Boers as emigrant British
subjects, and who had already begun to attach some importance
to the settlement at Durban established by Lieut. Farewell
and Mr. H. Fynn in 1823. The Imperial Government also
refused to permit the erection of any independent governments
by its subjects in any part of South Africa ; so that in 1838,
when the news arrived at the Cape of the bloodshed and devas-
tation, and the consequent reprisals which had followed on the
*' Relief Massacre," Sir George Napier despatched a military
force to Natal to look after British interests. He also issued
a rather hastil}'- worded proclamation as to the ''unwarrantable
acts " of the emigrant Boers, and directed all arms and am-
munition to be seized, and all trade stopped, except such as had
the Government license. This caused more angry feelings and
discontent, both of which were fanned into flames by the sym-
pathy shown by many of the Cape colonists for their unfor-
fortunate self-expatriated countrymen.

26 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

Only 100 men of the 72ud, under Captain Jervis, were sent
round to Durban, with ten artillerymen and one oflficer, the
ci"vdl and military power being deputed to Major Charteris,
B.A., whose instructions were to use no force unless attacked.
On his arrival most of the Boers were away fighting Dingaan,
and the few English settlers had surrounded themselves by
refugee Kaffirs, who worked for them, and gladly lived under
their protection. Major Charteris quickly returned to the
Colony overland, leaving Captain Jervis in command ; and in
his report to the Government he said: — "The Boers in these
camps had built huts for themselves, a few of them were
tolerably comfortable, but, generally speaking, there existed
every indication of squalid poverty and wretchedness ; and it
was deplorable to see many families who, a short time pre-
viously, had been living in ease and comfort in the Colony,
now reduced to poverty and misery. They bore up against
these calamities with wonderful firmness, however, and, with
very few exceptions, showed no inclination to return. They
considered themselves as unjustly and harshly treated by the
Colonial Government while under its jurisdiction, and all
they now desired from it was to leave them to their own
resources, and not molest them again. This spirit of dislike
to the English sway was remarkably dominant amongst the
women. Most of these, who formerl}^ had lived in aflluence,
but were now in comparative want and subject to all the incon-
veniences accompanying the insecure state in which they wero
existing, having lost moreover their husbands and brothers by
the savages, still rejected with scorn the idea of returning to
the Colony. If any of the men began to droop, or lose
courage, they urged them on to fresh exertions and kept alivo
the spirit of resistance within them."

Friendly feelings were, however, maintained, principally
through tlu! tact and niodcriition of Captain Jervis, until the
close of 18;3'.), when the Government withdrew the troops,
being ordered to send the 72nd home. In a letter addressed
to the Landdiost Ifoos of Durban, on his departure, inler (ilia,
Captain Jervis concluded iis follows : — " It now only remains
for mo to wish you, one and nil, as a community every

ReptLblican Government Established. 27

happiness, sincerely hoping that, a\yarG of your strength, peace
may he the ohjcct of your councils ; justice, prudence, and
moderation he the law of your actions ; that your proceedings
may be actuated by motives worthy of you as men and
Christians ; that hereafter your arrival may be hailed as a
benefit, having enlightened ignorance, dispelled superstition,
and caused crime, bloodshed, and oppression to cease ; and
that you may cultivate those beautiful regions in quiet and
prosperity, ever regardful of the rights of the inhabitants
v>-hose country you have adopted, and whose home you have
made your own." The withdrawal of the troops and this vale-
dictory address, combined with the knowledge that the Home
Government did not wish to extend its South African colonies,
made the Boers believe fully that the country was abandoned
to their governance. Thej^ at once installed themselves in the
deserted Government buildings at the Bay, fired a salute,
hoisted their colours, and again proclaimed the " Republic of
Natal," with great rejoicing — which was, alas! soon turned
into sorrow at the action of the Cape Governor.

A form of government, after the example of Holland, was
inaugurated, such as was then in force at the Cape, excepting
in matters of a local nature, and a Council, or " Yolksraad,"
v/as established. The members of the Council, being anxious
to have their independence officially admitted and recognized,
sent a memorial, praying for the same, to the Cape Governor,
who answered it in the negative. The leaders of th e people
then reiterated their demands, stating that thejj were Dutch
South Africans by birth ; that at once, after leaving theCape^
they had proclaimed their ind ependence, and, consequently,
were ho longer Bi-itish subjects, and w ould remain in the
country they had conquered, under their present system of
government. The'arrivaT at Natal about this time of a vessel
fr^mTIoTran cTw ith~su"ppli es,^!ncl the unauthorized statements
of the captain and supercargo, that th e King of Holland would
protect and assist them in~Ehe^formation of their Bepublic , led
the Boers to consider the advisability of resisting any attempts
at annexation. "After some n egotiation another military force ,
consisti^g~of 250 m^n '"ancT two guns, was sent up from th e

28 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

Cape overland to regain pos session of Natal, and at th e same
time to awe some unrulylvaffir tribes oi route. The command of

, iL .

this force was entrusted to Captain (afterwards General) Smith,
of the 27111 Regiment. On the arrival of the troops at Durban,
i n May 1842 , Captain Smith received an order from the Boers
to withdraw from their territory, " as they were no longer
British subjects, but under the protection of Holland." The
Boers, having been reinforced from the inland districts, formed
an intrenched camp at the Congella, three miles from the
British position, and showed signs of a vigorous resistance.
Captain Smith then summoned them to disperse, and while he
was arranging to attack their camp by night, eleven days after
the arrival of the soldiers, the Boers commenced hostilities
themselves by capturing sixty oxen belonging to the troops.
This was immediately followed up, on Captain Smith's part,
by the projected night attack, resulting in complete failure,
owing to the Boers being previously informed of the plan — how
is not known — and forming an ambuscade. After this, the
British troops were completely hemmed in at the fort, the
Boers capturing the guns and some prisoners in the town, who
•were sent up to Pietermaritzburg. A messenger was, however,
found — Mr. Richard King — who swam his horse across the
Bay at night, and, after unheard-of adventures, reached the
frontiers of the Cape, a distance of (500 miles, in ten days,
with despatches announcing the desperate position of Captain
Smith's small but brave garrison.

Arrangements were immediately made to forward help. A
small schooner, the Condi, then lying in Algoa liay, was
despatched to their relief, with all the available troops under
Colonel Hare, and succeeded in reaching the beleaguered camp
within a month from the departure of the messenger sent to
request assistance. II, M.S. SoKtluniijitoii. was also sent up
with more troops under Colonel Cloeto, and arrived only
twenty-four hours after tlio Conch. About a fortnight after
the beginning of the siege the Mazeppd, a local vessel, had
managed to slip her cable and get away to sea — under fire
from the Dutch fort at the point — and transferred the women
and children from the British camp to Delagoa Bay, in reach

Dispersal mid Submission of Boc7's. 29

of any of H.M. ships of war. In the meantime tlic besieged
weie falling short of provisions, but gallantly made several
sorties against the Boer camp, fighting with great pluck. By
the 18th June the garrison — already diminished by deaths and
sickness, though not desponding — were reduced to hiltoiu/
(dried horse-flesh), rice, biscuit dust, and forage corn, with
execrable water. Six days afterwards they were cheered at
perceiving rockets from the sea, and again on the night
follo^^ing. The reinforcements, to the number of 700, were
soon landed, and the Boers, although they fired on the open
boats entering the narrow harbour-channel — afire soon silenced
by a few shells from the SoiitJiampton — made no other stand,
but retired at once to ■Slaritzburg, whence, upon Colonel
Cloete's advance, they sent a deputation to meet him, and
offered terms of submission. On the 5th of July Colonel (after-
wards Sir Josias) Cloete, having offered a free pardon to all but
their leaders, accepted their submission in Pietermaritzburg, and
granted a general amnesty to all, with the exception of A. W.
Pretorius, J. Prinsloo, J. J. Burgher, and M. N. S. Yan Breda.,
only the former of whom was afterwards included in the
amnesty. The principal portion of the troops was then re-
embarked in the SoutJiaiiq^ton, and Captain Smith was again
left in command.

By the terms of peace the Boers were allowed to return to
their homes, with their horses and arms, and no confiscation of
property should take place, while their existing civil govern-
ment system was also left j^ro tern. ; but the command over the
port was kept in the hands of the military. Colonel Cloete's
leniency was approved by the Home Government, who hoped
thereby to turn the steadfast hatred, hitherto manifested
against the British Government by the Boers, into a certain
amount of gratitude and loyalty. At the end of 1842, the then
Secretary of State, Lord Stanley, informed the Boers that
Her Majesty could not be insensible to their good qualities, nor
to the past hardships which they had undergone ; and, in con-
sideration thereof, had been pleased to bury in oblivion all past
transactions, and invited an expression of their wishes for the
future government of the country, subject only to the follow-

JVifh the Boers iii the Transvaal.

ing conditions : — 1, That tliere slioulJ not be, in tlie eye of
the law, any distinction of colour, or disqualification whatever,
founded on mere distinction of colour, origin, language, or
creed ; but that the protection of the law, in letter and in sub-
stance, should be extended impartially to all alike. 2, That no
aggression should be made upon the natives. And, 3, That
slavery, in any shape or under any modification, was absolutely
imlawfal. The Hon. Henry Cloete, brother of Colonel
Cloete, was sent round as Commissioner, to consider and
satisfy the claims of the Boers. He was supported by a small
escort of the 45th llegiment, as there was still some irritation
among the people, and much excitement consequent on the
arrival of a deputation of armed Boers from beyond the Drakens-
berg, who were awaiting his arrival under the impression that
the Government was going to claim all the territory up to the
Orange Piiver. H owever, upon his explaining that the Drakcns-
b erg range of mountains was to be the northern boundary, that
was accepted as a basis of settlement, and they then withdrew,
acCPmpamed^'T)y"many who still diil not desire to live uncLer

British rule ; ^while the re st, including Andries Pretorius,
Stephanus Maritz, D. Poortman, P. ]\I. Zeitsman, and J. N.
Boshoff, acting on beliaIf~of the \ olksnuul, acc epted tlie tern is
oli'ered, and on tbc bth Aug ust, 184(5, Natal beca mr; a.nncxpd to
the Britisli_Crown»__

Ee?ugec natives from Zulula nd and elsewhere began to flock
in from all ])arts under the protection of the wliites. Their

numbers increased yearly from o,000, when the ilnglisli first
settled in the ]jay, to 80,(K)0 or 100,000 in a few years ; and
at present amount to nearly half-a-million. The natives have
continued to live peacefully up to the present time — with a few
minor exceptions — under a system of government organized
and superintended by the Shepstoues — a family which came out,
with many otbers of colonial note, in 1820, and which has
since given many useful members to the colonial service.

XJie ^liistory of Natal may thus fi tly be summed up as
having been for majryi-Jv^iirs tlui lioi ne of a peaceful aiid^

rulhlessly

Natal a British Colony. 3 1

C Qiituryy the Dutch established a small trading settle ment, at
w hat is now Durban, which w as, however, soon abandon ed.
They were followed b^' an English band of traders, in 1823, who,
with the scattered remnants of the surrounding native tribes
and Zulu refugees, remained there quietly for nearly thirteen
years, only to be succeeded by another seven years of varying
fortune, attendant upon the immigration of the Boers and
their numerous conflicts with the Zulu nation, and then with
the more civilized power of Great Britain. Finally, the
country became a British colony, by proclamation, " for the
peace,"~protection, and salutary control of all classes of nicn
settTeTlF^and s urrounding this important portio n of South
Africa."

32 With the Boo'S in the Transvaal.

CHAPTER 17.

GREAT EXODUS NORTHWARD ::5.

The Migration Northwards — Conflict with Moselckatze — Potchefstrom Founded —
Further "Trekking" — Boer Collision with Griquas — Swaart Koppie's Engage-
ment — Peace Patched up — The Natal Exodus— Reasons therefor and Stei>s
taken — Pretorius' Journey to the Cape — His Letter and Actions — Sir H. Smith's
Arrival — Meeting with Boers— Conciliatory Promises — His Manifesto — Armed
Opposition — Boers drive out British from Orange River Territory — The Battle
of Booraplat— Subsequent Steps — Pacification of Country — Dutch Reformed
Church Mission to Boers.

While the stream of emigration had been directed to the
north-cast, resulting in the settlement of Natal, as shown in
the previous chapter, others and larger ones flowed straight
northward, settling down as fancy dictated or the look of the
country justified, in the enormous tracts of pasture lands
between the Orange and Taal Rivers ; others even going beyond
the Vaal, in the then unknown country to the north and north-
east. These parties were composed principally of those
Boers from the Capo who were determined not to remain any
longer uiulcr the oppressive British rule ; but partly also of
others, who had been more or less concerned in previous
antagonism to the Government, and included many whoso
positions as leaders had marked them out for special punish-
ment by the authorities, and whose lives and properties were
therefore considered as being unsafe while within the reach
of the law. The total number of emigrants who thus
voluntarily left the Cape Colony, during the years 1835-3G, was
variously estimated at from 5,()()() to 10,(){)(). But from what
I have since learned from many of the men themselves or
their descendants, I think the higher estimate is the moro
correct, if wo include those who colonized Natal. If we con-
sider the number of the white population of the Cape, in 180G,

Conflict with Moselekatze. 33

which was about 21,000, and that ascertained by the census of
18G5, viz., nearly 200,000, we may fairly estimate the number
in 1835 to have been, at the outside, about 100,000. Of these
a tenth part willingly expatriated themselves, giving up com-
parative riches and comfort for poverty and hardships of every
description. The history — first attempted by Aylward — of
these brave, hardy, and simple people, who have done every-
thing for the opening up and colonization of South Africa,
when more fully written and brought before the other nations
of the world, will rank as equal, for perseverance, endurance,
pluck, and adventures, with any other similar movement,
either in America or elsewhere ; and will gain the respect, if
not the admiration, of all. "While, with the exception of a
few dark deeds, — nothing in comparison with what has occurred
and still happens in America, Asia, and the Australasian
groups — their simple method of life, religious character, primi-
tive Government, and constant struggles against both white
and black neighbours and the forces of nature, will compare
favourably with the history of any other pioneering or coloniz-
ing attempts, either of ancient or modern days.

But to return to the exodus northwards : — The first parties
had but little difficulty with the natives between the Orange and
Vaal Piivers, consisting of only scattered remnants of various
tribes, Bushmen, Griquas, Basutos, Baralongs, Bechuanas,
Mantatus, and Korumas, who had been destroyed, scattered, or
subjected by Moselekatze, the powerful Zulu chief who had
seceded from Charka some teu j'ears previously, and had
established the Amatabele nation for himself. The sway of
this chief then extended from the Vaal River to the Limpopo ;
but since the establishment of the Orange Free State and
Transvaal, his son and successor, Lo Benjiila, has only held
command over the district between the Limpopo and the
Zambesi. Moselekatze soon heard of the advance of the
white men, and attacked them on several occasions with varied
fortune. In 1838, a large force of Boers, collected together
from all parts, crossed the Vaal and attacked one of Mosele-
katze's principal towns. Having beaten the natives and
recaptured the cattle, &c,, previously taken from them, they

34 JJ'ifh the Boers in the Transvaal.

retired to the Sand Paver. There, having seen the necessity
of comhiued action and a settled form of g-overnment, Eetief
and other leaders estahlished a state on the old Dutch system,
concluded treaties with the surrounding tribes, and finally
settled down in scattered communities all over the Modder,
Yet, and Sand Eiver districts, establishing the seat of govern-
ment at Bloemfontein, where they were joined from time to
time by others.

Another large party, which, under Potgieter and Uys, had gone
into Xatal to help the other Boers then fighting the Zulus,
returned after the death of Uys, and crossed the Vaal River in
1838. Finding the country abandoned by Moselekatze, they
settled themselves over the border, founding the town of
Potchefstrom or Mooi River Darp. But when a proclamation
reached them from Governor Napier, stating that they were not
yet released from their allegiance to the Crown, and that all
oflences committed by British subjects, up to 25° of south
latitude, were punishable in the Cape Colony Courts, they
abandoned the Potchefstrom district, "trekked" further
on again, and founded new settlements at Zoutpansbcrg and
Leydenberg, whence they opened up communications with the
Portuguese settlements on the east coast, and for a time were
left in peace. The Boers Avho had settled down in the Orange
River territory rented or bought lands from the Griqua and
IBasuto chiefs — who, being the strongest, claimed paramount
authority over their respective districts — but they were soon
brought face to face with numerous difficulties and troubles,
caused by many disputes about land with the natives, and
resulting in an actual collision between the Griqua chief, Adam
Koli, 'and a few of the more headstrong and foolish ]3oers
under men named Mocke and Dicdericksc. They were advised
and encouraged in this resistance to the native pretensions by
many of those who had returned from Natal to tho north,
.•;fter brealdng tho power of two such powerful chiefs as
JDiiigaan and Moselekatze.

Tho IBoers expressed their dcstcrmination to drive out tho
natives, and one thing led to another until Adam Kok at last
iipplicd to the British authorities for help and protection. Mr.

Boer Collision zvith Griqtcas. 35

Mcnzics, one of the judges of the Supreme Court, then sitting
at Colesberg, accompanied the magistrate to remonstrate with
the Boers, and a little way over the boundary they were met
by the party under Mocke. After a stormy interview. Judge
Mcnzics dechared that, in Her Majesty's name, he took posses-
sion of all the country lying south of 25° south latitude and
east of 22° east longitude. This act served temporarily as a
check to the Boers, but it was disallowed by the Government,
and no further steps were taken, except that some troops were
moved up and stationed at Colesberg to watch the course of
events. Later on. Colonel Hare, then in command of the
troops and also Lieutenant-Governor, issued a proclamation,
stating his intention of enforcing the submission of every
British subject beyond the boundary, and offering a free
j)ardon to all who at once submitted, except the actual leaders.
A conference being held, many submitted, and others stated the
reasons of their discontent, complaining that the Griquas and
other natives were allowed greater liberty of self-government
than was granted to themselves. No more active steps were
taken by the Boers till 1843, after treaties of peace were
entered into by the British authorities with Adam Kok, chief
of the Griquas, and Moshesh, chief of the Basutos, similar to
the treaty concluded in 1834 with another Griqua chief,
Waterboer. Subsequently, war broke out between the Boers
and Griquas about the rights of the former to punish their
Griqua servants — a right denied by Adam Kok — the Griqua
town of Philipolis was attacked by a Boer commando, and
several men shot and cattle captured. The Government of
Cape Colony then again interfered, and sent up a force of
cavalry to co-operate with the infantry at Colesberg. Colonel
Eichardson, who was in command — finding that the negotia-
tions between the Boers and the magistrate at Colesberg, both
for the delivering up of the men who had shot the natives and
for the return of the captured cattle, were unsuccessful —
marched up his troop of the 7th Dragoon Guards, with Cape
Mounted Rifles, and some of the 91st Foot, attacked the Boer
camp suddenly at Zwart Koppies, thirty miles to the north of
Philipolis, and completely dislodged them from their rocky

D 2

36 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

position, pursuing them across a plain, where, but for the
unusual mercy shown them, they would have been all cut
down. That night most of the fugitives sent in their sub-
mission, stating that they had no intention of taking up arms
against the British, and that their quarrel was entirely with
the Griquas, who had recently assumed an insolent attitude
towards them, after their treaty of peace had been made
with the Colonial Government. There was doubtless a great
deal of truth in this, as after events have proved, and as our
recent more intimate knowledge of the natives has shown.
Every allowance ought therefore to be made for the action
taken by the Boers. The leaders, however, declined to submit,
and retired still further to the northward, with a stronger
determination than ever not to come again under British rule.
The principal of these were Mocke, Steyn, Du Plooy, and Kok.

The Governor of the Cape Colony, Sir P. Maitland, set
out at once for the border, accompanied by Mr. Porter, the
Attorney-General. Having held several conferences with Boers,
Griquas, and Basutos, he finally arranged to divide the lands
to be held by the natives — entitled Inalienable, from those
of the Boers, called Alienable — giving the latter leases for
payment of a quit rent, out of the proceeds of which tho
expenses of a British Resident were to be defrayed, the balance
going to the chiefs of the tribes in whose districts tho lands
lay. This worked well enough as a general rule; but there
were many Boers settled on lands which were declared to
be part of the " Inalienable " districts ; and as it would not
have been just to order their immediate removal, a forty
years' lease was gi-anted them. But they were bound to leave
their farms entirely, without compensation of any kind, at
the expiration of their leases. As, however, tho Boers had
built on, improved, ploughed, enclosed, and irrigated their
property, tliis settlement was unjust to them, and was tho
cause of much future trouble. An important event now
occurred which led to the second collision between the Boers
and the liritish, and finally to the freedom of the Orange Free
blute.

In Natal, previous to its being constituted a separate Govern-

The Natal Exodus. 37

racnt in 1845, those Boers that remained hecame very unsettled
in consequence of the large influx of Zulu refugees, and the
uncertainty then existing as to the future intentions of the
British Government. Their Yolksraad passed a resolution
requiring the Zulus to move out of the Colony within fourteen
days, and applied to the military commandant. Major Smith,
for assistance in carrying out this difficult and certainly hasty
measure. In answer to their request, the British commandant
stated his inability to comply with their demands, and ad-
vised them to wait until the new Government was established.
This they were disinclined to do ; and by the time a Consti-
tution was granted to Natal, the farmers had again begun to
** trek." Many steps were taken to prevent further discontent
and the continuance of the exodus. Land grants were made
easy and of enlarged proportions, and other laws were relaxed ;
but to little permanent good, as the effect thus produced was
more than counterbalanced by the report of a Commission
appointed to regulate the control of the largo number of natives
then settled in Natal.

Sir T. Shepstoue, the chief Political Kesident at Fort Peddie,
among the Fingoes, Dr. Stanger, the Surgeon-General, Lieut.
Gibb, R.E., and two American missionaries, Lindley and
Adams, formed the Commission ; and they drew up a plan, based
on the scheme proposed by Mr. Cloete, whereby the natives
should be placed on and confined exclusively to reserves of
locations in different districts, and be solely under the control
of responsible European magistrates. This scheme required
money; but none was forthcoming from England, where Earl
Grey's policy was the reduction of Colonial expenditure. This
left matters in the same unsatisfactory state, and effectually
crippled the hands of Mr. T. Shepstone, the Secretary of
Native Affairs, who, in one of his reports after a slight out-
break, very candidly and justly wrote : — " By neglecting to
invest money in the profitable occupation of improving " — the
natives — " we have been forced to lavish it in the unproductive,
miserable, melancholy work of repression ; and the necessity
for this last kind of expenditure will increase in the exact
proportion in which v»"c continue to neglect the first."

38 IViik the Boers in the Ti'ansvaaL

Finally, the Dutch farmers dotcrmhied to "trek," as they
considered the native element too treacherous and powerful to
he relied upon for the future peace and safety of the Colony
in the hands of the Government, unless hacked up with a large
military force. But hefore leaving to join their relatives in the
Orange Free State and Transvaal, they deputed Mr. Audries
Pretorius, their former head and representative in the Natal
Volksraad, personally to see the new Governor and High Com-
missioner at the Cape, to explain these grievances and appeal
for their redress. Pretorius accordingly proceeded overland
through the Orange Free State ; and, on his way, he met a
body of emigrants at Wiuhurg, under Commandant Kok, Avho
decided also to send a deputy, Mr. C. Du Plooy, to the Governor
with him. Upon their arrival at Grahamstown, Sir Henry
Pottinger, the new Governor, absolutely refused to see them,
even after their long tedious journey, and in spite of the critical
state of affairs throughout South Africa, asserting that what
the Deputies had to state should be submitted in writing. This
was done in a memorial recapitulating all their previous
grievances, to which was added a more recent one, which
occurred at Bloemfontein, where the British Eesidcut had dis-
armed many of the emigrants, and thus deprived them of their
chief means of support and defence. Finding that even then
no redress could be obtained from the Governor, Mr. Pretorius
issued a series of letters to the public through the medium of
the press, written most abl}^ eloquently, and moderately. Ho
said, in conclusion : — " I resume my journey to Natal to-
morrow with a heavy heart. The object for which I braved
every difficulty, and left my wife and family almost unprotected
for a considerable period, I have not obtained, and have thus
performed a long journey to no purpose ; and I go back to my
constituents to inform them that I have neither seen nor spoken
to the Lion of tlio Colony, Sir Henry Pottinger ; that I havo
not received a proper answer to my written representations —
the document purporting to bo such appearing to me unsuitable,
and the remarks contained in it so irrelevant, that it is im-
possible for rac to conjecture what bad results may be tho
consequence when it becomes known amongst us. I return, I

Sir H. SmitJis Arrival. 39

say, to fiLide the time when I shall surely see realized all I
have said about murder, robbery, and the firebrand ; perhaps
to sacrifice my life. But I have the satisfaction of knowing
that 1 raised my voice against misrule, the fruits Avhereof will
be clearly seen when it shall be too late to go back."

How moderate and true these utterances Avere, recent events
and the course of the last twenty years have shown. On the
return of Pretorius to Natal desperate proceedings were proposed
by some ; but all determined to "trek." Another new Governor
then turned up, Sir Harry Smith, well known and previously
liked by many colonists. He soon put things a little straight
in the Colony, and came up quietly to the Border, vdiere he
had a series of interviews with the native chiefs and the Boers,
arranging affairs satisfactorily for all parties, at any rate iJvo
tern. He then travelled over the Berg to Natal, and at the
Tugela he met Pretorius and his fellow-countrymen, who had
already started for the Yaal Paver. The miserable condition in
which he found them — it being the height of the wet season —
their frieudly feelings towards himself, and calm statement
of their various complaints, aroused in him a strong feeling of
admiration and pity ; and he determined to do what he could
to alleviate their condition and induce them to return to the
homes they had founded with many vicissitudes in Natal. He
promised them legal titles to their lands, appointing a Com-
mission, on which was their own leader, Pretorius, to carry this
out and receive applications ; granted an amnesty for all
political offences; ordered the removal of the natives beyond
certain boundaries ; organized a police force ; legalized marriages
duly contracted between them, though without the presence of
any authorized minister, and not in conformity with the Cape
laws (which are very strict on the subject of inheritance),
and promised to promote education and the erection of schools
and churches. These measures, thankfully accepted at the
time, were not however suflBcient to restrain many of the
more embittered among them. Within a month of Sir H.
Smith's return to Cape Town, he learnt, much to his regret,
that Pretorius had left Natal, thrown in his lot with the more
discontented of the Boers in the Orange Free State and Trans-

40 IVith the Boers in the Transvaal.

vaal, and determined to oppose by force the further encroach-
ments of the British. This step received such an amount of
support, that the news thereof produced regret for the present
and fear for the future in the minds of the more sensible
among the Cape Colonists. A Commission of the Dutch
Church Synod was sent up to visit and advise the Boers ; and
Sir H. Smith published a manifesto which attracted much
attention at the time, being of a semi-pathetic and religious
nature, ending with threats of the utmost severity. Its circu-
lation, however, combined with the appointment of magistrates
to the new districts of Bloemfontein, Winburg, and Caledon,
smoothed matters over in that part of the Orange Free State.
It was different, however, further north, where the most dis-
satisfied of the Boers dwelt. They held meetings, claimed the
country between the Vet and Vaal Rivers as having been pur-
chased by Potgieter in 1838 from the chief Makwana for some
cows ; and finally, at a large meeting held at Potchefstrom,
adopted certain resolutions which were sent to the High Com-
missioner.

The leaders at that time were Prctorius, Kvuger, Potgieter,
Bothes, Prinsloo, Kok, and Steyn. They also issued a counter
manifesto, and tried to unite some native allies against the
probable military operations then threatened. In this docu-
ment they stated that no faith could be placed in Sir H. Smith's
promises ; that the Government was only extending its
rule to make soldiers of them ; that it was useless to fly
further north, where fevers had killed so many of them, and
sickness thinned their cattle ; and they appealed to the women
to send their husbands and sons to light for their country and
faith ; and concluded with a threat of forfeiture of lands to
those who did not join them. For some time Sir H. Smith
would not credit the importance of the reports of Major
Warden, the liritish Resident at Bloemfontc^iii ; nor yet of a
communication made by Sir A. Stockenstrom of the warlike
plans of Pretorius and others. But in the meantime, Pretorius
had commenced the contest, making his hcad-ijuarters at
Win])nrg, and began to expel all the British oflicers and in-
habitants from the territory north of the Orange Ptiver. Two

Battle of Boomplaats. 4 1

limidrcd men joined liim from beyond the Vaal, but Potgietor
liimself did not accompany them. On the 17th July they
appeared before Bloemfontein, their numbers having been
increased on the road to nearly 500. They encamped about
two miles off, and sent a letter to the Resident demanding his
retirement from the country with the British forces, which only
amounted to less than 100 men, including civilians and
deserters from the Boers. The Magistrate, being also encum-
bered with over 200 women and children, badly provisioned,
and with a number of refugee natives, accepted the terms
offered — to evacuate with all their property — and proceeded to
Colesberg. Similar terms were accepted by the Magistrates at
Winburg and Caledon.

When this news reached Sir H. Smith, at Cape Town, he
sent up troops to the Orange River, and issued a proclamation
offering £2, 000 reward for the apprehension of A. W. Pretorius,
who was declared a rebel ; and he himself quickly reached
Colesberg, where he awaited the concentration of troops. Here
he received a message from Pretorius, as "Chief of the whole
United Emigrant Force," desiring to speak with him ; but the
Governor declined to see or treat with "rebels in arms." The
river was crossed and an advance made at once by the troops,
consisting of two companies each of the 45th, 91st, and Rifle
Brigade ; two troops of Cape Mounted Rifles, and two field guns,
or altogether about 700 men. A number of Griquas, under
Waterboer and Adam Kok, and some loyal Boers joined them
on the march. No opposition was encountered until the 28th
August, 18-i8. The Boers were then found strongly posted at
Boomplaats. They were under the command of Pretorius, Gat
Kruger, Andries Stander, and engaged the British force in a
severe conflict, lasting nearly three hours, and resulting in
their ultimate defeat and flight, but only after having inflicted
severe losses on the military ; who lost one ofiicer and eight
men killed, and six officers and thirty-nine men wounded. The
Boers left forty-nine dead on the field, the number of wounded
not being known. Pretorius, with a few relatives, fled out of
the Orange Free State and across the Yaal River. Two only
of the Boer force were taken prisoners, a Cape farmer, Dreycr,

42 Wit/i the Boers in the Transvaal.

and Quigle}', a deserter from the 45tli Eegimcut. Thev were
tried, couvicted, and shot, at Bloemfontein, and were buried in
the exact spot where Major "Warden signed the capitulation of the
town to Pretorius. Sir H. Smith rode on to Winhurg, all oppo-
sition having ceased, and the people coming forward readily
to take the oath of allegiance. Two of the Boer commanders,
Paul Bester and Gut Ivi-ugcr, were pardoned, and heavy fines.
were inflicted on all those who were known to have taken a
part in the rebellion, the money, which amounted to over
£10,000, being applied to defray the expenses of the troops
through having had to cross the Orange River. Subsequently,
on the 8th September, Sir Harry Smith proclaimed the Orange
Free State as a British Sovereignt}', with a salute of twenty-one
guns, and reinstated Major Warden and the other British
officials. He granted the inhabitants a liberal government;
and, knowing their peculiar character and religious ideas, he
gave them the fullest possible liberty, and encouraged and
assisted a mission to them from the Dutch Eeformed Church
at Cape Town. This mi<;sIon was undertaken by the Pieverends
Dr. Piobertson and Fame, who even penetrated as far as the
Magaliesbcrg, to the north of the Vaal, where Pretorius and
others had founded the beginning of the Transvaal llcpublic.
The effect of this mission has thus been stated by Noble : —
*' Their communication with the exiles in the Transvaal had a
most beneficial influence : they held religious services with
them, baptized and married many, both young and old, and
administered the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, the cele-
bration of which had never been witnessed by the emigrants
since they had commenced their wild and wandering life.
Some of the pco])lo showed a keen jealousy of any interference
with them in political matters, and even formed a very strong
prejudice with respect to the signatures required from such as
desired to have their marriages registered, imagining that they
were thereby, in some degree, made ]>ritisli sid)jects. ]Jut,
generally, they gave a hearty reception to the mission, and
expressed their appreciation of the friendship and interest
manifested in their condition and prospects by their colonial
fcllow-couutrymeu."

CHAPTER Y.

ORANGE FREE STATE SETTLEMENT.

TJio Events in ISjO — -The Easutos — Embroilment of the British Residents— Earl
Grey's Policy— Removal of Sir H. Smith — Arrival of Commissioners Hog^e
and O^'en— Meeting with Transvaal Boers — Sand River Convention — Row with
Basutos — Sir George Cathcart and his Policy — The Berea Fight — lloshesh and
Sir George — Abandonment of Territory — Sir George Clerk's Work— Free State
Convention — Removal of Griquas — Basuto and Free State Wars — Annexation
of Basutoland — Boundary Disputes — Waterboer's Griqua Territory — Diamonds
Found — Griqualaad was annexed — BoshotF, first President, succeeded by
Brand,

Of the pi-ogrcss of the Orange Free State, during six years,
while it remained under British rule, until the final relinquish-
ment of the territory to the Boer inhabitants, in 1854, I can
only give a short resume- in this chapter; but in a later one I
shall have more to say of its rapid advance under President
Brand's term of office, its present position and prospects, and
its inhabitants, as I found them in 1881. 'While the white
population in the Orange River Sovereignty, after the events just
recorded, had settled down into a peaceful life, hostilities un-
fortunately broke out in 1850 between the native tribes, which
led to important results, and indirectly to the abandonment of
the territory. Moshesh, the consolidator of the Basuto nation,
and its most powerful and able chief — the only chief who ever
made a successful stand against the all-powerful Charka and
his Zulus — claimed authority over the lands occupied by the
Manlatees, Korannas, Baralongs, and Bastards, small tribes
living in his vicinity. He welcomed the advent of missionaries
and traders among his people, and through his just and care-
ful government gained a large following, increased b}' refugees
from other tribes, and the respect of all. The President, un-
fortunately, became mixed up in these matters, and assisted

44 TVit/i the Boers in the Transvaal.

tlie smaller tribes in their attempts at independence, callinf:f
out the Boers and Griquas to his aid against Moshesh, who, of
course, retaliated on the surrounding natives. The Basutos,
being victorious in most of their foravs, at last became involved
in war with the British ; but the Burghers, called upon by the
President, refused to muster and arm against Moshesh or
interfere at all in the native quarrels. They could not under-
stand why, if it were necessary to interfere at all, the military
could not do it without thoit- help. During this i^eriod of dis-
turbance, Sir H. Smith had the KafQr war of 1850-1 on his
hands and could do little to help. The Governor of Xatal,
however, Sir B. Pine, sent up two companies of the 45th Regi-
ment and 700 Zulus across the Drakensberg, which gave a
little increased confidence. But that did not last long, as
Major Warden found himself in no position to attack Moshesh,
who had 10,000 good men to back him, in a diliicult country;
and, combined with this, the Zulus became impatient and re-
turned to their homes ; while, out of 1,000 Burghers called out,
only seventy-five answered to the call.

Earl Grey, after hearing of these things, sent a despatch to
Sir H. Smith, saying, that as the consent of the British
Government had only with reluctance been given to the an-
nexation of the Orange Free State, and the inhabitants did not
seem to wish for, or continue to support, the British authority,
be recommended that, at the close of 1851, the Sovereignty
should ultimately be abandoned ; and then continued : — " If
3'ou are enabled to cflect this object, you will distinctly under-
stand that any wars, however sanguinary, which may afterwards
occur between the diil'erent tribes and communitios, which will
be left in a slate of independence beyond the colonial boundary,
are to be considered as affording no ground for your interference.
Any inroads upon the colony must be promptly and severely
punished, but, after the experience which has been gained as to
the effect of liritish interference in the vain hope of preserving
peace among the l>arbarous or semi-civilized inluiltitants of
these distant regions, I cannot sanction a renewal of similar
measures." " Therefore," says Noble, " the old and warmly-
cherished policy of England, based on the great and noblo

Earl Grey's Policy. 45

principle that she was responsible for the conduct of her sub-
jects towards the aboriginal races among ^Yhom they settled — ■
* the protector of the weak, the civilizer of the barbarian, and tlic
preacher of righteousness to the heathen ' — was thus suddenly
reversed. It had been maintained for years, at no small cost
of blood and treasure ; but it threatened, if pursued further, to
indefinitely enlarge the demands on the revenue and military
force of the Kingdom. To prevent any future complications,
the officers representing the Crown were interdicted, in terms as
explicit as could be employed, from making or sanctioning any
extension, however small, of Her Majesty's dominions in South
Africa." If such views had only prevailed at the time of the
annexation of the Transvaal, and even upon other occasions,
both previously and subsequently, much British blood, treasure,
and reputation would, I venture to think, have been saved.
This first act of abandonment was considered by every one in
South Africa, both white and black, to have been, not only a
mistake injurious to the colonial interests of the Empire, but
certainly a confession of great weakness, unworthy of Great
Britain. What she then shrank from undorLaking has since
been successfully accomplished by the Burghers of the Free
State alone, without an organized military force : so that
Moshesh was forced to sue for peace, and claim for his tribe of
Basutos British protection, from utter extermination at the
hands of these few thousand Boers. Tempora mutantur !

In fulfilment of this new policy. Sir Han-y Smith was re-
called, Major Warden was dismissed from the post of Adminis-
trator of the Orange River Territory, and two Commissioners,
Major Hogge and Mr. C. M. Owen, were instructed to proceed
to the District to inquire into matters, with full authority to
act as they thought best. In the course of the inquiry they
found that Moroko, chief of the Baralongs, by the agreement
made by the former British Piesident, had clearly been entitled
to protection, as well as the Boers, who had been plundered
promiscuously by all. The difficulty was, how to get compen-
sation out of Moshesh, who had retired to his mountain
fastnesses, and sent messages that he did not want to fight the
British, but only desired his rights from the natives, and to

46 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

be protected from encroachments. The Commissioners, after
mucli deliberation, considered that it would be necessary to
vindicate the authority of the British ; and the new Governor
and Commander-in-Chief, Sir George Cathcart, agreed to march
up a large force against Moshcsh, so soon as he had brought
to a satisfactory conclusion the KaflQr war then progressing. In
the meantime, while the Commissioners remained in Bloem-
fonteiu striving to settle matters there satisfactorily, messengers
came to them from Pretorius and the Boers over the Yaal, to
negotiate for peace and the friendship of the British, as against
the natives and the rebellious efforts of those in the Sovereignty
who were trying to excite others to rise again. This was
thought to be a favourable opportunity to re-establish good
feeling between the Boers and the British — in which case they
could despise the Blacks ; wherefore the sentences of outlawry
were cancelled, and a meeting was arranged ; which took place
near the Sand Eivcr, and resulted in a Convention being
entered into on behalf of Her Majesty, allowing the Boers to
the north of the Yaal to establish an independent government
of their own, upon certain conditions. The Convention was
approved of by the Governor and the Homo Authorities, who
hoped that the freedom at last granted the emigrant Boers
would conduce to peace and good order among themselves, and
friendship with the Imperial Government. The following is
the record of the proceedings : —

" INIinute of a meeting held on the farm of llv. P. A. Tenter,
Sand Pdver, on Friday, the IGtli day of January, 1852, between
Her Majesty's Commissioners, Major W. S. Hoggo and C. M.
Owen, appointed to settle the affairs of the East and Nortli-
East boundaries of the Capo Colony, on the one part ; and the
following deputies of the emigrant Jioers, living north of Vaal
Piivcr, on the other hand — A. "W. J. Pretorius, Coradt.-
Gcneral ; H. S. Lombard, Landdrost ; 11. F. Joubert, Comdt.-
Ocncral ; G. F. Ivricger, Commandant, and twelve others.

*' 1. Tho Assistant Commissioner sguarantoe in tho fullest
manner, on the part of tho British Government, to the
emigrant farmers bcjyond the Vaal River, tho right to manage
their own affairs, and to govern themselves according to their

Sand River Convention. 47

own laws, -u-ithont any interference on the part of the British
Government ; and that no encroachment shall he made hy the
said Government on the territory heyoud, to the north of the
Vaal Paver, 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 inhahiting,
or who may inhabit, that country ; it being understood that
this system of non-interference is binding upon both parties.

" 2. Should any misunderstanding hereafter arise as to the
true meaning of the words, ' The Vaal Paver,' this question, in
so far as it regards the line from the source of that river, over
the Drakensberg, shall be settled and adjusted by Commis-
sioners chosen by both parties.

"3. Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners hereby disclaim
all alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured
nations to the north of the Vaal Piiver.

" 4. It is agreed that no slavery is or shall be permitted or
practised in the country to the north of the Yaal Piiver by the
emigrant farmers.

" 5. Mutual facilities and liberty shall be afforded to traders
■and travellers on both sides of the Vaal Paver ; it being under-
•stood that every waggon containing firearms, coming from the
south side of the Vaal Paver, shall produce a certificate signed
by a British magistrate, or other functionary, duly authorized
to grant such, and which shall state the quantities of such
articles contained in said waggon to the nearest magistrate
north of the Vaal Eiver, who shall act in the case as the
regulations of the emigrant farmers direct. It is agreed that
no objections shall be made by any British authority against
the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of ammunition
in any of the British colonies and possessions of South Africa ;
it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition
■v\'ith the native tribes is prohibited, both by the British
Government and the emigrant farmers on both sides of the
Vaal Piiver.

" 6. It is agi-ecd that, so far as possible, all criminals and
other guilty parties who may fly from justice either way across
the Vaal Pdver shall be mutually delivered up, if such should

48 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

be required ; and that the British courts, as well as those of
the emigrant farmers, shall be mutually open to each other for
all legitimate processes, and that summonses for witnesses
sent either way across the A^aal Eiver shall be backed by the
magistrates on each side of the same respectively, to compel the
attendance of such witnesses when required.

"7. It is agreed that certificates of marriage issued by the
proper authorities of the emigrant farmers shall be held valid
and sufficient to entitle children of such marriages to receive
portions accruing to them in any British colony or possession
in South Africa.

** 8. It is agreed that any and every person now in possession
of land, and residing in British territory, shall have free right
and power to sell his said property, and remove unmolested
across the Yaal Eiver and vice versa ; it being distinctly
understood that this arrangement does not comprehend criminals
or debtors without providing for the payment of their just and
lawful debts."

At the end of that year, 1852, the Governor found himself
in a position to move towards the Orange River Territory, in
which a new Resident, Mr. Green, had been managing matters
fairly well ; but he had never been able to check the constant
warfare going on between the Basutos on the one hand, and
the Baralongs and the Burghers on the other. Moshesh
had repeatedly promised amends and restitution of cattle, but
never fulfilled any of his promises. The arrival of 2,000
troops (450 cavalry, a battery of artillery, and the rest
infantry) at Plaatbcrg, with the General, brought matters to
a crisis. An immediate demand for 10,000 head of cattlo
and 1,000 horses, to be delivered to the British Resident in
three days, met with no response, although Moshcsh had
come in on the day after the demand was made, and promised
compliance. As only 3,500 were sent in on the day appointed,
an advance was made in three columns on Thaba ]3ossigo.
They found the ]3asutos prepared for war, and, after several
hlunders made Ity the commanders of two of the columns,
tliey were suddenly assailed by a largo force of the enemy in
a difficult place, and at a critical time, and were compelled

Abandonment of Territory. 49

to retire with heavy loss. The other column did little better;
"but they at length repulsed the enemy and bivouacked on the
field, marching back next day with some captured guns and
cattle to the camp at Caledon Paver, with the intention
of resuming the war next day. That morning, however,
l.Ioshesh sent a letter under a flag of truce, asking for peace,
and saying that as they had captured some cattle, he hoped
they would be satisfied and give them as compensation to
the Boers. The letter was written in English by a son,
Nehemiah Moshesh, who had been educated at the Cape,
and spoke and wrote English well. Under the then circum-
stances, and knowing the critical state of the whole of the
country, Governor Cathcart decided to grant the terms, and
make the best of a bad bargain. A proclamation was there-
fore issued, declaring peace with the Basutos, declining any
interference in the future on the part of the Government with
native affairs, and giving the Burghers full power to protect,
secure and recover their property after the fashion of the
colonial *' commando" system. The Governor had seen enough
to convince him that the Government must either abandon
the Orange Eiver Territory at once, or keep a force of 2,000
men there permanently, and organize a proper system of
government. In consequence of his reports, the Home Govern-
ment decided to relinquish the sovereignty at once, and sent
out Sir G. K. Clerk, an eminent Indian statesman, for that
purpose. On his arrival at Bloemfontein, in August 1853, he
invited the inhabitants to elect delegates to meet together and
arrange the basis of a Convention for their separation. This
was bitterly opposed by all the English residents and a number
of farmers, as well as by the Cape Colony people. Two
delegates were even sent home to appeal against this decision
of abandonment. This was of no avail, as even Sir G. R.
Clerk' s opinion was in favour of it ; and at last several of the
leading Burghers came forward to assist the Special Commis-
sioner — " Not," they said, "because they regarded the British
Crown with any antipathy ; their discontent arose solely with
the mismanagement of Her Majesty's servants." And at an
assembly of the delegates at Bloemfontein on the 23rd of Feb-

50 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

ruary, 1854, Sir George Clerk made over to tliem the Govern-
ment of the countr}-, in a Convention which was legally carried
out by a Eoyal Order in Council on the 8th of April, 1854. The
terms of the Convention were as follows : —

"1. Her Majesty's Special Commissioner, in entering into a
Convention for finally transferring the government of the
Orange Eiver Territory to the representatives delegated by the
inhabitants to receive it, guarantees, on the part of Her
Majesty's Government, the future independence of that country
and its government ; and that after the necessary preliminary
arrangements for making over the same between Her Majesty's
Special Commissioner and the said representatives shall have
been completed, the inhabitants of the country shall then be
free ; and that this independence shall, without unnecessary
dela}', be confirmed and ratified by an instrument, promulgated
in such form and substance as Her Majesty may approve,
finally freeing them from their allegiance to the British Crown,
and declaring them, to all intents and purposes, a free and
independent people, and their Government to be treated and
considered thenceforth as a free and independent Government.

" 2. The British Government has no alliance whatever with
any native chiefs or tribes to the northward of the Orange
■River, with the exception of the Griqua chief. Captain Adam
Kok ; and Her Majesty's Government hns no wish or intention
to enter hereafter into any treaties which may be injurious or
prejudicial to the interests of the Orange River Government.

" 3. With regard to the treaty existing between the ]iritisli
Government and the chief, Captain Adam Kok, some modifica-
tion of it is indispensable. Contrary to the provisions of that
treaty, the sale of lands in the inalienable territory has been of
frequent occurrence, and the principal object of the treaty thus
disregarded. Her Majesty's Government, therefore, intends to
remove all restrictions preventing Griquas from selling their
lands ; and measures are in progress for the purpose of afiord-
ing every facility for such transactions — the chief, Adam Ivok,
having, f(M- himself, concurred in and sanctioned the same.
And with regard to those further alterations arising out of the
proposed revision of relations with Captain Adam Kok, in con-

Orange Free State Convention. 51

sequence of the aforesaid sales of land having from time to
time been elFeeted in the inalienable territory, contrary to the
stipulations of the Maitland Treaty,, it is the intention of Her
Majesty's Special Commissioner, personally, without any un-
necessary loss of time, to establish the affairs in Griqualand ou
a footing suitable to the just expectations of all parties.

'' 4. After the withdrawal of Her Majesty's Government from
the Orange River Territory, the new Orange River Government
shall not permit any vexatious proceedings towards those of
Her Majesty's present subjects remaining within the Orange
River Territory who may heretofore have been acting under the
authority of Her Majesty's Government, for or on account of
any acts lawfully done by them — that is, under the law as it
existed during the occupation of the Orange River Territory by
the British Government. Such persons shall be considered to
be guaranteed in the possession of their estates by the new
Orange River Government.

" Also, with regard to those of Her Majesty's present subjects
who may prefer to return under the dominion and authority of
Her Majesty to remaining where they now are, as subjects of
the Orange River Government, such persons shall enjoy full
right and facility for the transfer of their properties, should
they desire to leave the country under the Orange River Govern-
ment, at any subsequent period within three years from the
date of this Convention.

*' 5. Her Majesty's Government and the Orange River
Government shall, within their respective territories, mutually
use every exertion for the suppression of crime, and keeping
the peace, by apprehending and delivering up all criminals
who may have escaped or fled from justice either way across the
Orange River ; and the courts, as well the British as those of
the Orange River Government, shall be mutually open and
available to the inhabitants of both territories for all lawful
processes. And all summonses for witnesses, directed either
way across the Orange River, shall be countersigned by the
magistrates of both Governments respectively, to compel the
attendance of such witnesses when and where they may be
required, thus affording to the community north of the Orange

E 2

52 IViik the Boers in the Transvaal.

Piivcr every assistance from tlie British courts, and giving, on
the other hand, assurance to such colonial merchants and
traders as have naturally entered into credit transactions in the
Orange Iliver Territory during its occupation hy the British
Government, and to whom, in many cases, debts may he owing,
cvcr}^ facility for the recovery of just claims in the courts of
the Orange River Government. And Her Majesty's Special
Commissioner will recommend the adoption of the like reciprocal
privileges hy the Government of Natal in its relations with the
Orange River Government.

" G. Certificates issued hy the proper authorities, as well in
the Colonies and Possessions of Her Majesty as in the Orange
River Territory, shall he held valid and sufficient to entitle
heirs of lawful marriages, and legatees, to receive portions and
legacies accruing to them respectively, either within the juris-
diction of the British or Orange River Government.

" 7. The Orange River Government shall, as hitherto, permit
no slavery, or trade in slaves, in their territory north of the
Orange River.

" 8. The Orange River Government shall have freedom to
l)urchase their supplies of ammunition in any British colony or
possession in South Africa, subject to the laws provided for the
regulation of the sale and transit of ammunition in such
colonies and possessions ; and Her Majesty's Special Commis-
sioner will recommend to the Colonial Government that privi-
leges of a liberal character, in connection with import duties
generally, be granted to the Orange River Government, as
measures in regard to which it is entitled to be treated with
overy indulgence, in consideration of its peculiar position and
distance from the seaports.

" 9. In order to promote mutual facilities and liberty to
traders and travellers, as well in the ]3ritish possessions as in
those of the Orange River Government, and it being the
earnest wish of Her INIajesty's Government that a friendly
intercourse between these territories should at all times subsist,
and be promoted by every possible arrangement, a consul or
agent of the British Government, whose especial attention shall
]>e directed to the promotion of these desirable objects, will bo

Removal of Griquas. 53

stationed within the colony, near to the frontier, to -whom
access at all times may readily be had by the inhabitants on
both sides of the Orange Paver, for advice and information, as
circumstances may require."

Immediately after the promulgation of this Convention, a
provisional Government was organized, consisting of the
following Boers : — J. P. Hofman, President ; A. Standers,
Groencndal, Du Plooy, Sinde, J. Yentey, and Du Fort,
members ; who issued a circular announcing the good news to
their fellow Burghers, and then drew up a Kepublicau consti-
tution, vesting the power in a Yolksraad and State President.
The first troubles of the new Government were in connection
with the Griquas and Basutos. The former denied the right of
the Orange Free State to their District ; but it was found, on
inquiry, that all lands sold by Griquas to white people would,.
in virtue of an arrangement made with the Special Commis-
sioner, come under the Free State Government. Thus, as-
most of the Griquas continued to sell their lands unknown to
the chiefs, at last they were completely supplanted, and their
country was divided into Districts and governed and taxed by
Free State officials. Against these proceedings, the Griquas
appealed to the Governor, who, on referring the question
home, was instructed to find some other suitable place for
their location, and move those who desired it. This was
done by obtaining a suitable tract of country between the
Umzunkulu and Umzimvubu Rivers, between Natal and the
Cape Colon}', into which they afterwards moved in 18G0 ; and
their settlement, *' Nomansland," now Griqualand East, was
subsequently annexed to the Cape in 1875.

The difficulty with Moshesh was much gi'eater, and arose
about the boundary line, which had previously been arranged
by Major Warden, so as to leave the white men where they
were, and the natives where they were. This agreement was
declared by Moshesh to be no longer binding when the English
left the country ; and he therefore claimed paramount rights
over all the neighbouring Districts. Sir G. Grey succeeded in
averting war until 1858, when hostilities broke out. Peace,
however, was quickly made up again by Sir George's arbitration.

54 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

But the aggressions of the Basuto State increased and led to
another war in 1864 ; and to yet another in 18GG, when, after
eleyeu months' severe fighting, Moshesh was heaten, sued for
peace, and ceded a large portion of the disputed country to the
Burghers. The murder of a trader by the Basutos in 1867
again led to renewed hostilities, which lasted until the 12th
of March, 1868. Sir P. Wodehouse had tendered his services to
arrange a peace ; a proposal which the Burghers were not at
all anxious to accept, as they then had Moshesh at their feet,
and resolved entirely to crush him and his people, so as to
prevent their arising again in the future. Sir P. Wodehouse
then acceded to Moshesh' s repeated requests for the Basutos to
he allowed to come under the British flag ; and he proclaimed
them British subjects, just as the Burgher commander had
penetrated close to Moshesh's chief stronghold, Thaba Bossigo
having everywhere been victorious in their advance. This
somewhat annoyed the Free State, as they regarded Sir P.
YVodehousc's action as a breach of the Convention of 1854,
and the Volksraad sent a deputation to the English to protest
against this step. Kindly, but firmly, they were distinctly told
that the step was not taken out of any hostility to their State,
but purely fcr the future benefit of South Africa. A definite
boundary line was then agreed to between all parties and con-
firmed by the Convention of Aliwal North, entered into on the
12th of March, 1869 ; and it has remained as then settled ever
since.

There was only one other source of trouble after this time,
which arose through grants of farms, in thc ^riqua territory o f
the chief, Waterl)oer, having been conceded b}' the British
Ilcsident, in 1848-52, at Hloemfonicinj to an y 3^-]uropean
applying for them — he not having Jthen any knowledge of
Waterljoer's claim thereto. After the rclnupiisliment of the
country by the l^ritisli^ Watci-boer^ complai ned to "the Preo
Stat e Go vernment ; and the matter would doubtless have bee n
easily settled^ had not Tiramonds been discovered al l over^ his
District. Tliousands of adventurers and di ggers from alljmrts
of^tho" world at once rushed in. The Free State then sent a
magistrate over the District whicli it claimed, and the Transvaal

Griqualand West Annexed. 55

Republic did tlie same with regard to those parts north of the
Yaal Pdver. Waterboer himself then reasserted his rights,
claimed the protection cif the Euglish_ G-overn ment, an d ced ed
his District to _the GoYernmen t, who proclaimed it British terri -
tory on October 27j ISll^s the province of Griqu aland "W est.
and appointed officials to carry on the government, reserving
the question of the settlement hi boundaries to be determined
by arbitration. To this the Free Sta te objecte d ; but in 1876
the then Secretary of State for the Colonies, Earl Carnarvon,
invited President Brand to visit England to settle the dis-
l^ute personally ; and the result thereof was the payment of
ii90,000 by Her Majesty's Government as settlement in full
of all claims. As an additional proof of good friendship
towards the Free State a further sum "of i,'lo,000 was offered
towards the construction of railways in that territory. The
good understanding then come to between the two Governments
was productive of much good at the time, and has lasted until
the present ; having only been partially interrupted for the
few months during the recent struggle in the Transvaal — in the
settlement of which, however, the Orange Free State President
took a prominent and peaceful part.

President Brand was elected third President of the Orange
Free State in 1864, after the resignation and return to the
Transvaal of M. W. Pretorius, who had succeeded the first
President, Mr. Boshoff. The Orange JEree— State consists of
about 70,000 square miles, and had in j^854jibmit^ 25, 000 inh a-
bitauts, of whom more than half were of European descent.

56 IVith the Boers in the TransvaciL

CHAPTER TI.

TRANSVAAL FOUNDED.

Character of Transvaal Boers — Their Attempts at Government — Native Laws —
Potgieter and Makapau's Tragedy — Internecine Strife — Death of A. Pretorius —
Election of his Son as President — His Transfer to Bloemfontein — Party Divisions
against W. M. Pretorius' Return — Boundary Proclamations — Consequent Disputes-
and Arbitrations — Their Results — Pretorius Resigns — Discovery of Gold Fields —
Influx of Miners, &c. — Want of firm Government — Election of Rev. T. F»
Burgers — "Grondwet" of 1858 — Burger's Officials.

Having thus brouglit that part of the early history of the
Boers, which was connected ^Yitll the Cape Colony, and with the
foundation successively of Natal, the Orange Free State, and the
Transvaal, down to the point where the British Government
granted to both the latter their independence, I now come, in
the natural sequence of things, to the more immediate descrip-
tion of the foundation, progress, fall, and final resurrection of
the Transvaal and its people — the real subject-matter of this
work ; and if at times I am too prolix with details, too dry with
statistics, or too strong with my language and condemnation^
the importance of the subject, not only to the Transvaal l^oers,
but to the liritish South African Colonies and the Empire
generally, must plead as my excuse for endeavouring — while
placing before my readers l)uth sides of the question — to make
clear " the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth."
Those who have followed mo so iar in the Boer peregrina-
tions will easily understand that the class of men who peopled
the Transvaal and first erected a government of their own, were
more unsettled, less educated, and more narrow-minded than
their compatriots, who had been satisfied to remain in the
Cape, Orange Free State, or Natal. In addition to those who-
"trekked" northward at the time of the great exodus, thcro
were many of a lawless, daring and sometimes criminal

Boer Attempts at Government. 57

character, either roving ahout or ah-ead}' settled down in tho
more retired portions of the State. Furthermore, adventurers-
from every part of South Africa, and other countries, tlocked
into it as the rumours spread about of gold and diamonds-
being found there, I trust, therefore, that I shall not be
thought to malign the Boers, or their early governmental in-
stitutions, in thus drav/ing attention to what were doubtless
important drawbacks to their first attempts at law and order..
' Added to this, it must not be forgotten that the white popula-
tion was small, and much scattered over an extent of country
larger than France — nearly 120,000 square miles — separated
from each other by impassable country, no roads, and
numerous tribes of natives, all jealous of the white man's
encroachments. So that it need surprise no one to find
that it took years even to establish a Government at all,
much less get it to work properly under difficulties before
which many other nations would have shrunk. The Boers-
also dreaded the further interference of the British ration, and
were chary of intercourse with the surrounding countries, even
going so far as to prevent missionaries going up north among
the savage tribes. One of their fundamental laws in the con-
stitution of the Republic was to the eflect "that the people
will admit of no equality of persons of colour with white
inhabitants, neither in State nor Church " ; and when it is
remembered that the conduct of the natives, and their mis-
management by the British authorities at the Cape, were among
the principal causes of the Boer exodus northwards, it will noti
be surprising that they should make common cause against all
Kaffirs, and in pursuance of their old and — when properly
carried out — successful policy of extermination, should regard
the natives as an entirely inferior race, only fit for slavery.

Even Mr. Noble, who certainly is no champion of the Boers,
though thoroughly impartial in all his historical statements
about them, says : — " They made little scruple about obtaining-
native children, sometimes as captives of war, sometimes by
purchase from the natives, and sometimes by mere violence.
The children so procured were indentured (or as it is called
* Inbocked ') up to the age of twenty-two or twenty-five

5S IVifh the Doers in tJic Transvaal.

jears " — and as the Kaffirs rarely knew their age, this inden-
turcship Lasted as long as the master pleased. — " It was a
common practice on the Border in the early days of the Caise
Colony, hut it was liahle to abuse, especially in a state of
society untrammelled by authority, and not very solicitous as to
the rights, nor very careful as to the lives, of the aborigines.
Acts of cruelty and wrong were thus committed which provoked
retaliation, and hostilities with the savage tribes around them
frequently occurred, requiring the whole community to unite'
for mutual defence. The tconder is that so few outrages have
been recorded in connection with the collisions inevitable be-
tween these two races, situated on the margin of civilization in
the wilderness."

Some two years after the Sand River Convention, one of
these collisions occurred, in 1854, which for cruelty and ferocity
on both sides is, I am glad to say, the only one of the kind
tl:at I have ever heard of, or History repeats ; and, therefore, I
give it at length, as illustrative of my foregoing remarks. On
one of the numerous hunting and trading expeditions, so much
in vogue among the early Boers, who also found them very
profitable, a man named Herman Potgieter, a brother of the
celebrated commandant — well known previously among the
Kaffir tribes to the north, and not above an occasional raid, and
indiscriminate slaughter and capture of the children for sale
to the traders on the East coast — was passing the kraals of a
native chief named Makapan, who had previously suffered from
such raids, when the party was set upon, tortured, and
murdered with most savage cruelty. Potgieter himself was
pinned to the ground with assegais and skinned alive. On the
receipt of this news at Potchcistrom a large commando was
g(jt together, under M. W. Pretorius, son of the old " Yoor
trekkcr," and was joined by another force under Mr. P. G.
Potgieter, a nephew of the murdered man, from the districts of
Loydenburg and Zoutpansberg, making a total of over 500
mounted men, with IIG waggons and two field pieces. The two
]iartieH comliinod, and soon followecl up Makapan and his tribe,
wlio bad retired to some large caves immediately on the
advance of the Boer commando. Hero a collision took place,

Potgieter and Makapan s Tragedy. 59

resulting in the defeat of tlie Kafllrs, who retired still further
into the caves, which were dark, and over 500 yards in length
by 100 in breadth. Thither the Boers dared not follow them,
so other plans were devised and carried out. First, an attempt
was made to blast the rocks above, and fill up the entrances or
crush the Kaffirs ; but it failed through the slate formation of
the rocks not proving suitable for such operations. Next,
orders were given to besiege the caves, and guard all the
entrances, shooting down all that appeared, in order to starve
out the besieged. Notwithstanding every precaution, and
constant watch day and night, in which both sides lost men,
including Potgieter's nephew, no effect was produced ; so after
eight days it was finally determined to block up all the
entrances with wood and stone. This work lasted three weeks,
and employed nearly all the men and fifty teams of oxen.
Many of the poor wretches thus blocked up soon began to
sufter from thirst; but they were ruthlessly killed whenever
they showed themselves. At last, so many died within that
the stench, even in the open air outside, was unbearable ; and
nearly 1,000 were killed outside as well. This state of things
lasted nearl}' a month, during which the Kaffirs just managed
td exist on the stores of food and water which they had taken
in with them on their retreat. At last opposition gradually
diminished, and the stench from within increased ; and upon
the final advance of the Boers, unopposed, it was found that
nearly the whole tribe was destroyed. Their object fully
accomplished, the Boers returned home ; and for many years
afterwards the white men were unmolested in that region.
Sad as it is, yet I think the above description teaches a lesson,
and shows us that savages must be fought, to a great extent,
with their own weapons. It was only by so doing that the few
Boers in the Transvaal were then enabled to maintain their
position amid hordes of savages : whereas, in later years it has
required a large army to effect, with much greater loss of time
and material, that which a few mounted Boers, fighting on a
different system, used to do in a comparatively short • but
Bummary way.

The Transvaal Boers, though able to keep down the natives

Co IJ^ith the Boers in the Transvaal.

in their country, were yet unable to prevent diflerences among
themselves ; and for many years the country had no central
government at all worthy of the name, but was split up among
them in four sections. Old Andries Pretorius had a large
section united under his sway around the Magaliesburg.
Leydenburg and Zoutpansberg had also each a kind of semi-
governmcut of their own ; Avhile another party, to the south,
remained independent of all the others. The old Pretorius.
died in 1853, advising with his last breath the '*' fathers of the
land " to give up party strife, become united, and encourage
religion and education. His son, W. M. Pretorius (one of the
now well-known Triumvirate) became President, and in a
manner succeeded in uniting the diflerent parties. But for many
years the power of the central authority at Potchcfstrom was
weak in establishing peace and preserving order, in proportion
as the distance from its scat increased. Considering the vast
extent of country included in its area, and the difficulties
caused by a small and widely-separated population, the
progress of the country, even in those days, was remarkable ;
and though not so great or so steadily progressive as that
of its sister State south of the Yaal, yet it was sufficient to
show what could be done with the country under a settled and
respected form of Government.

XUc First President of the Fr ee State, M. Boshoif, having
died in T85IF, the peopl e, by a larg e majority, elected Mr. W.
M. PretoiTus out of four can didates, to succeed him ; and with
the^ consent o7 all parties Mr. Pretorius left Potchcfstrom and

procebdcd ~lb JilocmTontein, where he remain ed until 1863,
endeavouring meanwhile to carrY_ont his pot scheme of uniting

tbo^'oTtopu ljlTcs under one strong Government. This, how-
CVC1-, found favour neither with the Home authorities, who^t atcd
that they considered such a proceeding would annul the Con-
ycntioD_3_of 1852Ijan(r3^^>~PO' ^ ^i th the Free State rs^thcm-
selves, who bad l)cgun thoroughly t o ai^preciate the blessings
of a good Gover nment, and who knew that many of the
Transvaalers were not so enlightened, and were opposed to
the action of any authority whatever. So tlio scheme dropped
then, but has been renewed more lulily, and it is, in my

Boundary Proclamation. 6i

opinion, one of the certainties and necessities of the future.
The dissensions in the Transvaalj which had increased during
JMr. Pretorius' absence m the Free State, wer e so g reat thatjie
was compelled to return to Potchefstrom in 1863. Meanwhile,
•each party had tried successively to obtain paramount authority,
and various leaders were put forward from time to time, and
■displaced through the temporarily united ffforfs nf the otbp.rs .
Actual strife occasionally broke out between the various factions,
aiid^on one occasion in 18G3j at Pretoria, two rival parties, took.
the field armed, the one jiadm:__EaiiL^Iuger^^ind_t]^^
under Commandant Scho eman. The former was the recognized
head of the " Doppers," who were a narrow-minded religiou^
sect; while those under the latt er w ere more advanced and
liberal in their opinions. Kruger's force occupied Pretoria,
then a small village ; while Schoemau, was in laager outside.
They had constant skirmishes at long distances, several night
alarms, and sentry drills ; but no actual collision took place,
^nd the whole affair ended in smoke, or rather a kind of patched-
np reconciliation.

This state of things of course obstructed the progress of the
-country, and Mr. Pretorius was again made President ; when,
imfortunately, in 1868, he issued a Proclamation describing the
boundaries of the Transvaal, and caused such a disturbance
with " British, Boers, and Blacks," that he had to resign.
The boundaries, as then claimed, were : on the North, the
Limpopo or Crocodile Paver ; on the East — by friendly treaty
with the Portuguese — the Lebomba Mountains ; on the South,
the Vaal River ; and on the West, the Hatt Paver. To all these,
however, objections were made, and the British Government
€ven refused to recognize in any way whatever the validity
•of such a proclamation. Many native chiefs between the
Oliphants Paver and the Limpopo, forming the District of
Zoutpansberg, protested ; and this brought things to such a
crisis that the Dutch town of Schoemansdal, in Lat. 23° S.
Long. 30° E., was abandoned, while in the south-east a strip of
land on the Zulu Border, between the Blood and Pongola
Rivers, was claimed by each nation, until at last the Zulu King
■Cetywayo requested the Natal Government to take it over as a

62 JJ^ilh the Boers in the Transvaal,

barrier against encroachment by the Transvaal. This was
not carried out, but a commission was apjiointed to take the
evidence of Dutch and Zulus, and upon the basis of the
evidence therein given Sir Bartle Frere awarded nearly all the
portion in dispute to the Zulu nation, who, however, lost it
again the same year during the war with the British. Again,
in the south, the actual course of the Vaal Eiver, from its
source, was in dispute between the sister Republics ; but this
v.'as referred to and settled amicably by the Governor of Natal,
Mr. Keate. The same gentleman was made the referee in
the proceedings, then under arbitration by the British Govern-
ment, of the claims of Waterboer, the Griqua chief, to what
is now known as the Bloemhof District. The abritrators not
being able to agree, the final award was left to Governor Keate,
who decided against the Republic. Sir H. Barkly, then
Governor of the Cape and High Commissioner, accepted the
Griquas as British subjects by a Proclamation in 1871 — an act
which was much disliked by the Transvaal and Free State
Burghers, and protested against by them as another breach of
the Sand River Convention of 1852. Let that be as it may,
the direct consequence to the President Pretorius was fatal, as
the Volksraad repudiated his acquiescence in both the arbitration
and award, and questioned his right to act alone for his Govern-
ment. After such a step there was nothing left but for him
to resign, which he did. The British authorities, however,
refused to listen to the repudiation and protest of the Volksraad,
and have abided by the Keate award ever since, liut the
subject is still a constant source of discontent and grumbling,
and condnucd with the " Frero Zulu award," and other
matters in connection with the Northern tribes, has been made
use of in the recent disturbances for recalling wrongs and tho
uttainnient of redress.

^Mcaiiwiiile, owing to the discoveries — by Karl Mauch, tho
traveller; J[. Hartley, tho hunter; Thomas ]iaines, tho geO"
grapher, and others, from 18(15 to 1872 — of large quantities of
gold in tlie north-west of tho Transvaal, on the Tati River,
at iMarabastad, and later on at Leydenburg — while even still
further to the north and east, in Umalibiland and Sofala, tho

''Gronchuer of 1858. 65

presence of large gold-fiekls was discovered and heard of — largo
numbers of miners, settlers, and adventurers, followed by traders
and storekeepers, poured in from all sides ; and, whether they
liked it or not, the Boers had to make the best of matters.
The Government at first tried to stop the immigration, then,
finding that useless, to restrain it ; but all to no avail. New
towns sprang up, properties hitherto valueless were sold for
large prices, speculators bought up vast tracts of land, while
trade increased, and a newer, more liberal and powerful system
of government was wanted. The people themselves were either
unable or unwilling to choose another President from among
their own .ranks, when Pretorius resigned ; so they took the
advice of many of their Cape friends and selected the Rev,
Thomas Francois Burgers — a clergyman born at the Cape but
educated in Holland, belonging to the Dutch Reformed Church,
and pastor of Hanover, Cape Colony. This gentleman ac-
cepted the office, and was sworn in as State President for five
years in 1872. Like the Orange Free State under John Brand,
the Transvaal then entered upon a new existence, one which,
however, from various causes, which I shall indicate hereafter,
did not possess in itself the elements of the success which has
attended the new career of its sister Republic.

The earliest constitution of the Republican Government of
the Transvaal under Pretorius' Presidentship, or " Groudwet,'*
as it is called among them, was proclaimed on the 18th of Feb-
ruary, 1858, but had received from time to time many alterations
by the resolutions of the Volksraad, in whom the powers of
Government were vested. This Yolksraad was composed of
forty-two members ; three members for each of the twelve
Districts : — Potchefstrom, Pretoria, Rustenberg, Heidelberg,
Marico, "Wakkerstrom, Middelberg, Leydenberg, Utrecht,
"Walesberg, Zoutpansberg and Bloemhof; and six separate
members for the following chief towns — Potchefstrom, Pretoria,
Rustenberg, Leydenberg and Gold Fields (two). The qualifi-
cation for a seat in the Yolksraad was Burghership for three
years, possession of landed property, and being a member of a
Protestant church. To be a Burgher necessitated a residence
of one 3Tar in' the country, and the possession of taxed pro-

64 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

pert}' ; or, in the case of an alien, a payment of £7 10.9.,
and taking the oath of allegiance to the Republican Govern-
ment. The administration of Government was performed
by an Executive Council, including the State President,
elected for five years. State Secretary, also elected for five years,
and three unoflicial members, chosen by the Volksraad. A
Landdrost, or magistrate, was appointed to each District, who
Lad a clerk and other officials under him. The Court of Appeal,
or Supreme Court, at that time consisted of three Landdrosts
and a jury of twelve Burghers ; but this was changed by Presi-
•deut Burgers. All the male Burghers between sixteen and
sixty were liable to compulsory military service, and non-resi-
dent owners of land, in the event of war, had to pay a war-tax.
While on commando the Burghers armed themselves and pro-
vided means of transport ; but they were entitled to share all
captured cattle, &c., between them, after deducting certain
shares for the State. A paper currency had been issued in
1865, at a great discount, and the credit of the State was un-
doubtedly very low when President Burgers took office.

It may be as well, at the end of this chapter, to give the
list of the Sta'e appointments and their occupants at this time,
as it will be of value in tracing future events. They were
us follows : —

Executive Council.

Stale President.— T. F. Burgers, LL.D.
State Secretary. — N. J. R. Swart.

Members. — S. J. P. Krugcr, C. Joubcrt, and J. C. IIolls-
hauscn (later on Joseph Fourie).

Legislative CounciIi

(Volksraad).

]'rrsj(h')it. — C. J. ]5odensti('n.

Srcrctarjj. — T. G. C. Van Lecnhof.

J^'irst Oover^imcnt Secrctanj. — II. Sliemens.

Smnid ,, ,, C. Van Boschotcn,

Third ,, ,, II. Slicmens, juu.

Burgers Officials. 65

■ Heads of Departments.

Treasurer General. — H. Van Breda.

Attorney General. — Dr. E. F. P. Jorrissen.

Postmaster General. — J. De Vogel (later on F. Jeppe).

Auditor General and Orphan Master. — H. C. Bergsma.

Inspector of Education. — J. W. Van Gorkom.

liegistrar General. — J. J. Meintjes.

Surveyor General. — S. Melville (later on M. Forsmann).

Chief of Artillery. — Captain 0. Eiedel.

Commandant. — A. Aylward.

Landdrosts. — Potchefstrom ; Pretoria ; Rustenberg ; Hei-
delberg ; Leydenberg (Mr. Coopeu, and then Mr. Roth) ;
Middelberg; Wakkerstrom ; Nazareth (newly formed) ; Marico ;
Utrecht ; Walesberg ; Zoutpansberg ; Bloemhof, or Christiana.

Native Commissioner, Neiv Scotland. — Mr. Bell.

Consul General, England. — J. J. Pratt.
,, ,, Holland. — A. Roland Hoist.

,, ,, France. — J. De Mosenthal.

Portuguese Consid General at Potchefstrom. — Chevalier 0.
W. A. Forssman.

Belgian Consul General at Pretoria. — Baron de Selys-
Fanson.

The Revenue in 1872 was £40,988, and the expenditure
£35,714. The ordinary Revenue was derived from quit rents
on farms, sale of State lands, licenses, stamps, and fees, a
waggon duty on traders passing through the State, an import
duty on goods imported, and several other minor sources.

66 /■ With the Boers in the Transvaal.

CHAPTER ^^I.

TRANSVAAL PROGEESS.

New Progressive Policy — Cape Loan — Railway Scheme to Delagba Bay — Journey to
Europe — Portuguese Assistance — Loan floated in Holland — Prospectus and
President's Letter — Native Troubles again — Secocoeni — His District, Tribe and
Allies — Gold Discoveries and Influx of People — Collision with "Johannt-s" —
War declared against the Eapedi — Failure of Attack — Dispersal of Commando —
Volksraad Convened — Leydenberg Volunteer Corps startel — Secocoeni held in
Check — Sues for Peace — Gold-Fields Dispute — Arrival of Captain Clarke, R.A,

President Burgers inaugurated liis term of office by intro-
ducing several sweeping reforms and many new ideas after the
system of more civilized governments — not before they were
needed, it is true ; but, as after events proved, in too wholesale
a manner to be understood or appreciated by the greater portion
of the old Boer element. For a time, however, this new order
of things went well, and the astonishment or doubt of the
older men was more than counterbalanced by the success at-
tendant on the first initiation of the new policy, and the support
^iveu thereto by the Government officials and the more en-
lightened Burghers. AVith the approval and consent of the
Volksraad, a loan of £'00,000 was obtained from the Cape
Commercial Bank at Cape Town, at six per cent., for the pur-
pose of redeeming at par the paper money issued by the
Pretorius Government in 1805, and then at a low discount ;
although when some of these &\ notes were called up and
Ijuriit, Konie time previously (their value then being about live
shillings each), many of the Boers and " Doppcrs " crowded
round and wrathfully exclaimed against " such a wilful waste
of tlie money of the country." Postage stamps were also
issued; a .\\\i\'^<'i was appointed for the Supremo Court, and
the laws were revised by a ]jari istcr from the Cape ; all public

Railway Scheme to Delagoa Bay. 67

lands were surveyed ; schemes were proposed for the promo-
tion of education and religion ; and gold produced in the
country was coined for the Republic. The new President's
most important and far-sighted step was, however, the authority
to effect a loan of half a million sterling for the construction
of a railway from Pretoria to the Portuguese Port at Delagoa
Bay, on the 3ft. Gin. gauge. This scheme had been materially
forwarded by the advice and assistance of Mr. G. P. Moodie,
C.E., a member of Government. This gentleman, after three
journeys, all made on foot, was successful in finding out
a healthy route, along the line of hills sloping gradually to the
seaward. The line from Pretoria to New Scotland and the
Drakensberg was easy and fairly level, while easy gradients
could be secured thence by the Lebomba to Delagoa Bay. The
distances are, from Pretoria to New Scotland, 130 miles, and
thence 110 miles to the sea, or about 240 miles in all. The
object of this proposed railway was twofold : firstly, it was to
open up the great mineral resources of the Transvaal, already
well known and established ; and, secondly, to enable the
country to import its own goods without the payment of such
heavy duties and expenses as were levied at the Cape and
Natal Ports, and of which duties none ever came into the
hands of the Transvaal Government.

The scheme, if properly carried out jWas_ at oiice^seen_J;.CLlie
the death-I)Tow to tlie overberg and inland trade oLhoth-Natal
and the Cape ; and, accordingly, great opposition was shown
to the execution of the work by both these Colonies. Nothing
daunted, but backed up by the reports of good engineers,__tlifi
wishes of his Government, and th e friendly reciprocal feel -
ings shown by the Portuguese Gove rnment, the Prf-sidf-ntj dniy
authorized^. left fQr^.EurQ pe in 1875 . Ile_was duj j received at
tl^e British Court as the recognized jlead of the Tran svaal or
South African Republic. He concluded a treaty with Portugal,
byjvvhich that Government was to_subsidize the raij w^ay to the
whole amount of its cost from D elagoa Bay to th e_limit of ■
their tenitory ; and also arran^ed_iu_HQikiid-fat^ie-4ssai£LJiL
a_xailwaj loan of '£500,0007 at six per cent, of which £90,000
was at once subscribed for on the terms offered.

F 2

6S With the Boers in the Transvaal.

In consequence of the success of the loan, much of the
material required for the railway was ordered in Europe hy the
President, who then set out on his return journey, with the
good wishes of the European Powers with whom he had come in
contact. But he returned to the Transvaal only to find aflairs
there generally in a dreadful state. Previously to his accession
to the Presidentship, there had not been very many internal
troubles with the natives since the difficulty about the Border,
which occurred under Pretorius. It is true there had been ono
or two outbreaks on the part of a chief named Mapoch, who
lived within the Border, but he had been easily reduced to sub-
mission on both occasions, and was then completely quiet on his
own mountain. Thefts of cattle also were of common occurrence,
and it was principally through them that the first campaign was
undertaken by a Transvaal commando against Secocoeni. This
chief, originally a Basuto, was the son of Sequati, chief of the
Bapedi, who occupied the mountainous fever-stricken district
about Lcydenbcrg, and whose territory was within the Border,
but had been considered as an independent native reserve.
Sequati, who had always been friendly with the liocrs, occupied
this land by treaty, and its boundaries were then the Steclport
and Oliphants Piivers. After Sequati's death, Secocoeni became
anxious to enlarge his tribe and influence, and encournged
refugees to come into his district, under their own chiefs and
laws. In this way, and through sickness having caused most
of the Boers to evacuate the lands surrounding — the town of
Orijstadt being entirely deserted from that cause alone —
Secocoeni was for a long time enabled to encroach over the
Transvaal boundaries without coming into actual collision with
the Boers. Among many refugees who joined him, from time
tofiiue, the principal chief was Umsoet, who had quarrelled
with his own tribe, the Amaswa/.i, and brought in nearly
8f)() fighting men with him. Other parties came from the
^Mambcyers, Mopolancr and Knobkose Kaffir tribes ; and by this
means Secocoeni was gradually able to surround himself, at;
any rate, ahtng the southern Jjorder of his territory from tho
Speckboom Iliver to IMajJOch's reserve, ])y a formidable living
barrier, which, however, soon came into contact with the Jjoers,

Gold Discoveries and Iitjliix of People. 69

causing the war which followed, and ending in the final capture
of himself and break-up of the Bapedi.

The cattle thefts, which were of common occurrence, and a
frequent cause of conflicts, were sometimes encouraged with a
purpose, as will be seen from the following extract from Baines*
*' Gold Eegions of S.E. Africa " : — " I was speaking to a
friend respecting the new discoveries, and we both agreed that
it would be very wrong to make war upon the natives and take
the gold-fields away from them. ' But,' said my friend, ' I
would work with foresight (voorzegtigheid). I would send cattle
farmers to graze their herds near the borders, and the Kaffirs
would be sure to steal them ; but if not, the owner could come
away, and he could even withdraw his herdsmen, and let them
run day and night, then the Kaffirs could not resist the tempta-
tion. "We could then go in and claim the stolen cattle, and if
the Kaffirs resisted and made war, of course they would lose
their country.' " Baines, however, adds : — " This idea of
justice to the r-ative is held by, I hope, only a few among them ;
and I have never heard of my friend's diplomacy being carried
into execution, and am happy to say the occupation of the gold-
fields is being carried on without the necessity for any policy
that is not fair to both sides."

The discovery of gold in 1871 brought into the district large
numbers of all classes of men, and frightened both Boers and
Blacks. Of course explorations went on, and parties pros-
pected in Secocoeni's country, as well as beyond the Transvaal
bounds in other directions. About this time also some German
missionaries, having been unable to convert Secocoeni, left his
reserve and settled themselves on a fine station between Leyden-
berg and the Speckboom River ; while, close by, a petty chief,
named Johannes, a so-called convert, also established himself
in a strong position, from which he could visit the mission
station, or steal cattle, whichever suited his disposition. Early
in 187G, things had come to such a pass that Johannes pre-
vented some Boers from cutting wood on a farm to which the
Kaffirs had no legal claim, and further resisted the authorities.
It was then reported to the Government that this rebellion on
Johannes' part was prompted by Secocoeni ; and v.heu news

JO With the Boers in the Transvaal.

reached them that the mission station had heen hurnt down,
and some of the mission Kaffirs killed, war was declared against
the aggressors, much against Mr. Burgers' own will, and although
the country was not prepared for any such war. Added to this,
however, it must not be forgotten that Umsoet, and other petty
chiefs under Secocoeni, had constantly stolen cattle ; and when
remonstrances were sent to him he undertook to return the
cattle on condition that his right to the whole district of
Leydenberg was admitted. A large commando of Burghers
and native allies at once marched against the Kaffirs, under
several commandants, and accompanied by the President him-
self. The whole force was hastily gathered together, and in no
fit state to keep the field long, especially as the wet or fever
season was just commencing. Its strength amounted to over
2,000 Boers, the same number of native allies, and about 500
waggons. The commando took some Border kraals, killed
Johannes, and then marched in two divisions to attack
Secocoeni's town at Thaba Mosegu. A night attack was made,
but for various reasons failed, and the combined forces then
withdrew to the camp. A large meeting was held and a resolu-
tion passed to discontinue the war at that time ; and, with the
exception of a very few, the main body refused to attack again,
and retired to their homes. The President was then in a fix.
As to the charges of cowardice made against the Boers, and
other reports much circulated at the time, it would be useless to
inquire into them. Let the whole of the facts, at the time, bo
considered, and the subsequent events taken into account, and
I think people will be able to form a fair opinion for themselves.
There is one point, however, which I wish to point out, viz. : —
Tbat the return home of the commando was not regarded as a
retreat by the Kallh-s themselves, who otherwise would have
attacked them on their march back to camp. On the contrary,
far from being able or willing to attack the Boers, and invade
the Transvaal, it was fully two months after the retreat of the
commando, and when the conduct of the war was entrusted only
to volunteers, that the Ka(lh-s mustered up courage to make an
unsuccosHliil attack on one of the outlying forts situated in their
own country.

Volksraad Convened. yi

After the resolution come to by the farmers not to continue
the war at that time, owing to a variety of causes, among
which the principal were scarcity of provisions and ammunition,
and the known dangerous approach of the sickly season, the
President had no other course open than to summon the
Volksraad and point out to them the danger of the situation.
During the previous year, 1875, while President Burgers was
away in Europe, financial matters had not progressed well.
Although the revenue, £69,928, balanced the expenditure,
£69,593, yet the increased taxation had produced great dissatis-
faction among the older Boers, who had always been opposed
to taxes of any kind, looking upon them as oppressive acts.
When, therefore, besides this increased and heavy taxation,
special demands were made for a war-tax of £10 on every
farm, many simply refused to pay at all, and all obedience to
the law and the constituted authorities ceased. The Govern-
ment soon found itself in difficulties, without funds or adequate
means of compelling the payment of the just taxes levied by order
of the Volksraad, the salaries of the public officials remaining
unpaid — even that of the President — and the interest of the
public debt also in arrears. Altogether it was felt that the
exigencies of the case demanded quick and strong remedies,
unless the State was to be allowed to drift into national
bankruptcy and an overwhelming internal war.

Meanwhile, after the withdrawal of the Boer commando, the
President received an offer from Captain Von Scblieckmann, an
ofiicer in the Prussian service, of great bravery and acknow-
ledged ability, to raise a corps of volunteers to occupy the
frontier by means of a chain of detached forts, to harass the
enemy so as to prevent their making any incursions from their
stronghold on the surrounding country, and by means of
incessant patrols and night attacks, and combined movements,
to prevent Secocoeni getting together, during the spring and
summer, any stock of food sufficient to enable him to engage
in a second campaign. This offer was closed with thankfully
by the President and the farmers, who could not possibly be
expected to invest Secocoeni' s stronghold during the sickly
season, or until the winter enabled them to attack him again.

72 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

Power to raise and equip such a force was given to Von
Scblieckmann, who set about the congenial task at once.
Over a hundred men were raised at the Diamond Fields and
elsewhere, Government to find them salted horses, rifles,
ammunition, food, and equipments, with .£5 per month per
man, and at the end of the war a free gift of a farm each of
4,000 acres was promised on condition of occupation by them-
selves or substitutes for five years. The corps consisted of a
commandant, four lieutenants, an artillery officer, a doctor,
lOS men, and about 70 horses. Von Scblieckmann got a few
men together at the time, and proceeded at once to the
Steelport River, where he built the first fort, called Fort
Burgers, a six-angled redoubt, near the confluence of the
Steelport and Speckboom Rivers. In the meanwhile Lieutenant
A. Aylward — afterwards Commandant — brought up the recruits
from the Diamond Fields. They were armed at Pretoria with
Westley-Piicbards rifles, and sent off by the President at once
to the front, with nine waggons loaded with ammunition, food,
and necessaries. The Government had, however, been unable
to secure the salted horses, but promised to send them up
afterwards ; while the Treasury was so empty that the Govern-
ment could only contribute to the military chest the sum of
£25 in small silver. The work done by this corps of Ley-
denbcrg Volunteers — assisted by a Swazie contingent under
Eckersle}' — the death of Von Scblieckmann, and all the other
interesting details of their fun and fights, arc they not well
described in Aylward's " Transvaal of To-day " ? Sufiice it
for mo to say that by their actions they undoubtedly kept
Sccocooni in check, and brought about an ofl'er of submission
from that chief which was accepted on the 12th of February,
1877. Peace was tben proclaimed along the ]3ordcr, and
arrangomcnts were made for the delivery of the 2,000 bead of
cattle promised by Secocoeni,and for his recognition of the suzer-
ainty of the llcpublic. The fever then broke out among the corps,
many of wlioni bad been sent to garrison other forts further
advanced in the country, and they were ordered back to Krugcrs
Post and Lcydcnbcrg. Part of another force of volunteers,
under Captain Van Deventer, was recalled from Fort Weei)er to

Gold-Fields Dispute. 73

garrison Pretoria, then in an uproar through the arrival of
Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Her Majesty's High Commissioner.
At the Gold Fields a conflict nearly broke out hetvreen the
British and Republican parties, the former wishing to bo
governed by an authority that could protect them, and the
latter resenting the interference of outsiders while they were
doing their best with the force at their command to arrange
matters suitably for all. By the exercise of a little tact and
judicious management on the part of the authorities, an out-
break was avoided, and Leydenberg remained quiet until the
annexation of the Transvaal by Sir T. Shepstone on the
12th of April, when the Leydenberg Volunteer Corps was dis-
banded by Captain Clarke, R.il., the new Gold-Fields Com-
missioner.

74 With the Boers in the Transvaal,

CHAPTER VIII.

TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION.

Oonfederatioa Schemes — Lord Carnarron and Jlr. Froude — Cape Hostility — South
African Conference in London — Burgers' Helplessness — Extraordinary Session of
Volksraad — Sir Theophilus Sbepstone's Arrival — His Policy and Acts — Transvaal
Annexation — Protest of Volksraad and President — Deputation to England — N'iW
Government Officials — Raising Native Police Force — Great Discontent and
Danger — Second Proclamation — Return of Deputation — Memorial got up —
Second Deputation despatched — Distinguished Visitors — ^Anthony Trollope — Sir
A. Cunjnghame — Re-commeucement of Native Hostilities.

At the time the Transvaal was thus getting into difficulties, iu
187G-7, the British Government were again directing their
attention to a scheme of confederation of all the Colonies and
States in South Africa. This was no new idea, as, so far back
as the year 1858, the Volksraad of the Orange Free Stato
passed a resolution : — " That the Raad feels itself in unison
with a large number of the Burghers who have already
approached it by memorial, convinced that a union or alliance
with the Cape Colony either on the plan of federation or
otherwise is desirable ; and resolves that his Honour the
State President (Mr. Boshotf) be rcqacsted to correspond with
his Excellency the Governor on that sul)joct, in order thus to
ascertain whether the Cape Parliament will declare itself inclined
for such a union, and whether the Colonial Government would
receive a commission from this State, if possible, at one of tlio
towns on the Eastern Province, who, together with that Gov(>ni-
meut, or with a commission to be appointed by it, shall draft
the preliminary terms of such a union, to be thereafter sub-
mitted for the approval of both Governments." The then
Governor of the Cape, Sir George Grey, and the Secretary of
State in England were both most favourably inclined to tho
idea, and a scheme was ably drawn out by Sir George for tho

Confederation Schemes. 75

realization of a federal union ; but political events happened to
prevent its acceptance, and Sir George was removed to another
sphere. Earl Carnarvon took office as Secretary of State for
the Colonies in 1874, and directed all his efforts to arouse a
feeling in favour of confederation among the South African
Colonies and States. But matters were again nipped in the
bud by the action of the Cape Responsible Ministry and their
House of Assembly, who almost unanimously rejected the idea,
and refused even to consider the matter by sending Delegates to
England, as was done by Natal and the Orange Free State to a
conference which took place in 1876.

The history of the South African Conference is as follows : —
In 1875 Earl Carnarvon wrote a despatch to Sir H. Barkly,
the Cape Govern."^-, in which he proposed a conference of
Delegates from the Cape Colony, Natal, Griqualand, Orange
Free State and Transvaal Republics, to discuss — Firstly, the
advisability of a common native policy ; and secondly, the con-
federation of all the Colonies and States under the British
Imperial authority. The despatch, after referring to the
various causes which had given rise to such a proposal, and
urging its acceptance upon those interested, nominated Mr.
Fronde, the historian, as a representative of the British Govern-
ment, and commended him to the Cape Government as being
eminently fitted to assist their conferences both by his strong
interest in all Colonial questions and the particular attention
he had already paid to those of South Africa especially. This
step of Lord Carnarvon's excited great dissatisfaction on the
part of the Cape Government ; and when Mr. Froude arrived
in Cape Town the proposal for a conference was already de-
clined. But, as many of the Colonial papers and Colonists
seemed to favour the scheme, Mr. Froude lectured on its
merits at a series of public meetings. This course was thought
by many to have been unconstitutional, and against the spirit
of the Responsible Government granted to the Cape. Mr.
Froude then returned to England. In 1876, when President
Brand had come over, to settle the claims of the Orange Free
State with regard to the Diamond Fields, and Mr. Molteuo, the
Cape Colonial Prime Minister, was also there, to arrange for

76 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

the future government of Griqualand West, Lord Carnarvon
suggested a conference on South African aftairs. This Con-
ference was held at the Colonial Office in August, 1876, pre-
sided over by Earl Carnarvon, and attended by President Brand
— who, however, was precluded by his instructions from the
Yolksraad from taking any active part in the discussion. Sir
T. Shepstone, Messrs. Akerman and Robinson, two Delegates
from Natal, and Mr. Froude, nominated by the Colonial
Minister as the representative for Griqualand West (the Diamond
Fields), were also present. Mr. Molteno did not attend, having
no authority to do so. There were several sittings, and the
results are now published and known through the medium of
the Blue Books. In the result, Sir H. Barkly, being unable to
persuade the Cape Government to look upon the Confederation
Scheme with any degree of favour, was replaced by Sir PL B.
E. Frere, from whom great things were expected. His instruc-
tions were most definite and peremptor}'", and large discretionary
powers were given him, as High Commissioner over all British
South Africa. The annexation of the Transvaal, the Gaika and
Galcka wars at the Cape, the Zulu, Moroisi, and Secocooni cam-
paigns followed, and for the time completely set aside the great
Confederation Scheme, which is now, I venture to say, farther off
realization than ever, owing to the vacillating policies of the suc-
cessive Home Governments and their Colonial Secretaries of StatCo
Matters were in this state in Great Britain and South Africa
when, in the Transvaal, seeing that desperate measures were
required. President l^urgers again summoned the Yolksraad in
extraordinary session, in February, 1877, and put the alternatives
clearly before the members — Either there must be a prompt
reform of the legislative, judicial, and executive brandies, and
the inhabitants must unite cordially and vigorously in acting
up to the necessities of the case, and support by every mcana
in their i)o\ver their own elected Government; or they would
have to accept Lord Carnarvon's proposals for confederation,
or see the State drift into bankrnj)t('y, anarcliy, and internal
disruption. While these inqxjrtant questions wert' actually under
deliberation. Sir T. Shepstone — a curious coincidence — arrived
ut Pretoria as a Special Commissioner (vague and dreaded

Transvaal Aimexalion. ^j

name to South Africans) with a staff and a small escort of
Katal mounted police. His Excellency stated that he was
deputed hy the Imperial Government to confer with the Trans-
vaal authorities on the subject of Confederation, and especially
with regard to the conduct of native affairs, which threatened,
unless vigorously treated, to involve the whole of South Africa
in a general native war. Here was a chance for agitators,
speculators, and others. Meetings were organized ; pressure
was brought to bear ; the most absurd and untruthful rumours
were spread about ; and memorials and addresses were pre-
sented to the Government to prevent civil war, and other horrors
too numerous to mention, by accepting confederation with or
annexation to the British Empire. Petitions also were got up
and signed by the British part of the population, praying Sir
T. Shepstoue to take over the country without any more to-do,
and to proclaim it British territory at once, on the ground that
some of the conditions of the Convention of 1852 had been
broken, viz. : that slavery had been permitted, and that neither
law nor order existed to protect foreign interests, then repre-
sented as being very great. The large majority of the Yolks-
raad were of the old " Yoortrekker " stamp, and did not in
any way wish again to come under British rule ; but, on the
other hand, they professed themselves as unable to solve the
difficult problem of self-government on a new, thorough, and
strong basis. Therefore, while still in doubt, and surrounding
events on the Borders and elsewhere proving the danger of a
reign of terror. Sir T. Shepstoue stepped in, issued a Procla-
mation in virtue of his authority, as shown by his commission
of appointment (see Appendix A) ; hoisted the British flag,
and annexed the country; sending up Captain Clarke, R.A., as
Special Commissioner to the Gold Fields and Native Piaces iu
the Xorth-East.

These high-handed, but, no doubt, from his own point of
view, perfectly necessary acts, met with no resistance from the
Boers. The Government contented itself with issuing a pro-
test, and passing a resolution to send Delegates to England and
other countries to protest against the annexation. This was
followed by a similar protest from the President (see Appendix

78 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

B). Granted the necessity for annexation , no time could nave
been better cBosen, no opportunity more ably seized, no action
more car efully cousiclered or carried o ut, tlran'tlie steps lakenljy
Sir T. Sbepstone a nd bi s subordinates in proclaiming the Trans-
raal Britisb T errit ory^tJii the mmmer and at the time tliey dj d.
And, bad the ^pro mises tben made been carried out and ke]^t in
tbe^^a me spirit and ma nupr^ T^ for one, am positive— a nd many
tbink witb me — t bat no active s teps would bave ever been taken
by tbe Trans vaa l Boers for tbe forcible recovery of tbeir couii-
try. Tbeir subsequent actions and moderation during tbe
next tbree years show tbis, and prove, if proof were necessary,
tbat bad a Royal Commission sat in Pretoria in 1877, or a
diiferent policy been carried out by Sir Garnet Wolseley and Sir
Owen Lanyon, tbe recent terrible events would never bave
occurred to deepen tbe feelings of race batred between Dutcb
Soutb Africans and Britisb, already bitter enougb.

For some time, immediately following tbe annexation, affairs
progressed quietly enougb, and tbe officers appointed by tbe
Administration managed matters expeditiously and carefully.
Colonel Brooke, R.E., was Cbief of tbe Staff; Melmotb Osborn,
Government Secretary, and Mr. Henderson, a well-known Natal
man. Treasurer General ; wbile Captain Clarke assumed tbe
reins of Government in tbe Nortb-East or Lej'dcnberg District.
Reviews — for tbe l-13tb P.A.L.I. were sent up to garrison tbe
town of Pretoria, and were quickly joined by a body of Mounted
Infantry, under Cajitain Carrington — balls, and otber gaieties
followed cacb otber in quick rotation ; large numbers of new
people came into tbe country ; mercbants, speculators, capital-
ists arrived, together witb tbe usual assortment of loafers and
place-bunters — always at band wben changes take place — and
general prosperity seemed to have set in. V>vX after tbe ap-
pointment of ]\Iessrs. Krugcr and Jorrissen, as Delegates of the
" Protest Commission," witb whom was associated Mr. W.
Eduard Bok, a clever Hollander, as Secretary, the principal
part of the ]Joers retired to their farms and awaited, with what
patience they could, the result of their Deputation to England.
The Landdrosts and otber officials of the late Government were
retained in llicir offices, upon taking the oath of allegiance to

Raising Native Police Force, 79

Her Majesty's Government. So far so good ; and had matters
been allowed so to continue, all would have been well. But,
unfortunately, though doubtless owing to the exigencies of the
peculiar circumstances of the position in which the Adminis-
trator was placed, Sir T. She pstone appointed Tnnny of bi s
staff and friends to offices unkno wn to the constitution o f
the old government, giving pow ers of a large extent, and
almost irrespo nsible~ natu re, to m^ who, to say the least o f
it, knew litt le or nothing of the Boers and the Natives
in those parts. The men thus appointed, though no doubt
able and anxious to do their duty, were crippled by want
of local knowledge and that lack of sympathy with those under
them, which could only be expected as natural under the cir-
cumstances. Other mistakes of a similar nature occurred here
and there, and are certainly to be regarded as the cause of much
discontent and subsequent expression of hostile feelings by the
Boers. While to prevent such public expressions of their
wrongs, and the right of petitioning for their removal, Sir T.
Shepstone issued a second Proclamation (see Appendix C), in
which he stated his opinion that any attempts to re-open the
Annexation question would be considered as seditious, and as
attempts at rebellion, and be treated as such. But, in addition
to these matters, a Native police force of 200 Natal KafS ri^ was
raided bj^ir JT^^Shepstone, and sent up, under the command of
Mr. L. Lloyd, to Captain Clarke, at Le5'denberg, to be used as
a check to Secocoeni and other neighbouring predatory chie fs.
This was looked upon by many with anger and by all with sus-
picion, as being illegal and unnecessary. It alarmed the Boers,
who objected to the raising and arming of any Native force out
of the State f or service in that State , unless authorized by law.
Moreover, it looked like an attempt to bring in Shepstone's old
allies, th e Zul us, to overawe the Boe rs — ^ idpn. nof. witbnnt
s ome trut h in it , as was evidenced b y the subsequent dis -
closures of Magema and Bishop Colenso ; but to what extent
it was true i liave no means of judging. Anyhow, the Native
police force was a mistake, and soon led to other misfortunes.
Meanwhile, the deputation, Messrs. Kruger, Jorrissen, and
Bok, returned from England, at the end of the year, and imme-

So With the Boers m the Transvaal.

diately reported to their fellow-countrymen their entire failure.
They therefore drew up the following Memorial, and sent it to
England with another Deputation, consisting of Messrs Kruger,
Joubert and Bok : —

*' To Lord Carnarvon, Minister for the Colonies in England.
Pretoria, January 7, 1878. — We, the undersigned "White In-
habitants of the Transvaal, having this day received report
from our Deputation sent to England, consisting of the Honour-
able S. J. P. Kruger, Vice-President of the South African
Piepublic, and Dr. E. F. P. Jorrissen, State Attorney, with the
view to get back our independence, of which we have been
deprived on the 12th of April, 1877, have learned with deep
regret that they have not been able to obtain that object. It
pains them so much the more, because it appears most clearly
from the documents produced by the Deputation, that the loss
of their independence is entirely and solely due to the false
and incorrect representations of the position said to have
existed here, as given by people who acted from selfish motives
— in a word, by calumny. The fact, however, that the Govern-
ment in England had been so totally misinformed about the
real sentiments of the vast majority of the population, inspires
the undersigned with courage to venture another attempt, and
to show by their signatures that by fiir the great majority
is opposed to the British Sovereignty. We cannot yet dismiss
this matter before we have tried the last means to obtain our
end by peaceable measures, according to protest dated April 11,
1877. The undersigned cannot yet believe that it could be
England's will and desire to reign over a people that will not
be subject to any power whatsoever. They much rather believe
the words addressed to them to-day by Mr. S. J. P. Kruger,
member of the Deputation, when he said: 'Brethren, pcoplo
in England really do not know the actual position here ; and
I uni fully convinced that England's First Minister, Lord
Carnarvon, acted in good faith when he spoke in his dosjiatch
to the Deputation of that insignilicant minority.' It, is there-
fore with great modesty, but at tho same timo witli i'crveiit
earnestness, that wo entreat your Tjordship to restore to us our
country — that country which wc love as our lives, and for

Distinotnshcd Visitors. 8i

<^>

•uliich we always were and still are prepared every day to sacri-
fice our lives. May it therefore please your Lordship to be moved
by our numerous signatures, and to restore to us our country.
Signed by 6,591 qualified electors of the South African Repub-
lic, the original, with signatures attached, being in the posses-
sion of the Deputation, and open for the inspection of Her
Majesty's Government. In addition to the above, memorials
with 301 signatures were obtained, which were informally sent
in, and thus have not been counted. Signed, S. J. P. Kruger,
P. J. Joubert, Delegates ; W. Ed. Bok, Secretary ; T. Shep-
stone. Administrator."

The annexation brought the Transvaal into much prominence
in Europe and elsewhere for the time. Among the many dis-
tinguished visitors who travelled through it may be mentioned
Mr. Anthony Trollope, since called the " Historian of the
Annexation ; " Colonel Warren, R.E., C.B., the Administrator
of Griqualand West, after Sir Owen Lan^'on's removal to
Pretoria ; Major Piavenscroft, well known in the Diamond Fields ;
Lieut.-General Sir Arthur Cunynghame, K.CB., Commanding
the Troops at the Cape, with his aide-de-camp, poor Coghill,
killed afterwards at Isandwhlana ; and, of course. Sir T.
Shepstone himself, and Judge Coetzee, made the tour of the
whole of the Districts in fulfilment of their purely official duties.
In speaking of the Administrator's visit to Leydenberg, after
that of the General, Aylward, in his book, says: — " The same
sort of reception, but colder, was accorded to Sir T. Shepstone,
on his arrival, six weeks afterwards. He had not the sportsman's
jollity, the winning ways, the hearty manner, or the golden
tongue of Her Majesty's Military Representative. He was a
crafty-looking and silent man, who never used an unnecessary
word or gesture. He was undemonstrative ; and, rightly or
wrongly, the people believed him to be utterly insincere. Had
he not been accompanied by that jovial officer, Captain Car-
rington, with his troop of Mounted Infantry ; Dr. Ash, 13th
Regiment ; and Lieutenant Brown, l-24th Regiment, his
Excellency's visit would have been an utter failure." Shortly
after the Administrator had left Leydenberg, Mr. Bell, the
Native Commissioner at New Scotland, was brutally murdered,

82 With the Boers in the Ti'ansvaal.

and the Natives began to get restless, to such an extent that
Captain Clarke had to take some steps, and remonstrate with
Secocoeni, which, not being successful, led to the second
Secocoeni war.

CHAPTER IX.

THANSVAAL AND SECOCOEICI.

Second War with Secocoeni — Captain Clarke's Policy and Failure — Reinforcements of
Volunteers— JIasselleroom Massacre — Fever Season sets in — Regulars garrisou
Towns — Temporary Cessation of Hostilities— ?teps to confine Secocoeni —
Aylward's Summary of Affairs — Sir Bartle Frere and lord Chelmsford — Zulu
and Dutch disputed Boundary Commission — Final Award and Details — Ad
interim Steps in Transvaal — Return of the Second Boer Deputation from
England — Their Interview with Sir Bartle Frere — Colonel Sir 0. Lanyon's
Appointment as Administrator — Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England
— Zulu War — Boer Meetiogs and Measures— Sir Bartle Frere's Journey to
Pretoria — Interview with Boer Farmers — Subsequent Steps and Recommend
ation.

Secocoeni's submission to President Burgers was, curiously
enough, coincident with the despatch of a message to Sir T.
Shepstone, to the effect that the Boers were kilHug his people,
and that he wished " Somjstsen " (Shepstone's Kaffir name) to
save him. Some Commissioners, Dutch and English, includ-
ing Captain Clarke and Mr. Haggard, were then sent up to
him to arrange terms of peace ; and to them he admitted " that
he had no crops, and had lost fourteen of his own family and
nearly 2,000 of his people." After the annexation, Captain
Clarke was so convinced of Secocoeni's desire for peace that
he disbanded the Leydeuberg Volunteer Corps, before obtaiuiug
any guarantees for the maintenance of peace or the payment of
the war indemnity of 2,000 head of cattle. Fort Burgers
was left in charge of only an Assistant Native Commissioner,
Mr. George Eckersley, and his orderly; while Fort Weeber,
on the West side of the Zulu Mountains, was also left to
another Assistant Native Commissioner, Captain Diedricht.
Not long afterwards, it was found that Secocoeni was evading
the payment of the war indemnity ; while reports were sent in
to Captain Clarke that messengers had been noticed passing to

84 Wiik the Boers in the Transvaal.

and from Zululaud ; and that Masselleroom, or Legolani,
Secocoeni's sister, was harassing Native tribes who were
British subjects. Later on, Sir T. Shepstone himself was told
by all the officials in the District that Secocoeni would make
war again as soon as he had sufficient provisions and supplies.
Smuggling and gun-running were very prevalent at the time at
LeydenFerg ; and, owing to the absence of any armed force, no
steps could be taken effectively to stop it, or to give the pro-
tection to the District and Border farmers so much needed in
the then state of affairs. In addition to this, the sale of fire-
arms to the Natives, hitherto always strictly ij F ohihited by the
Boers, was allowed at the Diamond Fields, where Natives from
all parts ca me to work with the sole object of gaining sufficient
to purchas e guns, and then retur nin g home. The consequence
of this was that in five years_nearly Imlf n mi 11 inn stmul nf
arms were sold to the Natives in and around the Transvaal —

the Zulus obtaining theirsthr ough other methods, better known
than appreciated, in N atal and the Portuguese settlements.

Sir T. Shepstone, after thus settling everything to his satis-
faction with Secocoeni, left for Utrecht and Natal, accompanied
by Captain Clarke, who was desirous of immediately proceeding
farther into Natal for the purpose of raising the Native police
force, of which I have spoken previously. Not many days
after their departure the chief, Mapoch, who, since his defeat
by the Boers, had been fairly loyal and quiet, murdered three
British subjects. Thereupon the Landdrost sent a sheriff,
thougli with orders not to provoke hostilities, to demand the
murderers. They were given up to him, but on account of the
dciiaut action and words of the other Kaflirs, and the want of
a small mounted force, he was unable to bring the men away.
Tliis was quickly followed by the murder of ]\Ir. Bell, in New
Scotland, by some natives in his own District, and although
afterwards Mabekana, his murderer, was caught, tried and
hangfMl, yet the moral ('llect produced at the time by such an
outrage was, to say the least, disastrous to British prestige.
After re])cat(d applications to Captain Clarke, then in Natal, by
all the officials, some of whoso lives were openly threateued,
that officer authorized the raising of twenty-five provisional

Captain Clarke's Policy and Failure . 85

policemen, who were sent up to Fort AYeeber to overawe Lcgo-
lani, and aid the Assistant Commissioner in maintaining a sem-
blance of his authority. Captain Clarke himself then arrived with
his Natal-Zulu police, dressed, drilled and armed. This not
only frightened all the neighbouring tribes, whether friendly or
otherwise, but effectually prevented any help coming from the
Swazies, hitherto the Boers' allies, who objected very justly to
this arming of their hereditary enemies. Captain Clarke went
on to Fort Weeber, and tried to check Secocoeni and his sister.
But one day, while riding with an orderly near the Fort, he
met some of Legolani's men armed with guns, whom he dis-
armed, and compelled to surrender their guns to some followers
of Pogwani, a British Native ally, always at war with Legolani.
This was the spark to the touch-hole. Mr. Eckersley, who had
with him four white men and twelve Natives, was at once sur-
rounded at Fort Burgers by an imin of 500 men under Seco-
coeni's brother ; another xm'pi occupied the pass between the
Fort and Ougstadt ; a third threatened Kruger's Fort ; while the
fourth and largest invaded the Waterfall Valley, between Fort
AVeeber and Leydenberg. Though thus surrounded and cut off,
Eckersley gallantly effected his retreat by the aid of some of
the Native police, sent for that purpose by the Landdrost Pioth
of Leydenberg. The outlying farmers were attacked and had
to fly to places of safety ; while Captain Clarke, with Acting
Native Commissioner Schultz, evacuated Fort Weeber ^jro tern.,
and brought back the small garrison, leaving however some
powder and other property, which the enemy captured. The
Provisional police, increased to fifty-six men, only half of
whom were mounted, were stationed in the best positions ;
while Eckersley was sent to guard the Waterfall District with
sixteen whites and sixteen of Windvogel's men. Captain
Clarke himself, with the Zulu police under Lieutenant Lloyd,
returned to Fort Weeber, where he was to have been met by a
Volimteer force of 150 men with guns, promised from Pretoria.
But he only obtained about fifty of these three weeks after-
wards, and they were neither armed nor provisioned, which
accordingly had to be done from Leydenberg. Captain Clarke
was also promised the assistance of Mapoch in his operations ;

86 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

but the Swazies, jealous of the employment of the Zulu police,
refused any help at this crisis.

In the town of Leydenberg itself there were only twelve
policemen, five Volunteer Artillerymen and forty special con-
stables. The fever season was again commencing, and Seco-
coeni was becoming daily more and more defiant. Captain Clarke
soon had to abandon Fort Weeber, having so many men sick.
Even the Native allies suffered, and a large hospital established
at Leydenberg was soon filled. Notwithstanding all these
difficulties Captain Clarke occasionally made raids on the enemy ;
nnd on one occasion he attacked and almost captured Legolani's
chief town. But after four hours' fighting, in which he lost
some policemen, two white officers, and several men wounded,
he was obliged to retire, with a capture of over 200 head of
cattle and goats. The Zulu police here first showed their
worthlessness and freedom from control when excited in the
heat of battle. They bayoneted and thrust into the flames of
the burning huts all the Natives they met, without distinction
of age or sex, with a barbarity seldom shown or allowed by
the Natives Avheu allied with the whites. Their officers were
badly wounded and powerless to prevent the massacre. On the
following day, the stronghold was again attacked by Captain
Clarke with his Bechuana allies, who had fled on the previous
occasion, and necessitated his retreat. The attack was success-
ful, and Legolani's tribe was at length broken up, all her cattle,
with 150 men, women and children being captured, while Lego-
laui and a few of her warriors joined Secocoeni. After this,
Captain Clarke built another advanced post, called Fort Ma-
malul)e, and was further reinforced by volunteers from Pretoria
and the Diamond Fields ; Avhile Leydenberg and Middloberg
were garrisoned by some companies of the l-13th P. A.L.I. , sent
up at once for the purpose. Evci-y effort was now made to
Ihiisli tlie war and bring Secocoeni to submission befori' the
winter season ended and the rains Ix'gan, which is generally
about. August, lasting to Jnnuary or February'.

About the end of July, 187H, Captain Clarke's position and
force were, as given l)y Aylwai'd, ;is follows: — "There were
about 250 I'^uropcans, with tiix guns, lUO Zulu police, 408

Sir Bartle Frere and Lord Chelmsford. 87

Kiffirs under Mr. Taunton, and a mixed body of 110 men,
under Mr. Eckersley. The stations were Forts Weeber, Ma-
malube, and Faugb-a-ballagh, and a camp of the Diamond
Fields Horse at Droars River, with the Infantry base at Middle-
berg and Leydenberg." Several lamentable contretemjjs now
liaijpened in quick succession, Secocoeui's men cutting off
cattle-guards, horses and cattle, at the advanced Fort ; while
the Native allies broke out into open mutiny, and were followed
by the Zulu police. These occurrences might have had serious
results but for the opportune arrival of some of Carrington's
Mounted Infantry. Later on, the Frontier Light Horse joined
the force in September, having come up from the old Colony ;
and the 80th reinforced the garrison at Pretoria. But no
combined movement was effected, and the wet season set in
lea\'ing Secocoeni on the offensive. The position of affairs at
that time is so aptly and truthfully described by Aylward in his
book (page 260) that I cannot do better than reproduce it here.
He says, writing at the end of 1878 : — " The state of our
Kaffir relations at the time of my writing is thus roughly
stated : We are all but at war with the Zulus of Zululand ;
have offended the Amaswazies ; are fighting with Secocoeni (at
a cost of i6 12,000 a month) ; have had to disband our paid
Kaffir forces for mutiny ; and have in fact no assistance to hope
for, save from Mr. Eckersley, who was insulted by raw Natal-
ians being preferred to and placed over him and Windvogel's
little band. In addition to this, the Border for 1,200 miles is
hostile and watchful ; the white population of the Transvaal is
decreasing ; the volunteers are dissatisfied, and desertions are
terribly frequent from the regulars. The Boers, whose territory
we have annexed, will not help us, and the country is not
worth the price that must b'e paid for it. There are now troops
also in Pondolaud, whose marching expenses alone amount to
;£25,000 a month. Our South African policy promises to
satisfy nobody, but to cost us millions."

Meanwhile, Sir Bartle Frere, the Governor, and Lord Chelms-
ford, the Commander-in-Chief, having successfully finished the
Gaika and Galeka War at the Cape, in which they were
materially assisted by the Fingoes, came round to Natal late in

88 Wiih the Boers in the Transvaal.

1878 and prepared for the Zulu Campaign, then clearly looming'
in the distance. Sending up the 80th and some irregulars to
the Transvaal to keep matters quiet there while settling the
Zulu question, and being followed by the other forces thus
released from the Cape and by the regiments then in Natal. Pre-
vious to this, however, I ought here to mention that shortly
after the annexation, a Commission was sent up in February,
1878, from Natal to Rorke's Drift, consisting of the Attorney-
general, Mr. Gallwey, the Secretary for Native Affairs, Mr.
John Shepstone, and Colonel Durnford, R.E. , with a secretary
and short-hand reporter. The object was to inquire into the
relative claims of the Boers and the Zulus to the disputed
territory between the Blood and Pongola Rivers. Their
report was sent to Sir Bartle Frere to decide upon while he
was in Natal. His award, then made known, gave the greater
portion of the land in dispute to the Zulus, with the exception
of the Districts immediately surrounding Utrecht and Lune-
berg. The boundary then laid down — being the Blood River,
from its junction with the Buffalo to its source, thence in a
straight line N.W. to Kruger's Beacon, and from there again
for a short distance north to the source of the Pongola — was
constituted the nortliern boundiiry of the Zulu nation. This
boundary was however altered again, after the close of the
Zulu war, of which every one knows the history now by heart,
and which therefore needs no description of my own in this
work. This very boundary question had been an important one
for many years previously, giving rise to a series of quarrels,
cattle thefts and reprisals, on the part of the IBoer inhabitants
and the Zulus, both of whom claimed the gi-ound ; and no-
definite settlement could ever be come to about it during tlio
reign of the Transvaal Republican Government, although tho
iriatter was finally referred to the Niilal Government for inquiry
jiod report. Up to the end of 1877 Sir T. Shep stone, pre-
viously Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal, and the installer
and personal friend of Cetywayo, the Zulu king, had always
Bided with them in the quarrel, believing that tlie Boers had
gradually encroached upon the land. But alter hi s journey to-
Utrecht^ and oubsequent interviews with Boers and Zulus^_and_

Return of Second Boer Deputation. 89

the higli-handed proceedings and threats of the Zulu Pr ime
JU-imstet and other ; Zulu chiefs at a meeting held on the Bloo d
Eiver on the 18th of October, 18 77, he came to the conc lusion
that the Boers had right and jus tice on the ir side. He there-
fore so represented the case to the Xatal Government and Earl
Carnarvon, and stated that every beacon then standing had
been erected by the Boers in the presence of the Zulu chiefs
and on the spots pointed out by them. This_ of course gave
rise to much discontent ; and the_s ubsequent acts and threats
Of^ Cetywayo caused the abnndnnment nf the dispntpd t.f^p -i'tnry
b^' the B oers, who were heavy losers thereby . They considered
themselves again unfairly treated by the British Government,
in not having their rights granted to them and protection
ensured from the threats of the Zulu king ; while they them-
selves were prevented from taking any steps of self-protection
or retaliation, but were told that if they waited patiently all
would come right in the end. Thus was another pretext
aflbrded to the Boers for widening the breach already existent
and quite large enough.

Towards the end of 1878, the second Boer Deputation, con-
sisting of Messrs. Kruger, Joubert, and Bok, returned from
England, ha\'ing been again unsuccessful in getting any satis-
factory promises from the then Secretary of State for the
Colonies ; but having met with much kindness and sympathy
from many of the English, and inhabitants of other European
countries. The able, though somewhat prolix letter, written by
them, in refutation of Sir T. Shepstone's annexation Proclama-
tion and subsequent acts, will be found in Appendix D, and puts
their side of the question fairly and straightforwardly before all
the world. Their return to South Africa was almost coincident
with Sir Bartle Frere's visit to Natal, and they had the satis-
faction of a long interview and explanation with his Excellency
at the Government House, Pietermaritzburg. This took place
on February 4, 1879, and there were present the three deputies,
his Excellency and Staff, including the Piev. Mr. Stegmaun, a
clergyman of the Dutch Reformed Church at Cape Town, an
able, practical and liberal-minded man, whose presence was
deemed of <:rreat value to Sir Bartle Frere in his meetin<];s with

go With the Boers in the Transvaal.

the Transvaal Boers. A verbatim report of this important
meeting was taken at the time and published in the Colonial
Press immediately afterwards ; and as I shall have to refer to
the proceedings thereat in another chapter, it will be unnecessary
to give the account in extcnso here. Suffice it to say that its
tenor did not allay in the slightest degree the bitter feelings of
discontent still slumbering in the breasts of the Transvaal
Boers, and shown occasionally at meetings held in various parts
of the country. Those meetings, though orderly enough in
themselves, were yet productive of much evil in the existing
state of affairs, and ought — if the Government had been strong
enough and wise enough — in its own interests to have been
put down with a strong hand from the commencement. Several
large meetings were held early in 1879, and at one a mutual
oath of allegiance was taken by those then present, binding them
to co-operate in every way, and by any means, to obtain their
freedom and recover their country.

It was at this critical time in the internal affairs of the
Transvaal that Colonel Lanyon — Administrator of the Diamond
rields, or Griqualand West as it is called — was appointed to the
same office and title in the Transvaal, in succession to Sir T.
Shepstone, who was desirous (or had been desired) to relinquish
his temporarily assumed office. Colonel Lanyon arrived at
Pretoria, March 4th ; and to many, even at that time, it seemed
a questionable and even dangerous policy to appoint a military
man, an entire stranger both to the country and people, to such
an irresponsil>le, nay even autocratic, position as was that of an
Administrator, after the repeated official promises of Sir T.
Shepstone, that the Boers should be governed by their own laws
find legislature under a separate form of government. Hitherto
it had needed all the tact and intimate personal knowledge and
friendship of Sir T. Slicpstone — himself a colonist — with the
assistance of the leading Boers, to i)revent any actual outlireak
or resort to arms on the part of the disaffected, lint the return
and failure of the Deputation, combined with the appointment of
Colonel Lanyon to be their (Jovenior, caused alarm, even in the
minds of the most li(i|)i i'lil ol' llie Boers, iit llu' manifest and
numerous signs of a coujiiig storm, evident throughout the

ZzUti War. 91

Transvaal. The advent in Natal of Sir Bartle Frere, as High
Commissioner, and of General Lord Chelmsford, Commanding the
troops in South Africa, in order to bring Cetywayo to reason,
accompanied, as they were, by a large body of troops from the
Cape — ^just released from the Gaika and Galeka campaigns — also
gave rise to a feeling of uncertainty, as to whether the military
demonstration was made only for the purpose of overawing
the Zulu nation. And it speaks well for the Boers, that, when
war was decided upon against CetywayoV'^many'df "tlieni put
aside their grievance s for the time, and formed a gallant corps
of guides and irregulars, and^ placed themselves under Colonel
(now General Sir) Evelyn Wood, V.C., C.B., then commanding
a column operating in the North-west of Zululand, with his
head-quarters at Utrecht, in the Transvaal. Of what service
they were, and how the life of their brave leader, Piet Uys,
was lost at Zlobane, every one is aware. The preliminary
negotiations "^ith Cetywayo having had no definite and satis-
factory result, war was proclaimed, and our troops marched into
^ululand, early in January, 1879, in four columns. SiFBartle
Frere, then leaving the future conduct of the war entirely in
Lord Chelmsford's hands, left Natal at the end of March for
Pretoria, with his Staff and an escort of twenty troopers of the
Maritzburg Horse, which he, however, left behind at Newcastle,
journeying on to Pretoria with only his Stalf, and reaching there
on the 10th of April.

Colonel Lanyon had been in office about a month, Sir T.
Shepstone having left shortly after his arrival for England, via
the Free State and Natal ; while Colonel Rowlands, V.C., C.B.,
was appointed Commandant of the Transvaal, and had to
superintend the execution of such a distribution of the troops
and Volunteers as would confine Secocoeni to his own mountain,
and check the border raids of Umbelini and other predatory
chiefs, situated in the Utrecht, Wakkerstrom, and New Scotland
Districts. This he managed as well as could be expected, witb
the 80th Eegiment and several Volunteer corps, the IBth
Eegimcnt having been sent down from Pretoria to join Colonel
Wood's column on their advance into Zululand. Previous to
Sir Bartle Frere' s arrival at Pretoria, the Boers had been

92 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

assemliled for three weeks, iu number about 4,000, and held
a hirj^e meeting close to the town at Ivleiufontein, on the
18th of March, which lasted a week, and during which Colonel
Lanyon had gone out on one occasion to meet and confer with
them. Nothing was, however, decided upon, as they wished to
meet Sir Bartle Frere himself, and have a conference face to
face on the subject. On the 12th, two days after Sir Bartle'a
arrival at Pretoria, he went alone into their large camp — not-
withstanding the danger, which was represented as being very
gi-eat by the officials in Pretoria — with only a few members of
his Staff, and had a long personal interview with the leaders of
the people, at which it was decided to send no more deputations,
but to get up another memorial, and leave its transmission to
England accompanied with any recommendations thereon entirely
in Sir Bartle Frere's hands. The adoption of this moderate and
sensible course was due solely to the sympathetic and straight-
forward manner of Sir Bartle himself; who, Avhile distinctly
stating that he could not give them any hope of the past being
recalled, or what was done being undone, yet expressed his
feeling that the Boers had many grievances, which might and
ought to be redressed ; and that he considered all the expecta-
tions and promises held out to them in the time of annexation
had not been fulfilled. Foremost among these engagements
was the gift of really representative institutions, which he then
and has since advocated repeatedly and consistently up to the
present time.

Sir liartlc Frerc sent the memorial home, together with his
views thereon, and a sketch of the constitution, which in hi?
o])iiiioii should be grante<l and would be accepted by the Boers.
Jlis olVicial connection with the Transvaal ceased entirely ia
June, shortly after his return to the Cape. It is only fair to
him to show that, having had no voice in the matter of the
annexation or any of the measures connected therewith, he
could but deal sinjply with the state of affairs as he found them
at the tini(! of his visit, and could only act on the instructions
from home, together with the oft-repeated oilicial statements
of the Government, that under no circumstances whatever could
the act of annexation be revoked. I think it will bo admitted

Siibseq2ient Steps and Recommendations. 93

by all, including the Boers themselves, that he took a fair and
liberal view of the question ; and, had his views, together with
Sir T. Shepstone's promises, been carried out in a spirit of
conciliation by a competent official, there can be little doubt
that the Transvaal would still have remained a British colony,
a valuable addition to the Empire, and a united and prosperous
country, and that the recent disastrous war would never have
occurred.

It is perfectly true that, at the time of Colonel Lanyon's
appointment, the Boers had nothing personal to say against
himself or his antecedents ; but the mere fact of any purely
military man being placed over them in succession to Sir T.
Shepstone, and at a time when none of their undoubted
grievances had been redressed, must be admitted by all as a
sad mistake, and one which — judging by the previous experiences
of the British Government in placing military men in Civil ap-
pointments throughout South Africa, and even in America a
century before — most people would naturally have thought they
would have carefully avoided, at any rate, in the special aud
peculiar circumstances of the Transvaal and its rough but ready
inhabitants at that period.

94 IVifh the Boers in the Transvaal.

CHAPTER X.

LANYON's TRANSVAAL.

Sir O'n-en Lanyon's DifHculty — Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley— Finish of the Zulu
War — Aylward's Jlemorandum to Sir Garnet — Successful Attack on Sccocoeni
— Dispersal of his Tribe and Surrender of Himself — Sir Garnet at Pretoria — •
Great Boer Meeting, December 10-17, 1879 — Arrest of Pretorius and Bok —
Secocoeni and Erasmus — Arrest of the latter and some Natives — Sir Garnet's
Gift of a Constitution — Government Statement — Reversal of Annexation iiov^
Impossible — Ill-chosen Officials — Prohibition of Public Jleotings — Apparent Calm
before the Storm — Agitation Abroad — Mr. Gladstone's Statements — Boers dett-r-
mine to be no longer misunderstood — Resolve to pay no more Taxes — Publica-
tion of same in Dutch Papers — Arrest of Mr. J. F. Celliers, Editor of the
Volkflem — Sir Owen Lanyon's Views in so doing — Jcppe's Official Almanac
Statements.

Matters remained in a very unsatisfactory state during the
year 1879 throughout the whole of the Transvaal ; and,
although the Government of Sir 0. Lanyon, aided by the
efforts of Mr. Kruger — who remained in office under the
British rule — and Dr. Jorrissen — who also retained his office
of " Staats Pro-cureur," or Attorney-General under the new
regime — was enabled to keep things outwardly quiet;- and,
by the presence of a strong military force and the consequent
introduction of much capital into the country, to produce a sort
of favourable reaction in the financial state of affairs, aided
materially by the forcible collection of overdue taxes, &c.,
nevertheless, it was well known that matters were not quite so
rose-coloured as they appeared. The termination of the Zulu
War, and the subsequent action of the British Government, were
looked forward to with much anxiety by all South Africans in
general, and l)y the Transvaalers in particular. The changing
fortunes of (be Zulu War, together with thr numerous exciting
events which occurred at that time, gave people plenty to think

Finish of the Zulu War. 95

about, and, even in the Transvaal, produced, -pro tern., a feeling
of sympathy with their Natal and colonial brethren. This was
added to and intensified by a decided feeling of insecurity for
themselves, in the event of the Native tribes uniting in one
common attack against the hated white invaders of their land.

The monotonous course of the Zulu War, varied, as it
occasionally was by brilliant flashes, produced no decided eifect
on the position of affairs in the Transvaal, until the arrival of
Sir Garnet Wolseley, and the return home of Lord Chelmsford.
Then the people awoke to a sense of their position, and know-
ing of old Sir Garnet's decisive and autocratic way of dealing
with things (as exhibited in Natal five years before), they
dreaded his advent and looked doubtfully and despondently to
the future. They had repeatedly done everything they could,
in a legal and peaceable manner, to gain their point — by depu-
tations, memorials, and the payment of taxes, under protest
— and to obtain the redress of their grievances. But now,
what wifti a military Administrator, and another still greater
military High Commissioner at hand, backed up by a large
military force, with no mediator whatever between themselves
and the Government, who refused to treat with them directly,
it was felt that unless a vigorous stand was made, or they could
gain over Sir Garnet to their way of thinking, their liberties
would be still farther curtailed, and the hope of eventual
freedom farther off than ever. Sir Garnet Wolseley, after the
capture of Cetywayo and the division of Zululand into thirteen
sub-districts, sent most of the troops back to England again,
and proceeded himself to the Transvaal with a small column
for the subjection of Secocoeni. He reached Utrecht on
September 11th, having pushed on in order to be near at hand
in case of active resistance at Wesselstrom, as threatened by a
party of Boers, who were to be summoned before the Landdrost,
for non-payment of taxes, on the 10th of September. While
there, he received an interesting, exhaustive and able com-
munication on the state of the Transvaal from the pen of Mr.
A. Aylward, whose name and position have been mentioned in
some previous chapters in this work. In this statement,
after drawing attention to the bitter feelinfjs of the Boers at

96 Wiik the Boers 711 the Transvaal.

the misrepresentations made about them and their motives by
interested officials and speculators, and through a portion of
the Cape Press, Mr. Aylward sharply criticized the stories then
current about slavery and treason, and showed in what way
Colonel Lanj'on had lost the Boer confidence. He then pro-
ceeded to suggest that, as the Boer Committee was then in
session, a Commission should be appointed, and inquiry made
throughout the State, as to the grievances and wishes of
the majority. The Commission to visit each District in turn,
and Boer delegates, wath their witnesses, to be allowed to
appear before the Commission and give evidence. He concluded
by drawing attention to the earnestness and good faith of the
Boer malcontents, to their large numbers and obstinate detei'-
mination to recover their independence at any cost. To this
the following answer was returned, and it is a very useful indi-
cation of Sir Garnet's opinions at that period: — "Utrecht,
Transvaal, September 10, 1879. — Sir, — I am directed by
General Sir Garnet Wolseley to acknowledge, and to thank
you, for your interesting memorandum of the 26th ultimo,
on the subject of the affairs of the Transvaal territory. His
Excellency desires me to inform you, in reply, that he is glad
he is able to take a less gloomy view of the position of matters
in the Transvaal than has been accepted by you. His Excel-
lency's knowledge of the Dutch causes him to think very
highly of their solid good sense, which he feels sure will
prevent them from being led into rebellious acts by the vio-
lence of a small party of self-seeking intriguers. I have, &c.,
St. Leger a. Herbert, Private Secretary."

AVhen Sir Garnet Wolaclcy arrived at Utrecht, with the 80tli
Regiment and two guns of the Il.A., ho found it garrisoned by
the 2-24th Regiment and the head-quarters of the 1st Dragoon
Guards. He immediately sent forward a detachment of 100
men and three officers to "Wesselstrom in case of any outbreak.
Nothing, however, occurred, and after a short stay in Utrecht,
being warmly welcomed liy the iiduibitants, and having several
important interviews with tlie loading Dutch residents. Sir
Garnet left for Pretoria, wbicli ho reached on the 27th of
iscptcmber, mid left again in October for ]\Iiddlcbcrg, wlicro

Successful Attack on Sccocoeni. 97

the expedition against Secocoeni was being organized under the
command of Colonel Baker Russell. It consisted of the 21st,
<SOth, and 94th Regiments, Mounted Infantry, a squadron of the
King's Dragoon Guards, Ferreira's and Raal's Volunteer Horse,
a large Native contingent, and some Artillery. Forts Weeber
and Burgers (already mentioned in connection with the previous
war against Secocoeni) were made the advanced posts, with
Leydenberg as the base of supplies ; and all the forces were
•encamped there by the end of October. Considerable delay
then took place in connection with supplies, convoys, and
general organization, including the building of other advanced
forts, &c., &c. ; and things were not in complete readiness
for a combined forward movement until the 20th of November.
But it was not until the 23rd that active fighting was com-
menced by a successful attack on Umkuana's town, one of the
enemy's advanced posts. This was speedily followed by the
capture of successive positions, the water Koppie, Secocoeni' s
town, and finally of the fighting Koppie, which was the chief's
stronghold. The crowning assault took place on the 28th, and
was completely successful; excepting that Secocoeni escaped
for a time, and managed to seek shelter in a cave some distance
oft". The force attacked in two columns, the former consisting
of 1,800 Europeans and 2,000 Natives ; the latter of 400
Europeans and 6,000 Natives. Their loss was three officers
killed, five wounded, and a few non-commissioned officers and
men. After the action, the fighting Koppie was completely
surrounded, and in a short time over 500 natives came out and
surrendered ; while, a day or two after, Commandant Ferreira,
with his mounted corps, succeeded in surrounding the cave
where Secocoeni was hiding, about twelve miles from the
stronghold, and was reinforced by the Leydenberg Mounted
Rifles, Eckersley's Native contingent, and a company of
Infantry. On December 2nd Secocoeni surrendered to Fer-
reira, who brought him to General Sir Garnet "Wolseley,
and he was then sent to Pretoria as a prisoner and lodged
in gaol. His capture and the dispersal of his tribe, in
which the Swazie contingent took such a prominent part,
removed the last of the Native hindrances to the complete

C)8 IJlth the Boers in the Transvaal.

internal trauquillization of the north-eastern portion of the
Transvaal, and brought the active services of the troops to a
quick and honourable close.

Shortly afterwards all the troops reassembled at Pretoria,
then garrisoned by the 58th Eegimeut, where on the 10th of
December Sir Garnet held a grand review and sham fight by
the troops, over 3,000 in number ; decorating on that occasion
Captain Cecil D'Arcy, commanding Frontier Light Horse,
with the well-earned Victoria Cross. This campaign against
Secocoeni was finished about the same time as the Capo
Colonial forces attacked and carried Moroisi's mountain in
Basutoland, after making several previous attempts ; which,
certainly., together -with the successful termination of the Zulu
War, did much to restore the prestige of British supremacy in
South Africa. After this, in accordance with his instructions from
the Home Government, Sir Garnet Wolscley entered upon the
consideration of the question of the Boer grievances, and the
best method of allaying their fears, alleviating their position,
and healing their Avoundcd feelings. Where, when, and from
whom he got his information I know not ; but there is every
reason to believe that he was unfortunate in his choice of
advisers, ill-informed as to the number, nature, and reality of
the Boer grievances, too hopeful of his own power of healing
up difficulties, and too hasty in his conclusions and acts. It is
indisputable that a very general opinion prevailed at the time
among even Sir Garnet's Staff and other officials as to the
undoubted necessity (from their point of view) for a despotic
rule over tbc Transvaal, even by force of arms, if necessary.
There is ample evidence to show conclusively that Sir l^artlo
Frere's Civil policy of conciliation and the redress of grievances,
without the absolute relinquishment of the territory, was
tbrougbout totally opposed to the military-sided view of tbo
question, taken up by Sir Garnet Wolselcy, his advisers, and, I
regret to say, l)y a largo section of the ]>ritish and Colonial
Press.

A Boer mass meeting was held on i\\v. lOt li to _1 7th o f
Decemb er, ImV'J, at which tlio people"^ asscmT)k'd togclhe r , for
thg.LkiidjImu hoisted the Ihig of the South African licjmljlic.

Arrest of Prdoritts and Bo/c. 99

and passed resolut ions to the following effect : — That, tlioro
being no hope of recoveri ng their independence by peaceful
means, the Volksr aad should be convened, and a strong form
of _tbe Sout h African JRepublic should be instituted — and the
people swore to co-npprnin fpr tliai-p uvpose i \\^(\ J\£^o^^ (\ tbfij r
rights until death. The outcome of this wa s the immediate

~~S2 .__ . —

arrest of the President, M. W. Pretoriu s, and the Secre tary,
MiV T^oK; ~ Mrr~Pret(jriusrwas' arresfcdT^iFli^otchefstroinon^ the
^ffroT J anuarj^ and Mr. Bok at Pretoria on the 5th. They were
both allowed out on bail of £3,000 each. Xilg y w^ere charge d
Avith |]2^l]2Ji^l<^Q.lll-.JLL^'^"'""g^^ ^^^ ^ TTifiptiiig hnrl declared that th e
actual carrying put of the resol utions should be delayed unt il
they had been commu nicated _to_th£jid.^i«lT n-nvpi^nm ent by j ir
G. Wolseley ; and a deputation was sent to the Cape to ask
for their sympathy and help, as well as to unite in preventing
the confederation of all the States and Colonies in South
Africa, until their grievances were redressed. Sir Garnet,
however, seemed to think better of his hasty proceedings, and
after a sho rt det ention Pretor ius a nd Bok were released and
their trial for high treason dropped through. The 80th Ecgi-
ment, which7~aTter being~eighteeTf months in the Transvaal,
had just left Pretoria on the 2Gtii of December, 1879, were in
Potchefstrom at the time, and were detained there in con-
sequence of the attitude assumed by the Boers after the arrest
of Pretorius and Bok. Kruger, Joubert, and S. Prinsloo were
also to have been arrested^_bjit^for,.spme_reason or other the
arrests didnot take place.

About the same time another important link in the chain of
Boer grievances occurred in this wise. After the surrender of
Secocoeni and his conveyance to Pretoria gaol, he made a state-
ment against Mr. Abel Erasmus, the leading Boer in the
Leydenberg District, incriminating him for treasonable corre-
spondence and negotiations ; and for inciting Secocoeni not to
submit to the Government and pay the fine imposed on him,
but to fight ; as the Boers were going to fight the English and
turn them out of the country. Upon this statement being
verified on oath before the Secretary for Native Affairs, trans-
lated, and then signed by Secocoeni, the Government issued

H 2

joo JViih the Boers in the Transvaal.

warrants for the apprehension of Abel Erasmus and the Native
messengers. The latter were arrested and brought to Pretoria
for trial, while Erasmus surrendered after a time, but every
charge against him fell to the ground. Sir Garnet, however,
had meanwhile somewhat unwisely denounced him as a traitor
at a Pretoria banquet, causing great excitement.

In the face of these serious disturbances (though as yet no
overt act of rebellion had occurred, and the people paid their
taxes in most cases under protest), and of the active sympathy
shown by the Cape and Orange Free State to their Dutch
brethren in the Transvaal, by meetings and the getting up
of memorials to the Queen, numerously signed and sent to
England, Sir Garnet published his scheme for a Transvaal
Government. This, however, he stated, was not to be con-
sidered as a final one, but only to last until such time as the
Boers desisted from seditious practices, when a just system
would be granted to them. Sir Garnet's scheme was that of
an Executive Council, to consist of five official and three non-
official members, and a Legislative Council, consisting of the
members of the Executive Council, the Chief Justice and six
non-official members. This was by no means well received
or held in favourable estimation by the Boers. Moreover, the
general discontent was enhanced b}' the arrival of intelligence
from England of the positive statement made by the then
Secretary of State for the Colonics, in answer to repeated
applications from the Liberal opposition members and deputa-
tions from members of societies, &c., that " under no circum-
stances whatever would the Transvaal independence be restored
to the Boers." An equally positive but more poetic declaration
of the same sentiment was made by Sir Garnet himself, to the
effect "that as long as the sun shone the Transvaal would
remain liritish territory." Every one then felt that things
must speedily come to a crisis. Thereafter followed in quick
succession alleged illegalities and irregularities in connection
with the ill-chosen appointments of outsiders to the various
])ublic appointments, from the judicial bench — when a Cape
Colony judge, De Wet, for personal reasons best known to Sir
0. Lanyon, was brought in and made Chief Justice over the

Prohibition of Public Meetings. loi

bead of Judge Kotze, who had honestly served the British
Government under Sir T. Shepstone's Administration — down
to the minor offices. Furthermore, the imposition of railway
and other taxes, ill-advised imprisonments, and high-handed
proceedings in connection with the collection of taxes and
other matters, all tended to increase the exasperation of the
recalcitrant Boers. Then, again, the prevention of public
meetings (attempted so fatally by Lord E. Somerset at the
Cape in 1822) had the efiect of preventing that free discussion
of their grievances, so necessary to the Boers ; allowing the
underhand and silent workings of demagogues to assume a pro-
minence otherwise impossible, and throwing the people blindly
into the hands of a few irresponsible and rash leaders.

I may here mention that the telegraph cable was finished
late in the year 1879, and on December 25th Sir Garnet
telegraphed his congratulation through to Her Majesty the
Queen, and received back an answer in two days, thus establish-
ing the much-needed through communication between Great
Britain and South Africa. On the 11th of January, Mr.
Osborne, the Colonial Secretary, left Pretoria to take up his
post as British Resident in Zululand, and was succeeded on
February 17th by Mr. George Hudson, from Iving Williams
Town, Cape Colony (the p»resent British Resident in the Trans-
vaal). On the 13th, an important appeal case, of Messrs.
Jorrissen and Colliers, against the enforced payment of taxes,
was decided by Judge Kotze, who dismissed the appeal ; stating
that the Act of Annexation did away with the old Yolksraad,
and Burgers Government, and brought the Transvaal under
Imperial Legislation, and that until the laws then existing
were altered by competent authority the Government was
acting legally in collecting the overdue and other taxes.

As the first meeting of the New Councils was to take place in
March, and as his presence was required in Natal, Sir Garnet
\yolseleyleft Pretoria on the 22nd of January for Pietermaritzburg
where he remained until February 24th, when he left again for
the Transvaal — after hearing of a large Boer meeting being held
near Heidelberg on February 14th and following days to con-
sider the arrest of Bok and Pretorius and other important

102 //'//// the Boers in the Transvaal.

matters — arriving at Pretoria four days later. During Marcli
it was decided to send out Sir G. Pomeroy Colley as Governor
of and High Commissioner for S.E. Africa ; and Sir Garnet
Wolseley was to return home to occupy an important post at
the War OflEice. Sir Garnet awaited the opening of his newly-
created Councils, which occurred on March 10th, and on April
4th he left again on horschack, attended only hy Major Stewart,
the rest of the Staff coming down by the Post-cart to Natal.
His official connection with the Transvaal ceased after Sir .
George Pomeroy Colley's arrival at Natal in July. Sir Garnet,
however, did not remain in South Africa long enough to see the
working of his unfortunate, hut, from his point of view, well-
intentioned scheme.

After the departure of Messrs. Krugor and Joubert as a
deputation to the Cape, and the apparently voluntary payment
of the taxes by the people, who were only thus acting under
the advice of their leaders, even Sir Owen Lanyon seemed to
be lulled into a sense of security, and reported monthly, both
to Sir G. P. Colley, the High Commissioner, and the Home
Government, the apparent subsidence of the Boer agitation,
improved regard for law and order, and better payment of taxes
by both black and white alike. As showing how sparsely our
Natal authorities were informed as to what was going on in the
Transvaal previous to the outbreak, the following remarks in a
despatch from Sir George Pomeroy Colley to the Secretary of
State, founded upon his reports from Sir Owen Lanyon, are
signilicant. He wrote on the 13th of December : — " There is
little news from the Transvaal. The present agitation seems
principally connected with the annual tax notices. Protests
have been made b}' armed deputations of Doers at various
points against the payment of taxes, but no overt act of
resistance to the law appears to have occurred except at
Potcbofstrom. The great meeting originally lixed for the Slh
of .binuary was suddenly and for no explained reason sum-
moned for the 8t,h of I )ec(Mnl)er instead ; but the notice was
too short to allow of many attending, and I. unihsrstand it has
now been postponed to the ir>tli instant. Although largo
armed gatherings have taken place, and a good deal of violent

Agitation Abroad. lO'

'ii

language lias been used by the Boers, I still trust that wo
shall bo able to avoid any collision ; and that a patient but
firm enforcement of the law will ultimately tire out these spas-
modic efforts of disaffection. A wing of the o8th Eegiment
is now on its march to rciiiTL-rco the garrison of the Transvaal;
and the loyal inhabitants of Pretoria arc taking measures for
their own protection, and have formed a volunteer corps, 200
strong." Sir George Collcy had also himself taken a tour
through the Transvaal in August, 1880, accompanied by his
aide-de-camp, the late Lieutenant Wilkinson, 3-GOth Rifles,
within a month of his appointment as Governor of Natal and
High Commissioner for South-Eastern Africa. So that he had
every opportunity of becoming acquainted with the real state
of affairs and the trae condition of the countr3%

It is to be noted that events occurring in England had their

infla cnce^D_ the caurse-of-^veats. A number ol i\lembers~of

Parliament had forme d_theiu se lves into a committpft, tng ptbpr
\ntJbmany_„other_ -gentlemen,. ^iuid wer&--trying--.ta-secure the
independence of the Transvaal , or, at any rate, better terms
for the Boers. The agitation thus kept up in Great Britain,
parts of Europe, America, and South Africa, received great
assistance from the position taken up, and the statcmentg^
made by the Liberal party in England^ then out__Qf__Qffic£,
but still commanding a powerfu l Opposition. So far back as
1878, Mr. Gladstone had questioned both the pol icy and th e
right of tlie Conservative Government, first, in ann£xing_tlie
Transvaal, and then in retaining it by force : wh en it had been
clearly proved that however muchjthe act might have be en a
political necessity, or to whatever extent the Governments iiad
been misinformed at the time about a majority of the inhabi-
tants being in favour of annexation, no such majority e ver did
desire annexatiQii ; but that, as the real facts of the case after-
wards showed, out of about 8,000 qualified Burghers, more
than three-fourths were bitterly against it, and had remained
so ever since.

But the Home Government remained unmoved ; _aiid— again
^isled by their officials in_the_Transvaal, they approved jof_all
that _was done, regard l^s^.ofja r'seqnencfta.

I04 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

"\Ylien the people of the Transvaal, however, began to realize
how their passive resistance was misunderstood and their
actions misrepresented, they again met together and signed
declarations that they w^ould no longer pay taxes, either under
protest or otherwise, except to the lawfully constituted Govern-
ment of the South African Eej)ublic, but w^ould exercise their
rights as an independent people, and defend them with their
lives ; and also forbidding all Englishmen or English partisans
to come upon their farms or into their houses for any reasons
whatever. These resolutions, principally from the Wakkerstrom
District, were published in the newspapers, one of which, Th&
Volksicm, is the principal organ of the Dutch party published in
Pretoria, and edited by a Mr. J. F. Celliers. This led to a criminal
prosecution against the editor and proprietor for the publication of
seditious writing, the Government doubtless regarding the issu-
ing of such notices to be a rebellious and a dangerous sj^mptom.
Sir 0. Lanyon, after consulting with his Attorney-General, Mr.
Morcom, thought the adoption of a strong course the best; for
he stated in a Proclamation issued at that time : '* that under
the guidance of Mr. Celliers that paper had been productive of
much agitation for the reversal of the Annexation, aud had kept
alive the spirit of antagonism which had been existent since
the assumption of Her Majesty's rule over the Transvaal."
But, in the reality and widespread exhibition of this spirit
of antagonism he did not apparently believe, for he further
added, on the 19th of November: "Had the j^eople been left
alone, or had they been accessible to those mcars and sources
which govern public opinion elsewhere, their own good sense
and feelings of right and wrong would have prompted them to
accept the change as one which has brought increased security
and i)rospcrity to their homes and country." This prosecution
of Mr. Colliers was, moreover, specially insisted upon at the
time as being of value — in view of the great 13oer meeting to
be held in December, 1879 — as showing the disafl'ectcd lioers
the determination and power of the new Government in putting
down all hucIj attempts now and for ever. AVliat an ephemeral
assumption of dignity and power this was has since bcc:i
proved. We now know more fully and truthfully that, had it

Jeppes Official Almanac Stalcmcnts. 105

not been for the earnest and constant endeavours of the few-
more moderate leaders among the Boers, an appeal would
previously have been made to arms ; and the allegation that
there Avas in reality no vox pojjidi, nor any general spirit of
antagonism among them, has since been painfully and bitterly
refuted.

The events which followed in quick succession, during the
latter end of November and the beginning of December, 1879,
deserve and require a chapter to themselves ; but in concluding
this one, I cannot do better, in justification of my own views
on the subject, than give a curious extract from " The Trans-
vaal Book Almanack and Official Directory for 1881," published
in the latter end of November, 1880, in Pretoria, by Frederick
Jeppe, " Government Translator and Compiler of Statistics to
the Colonial Ofl&ce of the Transvaal," a Government official and
confidential friend of the Administrator ; and one who, from
his long residence in and knowledge of the Transvaal, ought
assuredly to have been better informed ; — " The wish for
independence and self-government, encouraged and supported
by designing agitators, is, however, gradually subsiding. The
taxes are paid better than they were under the old Government,
as will be seen by our financial statistics, published elsewhere.
The Secocoeni rebellion has been quelled, the natives are made
to pay taxes, labour is more plentiful, and now that all former
obstacles are removed, the Transvaal enters upon a career of
prosperity it has never before known, and which it never could
have attained under the old regime. As j)art of the future
South African Confederation, it must prosper and flourish.
Great postal facilities have been instituted, and the telegraph
connects us with the outer world. The railway from Delagoa
Bay will soon be commenced, and its completion is only a
question of time. With peace and security on our borders, a
strong, liberal, and enlightened Government and Legislature
to guide and rule this infant State, confidence will at once
be originated, and enterprise will launch its cajiital, where
so large and varied a field off'ers itself for yielding highly
remunerative returns, cither in mining operations for the
precious metals, with which this country abounds, or in

io6 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

agricultural or stock-breecliug pursuits, for which this highly-
favoured country is so eminently suitable." How far this
sanguine vaticination has been verified or falsified has long
since been shown by the subsequent course of events, now to
be recorded. In other statements in this official volume the
same inaccuracy or ignorance is visible in regard to historical
facts. But his statistics as to the revenue, expenditure, and
debt are reliable, and show clearly that, far from having
progressed in a monetary sense, the Transvaal caused Great
Britain a military expenditure of over two millions even up to
1880, while her own debt had increased from £295,071 at tho
time of annexation to 507O4,OG-4 on December 31st, 1879.

I07

CHAPTER XL

THE OUTBREAK.

KcasoDS of the Great Mass Meeting — Mr. Gladstone's Speeches — The Bezuidenhou
Tax Defiance Affair — Rising of Schoons Spruit Burghers— Steps of Pretoria
Government — Declaration of Independence — South African Republican Flag
hoisted at Heidelburg — Patrol to Potchefstrom for Issue of Proclamation —
Envoy sent to Sir 0. Lanyon — Letter to Commander of British Troops — Boer
Proclamation and Details — Letter to Sir G. Colley — Proclamations by Sir 0.
Lanyon — Declaration of Martial Law — Potchefstrom Defence — General Com-
mencement of Hostilities.

We now come to the actual cause of the outbreak in December,
which otherwise would most probably not have taken place until
much later, and with more and clearer warning to the Govern-
ment, if we can consider, after reading the occurrences detailed in
the previous chapters, that they wanted any clearer or stronger
warning. After the return of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert from
the Cape in November, a mass meeting of the Boers had been
convened by their leaders for the 8th of January, 1881, to
consider a letter addressed to them by the Eight Hon. W. E.
Gladstone, immediately after the accession to power of the
Liberal party, and other matters in connection with the recovery
of their independence. The Boers had every reason to hope
for bettei^on^sid^ratiQiijm,^mJIderTi'eatment frorn the Liberal
Government^ than they had received from that of the Con -
seryative^_part y under Lord 'Beaconstield , because throughout
the political campaign Mr. Gladstone had i-ep^atedLy made- a
strong point of the conduct of South African affairs b}' _the
Con servative s.

In his first Midlothian speech, on November 25th, 1879, Mr.
Gladstone said : —

" They (tlie Conservatives) have annexed in Africa the Transvaal ter-
ritory, inhabited by a free European Christian Eepublican community,
which they have thought j^roper to bring within the limits of a Monarchy,
although out of 8,00i> ]iersons in that Republic qualided to vote on the
subject we are told, and I have never seen the statement officially con-
tradicted, that G,5uO protested against it. These are the circumstances
under which we undertake to transform Eepublicans into subjects of a
Monarchy."

loS With the Boers in the Transvaal.

On the next day Mr. Gladstone again declared that —

" Thei-e is no strengtli to be added to your country by governing tlie
Transvaal. The Traiissvaal is a country where we have chosen, most
iinwisely, I am tempted to say insanely, to place ourselves in the strange
predicament of the free subjects of a monarchj^ going to coerce the free sub-
jects of a republic, and to compel them to accept a citizenship which they
decline and refuse. But if that is to be done it must be done by force."

A week later lie declared that the annexation of the Transvaal
was the invasion of a free people. Again, on the 29th De-
cember, 1879 : —

" "We have undertaken to govern despotically two bodies of human beings
who were never under our despotic power before, and one of them who was in
the enjoj'ment of freedom before. We have gone into the Transvaal terri-
tory, where it appears — the statement has not been contradicted — that there
were 8,000 persons in a condition of self-government, under a Republican
form. Lord Carnarvon announced, as Secretary of State, that he was
desirous of annexing their own territory if they were willing. They
replied by signing to the number of (J, 500 out of 8,000 a jsrotest against
the assumption of sovereignty over them. We have what you call
'annexed' that territory. I need not tell you there are and can be no
free institutions in such a country as that. Tlie utmost, I suppose, that
could be done was to name three or four or half a dozen persons to assist
the Governor. But how are they chosen ? I apprehend not out of the
6,500, but they are chosen out of the small minority who were not
opposed to being annexed. Is it not wonderful to those who are freemen,
and whose fathers had been freemen, and who hope that their children
will be freemen, and who consider that freedom is an essential condition
of civil life, and that without it j'on can have nothing great and nothing
noble in political society, that wo are led by an Administration, and led,
I admit, by I'arlianient, to find ourselves in this position, that we are to
march upon another body of freemen, and against their will to suliject
them to despotic government? " — L'irthdaij SpeccJi, 2[Hh December, 187!^.

And lastl}', on the 18tli of March, 1880, when the elections

were already beginning to turn against the Conservatives, and

his own return to oflice was probable, he spoke as follows : —

"Lord Bciiconsfield omitted Africn, and did not say the Radicals had
created any dilliculties for iiim there. ]3nt there he has contrived, without,
80 lar as I am ;il)le to judge, tiie smallest necessity or excuse, to spend
five millions of your money in iiiv;i(iiug a peojile (the Zulus) who had
done him no wrong; and now ho is ol)lig('d to spend more of your money
in estalilisliing the suprcmiicy of tlw! (^ueen over a community i'rote.stant
in religion, ilolliinders in origin, vigorous, obstinate, and tenacious in clui-
raclur, oven us we arc ourselves — namely, the Dutchmen of the Transvaal."

It may be perfectly true thnt tlicic is an important distinction

to be drawn Itntween the comb miintioii of a particular policy

ami course of action adopted liy oiu; (lovcnimcnt, and tho

oflicial revcr.^iil of that policy 1 y a succeeding Government

The Beziiidcnhoitt Tax Defiance Aj}ai7\ 109

after it has been adopted, but surely the Boers are not very
much to be blamed because they failed to recognize that
dilTorence. But, from their point of view, it is not to be
wondered at, if they consider that subsequent events gave them
a severe though much needed lesson, which would in the future
make them chary of believing in the statements or promises of
any English Government whatever, and one which had done
more than any other acts of any British Government of this
■century to lessen the belief in the will and power of a great
nation, hitherto noted for its true and honourable policy, and
regarded as a pattern of justice and national morality in its
dealings with weaker nations.

Be this as it may, the consequence of these openly expressed
views of one of England's greatest Ministers, of the encouraging
sympathy shown to the Boer cause by many other nations, and
of the events detailed previously in this work, was that a
determined stand was made, and throughout November the
people banded together to oppose the execution of the laws,
and to refuse to pay the taxes. The history of the dis-
contented Boers in the "Wakkerstrom District was given in
the last chapter ; but we have now to deal with those of the
District of Potchefstrom, among whom were a number of in-
habitants of Schoons Spruit and Mooi River, who notified to
their Landdrost their refusal to pay taxes or permit the processes
of law then instituted for the forcible recovery thereof. In one
case out of many, proceedings were taken against a Boer named
Piet Bezuidenhout for overdue taxes. Judgment was given
against him, and execution issued, and a waggon was attached
by the sheriti''s officers for sale in liquidation of the judgment
and costs. The sale was tixed for a certain day in November
at Potchefstrom, having been duly notified in all the papers.
On that day a number of Boers (about one hundred), attended
the sale, armed, under the orders of certain leaders, the principal
of whom was P. A. Cronje, afterwards Commandant at Pot-
<2hefstrom. They removed the waggon by force from the custody
of the sheriif's officers ; and after much speechifying they took
the waggon away from the town and then dispersed. On the
report of this occurrence to the Government at Pretoria, a re-

no With the Boers in the Transvaal.

inforcement of troops was sent to Potcbefstrom, a number of
special police were enrolled, and otber steps taken to ensure
tbe arrest and trial of tbe leaders of tbe recent emciitc. Tlie
men concerned, bowever, again banded tbem selves togetbcr,
and prevented tbe arrest of tbe leaders, and defied tbe autbority
of tbe Britisb Government.

TbfiRft^tjfHno ^fiprf-n.d ^o_ra pidly, and matters became so
serious, tbat Mr. Kruger and tbe otber members of tbe Boer
Committee fouifd tbemselves carried along witb tbe stream and
unableTo^ stem tbe tide of active a nd armed resistance. Tbej
tbereiore made a virtue of necessity, and summoned a mass
meeting of tbe Boers, including tbe members of tbe old
Volksraad of 1877, for tbe 15tb of December instead of tbe
8tb of January, as previously agreed. But, in view of tbe
measures being taken by tbe Administrator and tbe INIilitary
autboritics, of wbom at tbat time Colonel Bellairs, tbe Deputy
Adjutant-General in Soutb Africa, was tbe bead, tbey altered
tbe date of tbe meeting to tbe Stb. Tbe object was tbe im-
mediate consideration of tbe question as to wbetbcr tbe leaders
of tbe Scboons Spruit affair sliould bo encouraged, and protected
from arrest, or wbctber a temporizing policy would be best, in
order to give tbe Government anotber cbance of meeting tbeir
views peaceably. Tbe meeting was bold at Paarde Kraal, a
farm situated on tbe eastern side of tbe road from Pretoria to
Potcbefstrom, and Mr. Hudson, tbe Colonial Secretary, went
tbere to meet and confer witb Kruger, wbo told bim tbat it
was no longer an affair of individuals but of tbe nation. On
Monday, tbe 13tb of December, it was definitely decided to

restore t]icl?outli Aji-ican Kcpublj c, by foi-ce of arms if neces^
sary; and a Trium virate, consisting of3Tcssi-s. Paul Kruger,
PW oub cr t, and M PWTTrctoiius, witb Mr. E. Bok as Secretary,
was appointed to carry on and orgiinizo" a Gov ernme nt unde r
lb (\ 11P.W order p f_tbing3. Tliis decision was proclaimed at
Heidelberg, wliilbei-tbo Triumvirate and tbo armed Boers
proceeded, on tbe Ifitb or tbreo days afterwards. "J'bat town
was made tbe bead-quarters of tbe new Government and steps
were immediately taken to carry out tbeir scbcmes. Tbe notices,
calling tbo Boers togetbcr for tbe great meeting on tbe 8tb, bad

Steps of Pretoria Government. 1 1 1

desirGcl them all to c ome armed and provisio ned ; and the luke-
^'arm and half-do ubtful Boers were distinctly warned that they
must either be for or against the movement for libe rty, and
thaFno one would be allowed to remain or be treated as neutral.

The Administrator, on his side, had just issued a notice that
as the arrival of any number of armed men in the villages of
the province for many reasons might prove dangerous and
entirely unlawful and might endanger the public peace, and
bearing in mind the dithculty to control such armed gatherings
of people, all armed parties of people should be forbidden to
approach any village in the province within a mile, or to enter
the same. And on the same day that the Boers proclaimed
their independence at Heidelberg, a District order was published
and issued to the various garrisons at Potchefstrom and other
towns in the Transvaal, by Captain Churchill, 58th Regiment,
D.A.A. and Quartermaster-General, calling attention to the
notice forbidding the approach of any armed body of men within
a mile of any town in the province. Officers commanding
stations vrcre instructed to be guided accordingly, and having due
regard to their order, never to endanger the safety of their posts
through overwcakening their garrison, they should endeavour
to carry out the spirit of the instructions conveyed in the notice,
and prevent such approach of any unauthorized hostile armed
body of men. Another order provided that " During the present
disturbed state of the country, seventy rounds of ammunition
will be carried by each soldier, and whenever likely to become
hotly engaged, and conveyance for the regimental reserve not to
be at hand, thirty rounds extra will be issued and carried on
the person of each man."

Two days previously to the arrival of the Triumvirate in
Heidelberg, they had sent a strong patrol under Commandant
P. A. Cronje, to Potchefstrom, in order to get their Proclamation
l}rinted; with distinct orders not to fire unless attacked ; and
with the following letter to Major Clarke, just appointed
Special Commissioner at that town : — " We have the honour
to inform you that the Government of the South African
Republic, hereby restored, wants a certain document to be
printed at once. AYe trust that from your side no measures

1 1 2 JVii/i the Boers in the Transvaal.

will be ordered or taken to hinder us, as it is jiressing, and of
the most serious importance to both parties. The publishin*]^
•of this document all over the world is very likely to prevent
bloodshed — at least so is our intention. Therefore it must be
•done, and it shall be done. AYe take it that, considering the
seriousness of this matter, you will not make this a casus belli.
If so, we throw the responsibility of this step on your shoul-
ders, and take the liberty to remind you that in a very same
state of affairs three years ago, when Sir Theophilus Shepstone
wanted the Annexation Proclamation to be printed, the then
■Government of the Republic was generous enough to allow the
Government printer to print the same. We are of opinion that
the representative of Her Majesty the Queen will, in generosity,
not be behind the President of a small Piepublic. At all
events, we know that the civilized world, and the people of
England, in this matter, will be on our side." At the same
time the Triumvirate sent the following characteristic letter to
the Administrator, Sir Owen Lanyon, by the hands of their
-appointed Diplomatic Envoy, Mr. H. Schoemann : —

" Your E xcellency, — In the name of the people of Jhe
South African Piepublic we address ourselves to you for the per-
formance of an earnest but imperative duty. "\Ye have the honour
to enclose copy of a Proclamation, decided upon by the Govern-
ment and Volksraad, and published for general notice. The
will of the people is therefore clear, and requires no further
explanation at our hands. We declare in the most earnest
manner that we have no desire to shed blood, and that we will
have no war on our part. Willi you therefore it rests, to
necessitate us to take resource to arms in self-defence. If,
which may God forbid, it should ever come so far, we shall do
so with the most profound respect for Her Majesty the Queen
of England, and for her ilag. If it should ever come so far,
we shall defend ourselves with the knowledge that wo fight for
the honour of Iler Majesty, lighting as wo do for the sanc-
tity of treaties, sworn to by her, but violated through her
servants, liut the time for complaining is past, and wo desire
only your J'^xccllcncy's co-operation to arrive at a peaceful
Jiolutiou of the dilliculty in question. From the last paragraphs

Zj^U£y_ Jo Com manders of__ British Troops, 113

of our Proclamation, your Excellency will observe the unalter-
able and determined intention of the people to co-operate with
the English Government in all concerning the progress of
South Africa. But the only condition to arrive hereat is also
comprised in the same Proclamation, clearly and explicitly ex-
plained, and provided with good reasons. Iu^l877 our Govern-
ment handed over the keys of the Government offices without
causing bloodshed ; we trust that your Excellency, as repre-
sentative of the noble British nation, will, in magnanimity, not
be second to us, and in an equal manner enable our Govern-
ment to resume its functions. We expect an answer within
twice twenty-four hours. — Signed by the Triumvirate ani>
Members of the Executive Council."

At the same t ime they took steps in order to prevent, as-
they thoughtj the co ncentration of troops, wh ile awaiting the
(lecision of Sir Owen Lanyon, on the question of jpeace or war.
And, as they had heard of the 94th Piegiment being ordered
down from Leydenberg to Pretoria, the following letter was
forwarded to Colonel Anstruther, as well as similar ones ta
other commanding officers : —

"South African Piepublic, Heidelberg, Dec. 17, 1880.— To
the Commander-in-Chief of Her Majesty's troops on the road
between Heidelberg and Pretoria. — Sir, — We have the honour
to inform you that the Government of the South African
Piepublic has taken up their residence at Heidelberg ; that
a dij^lomatic Commissioner has been sent by them with
despatches to His Excellency Sir W. Owen Lanyon ; that until
the arrival of His Excellency's answer we don't know Avhether-
we are in a state of war or not; that consequently we cannot,
allow any movement of troops from your side, and wish you to.
stop where you are. We not bemg_at_warjadtk- Her Majesty the
Queen, nor with the people ot England, ( who we are sure would
be on our side if the y w ere ac quainted with the position), but
only recovering the independe^ce_of j)ur co untry, we do not
wish to take up a rms, and therefore inform you tha t any^ove-
ments of troops frornjj-our side will be taken b y us as a dec la-
ration of war, t he r espo nsibility whereo f ^'^ put np^n y^ur
shoulders, as we know w hat we will have to do in self-defe nce."

114 IJlth the Boers in the Transvaal.

The Proclamation issued b}- the Eoer Triumvirate and printed
in Potchefstrom is too lengthy a document to be inserted here
and -will therefore be found in Appendix E. It consists of
statements of the facts in reference to 1, The occasion of its
issue ; 2, Copy of the Sand Pviver Treaty ; 3, The Boer rights
therein given ; 4, The annexation ; 5, The Protests of the Exe-
cutive Council and President Burgers ; and 6, A lengthy recital
in justification of their own subsequent acts, and their proposi-
tions for a mutual and peaceful satisfactor}^ settlement, con-
sisting of twenty-seven paragraphs. Copies of this Proclama-
tion were sent off at once to Sir Owen Lanyon and Sir George
Colley.

Letters explanatory of these actions and intentions were also
forwarded to President Brand of the Orange Free State (on
December 17th), the Hon. Mr. Sprigg, Colonial Secretary of
the Cape Colony, on the same date ; and also to Governor and
High Commissioner Sir G. Colley in Natal, under date Decem-
ber 20th.

After a collision had occurred between the Boers and British
at Pretoria and Potchefstrom, they wrote again as follows : —

" South African Republic, Heidelberg, 20th of Dec, 1880.
To His Excellency Sir Pomeroy Colley, Her Majesty's High Com-
missioner and Governor of Natal. — Sir, — As we had the honour
to inform you, the Government of the South African Piepublic is
restored and established at Pleidclbcrg, the Proclamation set-
ting forth our legal grounds, fully explaining the facts that we
never have been British subjects, and a conducting letter asking
Sir "W. Owen Lanyon for a peaceful surrender of our State to its
legitimate founders and owners, was sent to His Excellency by
our diplomatic envoy on Friday the 17th. The only answer
that it pleased His Excellency to our legitimate demand was
the sending of attached printed Proclamation already drawn up
before the arrival of our envoy. "We arc very sorry that neither
His l^xcollency nor his legal advisers seem to be able to under-
Ktand the real state of affairs, and still endeavour to involve the
respected name of Her Most Gracious IMajosty the Queen of Eng-
land and the proud name of the people of iMigland in acts of wan-
ton cruelty and bad politics, which can only lead to a most cruel

Letter to Sir George Col ley. \ 1 5

and destructive war between fellow-colonists — a war not brought
on by us, but by the sole acts of the Government in Pretoria. Wo
beg to draw your Excellency's attention to a deliberate false-
hood advanced by Sir Owen Lanyon, namely, where he is
accusing us of inciting the natives of our country against Her
Majesty. Your Excellency, we challenge Sir Owen Lanyon to
23rove this very unfair assertion, and we state as plainly as pos-
sible that the contrary is the truth. No gentleman can for a
moment entertain these opinions of a people who, during the
disastrous Zulu war, never for a moment flinched from the high
road to neutrality, never availing themselves of the opportunity
of taking their country back, because they Avere unwilling to
spoil their good cause by using the brutal forces of uncivilized
brutes. It is our firm conviction that Sir W. Owen Lan3-on
advances this assertion merely for the j)urpose of blinding the
oj'CS of the civilized world to his own acts, as it is a fact that in
the last \veeks he armed Ivaifirs and Hottentots to fight against
the Boers. Whereas Sir W. Owen Lanyon seems now to incite
to war, we appeal to you. The Lord be the iudge betweer» us
and those who force us to take to arms. Already th- nrs shot
has been fired, not by us, but by some of Her Majesty's troops
in Potchefstrom, and on the public road a few miles from
Pretoria, we suppose by order of Sir W. Owen Lan3'on."

In reply to the Proclamations and acts of the Boers, the
Administrator issued a Proclamation on the 28th of December,
declaring the Boers so assembled in arms to be rebels, and
ordering the military to take immediate steps to put the re-
bellion down VI ct armis. On the 21st he proclaimed martial
law throughout the Province of the Transvaal, on receipt of
the news of the Bronkhorst Spruit disaster. In Potchefstrom
itself the strong garrison made every preparation in the Fort,
under Colonel Winsloe, 21st Picgiment ; and Major Clark, with
Commandant Eaafif, the Landdrost Goetz, and a few soldiers
and volunteers, defended themselves for two days in the Court
Plouse, but were then obliged to surrender, after the loss of
one ofiicer and some men. The town was then occupied by a
large Boer force under Commandant Cronje. The details of
this, the first real action in the war, and the subsequent siege

I 2

1 1 6 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

of the Fort, will be found in extenso in a later chapter. The
second action at Bronkhorst Spruit, which occurred on the 20th
of December, or four days after the declaration of Independence,
and the next important event, viz., the murder of Captain
Elliott, shortly afterwards, merit and need a fuller description.
Of course it will easily be understood by every one now, and
doubtless admitted by the officials themselves, that if the
Government was powerless to prevent the large meeting of
armed men on the 8th of December, they would be equally
powerless to take any active steps to quell the rebellion, but
would simply have to remain on the defensive until reinforce-
ments arrived ; while the Boers M'ould become masters of the
whole country, except the few garrison towns, and thus be
enabled to obtain the prestige of victors to start with, as well
as the power of taking the initiative in attacking, instead of
having to act purely on the defence. However, in any event,
the military then in the Transvaal can neither be blamed for
the course taken, nor for the part they afterwards played in the
struggle. They did the best under the circumstances with the
limited means at their disposal. As will be seen, in the various
accounts of the sieges of Pretoria, Potchefstrom, Standerton,
Wakkerstrom and Lcydcnbcrg, they fought well and gallantly
against heavy odds, and added the lustre of many a brave and
noble deed to their reputation as soldiers of Great Britain.

ii;

CHAPTER XII.

THE FIRST ACTION.

Bronkborst "MeiJDisaster — 94th leave Leydenherg — Journey to Middelbcrg — Deten-
' tion at Olipliants River — 'Warnings of Boer Rising — Arrival at Bronkhorst
Vlei — Narrative of Conductor (now Lieutenant) Egerton — Disaster not a
Massacre — Details of Fight aud Prisoners' Treatment — Sir Bartle Frere's Opinioa
of Prinsloo and Joubert — The Messenger's (Paul de Beer) Story — List of British
Casualties — Details of Boer Force and Losses.

THE_news o£ the disaster at Bronkborst Vlei or Sp mit ("Water
Cress Pond), on the 2Gth of December, reacbed Pretoria on tbe
day after ; wl fence^ tetegrams were sent to Natal, tbe Cape, and
England, detailing tbe particulars, wbicb, bowevtr, were
h ardly believed at first. Of course inosF" exaggerated
reports were quickly spread about, but tbe truth in all its
bare entirety was soon officially made known. Then, and
then only, people at length began to realize tbe unity,
earnestness, and desperation of tbe Boers, instead of under-
valuing tbe former and doubting the latter, as was done by
those even high in authority. It appears that tbe bead-
quarters of the 94tb Eegiment, which had been stationed at
Leydenherg for some time, left that town in order to reinforce
the garrison at Pretoria, on Sunday, December oth, with their
band, &c. ; leaving Lieutenant Long to garrison tbe place
•with about fifty men. The force was composed as follows : —
246 officers, non-commissioned officers and men, tbree women,
and two children. Army Service Corps : two officers, five non-
commissioned officers and men. Army Hospital Corps : three
non-commissioned officers and men. Army Medical Depart-
ment : one surgeon. Total, nine officers and 248 men, with
thirty-four waggons. Tbe officers accompanying were Colonel
Anstruther, in command, Captains Elliott (paymaster) and

ii8 IVith the Boers in the Transvaal,

Naivne, and Lieutenants Swiney (adjutant), Harrison, anci
Hume, Dr. Ward, D.A.C.G. Carter, and Chief Conductor
Egerton. Pre^-ious to their departure they had heard rumours
of the Boers fighting, but did not beheve them. The force
reached Middelberg about a week after, without anything
occurring en route worthy of notice, except that before entering
the town thirty rounds of ammunition were issued to every
man in the ranks. The Kegiment stayed only one day in
Middelberg, the band playing on the square, much to the
enjoyment of the people. In consequence of the alarming
rumours which were prevalent, many of the residents did not
wish the Regiment to proceed, but it was not until the detach-
ment reached the Oliphants Eiver that any real credence was
placed in those reports. While encamped on that river, which
was so high as to prevent them crossing for a day, three gentle-
men rode after them from ]Middelbcrg, and made a communi-
cation to Colonel Anstruthcr, resulting in a laager being formed
with the waggons every night afterwards, and orders being
issued for all the men to sleep with their arms beside them.
Two days after crossing the river, a Kaffir came up to the
Adjutant and told him there were Boers about, and in con-
sequence of this orders were given that at the close of the
day's march the bandsmen were to give in their instruments
that night, and to take their places in the ranks, distributed
between the two companies. But about one o'clock, as the
band was still playing, and the Colonel and Conductor Egerton
were riding a little way ahead to select a camping ground, the
Boers were perceived. What occurred is best given in Con-
ductor Egerton's own words : —

" On .Sunday, the ioth of December, 1880, abont 1.20 v.M., when about
1\ miles from Ih-onkhorst or JMmlder ISpruit (about 08 miles from I'ro-
toriii), tlie hand suddenly ceased ]ilaying, and on turuinfi round to
nscertiiin the reason, we saw about 100 Boers on the left of tlio road m
formation, about 10 i>aces between each horseman, all mounted. The
Uoi-rs were uhout ">0u yards from the column, on the left Hank. The
Colonel galloped back, and gave the word to halt and for the n-ar wn£Tgon»
and men to close up. While ho was giving these orders 1 saw u llaj.: of
truce approaching, and rode out to meet it, and the messenger (Paul do
Been gave me a scaled despatch, which I handed to the l''.i(.nei There
was only one )uau with it and he was unarmed. Tlu; letter was in
EngliBh. The Culoael rca,d it out to me, and llie purport of it was—* The

Narrative of Conductor Egerton. 119

RepuLlic having been proclaimed at IleiJelberg, and tlie Dntch people
being determined to maintain it, any movements of English troops were
prejudicial to their interests, and if the Colonel advanced beyond the
Sj^ruit, they should consider it a declaration of war, and he must be
responsible for the consequences.' The messenger said verbally that two
minutes were allowed for the Colonel's decision. The Colonel replied his
orders were to march to Pretoria, and he should go there. Each party
galloped back to his own force, and no sooner had he reached than the
Boers commenced firing. The men were extended in skirmishing order in
front of tiie waggons at about four paces interval. The tiring lasted about
twenty minutes. The officers all fell in the first ten minutes. The Boera
were standing and kneeling behind trees on some rising ground above our
men. Our men were lying down on the grass. The fire of the Boers
seemed to be directed on the officers, the oxen and the ammunition
waggons, which were denoted by the red flag. The ammunition was in the
first two waggons, and the band and the prisoners were getting out the
reserve ammunition. All the officers were wounded, and 1 should think
that between thirty and forty men were killed, and about seventy or
eighty wounded. The doctor told me that in killed and wounded he had
about 120. Dr. "Ward was the doctor ; he was not hurt. When Colonel
Anstrnther saw that all the officers were shot, and the men falling fast,
and that there was no chance, he told them to throw up their hats and
wave handkerchiefs as a signal to surrender. There were thirty-four
waggons and carts in all, and the mei'^with the waggons had not time to
get up to join the main body. I heard from some ox drivers that the
rear guard were taken prisoners at the commencement. They said that
hundreds of Boers galloped up and took them prisoners. The convoy
extended about half a mile, and the rear guard was in rear of all. They
were about twenty strong. Mr. Carter, Commissariat and Transport
Staff, supposed to be with the rear guard, was missing when I left. The
band were, at the time of the attack, playing the last piece they were to
play on the march, as they were to join the ranks on getting to camp.
The Boers took off the arms and ammunition at once — three waggons —
and the remainder were standing there when I left, and the Boers formed
a circle round the Eegiment, and Commandant Franz Joubert gave leave
for the men to take what rations they pleased, and to pitch tents for the
wounded, and to work the water carts. Joubert gave me permission, on
the Colonel's request, to come into Pretoria for doctors and ambulances.
I was to carry no weapon, and he would not give me a horse, but allowed
Sergeant Bradley to accompany me. I took the colours of the 94th
Hegimentwith me, which some of the men tore off the poles and gave to
me, and I held them round my waist, imder my coat. Joubert asked for
the guns and colours, and I told them there were no guns, and not being
in the 94th I did not know where the colours were. 1 believe the colours
were secreted under Mrs. Fox (the wife of the sergeant-major), who was
wounded. I had ridden through the bush from where the attack was
made about ten minutes before the column reached the spot and saw
nothing. A mounted infantry man pointed out to the Colonel what he
considered to be mounted men, near the Bronkhorst Spruit, and after
looking at them through the glass, the Colonel saw they were cattle,
and handed the glass to me, and I looked, and am sure they were cattle.
This repoi-t was made about 51)0 yards before the attack. The sujiposed
mounted men reported were about twelve miles distant. The Boers were
concealed in a valley on the distant side of the rising ground irom which

I20 IViih the Boers in the Transvaal.

they fired, and ■when I first saw them were galloping at full speed at the
crest of the rising ground. I estimate that about oUO Boers attacked the
head of the column. I only saw one dead and five wounded on their side,
and I don't think there were any more. I believe the Boers were con-
cealed in a farm house (Solomon Prinsloo's) behind trees (willows and
poplars), and when they saw the mounted infantry returning from their
reconnoitring, they galloped on up the valley before mentioned. The
94th fought i-emarkably well, but their fire did not seem to take eff'ect — ■
they did not seem to find the range, and all the ofiicers were down. On
my way in I was challenged several times, but they let me go on hearing
I had a pass. The reason I was so long on the road was, I was wounded
and kept oft' the road, so that I might not be taken with the colours."

The gallant action of ]\[r. Ealpli Egerton, in saving tlie
colours of the Eegiment, has been since rewarded b}^ a com-
mission in the 94th, and his account, given immediately after
the event, has proved substantially correct ; and it does him
credit, as well as effectually disposes of the sta tements and
accusations made against the JJoers for murder and massacr e.
No doubt they took every advan tage that ^ t heir knowledge of
the_ground and intention to surpris e gave them ; but _ con-
sidering th at they are not regular armed soldiers, and a re cej;-
t ainly ignorant of Eu ropeanmct hods of fi g hting, I think all
u ninte rested and^Jii43j'ejadiccdj3cople_wih^ivc them credit for
thcii- h onc sty of purpose, although, perhaps, disap])roviu<>' of
th e mann e r of carrying out their purpose s.

Some further details of the fight and after occurrences are
thus described by one of the prisoners, a bandsman, who was
sent through the Orange Free State to Natal with the rest of
the captured. After detailing the march from Leydenberg
and the events up to the commencement of the attack, ho
proceeds : —

" Orders were issued for the ' band waggon ' to draw uji, and the bands-
men got their rifles. The Boers had now got within '200 yards, and were
to be seen in Hank and rear, cutting off the roar guard before anybody
was aware of it; the advance guard had fiillcn back on the main body.
The ne.Kt thing 1 saw was a wliite ihig, as near as possible '200 yarda
away, and, when this was noticed, we hoisted a signal also. The Boer
with liis Ihig and our man (Kgerton) advanced, meeting about half way,
but th(! letter lie received lie lirouglit Ut the Colonel. Tiu! letter 1 heard
stated ' 'I'lie Boers did not know whether they were on a war footing or
not, and, if we advanced further, we sliould liave to fight for it, asking
that wt! lay down our arms at once.' 1 Jieard tlic (Colonel say, *I have
got my orders for I'retoria, and to Pretoria I'll go.' Tim Colonel tlieu
gave the order ' to extend in Kkiniii.sliiiig order;' indeed he had hardly

Details of Fight and Prisoners Treatment. 121

time to give it before a volley was poured into us, and my comrades fell
all around. We were enclosed; the Boers had cover, a sort of 'little
bush' and an incline in their favour. The Boers themselves told us
afterwards that they had everything arranged beforehand, the distance
having been ascertained exactly. During the time the flag of truce was
flying the Boers continued advancing, and had the officers and non-com-
missioned officers all spotted; they all fell at once. While the firing was
going on, and about ten minutes from the commencement. Adjutant
Harrison got np and shouted 'Fire, men, keep it up,' when a bullet
struck him on the forehead dead. AVe \ie\it firing for about ten minutes
or so after this, but our ammunition getting short, and the Boers in front,
rear, and all round at the same time, picked off our men. We knew not
how, but they outnumbered us altogether. We got no time to extend,
and that was the reason our men fell so quickly. The bugle sounded
' Cease firing ' three times before the men heeded it, or in fact heard it.
The Boers disappeai'cd directly the flag dropped. Their fire lasted about
twenty minutes, and the Colonel, who was wounded, said ' he had better
leave a few men to tell the stor}-.' The bullocks in the waggons were all
over the place, dragging waggons, &c., among the wounded, dead, and dying.
The Boers' fire now slackened, and they came in among iis and ordered
those still standing to put down their arms, pulled our helmets off, and
made us 'squat down' like Kaffirs. While this was going on, I think
they took away their own dead and wounded ; they then made us pitch
tents for the wounded. The men that were not wounded were collected,
and thirty of the best were picked out by Sergeant-Major Fox to stay and
look after the wounded and bury the dead, myself being one of those
left behind for that purpose. Another man and Sergeant Bradley were
sent ofl' (on their asking to be allowed to proceed) to Pretoria for aid, &c.
The Boers left Ur. Ward with us, who worked hard and did all he could
for the sutt'ercrs. All the other prisoners were marched off to Heidelberg.
The Boers searched the pockets of the dead and wounded, taking rings,
watches, and everything worth taking they could lay their hands on. I
saw one Boer search Mr. Carter's pockets and take his watch. All our
-waggons were taken away, ambulance waggons as well: only leaving us
with tents, but no provisions; we only had what we managed to take
out of the oifioers' mess and canteen after the departure of the Boers and
prisoners lor Heidelberg. Our part}"- set about carrying in the wounded
to the tents u]> to four o'clock the next morning. Adjutant Harrison
wasdeadandLieutenantMcSwiney; Captain Nairne died duringthe night;
Colonel Anstrutlier and Lieutenant Hume were wounded, and still living
when I left. .Mrs. Fo.x Avas wounded through the lower part of her body,
and was then living. Two doctors, Surgeon-Major Comerford and Civil
Sui'geon Crow, and two ambulances had arrived at the scene of the
disaster before 1 left, and a few A.H.C. men. Sergeant-Major Fox, the
lady's husband, was shot through the arm. I was detained four days on
the spot, when I was ordered along with twenty others (leaving ten men
then) off to Heidelberg. We were marched to Prinsloo's house, over the
veldt, which is about two miles distance. Here we stayed a night. Next
morning Commamlant Prinsloo ordered us to Heidelberg, inspanned
sixteen of us like bullocks to a waggon, holding the yokes, etc.. the other
five of us pushing the waggons; this work we were kept at for about an
liour, and they cracked their whips over us and drove us like a lot of oxen.
It took us three daj's to get to Heidelberg. On arrival there we were
marched through the town and sent to the head-quarters of their Com-

122 TViih the Boers in the Transvaal.

mandant. The Commandant came to us and said it was ' the d d

humbugs of English Government that was trying to impose upon them.'
This man wore double-glassed spectacles — blue, I think — and he spoke
English like an Englishman. The first lot of prisoners that left I did not
see anything of at Heidelberg — they had left before our party of twenty-
one men arrived there. The Commandant said we could get away if we
deserted our regiment; or would we go to Pretoria to take up arms
against them ? We replied we preferred going to the Free State. AVe
were sent to the Yaal Eiver and crossed into the Free State, and left to
our fate on the veldt — they gave us nothing. We all agreed to separate
and choose our own way. I managed to walk 100 miles as well as I
could in my shirt-sleeves, and arrived at Harrismith, where I came across
a man with a lot of horses coming to Pietermaritzburg for Government
sale, and I offered my services to assist him. He accepted them, and
treatvrl me well, and we got to Pietermaritzburg Saturday morning about
twelve o'clock. I overtook the first party of i^risoners at Harrismith, and
left them at Estcourt."

With reference to the man, S. Prinsloo, mentioned in the
ahoYC extract, Sir Bartle Frere, in a letter to the Times, said
inter alia : — " As far as we have yet seen, the massacre of the
9-4th Regiment was committed near the farm of Solomon
Prinsloo and under the command of Joubert. These two were
always the leaders of the violent party. Prinsloo was said to
have been by his turbulence and insubordination the principal
cause of Mr. Burgers' repulse from Sekukuni's stronghold in
1876. When I visited the Boer camp S. Prinsloo was said
to be the leader of the party which urged the remonstrants
to * shoot or put over the border ' the High Commissioner
(myself) and the Administrator (Colonel Lanyon), and to haul
down the I'ritish flag. Once we were assured that a party of
hot-headed young meii, urged by Prinsloo, had started from tho
camp at night with the purpose of carrying out this threat
before daybreak by surprising us in the house where wo
slept at Pretoria. These attempts, wo were told, were always
overruled by tbc good sense and authority of Pretorius and
Krnger, and by a majority of the l^oer Committee. I should
be slow to Ijclieve that either Pretorius or Krnger, or any l)ufc
a very small minority of that Committee, would have consented
to tho trcacbcrous surprise of the l^lth or the murder of
Captain J'^lliott ; but it is quite possible that when blood had
once been shed and the iiisuri'ectioii liad I'lolccn out tlicy did
not see their way to repudiate the vioK lit acts of a lew of their

The Messenger Paid de Bco'^s Story. 123

colleagues. I have alwaj^s belicvccl the outbreak to be prin-
cipally instigated by adventurers of other than Boer descent,
and to be more nearly connected than people supposed \vith
troubles nearer home."

As a great many contradictory statements have from time to
time been published about this disaster, it is only fair to give
insertion to the sworn statement of the Boer bearer of the flag
of truce, which shows conclusively that the above accounts are
substantially the truth ; and that massacre is hardly the word
for the action that ensued. Other statements, made by Com-
mandant Prinsloo and Feldt-Cornet J. M. Engelbrecht, are
also corroborative of the three statements. The following is
the sworn declaration : —

'' I, the undersigned, Paul de Beer, hereby declare: — That on Monday,
the ■20th December, between the farms of Solomon Prinsloo and Vermaak,
I was appointed by Commandant Joubert to act as report-carrier and
interpreter between the citizens of the South African Republic and the
troops of the British Government which were there. I received from
said Commandant a sealed letter, the contents of which, were unknown to
me, to take to the Colonel in command of the troops. I also had the
verljal message : That the burghers had come to prevent them from going
to Pretoria, and see that they remained where they were. I carried a
white flag in my hand. I rode within 100 yards. The troops stood then
in rank and file, with their weapons in their hands ; the drums and music
ceased playing, and the bugle had been sounded to call the troops from
the waggons. "Within lUU yards 1 halted abont two minutes, calling out
loudly, thrice in Dutch, and thrice in English, that if there was anybody
to speak to me he should come forward. Then a corporal came out
towards me. I asked whether the General was there. He said yes ;
whereupon I told him I had a letter for the General, and desired to see
him. The corporal said, ' Come to the troops, there you can speak to the
General.' I replied that this was against my order, and that I was not
allowed to near the troops. He rode back to the troops, returning with
the Colonel and two other officers. They were on foot, and I rode fully
fifty yards to meet them. I said to the Colonel, ' I have a sealed letter
to hand to you,' whereupon he took it out of my hand. He asked me,
' What does this letter contain? ' I answered, 'That is more than I can
say; open it and read.' We spoke in English. Then I gave him my
verbal message, and said that I had to take back an answer. He opened
the letter. He said, ' I go to Pretoria.' I said, ' My General gives you
five minutes' time to consider over the matter, and what j'onr plan will
be; ' whereupon he again replied, ' I go to Pretoria, do as yon like ! ' He
seemed angiy, for I greeted him friendly and he did not return it ; only
Captain Elliott returned the greeting. I then said, ' Do you mean waf
or peace ? ' He answered a second time, ' I go to Pretoria, do as you
like.' Daring all this time the music played ' God Save the Queen.'
Then the Colonel turned round, and I asked the third time, ' \\'ar or
peace? ' He gave no answer. 1 remained standing on the spot, and as

124 IVil/i the Boers in the Transvaal.

he was about ten yards away he called out to me: 'Take back my
answer.' I rode back 100 yards at a walk, then quicker. I came to our
General and gave him the answer just as the English Colonel had told
me. Our burghers were all this time within 330 yards of the troops;
then the order was given to advance, and they advanced within 130 yards,
wherenpon tiring commenced. Between the time when I was told by
Commandant Joubert to bring the letter addressed to the Colonel and the
time I brought back the verbal answer is, according to my calculation, about
thirtj^ or forty minutes, for I had to wait long, and had a long talk, the
troops having ample time, which they used to convert at least six waggons
into a sort of camp, and to let the rest of the waggons come up, so tliat
the troops behind had at least ten minutes' time to get down. According
to calculation, the fight lasted ten minutes. The conversation after the
fight between Commandant Joubert and the Colonel I also interpreted.
Coming there we found the Colonel wounded. I said to General Joubert,
'This is the Colonel,' and to the English Colonel, 'This is my General.'
Then our General greeted the Colonel. Our General ordered me to tell
the Colonel that he must not be angr}', as it was not his fault but that
of the English Colonel. Our General then took up the letter addressed
to the Colonel, and which was lying next to him. The Colonel said to
me, ' Tell your General that all he did against me was honest.' The
English Colonel also said, ' Bring all wounded of the burghers nearer
that the doctor may bind tjp their wounds, i'or they behaved well, and
are good shots.' The Colonel said, "God be with you!' After this I
started to bring a report of the tight to the camp. This is the whole
truth, and declared by me under oath."

The official report of the late Colonel Austruther ami list
of the killed will be found in Appendix F. The casualties
numbered six officers and sixt3'-eiglit non-commissioned officers
and men. The Boer losses were one man, Kieser, killed,
C Coetzee, junior, died next day, and five wounded — P. Yon
Minnaar, B. Roos, W. Neethling-, and Gorobbelaar ; and their
whole force consisted of about 200 men, under Commandant
Franz Joubert and Feldt-Cornet Jan Greylin<^. Thus ended tho
lirst action in the Transvaal War of 1880-1.

12:

CHAPTER XIII.

CAPTAIN Elliott's murder — natal's neutrality.

Captains Elliott and Lambart at Heidelberg — Their Departure on Parole — Murder of
Elliott and Escape of Lambart — The Survivor's Official Statement — First News
of Outbreak reaches Home — Boer Advance — British Camp formed at Newcastle
— Sir George Colley's General Order — Jleeting of British Parliament —
Queen's Speech — Sir George Colley reaches Newcastle — Arrival of Mounted
Infantry — Naval Brigade — Reinforcements of Drafts — Newcastle desires Neu-
trality — The Resident Magistrate's Letter — Comniandant-General Joubert's
Answer — The Triumvirate to Sir George Colley — Sir George Colley's Repudiation
— Sir George Colley to Newcastle Memorialists — Home Reinforcements offered io
Strength — Resolve to advance.

The excitement consequent upon the receipt of the news of
the Bronkhorst Spruit disaster had hardly subsided when it
was followed by the report of the murder of Captain Elliott,
Paymaster of the 94th Piegiment, while crossing the Orange
Piiver from the Transvaal to the Orange Free State Territory,
accompanied by Captain Lambart, of the 21st Royal Scots
Fusiliers. These officers had both been released upon parole
not to take up arms against the Boers again during the war.
Captain Elliott, who was the only officer that was not wounded
at Bronkhorst Spruit, had been brought a prisoner to Heidel-
berg, the Boer head-quarters, along with a detachment, about
forty in number, of the unfortunate 94th men. He arrived
there on the 23rd, and found Captain Lambart also under
detention. Captain Lambart, with Mr. McHattie, had been
purchasing horses in the Orange Free State for the use of the
troops at Pretoria, and was returning to Pretoria with a troop
of horses by the high veldt road, so as to leave Heidelberg on
one side. On the 18th of December, two days after the outbreak,
they were seen by a small patrol party, and upon it being
reported at head- quarters a larger detachment went off hi

126 IVifk the Boers in the Transvaal.

2)ursuit and came up with them. Captain Lambart and tho
horses were all captured and taken back to Heidelberg, while
IMcHattie managed to escape after being fired at repeatedly.

The following official report of Captain Lambart gives the
details of the murder and other particulars after that time : —

" After being there (Heidelberg) some sis or seven days, I was joined
by Captain and Paymaster Elliott, 9-itli Eegiment. On the following
day (the i-ith of December) we received a written communication from
the Secretary to the Republican Government, to the effect ' that tlie
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 jiarole iVlionneur, tliat 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 Elliott and myself decided to accept No. 2 alter-
native, 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 that we could not start till Monday, on which
day, having signed our pa ro?c dloonneur, my horses were harnessed and
we were provided with a duplicate of our parole, or free pass, signed by
Commandant-General, and escort of two men to show us the road to the
nearest drift over the Vaal River, distant twenty-five (25) 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 Eoer camp, passing
through the town of Heidelberg. After going about six to 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 obe\ orders. At nightfall we found ourselves
nowhere near the river drift, and were ordered to outspan ibr 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 acros.'j country, I told the escort we would stop where we were,
wliile they went to search for the drift. Shortly after they returned, and
eaid they had found it, and we must come, wliich we did, eventually
arriving at Iho junction of two rivers (Vaal and Klij)), Avhere we found
the River Vaal impassable, but a small punt capable of only holding
two passengers at most, by wliich they said wc must cross. I pointed
out that it was imjiossible to get my carriage or horses over by it, and
that it was not tho \n\nt tho General said we were to cross. The escort
replied it was to Pretorius' Punt that the General told them to take us,
Jind we must cross; that we niu.st leave the carriage behind and swim the
horses, wliich we refused to do, as we should then have liad 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 I'retoriua
was rot in it. 1 then told them they must eitlier take us l)ack to the
Boer camj) again or on to the jirojier drilt. We turned back, and after

The Stirvivors Official Statement. 127

poirifT a few miles the escort disappeared. Not knowing where we were,
I proposed to Captain Elliott 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.il., when we ound our-
selves about four hours or twenty-live 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 llepublican
Government, stating ' that the members were surprised that as officers and
gentlemen we had broken our parole dlionnenr and refused to leave the
Transvaal ; that if wo did not do so immediately by the nearest drift,
which the bearers would show ns, we must return as prisoners of war;
that as through our ignorance of the language of the covintry 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 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 contained 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 farm house,
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. W-'hen we got
opposite it, he kept straight on ; I called to him, and said that this was
where we were to cross. His reply was ' Come on.' I then said to Captain
Elliott, ' They intend taking ns back to Pretorius,' distant some forty miles.
Suddenly the escort (which had all at once increased from two to eight
men, which Captain Elliott pointed out to me, and I replied, 'I suppose
they ai'e 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 dai'k, with vivid lightning, the river roaring past, and as I
knew impassable, I asked had we not better wait till morning, as I did
not know the drift ? They replied, ' iSTo, 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 Com-
mandant 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
Elliott, 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.' AVhile we were holding this conversation a
vollej' 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 Elliott, who only uttered the single word ' Oh,' and fell
lieadlcng 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 Elliott, but I
called out his name twice, but received no reply. Immediately another

128 Witk the Boers in the Transvaal.

volley ^/as fired at me, making the water hiss around where the bullets
ptruck. I now struck out for the opposite bank, which I reached with
difficulty in about ten minutes; but, as it was deep, black mud, on landing-
I stuck fast, but eventually reached the top of the bank, and ran for
about 2,000 yards under a heavy tire the whole while. The night being
pitch dark, but lit up every minute by vivid tlashes 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, which, 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 eventually I crawled into a
store, kept by an Englishman, 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 farmei-s refused me water, so without hat or coat
(which I had left on the banks of the Vaal) and shoes worn through, I
arrived exhausted at the above gentleman's place, who kindly dnive me
to Heilbron, where I took the pcst-cartto jMarit/.burg v;'<f Ilarrismith. I
fear that Captain Elliott must have been killed instantly, as he never
spoke, neither did I see him af^ain. I have to mention that both Captain
Elliott and myself, on being told by the South African Kepublican Govern-
ment 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 tliem, which was refused, but we were told that waggons, food,
and money should be supplied to take them down country. But when
thev reached Spencer's Punt over the Vaal River, they were turned loose
without any of the above necessaries, to find their way down country.
They met an English transport-rider named I\rr. F. Wheeler, who was
going to ]'ietermaritzburg with his waggon, which had been looted by the
Boers, and who kindly gave them transport, provided them with food,
and is bringing tliem to the C'ity, which, as I passed them at the Drakens-
berg on Tuesday, they should reach on Sunday next — consisting of one
sergeant and sixty-one men, all that remain of the Ley denberg detach-
ment and head-quarters of the 9-ith Regiment."

The first news of the outbreak in the Transvaal reached the
Colonial OfTicc in England on the 20th of December, and was in
the form of a telegraphic message from Sir G. Pomeroy Colley
to Earl Kimberley as follows : — " Pietermaritzburg, 19th of
December. — lioers numbering about 5,000 have taken posses-
sion of IIeideli)erg and established Republican Government.
Krugcr, President; Joubert, Commandant. No collision or
violence used. Communication with Pretoria cut oil". I am
sending up all available tro()i)s, and leave myself shortly.""
Then followed Ihc news of Cjii)lain Elliott's murder and Cap-
tain Lambart's escaix", and of llie rapid progress of the out-
break tbronghont the Transvaal, hemming in the troops then
stationed in Ibc various garrison towns, wbicli produced a perfect
panic througbuut South Africa. On the ard of January, 1881,

Boer Advance. 129

Sir George Colley was instructed to assume the Government of
the Transvaal immediately on entering the Province, and to
take the oaths of allegiance and office in the most formal
manner possible, before either a judge or magistrate, if pos-
sible. Arrangements were made to bring up all the available
troops to Newcastle, and reinforcements in strength were pro-
mised quickly from home and India. Meanwhile, the Boers
assembled in great force near the Border, and on several occa-
sions penetrated into Natal, capturing waggons, goods, horses,
cattle, and sometimes men. But their main object was to
establish themselves in strength near the rugged and circuitous
frontier line between Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free
State, where the main road to Pretoria ascends through and
over the Drakensberg, so as to prevent the advance of the
small force, then known to be in Natal, into the Transvaal to
the relief of any of the beleaguered garrisons. With this
object Commandant-General Joubert threw forward a body ot"
Boers to Meekis, and had other large reserves forming at the
rear.

Sir George Colley had issued orders for the troops then in
Natal, consisting of the 58th and 3-60th Piegiments, to march
up to Newcastle to form an entrenched camp. On the 28th of
December, in his military capacity as Commander-in-chief, he
issued a general order explanatory of what had occurred, and of
the manner in which steps were to be taken to re-establish Her
Majesty's authority, and vindicate the honour of the British
arms, and in the following terms : —

"Head-quarters, Pietermaritzburg, December 28, 1880. 1. The Major-
General Commanding regrets to inform the troops of his command
that a detachment of 2o0 men of the 94th Regiment, on its march from
Leydenberg to Pretoria, was surprised and overwhelmed by the Boers —
12u being killed and wounded and the rest taken prisoners. The attack
seems to have been made while the troops were crossing a spruit, and.
extended to guard a long convoy. The Major-General trusts to the
courage, spirit, and discipline of the troops of his command, to enable
him promptly to retrieve this misfortune, and to vindicate the authority
of Her Majesty and the honour of the British arms. It is scarcely neces-
sary to remind soldiers of the incalculable advantage which discipline,
organization, and trained skill give them over more numerous but undis-
ciplined 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

130 IVU/i the ^ Boers in the Transvaal.

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
roly on the troops he has to command, to show that endui'ance and
courage which are the proud inheritance of the British Army. The
stain cast on our arms must be quickly efiaced, and rebellion must be put
down, but the Major-General trusts that oiScers 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 under-
taken, the General confidently trusts that the good behaviour of the men
•will give him as much cause of 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."

(Signed) A. H. Wavell,
Lieutenant-Colonel, Assistant Aclj utant-Gaieral.

In addition to the 58th and 8-GOth (two companies of the
latter regiment, stationed at Harding, were ordered up at once),
two steamers — H.M.S. Tluinher and the R.M.S. AnriUan —
fortunately arrived at Durban the day following Christmas,
Avith large drafts, consisting of 148 men of the 58th, 91st, and
'Jltli by the latter, while the former brought 209 officers and
men for the 3-60th and 21st R.S.F., then, with the unfortunate
91th, the only two Regiments in the Transvaal. Two days
afterwards, on the 27th of December, orders were given in
England for the immediate despatch of the 6th Inniskilling
Dragoons, 91st Argyllshire Highlanders, 93rd Sutherland High-
landers, and the 97th Regiments as reinforcements to Natal.
The 91st were then quartered at Cape Town, with detachments
at Mauritius and St. Helena. A Naval Brigade was also Inndcd
from H.^I.S. JMxtdicra, under Commodore Richards, R.N.,
and sent up at once ; and Major Yesey Bromilow, of the
1st King's Dragoon Guards, got together a squadron of 150
cavalry and mounted infantry combined, and hurried up to
Newcastle ; while the Natal mounted police were also ordered
out for active service, though not without protest from the
Natal Colonists, who ol)jected to their purely local force being
■scd for Imperial purposes.

Ilia Excellency Sir G. Romeroy Collcy remained at Pieter-

~ Newcastle desires Neutrality. 131

maritzburg in constant communication with the Home autho-
rities until after the meeting of the British Parliament summoned
by Her Majesty for the transaction of special and urgent
business on January 6. Affairs in the Transvaal were referred to
in the course of the customary Speech from the Throne, in the
following paragraph: — "A rising in the Transvaal has recently
imposed upon me the duty of taking military measures with
a view to the prompt vindication of my authority ; and has of
necessity set aside for the time any plan for securing to the
European settlers that full control over their own local affairs,
without prejudice to the interests of the natives, which I had
been desirous to confer."

Subsequently, Sir George left, and arrived at Newcastle on
the eveniug of the 11th of January, escorted by a few Natal
mounted police. He found there everything in readiness at
the camp, Fort Amiel, which is situated on an eminence over
the river half a mile away from and commanding the town.
All the disposable infantry had arrived, and the mounted troops
followed on the 14th, another Naval Brigade arriving at the
camp on the 19th.

Meanwhile, the inhabitants of Newcastle, most of them in
close business connection with the Transvaal and with branch
houses in that Province, were very desirous of remaining neutral
in the coming struggle between the Imperial forces and the
Boers; and they held meetings at which these views were
agreed to, and a memorial was presented on the subject to Sir
George on his arrival, steps having been previously taken by
the Eesident Magistrate, Mr. W. H. Beaumont, to inform Com-
mandant General Joubert of this intention. As the corre-
spondence which ensued was the cause of much ill-feeling at
the time, and caused subsequent retaliation from the Boers, I
think a brief resume will be of value. The first letter from
Mr. Beaumont to Joubert declared the desire for the neutrality
of Natal, and was dated 5th of January, 1881. Mr. Beaumont
said : — " I need hardly remind you that the quarrel of the
Transvaal Boers is with the Imperial Government, that the
Natal Government has, from the beginning, wished, and believed
also that the Transvaal Boers wished, that the Government and

K 2

132 JVith the Boers in the Transvaal.

people of Natal should have nothing to do with this quarrel,
and should hold a neutral position. The Government of Natal
has used every endeavour to preserve this neutrality ; and I may
mention that the Legislative Council, with this ohject in view,,
passed a resolution that they would not vote any money either
for offensive or defensive purposes, connected with the war with
the Transvaal Boers. The few men of the Natal mounted police
stationed here, and who are patrolling within our borders, have
nothing whatever to do with the military, and were merely sent
here to watch whether you should in any way violate our Border.
I trust you will carefully consider what I have said, and at once
show your good faith and friendly intentions by withdrawing
any men within the borders of this Colony, and prohibiting any
further violation of territory. I may inform you that I act as
the mouthpiece of His Excellency the Governor of Natal, whe
Mill, you may be sure, deal with you in accordance with the
manner in which j'ou accede to or refuse the demand I now
make." Commandant Joubert replied on January 7th : — " I
acknowledge receipt of your letter of 5th inst., in which you
desire to remind me that the quarrel is one between the Impe-
rial Government and the Transvaal Boers, and that the Natal
Government from the beginning has wished not to have any-
thing to do with this quarrel. I am glad to be informed of
this, and can assure you that it is in no way the intention of
the people and the Government of the South African llcpublic
to do or to show the very least hostility to the people or the
Government of Natal. Any patrol sent by mc had only the
intention to prevent the free passing of hostile forces, as it
appears to mo that the Natal Government, as a neutral Govern-
ment, has in this forgotten its duty, by allowing the gathering
of hostile forces against the licpublic, within the borders of the
Natal Colony, after the friendly information from the Govcrn-
infMit of the South African Kopublic to the Governor of Natal."
( )n thes(! facts being communicated to the Boer llead-quarteis,
the Triumvirate also addressed u letter on the subject to Sir
George Collcy, under date January lOtli. After a brief reference
to their former communication, its non-receipt or non-acknow-
Icdgmcut, they expressed their satisfaction at the complete and

The Triumvirate to Sir G. Colley. 133

entire agreement between the views of the Natal Government
and their own about the neutrality of Natal, and their full
concurrence with the opinion of the Resident Magistrate
of Newcastle, that the Government and people of Natal
had nothing to do with the quarrel. It would give,
therefore, full satisfaction to everybody to hear that Com-
mandant-General P. J. Joubert had withdrawn to their
■side of the boundaries. They saw with pleasure that in the
Legislative Council a motion of Mr. ]^.Ioor was carried, to the
effect that the Colony of Natal would in no way be held
responsible for the costs, or any portion of the costs, of any
offensive or defensive measures as might be deemed necessary
by Her Majesty's oflQcers ; and that the Resident Magistrate of
Newcastle, who wrote that he acted " as the mouthpiece of His
Excellency the Governor of Natal," alluding to said motion,
•said that this might be accepted as a proof of the endeavours to
preserve neutrality. In conclusion, they said : — " We trust
that from these premises we have a right, alluding (1st) to the
preamble of Mr. Moor's motion — that in view of threatened
hostilities between the Imperial Government and the Transvaal,
and in anticipation of Natal again becoming the base of mili-
tary operations (directed against us) — and (2ndly) alluding to
the fact that there is at Newcastle a large military force appa-
rently with hostile purposes against us — to ask Your Excellency
earnestly whether this can be called preserving the neutrality of
Natal. As far as we can understand neutrality, in accordance
with the principles of international or public law, we have
always held that a neutral country may not even allow the
passage of any hostile force, ammunition, or horses whatever ;
that any country which becomes the base of military operations
intended against a third State loses thereby its position of
being a neutral Power ; but now, after the outspoken letter of
Mr. W. H. Beaumont, we feel sure that Your Excellency will
he able to clear up any doubts which we might entertain upon
this point."

The pertinent and embarrassing nature of the concluding
sentences was, however, qualified by the prompt repudiation of

134 With the Boers in the Trcinsvaah

Mr. Beaumont's despatch by Sir George after his arrival at New-
castle. And a week later, after various meetings had been held
in Newcastle by the inhabitants, the memorialists received
their quietus as follows: — " Army Head-quarters, Fort Amiel,
January 15, 1881. Sir, — I am directed by his Excellency the
Governor to acknowledge the receipt of the Memorial forwarded
by you urging that Natal should be kept neutral in the contest
between the Imperial troops and the Transvaal insurgents, and
that the Natal mounted police should not be employed beyond
the Border. In reply, I am to point out to the memorialists
that neutrality as between the Queen and Queen's enemies is
incompatible with the position of Natal, as a part of Her
Majesty's dominions, and of its inhabitants as loyal British
subjects. His Excellency therefore assumes that this request
has been made in ignorance of the meaning of the terms used.
At the same time, it has been, and will continue to be, his
Excellency's endeavour to limit the area of disturbance as much
as possible. As regards the employment of the mounted police,
that force is maintained for the protection of Natal, and His
Excellency is responsible for its employment, under the con-
ditions provided for by law, in such manner as will best secure
that object.'' Thus ended this unpleasant episode, from which
Sir George Colley and Joubert alone emerged with credit and
consistency, and which materially intensified the ill-will
already shown by the Colonists against the Imperial Govern-
ment.

On the 12th of January the Secretary of State for War, INIr.
Childers, after the meeting of Parliament, and in view of tho
serious aspect of affairs, offered strong reinforcements of all
arms from England and India, for service in tho Transvaal, to
be ready in ten days, which oiler was gladly accepted b_v tho
General, and steps were taken accordingly to provide for their
reception and transport to tho scene of action. Pending their
arrival Sir George Colley determined to advance from Newcastlo
■with the small force at his disposal ; at any rate, far enough to
meet tho lioers on the frontier, and try at least to check their
further advance and daily raids, even if it should bo fountl

Rcschc. to. Advance. 135

impossible to proceed fartlifr to tlic relief of the beleajinoved
garrisons, some of which were known to bo short of provisions,
\veak for defence, and in no fit state to withstand the numerous
and aggressive forces which the Boers could, and doubtless did,
brino.' into the field.

35 JVith the Boers in the Transvaal.

CHAPTER XIV.

THE BRITISH ADVANCE.

Inquiries on Captain Elliott's Mnnler— Complicity of Boer Lca(1ers dcnieil — Ensuing
Correspondence— Finding and liurial of Cupt;un Elliott's Body — Sir G. Colley's
Ultimatum and Boer Keply — Action of British House of Commons — Ilelief
Column at Newcastle — Sir G. Colley's Address — The Start — Mount Prospect.
Camp — Boer Positions — Utrecht Captured — Cape Sympathy — Petition from
Holland — President Brand's Mediation — Telegrams thereon.

The murder of Captain Elliott next engaged the attention of
Sir George Colley, and on the 12th of January a letter was
addressed to Commandant-General Joubert on the subject,
enclosing copy of a statement made by Captain Lambart,
2-21st Regiment R.S.F., of the circumstances attending the
release from the Boer camp at Heidelberg and murder of
Captain Elliott, 94th Regiment, in the confident belief that
the Commandant would cause inquiry to be made into the cir-
cumstances of the outrage, and deal with the perpetrators
according to their deserts ; and offering publicity to the reply.

This elicited an immediate denial from the Roer Government,
showing the steps they had at once taken upon hearing of the
dastardly act ; mid accompanied by an emphatic protest, from
their point of view, against the steps taken by Sir Owen
Lanyon, and the general orders of Sir George CoIlcy. "Jliis
document, though lengthy, is loo important not to be re})ro-
duccd here. In acknowledging the receipt of that letter, and
expressing sincere thanks i'or the transmission of the state-
ment made by Captain Lambart, Mr. M. Rok, the State Secre-
tary, said that he was ordered to express at once, and in the
most emphatic way, the deep feelings of horror and disgust
wliicli tbo Government felt for an act so outrageous as
described by Captain Lambart. It was only on tho 11th

Complicity of Boer Leaders Denied. 1 3 7

of January that some vague rumours about the horrid act
reached them from the Free State, and at once the Govern-
ment sent an express to Heilbron, with instructions to
inquire at the Landdrost's office into the matter ; so there
could he no reasonable doubt that the real perpetrators of this
foul act would be punished according to law. He also enclosed
a translation of the instructions sent to Mr. Steyn, Landdrost of
Heilbron, Orange Free State, to the following effect : — " This
very moment we learn from Messrs. Botha and Willem Bester,
inhabitants of the district of Harrismith, Orange Free State,
that they have heard that Captain Elliott, of the 94th Regi-
ment, who was set at liberty by us, has been shot in the
river (the Vaal), in the beginning of the night. The above-
named gentlemen tell us that statements with regard to that
affair have been investigated by you. Be so kind immediately
to send copies of the given statements and of your held
investigation. We can assure you that if the rumours might
prove to be true we look upon that act as public murder, and
that we will not rest before the perpetrators have undergone
their just punishment, always in the case the perpetrators are
inhabitants of this State."

Finally, the communication set forth the views of the
Triumvirate in these terms : —

" This Government fully agrees with His Excellency the Major-General
Commanding, that it is desirable to mitigate, as far as is possible, the
suffering which the ensuing war must necessarily entail, and to carry on
the military operations with the humanity and amenities usual amongst
civilised races ; and although they are very sorry that it was only on the
opportunity of a bad act committed by a few of their jieople, that such a
desire has been expressed, they are thankful that they have it on record.
It is with due respect to His Excellency that, starting from this mutual
agreement about what they wish to call the main principles of an honest
and noble war, they take the liberty to advance a few points and facts,
and to bring them under the light of those broad principles.

" 1. "What is to be said about the military orders given by order of Sir
W. Owen Lanyon, and instructing Her Majesty's troops to fire at the
Burghers, as is fully explained in Xos. 20, -\ of the second Proclamation ?
2. Does the tiring, without any ])revious summons or warning, at the
Burghers, as is amply set forth in Nos. 8 and 17 of the same Proclamation,
come under cover of the humanity and amenities usual amongst civilised
races? 3. Does the bombarding and shelling of an open town, occupied
by women and children, as is explained more fully in the Nos. 8, 11, 28
of the same Proclamation, when it is done by the troops of Her Majesty

138 With the Boers in the Transvaal.'

and midcr the protection of the Britisli flag, belong to those military
operations which imt'ortunately may become necessary, or are there good
substantial grounds to call it such an outrage as scarcely even among bar-
barians could have been thought of? 4. What will be the verdict of an
international jury about this very plain and unmistakable order of Colonel
"\V. Eellairs : — 'Keep off all armed bodies of men approaching your posi-
tion, whether under cover of a tlag of truce or otherwise.' — Dated Pretoria,
81st of December, ISSO ? 5. And about this other fact, that as ' political
prisoners' at Pretoria, are kept in gaol two ladies and their whole families,
babies included. 6. And also that born Africanders living in Pretoria,
and not wishing to fight perhaps against their own fathers, brothers, or
friends, and therefore refusing to be armed by the authorities in Pretoria,
have been imprisoned and treated in a shameful manner. 7. And also
that when, on the 18th of December, 18S0, after the surrender of Major
Clarke at Potchefstrom, our Burgher, C. Bodenstein, went up to the
camp outside Potchefstrom in order to bring a letter for Major Clarke to
Colonel "Winsloe, quite alone, unarmed, with a clear tlag of truce in his
hands, on the barren veldt, his horse was shot dead under him.

"8. Let the same international jury give their verdict in the following
case : — In the name, and calling himself the mouthpiece of His Excel-
lency the Governor of Natal, the Magistrate of Newcastle addresses
himself to P. Joubert, Esq., Commandant-General, &c., J:c., Transvaal,
requesting him to respect the neutrality of Natal, said Colony being
entirely out of the quarrel between the Transvaal Boers and the Imperial
Government. This hapiiens on the 5th of January. ]\Ir, P. J. Joubert,
replying the 7th of January to said letter, states that he is very willing to
respect the neutrality of Natal, but in order to do so he wishes to be
informed what the meaning is of the massing of Imperial troops in
Newcastle. The Republican Government, in a letter dated the lutli of
January, addressed to His Excellency the Governor of Natal, enlarges on
the same topic. In the meanwhile the Commander of the Ivepublican
troops withdrew his troops behind the boundaries. Well, on the Sth of
January a letter was written and sent by the llesident ]\Iagistrate of
Newcastle to the Commandant-General P. J. Joubert, informing him
that — 'Having submitted to His Excellency the Governor a coDy of his
letter of the 5th instant, he had been directed by him to at once inform
!Mr. Joubert that, with the exception of the first paragraph, he had to
consider the letter as cancelled, and as having lieen written without the
consent of the Governor.' The point at issue here, whereupon we wish
to have the verdict of an international jury, is this: — Can it bo called
lawfid warfare, to bring forward the delicate point of neutrality of a third
country, forcing, by the rai^^ing of this point, one of the belligerent parties
to withdraw his advanced guards from a very desirable s])ot, and when
this succeeds to tell the same party very quietly two days afterwards that
it was all nonsense? In order to enable said jury to give a true verdict
upon this point it is necessary to draw their attention to the fact, that
the very same man is Governor of the country which wishes to bo
reHpocted as neutral, and at tlic same time head or chief of one of the
))('lligercnt parties. With duo respect for the impartiality of the said
jnry, we contend that the mutual desire to mitigate tlu; suifering which
the cnHuing war must nccosHarily entail will l)0 irustrated Ity such act*
oliowing an utter want of respect of the one belligen^nt party to the other.

" ;•. In the letter of .1. (J. MacGregor, Esq., it is staled that a certain
general order issued by His Excellency Sir George I'onieroy Collcy in-liirf

Ensidng Co7'respondence. 139

capacity as Major-General Commanding, dated 28th of December, 1880,
is a proof of Ilis Excellency's desire to carry on the military operations
'with the humanity and amenities usual among civilised races.'

" We humbiy submit those three points for further consideration : —
1. Can it be said to comply with said desire, when our noble struggle is
called a rebellion? and 2. When a fair fight is called an unprovoked
action? and 3. The troops are told when iu that fight they were con-
quered that a stain is cast on the British arms which must be quickly
effaced. But. sir, we leave off going on in this strain. Our case is fairly
and fully explained in the past iiistor}' of the last three years of our
country, and substantiated in both our Proclamations. We are of opinion
that if what happens here in the Transvaal did happen somewhere in
Europe, and if instead of the English Government being the annexing
Power, Eussia, Prussia, or some other reputed autocratic Power had sent
Sir Theophilus Shepstone to Pretoria, killing the freedom of an inde-
pendent state, the three kingdoms would ring from one end to another,
from sea to sea, with a clamour of sympathy for that poor j^eople who
did dare to fight against an overwhelming Power. But, alas, we are now
rebels ! Why ? Do we fight against our legal Government ? Xo, sir,
we do not. Although we have been explaining our case, since more than
three years, we see now that it is utterly in vain. His Excellency, ad-
dressing Her Majesty's troops, gives us still bad names. W^ell, good or bad
names cannot alter very much our position, but they may do a very great
wrong. They may cause just what Sir G. Pomeroy Coiley and we wish
to avoid — they may raise a feeling of revenge. It is not yet too late to
prevent further harm. We put tbe whole matter iu the hands of His
Excellency. At the very same moment that we, after a lapse of three
years, took up again the reins of our legal Government, we ofi'ered to meet
the Imperial Government in any wishes of theirs for the consolidating or
confederating of the Colonies in South Africa; and we offer the same
still. We did our utmost to prevent bloodshed — and how are we met ?
With treacherous shells at Potchefstrom, and threats of large forces
gathering at Newcastle, brought over from Europe, and ready to crush
us as rebels. Sir, the General Orders of His Excellency Sir G. Pomeroy
Coiley still speak of us as of a raisled and deluded people, continuing
thereby that most untruthful of all misrepresentations, originated in
Pretoria, and which may be called the main cause of all the miseries, past
and future. Perhaps, after all, we are misled and deluded. By what or
by whom ? By our faith in a living God, Who will be the Defender of the
■weak against the strong, of the oppressed against the oppressor, AVho
•will raise a feeling of shame among the English people for the evil deeds
which are perpetrated in their name in Soiith Africa. In the name of
our Lord we will fight until death. I have the honour to express the
thanks of the Government for the Declaration made by you, that this
reply will be published in the same way as the statement of Captain
Lambart. — W. E. BoK."

While this correspondence was proceeding the body of Cap-
tain Elliott was recovered in the Yaal Piiver by a Free State
Burgher named Prinsloo, who buried it on the Free State side
of the river, and gave information thereof to the authorities.
Upon this, Mr. Steyu, the Landdrost of Heilbron (the nearest

140 Wiih the Boers ni the Transvaal.

town to the scene of the murder), and Dr. Yowell proceeded
directly to the place and exhumed the body in order to ascertain
whether it was the remains of Captain Elliott. On their arrival
at the place, a medical examination was held, and four shot
wounds were found on the body : one in the temple, one in the
wrist, one in the leg (which was broken), and one in the middle
the back. Both the first and last were mortal, and sufficient to
cause almost instantaneous death. A full description of the
clothes was taken, and, on being sent down to Captain
Lambart, then at Pietermaritzburg, it was recognized as
correspondii^g in every respect with the dress worn by the
deceased at the time. In the pockets were found £'30 in
notes, 6s. in silver, and a Victoria Cross, with the name
of Private Fitzpatrick, of the 9-ith Picgimcnt, which deceased
was taking care of for the owner. Landdrost Steyn had a coffin
made, and the body was then decently interred on the farm of
!Mr. Groom, who had so willingly assisted Captain Lambart on
liis escape.

On the 23rd of January General Colley sent an Ultimatum
to the Boers, ordering them as insurgents to disperse ; but
without naming any time within which such steps were to be
taken. This Ultimatum was communicated by Commandant-
General Joubert to the Government at Heidelberg, and a
characteristic reply thereto sent back with all possible despatch,
dated the 29th of January : — " We beg to acknowledge receipt
of yours of 23rd. In reply we beg to state that, in terms of
the latter, we are unable to comply with your request, as long as
Your Excellency addresses us as insurgents, and insinuates that
we, the leaders, are wickedly misleading a lot of ignorant men.
It is nearly hopeless for us to attempt to find the proper words
f(jr rejily ; Imt l)eforo the Lord wo would not be justilied if wo
did not avail ourselves of this, perhaps the last, o]i])()rtunity of
Kpeaking to you as the representative of Her JNlMJesty the
Queen, and people of ]Ongland, for whom we feel deep
rcHpect. Wo must emphatically r(>peat, wo are willing to
comply with any wishes of the Imperial Government tending
to tlio consolidatiou and confederation of South Africa, and in
order to make this oiler from our side as clear and unequivocal

Relief Column at Nczvcastle. 141

as possiMe — although we have explained this point fully in all
our documents, and especially in paragraphs 3G to 38 of our
first Proclamation — we declare we would be satisfied with a,
rescinding of the Annexation and restoration of the South
African Republic under a Protectorate of Her Majesty the
Queen, so that once a j-ear the British flag shall be hoisted,
all in strict accordance with the above-mentioned clauses of
our first Proclamation. If Your Excellency resolves to reject
this, we have only to submit to our fate ; but the Lord will
provide."

In England, the House of Commons, then sitting in extra-
ordinary session, negatived a motion of Mr, Piylands, " That
the Annexation of the Transvaal was impolitic and should be-
reversed " ; and the Eight Hon. W. E. Gladstone, the Prime
Minister, in th^ course of hts speech thereon, said that though
annexation at the time might have been impolitic an^'
undesirabl e, its reve rsal now was quite impossibl e. Thi s
took place on the 22nd of January (the second anniversary of
Isandhlwana), and the news reached South Africa by tele -
graph next day . ~~~ "

After the despatch of the Ultimatum, Sir G. Colley held a.
review of all the troops at Newcastle, and addressed the forces,,
announcing that a relief column would start on the following
day, and appealing to the valour of the troops, though inferior
in numbers, to fight for the relief of the garrisons and loyal
inhabitants of the Transvaal ; as waiting for the reinforce-
ments, causing at least a month's delay, would involve
suffering and suspense, and probably in some cases neces-
sitate surrender. The address was received with enthusiasm.
The morning of the 24th of January, 1881, saw the departure
from Newcastle camp of the small column of Her Majesty's
troops that could be got together for the relief of the Trans-
vaal. It was commanded in person by General Sir G. P.
Colley, accompanied by Commodore Pdchards, R.N., Colonel
Ashburnham, 3-GOth, Colonel Deane, D.A.G., temporarily in com-
mand of the 58th Eegiment, and comprised about sixty officers
and 1,200 men. The exact strength of the force which moved,
out of Newcastle in the relief column was not known for some

Y42 JJlfh the Boers in the Transvaal.

time ; as it was thouglit iuexpeclient to allow its paucity of
numbers to become publicly known, especially as the Boers
were well known to have many spies throughout the Colony of
Natal, as well as active sympathisers and advisers in Pieter-
maritzburg.

Owing to the rain which had fallen for three days previous
to the march, the column was unable to proceed far the first
day. On the second they reached the Ingogo River, seeing
Boer patrols a few miles distant ; and on the 26th they
encamped and entrenched themselves at Mount Prospect, a
hilly position about three and a half miles from Lang's
Nek, where a large Boer force was encamped, and easily
discernible. The Boers had previously sent a large detach-
ment to Utrecht, under Commandant Yiljoen, who established
himself in that town. He captured the Landdrost Rudolph,
who was sent under escort as a prisoner to Heidelberg ; and
the other officials were sent across the Buffalo River by an
armed escort, who stationed themselves on the Drift, to prevent
the escape of other loyal Boers, and give notice of the passage
of any British troops by that road. A few skirmishes occurred
between the patrols, but with no casualties. The 27th of
January was spent in inactivity, through a heavy storm of rain
and thick mist, but, the Avcathcr clearing on the 28th, an
advance was then made.

The course of serious events thus occurring through Januarj',
was well known all over South Africa and Europe ; and earnest
endeavours were made by many in order to avert further
collision between British troops and the Boers, and the con-
sequent spilling of blood. Meetings were held throughout
the Cape Colony and Orange Free State, subscriptions were got
up, a Red Cross society started for helping the wounded, and
large quantities of provisions, arms, and ammunition were sent
Tip through the Free State to the Transvaalers. At Capo Town,
<IraufT Reinet, the Paarl and other towns in the Cape Colony,
large meetings were held and resolutions passed, declaring that
tlio Transvaalers never would have taken up arms had not a fair
lioariiig on the part of Her Majesty's advisers been refused
them and their sentiments been misrepresented : that ncgotia-

Pel 1 1 ion from Holland. 143

tions be enterecT into, by means of a Pioyal Commission or
Special Commissioner, with a view to bring about a condition
of affairs satisfactory to all parties, otherwise to enforce Her
Majesty's rule by force of arms would tend to alienate from her
rule the minds of many of Her Majesty's subjects in South
Africa : that it was the duty of the Cape Government and
all colonists to endeavour to bring about a settlement by means
of negotiation with the men calling themselves the South
African Republic, instead of enforcing Her Majesty's rule at
the point of the bayonet ; and further, that the only solution
of the difficulty would be the restoration of the independence
of the Transvaal, under certain conditions, and the absolute
neutrality of the South African Colonies and States.

A strong Deputation from Holland also visited England in
order to obtain an interview with the British Ministry to arrange
steps for the conclusion of a mutually satisfactory peace settle-
ment with the Boers. And an appeal, printed in Dutch and
English, was signed by over 7,000 Hollanders and presented to
the British Parliament. The following is the principal text : —

"We, the Tindersigned, as Dutcli citizens, have followed with deep
interest the late events affecting the peojile of the Transvaal, our own.
liesh and blood by derivation ; and we can no longer repress the feehng
of wonder and regret experienced by us when tlie late Government of
England resolved to deprive the Transvaal people of their national inde-
pendence and subject their small territory to the Administration ot" the
English Crown. It would be useless to detail the reasons of our wonder
and regret. Many of us at the time, and especially our Prime Minister,
entei'ed an energetic protest against the Annexation of the Transvaal as
an equally impolitic and nnjust act. The people of the Transvaal con-
tinued to cherish the hope, and not without reason, that the wrong done
them would again be made good. Still, as all these expectations have
been disappointed, their patience has been exhausted, and in despair they
have rushed to arms. We may lament this act of theirs, but we find it
intelligible; for are their forefathers not ours also — the men who, for'
eighty long and grievous years, struggled for the preservation of their j
national independence ? And shall the spirit of their ancestors be |
quenched among them? No, Britons, you yourselves a free people, you
cannot do otherwise than sympathise with atiotlier if comparatively
Tinimportant race, which your ])owerful Government, it is true, can exter-
minate and scatter, but which will never allow itself to be subjugated.
And it is this feeling which encourages us to direct this aj)peal to the
sense of justice of the Bniish nation. The jieople of England cannot
brook the dishonour which must inevitably result from a struggle that is
as unequal as it is unjust, from a struggle wilh a powerless race, with a
people who wish for nothing further than to live in peace and quiet under

144 JVith the Boers in the Transvaal.

their own laws, cultivating the ground that has become their own through
stress and peril. And we cherish the hope that this appeal of ours will
not remain wholly unattended to. We are still inclined to believe that
the voice of public opinion will give a powerful support to the present
Government of England in order to enable Her Majesty's Ministers to
undo an act of injustice, which, to judge from the liberal professions of
the Cabinet, and from its own particular views, should never have beeu
planned and carried out."

President Brand, of the Orange Free State, ever foremost in
counsel and acts for the good of South Africa, also stepped
forward and tried to mediate between the Boers and the British.
The following are the telegrams from His Honour and the
replies from Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor and High Com-
missioner, Cape Town : —

" Bloemfontein, January 25. — Is it not possible to offer the Transvaal
people, through the High Commissioner, Sir Hercules Robinson, now in
Cape Town, certain terms and conditions, provided they cease armed
opposition — making it clear to them how this is to be understood? " —
" Cape Town, Jan. 27. With reference to your telegram to the Secretary
of State inquiring ' if it would not be possible to offer to the Transvaal
people, through me, certain terms and conditions, provided they ceased
armed opposition,' I am directed to inform Your Honour that, if armed
opposition ceased forthwith, Her Majesty's Government would thcrcupoii
endeavour to frame such a scheme as they believe would satisfy all en-
lightened friends of the Tran.svaal country." — " Bloemfontein, Jan. 28. I
read Your Excellency's telegram of yesterday with very great pleasure.
Don't Your Excellency think that it will be good to inform the Transvaal
people, without delay, of the contents, explaining to them what is meant
by forthwith ceasing armed opposition? From the telegram published
here yesterday, and dated Pietermaritzburg, it would appear that Sir
Pomeroy Colley was preparing to move forward into the Transvaal ; and
I am afraid that, unless some effort is made to explain to the Transvaal
people the contents of Your Excellency's telegram, and upon what terms
they are forthwith to cease armed opposition, a further collision will take
]ilace, and the satisfactory arrangements which Her I\Iajesty's Govern-
ment contemplated may berome more dillicult. If Your Excellency can
devise some means by which the object which Your Excellency hopes to
attain can be efl'ccted at once, and the armed opposition cease, so that
Ihcrc is time and f)pportunity to make the scheme, mentioned in Your
Excellency's telegram, known to them, much may be effected. I think
every moment is precious. Oh ! do Your Ex(;ellency's best. You will
thereby earn the gratitude of the whole of South Africa. Forgive tho
urgency with whicli I express my.st'lf,but no time can now be lost." — " Cape
'I'own, January 2S. 1 have to thank Your Honour fen- your telegram of
to-day, just received. I h.ave at the same moment a telegram from Natal
reporting that a battle is now taking place at Lang's Nek, between Sir
George Colley's force and the IJoers. 1 would suggest that Your Honour
might give iinniediatc ami widespread ]iublicity to your telegram to tho
Secretary f;f Slate, and to the rejily which I yesterday transmitted to
Your Honour from Her .Majesty's (Juveninient." — "Jjlocnifontein, January

Mediation Telegrams. 145

28. I am indeed very sorry to learn from Your Excellency's telegram
that a battle is now taking place between Sir George Colley's force and
the Transvaal people. 1 was in hopes that, by coming to some under-
standing as to the guarantees under which they would cease armed
■opposition, further bloodshed could have been avoided and a satisfactory
settlement efi'ected. I handed Your Excellency's telegram, which I
received this morning, to the Editors of the Friend and the Express for
publication, almost immediately after I received it."

146 With the Boers in the Transvaal,

CHAPTER XV.
Lang's nek.

Advance of Force from Mount Prospect — Arrival at the Xet — Attack arranged —
Artillery Fire — Charge of the Mounted Squadron — Advance of the 5Sth— Gallant
Atttrmpts — Death of the Officers — Repulse of the British — Details of the Fight
— Retreat to Camp — Removal of Dead — Succour of Wounded — Next Day's
General Orders- — Memoir of Colonel Deane and Jfajor Poole — Prisoners' State-
meuts — General Joubert's Report — Losses on both Sides — Arrival of Reinforce-
ments at Durban — Sir Evelyn Wood's Appointment — 2-t;0th, 15th Hussars,
2 Battery R.A.— 83rd and 92nd from India— H.M.S. Didvs Navnl Briga(1e—
Message fiom the Queen — Richmond Road Camp — Boers in Natal — Tclegrauis
from the General — Gunpowder and Arms ordered at the Cape .by the Orange
Free State^Permission refused — News from Pretoria — Communications cut off
— Boers at Ingogo.

At six o'clock on the morning of Tuesday, January 28,
1881, the order for tlie advance of the little British force,
comprising the Relief column, was given ; and Avithin half an
hour everything was in readiness, and the troops started away
from Mount Prospect for an attack upon Lang's Nek, where tho
Boers were seen to be in a position of some strength, though
in what numbers was not known. The troops consisted of five
companies of the 3-GOth under Colonel Ashburnham ; five
companies of the 58th Regiment under Colonel Deane ; 150
Mounted Infantry and Dragoons under Major Brownlow ;
seventy-five Naval Brigade with two 241b. rockets ; parts of two
Batteries of Artillery, with four 9-pounders, and two 7-pounders,
under Captain Greer, R.A., and about twenty Natal mounted
police, with ambulances and some of tho Army Hospital Corps.
The entrcnclif'd camp was left in charge of a Dctacbmcnt,
100 strong, of the 2-21st li.S.F., tlnrty Naval J^rigade, with
tho two Catlings, and fifty Transport and Army Service
Corps men. 'V\u\ force advanced to the left <jf tbe road, distant
about 1,000 yards, and at nine o'clock they arrived at the low

Charge of the Motmted Squadron. 147

ground at the bottom of the rise to the Xek. Hero the
following dispositions were made : the GOth were extended
to the left, with the Naval Brigade and the two rockets, and
the Natal mounted police, with ambulances in the rear ; while
the main attack on the spurs to the left of the Boer position
(on the British right) was commenced by the guns shelling the
heights and dongas, with the Cavalry in rear of them.

At ten o'clock, the 58th were ordered to advance on the hill
to the right of the Nek, and the Mounted Squadron to charge
a hill still more to the right (or Boer left), with the object of
out-flanking the enemy. The mounted men got up first and
were received with a heavy fire. The first troop, under Major
Brownlow himself, charged grandly right up to the ridge which
the Boers held, and in so doing Sergeant-Major Lunny shot
one man dead with his revolver and wounded another before
being killed in the midst of the enemy. Major Brownlow and
Lieutenant Lermitte, 2-21st Pi.S.F., led the men magnificently,
and had narrow escapes, their horses being shot under them.
Lieutenant Pigott, 3-60th, attached to the 2nd troop Mounted
Infantry, who was well in advance of his men, had his horse
shot under him. The Squadron was, however, obliged to
retire after the first volley, having half its saddles emptied, but
they reformed, and with the second troop under Captain Hornby,
08th, charged again, but to no purpose ; their opponents were
under shelter, and the ground was in no way suitable for cavalry
charges. Had the men been dismounted and allowed to creep
up steadily in skirmishing order, as Mounted Infantry ought
to do, the fortunes of the day might have been changed.
Neither bravery nor numbers avail to enable cavalry to approach
infantry, especially up steep ascents when charging against
men under shelter, armed with breechloading weapons of pre-
cision.

The 58th, in the meantime, began the ascent of the steep
hill and succeeded in getting half way up it without much op-
position or loss. When they, however, arrived near the Boer
position and were being extended, the order to charge was
issued without giving breathing time to the men, who were
exhausted with the hurried ascent of a gradient of one in

L 2

14S JJuih the Doers in the Transvaal.

fifteen, and tired with the long rank wet grass clinging to
their legs, and retarding their progress. Before they were
able to deploy properly to the right and left a volley was
poured into them from above, which shook the Regiment for a
moment, and a party of Boers managed also to enfilade them
on the right flank. Two minutes of this firing, answered as
best it could, by the men, showed how unavailing it would be,
and the order to " charge " was given by Colonel Deane, whose
horse was immediately shot under him ; but springing to his
feet, he called to the men, ** I am all right," and then fell
mortally wounded with another bullet right through him.
Lieutenant Inman, 3-60th, his orderly officer, was also shot
dead just behind him, and Major Hingeston then took com-
mand, giving the order to " fix bayonets," and all the other
officers then went well forward and encouraged their men, with
such success as to drive the advanced Boers back on their
supports. But finding that the enemy was being reinforced,
and the enfilade on the right flank increasing, from a sudden
accession of the Boers who had repulsed the cavalry attack,
the order to retire was reluctantly given ; but only after nearly
all the Staff and officers were killed or wounded. At half-past
eleven the 58th retired as best they could, being followed by
u heavy fire from the Boers, which was, however, somewhat
checked by a heavy artillery fire of shells directed with great
precision from the guns on the right. Upon their reaching tho
flat, the 3-GOth were then ordered to tho front to cover the
retreat of the 58th, after having been exposed, almost inactive,
to the heavy cross fire of a party of Boers who had ensconced
themselves in a bush-covered donga or ravine on tho British
left, and who were only driven out at last by some splendid
rocket practice of the Naval Brigade. The Boers did not follow
up tho troops, and the Natal mounted police never came into
action. Sir George Collcy, evidently thinking that tho Boer
jKJsition was too strong and too numerously defended to bo
forced with the small number of men at his disposal, fell back
tipon tho Mount Prospect camp, and there made arrangements
for the Ijurial of the dead and the succour of tho wounded.
Nearly all the GcncrarB Staff', including Major Toole, li.A.,

Details of the Fight. 149

and Lieutenant Elwcs, Grenadier Guards, were killed in follow-
ing Colonel Deane in advance of the 58th, except Major Essex,
10th Regiment, who must he considered a fortunate man, having
been one of the few that escaped from Isandhlwana.

Referring again to the details of the plucky advance of th3
58th, after Major Hingcston fell. Major Poole and Lieutenant
Dolphin were killed at the same time, and Captain Lovegrove,
who had succeeded to the command, was also badly wounded,
so that temporarily the command devolved on Lieutenant S.
Jopp, whose bravery and coolness received honourable mention
at the time and reward afterwards. Lieutenant Baillie, while
carrying the Regimental Colours, was mortally wounded, and
then Lieutenant Peel offered to assist him. " Never mind me,
save the Colours," was his only and last reply, and with that
Peel, who was carrying the Queen's Colours, took the other also ;
but on his falling into a hole, Sergeant Budstock, thinking he
was shot, ran to him and took the two Colours back out of the
immediate range of fire. Private Brennan, of this Regiment,
was, it is thought, the only man who bayoneted a Boer.
Brennan, when near the top, saw a Boer firing at a wounded
soldier, and made a run at him ; the Boer fired at and killed the
wounded man, but before he could re-load Brennan ran him
through, and with pride showed his bayonet covered with gore
on his return to the camp.

After the engagement, during which Chaplain Ritchie had
been most assiduously attending to the wounded, even under a
heaAy fire. Captain McGregor rode up to the Boer camp with a
fiag of truce, in order to obtain permission for the recovery of
the dead and wounded. Commandant Joubert being absent, the
next ofiicer in command stated that he could only give authority
to remove the men from the foot of the hill ; but shortly
afterwards, Joubert arrived and gave the requisite permission,
even sending parties to assist, and supply the wounded with
brandy and water, &c. The burial of the dead and the removal
of all the wounded lasted until late in the evening of the next
day. The bodies of the ofiicers were brought back and in-
terred with military honours at Mount Prospect camp, along
with those who died from their wounds afterwards. The total

150 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

losses were seven officers killed, seventy-six non-commissioned
and men, two prisoners, and 110 wounded. {See Appendix G.
for General Colley's Official Report.) Late in the evening,
after the fight, His Excellency Sir G. Pomeroy Colley had
all the troops in camp drawn up and briefly addressed them,
commending the brave and noble manner in which they had
fought and assuming the entire blame of the repulse. The
following General Order, published next day, speaks for itself : —

"Army Head-quarters, 2901 of January, 1881: — The Major-General
Commancling desires to thank the officers and men of the 58th Regiment,
and of the Mounted Squadron, for their gallant conduct in the field yes-
terday. The Major-General thought it his duty to make an effort for the
relief of the Transvaal gari'isons, notwithstanding the smallness of the
force at his disposal and the strength of the enemy's position. The effort
has not been successful, but its failure reflects no discredit on the brave
men who fought so nobly yesterday, and the fight made by the 58th on
the hill-side will always be remembered with pride by those who took part
in or wituessed it. The I\rajor-Genenil has to deplore the loss of many
valuable lives, especially that of Colonel Deane, whose body was found
on the hill ten yards in advance of the foremost man of that force which
he was so proud to command — of Major Poole. R. A. ; Lieutenant Elwes,
Grenadier Guards; Lieutenant Inman, 60th llifies, who were killed nobly
supporting their leader in his heroic charge — of Major Hingeston, com-
manding the 58th Regiment, Lieutenant Baillie, and Lieutenant Dolphin,
who fell while leading and encouraging their men in their devoted efi'orts
to carr}' the hill — and of Troop- 8ergeant-]\[ajor Lunny, K.D.G., whose
gallant death, as he rode over the ridge into the midst of the enemy, was
witnessed by the whole force. AVith the small force at bis disposal,
further weakened by the losses of yesterday, the Major-General cannot
renew the attack until the arrival of the reinforcements, but the advance
will not be long delayed, and the Major-General looks forward with
assured confidence to the day when the Natal Field Force will retrieve its
check of yesterday, and march into Pretoria at the head of the relieving
force."

f)f the many officers who fell at Lang's Nek, the two following wero
well known — the former at Cape Town and the latter both at the Cape
and Natal : Colonel IJonar IMcllct Deanc was born on the "Oth of Sep-
tember, 18:M', was appointed Fnsign to the t»7th Foot on the TJth of I^farch,
185:!, and three days later to the li'Jnd Foot, of which Regiment he became
a Lieutenant on November 25; Adjutant from the <lth of .January, 1850,
to 2 1th of Scpteml»er. 1857; (,'aptain on 25th of September, LS57; i\Iajor on
24th of November, IHij;',; Lirutenant-Colonel Rrevet. 2'.'th of December,
JH7M, and Colonr-l IJreveton 2'.'th of Direniber, 1.S78. He had been Acting
KXl .M.G. at Madras; ]\Iililiiry Secretary to the Governor fiflJonibay from
April, 1872, to .June, 1S75; D.A. and C,),M.G. from 2nd of August, 1S80.
Colonel Deanc Iti-longed to the garrison stationed at Cape 'i'own, but, on
accc)iint of the bulk of the troojis being in Natal, ho was sent up there soon
iiftor his landing at South Africa, and took up the duties of his ap]ioint-
m(!iit in that Colony. About Christmas a re-arrangement of the Stall' took
dlucc, and Coloucl Deanc was on the point of leaving for Capo Town,

Prisoners' Statements. 151

■svlien tlie troubles in the Transvaal broke out, and General Colley re-
ouested that he might be allowed to remain and take command of a force.
Colonel Deane had not seen any previous war service, but he had much
Staff experience and was greatly liked and respected by all with whom he
oame into contact. — Major Joseph Ruscombe Poole, of the Eoyal Artil-
lery, was born on the 27th of January, 18i3, became a Lieutenant of the
R.A. on the 18th of December, ]8G1 ; Captain on the 16thof January, 1875,
•and obtained Brevet rank on the 2-lth of Jul}^ 1880. The Zulu War took
liim to Natal, and he was the officer who escorted the cajjtive King
Cetywayo to Cape Town.

The number of the Boers was greatly exaggerated, as also
Tras the account of their losses at the time. As describing the
part taken by the British rank and file in the action, I give
two accounts, taken verbatim, as given by the two prisoners,
Sergeant Madden and Private Venables, to a Special Corre-
spondent in the Boer camp.

" Sergeant Madden said : ' Our squadron was made up of Iv.D.G.'s and
transport train. After the artillery had tired very much on the supposed
Boer [positions, we turned towards our own right to charge a sort of spur
that continued the centre of the Boer position in a semicircle to their
proper left. The true summit of this ridge was invisible to us as we
advanced. Near to it fire fell upon us while wheeling, and before the
left troop had completed its movement to bring us again in line, the order
to charge was heard. In a moment we were face to face with the Boers,
•who tired sharp at us. The Sergeant-Major, with his revolver, got right
in amongst the men, and shot one dead, woundiug one with his pistol
Avhen he fell — horse and man shot down together. I saw an officer down
in front of me (Lieutenant Lermitte), and was about to assist him from
Tinder his horse, when I became senseless from a fall from my shot horse,
and later was aware the squadron had retired, and I was a prisoner. I
have been well treated, and received the same food as the people them-
selves, which is of course not our style, but as they are great eaters of
meat, is of a very similar character.' — Private Joseph Venables also
stated : ' The 58th, after a heavy artillery tire had been supposed to have
cleared the front, led by Colonel Deane, advanced against the ridge to the
left of the main neck. It was a sort of neck also, but no road went over
it. Our path was through the grass, and the march very exhausting.
(The incline was 1 in 15.) We were in column of companies, wheeling
distance. Near the position the front was extended. I belonged to the
second company. We were also extended to prolong the line of fire.
The advance was steadily continued, but the men were teem.ing from per-
spiration, which ran into their eyes. We got flank fire from a hollow,
and half of a company was thrown back to check it, but was at once
shot away, but one man standing when I saw it. Then we met the
enemy almost muzzle to muzzle, with some of the guns all but crossed.
I was the third from the right of my company at this moment. I reckon
the force here opposed to us at eighty men. The extended companies fought
very well, but the exhaustion of the men, and the deadly accuraet tire,
forced them down. An immense number fell, and I was all but alone
%\'hen the artillery re-opened, hurting many of our own wounded in the

152 IJ'iik the Boers in the Transvaal.

attempt to clieck tlie Boers, now cliarfring and sliootin? down the retreating;
companies. At this moment the Boers were reint'orced by the company
that fought with our cavahy, and the fire thickened from the tiank
towards the real neck. Something, I know not, from our own shell-fire—
jierhaps a sjilinter of stone — hit me in the knee, and I fainted, falling-
for a moment. Again the Boers were between me and the reti-eating
companies, who were still being shot down. I would have been shot, and
the guns were presented from the hollow, but a Commandant (de Ivlerk^
saved my life. I have been well treated, and have no complaints.' " —

General Joubert's report, mado to the Triumvirate afi
Heidelberg, is as follows : —

"Head-quarters, Jan. 28.^ — To Mr. S.P.J. Kruger, Vice-President. —
Sir, — As I mentioned in my last, I expected an attack at any moment,
and so it occurred. This morning, about seven o'clock, we were attacked
in our position, and after about thirty shells had been fired over our men,
the mounted (bluejackets) received orders to storm. They came so close
that the powder burned each other. Though their loss was not great,
they had to retreat, but then the infantry (red coats) stormed and came
so near that the dead on both sides fell in amongst each other. One of
the officers even fired in amongst our men with his revolver before he
■was shot, but then the Lord helped us. There being so few men in the
field, the reinforcements I sent hither arrived just in time to assist, so
that they also had to retreat. AVe had a very severe fight. The oppor-
tunity for the English cannon was too great, and we suflered heavily.
Twenty-four of our best men were disabled. On the side of tlio enemy there-
lay ninety- five dead and wounded, and many had already been carried ofT
hefore we reached there. Those who had been removed were all wounded.
I believe that nearly 200 have been disabled. Tlie cannon ceased tire,
and somebody came with a flag of truce, bringing me the following-
note, written in pencil — ' To Commandant General P. J. Jonbert. —
Sir, — You will do me a great service if you will allow me to send
doctors to look after the wounded, who are dying in front of your position,
and men to burv the dead. I have, &c., G. Po.mekoy Cdlley.' — I here-
■iipon replied : — ' Your Excellency, — For the sake of humanity, I agree
with your request, and at the termination of the battle I shall deliver up
the dead. V. J. Jouhkut, Commandant-General.' — In the meantime w
second Hag of truce arrived, with a doctor, whom I allowed to go in with
two men to look after the wounded. I then saw a large number of men
approaching. I told them they must go back until the conclusion of the
battle, or I would fire upon them. The troops then withdrew with the
cannon, which had not come within our range. Perceiving this, 1 allowed
1")(J nnarmid men to come and fetch their dead and wounded, nat\n-ally
after taking possession of tlu.'ir guns and anununition. We had to see
the enemy withdraw, as it would have cost the lift; of many of our bravest
men had we attacked [atteinjited ? ] to do more, as the locality was sO'
entirely in favour of the English that we would luive been in the very
mouth of their eanimn. A son of our worthy friend Dirk I'ys is also
uniongst tliose mortally wounded. In haste, P. J. Jouiieut, Meek's Earm,
Friday, Jan. 28, lytil."

From after reports niid information given before me person-

Si7' Evelyn Wood's Appointment. 155

ally, I have every reason to believe tliat the total number of
Boers in action at the Nek was under 250. They were joined
by a largo reinforcement later on in the day, but only after the
58tli had retired. Their losses were fourteen killed and twenty-
seven wounded, who were removed to Meek's house, on the flai
above the Nek, and were there treated by the German Mis-
sionaries, Drs. Merensky and Scholtz, and attended only by
men, who, with no means or appliances, yet managed their work
carefully and ably, and succeeded in allaying the pains of tho
wounded and nursed them with unwearied patience and kindness.

It will now be necessary to leave the British and Boer forces
at their respective camps, and go back a little to the steps being
taken in England to reinforce Sir G. P. Colley, and vindicate-
Her Majesty's authority. On the 6th of January Brigadier-
General Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C, K.C.B., was appointed second
in command, and although he was actually senior to General
Colley in Army rank, he made no difficulty whatever about it,,
but signified his willingness to proceed to the scene of actior>
at once, thus making his third visit to South Africa. The-
appointment was a most popular one, both with Boers and
British, as it was felt that his special knowledge of the Transvaal
and the Boers, combined with his high military talents, would
be of great service in preventing, if possible, any further fight-
ing ; and if it became unfortunately necessary to proceed to
extremities, his presence would relieve Sir George Colley of
his military duties ; thus leaving his whole time and services,
free for the more important duties connected with the High
Commissionership. Many special service officers were also-
despatched, most of whom had already seen service in South
Africa. Prominent among these were. Major Barrow, lOtli
Hussars, who brought with him a properly organized squadron
of irregular cavalry and mounted infantry force. Colonel Bullor,.
Y.C., C.B., Colonel Herbert Stewart, and many others, Avhose-
names occur farther on.

The first of the reinforcements arrived from India om
January 25th, when H.M.S. Euphrates anchored at Durban with
the 2-60th, 15th Hussars, and 3-F Battery, R.A. on board.
She was followed on the 30th by H.M.S. Crocodile, also from

154 TVi'ih the Boers in the Transvaal.

India, witli the 83rd and 92nd ; and the day after II. M.S. B'xdo
jirrived and landed a Naval Lrigade of her own and some of the
Boad'icca' s men, in numher about sixty, with two Gatlings and
Iv.'o 241b. rocket tubes. After the news of Lang-'s Nek, the
2-GOth were hurried up from the camp at Lillicfontein —
established about seven miles south of Pictermaritzburg, in a
liigli open and healthy situation, close by the Richmond Eoad
station of the railwa_y from the Port to the Caj^tal — and they left
Pietermaritzburg for the front on Januar}- 30th, being preceded
one day by a squadron of the 15th Hussars, and followed two
days later by a detachment of the Natal mounted police, from
the Ipopolela, under Sub-Inspector Jackson, and another squad-
ron of the 15th Hussars. The 92nd w^ere also sent up at once,
find left on February 2nd for Newcastle, being followed by the
Naval Brigade ; while the 83rd Ecgiment was left at the Rich-
mond Road camp. On the same date was received the following
message of condolence from Her Majesty the Queen on learning
the issue of the late battle. It showed that Her Majesty had
a feeling of genuine sympathy for, and appreciation of, the
ofibrts of her soldiers to uphold the honour of the Empire, and
as such it would be considered by Colonists as well as English-
men at Home : — " The Secretary of State for War has received
;nid communicated to the INIajor-Gcneral Commanding the
following message from Her Majesty : — * I am deeply grieved
at the loss of so many of my brave officers and men. Major
Poole is a great loss. Pray convey to Sir G. Collcy the ex-
pression of my deep sorrow and anxiety for the wounded, as
AvoU as confidence.' A. H. Wavell, Lt.-Col., A. -A. General.
Head-quarters, I'ietcrmaritzburg, February 2, 1881."

It was then determined to establish a camp on the ]>iggars-
hcrg, between Ladysmith and Newcastle ; and to form another
column there for the relief of Sir George Collcy, whoso position
was becoming critical, being hemmed in at INIount Prospect,
provisions running short, and his communication witli Ncw-
onstlo almost cut ofT. Strong parties of IJoers occasionally
penetrated nearly to Ladysmith, and threatened Newcastle
■itself from the l^rakcnsborg and Utrecht Districts. They cut
ofl" convoys, stopped, captured, and destroyed many transport

JVczas from Pretoria. 1 5 5

waggons, prevented tlie Post-cart service from beyond Lady-
smith, and rendered even the movements of troops, unless in
large numbers, very dilBcult and dangerous. Fort Pine, an out-
station of the Natal mounted police, situated close to the Buffalo
Piiver Border, and commanding the Dundee Coal District, was
reinforced by a detachment of thirty Natal mounted police.
On February 3rd the following official telegram was sent from
the General, Natal, to the Colonial Secretary, Pietermaritzburg:
*' Feb. 3rd. — All quiet. Moved the camp to fresh ground.
Sent in bulk of waggons to Newcastle. Boers erecting schanzes
and earthworks on hill. Telegraphic connection to camp com-
plete." Five ambulances, with wounded, also started on the
same day for the Base-Hospital at Newcastle.

H.M.S. Tamarv^as the next-vessel to arrive at Durban, on the
4th of February, with the 97th Regiment on board from Hali-
fax and Gibraltar ; while, from Cape Town, ammunition and
remounts for the cavalr}- were sent up b}* the Dunkeld, which
vessel brought round Colonel Stewart, Major Clarke, and
Major Fraser. Major McGregor, Staff Officer at Durban, went
up to take Major Poole's place with Sir G. Colley, and Colonel
Stewart succeeded him at Durban. News also arrived by tele-
gram from the Cape that large orders for powder and ammuni-
tion from the Orange Free State had reached Port Elizabeth, but
the Cape Government had refused granting the permits under
present circumstances, of This step was looked upon in some
quarters as an abuse authority, and as likely to lead to
serious consequences if persisted in.

On February 4th and 5th the General telegraphed as follows
from the camp. Mount Prospect : " February 4th. — All quiet.
Heavy rains. Pavers flooded. Convoy of wounded sent into
Newcastle yesterday, arrived safely. — February 5th. — News re-
ceived from Lanyon, Pretoria, to 23rd of January. Town aban-
doned. Nearly 5,000 persons collected in entrenched laager
under protection of Fort. Supplies on hand for several months.
Garrison, augmented by volunteers, ample. Boers in laager
all round at average distance of eight miles. Successful sortie
on IGth. Boers defeated with loss. Surrender of Leydenberg
garrison contradicted. Picported that Leydenberg and Piusteu-

156 lVi//i the Boers in the Transvaal.

berg forts have been unsuccessfully attacked. Forts well pro-
visioned and soldiers reinforced by local help. Marabastadt
not attacked ; but well prepared and provisioned. Natives
loyal, but being cruelly treated." This news from Pretoria
was brought by Mr. H. J. Dacorabe, who pluckily rode from
Ivimberle}' there and back, accomplishing the distance of nearly
1,000 miles in thirty days. The garrison at Pretoria welcomed
him, and cheered upon hearing of the reinforcements. All his
horses died 01 route, and he was constantly shot at and chased
by the Boers throughout the journey. He secured also, on tho
way, some despatches, of which a loyal Kaffir runner divested
himself when chased, and brought them in with him. He
brought the first information of the death of Colonel Anstru-
ther, 4th Piegiment, from his wounds received at Bronkhorst's
Vlei, and also that of D. A. C. G. Carter.

On the 7th the following telegrams were received at Pieter-
maritzburg: — "Mount Prospect, February 7th, 4 p.m. Post
l)ags, under small escort mounted infantry, left column to-day
for Newcastle. After proceeding as far as lugogo were fired on
by force of Boers and compelled to retire back on camp with
mail. No casualties, but one man missing ; supposed he has
got through to Newcastle. Attack on camp not expected. Wire
may be cut at any moment. All communication stopped." —
"Newcastle, 5.30 p.m. Boers are in force within ten miles
from Newcastle. Large convoy was starting but now detained.
Communication with the column is virtually cut off. From
Boer scouts we learn that son of Swart Dirk Uys died of
wounds in Boer camp on Sunday. Boer medical report of
casualties gives fourteen killed and ten wounded. Joubert
withdrew inhabitants of Utrecht District with intention of
destroying homesteads by fire if defeated." — The next day,
February 8tli, it was determined by the General to open up
communication with Newcastle, and clear tho road of tho
Boers, at the same time protecting the mail and some ambu-
lances which had been despatched to the Base Hospital.

157

CHAPTER XVI.

INGOGO FIGHT.

Sir George Colley's Attempt to re-open Communications — Ambulances stopped by
Boers — March to Ingogo — Opposition at Schuin's Hooghte — Fight Commences —
Details from Morning till Night — Boers charge Guns Three Times — Heavy
Losses on British Side — Rain and Darkness intervene — Night Retreat of Sir
George Colley's Force to Camp — Dead and Wounded left on Field— Gallant
Conduct of Dr. McGann — Boers capture Gun, Limber, and Ammunition Waggons
— Flag of Truce for Burial of Dead — Return of Wounded to Newcastle — Death
of Lieutenant Wilkinson and Six Men — Free State Boers join — Movements of
Reinforcements — 2-60th, 92nd, and 15tli Hussars at Ladysmith— Arrival of Sir
Evelyn Wood — Transports from England to Durban — Quick Despatch of Troops
— Concentration at Biggarsberg — Red Cross Societies — Further News from
Pretoria and Standerton — Telegraph Wires cut — Column advance unopposed
from Biggarsberg — Reach Newcastle safely — Flying Squadron at Cape — -
Oi'ange Free State Volksraad — PresiJent Brand's Speech — Resolution of Raad.

The figlit at Schuin's Hooghte — or, as it is now called, the
Ingogo, being the name of the river which flows round the
heights — took place on the 8th of February, and on a spot
about half way between Newcastle and the camp at Mount
Prospect. Early that day a number of Boers took possession
of De "Wet's house on the Newcastle side of the Ingogo, and
stopped an ambulance train of five mule-waggons under Mr.
Newbold Smith, a dresser who was bringing twenty wounded
men from the camp to the Base Hospital. The Boers, notwith-
standing that the Red Cross was flying, outspanned all the
mules and drove them away, also taking the horses of Mr.
Smith and his waggon conductor, and threatening any one who
left the waggons with death. This occurred about 11 o'clock ;
but two hours previously General Colley had left the camp at
Mount Prospect with five companies of the 3-GOth under
Colonel Ashburnham, the mountain-guns and two 9-pounder
guns, under Captain Greer, and a detachment of mounted

158 Wiih the Boers in the Transvaal.

men. Leaving one company of the 60th and the two mountain-
guns on the commanding height, on the camp side of the
River Ingogo, the General crossed the river with the rest of
the force, throwing out vedettes and scouts in front and on the
flanks. Nothing was seen of the enemy until after ascending
the height on the other side of the river, when shots were
exchanged hy the advanced scouts. The Eifles were then
extended in skirmishing order, and advanced to the top of the
plateau, when the vedettes fell hack, reporting presence of
mounted Boers in strength on the right and left. The Special
Correspondent of the Times of Natal, Mr. Carter, the only
one present during that action, sent the following concise and
ahle telegram after the engagement, written as the fighting
progressed, and it speaks well for his nerve and courage when
under fire for the first time : — •

" Tlic moment wo got to tlie top of the hill, which has an area of fl.it
of about four acres, we saw Boers, about lUO, mounted, on ridge lower
than this, (JOO yards as crow ilies distant. Greer's '.'-pounders imme-
diately unlirabered and let drive a couple of shells ; the elevation too high
to be effective. Boers immediately rushed for donga for shelter. Rilles
having lined the crest of this hill, kept up smart lire. Time, 12 noon.
Boers returned fire hotly and from all sides of hill, excejjt rear. One of
the 0-pounders facing right, other left, pounded away for good half-hour.
Fire of Boers then slackened for ten minutes, then commenced again, kept up
briskly from all sides for ten minutes. Now, 2.30, Boer lire is slackening;
our artillery is not wasting ammunition. Lieutenan t Parsons hasjust passed
me, and, in answer to my hail, says he has only five gunners left. The
Boers seem to direct their fire on guns. My horse shot in two i)laces as
he stood by my side, within ten minutes of first gun firc^d. General was
within fifteen yards at the time. General and StaiF coolly engaged
directing operations. The bullets fly unpleasantly close, but mostly over
our heads here in centre of the hill top. Boers now (2.10) round in rear,
reinforced and keej)int,' up dropping fire. 3.t0 P.M., occasional shots still
going on on both sides, but there is an evident lull in the fight. It is
thundering huavily, and threatens rain. The two 7-]>ounders left near
camp liave not advanced, neither do wo sec any sign of movement of our
men in that direction. Captain Greer, ll.A., was killed early in tho
action. Lieutenant i'arsous then had charge of both guu.s, and coolly ho
did his work. Wlien tho fire at the guns was hottest, ho was here and
there directing the fire, seeing to the moving of the guns as (juietly and
coolly us if on jjarade. Among the gunners the casualties arc very
heavy. 'I'lien; are over a do/.(!n wounded men lying rouiul me now taking
Hhclter a.s best they can behind the dead horses and limbers. The artil-
lerymen were not more than ."(Ou yards distant from the Boers — so closo
that our men used ca.se-8hot and reverted shrapnel, which answers same
purpo.4(! as case-.shot. -t. I.^. — The firing is kept up in a desultory way,
now dropping, now freshening up again. There is no knowing what tho

Deiails from Mo^niing till Night. 159

direction is going to be next, for it seems to go all round the hill. Xo
sign of reinforcements from the camp yet. No water is procurable, and
the wounded are sadly in need of it, after being so long in the sun. We
have seen small parties of Boers joining the force below us. There seems
every probability of our spending the night here. I can see the camp
with glasses, but cannot make out the two 7-pounders, though I can
distinguish the rise they were left upon. 5.25. — The rain is beginning
to fall in torrents. 5 40. — The two 7-pounders have just opened lire from
the hill. The Boer fire slackens. Lieutenant Parsons has just landed a
shell into some bush on our right rear with splendid effect, as the Boers
skedaddled right and left out of the clump. Surgeon McGann, only
surgeon in field, has been doing his duty thoroughly, and has been ably
assisted by Mr. Allan McLean, Transvaal Light Horse. I have seen this
gentleman dozens of times walk out to wounded men in exposed positions
and help them in. 6 p. 31. — White flag shown on Boer side, and order
given to "cease firing," in our lines. The Boers I can see in large num-
bers on a flat a mile off', retreating towards their camp at the Xek, but
making a detour to west of our standing camp to avoid it and our
two 7-pounders. 6.10. — Occasional shots whiz over us still. 6.15. —
Boers keep firing occasional shots, increasing now in number, so order
given to re-open on our side. Lieutenant Parsons walks up to the gun
to give orders, and is immediately wounded and walks quietly back
towards the Staff as if nothing had happened. The guns recommence
on our right. It is on this side firing has been since flag of truce was
shown on the opposite side. Evidently the one party is unaware of what
is going on in their own lines on the other side of the hill. The Rev.
Mr. Ritchie goes down our left slope with white flag again in an endea-
vour to get the truce observed, but the firing becomes so hot again that
the General calls him back. I see the Surgeon is dressing Lieutenant
Parsons' right hand ; his wound is not a very serious one, and the two
7-l)ounders have not fired a shot for the last fwe minutes, nor do we see
anything of our reinforcements now. The gunners are nearly all down.
Rifles have to help to serve the guns, but must be falling short now (6.30),
as only 234- rounds were brought out. For six and a half mortal hours
it has been dangerous to rise from the ground, and quite dangerous
enough even when in a recumbent position. 6.40. — The two 7-l)ounders
are opening again on the enemy away to our right flank (towards the
Drakensberg) ; this seems the only side on which Boers are now. It is
the direction in which they will retreat when it pleases them to make
that move. I must say they have kept it up well, but it has been from
first to last pot- shooting on both sides, except when our artillerymen were
exposed, and then Boers fired in volleys at them. Major Brownlow, who
is in command of mounted squadron (only forty came out with us) has
been actively engaged on all sides of our plateau. I have not seen for the
last hour or two either Captain MacGregor, Assistant ^lilitary Secretary,
or Major Esse.x, of Staff'. Colonel Ashburnham, who is in command of
60th, is unhurt, and continues to visit his men all round with a regularity
which must be getting quite monotonous. It looks at present as if we
were g"ing to have a night of it on this hill. 7 P.M. — Our ammunition
supply has not been repleni.shed, while that of the Boers is practically
inexluiustible, as they are being supplied by their men who have access to-
their camp. I reckon, from the fire that has been kept up on this hill at
times from every ]:)oiut of compass at once, one thousand Boers have been
engaged. 8.20. — We propose evacuating the position, and falling back oa

i6o With the Boers in the Transvaal.

-camp under cover of darkness, leaving wounded on field. 8 a.m. — 9th of
Pebruary, Mount Prospect — arrived here about an hour ago atter most
horrid spell on foot. Impossible to regard affair other than as reverse for our
«ide, though our men fought bravely and well — every individual. Tht;
retreat commenced about 9 p.m. ; the wounded, such as were brought in
•(about 50) left under care of Chaplain Ritchie ; no water procurable — few
blankets — no other cover — rain falling all the while. We left in the lines,
not brought in, I reckon, 150 killed and wounded, who cannot be attended
to till this afternoon. Major Essex uninjured ; Captain J. C. MacGregor
killed. Flag of truce and waggons to carry dead now being sent from
•camp. Mr. Stuart, R.M., Interpreter, missing. In the fight yesterday
150 of our side were killed and wounded. The Boers made three succes-
sive charges at the guns, and were repulsed with grape and canister shot.
It may, therefore, be assumed that their loss was heavy."

The Official Report {zee also Aj)pendix H) was made on the
return of the General to Mount Prospect as follows, and reached
Pietermaritzburg early next morning : — " General, Natal, to
Colonial Secretary, Maritzburg. — Communication between this
and Newcastle having been interrupted by Boers, I moved out
this morning with five companies GOth, two field and two
mountain-guns, and detachment mounted men, to patrol
road. Leaving two mountain-guns and one company of Pdfles
on commanding height this side Ingogo, I crossed river with
remainder of force. On rising ridge beyond Ingogo, enemy
■showed in considerable force. I seized plateau, and was imme-
diately vigorously attacked on all sides by Boers, who received
large reinforcements during day. Attack maintained from
12.15 P.M. till nearly six, but repulsed at all points. Boers
■drew off towards sunset, and I brought in force. Captain
Macgrcgor (Stafi"), Captain Greer (Artillery), Lieutenants Garrett
and O'Connell (GOth), killed; Lieutenant Parsons, E.A.,
Lieutenants Pix^cy, Howarth (afterwards died from his wounds),
And Thistlewaite (GOth), wounded. About 150 men killed and
wounded, lioer losses, judging by nature of attack and
numljer of Avoundcd seen being carried away, very heavy."
And the following appeared in General Orders after tlio
battle, and two days after the annexed message from the Queen :
— "Army llead-quartors, jNIount Prospect, Fel)ruary 1), 1881.
— The Major-Gcneral desires to express his high appreciation
of the conduct of the officers and men of the Boyal Artillery
and 3-G()L]i JJiflcs in tlic action fought yesterday against vastly
.superior numbers. The lioyal Artillery well sustained tho

Sir G. Colleys General Orders. i6i

Bplendid reputation of that corps by the way they served their
guns under a murderous fire, and brought them out of action,
notwithstanding their heavy losses in men and horses ; and the
conduct of the 3-GOth, their unflinching steadiness under fire,
and the perfect order, the coolness, and the spirit with which
the night march was carried out, under trying circumstances,
were worthy of any veterans. The Major-General has again
to deplore the loss of one of his personal Staff, Captain
MacGregor, R.E., his Military Secretary, and right-hand man,
whose loss the Major-General believes will be as much regretted
by the force generally as it is by the General himself; of Cap-
tain Greer, R.A., who was killed at his guns, setting a noble
example, worthily followed by the men under him ; and of two
young officers of the Eifles, Lieutenants Garrett and O'Connell,
who fell in the gallant performance of their duties. The Major-
General Commanding feels sure that the force engaged yester-
day will join with him in specially recognizing the distinguished
conduct of Lieutenant Parsons, R.A., who directed the fire of
the Artillery in a most exposed position till two-thirds of his
men and horses were disabled, and he was ordered to retire,
and who was afterwards severely wounded while directing and
refitting his guns ; of Surgeon McGann, whose unremitting
attention to the wounded under a heavy fire did honour to the
branch of the profession he belongs to, and of Sergeant-Major
"Wilkins, 3-60th Pdfles, who was to be seen where the fire was
hottest, setting an example of cheerful, gallant, cool, and steady
shooting." — " Camp, Mount Prospect, 11th of February, 1881.
— The Major-General has the honour to publish to the troops
under his command the following gracious Message from Her
Majesty the Queen, received and communicated by the Plight
Honourable the Secretary of State for War : — ' Pray express
my satisfaction at the success of my brave Troops, my sorrow
at so many losses, and my anxiety for the wounded.' "

The official despatch and list of casualties in this engage-
ment will be found in Appendix H. During the afternoon
the General sent back to the camp for reinforcements, and
two companies of the 58th were sent out towards him, but
they found Boers between themselves and the General, and

ivi

1 62 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

■uere unable to reach him in time. On the day following steps
were taken to succour the wounded and bury the dead, from
Loth Mount Prospect and Newcastle, and late that evening Mr.
Smith's ambulance reached Newcastle with forty-two wounded
in charge of McGann and one officer, Lieutenant Parsons, R.A.;
bfing followed next day by twenty-six more, in charge of Sur-
geon Kir\\dn and one officer, which included all that were left
on the field. Owing to the darkness and heavy rain, and the
severe losses sustained by the troops, it was necessary to leave
all the dead and wounded on the field of battle the same night,
where, notwithstanding all drawbacks, they were assiduously
tended by Surgeon McGann and Eev. Mr. Ritchie. Lieutenant
AVilkinson, with a small party of ten men, also left Mount
Prospect on the evening of the 14th, and took some medical
supplies to the wounded on the field, but unfortunately in
returning Lieutenant Wilkinson and six of the men were
drowned in re-crossing the Ingogo Eivor, which was very high
and rapid. The Boers returned the next morning to the field of
battle, and were surprised that the troops had been able to
withdraw to their camp in the dark. They state that, had it
not been for the rain and darkness, they would have cut up or
captured the whole force, as well as the guns, which were their
main object, as they were constantly receiving reinforcements,
and had less than twenty killed and wounded. They took
away two gun-limbers left on the field, and an ammunition-
waggon which was deserted at the drift, and then fell back to
join their main force, which was reported as advancing towards
Newcastle and the Biggarsberg to prevent the reinforcements
reaching there. A number of Free State Boers were also seen
descending the Drakensberg, and laagered at C. Uys' Farm,
in Natal territory, south-west of Newcastle, and commanding
the Ingagani Drift and Ladysmith Road. The heavy rains still
continued ; but on the 11th, three days after the engagement,
the 2-60th, Naval Brigade, and part of the 15th Hussars
crossed the Klip River and marched towards the ]iiggarsl)org.
being followed on the day following by the 92nd and some more
lliissars. On February 18th, a party was sent under a Hag of
Inicc from .Mount I'rospcct to exhume and bring to the camp

Boer Account of the Fight. 163

the bodies of those officers who died in the fight, and who were
hastily buried on the morning after. None of the enemy were
seen, and flocks of vultures were the only visible things. The
party returned with the bodies of Captain MacGregor, R.E.,
C;iptain Greer, R.A., Lieutenants O'Connell and Garrett,
3- 60th, and Mr. Stewart, the Resident Magistrate in the Ixopo,
who had accompanied General CoUey at his special request as
Dutch interpreter. These were all interred in the Military
cemetery with the customary honours. The following satisfac-
tory telegram was sent down in reference to the wounded : —
*' From S.M.O., Newcastle, to P.M.O., Maritzburg. — Supplies
ample for present wants. Will send on some to Mount
Prospect when opportunity offers. No more nurses required at
present. Wounded comfortably provided for. Two deaths.
Surgeons remained on field on 8th until every man had been
removed. Surgeon McGann mentioned in orders for gallantry
on the field."

The following is the Boer version of the Ingogo fight, pub-
lished in the Staats Courant, the Boer official paper, established
and printed at Potchefstrom, and issued bi-weekly since the
outbreak occurred in January : —

"Head-quarterSjWakkerstrom, February 10. — Sir, — I have arrived here
through God's goodness in good health. I did not see the General at
the laager. His E.Kcellency was still at Lang's Xek. Yesterday another
heavy engagement took place opposite Gogo, near Schuin's Valley, be-
tween a patrol of 20-2 men commanded by Commandant-General Nicholas
Smidt and the British forces, directed by General CoUey. As yet we have
no olEcial report, but from particulars received through the wounded who
have just been brought in, we hear that through God's goodness our side
has been again successful. We have, I am sorry to say, lost eight killed
and six wounded, whose names we are just now not in a position to give.
The fighting commenced at 11 in the morning, and ceased at 8 in the
evening, when darkness and rain set in, preventing any further figliting.
We have destroyed everything. There were blue jackets and mounted
men present, and the following morning 205 of the enemy were found
Iving dead on the field, the survivors having escaped during the night
with their cannon. In all probability, these have been thrown in the
river by the enemy, but there is every likelihood that they will be recov-
ered. Our people stormed the battery without mucli loss, owing to their
shots going over our heads. The whole of the battery was destroyed ;
but on account of intense darkness and heavy rain our people could not
take away the gun-carriages. AVe found the cannon gone except
'onderstel.' On the 8th of February, at midday, Colley wrote about
requesting to have the killed and wounded removed, which naturally was

M 2

164 IJl'ih the Boers in the Transvaal.

granted. Colley is now surrounded and cut oflP, and remains stationary.
As soon as we receive a report of the engagement, we will make it
known to the public."

Meanwhile Sir Evelyn Wood had arrived at the Cape in the
Kuhian, along with many other special service officers, and
came round at once in the Ararat, arriving at Durban on Satur-
day, the 12th, proceeding the same day by special train to
Pietermaritzburg, and thence by special cart on the following
evening in order to catch up the Indian column at the Biggars-
berg. The Hanhoiv had arrived at Durban on the preceding
Thursday, bringing a wing of the 6th Dragoons, Barrow's
Mounted Infantry, some Artillery and Army Hospital Corps
Drafts, and some special service officers. The Dragoons and
Mounted Infantry were despatched at once, horses, &c., being in
readiness for the Mounted Infantry, and re-mount horses having
been plentifully brought round from the Cape. The Ararat
followed on the Saturday with 7 officers, 107 men, and 11
horses (6th Dragoons), and the Palmyra on Sunday with
11 officers, 208 men, R.A., 143 horses, and six 9-pounders.
The Queen was the next arrival, with the remainder of the 6tli
Dragoons and the draft for the 97th Begiment, consisting of
215 non-commissioned officers and men ; Avhile more reinforce-
ments were promised from home, consisting of the 7th and
14th Hussars, two batteries of Artillery, and another battalion
of infantry.

At the front the General had received (on the day following
the Ingogo light) the annexed telegram, which he forwarded to
President Brand : — ** Following telegram just been received
from Lord Kimborley, dated 8th of February: ' Inform President
Ijrand that if ]>oers cease from armed opposition Iler Majesty's
Government will be ready to give all reasonable guarantees
after submission, and that scheme will lie formed with a view
to permanent friendly settlement of difficulties ; and that Her
Majesty's Government will bo glad if President will commu-
Dicato tins and former messages to him to leaders of ]>oers.' "

T may add tliat Bed Cross societies, in aid of the wounded,
bad liccii formed at Capo Town, Blocmfontein, and Durban,
and ill connection with similar societies in Great Ihilain and

Red Cross Societies. 165

Holland, they raised subscriptions, and sent up surgeons, with
ambulances, medical stores, and comforts, to succour the wounded
on both sides, if necessary ; and the following telegram was
received by Mr. Myburgh, Consul-General for the Netherlands
at the Cape (in reply to enquiry on the subject), from General
Sir G. Pomeroy Colley : — "Mount Prospect, Feb. 5. — I feel
grateful to the Pied Cross Society of the Hague for the assist-
ance offered by them for the wounded. "We are well provided,
but I shall be glad to give passes for nurses and medical
men to the Transvaal. I hope, however, that operations will
be of short duration," From Pietermaritzburg also Messrs.
Egner & Co. despatched three waggons containing hospital ap-
pliances and medical comforts for the sick of the Boer forces.
The waggons were supplied by Umvoti farmers, to whose generous
effort the Boers are indebted. Part of the supplies came from
Durban, and part were procured in Maritzburg. All such appli-
ances as stretchers were locally manufactured — Mr. Egner ex-
periencing great difficulty in procuring the desired articles.
The waggons were placed in charge of Mr. Bourse, who had
recently arrived from Cape Town as the representative of the
relief society formed there.

The 83rd Piegiment was ordered up to the front at once on
their arrival, and Lieutenant-Colonel Herbert Stewart went up
to succeed the late Captain MacGregor as Military Secretary to
General Colley. On February 13tli the road was clear from
Newcastle to Mount Prospect, but large bodies of mounted
Boers were seen to the south of Newcastle, proceeding towards
the Biggarsberg ; and seventy horses were seized by them at
Adendorffs, about six miles south of the town, while all trans-
port on the road was stopped, the Boers capturing and burning
the waggons, and looting the contents. At the same date fur-
ther news reached Natal from Pretoria, dated 14tli of January,
to the effect that a successful attack had been made on the 6tli
by Colonel Gildea, with 400 men, on laager on Eemau's Eiver.
Boers twice fired on the troops after hoisting white flag. All
well. Forts were safe and well provisioned. A report had
been received from Major ^lontague, Standerton, dated 30th
January : — They had been attacked on 29th of December, and

1 66 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

invested since. Had lost nine killed and wounded ; raised a
corps of seventy-five mounted men ; and kept a circle of two
miles clear, acting on the defensive. Their position safe, and
they could hold out two months if necessary.

As the roads were unsafe, heliographic communication was
commenced on the 14th of February with the Biggarsberg camp.
General Evelyn Wood joined the first advance of reinforcements
ten miles beyond Sunday's River on the 15th (Tuesday). The
entire force — the 15th Hussars, the 2-60th Pdfles, the 92nd
Highlanders, and the Blue Jackets with two guns — marched
together from the top of the Biggarsberg, eight miles towards
the Eiver Ingagani. The troops bivouacked on the ground
there, and next morning crossed the river at daylight, and
marched four miles further on towards Newcastle. One com-
pany of the 92ud, under Captain Robertson, was left at the
River Ingagani to watch the Ferry and keep open communi-
cation, while one company of the 97th was left at the Biggars-
berg, and another of the same Regiment at a spot fifteen miles
beyond, together with ten mounted police at each place for
despatch-riding and scouting. General "Wood reached Newcastle
without opposition on the morning of the 17th of February, the
column arriving at mid-day. General Colley rode down from
Mount Prospect to meet him. News reached them there of the
arrival on the IGth, in Simon's Bay, of the Flying Squadron,
consisting of the Inconstant, Bacchante — with the Prince of
Wales' two sons on board — Clcojjatra, Carysfort, and Tour-
maline.

In the Orange Free State the meeting — anxiously looked
forward to — of the Volksraad took place on the 18th, and
the annexed extract from President JJrand's speech shows
clearly what he had done in seeking to arrange matters : —

" When I t( Ic^'raplicd, on tlio Gth of December, to Ilis Excellency the
AflmiiiiHtrator of tlio Capo Colony that I looked upon the state of tho
TranKvaal with extreme anxiety, and hojyetl that without delay means
could be found io nrevent the threatened outbreak, I had no notion that
the outbreak whiidi has filled the heart of every inhal)itant of South
Africa with ^rief would take place ho soon. On receipt of the paiiilul
intellit,'cnce that a C(*llision had occurred in the 'I'ransvaal, 1 issued, with
the advice of the Kxecutive, a ])roclaniation in the (iov( nvmcnl (j<t;:rff.e of
the liitli of January, that all burghers and inhabitants should keep them-

Orange Free State Volksraad. 167

selves strictly from mixing in the disturbances which exist in the Trans-
vaal, and ordered our Landdrosts, Field-cornets, and other officials to see
that the proclamation was carried out. The message by cablegram from
Lord Kimberley on the 8th inst. to His Excellency the Commissioner of
Natal, received by me on the 9th, I sent on the same night by express to
Messrs. Krnger, Pretorius, and Jonbert. Although I sent an open letter
with express rider, desiring our officials and burghers to give him every
possible help, that the letter should reach its destination with the greatest
speed, they could not have received it before the 12th or 13th. I hope
that the telegram from the Secretary of State may open a way to find,
means to prevent further bloodshed, and that the plan, the Secretary of
State mentions, and upon which Lord Kimberley expects everlasting
friendly settlement of difficulties, may appear calculated to effect the end
which every one who loves South Africa so warmly wishes, and I am per-
suaded that you, through the friendly relations existing between ourselves,
Her Majesty's Government, and the Transvaal burghers, will be prepared
and ready to do all in your power to bring about a lasting and peaceful
settlement of the miserable state of affairs in the Transvaal, and to work
heartily towards the welfare and prosperity of South Africa."

After a discussion, lasting for four clays, a neutrality resolution
was carried on February 24th by a large majority of the Volks-
raad, notwithstanding the wishes of a noisy minority to declare
war against Great Britain, and join their Transvaal brethren.
The exact terms of the resolution passed by the Orange Free
State Volksraad are as follows : —

" The Volksraad, with reference to paragraph 4 of Speech, regrets with
His Honour that war has broken out in the Transvaal, by which so much
blood has been shed; but believes, however, that^now the way appears
opened to come to an amicable arrangement, that will make an end to the
deplorable difficulties in our sister State, and which will be satisfactory to
the wishes of the Transvaal burghers — the excitement now prevailing
thi-oughout South AiVica may cease, and the heartily desired friendly
relations may be re-established on all sides, and not further endangered.
The Volksraad urgently and earnestly points to, and warns against, the
fatal consequences which threaten the whole of South Africa that must
be born out of the war now carried on by the British forces against the
Transvaal citizens, for the whole white populatiou of South Africa. Our
white pojDulation is so closely allied by their bonds of relationship, their
feelings and interests are so entirely alike, that the Volksraad of the
Orange Free State, with an eye to the existing position of South Africa,
considers it its duty to express the wish that Her Britannic Majesty s
Government will be willing to concede the just demands of the Transvaal
burghers. The Volksi-aad thanks his Honour heartily for the friendly
endeavours to have peace restored among the belligerent parties, and
hopes that these endeavours will be crowned with the best results."

1 68 IVitk the Boers in the Transvaal,

CHAPTEK XYII.

MY JOURNEY.

Jly Appointment as "Special" totlie Boer Camp — Letter to General Colley — His Reply
— Clian.^e of Plans necessary — Aylward's Position and Steps — His First Letter
from the Boer Camp — His After Adventures — I leave Pietermaritzburg for
Harrisniitli — On the Road — Arrival in Orange Free State — First Impressions —
Feeling in the Free State — Town Talk — ^Mr. Eaaffand Landdrost De Yilliers —
Orange Free State Volksraad — ]My Border Journey — Interview with Nel and
Bugler Field — Return to Harrismith — Impossibility of Travelling — Wet Weather
— News of Amajuba — President Brand as Mediator — Red Cross Party from the
Cape — ily Resolve.

The history of Transvaal affjiirs being tlins brought down to
the arrival of General Wood at Newcastle with the relief column,
and the retirement of the Boer forces to their positions bej'ond
the Berg, the relation of my own personal experiences during
the short campaign more properly commences ; and will be fol-
lowed by the concurrent events up to and including the fatal
figbt at the Amajuba, in due course. At that time I had already
made all the necessary arrangements, immediately after the
receipt of the news of the Bronkhorst Viei disaster, for my
journey to, and reception at, the Boor Head-quarters. Considering
that few other " Specials" could obtain the requisite permission,
or might be willing to go, I had myself formed the determina-
tion to accompany the ]3ocr forces in the field so as to cnsuro
both sides of the question being known, and in order to gain
that fiiir hearing and credence for their acts and statements
which would never have been given to anything issuing from
the Boer leaders themselves, or from the few combatant cor-
respondents will) wrote occasionally to the Boer newspaper
organs at Cape Town and Bloemfontcin. Circumstances and
previous experience placed me in a favourable position to attain
this object. My overtures having been most favourably received,

Change of Plans Necessary. 169

and protection and assistance in furthering my views having
been promised by the Boer Head-quarter Staff, I was desirous of
going straight up to their camp on the Drakensberg, through
the English lines, as being much the nearest and the best
route for me in every way. With that intent I wrote to Sir
George Colley, to whom I was personally well known, and from
whom I had experienced in previous campaigns the greatest
kindness and consideration, requesting his permission to pass
through the English lines, and the requisite acknowledgment of
my position of a Special War Correspondent on the other side ;
so that afterwards, whatever the result might be, no question as
to my status in the Boer camp might arise to my detriment or
danger. To my letter, written in January, I received the following
reply: — " Camp, Newcastle, January 20, 1881. Dear Captain
Newman, — I have received your letter of the 17th. I should
be very glad indeed to see you cifiaimcith our colninn as Special
Correspondent ; but I am afraid the proposal to join the Boer
forces as Special Correspondent is one which I, in my official
caimcity, cannot give any encouragement to. Yery truly yours,
G. PoMEROY Colley."

This, of course, was written before any authoritative decla-
ration was made in England as to whether the Boers were to be
treated as Rebels in arms or as Belligerents ; and therefore, when
I came to think it over, I could expect nothing different. As
General Colley, however, distinctly stated that in his official
capacity he could not encourage my mission, which I was still
resolved on, I thought the best way would be to go quietly up
through the Orange Free State, and over the Vaal River into
the Transvaal. I felt assured that as my object was known no
harm would result to me afterwards, in the event of the Boers
succumbing to the British forces ; and although I anticipated
hard fighting, a rough life, and some danger from the younger
Boers themselves, that never for one moment made me hesitate
in my resolve or prevented its execution. This change of route,
however, necessitated a much longer time being occupied on
my journey to the Boer camp, and a total re-arrangement of all
my plans, both of travelling and of direct communication after-
wards. For, unlike the " Specials" with the British forces, I

170 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

should have no telegraph to assist me, and have to rely solely
upon my own and servant's despatch-riding, getting occasionally
a little help from the Boer authorities. While making these
necessary changes in my projected scheme, the affairs of Lang's
Nek and the lugogo occurred, proving both the power and
jiluck of the Boers, and their determination to fight it out
a outmnce ; and falsifying in the clearest manner all the
statements, and even calumnies, disseminated throughout the
Cape, and even in Europe, as to their cowardice and lack of
unity in purpose.

I may here conveniently mention the case of my confrere on
the Press, Mr. A. Aylward — from whose writings I have occa-
sionally quoted in this work — then editor of the Natal Witness,
on which paper he succeeded Mr. F. E. Statham, the author of
** Boers, Blacks, and British." Unfortunately for him, his pre-
vious career as a noted Republican, both in Ireland and South
Africa, together with the views held by him and openly ex-
pressed through the columns of the Witiiess, and in his book
on the Transvaal, were such as to place him almost in the
black book of the British authorities, who refused him point-
blank either the permission to proceed to the Boer camp as the
representative of the Daily Telefiraph and the Natal Witness, or
recognition in any way afterwards as anything but a rebel in
arms, if he went over to the enemy's side. And when it was
found out, or at least strongly suspected, that Mr. Aylward was
even at that time advising and giving information to the Boer
leaders, public indignation was aroused against him in Natal to
such an extent that threats of lynchiiig him were openly uttered
by respectable citizens and some of the soldiery. Consequently,
immediately after the Ingogo fight he left his hotel one morning
for a ride and never came back, proceeding via Grey Town and
the Biggarsbcrg to Utrecht and the Nek, where he arrived about
the 18th of February. Thence he sent a long descriptive and
interesting letter to the Kxjtress newspaper (a liocr organ at
Blocmfontein), in which, after detailing his experiences en route,
he gave a vivid description of the Boer camp and the Nek
itself, with statements and details as to the figlits at Tjang's
Nek and the Ingogo, from which I have only the space to

The Boci" Camp. 171

extract the following graphic bit as to the appearance of the
first Boer camp formed on the Drakensberg : —

" I shall now proceed to describe a first view in the Boer camp on the
Nek, which will more graphically than any other form of narrative bring
the scene and the area before the reader. Somewhere in the veldt, in
view of the Drakensberg, appeared on the point of a ridge an open area
surrounded by waggons. When it was reached and entered, the square
was found to contain regular divisions, and in the centre a short line oi
tents and waggons marked the position of the officers' and staff-quarters.
In the second square stood, remarkable by their sombre hue, two limbers
taken after the fight of the 8th (the Ingogo) from the Eoyal Artillery.
The spare wheel was still in its place, the chests were nearly empty, con-
taining but twenty shells, or shrapnels, and a few charges of powder.
The friction tubes for the guns, and a variety of the more useful contents
of the boxes, were however gone, removed by the Artillery. One of the
chests had been broken open to get at its contents in the, perhaps, fatal
hurry of the last moment. Arrived at the tents, questions were asked
and answered, when it was found that the Generals — there are more than
one — were away to the front, dimly visible at a distance. The laager con-
tained but i^"^ servants ; they were in the veldt with the cattle, carefully
watched by a mounted guard. About eight flags fluttered from waggons
— these marked those belonging to Commandants or Field-cornets, Imt
the men themselves were ofi' to the ISTek, there being positively but one
idler in all this vast area, and he was half a prisoner. After a while, there
being no one to talk to but an overworked Secretary, who continually
begged to be allowed to go also to the Nek, hunger asserted itself, an^l a
lump of flesh, half-roasted on a gridiron, with biscuit soon satisfied it.
There was tea, and cofi'ee too, but these did not taste as they do in other
places ; they had been cooked in iron kettles, that were used for either
indifferently. There was salt also and sauce, and there the dinner began
and ended. From that meal there was no further eating for eighteen
hours. The bed was a waggon, and morning brought clouds, mist, and
a little rain, in the midst of which, accompanied by a superior officer, the
party all started for the front. The General-in-Chief was here found
sitting on a low stool under an old waggon-sail, not forty yards from the
centre of his position. By the bye, he does not sit there always, so it
need not be made a special object of attack on that account. There were
three other stools in the tent, and around lay quite a number of able-
bodied men, with their guns by them. The General had a bandolier on
like his men, and the unacquainted could not have, by the dress,
distinguished a lance corporal from a Commandant. Silence and
smoke reigned supreme — the Chief was writing letters, and occasion-
ally reading reports. At noon he had breakfast, salt meat and
biscuit, with one cup of milkless, flavourless cofi'ee. Then he made a
second inspection of his posts. His first was over at daylight. It
would be as well to note here that the meals were preceded and
followed by fervent prayer, during which the attending officers and
soldiers were reverentially attentive. We shared that meal with other
invited guests, some five altogether. It may further be noted that every
act of the General's, and of his officers, is done in public. There is
neither secrecy nor privacy of any sort in camp or laager, and every
burgher, however humble, is welcome to every tent or waggon, to sit

1/2 IVitk the BocTs in the Transvaal.

and smoke as he will, however high be the rank of the Chief he visits.
There is true Republicanism in the Boer camp. Second inspection
over, orders were given for the various duties of defence; and it
being known that General Sir Evel3'n Wood had crossed the Biggars-
berg, and that the Rifles, Highlanders, and Hussars were near to rein-
force General Colley, care was taken that the place of battle should be
widely known. The General later addressed one company of the
burghers, and made a most feeling s]-)eech, in which he told them
what God had so manifestly done for them, and bade them work to
the common end, obey their officers, take care of their horses, and
prepare to face an enemy outnumbering them and having every
appliance of war, and every comfort that civilized oi-ganization can
procure to aid them. There was no cheering or nonsense, and the men
dispersed in silence, nearly all smoking. Then the staff, having seen the
point clear, struck tents, and the waggons were ordered off, and moved
over a high hill to another post. When we arrived there, the Drakens-
berg was covered with heavy mist. Rain and thunder came on at six p.m.;
nothing could be or was cooked ; the General slept in his spurs
with his bandolier on. Waterproofs failed to keep the wet out,
smoke was our only comfort, and we dozed and smoked till, in the
early morning — long before sun up — scouts began to bring in reports.
Later we could see of what stuff the Boers were composed. The out-
lying pickets reported that the British paraded outside of their camp ;
cavalry mounted. It was coffee-time. No orders were issued ; the report
was not yet confirmed, or it might mean that Wood was iusjiecting liis
men, but as the coffee was finished every man went off to his alarm post,
and in three minutes the hills were fully defended. There was no
bragging, no cheering, no looking for horses, or asking questions;
every man as he stood walked off to his post, and the staff proceeded
to inspect the front. Never, in the face of a real danger, for the
valleys were misty, and the enemy very formidable, have I seen such
cheerful, undemonstrative indifference to results as on the morning of
Sunday, the 10th inst., when an attack in force appeared to be immi-
nent. Inquiry now brought to light the fact that there were no differences
of opinion whatever among the Boer officers. They were as one nmn,
and their intelligence, news, experience, ttc, were, as it were, common
proiicrty. In the camp were many old gentlemen, veterans of wars with
both I'^nglish and Kuliirs, but never have I heard a word of recrimi-
nation, (.'(Misure, or anger amongst them. Among the more distin-
guished men present was M. W. I'retorius, whose name alone is a
liost in itself. The adjutants are capable ofliccrs, who do a vast
amount of work, and the men are volunteers in the best sense of the
word."

I limy licm add that, iiftcr tlio Aniajul):i ll.^lit, at uliicli ho
■was present, and a sul)scqucnt interview lutwctii (Icneral
.Toubcrt and two Special Correspondents, ]\Iessrs. Cameron,
Slaiulard, and Carter, Thnra of Natal (the snl)stan('e of what
then occurred Ix'inf,' {,Mven in Die cliaiitcr on llic Amnjiilia li^dit),
"Mr. Aylward left the liner eanip at ilie Nek, and jiroeeeded to
Jje^dcnberg, his old btation, where ho assisted the lioers iu

Arj'ival in Orange Free State. 173

tbcir attacks npon the fort, and tried to induce Lieutenant
Long and his little garrison to capitulate. At the conclusion
of the campaign, when terms were signed, he journeyed
through the Free State and the Cape Colony, and returned to
England, where it is probable he will publish another work on
the Transvaal, the proof sheets of which he showed me in
Pictermaritzburg, entitled " Settlers, Savages, and Settlements
in South-East Africa," and dealing with the events that have
occurred since the publication of his former work, " The
Transvaal of To-day," in 1878, and up to the present time.

In pursuance of my new plans I left Pictermaritzburg by
Post cart for Harrismith (which is the first Orange Free State
town, situated just over the Drakensberg) early in the second
week in February, and notwithstanding the rumours of a Free
State commando being on the look-out and blocking up the
Pass, I reached there on the evening of the second day, having
seen or heard nothing out of the ordinary course of events,
I certainly found the inhabitants of the various towns en route,
viz., Estcourt and Colenso, in rather an excited state. A com-
pany of the 97th at the latter place had thrown up earthworks
on each side of the roadway on the southern side of the Paver
Tugela, in order to protect the iron bridge but lately erected
across that turbulent river ; but with the exception of troops
moving along, there was nothing else to excite them, although
small parties of the Boers had been seen between Ladysmitb
and the Berg. I also found the inhabitants of Harrismith
in a very unsettled state, there being two decidedly hostile
elements in the otherwise pleasant little tovm, the one British
and the other strongly anti-British. But although much gas
was evolved, no flame had hitherto resulted ; and considering
that the principal storekeepers (all British) had sold out nearly
all their stocks, purchased by the Dutch for their brethren
and friends in the Transvaal, I do not think they had much
cause to grumble; not like many others on the Border and
in the Transvaal, who had their goods, &c., " commandeered "
and not paid for, by the Boer Government.

The Yolksraad was also sitting at Bloerafontein, and every one
was anxious to know what resolutions they would come at as to

174 \]^ith the Boers in the Transvaal.

neutrality or otherwise. On the road up I met with many
refugees, both from the Transvaal and this State, and in con-
versation with them heard their side of the question ; hut, on
the other hand, I also met many Englishmen who have farms,
stores, and stock throughout the country, and in many cases
close to the Border, who expressed their firm conviction of their
safety, and the maintenance of neutrality throughout the Free
State. There were present in the town many, including ladies
and children, who had got away from Potchefstrom and other
towns in the Transvaal ; and although they did not like their
captors, yet admitted that they were not ill-treated, in the strict
sense of the word. There was also a small detachment of pri-
soners — men of the 94th — who were taken at Bronkhorst Vlei,
who had come through Cronstadt, where they w'ere kindly
received and helped on by Mr. Coulson, until reaching Harri-
smith, when Mr. Barrett, of Evans & Co., gave them waggons,
provisions, money, and anything they wanted, except liquor,
and forwarded them on to Natal. A report was prevalent,
having come from Bethlehem, that Commandant Eaaflf and
Major Clai-ke had shot their guards and escaped ; but the
former's brother, my friend Mr. J. J. Raaflf, did not believe it ;
as, had it been so, some of their friends and relatives would
have heard from or seen them ere then. It may not, perhaps,
be well known that both these officers had been tried twice, and
only acquitted on the latter occasion. The first time they were
both found guilty of treason to the Republic, and would haA'e
been shot, had not Paul Kruger, the President, refused to con-
firm the finding of the Court, and ordered a new trial. The
two Dutcbmen taken with them, and tried at the same time,
were convicted and shot — papers found on them incriminating
them fully, at any rate to the satisfaction of the Provisional
Government. I was told that every endeavour was being made
to trace and capture the men who committed Elliott's murder,
wwA that two were already arrested for complicity in the act.
I'lcsidcnt Kruger's l)rother was in Harrisniith some days before
my arrival, purchasing arms and stores for the Boers, and only
left the day before I arrived ; otherwise, as ho had beard of my
advent, and approved highly of my intentions to proceed into

My Border yourney. 175

the Transvaal, and had also done what he could to facilitate
them, I should have been glad to meet him and journey on with
him.

I found, however, that nothing was to be gained by haste,
and that, before attempting to proceed to the Border, I should
have to await the decision of the Volksraad on neutrality, as
well as the arrival of Mr. Eaaff, who had kindly been in com-
munication with the Boer Government at Heidelberg about me,
and had arranged to drive me on to the Border, where I was to
be met, and escorted first to Heidelberg and then down to
Lang's Nek. Having, therefore, some time at my disposal,
I interviewed all the leading men in the town and district,
and communicated my observations to the papers I represented,
as well as to General Colley, who, I felt sure, would respect me
none the less for my determination to proceed to the Boer camp
as a *' Special," and would give my opinions and views whatever
attention they merited, as coming from an unbiassed and trust-
worthy source. As it was impossible for me to hear the decision
of the Volksraad, then sitting at Bloemfontein, on the neutrality
question, until the arrival of the weekly mail on the Sunday
following, or by private means before the end of the week, I
was glad to avail myself of an opportunity which offered of
journeying along the boundary of Natal up to its most North-
eastern point, where the 0. F. S. and Transvaal join. Armed
with a letter of introduction from the Landdrost of Harrismith
— Mr. J. L. de Villiers, now the First Landdrost of Pretoria
under the new regime — to Mr. Cornelius de Yilliers, the Com-
mandant of the District, a leading member of the Volksraad,
and an ardent sympathiser with the Transvaalers, who was sup-
posed to be patrolling the Free State Border in order to preserve
a strict neutrality ; and accompanied by Mr. Tese Uys, a well-
known and highly influential connection of the Uys family, I
had little hesitation in leaving Harrismith under a promise of
the tour not extending over four days. I left late on Monday,
21st of February, for Mr. Uys' farm on the Tanjes Berg (about 25
miles from Harrismith), where we slept that night. Early next
morning we started in his spider with two horses, and an after-
rider, along the Border road — shown on Jeppe's map — leading

176 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

in a northerly direction ; and, arriving at Mill Eiver, where
there had once been a canteen and store, we outspanned. Soon
after our arrival another spider drove up (having come by a
more direct road straight from Harrismith that morning), con-
taining Mr. Gert Maritz and Mr. Nel, both of Umvoti County,
who had driven up from Natal on purj)ose to proceed to the
Border to visit relations and see the true state of affairs along
the Border. The former gentleman had known me previously
during the Zulu war, and I had therefore every opportunity of
hearing the true state of affairs, and also the straightforward
opinions of a sensible man. He most decisively stated that
not one of the Natal men had actively joined the Transvaalcrs,
nor directly aided them in any way ; but at the same time ad-
mitted that they had their most earnest sympathies md best
wishes, although regretting the war and the bitter deteimination
with which it was being carried on. Mr. Nel had two sons in
the Transvaal during the commencement of the outbreak, and
beyond hearing that they had both been commandeered, knew
nothing whatever of their doings or whereabouts, having received
no communication from them since that time.

On the banks of the river we found an encampment of two
tents and several waggons, oxen, horses, sheep, &c., and on
inquiry found that the party consisted of several families of
Boers who had escaped and trekked from their farms near
Wakkerstrom, in consequence of their defiance of and refusal
to fight for the ]Joers. They described things in that district
])retty nmch as wo all knew of them afterwards, and seemed
fully an fnit with all the Jjoer projects and movements. From
this and various other most authentic sources, I have always
heard the Boer losses at Lang's Nek and Schuin's Hooghte put
down at near about the number stated in the published reports
of the licpublican Provisional Government ; and although I da
not understand how they could be so small, yet having con-
versed with sonu! who were actually present at cither, or both
lights, I can come to no other conclusion but that they wero
given in the main correctly ; the more so, as in both cases tho
names of tin; dead and wouimIciI have also l)een given out.
After u short rest the two spiders proceeded in company, as wo

Interview zuith Ncl and Bugler Field. 177

found out that Messrs. Maritz and Nel were going nearly as far
as we were. Cornelius River and many intermediate spruits
and swamps got through, we parted company with our Natal
friends, they proceeding due North near to Praamkop, while
we had to turn off to the North-east, towards the rise of the
Klip River, on a farm near which we were informed Commandant
de Villiers was with his patrol. Rain hegau now to descend
pretty heavily, and as the hills were covered with mist, and it
was getting nearly dusk, we decided upon going to the next
farmhouse we could see to stop the night. This we were able
to accomplish about seven o'clock, and the people of the place
(a very poor one, by the bye) having given us a share of their
small house and pot-luck, we did the best we could to spend
the night, sleeping (when not disturbed by the fleas, which were
large and numerous) on the floor, only too thankful to be under
shelter. The owner of the place, also a Mr. Uys, was not very
communicative, and knew, or appeared to know, little about
the state of things in the neighbourhood, but made no hesi-
tation in expressing his desire to remain neutral. AVe did,
however, after much pumping, manage to get some little news
out of him ; and in consequence of his information we pro-
ceeded again early next day (Wednesday), without waiting for
breakfast, and through the heavy rain, which had continued all
night, to another farm further on under the Berg, near to the
source of the Klip River, inhabited by a family of the name of
Nel.

At this j)lace, where we would not off-saddle, we learnt that
Commandant De Villiers was not on the Border at present,
but had left on the Monday previous with fifty men, six
waggons, and a Cape cart, for Joubert's camp, but for what
purpose was not known. (This corroborated the Ladysmith
telegrams as to a Free State commando having been seen on
the Berg.) A son of the man then appeared, who stated that
he had been present at the engagement at Lang's Nek, in the
Boer commando held in reserve, and had brought therefrom
a Martini- Henri (converted Enfield), of the l-60th, a sword,
bavonet, and a bandolier fall of cartridges, evidently having
belonged to a Mounted Infantryman, all of which I saw. Ho

178 With the Boc7's in the Transvaal.

then further, of his own accord, gave us a description of the
fight, and also of the one at lugogo, in which he took an active
part, and captured a prisoner — Bugler Field, of the 3-60th,
Captain Thurlow's Company, the only one taken. This young
boy was produced for our inspection, but I did not care to arouse
suspicion by questioning him too much. He seemed to have
been kindly treated by his captor, but had had a very narrow
escape on the field, Lieutenant Pixley falling wounded on one
side of him, and a soldier shot dead on the other. He managed
to get a little shelter in a hole and there remained till .the
engagement was over, when he was taken prisoner by young
Nel, and brought into camp. Several of the Boers there wanted
to kill him, and ofi"ered the man a fine horse in exchange, but
Nel would not let him go, and brought him with him into the
Orange Free State. After some further conversation, in which
we learned many more of the events which had occurred on the
Border, and a statement that young Nel was going back again
to help the Boers, who had fallen back and were fortifying their
positions at Lang's Nek and Schuiu's Hooghte, we departed
and turned back, glad to get away, and grieved with the news
we had heard. Before departing, I and Mr. Uys had, however,
offered Nel either of the horses for the boy, but in vain, and
so we had to leave him there, though much against our wills.
Returning by a more direct, though heavier and more moun-
tainous, road close to the Berg, we drove for about three hours
and then reached a small store known as McLeod's, but now
inhabited by a family named Campbell, where we were informed
that many armed Boers and waggons had passed on to the Boer
camp. Here we outspanned and had breakfast. The extreme
point we had penetrated to by Nel's farm was only about three
hours' ride on horseback from Joubert's camp, where we also
learned that Paul Kruger was ; and from a hill at the back of
the house — one of the ]ierg mountains — we could see Newcastle,
distant not more than fifteen miles.

However much the Free State Government might have wished
to keej) their State neutral, I am afraid that it must now ho
adiiiift.ed they were hardly able — or rather, let mo say, had not
been able— to keep it so, as I learnt from actual eye-witnesses

Return to Harrismith. 179

that notonly were Boer patrols constantly seen along the Border,
but that waggons, horses, and cattle, captured previously near
Newcastle by a large Boer patrol, were brought up through a pass
in the Drakensberg, and conveyed into the Transvaal through the
Free State. The fact that there also were several men in that
neighbourhood who had been present and wounded at the recent
engagements, and intended to go back again, proved the state
of doubt then existing, and showed that some firm steps should
have been taken by the Free State authorities to punish the
offenders and prevent the recurrence of such affairs. From
information obtained at the time and since, both on the spot
and elsewhere, I have no hesitation in saying that the men who
had been acting in such a manner were of no position in the
District, and in two notable cases were well-known law-breakers ;
so that it would have been a great pity if such irresponsible
men should be permitted to bring discredit and difficulty upon
the Orange Free State. But to continue with our journey.
After a two hours' stay at Mrs. Campbell's we continued our
cross-country course, with the object of calling specially at the
farm of Commandant C. de Yilliers, and hearing from them
where he was, and upon what duty. Just before arriving there
we caught up a young relation of his, a Mr. Du Toit, who had
just left the Border, and was riding down to Ladysmith on
business. From him we heard that the family had left some
time since, and only one son and a white overseer remained on
the place. It was still raining hard and our horses very tired,
so we were obliged to outspan and enter the house for a while.
This young fellow volunteered a good deal of information on
subjects connected with the war, which confirmed what we had
hitherto heard, and he seemed thoroughly well acquainted with
the position, movements, and prospects of the Boers. We
learnt from him that two guns had been placed in position at
Lang's Nek by the Boers, but that one was a small brass
ship's cannon, and the other they could not manage, as it flew
up in the air when fired, and was not to be depended on.
They had also dug out trenches, erected earthworks, and their
position was very strong. They had had very severe and
trying weather, and were neither well provided with clothes,

N 2

I So IViih the Boers in the Transvaal.

blankets, or change of food. How they stood it so far is a
jiuzzle to many, and hardy as they may be, illness must (one
would have thought) have resulted from such a long exposure.
They were fairly provided with doctors, principally uncertificated
men, but still useful in their way, and they were expecting
l^roper ones up from the Cape and Orange Free State, along
with comforts for the wounded. This was the substance of his
remarks.

"Without waiting for dinner we inspanned and reached Tanjes
Berg at dusk that night. Mr. Uys and his wife showed me
every kindness, and it is purely owing to his kindness and
eagerness to benefit both the State and the Transvaal, added to
the eftect produced by the Landdrost's letter of introduction,
that I was enabled to see so much in so short a time. I rode
back to Harrismith early next day, and then heard news from
Bloemfontein that the Volksraad had decided finally upon a
position of strict neutrality. The effect of this decisive and
right-minded step was at once fully apparent. I also found
Mr. Raaff had returned and was ready for me to make a start,
although he recommended me to await the coming of President
]3rand, who had decided upon proceeding himself to the British
and ]3oer camps, in order to mediate between them as to terms
of peace. But as the weather was then very bad, and the date
of the President's arrival uncertain, together with the cxpecta-
lion of a big fight between the Boers and the united forces of
Sir George Colley and Sir E. Wood, I thought it best to try
to get on without delay, especially as the rumours reached mo
that many of the Dutchmen thought I Avas a spy, and might
try to prevent my reaching or crossing the l^order. The
weather, however, remained very bad, and all the rivers were so
flooded tliat travelling through the Free State was rendered
almost impossible, and dangerous even when practicable, through
the want of l)ridges and punts. All the rivers, and even the
f^mallcst streams, swell so rapidly after a fall of rain that they
bcconio dangerous and impassable. The want of proper ac-
coiiimodatioii-houses is also greatly felt, off the main road and
outside the towns ; so that travelHng in these regions, even in
fine wnithcr, is neither corvSiy^iXAii nor amusing. Being unable

News of the Amajitba Fight. i8i

to drive I tried to ride up. Twice I started, and twice I had
to return, being unable under existing circumstances to get
any one to guide or drive me up direct to the camp. While
thus being tossed about at the freak of fortune, or rather mis-
fortune, the news reached us of the Amajuba fight, heavy loss
and retreat of the British, and death of Sir George Colley.
This news stunned us for a time, and made us quite doubt the
possibility of any peace terms being come to through President
Brand's mediation. I was just on the point of starting off
again, determined at all hazards to ride through to the Boer
camp alone, when I received authentic information that a party
of doctors, belonging to the Red Cross Association of Cape
Town, and sent up under their auspices, was being brought up
by Commandant Raatz and an escort of Free State Burghers,
and had passed Bethlehem the day previous on their way direct
across to ths Boer camp. This determined me, and without wait-
ing any more for the President's arrival, I persuaded my friends,
Mr. Raaflf and Landdrost Be Villiers, to drive me over part of
the way, and leave me to catch the party up, when we had
ascertained when and where and how long they had gone ou in
front of mo.

iS2 JViih the Boers in tJie Transvaal,

CHAPTEE XYIII.

EXPERIENCES IN THE BOER CAMP.

Drive to Jlill River — itr. JIandy's Farm — Start next Day — Catch up Commandant
Eaatz and Doctors — Our Party — Journey to Border — Incidents en route — -
Crossing the Klip River — Travelling under Difficulties — Aleet Boer Patrols — •
Dr. Barbour's Grave — Road past tbe Amajuba — First View of Boer Camp — T».e
Free State Laager — Other Camps — Description of Valley — Camp Life — Visit to
Top of Amajuba — Sixty Hours' Rain — Five in a Mule Waggon — Commandant De
Villiers' Departure — Course of Peace Meetings — Convention Signed — Terms of
Convention — President Brand's Arrival in Boer Camp — The Boers and Civiliza-
tion — Interviews with Brand, Pretorins, Kruger and Joubert — Melton Prior
turns up — Departure of Red Cross Doctors — Boer Camp broken up — Mount
Prospect — Old Acquaintances — Newcastle at last — Boer Delegates arrive —
"Brothers of the Quill" — Mr. Gladstone's Effigy Burnt — Lady Florence Dixie
— Post Cart to Pietermaritzburg.

On the afternoon of Saturday, the 12th of March, I was driven
over to the farm of INIr. F. C. Mandy, near the Mill River, over
which, at a drift close hy, the Doctors' party had, as we found,
only that morning preceded me, though we learnt that, on
account of the flooded state of the next (Cornelius) river, a
very narrow, swift and deep stream, thej^ would be detained
for a day at least until the waters subsided. This fact, and the
kind invitation of my host to stay the night, decided me not to
attempt to catch them up in the dark, but to await the morning
and ride on with a guide and a pack-horse, and overtake them
at ray ease next day. It was well that I did so, for the rain
begun to come down very heavily again that evening, and con-
tinued nearly all night, wetting completely through the kind
friends (who bad driven me over thus far) on their return
jmirney. Early next morning the eldest son of my host drove
nic down to the Mill lliver — passing on the road many herds of
blcsb(jck and s2)riiigbock — ulierc we found a temporary raft
working across the river, constructed of six barrels and some

Our Party. i8

planks fastened over them, the proper punt having been washed
away many days before. My " achter " rider having divested
the three horses of their saddles and accoutrements, they were
turned in with nothing on but a headstall and a loose " rheim "
attached thereto, and allowed to swim across as best they could,
while we floated across with our things dry on the raft to the
other side, whence a few hours' ride brought me with little
difficulty to the camp of the Ked Cross surgeons and their
escort. I had brought letters of introduction to Commandant
John Eaatz, who was in charge of the party, and upon pre-
sentation of the same was made cordially welcome and had to
give all the latest news and explain my object and wishes. The
Commandant, a fine specimen of an Afrikander, tall, muscular,
not too stout, with a pleasant bearded face, and a quiet manner
Avhich betokened strength and confidence, is a well-known and
highly important man among the Free Staters ; and, added to
the fact that he is one of the most popular members of the
Volksraad, he is also a great personal friend of the President, and
a most ardent sympathiser with the Transvaal Boers and the
cause for which they are fighting. Immediately on learning
that two doctors were going up to assist the Boer wounded and
sick, he volunteered to take them right up himself at his own
expense, and well he kept his word. The rest of the party con-
sisted of the two doctors and their assistant, and about twenty-
five other men going up to join their relations against the
*' common foe." They seemed very much in earnest, bitter
against the English, and were well armed, mounted and pro-
visioned. Two waggons, several Cape carts, and a troop of
horses accompanied them on the road up. Of the two doctors,
one was French — the second son of the late well-known Basuto
Missionary, the Eev. Mr. Daumas, of Mequatling — a clever
young surgeon, recently District surgeon at Maseru, with the
forces in the Gaika and Galeka War of 1878, who had served
through the Franco-German War, and been in Paris during the
siege, with myself and many others of different nationalities,
now here in South Africa. The other was Dr. Yon Mengers-
hausen, a German from Jamestown, with a high reputation,
who had also served, but on the German side, in part of the

184 JVith the Boers in the Transvaal.

Franco-Prussian "War of 1870-71. With them was a German
assistant or dresser, Mr. Wituich, and the}^ expected another
dresser, with ambulances and more medical stores, to come
round hj- sea to Natal and then join them at Lang's Nek. It
was somewhat strange that night after dinner, when we sat
down in the tent to talk over the probabilities of the war, to
find representatives of four nations — English, French, German,
and Dutch — uniting together, for the time at least, in general
sympathy, if not in individual opinions, with the struggle then
occurring in the Transvaal ; and I may say, speaking for myself,
that the foundations were laid on that occasion of two, if not
three, sincere friendships, which have gone on increasing until
now, and seem likely to outlast the evil effects of the struggle
itself.

After the next day's journey — the river having much sub-
sided — the night brought us close to the Border, and among
the numerous farms belonging to the various and extensive
family of Uys. "We dined at the house of one, who was awa}'
himself, with his two sons, and the mothers and daughters were,
all that were left at home. They had had to mourn the death
of a cousin already, but seemed willing to give up father and
brothers for the sake of their relatives and country. On this
day's journey I passed the only farm about there where ostrich-
breeding was carried on, and it struck me as being somewhat
singular that I should only have seen that one. In the evening
we encamped close to the residence of another Uys, and, while
there, one of the doctors was requested to ride over to a farm a
little distance off, to visit a man very sick with dysentery. The
man who rode over to fetch the doctor seemed to be of decided
unti-lJoer tendencies, and gave vent to many ill-judged remarks
on the sul'jcct in front of the young fellows going up with us,
which would most assuredly have led to a serious dis^jutc had it
Dot been for Raat/, who poured oil on the troubled waters, and
moderated the feelings and utterances of both sides. Next
morning after ])reakrast tlie doctor returned, having done what
he could to reHev(; Ijis ])atient, and we readied tli(! KH}) l{iv(!r,
at a jdace nnirked on tlie map Zeekoe Vley, about mid-day.
The river here was about thirty yards broad, very deep and

Crossing the Klip River. 185

swift, and the late rains had swollen the Vley so much that
over three feet of water extended away on both sides of the
drift for miles, and gave us quite three-quarters of a mile more
wading across it after passing over the river itself. The river
rises to the East on the Drakensherg, and the valley is always
more or less full of water, and is inhabited by hippopotami,
about the only place I came across where many of those un-
wieldy amphibians remain. The wild duck and water-fowl
shooting would enchant any member of the sporting fraternity,
and would well repay a visitor even from England. Fortunately
the day was fine, and we determined to begin unpacking every-
thing at once and get as much as we could across that afternoon
There was no punt, and all we had to help us were four barrels,
upon which were fastened the bed planks of a waggon, and a
long rope. With these slender and apparently — to an English-
man — useless appliances, we commenced operations. First two
or three men stripped themselves and swam over the river,
dragging the rope across which was fastened to the raft ; and
then, having gained a small piece of rising ground on the other
side about ten yards square, and ordinarily covered by the flood,
but showing about 1-^ feet of dry ground then, they hauled the
raft across with all the baggage on as many times as was neces-
sary until everything was over. The waggons we found it would
be impossible to get over, so they were left behind, and only
the carts and our mule waggon were to be taken over, while the
horses swam across in a body, with the mules and some oxen.
The raft was so shaky that those who preferred going across on
it to swimming had to lie down and carefully balance the whole
concern against the action of the stream, which was running
quite ten knots an hour. The raft was so narrow that all the
Cape carts were got on it with their bodies resting on the
planks and their wheels overhanging in the water. "With the
mule waggon, however, we had to undo the whole, and fasten a
barrel to each of the four wheels, and float it across, with
several men swimming and holding on at each side and end of
it. Even then the bottom of the cart was often under the
water.

After superhuman exertions all was got over safely ; and we

1 86 JVifk the Doers in the Transvaal.

encamped that uiglit on the bill above, witb a lovely moon and
plenty of mosquitoes ! Just before we bad finisbed tbe work,
several horsemen rode down to us, having left the Boer camp to
ride over to meet our party. From them we learnt of tbe con-
tinuance of the armistice, ajid tbe journey of President Brand,
via Harrismith and Muller's Pass, to Newcastle, whence he
was expected to reach the Boer camp next day. The men in
camp seemed hopeful of peace through Brand's mediation, but
were equally ready to continue the war if they did not get their
independence unfettered. We inspanned early next morning
and proceeded quickly for the camp, which was distant about
six hours' drive for a cart, but only three for horses, by taking
a short cut over tbe hills. After leaving tbe river and getting
closer to the boundary, we found the farms more deserted and
neglected, but tbe live stock ssemed to be running about pretty
much tbe same as usual. Coffee was partaken of at each of
the houses on tbe road, as is customary ; and at 11.30 we crossed
in an almost easterly direction tbe boundary of the Orange Free
State, Transvaal, and Natal, with Lang Klip Mountain, in the
Verzamel-Berg, on our left, and tbe Amajuba Spitzkop, or Col-
ley's Berg, as it is now called, straight ahead of us, and the long
uneven dark ranges of the Drakensberg Mountain on our right.
We outspauncd for lunch at the farm of a Mr. Du Precz — one
of tbe finest homesteads I had seen on my journey. While
there we beard tbe full details of tbe murder of Dr. Barbour,
and attempted murder of Mr. Dyas, and were shown the grave
of the former on a farm adjoining. The host also gave us a
description of the fight of the previous week, which took place
on the Amajuba, the western side of which was plainly visible
from his verandah and front door. After leaving there, in an
hour's lime we got on to a very bad, wet and boggy road.
The sides of the hills were now beginning to bo covered with
firewood, and Kaflir kraals were very numerous on all sides.
At a farinliousc, now deserted, on a western spur of the
Aiuiijuba, wo outsiiamied again, and were there met by many
Boers from camp, and a mounted patrol, who informed us of
the commenccniont of the conferences between Joul)ert and
Wood, at a place half-way between the two camps. President

First View of Boer Camp. 187

Brand had not yet arrived, having been delayed by weather and
bad roads, but was hourly expected.

The road from the .western front of the Amajuba rises
over a neck of land connecting the north-western side of the
Amajuba with a projecting point of the Verzamel-Berg, from
which point one of the Boer storming parties charged up the
mountain. Upon reaching the top of this neck the hills extend
suddenly and trend away sharply to the left and right, those on
the left going up to Alleman's Nek, and on the right past
Lang's Nek to the Belelasberg, leaving a long valley, upon the
sides of which, intersected by one large and several small
streams, the Dutch camps, made up of several distinct laagers,
were placed. The high road to Pretoria runs straight through
it from Lang's Nek to Alleman's Nek almost flat from south to
north for nearly six miles, with Meek's white store glistening in
the distance, about half way, in the afternoon sun. We passed,
and noticed patrols around us on every hill, while a large
number of vedettes and sentries encircled the camps ; and I
especially noticed a large body of men on the top of the
Amajuba, which from this point looks like three mountains
alongside each other, with separate oblong tops just touching
each other longitudinally, and with brush-covered rocky gorges
running up distinctly between each. Horses and cattle were
dotted all over the plain, but otherwise there did not appear
much life in camp, the defences and the men on duty at Lang's
Nek and the line of Boer fortification being hidden from oui
view by intervening low hills. The first laager was pitched
just below the Nek we had come over, and consisted entirely of
Orange Free State men under Commandant C. J. de Yilliers,
the man I had ridden along the Border some time previously
to see. He had with him about 300 men, who took their
share of duty with the other camps. Beyond this, across a
stream flowing down from the northern point of the Amajuba,
and at the back of Lang's Nek, lay the main laager, with the
General's quarters and those of the Vice-President, Kruger, the
latter distinguished by a large flag-staff stuck in the ground
bearing the colours of the South African Eepublic, a vertical
stripe of green nearest the pole and then three horizontal ones

1 88 IViik the Boers in the Transvaal.

of red, white, and blue. Beyond this again lay smaller laagers
of men from different districts, small pennants flying in front
of the respective commandants' quarters, while away in the
distance, nearly three miles off, at the head of a steep, though
large gorge, and with a good view right down the valley into
Natal, was situated another large laager, the only one I noticed
arranged in anything like a manner for defensive purposes.
Some of the commandants had tents as well as waggons, but
most of the men lived in or under the waggons, covered with
large buck sails, or else in temporary sheds made with the
same. That evening we settled ourselves down comfortably at
the top end of the Free State laager, and pitched our tent and
waggon permanently, with the Eed Cross flag flying above us.
As our party drove up in procession, headed by our mounted
men armed with rifles, &c., in half sections, the whole of the
inhabitants of that laager turned out to welcome us with cheers,
and I then quickly made my way down to the Commandant
and was introduced to him.

A letter which I had from the Lauddrost of Harrismith
facilitated matters, but I could see that De Villiers did not
quite like my being there. Commandant "Fuljee,"as it is
pronounced in Dutch, is a prominent man in the Free State,
much thought of as a General, having made his military
reputation by his conduct and command of men during the late
long Ijasuto war, together with Commandant Raatz. He is a
short sturdy man, though rather aged and bent now, with sharp
eyes, beetling brows, short grey beard, whiskers, and moustache,
and an absent-minded look, which only leaves him when he is
speaking. He is the exact opposite of Commandant Eaatz in
Ijuild, manners, and speech, but perfectly at one with him in
a feeling of hatred against the English Government and of
intense sympathy with the Transvaalers. He does not speak
J'liiglish, like his brother Coniniiindunt, but is a more fluent
orator in Dutch, speaking rapidly and forcibly, but with con-
siderable ability and style ; while Raatz is both a slow thinker
and speaker, but in the opinion of many the sounder man of
the two. After a little, liaatz went over to see Commandant-
General Joubcrt at once, and De Villiers placed mc under tho

Visit to Top of AmaJ2iba. 189

care of one of his sons to get some dinner. Raatz came back

late, having waited Joubert's return from the conference, at
Avhich, I learnt, things did not go at all satisfactorily. The Boers
in camp did not want peace now they had the advantage, and
believed Wood was only talking about terms to gain time for
reinforcements to come up. The next day, Thursday, most of
our men went to see their friends in the other laagers, and a
large party of us went up to examine the Amajuba. Here I
carefully examined the whole position, and had the relative
attack and defence pointed out to me by one of the leaders of
the attack. I also brought away some purple everlasting
flowers from the exact spot where poor Sir G. Colley fell, now
marked by a stone cairn ; as are also the graA-es of the
numerous British soldiers. "When we returned, having taken
two hours to reach the top, an hour there and another hour to
come down, Raatz informed me that having presented my
letters to the General, he thought it would not be safe my
staying in the camp altogether if war was to continue ; but that
I might remain until one thing or another was decided, and
then come to some safe and suitable arrangement. In the
meantime, however, I was not to write openly, sketch, or do
anything to excite the suspicions of the younger Boers, who
might otherwise ill-treat or even shoot me if I left camp without
an escort, or went roaming about by myself.

During that day I heard and saw all I could with reference
to many matters, including the recent fights, death of Dr.
Barbour, camp life and discipline, state of health, &c., &:c.
That evening the wind changed, and it turned cold and misty.
Late in the evening the rain began, and lasted two days and
nights, during which time neither the Doctors nor myself
stirred out of the cart — into which we were all obliged to get,
as the tent leaked — except to get a little of the stifthess oft',
and, very occasionally, some food or coflee. Hov/ five of us
ever managed in the small mule waggon during that time I
do not think any of us care to remember ; but I fancy tlio
struggles to keep ourselves warm and get a little sleep will not
easily be forgotten by either of us. The waggon was only just
long enough and broad enough for two to lie down, and then

I go With the Boers in the Transvaal.

tbe middle was all choked up -with Ked Cross medicine chests
and our luggage, so we were obliged to pile up what we could
at each end, to prevent the rain coming in, draw the curtains
to as well as we could, for the wind was very high, and sit or
half He about on each other like so many pigs. The Com-
mandant and the Doctors had fortunately brought a fair store of
provisions with them, including a hard, sweet- kind of rusk
biscuit, much used and liked by the Dutch in travelling, coflee,
sugar, tea, and last, though not least, a ham. Forty oxen
being killed daily in camp, there was a profusion of good beef,
all good and fat, and not like the trek ox " Tommy Atkins "
had to put up with ; and this made life bearable when you
could get a fire. But as we could not, no fear of trickhue
was sufficient to deter us from eating the ham raw! The
universal style of living for all in the camp, officers and men,
was coffee all day long, a kettle of water boing always on the
fire, and then the coffee was put in and boiled up with it ; and
the meat was cut away anyhow, in small pieces, from the
bone, stuck on a ramrod, and roasted over the fire or in the
ashes, according to the taste of the owner. At times the bread
and sugar ran out, and then the diet was purely a meat one.
The only variation being on Sundays, when a general stew was
made in a large Kaffir pot, with the addition of a little rice and
pumpkin, or both, to the meat ; the soup being drunk in
tin pannikins, and the balance eaten afterwards. Mealies were
also to be got in camp by those who cared to ride to the Kaffir
gardens, many of which were deserted between the two lines.
There was absolutely no liquor in the camp, though one
waggon from the Capo did bring a little "Cape smoke," or
Itrandy, but the owner was not allowed to sell it. Independent
as every one seemed, strict order was kept in the camp, and
few cases of insubordination or punishment came under my
notice.

Saturday, the 19th, broke fine and warm, and wo heard early
of the arrival at Wood's camp of President lirand. Com-
mandant Do VillicrB had to return to Ilarrismith on business,
and made a speech to his men before leaving, saying that ho
thought the peace negotiations were in a fair way of being con-

Course of Peace Meetings. 191

eluded in their favour, and that he would come hack as soon as
possihle, leaving the command meanwhile with Raatz and Uys
(Lang Piet). During the morning the doctors had many
patients, principally for eye diseases, dysentery, and rheu-
matism ; and later on we were visited hy Vice-President Kruger
and some of the Boer surgeons. Throughout the day I was
husy, completing my diary and notes, and writing my letters
and telegrams, which Commandant de Villiers kindly took in
/or me to Harrismith, whence they were despatched, and reached
their several destinations safely. At the hospital, which was
at Meek's hefore mentioned, there were Doctors Merensky, in
charge — this gentleman is a well-known missionary, and was
commandeered — Hutchinson, of Utrecht, Heffer, Schultz, and
Scheffner. They had six wounded patients and three sick.
One of the wounded, Groenwald, who had been shot through
the arm and shoulder in the Amajuha fight, had his arm ampu-
tated ; but through great loss of blood was never able to rally,
and died the day we arrived there. The other patients were
only slightly wounded, and were doing well, notwithstanding
the poor appliances and want of medical necessaries and com-
forts. Another doctor, named Van Zweel, also came over and
announced himself as Staff Field-Surgeon to the camp ; and,
wanting to get a fortnight's leave, was desirous Ihat one of the
Red Cross Doctors should do his duty. This they very properly
declined, being, as they informed him, obliged to be strictly
neutral, but they offered to see all his patients for him, and do
the round of the camps. The man went away seemingly dis-
satisfied, and we never saw him again. At half-past twelve on
that day a great meeting was held over at the head-quarters, at
which Kruger read out the terms offered by the British Govern-
ment to give back part of the Transvaal on certain conditions.
This every one was strongly against, and it was decided to express
their determination to have all or nothing. The excitement
consequent upon this meeting increased all night, and little
hopes were then entertained by even the most moderate of peace
being concluded.

Next day being Sunday, service was held in the open air, and
a sermon preached by a Dutch prcdikant. Early in the moruiug

192 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

preparations were made on a large scale to go down and meet
President Brand, and escort liim to the Dutch camp. All the
men assembled on horseback from all directions, under their
respective Commandants, and it appeared to me -wonderful to
see the precision with which they marched away in half-sections.
Their numbers also greatly exceeded an^-thing I had hitherto
thought probable. The assembled men, after being addressed
by the leaders, went down, in numbers about 2,000 mounted
and 1,000 foot, and brought back the President, with the Trans-*
vaal flag carried in front by the General's Adjutant, Viljoen.
After going through various movements and a grand march
past the President's marquee, Joubert addressed the men, and
told them that he hoped peace would soon be made, and all
able to go home. President Brand came in a spider and pair,
and was accompanied by his Secretary, Mr. Papenfus. A mule
waggon also accompanied him, in which he had been driven from
Harrismith to Newcastle, r/« Muller's Pass, by Mr. Van Kooyen
of that town. There were great rejoicings that night throughout
all the camps, and an important Ki'iegsraad was held to consider
the final terms of peace offered by General "Wood. Late that
evening in our tent, to which came a lot of Dutch visitors, we
had an interesting argument about the value of civilization.
The Dutch party all ridiculed our idea of European civilization,
and stated that they considered religion was better alone for a
country. The two Doctors and I combated this very stronglj^
but without convincing them, although we pointed to their own
case as an illustration. They are very religious, but entirely
uneducated, and the consequence is, they are bigoted, narrow-
minded, and unable to govern the country wisely. This thoy
ndiiiitted; and they stated their desire to have a thoroughly
well-educated, clever man as their President, whom they hoped
to find in the Cape. But nothing we could say obtained the
slightest admission that education and civilization, or, at any
rate, a certain quantity of both, were necessary to be combined
with religion, before a country could hope to succeed and hold
her own alongside other progressive nations. They were all
leading men who were present, and their conversation moro
than anything else gave me a deep insight into their aspirations

Interviews, 193

and ideas. All the following day — Monday — was spent in great
suspense by us in camp, as the leaders were away all day at the
conference with Wood, and we knew well that no proposal to
extend the armistice beyond Tuesday evening would be listened
to by the Boers, who then determined that, if nothing was
settled by that time, they would attack the camp at Mount
Prospect early the next morning, before daybreak, in three
strong columns, from different points, to try to capture the
guns. They were fully resolved, having made up their minds
to lose heavily by the Gatlings, but thought "the game was
worth the candle." As I afterwards learnt, the troops would
have been quite ready for them, but the Gatlings had previously
been sent away. There is little doubt but that the Dutch could
have rushed the camp, it being perfectly open : but they would
have been severely handled by the troops who would hold tho
several earthen redoubts, erected at the most salient points..
The taking of the guns is more problematical, as even if the-
artillerymen were obliged to give them up, there would have-
been plenty of time to spike them and thus render them useless.
At sunset, one of Kruger's sons came back, and told us that
the preliminary terms of peace were being signed, and at 10 p.m.
it was finished down below, and the Dutch envoys returned'
to camp amid great rejoicings and firing ofl" of guns. Tuesday
morning arrived, and quickly a large concourse assembled at
the great laager, to hear the exact terms read out. After this
was done, many speeches were made, and, on the whole, the
people were satisfied. But there was still an undercurrent of
suspicion shown as to the real intentions of the British Govern-
ment, and doubt as to whether they would ratify fully Avhat had
been done. So none of them departed for their homes, but
awaited the confirmation from England by telegraph. After
church and when things had subsided, I rode over to see Pre-
sident Brand, whom I had met previously in England and at
the Cape. I was enquiring outside the marquee whether he
was in and visible, when I heard his voice asking me to come
in. I dismounted, fastened up my horse and entered. The
President, a short, very pleasant-looking man, rather worn and
grey, sat in a chair talkiug to Mr. Pretorius, one of the Trium-

194 Wii/i the Boers in the Transvaal.

viratc, and other Boer leaders. They were seated along one
side of the tent, while in the middle, at a temj^orary desk made
of empty boxes, sat a fair-haired young man, who I afterwards
learnt was the clerk to the Executive Council, writing hard.
Mr. Brand was taking a short rest after his arduous labours,
and not wishing to bother him much I entered upon a con-
versation with Mr. Pretorius, who is a very tall, line-looking
man, plainly dressed in fustian, with a wide-awake hat on,
shadowing a face of the primitive Dutch-Hollander type, ruddy
and clean shaven except a large moustache, which, like his hair,
is inclined to greyish. He seemed an active, fluent, and sound
speaker in both English and Dutch, and has a most pleasant
countenance when in conversation. Mr. Pretorius, another
Boer leader, and I discussed several matters in connection with
the state of the people, the war, terms of peace, the probable
future of the country, with fairness and straightforwardness on
all sides ; but I could see easily that they were both more san-
guine as to the future of a Great United South African Republic
than I think circumstances yet warrant.

Mr. l^rand wishing to get a little sleep, I bade him adieu,
and went home with Mr. Pretorius to see Vice-President Kruger,
as General Joubert, whom I particularly wanted to see, was out,
but expected Ijack hourly. "We found Mr. Kruger just outside
his tent. I easily recognised him, having met him previously
in Pietcrraaritzburg on his return from England on the Trans-
vaal Deputation. He is to my thinking the most peculiar-
looking niiin (if llu; lot. Walking towards him you notice a
man of middle height, with black whiskers and beard, no mous-
tache, thick protruding overhanging nose, high arched eyebrows,
very loose black clothes, and a hat thrown far back over his
head. He stoops much, is round-sliouldered, and suflcrs from
u slight defect in speech, which makes him a harsh, rapid, but
not unpl(!asant, tJilker. I had but little to say to him, and then
went down and nietthePrcdikant, the Rev. Mr. You \';nr;iiulow,
of Jleidelbcrg, Chaplain to the Boer Government, .ind I lie most
influential and liost educated clergyman among Hk in. lie \\;is
iniivcrKully known and liked, and scemeil as IJioroughly anti-
English us any Boer among them could wi.sh for. General

Mount Prospect. • 195

Joubcrt and his Camp-Adjutant or Aide-de-camp Smidt, now
riding up, I went vvitli Prctorius and met the now celebrated
man for the first time. What attracts attention at once about
the man is his abrupt military bearing, determined mouth, and
piercing eyes. Take these away, and the man remains insig-
nificant. He said very little, and that little curtly, and in
answer to my request for permission to go through to Newcastle
at once to refit and start off for Heidelberg and Pretoria, said
that he could not allow me to do so until the terms of peace
had been ratified. He then turned, sav/ several other men,
gave his orders, and retired to his own tent. Upon getting
back to my own quarters I found a man called Naudee just
arrived from Pretoria with despatches for the General from the
Boer Commander there, stating that late in February the Eng-
lish garrison had attempted a sortie in force, but were beaten
back with a casualty list of over 100, including three officers.
How much truth there was in this we did not knov/ for some
time afterwards.

Late that evening, and in fact all through the night, ever}''
one was busy making preparations for the trek on the morrow.
Having nothing to do, for my preparations were few and quickly
executed, I walked about the camp, visiting various Boers i
knew, and being received hospitably by all. I heard of the
arrival in camp that evening of ]Melton Prior, the adventurous
Special Artist of the Illustrated London Ncics, who, though
against the orders of the British Commander, managed to pass
the outposts, and reached the Boer camp without molestation.
Early the next morning I saddled up and rode down to the
English camp at Mount Prospect, after bidding adieu to all my
Boer friends, and 2^^'^ tcm. to the two Doctors, who had to go
back with Commandant Baatz some way to see their ambulance
and things sent off" to Bloerafontein before returning to the
Cape through Newcastle and Durban. They had previously
offered their services to the Boer Government to go up country
if necessary ; but that, upon consideration, was declined, and a
letter, thanking them in very handsome terms for their services
hitherto, was sent over by Dr. Jorrisscn on behalf of the Govern-
ment. On my way down to Mount Prospect I passed, close to

196 IJlf/i the Boers in the Transvaal.

the Xek, Cameron of the Standard, Carter, and Fripp of the
Graphic, -sybile further on Hay of the Daily Ncirs, and other
" Specials " unhnown to me, rode past on their way into the
Boer camp.

That morning very early, General "Wood, with his Staff, rode
up the Amajuha ; and when they came down, the Boer camp
was a thing of the past ; only a few scattered waggons remaining
to show the position of the large Boer camp on the now cele-
brated Lang's Nek. I reached Mount Prospect in time for break-
fast, and was warmly welcomed, "taken in and done for," by
Major Hartt, an old friend of Zulu "War fame, and then Staff
officer at the advanced camp. The news of my arrival in camp
becoming known, I was visited by crowds of officers and men,
some of whom were known to me, and others strangers. Among
the former were Major Barrow, Captain Hutton, and Lord St.
Vincent, of the Mounted Infantry, who looked as well and jolly
as ever ; and C. D. Hay, an old school-fellow, late Commandant
of Jantje's Native Horse in Zululand, but now attached to the
old " Ninety-twa." Finding so much to interest me, I remained
that day at Mount Prospect, sleeping and being put up in the
J^Iounted Infantry Quarters ; and the next morning I rode
tiii'ough quickly to Newcastle, only staying half an hour on the
roaci, at the scene of the fight at the Ingogo. Nothing remained
to point out the spot except the carcases of a few horses and
the numerous marks of bullets against the rocks. I reached
Newcastle about mid-day, and need hardly say was rejoiced at
being able to have a decent wash, meal and bed, in the Masonic
Hotel, which I found, like every other place in the town, crowded
with an army of officers, ** Specials," et hoc genus omne. The
rest of that day was spent in sending off telegrams and letters,
because I was the only one there who at that time was aware of
the exact terras of the Convention. I had heard it read out
and explained by Joubert to the assembled Boers on the Monday,
while the ]>ritish authorities had kept its contents as secret as
they could. 'J"he following day, Vice-President Kruger and
Dr. Jorrisson arrived in the town, whence the latter sent the fol-
lowing telegram on the 2GLh to the ]'o(lishl(«I : — " Kruger and
I hero to settle minor questions with General Wood. Pcaco

]\Tr. Gladstones Effigy Burnt. 197

established on reasonable grounds. We are thankful to Her
Majesty for having done us justice, and we trust that the Royal
Commission will complete this grand act of doing us justice, so
that an everlasting peace may exist between all nationalities.
Tell all our friends." They put up at the Plough Hotel, where
I went to visit them, and President Brand also stayed for a
day or two in Newcastle en route for Harrismith. The same
evening Mr. Gladstone's efFigy was burnt on the Market square
at Newcastle before a large concourse of people, prominent
among whom I noticed several officers in uniform, and my
confrere of the Standard. This was showing and acting up to
your political principles, with a vengeance. My business was
soon completed, and leaving my horses to follow me, I went
down to Pietermaritzburg by Post cart, in order to arrange
several matters of importance, and to refit. Just before my
departure from the hotel, we were gratified at the arrival of the
clever Special Correspondent of the Morning Post, Lady Florence
Dixie (sister to the Duke of Queensberry), who with her hus-
band. Sir Beaumont Dixie, has made her mark both as a
traveller and writer in the New and Old Worlds. She received
a hearty welcome from all of us, and was soon domesticated at
the camp.

198 With the Boers in the Transvaal,

CHAPTER XIX.

THE AMAJUBA.

Indian Column at Newcastle — Boer Movements — Body of Lieutenant Wilkinson
Found — Smart Reconnais-ances — Sir George Colley Reviews Troops — Column
advances to Mount Prospect — De Nel's House burnt — Cavalry Patrol — Peace
Negotiations — Sir George Colley's Night JIai'ch — Daylight on the Amajuba —
Boer Excitement — Engagement commences — Fight up to 11.30 — A Special's
Escape — His Telegrams — The Defeat of the British — Death of Sir George Colley
— Interview with Boer Leader — Camp alarmed — Attention to Wounded —
Burying Parties next Day — Numbers engaged and Total Casualties — Aylward
and English "Specials" — General Orders on Sir George Colley's Death —
Jlonument and Memorials — Sir Evelyn Wood — General Sir Frederick Roberts
— Large Reinforcements — ]\linor Details of the Fight — Unpleasant Revelations.

Upon the arrival of the *' Indian Column " at Newcastle, and
after the meeting of the two Generals — Sir G. P. Colley and
Sir Evelyn Wood — it was determined to make no further advance
until more reinforcements reached them, as the camp at Mount
Prospect was perfectly safe ; and reconnaissances could hest bo
made from Newcastle as well as keeping open communications
with the advanced post. The main body of the Boers fell back
behind their lines at the Nek, and were from time to timo
strongly reinforced from Heidelberg, Wakkerstrom, and other
Districts. They kept, however, on the qui virc, and small parties
pounced down from the Berg on any transport waggons, or well-
stocked farms, near enough to be easily captured or removed.
On the 18th of February a small detachment of twenty mounted
police was sent back to Adendorifs farm, because the lioer
patrols occasionally visited it ; and on the following day a largo
]iocr patrol was seen at the Ingogo, and the vedettes at INIouut
Prc)S[)ect were fired on. The l)ody of Lieutenant Wilkinson,
8-GOth, drowned wliiki on an errand of mercy to the wounded
at the Ingogo fight, was found down the river, and taken for

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Colinnn Advances to Mount Pi'ospcct. 199

interment to Mount Prospect. On the same date, at midnight,
General "Wood left Newcastle, with a squadron of the loth
Hussars and two companies of the 92nd, on a reconnoitring
expedition, with Messrs. Leathern and Fawcus as guides. The
General took the road to Wakkerstrom, and left the two com-
panies of infantry at the Utrecht Drift, on the Buffalo River,
as a support if necessary. From there the patrol rode on to
within a few miles of Wakkerstrom — then hesieged — visited a
deserted Boer laager, and returned in the afternoon unmolested,
after having ridden nearly seventy miles. At Blount Prospect,
on the same evening, they had a night alarm, a volley from the
Boers heing heard in advance of the outposts. The alarm was
quickly sounded, and all sprang to their posts ; but there was
no farther firing, and the men turned in again. On the next
day a force of Boers was seen at Schuin's Hooghte, and a vedette
was fired upon and his horse killed. . Sir George Colley inspected
the " Indian Column " on the 21st, expressing himself as proud
to be in command of such a fine body of old soldiers ; adding
that, if he had the choice of the whole army, he would not
have preferred any other regiments. He warned them against
under-estimating their enemy, who fought and shot well ; and
said that although the regiments then at the front were
young, yet the men had fought and died gallantly. The men
turned out, looking well, and his address was enthusiastically
received.

The next morning, at 2 a.m., the Column moved out of
Newcastle, the 97th having been ordered up from Ladysmith,
and the 83rd Mounted Infantry and 6th Dragoons being also
on the road. No Boei' force was met with, and they reached
Mount Prospect that evening -with their convoy of 150 waggons,
containing stores, provisions and ammunition. The 3-60th were
sent from Mount Prospect to the Ingogo to meet the Column,
and some troops were afterwards posted there, with two
0-pounders under Lieutenant Connolly, Pi.A., to establish a fort
and entrenched position on the heights. After the departure of
the Column, General Wood left Newcastle for Pietermaritzburg,
in order to arrange for the coming up of the other reinforcements,
and the 2-60th returned to Newcastle with a convoy of empty

200 TJ'^iih the Boers in the Transvaal.

waggons. In passing, Dc Xel's house, situated at the bottom
of Schuin's Hoogbte, was burnt by the soldiers, the owner, it
was said, having joined the Boers , and given them assistance
and information. This was the only excess committed by the
British troops in Natal, during this campaign at any rate. On
the *2-4th. General Colley left Mount Prospect camp \vitli all the
cavalry and two 9-pounders, and ascended a high hill to the
right of the camp, from which he obtained a good view of the
Boer camp and defences. After his return the Boers sent a
strong force to the same hill, but they were shelled off it
by the two 9-ponnders at 5,800 yards' range. Two J)utch
farmers, named Xiekcrk and Adendorff, were arrested as spies,
but released again quickly after being questioned. The day
following scouts brought in a report that the Boers were in
force to the rear of the camp ; and a detachment under Major
Fraser, consisting of a squadron of Hussars, two companies
of the 92nd, under ]\rajor Hay, and part of the Xaval ]>rigade,
with a Gatling, under Commander Bomilly, moved out in that
direction, but came across none of the enemy, who, however,
later on showed themselves in strength to the right of the
camp, though at a considerable distance. Peace negotiations
were still going on between the Home Government, President
Brand, and General Collej', and a telegram was sent on the
25th as follows : — " From the High Commissioner, Mount
Prospect, to President Brand, J^loemfontoin. — Lord Kimberlej'
desires me to thank your Honour for the friendly offer, which
Her Majesty's Government will not fail to boar in mind, if tho
answer received from Kruger leads to the appointment of a
Conimission." Heavy lighting occurred at Waklcerstrom about
this time, resulting in tho British holding their own.

On Saturday evening, February 20, General Colley moved
out of the camp at ]\Iount Prospect on a secret expedition,
taking witli him a compact force consisting of two companies
of the 5Hth Jtrginicnf , two companies of the iJ-OOlli, two com-
panies of the '.)2nd Highlanders, the Xaval Brigade, two guns
and some Hussars ; two more companies of the ;J-GOLli leaving
later with more reserve ammunition, l)ut they were not in tho
engageuKMil. Their tb stiiialion was kept quite secret until tho

Daylight on the A^najtiba. 201

moment of starting, when it became known that the object of
the expedition was the ascent and occupation of a hip^h hill
called the Amajuba or Spitzkop, to the left of the British
camp, and completely overlooking and commanding the Boer
camps and line of defences on the flat beyond Lang's Nek.
The 3-60th were left at a difficult pass, on a ridge at the
bottom of the mountain, together with all the horses, reserve
iimmunition, and the Hussars ; and the guns were sent back to
camp, as it was seen that it would be impossible to get them
up to the top by any means whatever. The force had with
them three days' rations and seventy rounds per man, and
great things were expected to result from the success of the
expedition. Guided by Kaffirs, the troops in single tile toiled
up the hill, which was in parts so steep and difficult that the
men had to crawl on their hands and knees, and in others
across deep dongas and over great boulders. The top was
only reached just before daylight, after six hours' hard and
dangerous climbing. Major Frascr, Pi.E., who had been ap-
pointed second in command under the General, was the first
man up, and was followed by the General and his Staff. When
daylight broke, the men began to get their breakfasts and dig
wells for water. Down below great excitement was seen among
the Boers, and at a very early hour they removed a waggon
laager, which lay well under fire from the British, away from
the bottom of the hill to a position out of range, as they
thought the troops had also big guns with them.

Piecovering from their surprise an attack was soon decided
upon by the Boers, and a strong mounted force Avas told off by
Joubert to ascend the hill. They rode up to the bottom in
their appointed places, and there dismounting, spread out in
skirmishing order, and began to ascend the hill in three
columns, from the North, East and West ; while a larger body
remained below, firing at the soldiers who showed themselves
on the crest, and another was despatched round the base of the
hill to cut off the retreat, and force the position held by the
companies of the 3-GOtli, at the bottom of the Amiijuba on the
road to Mount Prospect camp. Firing began about 5 a.m., and
continued steadily from both sides until about 11.00. A com-

202 U^ith the Boers in the Transvaal.

pany of tlic 92ud Highlanders, left on a lower plateau, wlio
had entrenched themselves, were also early engaged with mus-
ketry fire ; and the small force, holding the toj) in extended
order, hastily collected together a few rocks and stones, and
made a kind of parapet round the front of the North crest of
the hill, in order to gain a little protection from the heavy and
accurate fire kept up by the Boer sharpshooters below, which
was intended to cover the silent and gradual advance of the
three storming parties, who got up almost unseen on the right
and left flank by means of dongas or ravines and rocky bush-
covered ground. Communication by signalling was kept up
all the while by General Colley with the camp, and most hope-
ful telegrams were transmitted. Commander Romilly, of the
Naval Brigade, was the first officer wounded, being shot in the
abdomen while reconnoitring the attacking parties with General
Colley. All the Staff, including Colonel H. Stewart, Major
Fraser and Captain MacGregor, were most active and inspirit-
ing, and kept the men's firing steady and their spirits up. The
further details of the fight were so ably and vividly given by
Mr. Carter, in his telegram to the 'rimes of Natal, that I can-
not do better than reproduce them here. After describing the
start, arrival at the top, and subsequent events up to noon, ho
continued : —

" It was about one o'clock tliiit of a su JlIoii a most terrific fire came
from our left. Immediately every available man of reserves was hurried
n|» to meet it, and they answered it well for ten minutes. There wero
men of the Naval Brigade, Highlanders, and .'>8th Regiment all firing as
best they could — perhaps fifty in all against '200 Ikwrs. The Boer firo
was now very telling; our men were shot right and left at this point as
they exjKjsed themselves. No man could show his head without a dozen
shots being fired at him. In ten or fifteen minutes the men wavered and
broke, but in answer to shouts of ofiicers — ' Rally on your right !' (that
would bring them more to the left rear, where the General and about
fifty men were) — they did rally and came up to the crest of the lull at the
])oint I indicate. Colonel Stewart, JNfajor Fraser, Captain ^MacCregor —
Staff ofiicers— and indeed every oliioer present, now, revolver and sword in
liand, encouraged the men by word and action. The whole of the J5oer
firo was nov/ coneentrated on our present and last jioint of defence on the
left rear. Crowded as our men were by the necessity of finding cover
at all behind this small clumi) of stones on the ridgi!, the oilicers called
mid directed tiiem to deploy slightly right auvl left, to prevent us being
fiankcjd on our dire(;t rear. The other side of the hollow basin was at this
time only held by some fifieen or twenty men, our direct front by a scoro
mere, but they sent word to say that there wero not many Boers there.

A '' Spcciars" Escape. 203

In onr direct rear the ground was so precipitous that no one could scale
it. To th<! front it was also free to a certain extent of cover for the
enemy. The Boers had evidently made up their mind to take points of
the crest in detail, and now all their efforts were concentrated on the
left. Major Fraser sang out, ' Men of the 92nd, don't forget your
bayonets!' Colonel Stewart added, ' And the 58th ; ' and 'the Naval
Brigade ' came from another officer — Captain MacGregor, I think — the
General at the same time directing movements as coolly as if at a review.
The men did fix their bayonets, and standing shoulder to shoulder in a
semicircle, poured volleys back for the volleys fired by the enemy. Num-
bers of our poor fellows now fell, and they could not be carried far, for
there was no shelter of any great safety to take them to. The stand
made at this last stage lasted perhaps ten minutes, and then our men
fell short of ammunition. It must be remembered that there were only
the seventy rounds carried by our men in their pouches (the reserves
being below and unavailable). At the same time a l^arty of Boers crept
up to the two score of men holding our true front and extreme right and
rear, and they poured in volleys at the little band of defenders, who fixed
bayonets and charged down on the enemy. Perhaps not more than three
or four ever came within thrusting distance^ so hot was the fire on them
as they charged the twenty yards separating them from their foes. To
return again to where the General and Staff and main body were, now
not more than ICO, of our men, the officers still encouraged the men ' to
fire low,' and only when the Boers jumped up to pour a volley in. ' Give
them the bayonet next time after they have fired,' was the last command
I heard given, and in a moment our poor fellows broke and rushed for the
crest in our rear. I ran with them, being only four or five yards behind
the line that had made the last stand, flow any one gained the ridge at
the rear and escaped to camp, down the precipice there, a fall of thirty
feet clear, and then on and over enormous boulders and bush, a good
quarter of a mile further yet to go Ijefore the foot of the hill was reached
under the bullets that rained on us from all sides — I don't know. Four
men dropped by my side as I ran with the crowd across the basin, before
even reaching the head of the precipice. Fortunatel}' there was a kind
of heather growing out of the side of the precii^ice. I can now only speak
for myself, and I managed to save myself from injury in jumping down
by catching at this herb. Then immediately I found I was with two or
three others, who came after me, exposed to a dreadful tire as we
scrambled over the rocks. The bullets rained on the stones, and several
poor fellows, panting and bleeding, were struck as they tried to scramble
away. I determined to give up running, as I could tell by the way the
bullets came that Boers were all round us, though I could not see thom
myself, having thought best to follow a donga shrouded in bush, taking
shelter as best I could in a dry gulley covered with slabs of rock. I
determined to wait till nightfall, and then try to reach camp. All the
while, and for at least half an hour after we had made a rush away, the
bullets of the enemy pelted incessantly in the bush and on the rocks in
every direction, as I could hear by the sound; then I heard big gnns
firing, and took hope, thinking a party from camp with artillery had
been pushed to the base of the hill to cover the fiight of the fugitives.
Half a dozen shots from big guns, and the fire of the Boers above iny
head and right and left ceased, and I heard a voice speaking in English
and several others in Dutch close round us. Knowing that they must
be searching for their enemies, I came out of my hiding-place and sang
out to them. They asked, ' Have you any gun ? ' My reply was, ' No,

204 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

£ have no gun, I am no soldier.' * Then come up here, we will not shoot
you.' I accepted the invitation, and clambering back up the rocka
through the bush, saw a gentleman who said he was a Field-Cornet. I
told him my business, and asked to see the General. Hearing an English
voice, a dozen of our poor I'ellows who had been hiding within twenty
yards of me sang out for help, and I told them to come out, as the
Boers would not hurt them. Crawling as best they could (every one was
wounded I, they clambered up, delivered up their arms — those that had
them — and we all went to the crest again, finding on the way Lieutenant
Hill, of the 5Sth, with his arm injured by a bullet wound, but as cheerful
■under the misfortune and as quiet as though nothing was the matter.
This is the gentleman who distinguished himself by carrying wounded
from under tire at Lang's Xek. Seeing Mr. Smid, their General, I told
him who I was. He said there had been six correspondents to him
already. But there happened to be only a correspondent of the Daibj
Neics, Standard, and myself in this action. I showed my pass and got
leave to return to camp, on condition I would send them a copy of my
account of the fight. First he asked, ' Who is the officer killed ? * I
said, ' Take me to him, and I will tell you if I can.' I accompanied
him to the spot where our final stand was made. There lay a body —
its face covered with a hehnct — but by the clothing I recognized it at
once. Lifting the helmet up, I made sure that it was our poor General,
the bravest of the brave ; a gentleman who had shown me many kind-
nesses since I have been in camp here; and a Commander who was loved
and admired by every man under him, from highest to lowest. Know-
ing I would be first to carry this sad news back to camp, I wanted some
token to bear out my information, but could find none about the body,
eave a white handkerchief, and that not marked. The Boers doubted me
when I said ' It is the General.' But when they questioned me again
and again, 'Do you know him? Are you sure you know him.''' I
repUed, ' I give you my word of honour it is General CoUey,' they were
satisfied. No word of exultation escaped their lips when they learnt this.
I said, ' You have killed the bravest gentleman on this field,' and they
answered, ' Yes, he fought well.' One man said, ' He was a very nice
gentleman; he dined in my house when he went to Pretoria;' and said
another, ' He did not think we were wrone, but he was a soldier and ho
must obey orders.' Others remarked, ' It was no use fighting against
men who had right on their side.' ]ionnd the General lay the dead and
wounded. Commander Romilly. Naval Brigade, and Captain Maude (lately
joined the .j^^th) were among the former; but 1 hurried away with the
jjuide and the white ilag past the enemy's vedettes, and accuuipauied by
Cameron, of the i^ta)idard, whom we picked up on tlie way down.
Our guide took us safely outside the Boer lines, down the road we canio
K\\) i)reviously. JJefore we got far, we saw the Boers on horseback, to tho
number of 2tiO or lidO, galloping round the base of our hill to the laager
made by the Highlanders at the foot. Shots were exchanged, and then
the guns at camp opened on the IJoers, and kej)! them in ciieck until tho
garrison of the laager had fallen back on camp, detiling through a narrow
pass. This we saw as we descended the rocky slope. And also, still
more painful, we saw at every twenty or thirty paces our ])oor fellows
cither dead or wounded. Tiu-y dotted the ground as far as the last ridgo
wo passed. Poor Captain Morris, of the oStli, attended by his servant,
was wounded in the shoulder. Cameron and I hurried on, anxious to
give the information we ha<l, so tliat lielp niiglit be ?ent to the suilering.
A mile from camp, Cameron knocked up, uud I trudged on, promising

Death of Sir G, Collcy. 205

to Bend a horse for liim. Close to camp an artilleryman coming out
gave me his horse to ride, and so I arrived at camp."

The same Correspondent telegraphed later on, after revisiting

the field of battle : —

" Sir George Colley was shot just at the close of the engagement,
■while giving orders to cease firing. The bullet struck him on the fore-
head. His helmet has been brought to camp, but the body is supposed ta
be still lying where he fell. No reliable news yet of the Siali' officers.
None have returned to camp, except Major Fraser, R.E. Rain nosv
falling heavily for hours, and sufferings of wounded lying on the field
something indescribable. I met Major Hay, who was shot through the
leg and arm. He was got into camp with great difficulty. Our loss must
be very heavy indeed, because the number returned is so small. I think
there must be at least 300 killed and wounded. The Boer loss is admitted
by our officers to have been slight."

And again : —

" Mount Prospect, February 28, 5.20 p.m. — Dr. Mahon, just returned to
camp, says, as an eye-witness, that the General was first wounded, then
a Boer, within four paces, shot him through the head. The sight pre-
sented to my view confirms the statement that the shot was fired close.
1 had an inteiwiew this morning at the Nek with President Joubert and
his Staff. With him was Aylward, late editor of the Natal Wit)t,ess.
Cameron, of the Standard, who was with me, gave Aylward advice not
to get caught, or it woi;ld be an unlucky day for him. This was after
words had passed between Aylward and Cameron, the former making
himself the mouthpiece of Joubert. I asked Aylward his capacity ; he
said he was Correspondentof the Daily Teler/raplt, and Surgeon to Wounded
there. Joubert told us he had nothing to say that he wanted publishing.
He had for three years been writing to England to prevent war, but it
was useless. He was quite willing that the Transvaal should be a party
to Confederation, but they must have their liberty. Now they must fight
for it. The English would, no doubt, fight to show their supremacy, but
they must first kill all the Boers. Joubert confirmed figures already
given by Boers as to killed and wounded and fighting men on their side
at Schuin's Hooghte. He said yesterday Boers only had one killed and
five wounded. Nothing known at Nek of either Colonel Stewart or Major
Fraser. Note from Ritchie received while we were there, asking for body
of General. Advised by Aylward, Joubert thought Ritchie not proner
person to make request, and sent back message by us to say if body v,\3
sent for by Head Officer of the Camp it would be delivered up."

Upon seeing the melancholy result from the camp at Mount

Prospect, the camp was hastily fortified at every corner, under

command of Colonel Bond, 68th, the senior ofiicer, and the

news sent off to Newcastle, when the 2-GOth was ordered out

at once to the front without baggage. Captain Vibart began

firing on the pursuing Boers with his 9-pounders, thus being of

great service in protecting the retreat of the company of the

92nd, left below, the two companies 3-GOth, who had also to

fall back from their temporary laager, as well as the numerous

12 c 6 JVith the Boers in tJic Transvaal.

stragglers coming from all parts of the mountain. At five p.m.
the firing ceased, tlie remaining troojDS having got back to camp ;
and Surgeon-Major Babington went out, with a flag of truce
and a small hospital party, to succour and bring in the wounded,
who M'ere well treated by the Boers themselves. Rain came on
during the night and lasted until next day. Meanwhile the
Medical Staff" had established a temporary hospital at a farm-
house at the bottom of the mountain, and throughout the wet
dark night never ceased to search for and bring in the wounded.
Captain Eomilly, R.N., was found not dead, but on being
brought to Mount Prospect, he died the next day ; as also did
Surgeon-Major Cornish and Surgeon Landon. All Monday and
Tuesday burying parties were cut doing their sad work ; and
the wounded were brought back to Mount Prospect, the lighter
cases being sent on to Newcastle, whence, immediately on
receipt of the news of the fight, Surgeon-Major Roe, S.M.O.,
had despatched six ambulances, with Surgeons Gormlcy,
McGann, and Smith, six A.H.C. men, and a large supply of
stores, to Mount Prospect. For several days the exact loss in
killed, wounded, and prisoners could not be ascertained ; but of
those who did not get away unwounded or were taken prisoners,
only Major Eraser, R.E., escaped, after two days' adventurous
travelling, without food, and a narrow escape from capture.
The following official notice was issued on March 1, 1881 : —
*' Number of troops engaged in action of 27th ult. : 35 officers,
C93 men. Casualties. Officers — killed, 3 ; wounded, 9 ; pri-
soners, 7 ; missing, 1. Non-commissioned officers and men —
killed, 82 ; wounded, 122 ; prisoners, 50 ; missing, but be-
lieved to be wounded not yet brought into camp, 12. Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Stewart is a prisoner — not wounded. Surgeon-
Major Cornish died this day ; also Surgeon Landon and Lieu-
tenant Trower, R.N." The list of the killed, wounded and
prisoners will bo found in Appendix I.

Subsequently a party was sent with a note from the Com-
manding Officer to tho ]iocr camp, and ^hc body of poor Sir
Oeorgo CoUcy was brought into Mount Prospect Camp on tho
morning of ]\Iarch 1st, and, after identification, was buried, near
to Colonel ])cano, with full military honours. The body Avas
conveyed from camp on a gun-carriage to the ^Military Cemetery,

General Order on Sir G. CoUcys Death. 207

followed by all the officers in camp and detachments from all
the regiments. The service was conducted by the Rev. M.
Eitchie — the pall bearers being Colonels Bond, Ashburnhara,
and Parker, Majors Ogilvie and Elmes, Caj)tains Vibart and
Smith, and Lieutenant Brotherton. The loss of the General in
action was deeply felt by the troops, and even throughout the
Colony of which he had been so popular and able a Governor.
Addresses of condolence were sent to Lady Colley by the Town
Councils of Pietermaritzburg and Durban, and also by the Boer
leaders themselves.

General Sir E. Wood, immediately on the receipt of the
news of this reverse, on the morning after the engagement, left
Pietermaritzburg by special conveyance, and reached the camp
on March 3rd. And a few days afterwards the annexed ap-
peared in General Orders : — ■

" Head-quarters, Pietermaritzburg, lOth of Marcli, 1881. — The following
General Order, dated Army Head-quarters, Newcastle, 8tli of March,
1881, is published for information : — The Major-General Commanding
Her Majesty's Naval and Military Forces in South-East Africa has only
this day received an official report of the events of the 26th and 27th of-
February, from the Senior Effective Officer, Major Eraser, Koyal Engi-
neers, who accompanied the late ]\Iaior-General Sir G. Pomeroy Colley,
K.C.S.L, C.B., C.M.G., to the Majuba IMountain. Her Most Gracious
Majesty and Her Government have fully acknowledged the heavy loss
sustained by the nation in the death of our General and of the many
noble sailors and soldiers who fell with him. His temporary successor
records the conviction that the fall of a valued and distinguished friend is
deeply mourned by all who have ever served with him. Had Sir G.
Pomeroy Colley lived he would have explained to those under his com-
mand the causes of our rejDulse, and would have eulogised the conduct of
those who bore themselves bravely in a disastrous fight. This duty now
devolves on Sir Evelyn Wood. It appears to him that some three hun-
dred of our men, exhausted by a long and very difficult night march,
were assailed by overwhelming numbers. Nevertheless, the fighting line
did not retire until it had lost heavily, and had nearly expended its
ammunition. The General died with his face to the foe, then only
twenty yards distant, and many of his comrades of all ranks evinced con-
spicuous gallantry. (Signed) Ev£LYX "Wood, Major-General Commanding
Forces."

Here I may be permitted to add that a memorial stone was
prepared in Xatal, by Messrs. Jesse Smith & Son, by Lady
Collcy's orders, in the shape of a plain cross, about three feet
high, on a pedestal and steps, and was taken up and erected
over the grave of Sir George, as he had previously expressed
his wish that his body should be allowed to remain where he

2oS 'l]lth the Boers in the Transvaal.

fell if fated to die on the battle-field. The inscription on the
pedestal runs —

IN MEMORY OF

SIR GEOEGE POME ROY COLLEY, K.C.S.I., C.B., C.M.G.,

H.M. Commissioner for S.E. Africa,

Major-General Commanding Forces,

Born 1st of November, 1835,

Jvilled in Action on the Amajuba Mountain, Sunday, 27th of Feb., 1831.

On the right side are the words —

'' This Cross is placed here by his Wife."

And on the left side of the stone —

" Oh ! for Thy voice to soothe and bless,
"What hope of answer or redress.
Behind the veil, l^ehind the veil ! "

On the back of the stone are the words —

"Interred here, 1st of March, 18S1."

The following lines, written at the time and published in ti
local paper, form an eloquent requiem to Sir George Colley's
life, and therefore need no apology for their insertion here : —

GEORGE POMEROY COLLEY,

GOVICRXOR OF NATAL.

Killed in Action, Sunday, February 27, 1881.

" Yes, he fought well." So spate the little knot
Of foemen, gathered round an outstretched form,
"VVliicli on the blood-stained tnrf lay motionless
AVliere the last stand wa.s made, and where — at length —
The few survivors of his gallant band
Cast down their useless rilles in despair.
'Twas here Cod's angel, with a hand of ice
Touched him, and said : " Thy Master calleth thee."

But six short months agone we welcomed him,
'{'rusting — for all was calm before the storm —
His 8'ay amongst us might be fraught witii good
For us, and lia[)py for himself and her,
"With whom, alas, we mourn ! In that brief spnco
He gained the hearts of many, the esteem of all.
And now the whirlwind, which deceit did sow,
Hath him for victim and hath lain him low.
t * * *

He needs no tears, who in the van

And fore-front of the figiit
Met death as should a, genlleuiau

Ujion Miijuba's lleiglit.

Large Reinforcements. 209

Critics (he's dead) will carp and hiss,

Show how he failed, and why;
But when they prate, bethink you this,
" Could they Hke Colley die ? "

Lord Kimberley, Secretary of State for the Colonies, sent
n telegram to the Colonial Secretary of Natal, saying: — "Mon-
day, February 28. — I have heard, with every regret, of the
death of Sir George Pomeroy Colley, whose administration of
the Natal Government, during his tenure of office, has been
most able and judicious." — And Her Majesty the Queen also
herself telegraphed personally to Lady Colley.

Sir Evelyn Wood was at once proclaimed Administrator and
Deputy High Commissioner ; and strong reinforcements were
ordered from England and India, while Sir Frederick Roberts
was appointed to the Command-in-Chief,and sailed on the Friday
following. Colonel Eedvers H. Buller, V.C., C.B., C.M.G.,
who had previously been appointed Chief of the Staff to General
Wood, arrived in Natal at this time, and hastened on to New-
castle to join his chief. The 7th and 14th Hussars were
ordered out, the first from home and the last from India ; while
the 99th, 85th, five Companies of the 102nd, three other
Infantry Eegiments, 10th, 26th, and 41st, a Battery of Artillery,
and another Cavalry Begiment were ordered from home to
Natal ; and a Naval Brigade of 1,000 men from the Detached
Squadron at the Cape was also promised if necessary. Sir
Evelyn "Wood was made a Major-General ; and it was announced
that Major-General Newdigate would accompany General Roberts
out to Natal, to command a Brigade.

Having only recently had the opportunity of interviewing
many of the officers who held minor commands of the detached
posts on the fatal day of Amajuba, I am now enabled to add,
to the official and personal statements of the actual occurrences
iit the top of the mountain, a clear and consecutive account of
what took place below on the luquela Ridge and the interme-
diate plateau ; and in justice to those among them who deserve
the credit, I am only too glad to be able to relate the truth, as
proved by the corroborative statements of nearly all, both officers
iind men, with whom I have talked on the subject. The night

210 JVith the Boers in the Transvaal.

march liaving been arranged on the Saturday evening, the troops
chosen for the little column — unfortunately detachments from
three Eegiments instead of one battalion of any one regiment
being taken — fell in at the time appointed ; the two companies
of the 58th leading, then the Naval Brigade, the three com-
panies of the 92nd, and lastly, the two companies of the 3-GOth.
They took a southerly course for a time, and then turned to
the right or westward, until reaching a small Kaffir track which
wound along the East side of the Inquela range. On arrival
there, at about ] 0.30 p.m., the two companies of the 3-60th, under
Captains Smith and Henley were dropped, u-'iili no orders or
idea of the plan of the march, beyond the fact that they were
told to stop there, keeping a careful look-out. The rest of the
force then proceeded in total darkness and over a very rough
road, until about midnight the plateau under the Amajuba
Mountain was reached. A short halt was here made in order
to allow a company of the G2nd (the rear one) to come
up, having fallen behind. It having been determined by
the General to leave a company here in charge of the Staff
horses, spare ammunition and mules, carrying about fifteen to
twenty thousand rounds, Captain Kobertson's company was
called out for the purpose, and tliey were moved about 100
yards to the right of the path by Major Fraser, R.E. ; the
General giving the orders himself to Captain P. F. Eobertson
that they were to remain there, and " dig as good a trench as
time would permit of," selecting a good position so as to afford
cover for the horses and ammunition left in their charge.
Captain Robertson, upon trying to get some idea of the plan of
action, did not succeed, and naturally enough felt somcwbat
in the dark as to the " why and the wherefore." He did the
l)CHt he could under the circumstances, throwing out a largo
chain of sentries right round the position, and a patrol of four
men and a non-commissioned officer on the path leading back
to the camp in order to look out for and guide in a company of
the COth, which was to come on later, though for what purpose
was not stated. The column then moved on again, with the
General and his Stuff in front. The men left behind were of
course tired and sleepy, but had immediately to start working

Minor Details of the Fight. 2 1 1

at the entrenclimeuts, and succeeded in a few hours in throwing
up an earthwork or laager facing the mountain, Avith the en-
trance at the rear and a slight flank trench thrown out on the
left front extending only a few yards. Just hefore daylight the
other company of the 3-60th arrived, under the command of
Captain Thurlow, with Lieutenants Pigott and Howard- Vyse.
Surgeon-Major Cornish accompanied them with some mules
laden with hospital requirements. Captain Thurlow had also
received no orders, beyond being told to go to the plateau,
and had brought out his men without either greatcoats or
rations. A comparison of commissions took place, when it
was found that Captain Robertson was the senior officer, and he
therefore took command of the two companies. Captain Thur-
low, his officers and men, were of great assistance in completing
the little laager ; and that done, the men awaited daylight and
further enlightenment, with some little anxiety.

At about 5.30 o'clock Assistant-Commissary General Elwes
returned from the General's party on his road to the camp,
and promised to send out their rations ; and quickly afterwards
a Conductor Field arrived from the camp with a led mule,
laden with stores, &c., for the Staff; and having received his
orders (a peculiar circumstance that day), was determined to
proceed to try and reach the top of the mountain at once. He
was naturally enough dissuaded, as day was breaking and they
were close to the enemy. However, he went on, and a short
time after a shot was heard, and it turned out that Conductor
Field and his mule were captured by the Boers. When day
had thoroughly broken figures of men were seen moving about
on the top of the Amajuba, distant about fifteen hundred yards,
and Avith the aid of glasses they were made out to be part of
General Colley's force. On looking round another party was
seen on the Inquela Eidge, signalling to Captain Robertson
■who at once asked, " Who are you ? " and the answer came
back, "Two companies GOth, left out all night." They were
asked with what orders ? and they replied, " None." Dropping
shots were occasionally heard from the mountain, and later on
small bodies of mounted Boers were seen reconnoitring the,
British positions. After ten o'clock the firing increased and,

p 2

2 12 JVitk the Boers in ike Tra7tsvaal.

then up came a troop of the 15tli Hussars under Captain G.
D. F. Sullivan and Lieutenants Pocklington and Hopkins (9th
Lancers, attached). They brought -with them the rations of the
company of the GOth, but no orders. Again were commissions
compared, and again was Captain Robertson the senior ; so he
ordered the men to dismount, and placed them under cover on
the slope to the rear of the laager, until after-events justified a
movement. After midday the firing and excitement on the
Amajuba increased rapidly, and figures were seen running down
the Hill towards the laager. Some Hussars were mounted at
once, and pushed forwards to find out what was going on.
Presently one of them came back with a wounded soldier of the
SSth, who said the Boers had captured the position, and either
killed or taken prisoners nearly all the men. He also added that
the General was dead, lying on his back with a bullet through his
head, and his revolver, with one barrel empty, lying beside him.
His words were quickly borne out by several other wounded men
being rapidly brought in by the Hussars, who either dismounted
themselves, giving their horses to those retreating, or carried
the fugitives in front of them. The services thus rendered
were incalculable, and deserve every credit. Surgeon-Major
•<]ornish had now plenty of work, and the wounded were laid
down and attended to as quickly as possible. One of the first
into the laager was an officer, who apparently seemed badly
Avouuded, but who, on examination, was found quite unharmed,
and was very anxious to return to the camp. Captain llobert-
son, after some persuasion, which was, however, of no avail, let
him go, and saw no more of him that day.

It was becoming evident that the position of the litllo
garrison which held the laager was precarious, as they were too
fur off to assist those on the top of the mountain, and not
near enough the camp to move without some assistance from
there ; while, as to the two companies of the 3-GOth, left on
the Inquela llidgc, it was thought ])cst to send over to thorn
and acquaint them with what had happened, so that they might
Ktrcngthcn the laager and assist in keeping back the now fast
advancing Jiocr ranks, and Iiclp to secure the retreat of the
wounded, until orders were scut to them or could be obtained

Minor Details of the Fight. 2 1 3

as to what combined course of action was necessary, and tlie
best. With this view, and not knowing whether the officer in
command was senior to him or not, Captain Robertson sent
Lieutenant Pocklington, of the 15th Hussars, to explain
matters and ask for assistance ; for, from their position, the
retreat of the COth was not cut ofiF, nor their post likely to be
attacked. However, Lieutenant Pocklington brought back the
reply that the two companies of the 3-60th could not move
from their position, having no orders — as if, under the then
circumstances of the defeat of the main column, the fact of
their having, or not having, orders ought to have made any
difference, or prevented their taking such individual steps as
would best help to protect the retreat of the wounded, check
the Boer advance, and assist their own comi^any, then being
attacked by a large force of the enemy. It was, undoubtedly,
a great opportunity lost of giving the Boers a severe check ;
for, had this laager been held by the four companies until the
guns and cavalry could have been brought out from camp to
their assistance, the moral effect of the defeat of General
Colley's force on the mountain top might have been, to a great
extent, counteracted, if not effaced.

After this refusal to come to their assistance, Captains
Piobertson, Thurlow, and Sullivan, and their officers, prepared
for a vigorous resistance. The left and rear faces were given
to the 60th, and the front and right to the 92nd, while opened
ammunition-boxes were placed at equal intervals behind the
men right round the laager, and orders were sent out to the
advanced sentries to hold any advancing force of the enemy in
check as long as tbey could, until absolutely driven to fall
back on the entrenchment. Meanwhile, the mules, with the
spare ammunition, were sent off quietly, one by one — not
together, with an escort, as laid down by the Pules and
Ptegulations — so as not to draw the attention of the enemy,
down the ravine to the right of the laager, where they were
almost out of sight, and from the bottom of which, where a
little stream flowed across, the camp could be easily and quickly
reached. Thus, through Captain Pobcrtson's foresight, care
and sldll, the whole of the spare ammunition was saved, and

2 14 V/ilk the Boers in the Transvaal.

got back to capjp all right. The firing on the top of the hill ceased
almost suddeuly, when a large number of Boers was seen on
the top, waiting for something, and not descending at once to
the attack of the laager, as was expected. This, however, was only
a momentary lull in the storm, as the quickened firing from
the sentries on the left flank showed ; and the outposts were
soon driven back on their supports by the advance of a large
body of mounted men, to the number of several hundreds,
who were evidently co-operating with those on the Amajuba,
and with another body which showed itself towards the right
front, coming on so as to cut off the retreat of the men to the
camp. The firing now became really heavy and sustained, and
the men began to fall fast ; while the Hussars were sent out
on the right flank to check the Boer flank movement. In this
state of things, and seeing no evidence of a supporting move-
ment from the camp, Captain Robertson telegivaphed for orders,
and received the answer, "If no orders from the hill above
(Amajuba), retire, watching from loft flank." Nothing could
be more absurd and inexplicable than such an order ; for if
Captain Ptobertsou retired, he would naturally do so fighting,
and with his men's faces to the enemy ; and in that case his
left flank would be to the rear of the laager, from which point
no attack was ever attempted or made.

Upon receipt of this order, Captain Robertson decided to
send off the company of the Rifles, with orders to draw up at
the l)ottom of the ravine before mentioned, and there await the
coming of the 92nd Highlanders, who would then fall back
further and await in their turn the retreat of the Rifles, thus,
as it were, retreating and covering by alternate companies.
The order to retire came almost too late, as the Boers wero
approaching very close, and in increasing numbers. Some of
the men lost their presence of mind, and a few of the Naval
Brigade, who had retreated from the Amajulja, would not movo
for some time. These men, I may mention, on arrival at the
laager, were oflcrcd ammunition by Captain Robertson, but
declined, saying they had plenty. Tliis was a fact, for their
pouches were nearly full ! The wounded were also got ofl", as
well as could bo done, previously to the relircnient. ]3ut

Uuplcasant Revelations. 215

after the GOtli had left, Captain Robertson found he could
hardly check the Boer advance much longer with his
few men ; so at last ho gave the word to go, having
previously explained to them that the 60th would cover their
retreat upon arrival at the bottom of the ravine. A murderous
fire followed the men, for, so soon as the Boers got to the
laager, they could look down the donga and pick off the men as
they liked. Captain Eobertson was the last to leave, and then
volley after volley was poured down on the retreating men, so
that it is a wonder to those who escaped that day how they
managed it. It was in this retreat that poor Cornish was
killed, for, seeing a man struck dead who was carrying one end
of a stretcher upon which was a wounded man, he took his
place, the piper to the company being the other man. The
Boers called out to them, " Who are you ? " and he foolishly
answered wounded men, instead of saying a doctor; upon
which, and seeing him carry a rifle (which belonged, however,
to the wounded man he was assisting to carry), the Boers fired
on them, and killed Surgeon -Major Cornish and the wounded
man. The piper escaped to tell the story. Upon the arrival
of the fugitives at the bottom, much to their disappointment,
nothing was to be seen of the company of the 60th, who, it
came out afterwards, could not be controlled or kept together
again during the retreat by their officers. It now became a
case of sauve qui j^cut, until the Artillery opened from the
camp and some more Hussars came out. One of the shells
burst among the Highlanders and killed four or five before the
right range was got. Second Lieutenant Staunton, of the
92nd, was captured by the Boers, together with twentj'-two
others, while four were killed in the defence of the laager and
eleven wounded. Captain Robertson only got back to camp at
about five o'clock, p.m., and there found the other companies
of the 60th had been in some time. Further comment on the
above facts is useless. Captain Robertson's important report of
that day's work was duly handed to the Staff officer at Mount
Prospect Camp, but was never sent in to the General until en-
quiry was made for it, when it was found carefully pigeon-holed
• — of course, forgotten by mistake ! It is, however, a singular

2i6 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

fact that the Staff oflBcer concerned — and who was spoken of in
the report — was shortly afterwards sent to another station, and
that, even up to this time, no word of thanks or reward have
been given to the gallant conduct of the commanding oiBcer,
who held his post so well, and saved all the spare ammunition,
which the Boers afterwards said they felt perfectly sure of
capturing.

217

CHAPTER XX.

THE ARMISTICE.

Joubert's Telcgrani to Brand — His Report of Amajuba — IMajor Frazer's E cape — -
General Wood and Swaz^e Envoy — Joubert and Brand and Wood — First Con-
ference — Armistice and Terms agreed upon — Details of Interview — Boer
Demands — Troops moving up — Changes at the Front — Lady Colley comes up —
Interviewing General Joubert — Special's Arrival in Boer Camp — His Reception —
Joubert's Views — Treatment and Departure — Extension of Armistic3 — Arrival
of Paul Kruger — Interview on 1 8th — President Brand's Arrival — Meetings of
the 21st and 23rd — Peace Hade — Boers Trek — Return of Sir Evelyn Wood riud
President Brand to Newcastle.

In the previous cliapter I have given, as concisely as I conld^
the actual occurrences from the British side in the Amajuba.
fight ; but, before I'jroceeding with the conclusion of peace and
after events, I think it both fair and interesting to reproduce a
telegram sent from Joubert to President Brand, and also a-
report of the former to Vice-President Kruger, after the fight.
The telegram was as follows : —

"Your letter received aboiit peace negotiations nearly lulled me into
unwise unsuspicionsness. General Colley attacked on Sunday mornintj
whilst we were writing to you and him. He attacked on our right, and sofc
possession of high natural fortress, built schanzes, and dug wells. The
Boers gallantly stormed, and in five hours totally defeated the British
forces. The Governor was shot dead; seven offici-rs and one company of
soldiers are in our hands. The prisoners will negotiate, but not mak&
submission or cease opposition."

And the report : —

"I was sitting writing copies of President Brand's letters and also a
letter to (Colonel) Herbert Stuart. At lour o'clock I woke every man up
to his position, and I commenced a report for General Cronje. I was
still sitting writing, and the sun had just ri.sen, whi'u it was reported
to me that tlie troo[is were conung up the right-hand hill. Then it was ' to
saddle, to saddle.' but to our astonishineut we saw that the enemy had
entire possession of the hill, and that already a considerable number were
ou the summit. Apparent!}', one would have thought that everything

2iS IJ'^ith the Boei's in tJie Transvaal.

was lost to us, and so it vrould actually linve been if they had retainecl
pussession of tlie hill; but, beyond all qui- expectations, the Lord assisted
us, and we all ascribe it to the most woudertul deliverances and help by
an all-governing and mighty God. Our men climbed the mountain with
a courage and energy beyond description. Tlie troops, under the per-
sonal command of General Colley, would not surrender the position.
They fought like true heroes, but our God gave us the victory, and pro-
tected us, and we excelled gloriously in acts of courage and tact. The
most wonderful thing to us is that on our side only one was hilled, and so
lar as it has come to my knowledge one soverelj^ wounded, and four slightly.
The one killed is Johannes Bekker, Middelburg District. The wounded
are Gi-oenwold — who died afterwards— A'au der Merwe, Muller, Labu-
schagne, and Vermaak. The dead on the other side are not accurately
known, through the unevenness of the ground, but can be estimated at
more than lOU. It is unknown how many officers fell with General Colley ;
nearlj^ twenty severely wounded, and more slightly. Seven officers, forty-
tive men and a sergeant have been made prisoners, which prisoners I
have been compelled to send to you at Middelburg. I hear that the
English have been reinforced by 2,U00. The soldiers who fought
iigainstus were — part of the l'2ud Highlanders, two companies of the r>8th
Kegiment, and some of the GUth liitles. The cannon were not brought
witliin range, but lired upon our men from the camji when they stormed the
3ast schanz. 1 have now so much to do that I cannot write more. There-
fore 1 conclude with wishing your Honour joy at the successful issue of
tu-day'.s battle, and that this day maybe considered for the future a day of
thanksgiving and prayer."

These reports from tlie Boer side, together witli the follow-
ing details from Major Frazer's description of the battle, will
he found all that is necessary to perfectly understand and follow
the tight on both sides from beginning to end. From Major
Frazer's statement it appears that, when daylight broke, the
Boers discovered the position, and opened fire, but of a desultory
character, which our men returned quietly. About noon it
became evident to the General that the Boers meditated attack-
ing the position we then held by a rush similar to that made at
the Ingogo light. Colonel Stuart, with Major Frazcr, and Lieu-
tcnantLucy,of the 58th, who behaved splendidly, took the reserve
forward into shooting line, whence, after a short time, it had to
be returned back to the central ridge, where it w;is arranged
to make a final stand. The Boers came on in largo numbers,
keeping \\\> a steatly fire, which told heavily among our forces,
Wlu.-n this detachment retired back to the central ridge. General
Colley stood in tlio right centre, with Stuart next to him, and
Frazcr on the left. The firing became so heavy that the men
foil away from the position. This was not to bo wondered at,

Majo^" Frazcrs Escape. 219

considering the tremendous volleys the enemy kept pouring in
upon tbem. Stuart ran back to rally the men on the last
ridge of the hill, and succeeded well. The men kept together,
and made a most determined stand, but to no purpose. They
were flanked and shot down on all sides. Sword in hand stood
the General, who fell, shot fair in the centre of the forehead.
Major Frazer then moved to the south-west corner of the ridge,
the Boers continuing heavy firing. The distance between them
then was certainly not more than fifty yards. Our men retiring
towards the camp suffered heavily beneath the continuous fire
the enemy kept up. Major Frazer suddenly lost his footing,
slipped, fell, and rolled down a sheer rock, nearly 200 feet, into
a thickly-wooded kloof, where he lay until night fell. Then
cautiously he felt his way towards where he imagined Mount
Prospect was. The heavy mist and rain combined prevented all
possibility of his finding the path, but hoping by some lucky
chance to hit the road, he kept on all through the night, falling
over rocks, getting into streams, and soaked to the skin with
rain and mud. In consequence of the ironstone which abounds
in the neighbourhood, the compass he had with him got out of
order, leading him straight towards the Boer position on Lang's
Nek. When day broke, discovering this, he kept close in a
donga to prevent discovery. Towards night he moved in the
direction of our camp, watching Boer vedettes, and seizing
every opportunity of concealing himself. Although bruised and
sore in ever}^ part he managed to reach the camp about three
o'clock on Tuesday morning — when his first words were, "I
am all right; we'll beat them yet" — having suff'ered gi-eat
hardships ; narrowly escaping falling into the hands of the
enemy, and being about forty-eight hours without any food.

General Wood returned to Newcastle on the 4tli of March,
and took up his quarters at Fort Amiel. The 58th Regiment,
or rather what was left of them (about 200), were sent back to
Newcastle, and the whole of the 92nd moved up in their place,
as was also done later on with the 2-60tli when the 80rd had
reached Newcastle. The 97th replaced the Highlanders, and
constructed a fort on a hill near Schuin's llooghte. An envoy
from the Amaswazi tribe had an interview with General Wood

2 20 JVilh the Boers in the Transvaal.

the same day, relative to the action of the Boers, whom the
envoy represented as endeavouring to coerce the Swazies into
ioining them against the British. General "Wood, however,
informed the man that they must remain quiet ; but that, if the
Boers interfered with them, he looked to the Swazies to defend
\ themselves. Heavy rains succeeded, and the telegraph wire
' between the camp and fort became disconnected. The General
was meanwhile in constant communication with General Joubert,
President Brand, and the Home Government, as to peace nego-
tiations, as is evidenced by tiie following : — " From General
"Wood, Newcastle, to President Brand, Bloemfontein, March 2,
1881. — P. Joubert requests me to send you the following
telegram : — Your telegram received. In reply, the Government
and the people of the Transvaal fully agree with you in the wish
that no further blood should be shed. It is alone in the power
of the English Ministry to prevent, against whose attacks we
defend ourselves. We are willing to accept every offer made by
your Honour that ]ieace may be, as far as it is not in direct
opposition to our liberty. Will forward your telegram at once
to President Kruger."

In consequ ence of communications which passed on the 5th,
General Wood left Newcastle with his Staff next day to meet
J oubert and the Boer leaders, between Mount Prospect camp
and the Boer lines. The news of the object of his visit was dis-
believed by many. andrjdjculcc rTJy more. "The" ITH^'a of nw
En glish G eneral , with 10,000 troops at his backj^ af ter the Briti sh
forces had been thrice beaten in open light, going to an int er-
viow with the lc;nlci-s of tlio enemy, for the^ako.iif.giiinmg.luno_
to negotiiite peace ])rupos;ils, \\;is thought to be too absurd to bo
credited ; aiictyctjt turned out quite true, and further astonitiluiii
the sccqSHcal, whoso n ame was lei^io n. On the General's return
to Fort XTniel the next morning, all the Press representatives
interviewed bini, and obtained the details of his meeting wijli_
Joubert, and the arrangements come to for anci^ht diiy&l
armistice^ The meeting took place half way between the lines.
TEb English^j vcro represente d by Sir Eiclyn- Wood , Mnj or
Fruzcr, Tl.E., Cai){ain jNIande, A.D.C., and Wx. Cropper. The
Lucra were ri- pnsenttid by ]'i(!t Jniibnrt, 1), G. llv n — C— J,

Armistice and Terms a o reed on. 221

<i>

Joubert, and C. IL Foucliee ; and A. J. Foster acted as in-
terj)reter. Sir" Evelyn Wood stated that the object of the
armistice was to allow time for Kruger to reply to Sir George
Colley's communication ; and for any further communications
that might pass between Joubert and himself, in the view of a
peaceful settlement of the questions at issue. With this view
they mutually agreed to a cessation of all hostilities from noon
on the 6th to midnight on the 14th. The conditions were : —
1. That both parties promised not to make any forward move-
ments from their positions ; but each party retained the liberty
of movement within his own lines. 2. General Wood was free
to send eight days' provisions, but no ammunition, to the
Transvaal garrisons, the Boer officers undertaking to pass the
provisions to such garrisons. 3. Commandant-General Joubert
undertook to send notice of the armistice conditions to the
respective garrisons and the Boer commanders at once ; and
would use his influence to induce the Boer commanders to allow
the withdrawal of British wounded from all Transvaal garrisons
into Natal.

On the subject of the reinforcements, the Boers at first
suggested that the troops on the road should halt. Sir
Evelyn Wood could not agree to this proposal, and pointed
out that he had all his infantry with him, and that only
mounted men and guns were on the road, and their arrival
was but a question of two or three days. The Boers did
not press the point, and made no further suggestions. The
interview lasted an hour and a half, the Boers saying very
little, and General Wood occupying the greater part of the
time in argument. On the subject of peace the Boers were
explicit, and demanded : — Complete amnesty of all leaders ;
Entire freedom of the Transvaal from British government, ex-
cept suzerainty ; No interference in its internal aflairs, and the
Province to be free and unfettered. That night waggons with
supplies were despatched to Potchefstrom, Standerton, and
Wakkerstrom.

On the 8th of March the 83rd Piegiment, Mounted Infantry,
and a Battery of Artillery arrived in Newcastle ; and, on the
day following, the remnant of the 58th Regiment was sent

2 22 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

down to Ladysmith to meet their drafts. Authentic news
reached the authorities that President Brand had at hist lefb
Bloemfontein, to visit the British and Boer camps during the
armistice. The 6th Inniskilling Dragoons had also reached
Ladysmith at that time, and were rapidly being pushed on.
The 10th and 11th of March were passed in suspense. Hea%'y
rains came down, detaining the President and the troops ; and
reports of all kinds were circulated as to the threatening atti-
tude of the Boers, and their action to loyals in Utrecht and
elsewhere, while one report stated that they had prevented the
waggons, despatched with provisions under a pass to Wakker-
strom, from proceeding, and had captured and looted the stores.
Colonel Buller arrived by Post cart at Newcastle on the
evening of the 11th ; and on the same date Lady Colley and
Mrs. Montague reached Ladysmith, en route to visit the grave
of poor Sir George. They did not make a long stay, but
reached Mount Prospect two days afterwards.

A message from the Home Government was received by
General Wood on the 11th, to the effect that Government
authorised the prolongation of the armistice if necessary.
Severe rains continued, and necessitated a gang of 300 men
being put on the roads, to repair them between Newcastle and
Mount Prospect. On the 13th General Wood and Colonel
Buller went to the advanced camp, for the purpose of holding
another conference with the Boer leaders, in order to prolong
the armistice until President Brand's arrival. The same day
the enterprising Special Correspondent of the Natal WitucsSy
Mr. F. Watson (who was representing the Daily Telerp-aph^
with the ]>ritish Column), visited the Boer head-quarters, to sec
General Joubcrt, by previous arrangement made the day before.
General Joubcrt expressed himself to the following effect : —

" We have only one demand, and on that we have talcen our stand, and
will kij('j> tliat stand to the end. That demand is, that wo pet our
freedom ]r,u-k af,'ain. Nothinp else will satisfy us ; we must have it before
we do anything,' else. The Transvaal must be given back to us, and
until we get it nothing but war must jirovail. Peace is out of the question.
Give us our indciiendence, recall Shej)stonc'8 annexation proclamation,
allow us to manrigc our own alliiirs as we desire, then we shall be pre-
pared to act in frii'iidly accord with Britain for the interest of ]3rilisli
peo^jlc in .South Africa. But independi.'nce must come first. We took

Extension of Ann is I ice. 223

up arms •when evei'y thing else had failed, when we had exhausted all
arguments, and we will not lay them down at the bidding of" English
politicians, and trust to them doing what is requisite. We have had
enough of the promises of such people. They promise but don't fultil,
and we cannot any longer put faith in their promises; they are not
carried out. We are determined to know exactly what is to be done, and
what is intended before we make any final arrangements. We will on no
account trust to the fine promises of English politicians, because our
experience of the past makes us have no confidence in them. With regard
to the alleged appointment of a Royal Commission in England, 1 am
willing to agree to a further armistice if the English people will do as we
will, and stop all movements of troops. If they won't do that, it ia
evident they only want an armistice to suit their own ends — to let them
get a large body of men together, and we will never consent to that ; we
will fight to the end. We have believed in the righteousness of the
Eritish Government. We sent a deputation to the Queen of England ta
lay our case clearly before her, but all to no purpose. I want to know
why Mr. Gladstone, the Prime Minister of England, has not carried out
his promise to return the Transvaal to its rightful owners, seeing he
considered the annexation a disgraceful act? When we read his words
we relied upon the great English Statesman doing us justice. He has
not done so. We desire to know why ? With regard to the death of
General CoUey, we are all very sorry indeed at his death. He was a man
I knew well, and all of us were grieved when, after the fight, news was
brought that he was dead. We believed him to be an honourable,
straiglitforward English gentleman, but he was deceived by the reports of
his subordinates. They wilfully did all they could to deceive him, and,
acting upon these reports, he, in his turn, unwittingly misrepresented our
case to the people of England. Instead of being rejoiced at his death
we were very sorry. I wish to contradict the statement that he was shot
twice — the last at close quarters. That is utterly untrue. None of our
men aimed intentionally at him, and the bullet which killed him struck
the top of his forehead, and came out at the back of his head. It has
caused ns great pain to hear that in some newspapers it was reported
that we had wilfully killed a man whom we all held in great esteem.
Such statements are deliberate insults to us, and do more than you
would imagine to stir up hatred between the Dutch and the English."

On the evening of the 13tli General Wood and Staff arrived
again at Mount Prospect, and at once communicated with Jonberfc
about an extension of the armistice. The meeting was to have
been hekl in the morning, but owing to the non-arrival of Vice-
President Kruger (detained by bad weather), who desired to
attend the conference, it was put off until the afternoon. At
3 P.M. General Wood, accompanied by Colonel Buller, ]Majors
Clarke and Frazcr, Lieutenant Hamilton, and Mr. Cropper,
went to the meeting, which took place on the flat, hali'-way
between the respective lines, where a tent was pitched. The
Press representatives and others remained in the rear during

2 24 JViik the Boers in the Transvaal.

Ibc interview, which histccl from 3.45 to 4.45 p.m. The Vice

President did not arrive in time, but the Boers were represented

hy General Joubert, Commandant Fouches, D. C. Uys, C. J.

•Joubert, J. Coetzee, and Mr. Watkins, interpreter. The result

was soon communicated as follows : —

•' It is hereby agreed between Major-General Sir Evelyn Wood, K.C.B.,
dommanding Her Majesty's Forces, on the one hand, and P. Jiio. Joubeit,
Commanding the Boer Forces, on the other hand, that, in order to give
lime for the arrival of Mr. Kriiger, delayed by bad weather, and for tlie
receipt of a telegram expected from England, the armistice now existing
between the aforesaid shall be extended to midnight of the l^th inst ,
that is to say, for four days longer. Conditions : — 1. The conditions of
••'xisting armistice to remain unaltered, except that in consideration of
this prolongation for four days General Wood has the option of sending
lour days' more provisions to those garrisons which have already received
«eight days', and twelve days' provisions to those garrisons which have not
yet received any provisions. 2. As provided in former agreement, hos-
tilities will only be suspended at the several garrisons for the four or
Iwelve days from the arrival of the provisions at the garrisons ; also an
officer may accompany each provision column, but he and the conductor
and driver are to be strictly neutral. '^. This armistice is not to ^irevent
General Wood from sending his post as usual. Agreed to at the tent
under Lang's Nek, this 14th day of March, 1881. Signed, EvtLYX "Wood.
P. J. Joubert."

Lady Colley wont alone to visit the grave of her husband that
•day, and left again after a short time. Mrs. Montague, who had
come with her, spent some hours in visiting the wounded, for
whom she had brought up some comforts. Under the armistice
conditions, Wakkerstrom, Potchefstrom, Standerton, Maraba-
stadt, Kus'euherg, and Leydenberg all had twelve days' pro-
visions sent them in due course. Heavy rains still continued,
detaining President Brand. Next day word was sent down
that Vice-President Kruger had arrived at the Boer camp, and
iu consequence, on the IGtli another meeting took place and
lasted all day. General Wood was accompanied by Bullcr,
Frazcr, Clarke, and Cropper; and among the Boers wore
Joubert, Kruger, Jorrisscu, Pretorius, Uys, and Pcv. Ackcr-
mann. Tho interview occurred at the same place as tho last
one. Tho meeting was a very stormy and unsettled one, and
at midday it was olVicially reported that, in consequence of tlio
jjocr demands to be more directly represented on a Royal
Commission, and ihcir ()l)jection to any troops remaining in tho
4-ountry while its meetings wcro held, they were no nearer

Interview on the i oth of March. 225

peace than ever, and unless the Boers moderated their tone the
nenfotiations conld come to nothing. Late in the afternoon,
while communication by telegraph had been constantly kept up
with the Colonial Office in England, things were more settled,
and by seven o'clock in the evening, when the meeting broke
up, the General informed the *' Specials " that the Boers had
to a great extent accepted generally the proposals of the British
Government, reserving only one or two points for further
consideration and discussion at a future meeting.

Heavy rain still continued, but the 17th passed very quietly,
excepting that troops were rapidly pushed on, to be handy in
case of emergency; Barrow's Mounted Infantry reaching
Mount Prospect on that date ; the 83rd being on their way
up from Newcastle; and C Battery 1st Brigade E.A., three
troops 6th Inniskilling Dragoons, and four companies and
drafts of the 97th arriving at Newcastle. At the Port of
Durban the S.S. Chupra arrived, with part of the 14th
Hussars and their horses, on the 15th, and was followed by the
Bherldana two days after, with a second lot of the same
Regiment, and the Hankow with the remainder. Brigadier-
General Drury Lowe, in command of cavalry, with his A.D.C.,
Captain Swain, 17th Lancers, arrived at Cape Town in the
Durban, and news was received of the departure and near
approach of the other reinforcements.

On the 18th, and last day of the prolonged armistice, about
3 P.M., General "Wood, Colonel Buller, and Staff, met General
Joubert and his brother at O'Neill's farm, to discuss the terms-
which the Boer leaders were unable to agree to at the last meeting.
President Kruger was too ill to be present. Dr. Jorrissen was
also absent. At the close of the interview, which lasted about
three hours, General Wood called up the Press representatives
and informed them "that Kruger and Pretorius were unwell
and unable to attend. A telegram had been received from
Lord Kimberley, containing an answer to the requests of the
Boers. Lord Kimberley had been unable to accede to the
requests. Joubert had then asked for a prolongation of the
armistice for three days, to enable the Boers to avail them-
selves of the advice of President Brand as to the attitude they

2 26 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

should assume, also that they may consider Lord Kimberley's
message of yesterday, -u-hich does not meet their wishes.
Joubert and I have had discussion respecting the provisions of
garrisons. He holds that the word garrison includes only
soldiers ; I maintain it includes every one. It has been agreed
that. Mr. Brand should settle this point between us." The
next day it was reported that President Brand was at Muller's
Pass, ten miles from Newcastle, so the Piesident Magistrate
went over to escort him in, and arrived with him at Newcastle
late that night ; and the President left again early next
morning for Mount Prospect and the Boer camp, having been
thirteen days on the road from Bloemfontein.

On the 21st another important meeting was held, also at
O'Neill's, at which President Brand came down with the Boer
representatives. The meeting lasted all day ; but about 6 p.m.
matters, which had hitherto proceeded quietly, took an opposite
turn, and a point of dispute arose in which neither party would
give way. General Wcfod then intimated that another pro-
longation of the armistice for forty-eight hours had been
mutually agreed upon, "to refer the matter Home, and the Press
Specials then left ; the conference sitting all that night until
late, when it was broken up and an adjournment made till the
"Wednesday. General Wood and Stall" rode through to New-
castle next day and back the same evening. Most conllicting
reports were prevalent both at Mount Prospect and Newcastle,
and throughout the colony ; but the general impression was
thut peace terms would be arranged, and that a Pioyal Com-
mission would be appointed to settle the details. The final
seltlemcut was arrived at in two more meetings, held on the
21st iind 23rd of ]March ; and the result is shown in the
annexed Iriiiislution irom tlie Dutch oflicial report of the
proceedings : —

l{i:pr)l!T OF ]\rEETTNGS AT O'NEILL'S FARM ON TITE
'Jlsr AND iil'.iu) iMARCll, IHSl.

Present: Sir E. Wooil, ]\I;i)or.s Clarko an J Frazor, and Staff of tho one
flidc; anil ^Messrs. Kru^'cr, I'rttorin.s, I\ Joubert, Jorrissen, Dirk Uys,
C. JomImtI, anil Marc, of' the other side. At liio tneetint^'M on the Otli, lltli,
nnil l<ith Marcli, 1881, between Sir E. WouJ ami the IJuer loaJor-s, it was
agreed to cuter into an armistice, wliereiiiion the Buer leaders generally

Peace Made. 227

accepted the terms laid down in Lord Kimberley's telegrams of the 8th
and 12th of March, as communicated by Sir E. Wood, excepting the two
points objected to — (1) Direct representation in the Eoyal Commission;
(2) The expression of a hope that the English garrisons in the Transvaal
should be withdrawn when the Boers dispersed. In their desire for peace,
the Boer leaders have since withdrawn these two points, when the follow-
ing were agreed to : — I. — I, Sir E. "Wood, accept the Boer leaders, ^Messrs.
Kruger, Pretorius, Joubert, and others who were present at the meeting,
as the lawful rei:)resentatives of the peoy)le of the Transvaal, now under
arms. II. — We, Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, declare ourselves pre-
pared to accept the reigning Sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland
as suzerain, after the manner explained by Sir E. Wood, and noted
down in the minutes of the meeting held on the 16th of March. AVe
likewise agree to acknowledge a British Eesident in the future capital
of the Government, with such functions as the British Government
may decide, on the recommendation of the Royal Commission. We also
agree to leave to the Commission the consideration of providing for
the protection of interested natives, and boundary questions relating to
the possessions of any foreign power must be reserved for the suzerain.
III. — I, Sir E. Wood, acknowledge the right of the Transvaal people to
their entire self-government subject to suzerain's rights. IV. — We,
Kriiger, Pretorius, and Joubert, shall co-operate with Her Majesty's
Government to punish those who have committed such deeds, or who are
directly responsible for such, as are against the laws of civilized warfare.
Y. — I, Sir E. Wood, in the event of the position at Lang's ISTek being
evacuated by the Boers, and that they disperse to their homes, declare,
in the name of Her Majesty's Government, that I will not take possession
of the position, nor follow them up with troops, nor send ammunition
into the Transvaal. (At a meeting on the 18th of March, a telegram from
Lord Kimberley, dated 17th of March, addressed to the Boer repre-
sentatives, was handed over, being a reply to Sir E. Wood's telegram of
16th of March, containing the points objected to by them on that day.)
YI. — The Boer leaders accept the terms offered in the telegram of 17th
of March. They declare: " We trust that the British Government will
entirely give us our own Government as soon as jiossible, and at the
furthest within six months, with this understanding, that no civil action
shall be instituted with regard to deeds done during the war or relating
thereto. And likewise no action shall be instituted with regard to taxes,
imtil our own Government has been restored. We further trust, that
should the Royal Commission deem it necessary to cut off any territory
to the eastward of the 30th deg. long., such Commission shall not order
oi' advise more territor}^ to be ceded than may be required to meet the
demands of the English policy set forth in the telegram of the 17th of
March." VII. — I, Sir E. Wood, undertake, in the name of the British
Government, that the Royal Commission shall sit as soon as possible, and
that the Government of the country shall be given back within six mouths
from this date. A^'III. — Under these circumstances or conditions we
agree on behalf of the Boers imder ai-ms immediately to disperse our
forces, and to await the decision of pending questions that are handed
over to the Royal Commission. After the completion of their work the
country will receive the jiromised self-government. IX. — We, Kruger,
Pretorius, and Joubert, imdertake in the name of the Boers to give back
all British projoerties now in possession of the Boer authorities, and
taken during the war. And Sir E. "Wood agrees to give back all pi-operty

Q 2

228 IVifh the Boers in the Transvaal.

belonging to tlie Boers, now in possession of the British Government^
taken during the war, or taken over from the Repubhc at the time of the
annexation ; the exchange to take place when the new Government has
been ultimately sanctioned. — (Signed) E. Wood, General, High Com-
missioner; S. P. J. Kruger, M. AV. Pretorius, P. J. Joubert.

" O'Xeill's Farm, 1 p.m., March 23, 1881.— Present : Sir E. Wood, Majors'
Frazer and Clarke, Lieutenant Hamilton, and Mr. T. Cropper, aides-de-
camp ; and from the Boer side, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, P. Joubert,
C. Joubert, Jorrissen, and Mare. Sir E. Wood stated that he had received
power to ratify the preliminary treaty entered into on the 2 1st ult.
Wherefore Sir E. Wood agreed, to jirevent future misunderstanding,
That, whereas the British Government has guaranteed immunity from
civil prosecution for any actions done during the present war, or relating
to it, alike to the leaders, personally, collectively, and individually, or to
all those who acted under their orders; the Boer leaders, Messrs. Kruger,
Pretorius, and Joubert, should on their side agree, that to the Royal Com-
mission must be left all questions for indemnifications or other affairs on
either side, in so far as the Commission may consider such acts to have
been justifiable by the requirements of the war, and are reasonably
certified for indemnification. AVith regard to the provisions made for
civil actions, it is naturally understood that nobody shall be prosecuted
on either side, on account of political thoughts or deeds relating
to the war. Since the meeting of the 21st of ]\rarch, it has been
brought to Sir E. AVood's notice that the arms taken over at the
annexation have been taken since by chances of war, and to prevent
further discussion for the present, it is agreed to modify Schedule !^ (niae)^
in so far as relates to arras taken at the annexation by the British Govern-
ment; which, be they serviceable or unserviceable, miist be handed over,,
when entire self-government is re-established. And further, that the
order of any money indemnity that may have been paid for them by
the British Uovernment at the annexation must be left to the decision
of the Commission. With these exceptions Sir E. AVood herewith ratified,
the terms of the agreement entered into on the 21st of March, and he and
the Boer leaders affixed their names hereto as a proof of their ratifying-
the same.— (Signed) E. AVood, IMajor General, and Acting High Com-
missioner; S. J. P. Kruger, M. AV. i'retorius, P. J. Joubert, C. J. Joubert,
C. J. P. Jorris.sen, J. P. Mare."

On tlic cvoninpf of the 23rtl, at G o'clock, General "Wood in-
formed the "S|)ccials " that peace terms bad been nuule, and tbo_
Boers were to^vacuate the Nek on the morr ow. T h e followin r;
official tole;^ram was sent down to Pietermaritzburjj; : — "From
General AVoo d, ^Tount Prospect, to Colonial Secretary. March
2l, 1881. Terms of peace have been sifflicd, and the Boers -
have all gone awa}\ Free trade intercourse is 2)eri2 nttcd

throughout the Transvaal. A Royal Commission is t.o

assemble at onc e to consider all pom ts loll in abeyancOj_j3Jtd
recommend to the Imperial Government wiiat,J 2s2Knikiiij;
generally, shall be the Eastern boundaries of a sell'-^^ovcrning

Boers Trek. 229

republic, which is to have a British Eesident and be under a

British protectorate. No one is to be interfered with by either
side on account of poHtical opinions or action during the war.
Make this pubHc."

Thursday, March 2-4th, saw the break-up of the Boer camps
and evacuation of Lang's Nek, the return of President Brand
to Newcastle, en route to Bloemfontein, and the utter surprise
and disgust of the greater portion of the military and
inhabitants of Natal. The loyal refugees, of whom there
were numbers in Newcastle, could not find terms strong
■enough to denounce what they deemed the unwise and
cowardly policy of the Convention ; while many of the
officers resigned their commissions, and others tried to
obtain leave, the moment the terms of the settlement
became known. No one was to be allowed to go over the
Nek until the 25th, so as to avoid any chance of a collision
between the soldiery and the younger Boers ; but notwith-
standing this prohibition many did go through on the same
day, and those who went saw the last of the Boers and picked
■up much information. General Wood went early up with his
Staff to the top of the Amajuba, and was there met by some of
the Boers, who explained to him the positions of both sides and
the course of the fight. The General then returned to the
Boer camp and saw the men paraded, addressed by their
leaders, told the terms of peace, and then dismissed. I
reached Mount Prospect that morning to breakfast (as has been
-described in Chapter XVIII.), and immediately sent off this
telegram: — " Thursday morning. — Just got through from the
Boer laager ; nearly all the waggons are trekking home to-day.
Younger Boers much dissatistied with terms ; older men,
though doubting the good intentions of the British Government,
yet seem to place confidence in President Brand and General
Wood. Not much sickness in their camp. Numbers of Free
State Boers came in during the armistice to help, in case peace
was not concluded. Two Red Cross men, who have been with
me in the Boer camp, left this morning for the Cape. Mount
Prospect was to have been attacked by a large force of Boers
early the first misty morning if peace had not been concluded."

230 IVitk the Boers in the Transvaal.

Next day I was tlie first from Newcastle able to telegraph and
give the terms of the peace settlement, which were kept very
secret by the British officials.

In Appendix K will be found the correspondence between
General Sir G. P. Collcy and the Boer leaders, Avhich was in
progress at the time of the Amajuba fight and Sir George's
death ; as also extracts from the British official telegrams,
showing the course of the subsequent negotiations which re-
sulted in the preliminary Convention and the Koyal Commis-
sion. From the above-named letters it will be seen that the
proposal for negotiations emanated from the Boers ; and that
the unfortunate resumption of active hostilities by Sir George,
and the consequent disaster at the Amajuba, resulted simply
from the unfortunate delay in Kruger's reply of the 28th of
February to Sir George's letter of the 21st, owing to Kruger's
absence.

S-?!

CHAPTER XXI.

THE BESIEGED TOWNS.

Pretoria — Its Garrison — Forts — Defence — First Shot — Patrols — Springhaasfontein
Fight — Colonel Anstrutlier's Death — Zwaart-Kopje Engagement — Elaandsfontein
— Defeat at Red House — Last Skirmish at Wonderfontein — Potchefstrorn — Pre-
paration — Defence of Court House — Clarke and Raaff — Death of Captain Falls — -
Final Surrender — Tlie Fort and its Defenders — Want of Water — Lieutenant
Lindsell's Pluck — Gallant Charge of Lieutenant Dalrymple-Hay — Sickness and
Want of Provisions — Surrender — Alleged Treachery of Commandant Cronje.

It is time now to give some little attention to and description of
events at the various besieged towns throughout the Transvaal,
of which the inhabitants and garrisons had, for three months or
more, during the course of the fighting on the Border, had
anything but an easy time, as they were captured or sur-
rounded and besieged, being cut off from all resources or
communications in Natal. The towns which held out were
Pretoria, Potchefstrom, Standerton, Wakkerstrom, Leydenberg,
Eustenberg, and Marabastadt. Heidelberg and Middleberg,
having no defences or garrison, were helpless from the first*
Pretoria, being the capital, comes first on the list. After the
news reached Sir Owen Lanyon of the emeute at Potchefstrom,.
a few days were spent in anxiety and doubt by the Pretorians,
who were aware of the fact of an ultimatum having been sent
to Sir Owen, and were desirous of learning his answer. On.
the 20th of November, 1880, Mr. Egerton and Sergeant
Bradley, of the 94th Kegiment, brought into the city the news
of the disaster at Bronkhorst Vlei, and on the following day
the Executive Council agreed to the Proclamation of jMartial
Law, which was at once done. Colonel Bellairs, C.B., was
Commandant, and the first thing decided upon by the military
authorities was that the town must be abandoned, as, owing to

232 IViih the Boers in the Transvaal

the large surface covered, it would have been impossible to pro-
tect it effectually with the limited number of meu in Pretoria.
A military camp "was therefore formed just outside the town, and
by the following day hardly a person was left in the town. The
number of the inhabitants in the camp were : Europeans —
men, 975; women, 676; children, 718; servants, natives, &c.j
] ,331 ; total, 3,700. All the horses were taken for the volun-
teers, who, numbering about fifty on the morning of the 21st,
had reached a muster roll of 150 by the 23rd. As it was
impossible to receive everybody into the military camp, the
gaol was prepared for the reception of a number of the women
and children, and Loretto House, Convent, and grounds were
enclosed, and a laager, of which these two points were the two
southern ends, was built up with wooden barricades and sand-
bags. The defence was entrusted to the infantry volunteers,
consisthig of six companies Pretoria Rifles under Major Le
Mesurier, Pt.E. The gaol and convent adjoin each other, and
were distant from the military camp about a third of a mile. A
little further from the camp was Fort Pioyal, with one gun, com-
manding the immediate approach to the town from the south,
and on the summit of two hills to the south two forts — Tulli-
chcwan and Commclinc, the former named after the castle of
Sir George Campbell, father-in-law of Colonel Gildea, and the
latter after its constructor, Lieutenant Commcline, Il.E. — were
built, which, with their guns, commanded the Heidelberg and
Potchcfstrom roads. Fort Campbi'll, named after Captain
Campbell, of the 94th, and connnanded by bim, lay still further
to tlie south and oast. The main camp was to the south-west
of l)«)th the Convent Laager and Fort Campbell. Here a strong
position was defended by the 21st Fusiliers under Colonel
Gildea, the guns being distributed between this fort, Fort
Campbell, and Fort Tullichewan. The total number of
clTectivc fighting men was \\\nn\i 1,000, made up of the
f()lb)\ving : — 2-21st Scots Fusiliers, four companies, head-
quarters, Stair and band ; a company of the 94th ; Davey's
Horse or Pretoria Carbineers (which increased from the time
of the Proclamation of "Martial Law from about 70 to about
140); Nourse's Horse, 100; I'retoria lliflcs, 500. Among tho

Springhaasfontein Fight.

■jj

defenders of Pretoria were two dctacliraents of the 94th
Begiment, which arrived just in time to participate in the
defence.

The first shot that was fired near Pretoria occurred on the
19th of Decemher, when Colonel Gildea personally conducted a
reconnoitring party out some fifteen miles on the Potchefstrom
road, consisting of the Pretoria Carhineers under Captain
D'Arcy, and the Mounted Infantry under Lieutenant O'Grady ;
and although shots were exchanged there were no losses on
either side. On December 28th, some mounted men had a
brush with the enemy at Six-mile Spruit — Hennop's or Eras-
mus River. One prisoner was taken and several Boer sad-
dles emptied. Corporal Norman, Pretoria Carbineers, was
dangerously wounded in the right knee. The following da}',
December 29th, a strong force went out in the same direction,
and had an engagement at Springhaasfontein, on the other side
of the Six-mile Spruit. The force under Colonel Gildea's com-
mand was as follows : — Boyal Artillery, 2 guns, 2 waggons,'
1 officer, 36 men, with four spare horses ; 2-21 st Boyal
Scotch Fusiliers, Mounted Infantry, 20 men ; 2-21st Boyal
Scotch Fusiliers, Infantry, 2 officers, 196 non-commissioned
officers and men ; 94tli Begiment, Mounted Infantry, 2 officers,
34 men ; Pretoria Carbineers, 5 officers, 80 non-commissioned
officers and men ; Nourse's Horse, 2 officers, 15 non-commis-
sioned officers and men ; Mounted Natives, 10 non-commissioned
officers and men ; 1 ambulance, 1 surgeon, 3 non-commissioned
officers and men ; 10 waggons. After a sharp engagement,
in which, owing to a misapprehension of certain orders, the
Volunteers advanced and recklessly attacked a strong position
unsupported, and had to retire with a severe loss, the force fell
back, unmolested by the Boers. In this engagement Captain
D'Arcy and Trooper Melville were wounded, and their gallantry
received high praise from the commanding officer.

The death of Colonel Anstruther, from the effect of his
wounds received at Bronkhorst Spruit, caused a gloom over all ;
but their thoughts were soon diverted to other things. By the
end of New Year's week the first serious engagement had been
fouglit at Zwaart- Kopje, on the 6th of January. Colonel Gildea

234 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

left early in the morning witli a mixed force of about twenty
officers, 450 men, one gun, fifteen waggons, and one ambulance,
to bring in some forage, and attack a Boer position at Piennaas
Eiver, about twelve miles off. Captain Sampson, with Nourse's
Horse, was sent in advance with orders to scout in the direction
of Struben's farm, and then take up a position on some heights
about a mile off the Kopje to be attacked. The Pretoria Car-
bineers, under Captain Sanctuary, were detached to occupy
some koppies in the rear, and remain quietly in position so as
to cut off the retreat of the Boers. Leaving a signaller and
forty volunteers to hold a hill about three miles from camp.
Colonel Gildea proceeded with the rest of his force, and reached
the neighbourhood of the Kopje about 6 a.m. ; when he heard
the Volunteer Cavalry already engaged, and pushed on to help
them. Then occurred another case of firing upon a flag of
truce, which is best told in Colonel Gildea's own words, which,
however, I may add, are amply corroborated by the statements
of many others present : —

"After I had been engaged about twenty minutes, Lieutenant Stanuel,
2-21st Royal Scotch Fusiliers, who was on the extreme left in command of
the skirmishers, signalled to me that a tlag of truce had been put up ou
the kopje. I at once ordered the cease-tire to be sounded, when all the
Fusiliers at once stood up and ordered arms. Up to this not one of the
Fusiliers had been killed or wounded. I went to the left of the line,
taking my orderly and Lance-Corporal Burns, Mounted Infantry, '2-'iIst
Fusiliers, as he could speak Dutcli, and advanced to a drift about "iUO
yards from the ko])ie. I was standing with a flag of truce in m}- hand,
and sent Corporal lUirns forward with one on the end of his lance. Lieu-
tenant Stanuel had advanced in front of his men, also recognising the
flag of truce by holding one in his h;inl. All this time the enemy were
riding away in threes and fours as fast as they could go. T sent three of
my scouts on the left to tell them they must not go away Avhile their tlag
of truce was Hying; these men were fired on by the enemy. i\[y orderly
having got within about sixty yards of the kopje was received with a,
volley, and almost at the same moment two shots were lired at me, fol-
lowed by several others. Seeing the treachery intended, the men along
the line took up the fire, and steadily advanced. I galloped to the ex-
treme right (jf the line, which I reinforced, and ordered them to advance
and turn the left of the kojijo. Tliis was oifected in first rate form Iiy
the Krigineers, under Lieutenant Jjittledale, about ten of the 2-'21st
Fusilier.H, umler Lance- Corporal Hampton, who was cons])icuous for the
gallant way in which he leu his men, .some of Nourse'.s Horse, dismounted,
under Cajitain Sanipson, and some volunteers, under Ca]itain Palmer.
When the right had turned tlu> enemy's position and held tlx; houses on
the left rear of the kojje, 1 ordered the Fusiliers' regimental call and

Elaandsfontcin.

-JD

charge to "be sounded. As the men began to charge and were cheering,
the white flag was again hoisted, and for the second time 1 ordered tho
cease-fire to be sounded, the action having lasted close on one hour.
Hiding at once up to the kopje, I received the flag of" truce, and the
enemy surrendered unconditionally. With the exception of the flanking
parties and the Carbineers, whom I left to hold the kopjes in my rear, I
assembled the whole force at the drift, where we collected our dead and
wounded."

From this point Colonel Gildea returned to the camp, but
was attacked again on the road by the Boers, -who had been
largely reinforced ; and after some shell practice he managed
to turn them out of the Kopje they held, and retired with his
force, having lost four men killed and one officer (Captain
Sampson) and fourteen men wounded, but capturing sixteen
prisoners. With reference to the firing on the flag of truce by
the Boers in the Kojije, they said that it was put up by one of
their number without authority, and was ordered to be taken
down again. The prisoners, who were all from the Waterburg
District, one and all declared that they were forced to fight ;
their leader, Hans Botha, also afiirmed that he was com-
mandeered, and he denied that he gave orders to fire on the
flag of truce.

On the loth of January the Lady Superior of tho Roman
Catholic Convent, sister of Bishop Jolivet, of Natal, died ; and
the following day another attack in force was made on a Boer
laager at Elaandsfontcin, and was again unsuccessful. The force
jxiraded included twenty-four officers and 565 non-commissioned
officers and men, with two guns, two ambulances, and fifteen
waggons. They started away at 4 a.m. in two bodies. The
enemy began the fight at once ; and shortly afterwards Colonel
Bellairs himself arrived at the scene of action, and a general
attack was made, but again, through some misapprehension of
orders, attributed, unjustly it is thought, to Captain Sanctuary,
the whole force had to retire in the face of a hot flank attack.
The enemy were strongly reinforced from all points, and attacked
the retiring force for some distance. The losses in this engage-
ment were very slight, considering that the troops were under
fire for over six hours. On the 23rd of January another smart
skirmish took place between fifty mounted Volunteers, under Cap-
tain Sanctuary, who were patrolling out by Wonderboom Poort,

■ J

6 IPith the Boers in the Transvaal.

close to a Boer laager, and some of the enemy, with, however,
no direct loss on either side, Captain Anderson, of the Pre-
toria Carhineers, being only slightly wounded. Colonel Gildea
went out and shelled the place next day and again on the 7th
of February, but with what effect is not known. Then followed
on the 12th the most disastrous of all the actions round Pre-
toria, as far as regards the casualties, in the ineffectual attempt
to take the Pied House and destroy the Boer laager. Colonel
Gildea started at 2 a.m., with Pi03'al Artillery, two 9-pounder guns,
two waggons, one rocket, one officer, and thirty- six non-com-
missioned officers and men, and a mixed force of Infantry and
mounted men, consisting of twenty-two officers and 533 non-
commissioned officers and men, with contingents from the
Medical and Transport Departments. The Red House Kraal
is seven miles from Pretoria on the road towards Heidelberg,
and Colonel Gildea arrived at daybreak with his men at the Six-
mile Spruit. Some of his force crossed and took possession of
a house on the other side, while Captain Sanctuary, with the
Carbineers, had advanced a mile ahead to the ridge above
Springhaasfontcin. Colonel Gildea led, with Nourse's Horse
under Captain Sampson ; a party of the Fusiliers under Captain
Dunn, and two 9-pounders under Lieutenant Hare, following
Nourse's Horse. The Carbineers, under Captain Sanctuary,
were ordered to advance and occupy a large stone kraal about
1,000 yards to the left of the Red House Kraal farm. Riding
boldly up to it, they were met by a very heavy fire from IBocrs
concealed behind its walls. The guns then advanced and shelled
the kraal, but the left flank of the Carbineers was turned by
the enemy, and in spite of the heroic cftbris of their bravo
Captain, who was dangerously wounded, they had to retire. The
Boers, advancing to within 400 yards of our main body, kept
up a hot fire on tlicin, so that they had to fall back, and it was
hero tiiiit Colonel Gildea was so severely wounded as to bo
incapacitated from inaiiilaiuing the command. ('overod by
Nourse's Horse and tlu^ C!irl)ineers under Lituitciiant Walker,
they reached the Six-mile Spruit; some say the Infantry never
having fired a shot. INIajor Lo Mesurier, R.K., with the Volun-
teers, checked the advance of the enemy ; the Artillery also now

The Last Skirmish. 237

coming into action. Surgeon-Major Geogclian, two Army Hos-
pital Corps, and six wounded, with an ambulance, had been left
behind — or rather so much to the front — that they were cap-
tured. The losses were one of&cer killed (Captain Sanctuary),
one wounded (Colonel Gildea), eight men killed or died from
their wounds, and eight severely wounded. Another skirmish
took place on the 8th of March at Wonderboom Poort, again
with no result; and this was the date of the last fighting.
The following District Order by Colonel W. Bellairs, C.B.,
Commanding Transvaal District, speaks for itself : —

"Pretoria, 2-2nd of Marcli, 1881. — Three months passed in a state of
siege has not damped the courage and determination of the brave little
garrisons of Potchefstrom, Eustenberg, Marabastadt, and Leydenberg,
widely isolated and closely invested though, they be. According to in-
foi-mation whicb has reached the Colonel Commanding, these posts con-
tinue to hold their own as confidently as at the beginning of hostilities,
and with uniform success to beat off the enemy's attacks with slight loss
themselves. The garrison and people — men, women, and children — of
Pretoria, during this lengthened period of trouble and suspense, have
behaved with remarkable coolness and endurance. Their situation is
almost unique. Rarely indeed has a whole town been called upon to
abandon its dwellings and withdraw to a military camp, and well have
the inhabitants in this case responded and acquitted themselves of the
grievous task imposed upon them by the stern necessities of this war.
The troops, largely composed of Volunteers, have performed excellent
service, each encounter telling its tale of greater loss inflicted on the
enemy than on themselves. The Colonel Commanding now calls upon all
to bear for a short time longer the privation, discomfort and suspense
attending their present situation, in the assurance that their deeds will
hereafter live in the memories of their children and countrymen, and that,
though for the moment cut off, they are certainly not forgotten by Eng-
land, who has such good reason to be proud of her sons and daughters in
this land. Colonel Bellairs begs that all classes, and especially those
officers, civil and military, who have had the onerous duty of supervising
and organising the successful arrangements carried through during this
war, will accept his hearty thanks for the cordial co-operation given by

On the 23rd of March three officers from General "Wood's
column arrived bearing despatches, and next day the Proclama-
tion of the terms and conditions of peace was fully made
known, much to the indignation of all. Martial Law was done
away with, and on the next day Piet Joubert, with an escort of
twenty men, and two other parties of about 200 Boers also,
were riding into the town, when they were warned not to do so
until the excitement had somewhat subsided. The Government

8 Wz//i the Boers in the Transvaal.

rationed every one for some time longer, the provisions having
held out well, and all the townspeople returned to their houses,
in many cases wrecked and robbed. During the whole siege
the following were the total casualties : — Killed — one officer,
fifteen non-commissioned officers and men ; wounded — four
officers, thirty-three non-commissioned officers and men ; while
the Boer losses are put down at six killed and five wounded.

Potchefstrom next merits attention, and although second in
my list, for actual fighting and suff"erings must undoubtedly bo
placed first. Its stubborn resistance under such difficulties
will long be remembered as a bright spot in an otherwise rather
tarnished campaign. After the meeting between Mr. Hudson,
the Colonial Secretary, and Mr. Paul Kruger, it was seen that
matters were serious, and Commandant Piaaft" advised them to
take every precaution. Meanwhile ]\Iiijor Clarke, C.M.G., ar-
rived from Pretoria, to act as Special Commissioner. Two men,
Vander Linden and De Woite, were sent by Commandant Raaif
to attend the meeting at Paardc Kraal, and report thereon.
Both went independently, and when similar reports came from
both that the Boers were determined to fight, and proclaim the
Ptcpublic again, every precaution was taken, and the Court-house
and gaol were fortified. On the 14th of December it was reported
that the Boers were in large force some five miles oft", and
Piaaff rode up to camp and warned Colonel Winsloc, who sent
down Captain Falls with twenty soldiers, and these with twenty-
six of Baafl"'s men and sixteen civilian volunteers garrisoned the
Conrt-house. AVitli tbcm was also ^Fr. A. Goetz, the Landdiost.
The garrison in the camp consisted of 110 men of the Fusiliers,
a ])roporti()n of Artillerymen to the two Armstrong 9-pounders,
under ^Nliijor Thornbill, with Colonel AVinsloe as chief in
command. The gaol was occupied "hy about twcnly of tho
I'^tisiliers; in this there were some twelve or more jjvisoncrs
nudergoing sentences. The prison, which is a stone building,
was l)arricaded at weak points by sand-bags, and tin; Court-
house, wliich is brick-l)uilt and hiid a thatched roof, was also
]iut in a fair state of defence. 'I'he fort — nn earthwork nearly
ibirly yards square, jind iiboiit 1,0()() yards IVom the Court-
house — was, with the other strongholds, as well supplied wiih

Death of Captain Falls. 239

provisions as the limited time at disposal would admit, and
from the magazine, a separate enclosure between the fort and
graveyard, the ammunition was removed and distributed ; the
magazine itself was occupied as an outpost by a party from the
fort.

Among the townspeople who took shelter in the fort were
the Portuguese Consul-General, Mr. Forssman, with his wife
and family. Dr. and Mrs. Sketchley, Mrs. Mclntyre and her
children, Mrs. Palmer, and two ladies engaged as teachers in
Potchefstrom. After the siege had been kept up for some
time, the ladies wished to go back to the town, and Colonel
AViusloe on three separate occasions made the request to the
Boer Commandant, but only Mrs. Palmer, Mrs. Mclntyre, and
the two lady teachers were granted permission to return. Then
all the ladies who remained in the town came and petitioned
the Boer Commandant to allow the others, with their children,
to come out, but Cronje was obdurate ; he replied, they liad
sought the protection of the British, let the British protect
them if they could. Mrs. Sketchley died in the fort not long
after the refusal of the request, also one of Chevalier Forssman' s
sous ; of Mrs. Mclntyre's children, one little girl was killed,
and the other was wounded by a bullet. To add to the list, on
the day the garrison surrendered, two of Chevalier Forssman's
daughters were stricken with fever.

On the 15th 500 mounted and armed Boers entered the
town, and took possession of Borrius's printing office, the
buildings adjoining, and Mr. Forssman's house. These
places formed the head-quarters of the Boers. They also
took possession of the entrance of every street in the
town, threw out scouts to the entrances to the Market
Square, and to the drifts leading to the town. The next
day, the 16th, fighting began in earnest, and the firing
was hot on both sides. Firing Avas kept up by the Boers
very well that day. Brigade-General Jan Kock commanded
the men firing at the prison on the right and Commandant
Andrics Oosthuizen on the left ; those two flanks fired at tho
same time on the fort, about 300 yards' distance. About an
hour after it commenced Captain Falls was killed. He was

240 With the Boers 211 the Transvaal.

leaning against the door inside the Lauddrost's office, talking
to Commandant Raaff, when a bullet came through the door
and hit him. He ejaculated, " Oh, God!" and dropped dead.
The bullet had gone right through his heart. The Boers by
this time had possession of all the buildings round the Square,
and the firing continued all that day and night. "Wood, one of
Eaaflf's men, was killed, and four others wounded. During the
night the bodies of Captain Falls and Wood were buried in the
hen-house attached to the Court-house, On the 17th the firing
still continued as heavily as ever, and the booming of cannon
was heard from the camp. On the night of the 17th they
began to feel the want of water, and they started digging in the
floor, finding water at eleven feet. By that night there were
nine men wounded, and as there was no doctor their sufferings
were very great. Nothing could be done for them besides
bandaging their wounds as well as it was possible to do.
During the night the Boers had broken the wall of the stable
behind, and got into it. They were thus enabled to pour a
heavy fire from a distance of about eight yards. Amid the
greatest danger a hole was broken through the roof to enable
them to signal to the camp where to send the shells. Colonel
Winsloe signalled back " Retire on camp.'' This, of course, it
was impossible to do, as they were completely surrounded.

At eight o'clock on the morning of the 18tli it was discovered
that the Boers were setting fire to the thatched roof, and as
nothing could then have saved them, Major Clarke and Com-
mandant Raaff agreed to surrender, on the understanding that
the lives of all those in the Court-house should be saved. This
was agreed to, and they were then removed to Forssman's
house, and then it was found that some of the men who had
been stationed at Schikkerling's house and at the Criterion
Hotel were prisoners. Included in the prisoners whom the
Boers had were De Woitc and Vander Linden, who had acted
as scouts. Eventually they were both tried by the Kriigsraad
and condomnod to death. Vander Linden was shot on the
20th of l)eceinber, l>ut Do Woito not till January <Uli.

On the 2l8t of December the garrison of the prison falling
short of provisions evacualed it, retiring on the fort without

The Fort and its Defenders. 241

loss. On the 22nd the Boers occupied the deserted stronghold,
but were quickly driven out by the shell-fire from the fort.
Mr. Nelson, J. P., was taken prisoner by the Boers and kept in
close confinement. Three of his sons got into the fort and
fought against the Boers. Two of them on a dark night (the
19th February) carried despatches through the Boer lines from
Colonel Winsloe to his Excellency Sir Evelyn Wood at New-
castle, arriving there on March 5th, after many perils, one
of which was swimming the swollen Vaal Eiver, and much
fatigue.

The history of the besieged in the fort is best told by one
of them, who wrote : —

" At about 9.30 a.m. on the morning of tbe IGth several armed Boers
rode up to within 200 yards of the camp. Colonel YVinsloe immediately
ordered a small party of Llounted Infantry to ride up and inquire what
they wanted. On Lieutenant Lindsell (who was in command) ajiproach-
ing them, one of the Boers fired at him at ahout five yards' distance;
Lieutenant Lindsell then gave the order to his men to charge, which they
did most effectually, cutting down two of the enemy, and driving the
remainder back to the town amidst cheers from the fort and gaol. A
general attack now took place on two sides of the fort, but the two
9-pounders and the effective and steady firing from the camp soon repulsed
them ; in fact, before the attack had time to properly develop. The
Boers then lined the front walls of the town about 500 yards from the
front, and kept up a continuous fire till dark, doing no damage. That
evening the water furrow, from which the supply of water for the camp
was taken, was cut off. In the meantime the well which had already
been commenced was sunk to a depth of twenty feet, but no water was
obtained. Affairs now became very critical, the water-barrels, which had
fortunately been filled on the 16th, only contained sufficientwater for two
days, at the limited rate of two pints a day per man. The weather was
fearfully hot, and the work of building the parapets terribly severe on the
men. On the night of the 17th it was determined to talie the water-carts
to a stream half a mile away from camp and fill them ; this difficult and
hazardous expedition started soon after dark, under command of Lieu-
tenant Lindsell, to whom the undertaking was entrusted, and who took
with him twenty-five drivers of Eoyal Artillery acting as Cavalry, the
Mounted Infantry, and one company of the 21st. The expedition was
most successful, the Boers evidently not being on the look-out in that
direction. This fresh supply, now at the rate of two pints a day, would
only last a couple of days; but the hope of striking water in the well,
which was now thirty feet deep, led us to trust that all would come
right. In the meantime the Boers still kept up a hot fire on the fort, the
gaol, and Landdrost office. On the morning of the 18th tremendous heavy
tiring was heard in the direction of the Landdrost's office. At about
9.45 A.M., to our dismay, we saw the white flag floating on top of the
flagstaff above the Union Jack, and a quarter of an hour afterwards the
flag of the South African Kepublic replaced the Union Jack. "While all

242 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

this was going on the worting of the well was still continued, till at least
a depth of thirty-six feet was attained, with no result. We were now
completely cut off from all water. It was therefore determined to cut
all horses, mules, etc., adrift, which was done on the following morning.
From that date the same desultory firing was kept up from behind walls,
hedges, etc., with little or no variation, till the morning of the 1st of
January. On the 19th of December, when the last drop of water was
finished, a reward of i.'5 to the first party who struck water was offered
by Colonel Winsloe. Several new wells were commenced, and at last, to
everybody's joy and relief, the R.A. party struck water at nine feet; the
well soon filled, and yielded plenty of water during the remainder of the
siege. On the morning of the 1st of January heavy firing commenced at
daybreak, the Boers being strongly reinforced, and an attack was
expected. The extent of the firing may be imagined when one thinks
of nearly 2,000 men within 500 yards of the fort firing as fast and as
effectually as time would i)ermit. Nothing of interest now occurred for
several days, a slight desultory firing being kept up between the town
and the fort. On the ^th of January the Boers oceujued the cemeter3%
about 300 yards on our left i'ront. Lieutenant Lindsell, with a party of
Volunteers, made their way down by moonlight, and drove the Boers
back to the town. The Boers themselves afterwards informed our men
that they considered this expedition the most gallant feat we performed
during the siege. On the 22nd our men, tantalized by the provoking
'digging' of the Boers, made a most gallant charge on the trenches.
Lieutenant Dalrymple Hay led the attack, well supported by the selected
men, and was successful in gaining possession of the troublesome posi-
tion, with four prisoners, six guns, a lot of ammunition, watei'proof
coats, and trenching tools. The two worst wounded were not left even
for an instant unattended to, for under the thickest of the fire Drivers
Gibson and Martin, R.A., boldly carried in Walsh, thigh broken, and
again Gibson, this time accompanied by Driver Pede, ll.A., brought in
Colvin, he being shot through the muscle of the arm with an exi)losive
bullet, leaving a horrible wound. A short time afterwards and a Hag of
truce came from town and then an exchange of prisoners took place. It
was nearly dark when the friendly relations were finished, soon after
■which a shot came from the prison, hostilities recommenced, and we were
enemies again. From that date till the end of the siege nothing of much
interest occurred; the Boers still continued sapping round us, but as they
did us no harm, we interfered but little with them. Food now began to
run uncomfortably short; we had been for some time on half rations, but
710W quarter rations were all that were allowed, except an issue of 1 lb. of
intstlics, whifh the men crusluid and made porridge of. I'rom the 1st of
IMarch all meat, tea, collce, sugar, and biscuits came to an end, and now
wi' had to ri'ly solely on mealies and Katlir corn for ]>r()visiona. The
3'oung wife of Dr. Sketchley, who died on the; 28th, was buried on the 1st
of J\Iarch. ()\\ the Ith of that month the rations had fallen to 4 oz.
meat, daily, no tea, | oz. coffee, no biscuits, and \\ lli. of unground
mealies. Dysentery and the deadly bullet cniitinucd to weaken the
g;illatit defenders, but the struggh; was bravely kept up. All this time,
now fivcr two monllis, not one word of news ever reached us from the
outside world excejjt on two occasions, when the Hoers were 'kind'
enontjh to send us in a ro])y of their Sl(((Un Conniiil, once after their
victory over tlic t'lth Jit ibvjulvlun-st Spruit, and au;ain after our defeat
at Lang's Nek. On the 20th of March we had but four sacks of luilf-

Surrender. 243

rotten mealies left. Fever, dysentery, and scurvy had broken out. (The
Army Surgeon and two civil doctors did their best to overcome the
disease throughout.) Colonel Winsloe called for a consultation with his
officers, and it was decided unanimously that it would be better to sur-
render with honourable terms than be forced to surrender in three days'
time unconditionally. That same evening, curious to relate, a paper
was received from some unknown person in Potchefstrom, smuggled into
camp by a friendly Dutchman. In this paper we read of the defeat and
death of General Sir George Pomeroy Colley. No news reached us of
any armistice, no hope of any reinforcements reaching us in time. It
was actually on the 17th and 18th of March that the heaviest firing was
being brought against us, 150 round shot alone being fired into the fort
on these days. The waggons with the eight days' provisions we never
heard of, and when we did General Cronje denied any knowledge of
them ; thus, on the morning of the 21st, we decided, if the Boers accepted
our terms, to surrender with all honours of war. The terms, after some
discussion, were accepted by the Boer leaders, and so, exactly three
months and five days from the time of the commencement of the siege,
the garrison capitulated with all honours of war, personal property to be
kept, also all ammunition, but guns and rifles to be given up. On the
24th the garrison evacuated their positions, and marched off direct for
Natal via Orange Free State. Our total casualties were eighty-three
killed, wounded, and prisoners, out of 213."

It were needless to repeat the fact that Colonel Winsloe
surrendered to the Boer General under false statements, which
have since then been repudiated by the Boer leaders and
reparation made. Thus ended the drama of the siege of
Potchefstrom. Mr. Mollet and Mr. Sluyman arrived from the
Free State on March 11th, having been sent by President Brand
with despatches for the oflScers commanding the English gar-
rison and the officer commanding the Boers, informing them of
the armistice of eight days, which was to begin from the date
of arrival of waggons with provisions. Cronje allowed Mr.
Mollet to see Commandant Raaf, but refused either to allow
him to go to the camp or to send his despatches up to Colonel
"Winsloe, so that the troops knew nothing whatever about this
armistice until after they had surrendered. The documents as
to the disputed treachery of Cronje will be found in Appendix L,
as also full list of Bi*itish casualties. The Boer losses are
stated at seven killed and fourteen wounded.

244 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

CHAPTER XXII.

BESIEGED TOWNS {coTiiinueS),

Standerton — Number of Garrison — Preparations — Volunteer Forces — ^First Fight —
Gallantry of Mr. Hall — Second Skirmish— Kaffir Bravery — Fight of 7th of
February — A Perilous Attack — Raising of the Siege — Casualties — Leydenberg
— Neutrality of Tow-nspeople — Causes assigned — iloderation of Boer Comman-
dant P. StejTi — Lieutenant Long's Defence — Arrival of A. Ayhvard — Summons
to Surrender — Siege Incidents — News of Peace — Soldiers Rebel — Colonel
Bellair's General Orders — Casualties — llarabastadt — Middleburg.

Standerton is the first town of any size on the main road from
Natal to Pretoria, and is situated on the north bank of the
Vaal River. On the outbreak of hostilities Captain Froome
was sent down from Wakkerstrom with two companies of the
94th Regiment and one of the 58th, arriving there on the 21st
December. Major Montague, 94th Regiment, author of " Cam-
paigning in South Africa," and who served with his regiment
throughout the Zulu War, was sent up from Pietermaritzburg
in the Post cart to take command. He arrived there on
the 24th December, established martial law the next day, and
immediately commenced works for the defence of the town by
forts, &c., and the organization and distribution of the forces
necessary, al)ly assisted by the Landdrost, J. C. Krogh, Esq.
The officers of the 94th comprised Captains Froome and
Campion, Lieutoiuints Davidson and jMnssoy, '2nd Lieutenants
Swan (Acting Adjutant), and McLaughlin. Lieutenant
€rompton was the only oflicer of the 58th. Surgeons-Major
Parkinson and Eraser, and Surgeon Lloyd comprised tho
medical staff. In command of the Volunteers and ^Mounted
Jufantry was Conductor Casscll, of the Commissariat and
■J'riiiisiiort StiilT, with Liculenant "Wright and Sergeant Juta,
and the Irregular Foot were in charge of Lieutenant Grant

Preparations. 245

(civilian). Three forts were built on kopjes round the town ;
two outworks were constructed, besides breastworks, rifle pits,
&c. The site of the military camp was near a high kopje,
called Stander's Kopje, about 2,300 yards from Fort Alice, the
centre of the town being about 800 yards NE. of the fort. The
Vaal Kiver, which for long periods was in a flooded state,
formed a natural protection south of the town and camp. In
the town itself houses interfering with the line of fire were
pulled down. Other buildings in suitable positions were barri-
caded and loopholed, rifle pits and small shelter trenches were
dug. On Graveyard Kopje was also placed a fort. The
hospital — a strong stone building at Fort Alice — was the one
most sheltered by nature from the fire of any enemy outside the
limits of the town. The total strength of the garrison, includ-
ing town and forts, was about 350 soldiers and 70 civilians.
One hundred men under Captain Campion occupied the town,
round which, at places where the Boers were likely to make a
charge, wire entanglements were put up. The Dutch Reformed
Church, standing in the centre of the town, was mined, and
connected with the Court House and the Post Office by
electric wire. These places were again connected with the
camp, where a battery, by means of which the charge could be
exploded, was kept. Of gunpowder there was very little to be
got — of dynamite none, though several efforts were made to
obtain it. Owing to the scarcity of these explosives, the various
outworks could not be mined. One stray building was set
apart for the accommodation of the female population, number-
ing a score or more. All were well provisioned. Everything
being thus prepared, on the 27tli Major Montague received
information that a meeting of the Boers had been held not far
off, to discuss the method of attacking this town ; and on that
day the Major sent two despatches to Colonel Deane, informing
him also that the enemy contemplated attacking any relief
force that might come up from Newcastle at Walters — that is
to say near Lang's Nek.

Up to the 29th inst. both military and volunteers kept up a
vigilant patrol day and night, and without seeing any alarming
numbers of the enemy. On that day the military scout on a

246 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

kopje near signalled that a large number of Boers were coming
from the Mavitzburg side, towards Mr. Piet Erasmus's farm,
across the Vaal River, and about three miles distant from Stan-
derton. The Mounted Volunteers were at once assembled, and
being joined by some of the Mounted Infantry, at once proceeded
across the main drift over the V^aal to the number of sixteen, led
by Captain Cassell, and went direct for Erasmus's farm to see
•what the enemy's movements were. Lieutenant Wright having
to get arms for certain members, followed Captain Cassell with all
haste. With scouts out, they arrived to within about 600 yards
of Erasmus's House, and within sight of it, without any view of
the enemy, when suddenly Mr. G. B. Hall, one of the Mounted
Volunteers, Avho was scouting, gave the alarm of the presence of
the enemy, and gallantly tried to cross the front of the Boers to
warn his comrades of the impending danger. Hall achieved
his purpose, but it cost him his life. Galloping in front of the
Boers, his horse was shot under him. Taking shelter behind
it, he opened fire on the enemy, and so attracted the attention
of his party. One man against 300 could not long hold his
own, and poor Hall was soon shot dead. The mounted men
retired on the camp, exchanging \ shots with the enemy. The
Boers, following them, came on in a most determined manner to
a hill COO yards from the camp, and kept up a heavy fire on
the position. On the 30th December Major Montague was
slightly wounded in the leg by a Boer bullet. During the
whole of the siege their marksmen devoted a considerable
amount of attention to him, easily recognised by his uniform.
On the 4th of January the mounted men, starting early in the
morning, went to Stander's Kop, where the Boers had begun to
station vedettes, and at daylight drew the liocrs on towards
Stander's house at the foot of the hill, where a party of foot-
soldiers had been previously placed in ambush. Some volleys
were exchang(;d, and the JJoers retired. The following day the
Boers kept up a warm lire at long ranges on the laagers, but
did no harm. The '^wq from Stander's Kop proving very
annoying, ^Iiijor ]\Iontague ordered a dummy gun to be made,
mounted on two waggon wheels. This caused the Boers a
good deal of alarm, whenever, with a great deal of ostentatious

Kaffir Bj'avety. 247

loading and ramming home, the gun was prepared fnr action.
To keep up the delusion, three or four rifles would occasionally
he fixed under the gun, their triggers connected with a string,
and their charges fired simultaneously. So soon as prepara-
tions with the dummy were commenced the Boers on Stander's
Kop took to their heels, out of sight of the artillery. On the
7th January occurred a hrave incident. The Boers built during
one night an earthwork in the shape of the letter A on the
other side of the Vaal River, 400 yards nearer the town. Close
hy stood a house known as Scheeper's Shanty, and this it was
thought advisable should be destroyed. Among other volun-
teers for the duty was one Injofa, a Swazie, then undergoing a
term of penal servitude for culpable homicide. With a party
of Kaffirs he crossed the river, and the men began pulling down
the house. Injofa, however, took his gun and marched boldly
up to the Boer earthworks 400 yards away, and, to the astonish-
ment of the spectators on this side of the river, reached the
fort without a shot being fired at him. He then coolly began
to demolish the earthwork by the aid of some tools he found
inside it. That accomplished, he recrossed the river. The
foregoing is not the only instance of daring he had shown
during the war. This man was in the Sccocoeni war, and by
his bravery there brought himself under the notice of Sir Garnet
Wolseley.

Of all the skirmishes that of the 7th February was the most
successful. Seventy infantrymen were on that night taken out
towards a house which had been occupied by the Boers some
two or three miles distant from the town, and were concealed
in the vicinity of the farm. Next morning our Mounted
Infantry moved out to draw the enemy towards the ambush.
For some reason or other this movement failed, and the Boers
coming on in great force to where the infantry were concealed,
our men had to make good their retreat under a hot fire. The
retreat was made in a very cool manner, the enemy being kept
at bay, and inflicting no loss on our side. Another gallant act
was the following : — On the 24th February, Sergeant Conway,
of the 58th, with a patrol, started at ten o'clock at night for
Stander's Kop, and in the morning, when the Boers came u^) to

248 With the Boers in the TnuisvaaL

their usual positions, he and his half-dozen men shot three of
the enemy. The Boers in force nearly surrounded the gallant
party, who retired, fighting their way to the camp. A party
from the garrison turned out and covered the retreat of the
Sergeant and his band of volunteers. On the 4th March the
enemy occupied another position 800 yards distant from the
camp to the left. Out of that place they were driven by the
fire of the company of the 58th from advanced rifle pits.
Again on the 7th they took up the same position, this time
in greater force, and kept up a heavy fire on the men, but again
the 58th forced the enemy to abandon the hill. The defence
altogether was most successfully and carefully conducted, and
although the garrison were latterly put on short rations, yet they
could have held out to the end of April. It will thus be seen
that the siege of Standerton was by no means devoid of exciting
incidents and perilous adventures. How well Major Montague
handled his force is best told by the fact of the enemy being
unable to gain any advantage during the two and a half months'
investment, for it was not till the 11th March that a flag of
truce was shown on the other side of the river by two Boers,
and the garrison learnt that an armistice had been agreed to.
The commander then informed the Boers who escorted the
waggons containing supplies that he did not want any provisions
and was indifi'erent whether the waggons discharged their loads
at Standerton or not. The Boers were commanded by a man
named Lombaard during the siege. The English officer, who
came with the convoy, was allowed by his Boer companions to
say that General Pomeroy Colley had been killed, and that
General Wood was in command of the relief column. Further
information regarding the war he was not allowed to give. The
total casualties between the 18th December, 1880, and 31st
March, 1881, were five killed and nine wounded, including the
commandant, Major Montague (slightly).

Leydenbcrg, away in the North-cast, is the next siege in my
list. After the departure of the IMlh, under Colonel Aiistruthcr,
for Pretoria, on Sunday, December 5th, as rumours of the rising
of the Boers were prevalent, application was made to Lieutenant
Long, commanding the delachmeut left in the fort, to join the

Neutrality of Toiunspeople. 249

town in a sj'stem of geucrtil defence. Whether from miscon-
ception, or too strict and punctilious construction of his orders,
Lieutenant Long refused assent, greatly to the surprise and
discomfiture of the residents. The following telegram was then
sent to Natal, riV^ Delagoa Bay: — "Troops refuse to protect
the town. Numbers hardly sufficient to protect themselves.
Town decided to remain quiet." On December 13th a letter was
written to Sir Owen Lanyon as follows : — " The fifty men left
here are here, it is understood, simply for the protection of
Government stores, not for the defence of the town. Were
they here for the latter purpose, such a number is totally in-
adequate for any satisfactory protection." It was calculated
that there were 220 women and children in the town, and only
thirty-four men who could be relied upon. With no laager,
no water supply, no chance of saving the property, estimated
at over £100,000, the siege, all knew, must continue for three
or four months; and therefore the townspeople being left
entirely without protection, abandoned by the Government,
were quite right in remaining neutral. They owe their safety
from molestation, and the absence of looting stores or private
property, to the Commandant of the Boers, Piet Steyn. The
Boers were in possession of the town and besieged the camp,
but Lieutenant Long held liis own well. The inhabitants had
no occasion to complain of the conduct of the Boers in this
district, with the exception of the stopping of communication.

Early in March Mr. A. Aylward arrived in Leydenberg, and
under a flag of truce he interviewed Lieutenant Long, 94th
Regiment, Dr. Falvay, and the Rev. Father Walsh ; he wanted
Lieutenant Long to surrender, stating that it was madness in
him showing further resistance, as there were no troops in the
country to help him. Lieutenant Long replied that he would
not surrender, he meant to fight and retain the fort as long as
he had a man left him. Aylward invited Father Walsh to
remain outside ; he replied that the Boers must come and
fetch him, he was not a coward, and would not quit the troops
while there remained one alive. Messrs. Long and Walsh
returned to the fort under escort of Boers, when, an hour after,
both parties saluted each other with a shower of bullets. Lieu-

250 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

tenant Long's force consisted of fifty men and ten Volunteers.
On the 4th of March the Boers managed to set fire to one of
the baildiugs in the fort, it being a thatched roof; the troops
put it out in twenty minutes, under a hea%'y fire from the Boers.
They intended to try it on again next morning, the 5th, but Lieu-
tenant Long had stripped the roof of thatch during the night,
and the men shouted for them to come on. They cut off the
water from the fort, but Lieutenant Long had sunk and struck
water ; they were obliged to let it run again, as the townspeople
were sufi"ering from want of it. Mrs. Long was the only lady
in the fort, but she proved most useful in attending on the sick
and wounded. Warrant Officer Parsons, of the Commissariat,
distinguished himself on two separate occasions, by going out
of the fort and throwing hand grenades into the enemy's posi-
tions, which created a great diversion.

On the 30th of March the news of the peace reached them,
and the Boers at once went to their homes. The soldiers, how-
ever, were rather riotous, their first act being to pull down the
Republican flag and destroy it ; but a new flag was made at the
expense of the ofticer commanding and put up again by the
soldiers. There was no Government, no law, and no order for
some time afterwards. Several of the soldiers were arrested,
brought to Pretoria, and tried, receiving various severe sen-
tences, which were, however, mitigated in every case by General
Wood, on account of their previous bravery in defending the
fort. Lieutenant Long was so disgusted with the whole pro-
ceeding that he resigned his commission, but not before receiving
due credit, as is shown in the following General Order, pub-
lished in Pretoria on the arrival there of his small but gallant
detachment : — " The Colonel Commanding, having received de-
tailed accounts of the fort at Leydenberg, wishes to congratulate
Lieutenant Long and his gallant little garrison of the 94th
Foot, for the heroic and gallant defence made for so long a
period against a determined and able foe, many times their own
number, and under circumstances of great privation and difli-
culty. The imloniitaljle courage, great endurance, and intelli-
gent co-operation shown throughout by all has been remarkable,
while the ready resources and conspicuous ability displayed by

Marabastadt. 251

Lieutenant Long in the conduct of his communications with
the enemy entitle him to the highest praise. Isolated in posi-
tion, 108 miles from Pretoria, surrounded and attacked on all
sides, the little garrison have well upheld the honour of Eng-
land and the gallant 94th, and afforded to the Service a brilliant
example of what British soldiers can achieve when well com-
manded." The casualties during the siege were : killed, three ;
wounded, nineteen, between the 6th of January and 31st of
March, 1881.

The account of the siege at Marabastadt was given by Cap-
tain W. Sampson, late of Nours's Horse, who visited the place
after the peace, and ascertained the following details : —

" Marabastadt, though called a village, has never been proclaimed or
laid out as a townshij). The ' village ' consists of some seven or eight
houses; the district is, however, avery populous one. Since the Secocoeni
war a company of the 94th have been stationed there, and the reason is
apparent when there are no less than 336,000 Kaffirs in the Zoutpansberg
District, and 170,000 in that adjoining, the Waterberg District. Sixty
men under Captain Brooke and Lieutenant Jones formed the garrison,
aided by thirty Volunteers and fifty half-castes under Captain Thompson,
when the war broke out. The fort was put in the best state of defence
that circumstances would permit. Fortunately the races were being held
at the time the news of the Bronkhorst Spruit arrived, and the English
inhabitants of the neighbourhood who were present readily responded to
the call of Captain Brooke to aid in the defence. The site of the fort is
by no means a good one, being commanded by ridges 800 yards distant
from all sides. The campaign was opened by Captain Thompson, who
was attacked by the Boers when patrolling in the neighbourhood of
Upsalt. He was forced to retire on the fort, with one Volunteer wounded,
and one Bastard killed and four wounded. The Boers then threw up
three laagers and closely invested the place. Having obtained two ship's
carronades from the residence of Commissioner Dahl, they commenced
firing on the fort, using as missiles iron taken from the Erstelling Gold
Mining Company's works. Captain Brooke took possession of one of the
hills at the rear of the fort, and held that position some time, but the
Boers with their guns shelled our men out of it, killing Colour- Sergeant
Frilge, who was in command of the party. Much to the astonishment
of our garrison the enemy did not occupy this position that we evacuated;
they must have feared dynamite. The fire of the Boers with their car-
ronades was really very good, even at over a thousand yards. Every now
and again our men had to make a sortie to drive them out of range.
Well oti" for arms, ammunition, and provisions, onr men worked cheerily.
The Boers, had they jiossessed much energy, might have cut off the water
supply by diverting the stream ; but in case of contingencies our garrison
dug a well and made a covered way to it, so that there was really no fear
of the supply failing. The fort held out till the despatches were received
announcing the jieace. Had the Boers occupied the position on the hill
that our men were driven out of, it might have fared badly with the brave
little garrison."

252 With the Boci's in the Transvaal.

At Middleberg, in consequence of the absence of any troops
and the scarcity of provisions, the inhabitants decided not to
ofter any resistance to the Boers, who flocked in large numbers
daily after the 22nd of December. Many of the English were,
however, taken prisoners, but afterwards released on parole not
to leave the town without passes. Stores were also largely
*'commandeered," but no great damage was done by the Boers,
■who were commanded by Commandant Grove. Two Englishmen,
Messrs. "Walker and Gumming, the former Assistant Surveyor
to Mr. Piissik, and the latter Clerk to the Native Reserve Com-
mission, both working in the neighbourhood, got a pass one
day to go out to a farm three miles off, and finding the road
clear, with two good horses, a compass, and three revolvers,
they rode off determined to try and reach Delagoa Bay and
then by sea to Natal. After an adventurous journey of seven-
teen days, having left Middleberg on the 25th of February,
they reached Delagoa Bay on foot, having had to leave their
horses knocked up behind. They were kindly treated by the
Kaffirs en route, and visited the Swazie King, who gave them
carriers. They crossed three large rivers — the Usuto, Limpopo,
and Umvaloosi — in a small "dug-out" (a log of wood hollowed
out) two at a time, and proceeded to another river by noon near
Delagoa Bay. When they arrived at Delagoa Bay they were
kindly received by Mr. Menlove's assistant ; after a little delay
they obtained passage by the Union Company's steamer Natal,
and arrived in Durban on the morning of the 17th of March.

At Piustonbcrg and AVakkorstrom also a successful defence
was maintained by the British and loyalists, and the Boers were
kept at bay until the armistice and the subsequent peace Con-
vention. There were no circumstances of exceptional import-
ance to record ; but I am unable to give any details, not
having been supplied with the information promised me, ia
time for publication herewith.

253

CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ROYAL COMMISSION.

Sir E. Wood's New Staff Appointments— Sir F. Roberts and Suite— Arrival of Rein-
forcements — Colonel Lanyon's Departure — Opening Speech at Yolksraa<l — Boer
Leaders arrive in Newcastle — Royal Commissioners leave Capetown — Events in
Newcastle — Loyal and Refugee Deputations — Boer Address to Sir Hercules —
Royal Commission at Pretoria — Their Work — Native Troubles — Trials for Murder
— Found Not Guilty — Appointment of Hudson as British Resident — Signing of
Convention — Opening of Telegraph between Free State and Natal — Great Inter-
view with Native Chiefs — Speech thereat.

The terms of peace bad hardly been settled wben the reinforce-
ments promised after tbe news of tbe Amajuba fight began
to arrive with despatch, both from England and India. Mean-
while, the following provisional re-arrangement of the Staff of
the Field Force was made by Major-General Sir Evelyn Wood,
Y.C., K.C.B., commanding the Field Force in South-East
Africa : — Personal Staff. Lieut. B. Hamilton, loth Ptegi-
ment, Aide-de-Camp from 28th March, 1881 ; Mr. Thorn-
burgh- Cropper, extra Aide-de-Camp from 16th February,
1881. — Head-quarter Staff. Major Pedvers Puller, V.C.,
C.B., C.M.G., 60th Rifles, Chief of the Staff, and to perform
«uch other duties as might be delegated to him, from 4th March,
1881. A.A. and Q.M. Generals : Major F. C. H. Clark, C.M.G.,
P.A., Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General from
6th February, 1881. Major F. Eraser, P.E., Assistant Ad-
jutant and Quartermaster General from 28th February, 1881.
Major F. Cardew, 82nd Regiment, Assistant Adjutant and
Quartermaster General from 16th February, 1881. D.A.A.
and Q.M. Generals : Major H. G. Maegregor, 29th Regiment,
Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General.
Captain A. B. Maude, 90th Regiment, Deputy Assistant Ad-
jutant and Quartermaster General, from 12tli February, 1881.
— PiETERMARiTZBURG. Licut.-Colonel R. Hawthorne, R.E.,
Commandant. Cajitain the Hon. Keith-Turnour, 2-60tli
Pities, District Adjutant. Lieut.-Colonel A. H. "Wavell, 41st

254 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

Regiment, Commandant of Line of Communication, Durban to
Tugela, and Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General,
from nth March, 1881. D.A.A. General: Major E. J. H.
Spratt, 29th Regiment, Deputy Assistant and Adjutant
General, from 11th March, 1881.— Durban. A. Q. M. Geuei-al :
Lieut.-Colonel M. W. E. Gosset, 54th Regiment, Commandant
and Assistant Quartermaster General, from 11th March, 1881.
D.A.A. and Q.M. Generals. Major E. Essex, 75th Regiment,
Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, from
nth March, 1881. Lieut. R. C. Wilson, 2-60th Rifles, Deputy
Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster General, from 10th Feb-
ruary, 1881. — Ladysmith. Colonel W. D. Bond, 58th Regiment,
Commandant, Line of Communication, Tugela to Newcastle, from
10th March, 1881. Major H. W. E. Brunker, 26th Regiment,
Staff Officer and Deputy Assistant Adjutant General, from 10th
March, 1881. — Newcastle. Major J. Browne, 94th Regiment,
Commandant, from 18th February, 1881. Lieut. H. G.
Adams-Connor, 94th Regiment, Garrison Adjutant, 11th
March, 1881. Lieut. S. J. M. Jopp, 58th Regiment, Garrison
Quartermaster, from 11th March, 1881. — Mount Prospect,
D.A.A.G. and Q.M. General: Major A. F. Hart, 21st
Regiment, Deputy Assistant and Quartermaster General, from
nth March, 1881. Cavalry. jMajor W. V. Brownlow, 1st Dra-
goon Guards, Brigade Major, from 11th March, 1881.

Of the reinforcements the first to arrive were the 14th
Hussars from India, followed by the Euphrates with the
85th and 102nd Regiments, on March 30th. On the 24th a
telegram from home stated that the Premier, in reply to a
question in the House of Commons, had announced that
Sir Frederick Roberts would return home immediately on
arrival, and that the reinforcements had been stopped. At
the end of the month the 41st Regiment arrived from England
in the Grantulh/ C'istlc. The France arrived at Durban
on April Ist ; sbe brought, in company with the Calahria, the
Regiment of the 7th Hussars, made up of 40 ofUccrs, OGO men,
and 420 horses and mules. Then followed the S.S. liomaii
and Thamcn early in April, with drafts for the various Regi-
ments in Natal. The 102nd were sent back, but the 85th

Sir F. Roba'ts and S^titc. 255

were landed ; the lOtb, 2Gth, and 99tli Ecgiments being
countermanded. The loth Hussars, 92nd, and 97th Regi-
ments were sent back from Mount Prospect to a new camp
estabHshed in Bennett's Drift, a few miles from Newcastle,
and then on the 28th General Wood telegraphed to Pieter-
maritzburg that Colonel Winsloe had surrendered Potchef-
strom on the 21st, before the mule-waggons, which left Mount
Prospect on the 7th, had traversed the distance, 200 miles.
Terms : all honours of war, retaining private weapons and
property. Guns and rifles surrendered, but ammunition for
both to be handed to President Brand for custody during war,
after which to be returned. Garrison not to serve during
the hostilities at present existing. Garrison marching, via
Cronstadt, on Natal. By his agreement with Boers, entered
into 21st and 23rd, he should claim all Government property
surrendered.

Next day nev.s came of the arrival at the Cape of Sir
F. Roberts and his suite by the Balmoral Castle. But they
took their departure next day by the Trojan. The Naval
Brigade at Mount Prospect, under Commander Domville, of
H.M.S. Dido, were ordered down to re-embark, and also
Major Brownlow, with his small detachment of the K.D.G,
Colonel H. Stewart and Captain Macgregor, who were both
taken prisoners at the Amajuba, arrived in Newcastle safely on
.the 2nd. On the same date it was telegraphed that the
Secretary of State for War, in answer to a question, said 12,000
men would be retained in Natal and the Transvaal.

Colonel Sir Owen Lanyon left Pretoria early in April, and
on the 9th of April a proclamation appeared in the Govern-
ment Gazette, that, owing to the departure of Colonel Lanj-on,
Colonel Bellairs would undertake the administration of the
Province. Valedictory addresses were drawn up and presented
to the Administrator, previous to his departure — by the
members of the Executive Council, expressing their high sense
of the administrative capacity shown by his Excellency in the
discharge of the duties of his high office, and their conviction
that his indefatigable industry, diligence, and wide official
experience had, throughout his term of office, been devoted to

256 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

the favtberance of the best interests of tbe Government and the
people of tbe province, — and by tbe members of tbe civil
service of tbe Transvaal. Tbe latter said, in one passage —
** We question wbetber in tbe bistory of tbe Transvaal two
8ucb consecutive years of financial prosperity as tbose wbicb
have passed under your Excellency's rule bave ever been
experienced. Never bas tbe revenue reacbed sucb limits, and
never bas tbe official work been carried on witb sucb regularity
and despatch. "

Tbe wounded from Bronkborst Spruit, and otber wounded in
Pretoria, were despatched in waggons, under charge of Captain
Anton, of the 94th, to Newcastle on April 6tb. In tbe presence
of tbe assembled troops in garrison the colours of tbe 94tb,
brought from the battle-field by Mr. Egcrton, were banded over
to Captain Campbell's company by Colonel Gildca. Tbe conduct
of Mrs. Smith, widow of Bandmaster Smith, of the 94tb (who
died at Lcydenbcrg before tbe march of the ill-fated companies
was made for Pretoria), on tbe battle-field was such as to elicit
general admiration. Attending tbe wounded men under fire,
Mrs. Smith tore up her dress to make bandages for those who
were bleeding to death. The District Order, published by
Colonel Bellairs, C.B., on tbe 5tb of April, bore fitting testimony
to tbe heroism of this lady.

President Brand arrived at Potcbefstrom on April 9ih, where
the town was en fete, and a hearty reception was accorded
bira. It may be noted, however, that although tbe settlement
was received with approval by the Boer sympaihisers and
partisans, yet tbe contrary was tbe case with the British
residents and the loyalists in tbe Transvsaal, Natal, and the
other British South African colonies. This feeling was even
very vehemently expressed at public meetings and in many
ways. It is superfluous to add that the military in general were
extremely disgusted, and most eager to fight again and retrieve
their lost prestige.

With rercnaico to the capitulation of Potcbefstrom, the
following telegram was received from General Wood : —
" Newcastle, lltb April. — lioer leaders admitted to mo at
Heidellicrg that Commander Cronjo broke their promise by

Sh" 0. Lanyons Departure. 257

suppressing news of the armistice to the Potcbefstrom
garrison ; they expressed their most sincere regret, and pro-
posed that the capitulation be considered cancelled ; and they
acquiesced in the re-occupation of the place. I accepted the
apology and proposals. All surrendered material to be handed
over at once at Standerton." General Wood had left some
days previously for Pretoria, but his cai-riage being overturned
some distance up and himself bruised, he was obliged to return
to Newcastle. He started again soon afterwards, when reports
were prevalent as to Boer outrages and the rising of Kaffirs,
none of which, however, turned out to be true. Mr. Meek,
who went up to take possession of his house beyond the Nek,
"which had been used as a Boer hospital, found Dr. and Mrs.
Hutchinson there still. The latter being ill. Swart Dirk Uys
Jiad left them to remain a few days until they could get a
waggon to move comfortably to their home in Utrecht. This
did not, however, suit Mr. Meek, who very ungraciously
complained to Sir Evelyn, and at last got them almost turned
out. Sir Evelyn Wood and Major Eraser, who reached
Pretoria in the second week in April, left on the 15th at day-
break for Heidelberg, Colonel Lauyon accompanying them.
On arrival at Heidelberg the Piepublican flag was found flying,
but on the remonstrance on the part of General Wood it was
hauled down. It was stated, as indicating the state of things
in the Transvaal after the Convention, that on the arrival of
Magistrate Eudolph at Utrecht on April 9th the returned rebels
shut their doors in his face. He found the offices turned into
cow-sheds ; documents and registries all missing ; houses of
loyals wrecked, property looted or destroyed, and the late
beleaguered and despoiled inhabitants seeking refuge. Anarchy
and disorder succeeded peace everywhere, and the law was
powerless to protect life or property.

On Monday, the 11th, the whole of the prisoners taken by
the Boers arrived at Fort Amicl under charge of Captain
Hornby, 58th Piegiment, and consisting of three Marines, one
Hussar, one Dragoon, nineteen of the 92nd, some 5Sth, 94th,
and 3-GOth. They all looked remarkably well, and none the
worse for their recent loss of liberty. They all spoke in high

258 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

terms of the kindness shown to them bj^ the Boers, except that
they were all threatened with death on the first Boer reverse.
At that time the major part of the troops were a distance of
five miles from the fort, viz., Artillery, 15th Hussars, Gth
Dragoons, 83rd, 92nd, 97th, and 2-60th Eegimcnt, also Engi-
neers and Mounted Infantry, while at Fort Amicl there were
part of the 58th and 94th. At IMount Prospect 3-GOth,
Mounted Infantry, ifcc.

The Vice-President, Paul Kruger, acting on behalf of the
Triumvirate, called together a special and extraordinary meeting
of the Transvaal Volksraad on the 15tli of April, which was
opened by the President in a very temperate speech, but after-
wards one member rising said that the Boers must not give up
an inch of the Transvaal. If the English tried to take one
inch the Boers must fight to the last drop of their blood. This
sentiment was loudly applauded, and not being able to agree, the
meeting broke up. The following extracts from an oflicial trans-
lation of the speech fairly indicate its general tone and spirit : —

"I have called you together as representatives of the people, to inform
you of what has been done by the Government since it was entrusted to
them by your Assembly on the 14th of December, 1880, at I'aardekraal,
to do everything that was necessary for the restoration of our inde-

iiendence. With a feeling of gratitude to the God of our lathers, who
las been near to us in battle and in danger, it is to me an nnspeakablc
privilege to be alih; to lay before you the treaty of peace entered into at
O'Neil's Farm between us and Sir Evelyn VVood as I'lenipotentiary of
the British Government, and bearing dates 'Jlst and l2ord of iMarch,l881.
I consider it my duty plainly to declare before you and berorc the whole
world, that our respect for Iter IMajesty the Queen of England, for the
Government of Her iMajcsty, and for the English nation, luis never been
greater than this time, when we are enabled in this treaty to show you a
proof of England's noble and magnanimous love for right and justice.
Erom the treaty of peace you will see that still an imjiortant part in tho
regulation of affairs in this countr}' has been left to a Jloyal Commission.
I confidently declare to you my belief that this Ivoyal Commission will
thoroughly and in all respects complete the work of justice so nobly
commenced on the 21st and 'i^hd of ]\Iarch last. In the meantime, I
b(;lieve I am acting altogether in accordanc(! with the treaty of jieace,
when I exjiress in your jjresence tin; hoj)e that all iidiabitants of the
Transvaal will in the meantime abstain from all words or deeds which
couhl lead to the perpetuation of that feeling of hostility whi(;li must
now and for ever be eradicated altogether. Tlie people declared in 1871>
what we repeated in the first proclamation, its desire to be a peaceable,
obedient pef)ple, with a jirogressive government. Let all citizens ofl'er
and accept the hand of rcconciliution in order to establish a happy state."

Boer Leaders in Newcastle. 259

On April 2-±tli Sir Owen Lanyou was requested by Lord Kim-
berley to remain for tbe meeting of the Royal Commission.
Captain Campbell, 94tb, was sent up to Leydenberg to take
command and restore order, with power to act as Landdrost, if
necessary. By this time all the leaders and representatives of
the Boers had arrived in Newcastle, and were awaiting the
arrival of the Royal Commissioners. They were S. J. P.
Kruger, Vice-President, and Messrs. M. W. Pretorius, J.
Joubert, E. J. Jorrissen, T. De Villiers, and G. H. Buskes ;
with whom, meanwhile, General Sir E. Wood held a conference
ill reference to the afiair of the capitulation of Potchefstrom,
and his demand that the same should be au nulled, which was
ultimately done. On the 28th of April Chief Justice Sir H.
De Villiers arrived in Newcastle from the Cape ; and two days
later Mr. Hudson, Colonial Secretary (Transvaal), and Attorney-
General Morcom arrived from Pretoria to give their evidence at
the forthcoming conferences. On the same day, 30th, an in-
fluential meeting was held in Newcastle, at which Major C. K.
White (late a member of the Transvaal Volksraad), and Mr.
Zeitsman, of Utrecht, were appointed as delegates to watch the
proceedings of the Royal Commission, and represent the in-
terests of the loyalists, both British and Dutch, in the Colony,
as well as subsequently in England, if it should be found neces-
sary. Daily conferences took place between the Boer leaders
and General Wood and the Chief Justice ; but the sittings
were quite private, Major Eraser acting as secretary, and
Attorney- General Morcom as short-hand writer. Difliculties
arose, especially as to the restoration of the guns captured at
Potchefstrom ; and on May 5th Major Clarke and Joubert left
for Potchefstrom on secret service ; while the General himself
rode over to Wakkerstrom with an escort. Finally the two
guns were delivered by the Boers to Major Montague at Stan-
derton on the 11th. Meanwhile the garrison of Potchefstrom
had been on the march via Cronstadt and Harrismith, in the
Orange Eree State. Their progress was slow, on account of the
sick and wounded ; and they reached Ladysmith on the 5th of
May, meeting with a hearty reception.

His Excellency Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor of the

s 2

2 6o ^[7/// the Boers in the Transvaal.

Cape, after giving his Basuto award, took bis departure from
Cape Town, on board H.M.S. Orontcs, on the 1st of May,
accompanied by bis private secretary. Captain St. John, and
Messrs. L. Cole (secretary to tbe Cbief Justice), F. J. Water-
meyer, interpreter, and W. S. Fletcber, e]i route for tbe
Transvaal. Tbe party reached Durban on the 3rd, and pro-
ceeded without delay to Newcastle, where thoy arrived on tbe
8th, going direct to Hilldrop Farm, where it bad been arranged
that tbe opening sittings of the Commission should be held,
and where the other Commissioners were already assembled.
Two days later Sir Hercules Robinson made bis official entry
into Newcastle, together with General Sir E. AVood and Chief
Justice Sir H. De Villicrs, when the Royal Commission was
formally opened, and the Conference commenced.

In tbe meantime President Brand summoned a meeting of
the Orange Free State Volksraad (on tbe "ind May) ; and in tbe
.address his Honour referred to the settlement of affairs in the
Transvaal, requested permission to attend the Royal Com-
mission as representing a friendly neighbouring State, and
•expressed the hope that in the result a lasting peace might be
estalilishcd. On the following day, with the unanimous approval
of the Volksraad, President Brand started for Newcastle, where
he arrived in due course on the l'2tb. The town was at
this time full of refugees, loyalists, and native chiefs of all
descriptions, from tbe Transvaal, among whom may be named
Amatonga, son of ]\1 panda, and brother of Cetywayo, a Zulu
cbief who served with distinction in the Sccocooni war; as also
John Dunn, of world-wide celebrity. A consid(Mal)le amount
of dissatisfaction prevailed, together ^\■illl widesjtrcad rumours
of intimidation, in view of tbe statements and evidence to bo
U'lduci'd before tbe Royal Commission. In consequence, an
ollicial notice was issued — with reference to llie l^rocbimation
by bis Excellency Sir H. lb)l)ins()n, CC.lM.d., High Com-
missioner, dated Capo 'J'own, IStli Apiil, 18S1, and announcing
tbe apj>ointment of tbe Transvasil Royal Commission — giving
iissuraiice of full i)roteclion from all molestation or hindrance
to !ill persons desirous of giving evidence on eilber side upon
the questions submitted lor the consideration of the Royal

Lccj' Address to Sir Ilcjriiks. 261

Commission. Among the notable persons ^vho arnved to give
information was Commandant Eaaf, from the Potchcfstrom
garrison.

On the anniversary of the birthday of Her Majesty Queen
Victoria the Boer leaders presented a congratulatory address
to Sir H. Robinson, to the following effect : — " A short time
ago we had occasion publicly to state that our respect for Her
Majesty the Queen of England, for the Government of Her
Majesty, and for the British nation, has never been greater
than now, that we are enabled by the peace agreement to produce
proof of England's noble and magnanimous love of right and
justice. And we beg now to reiterate those sentiments, and to
add, that we are con\-inced that the relations which will for the
future exist between the Crown of England and the people of
the Transvaal will be the best guarantee of a sincere and ever-
lasting peace. We respectfully request that your Excellency
may be pleased to convey to Her Majesty our deepest respect,
and the assurance that our prayers are that the Almighty God
may shower His blessings upon Her Majesty for many years,
for the welfare and prosperity of Great Britain and the whole of
South Africa, and more especially of the Transvaal, who hails
and respects Her Majesty as her future Suzerain."

The proceedings of the Royal Commission were not officially
published or made known during the course of the negotiations;
and, as was natural, non-official statements and officious
rumours were rife throughout the entire period of the sittings,
which were prolonged over the months of May, June, and July.
It would be futile to give any detailed account of the various
and numerous conflicting reports by which the community was
from time to time agitated, and kept on the tenter-hooks of
excitement and expectation. A brief outline of facts will
suffice. After having held several sittings at Hilldrop Farm,
Newcastle, the Royal Commissioners adjourned to Pretoria,
accompanied by President Brand and the leaders and repre-
sentatives of the Transvaal Boers. The first departures from
Newcastle were those of his Excellency the High Commissioner
and the Chief Justice on June 2nd. The final arrivals at
Pretoria occurred about the 12th of June, and in the following

262 With the Boers in the Transvaal,

week four sittings were held. Subsequently, towards the end
of the month and beginning of Jul}', the sittings took place
daily. Long and frequent conferences were held with the Boer
leaders ; and, apart from mere rumours, it was evident that
there was great dissidence of opinion, and that much difficulty
and delay would attend the final agreement and settlement, if
even that could be arrived at. During this period it transpired
that one disagreement in particular arose out of the refusal of
the Royal Commissioners to sit with G. H. Buskes, who was
appointed a member of the Boer Committee on Finance. The
Boer leaders, in their turn, took offence at this, and suspended
their meetings with the Commission. No little dissatisfaction
and irritation was in the end created by the delay and long-
i:>rotracted suspense. Among the steps taken to support the
views of the different classes interested in the prospective
settlement of affairs, it may be noted that a deputation of the
loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal was sent to Newcastle, and
addressed a protest against the manner in which the proceed-
ings of the Royal Commission were conducted. They objected
that the Boer representatives were allowed to hear the state-
ments of the witnesses examined ; and that every facility was
given them to follow the deliberations of the Commissioners,
Avhile the representatives of the loyal inhabitants were dealt
with at arm's length. This objection was apparently based, in
the main, upon their fear of subsequent Boer reprisals; a
feeling which undoubtedly existed, and not without justification,
as shown by a statement submitted by the Zulu chief Ama-
tonga, who deposed that, when the war broke out, he was
asked to join the ]3oers ; and on his refusal they threatened to
shoot him. He fled to Wakkerstrom with twenty of his men.
But there were 400 natives of the tribes of Sturman, Jantje,
Rooiland, and one of Langaliljalele's sub-chiefs, who were
induced, by the promise of booty, to take part with the IBoers,
ami fight against the British at "Wal^kerstrom. Amatonga
added, that even since the signing of the peace convenlion
the Boers had again threatened that they would shoot him.
Rcimor J. Yanderlinden (a Boer from the Zcernst district)
stated he was summoned, after tbe war, to accompany a

Trials for Murder. 263

Commando against the Becliuana chief ; and that unless some
protection against the Picpuhlican Boers were granted, the loyal
Boers and natives would most of them be compelled to leave
the Transvaal. As regards hostile conflicts between Boers and
natives, it is true that there were rumours of such encounters ;
but on special inquiry being made, it turned out that those
reports were unfounded. They originated in a collision between
native tribes only, under two chiefs, named Moutsiwe and
Matehabi, in which, however, the Boers took no part. At
Pretoria additional affidavits were submitted to the Royal
■Commission from loyalists, as to threats and confiscation of
property by the Boers. A memorial was also received from a
number of lo^-al Boers in the Eustenberg district, stating
their grievances and requesting protection ; while many of the
native Rustenberg chiefs attended in person. The entire native
question was a prominent subject in the deliberations of the
Commission, and especially in relation to the Zulus and the
Swazies. Financial matters, as between the Transvaal and the
British Colony, as well as the private claims by Boers and
British, in compensation for damages, also formed another
knotty point for consideration.

In redemption of i:)ledges previously given by the Boers,
proceedings were instituted about this time to inquire into
various alleged crimes that had taken place during the war ;
notably into the circumstances of the murders of Captain
Elliott, Dr. Barbour, and Mr, A. Malcolm. The accused in
€ach case were delivered up by the Boer leaders, according to
promise, or surrendered themselves for the investigation. As
regards the first-named case, two prisoners, J. Yan Nieuwen-
ihuysen and P. J. Daysel, were put on their trial, charged
with being accomplices and accessories in the murder of Cap-
tain Mitchell John Elliott, which took place at a farm called
Kofifersfontein, on the banks of the River Vaal, on the 29th of
December, 1880. The trial commenced on Tuesday, the 19th
of July, in the High Court at Pretoria, and lasted four days.
The line of defence adopted on behalf of the prisoners
(who had formed part of the armed escort of Captains
Elliott and Lambart) was that Captain Lambart, the chief

264 With the Bocj's in the Transvaal.

witness, had made wilful misstatements ; and in the result,
after deliberating an hour and a half, the jury — which con-
sisted of eight Dutch Boers and one German Afrikander —
pronounced the prisoners not guilty. In reference to the
murder of Dr. Barbour, two men, J. M. and G. R. Van
Ptooijen, were charged with the crime in the Circuit Court
at Harrismith (Orange Free State), and acquitted on the
28th of September, 1881. The two prisoners were the
armed escort, detailed by Commandant L. Yiljoen, from the
Boer camp at the Amajuba, to take Dr. Barbour and his
assistant, or dresser, W. Dyas, over the border into the Orange
Free State. But, although there can be no doubt that in this
case (as in that of Captain Elliott) the victim was deliberately
shot, yet the evidence, statements, and conduct of the chief
witness, W. Dyas, were deemed contradictory and unreliable.
In the third case, the men, five in number, charged with the
murder of Andrew Malcolm in the store at Rietspruit, Wit-
watersrand, on the 20tli-21st of December, 1880, were tried at
the High Court of the Transvaal, at Pretoria, on the 25th and
2Gtli of July, resulting in an acquittal, apparently on account
of some minor discrepancies in the evidence. As bearing upon
the murder of Dr. Barbour, it may be noted that it was stated
that the Commission had an affidavit by Allen Smith, a
Hottentot, who was a prisoner at Lang's Nek, in which he
said that he heard one of the Boers say he had brought an order
from Piet Joubert to Viljocn, the Commandant there, to take
]>arbour and Dyas to the Free State line and shoot them there ;
and he further said in the course of conversation : " Piet
Joubert asked why were the men not shot when they came to
the first laager."

On the 25th of July Captain Elliott's body, having been
brought to Pretoria, was buried with all military honours.
(Jeneral Sir Evelyn Wood and his stafi" visited the scene of
tlic disaster at Bronkhorst VIci. At the beginning of August
it became known tliat the labours of the Royal Commission
and tlic conf(!rences with the Boer leaders had resulted in an
Hnncal)le settlement, to whicli no doubt the intermediation of
President Brand and his inliuence with the Boers largely con-

Sioning of Convention. 265

tributecl. The Honourable G. Hudson was appointed first
British Resident at Pretoria ; and it was announced that the
Volksraad would be called together to ratify the terras of peace
Avhich had been agreed upon ; but that pending such ratification
none of the British troops would be withdrawn, although the
Royal Commissioners were to return to the Cape at once,
without awaiting the formal result.

The Convention was signed by the Triumvirate on August
3rd, the day after direct telegraphic communication was opened
between Natal and the Orange Free State via Ladysmith
and Harrismith to Bloemfontein. Sir Hercules Robinson
telegraphed the result from Pretoria to H. E. Colonel
Mitchell, Maritzburg, on August 3rd : " Convention signed
this afternoon. Civil Government will be handed over on
Monday next (8th), and troops will be withdrawn from ter-
ritory upon ratification by a new Volksraad about six weeks
hence." Messages of congratulation, on the opening of a line
of telegraph between Natal and the Orange Free State, were
also exchanged between President Brand and his Excellency
the Administrator, Natal. After this an important meeting-
with all the native chiefs and sub-chiefs of the Transvaal took
place, according to previous arrangements. There were about
300 natives present, as also the Royal Commissioners, and
Messrs. Pretorius, Joubert, Jorrissen, Brand, Hudson, and the
principal officials, civil and military. Kruger was absent
through sickness. An address was read, translated to the
natives by the Rev. Mr. Moffat, printed in the native language
and circulated. The following are the most important
passages : —

" You have been called together to hear from ns, the representatives of
the Queen of England, what Her ]\rajesty's Government has decided as
to the future settlement of this country. You are aware that a little
more than four years ago the Transvaal was annexed to the Queen's
dominions. This was done because it was then believed that a majority
of those who had a voice in the Government of the country preferred
British rule to the rule of those who were then in power. Subsequent
events have shown that this belief was mistaken, and Her Majesty's
Government, with that sense of justice which befits a great and powerful
nation, gave orders that the country should be given liack to its former
rulers under certain conditions which have been framed by us, and agreed
to by the representatives of the burghers. In the conditions to which.

2 66 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

as I have said, they agree, j'-our interests have not been overlooked. The
existing laws will be maintained, and no future enactment which specially
affects your interests will have any effect until the Queen has approved of
it I am anxious that j'ou should clearly understand this here to-day,
and realize that although there will be a change in the form of Govern-
ment, your rights as well as your duties will undergo no alteration. You
will be allowed to buy or otherwise acquire land, but the transfer will be
registered in trust for you in the names of three gentlemen, who will con-
stitute a Native Location Commission. This Commission will mark out
Native locations, which the great Native tribes may peacofull}' occupy. In
marking out these locations existing rights will be carefully guarded. In
giving back the country to the Burghers, the Queen has reserved to herself
the right to appoint a British Resident here, and it will be one of this
officer's special duties to see that the provisions of the Convention in your
favour are carried out. The Government will be the rulers of the
countr}', but the Resident will keep them informed whenever he ascer-
tains that Xatives have been ill-treated, or whenever any attempt is
made to incite them to rebellion. He will at the same time be ever ready
to assist you with his advice. The different Courts of Law will, as now,
be opened to hear your complaints and to redress your grievances.
Remember that you will be expected to be a law-abiding people, and
that no man will be allowed to take the Taw into his own hands. If
you require protection from j'our enemies you should look to the Govern-
ment of the country, whose bounden duty it will be to afford you protec-
tion. Two more points I will mention to you to day. One is the pro-
vision iJnat there is to be no slavery or anj-thing ajiproaching to
slaverj'. This provision existed in a former convention, and the
Transvaal representatives have willingly consented that the same pro-
vision should again be affirmed, so that all men may know what the
law of the country is on this subject. Tl;o other point is that you
will be allowed to move freely within the countr}', or to leave it ibr
the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere. The (tuccu of Eng-
land desires the good of you all, and you may )-est assured that
although this country is about to be handed back to its former rulers,
your interests will never be forgotten or neglccled by Her Majesty's
Government or by Her Representatives in .South Africa."

SuLsequcntly to the meeting it Avas generally slated and
understood that the Natives regarded the settlement \\\\\.\ great
dissatiKfactiou and disgust ; and that in conversation among
themselves they said : — " England says she is a strong country,
and gives back the country to the Boers because it belongs to
them. Natives say the country is not the Boers' but theirs,
their forefathers having found and occupied the land long
before the ]ioers came. 'Hiey will not acknowledge the ]3oer
Government, and if necessary will light."

26;

CHAPTER XXIV.

TRANSFER OF GOVERNMENT.

Signing the Convention — Sir Hercules' Address to Triumvirate — General Wood's
Address to Troops — Transfer of Government — Proclamation of Triumvirate —
Speeches thereat — President Brand on the Settlement — Official Appointments —
Ee-opening of the High Court — Pensions — Minor Officials — Disturbance in
Potchefstrom — State Title — Queen's Speech — Mr. White's Letter to Prime
Minister — Holland's Address — Meeting for Election of Members of the Raad —
Frans Joubert's Speech — New Yolksraad opened September 21st — Fortj'-two
Members sworn in — Opening Speech from Kruger — Opinion unanimously against
Convention — Telegram to j\Ir. Gladstone — Objections to Clauses — Monopolies
granted — ]\[r. Gladstone's Declarations — Final Ratification under quasi-Protcst.

In the previous chapter I could do little else than give a brief
summary of the principal events ^vhich occurred from the time
of the peace terms being signed at Lang's Nek on March 23rd
until the Royal Commission had finished its business in Pre-
toria at the end of July. To resume the thread of my history
of that period, it is only necessary to commence ■with a recital
of the events which happened on the 8th of August, -when the
Government was transferred, and follow their course down to
the present time (October). But before doing so I may add
that the draft Convention was signed by Messrs. Pretorius and
P. Joubert, as Representatives on behalf of the Boers, and sub-
sequently by Mr. P. Kruger, at his residence — that gentleman
being still too unwell to attend personally at Government
House — and by the Royal Commissioners. The President of
the Royal Commission, prior to the contracting parties attaching
their signatures to the important document, made a short ad-
dress to the Boer Representatives, as follows : — " Before signing
the Convention, which we have now finally agreed to, we are
anxious, whilst expressing our best wishes for the success of
the future Transvaal State, not to conceal from the Transvaal

268 Wiih the Boers in the Transvaal.

representatives our opinion that the greatest danger which the
future Government will have to contend with is the Native
difficulty. The impression left on the minds of the Commission
is that, however anxious the leaders may be to restrain their
jieople, the treatment of the natives by individuals has often
been harsh and cruel. And if we may, as sincere well-wishers,
express to you one word of parting adnce it would be this, that
you should employ all the moral influence you possess, and all
the legal power you can exercise, to secure for the Natives, who
have had no voice in the change now brought about, kind and.
considerate treatment," — Mr. Pretorius said : " We will do our
best." — The draft Convention was then signed, and the final
act completed, by which Her Majesty's rule in the Transvaal
has been, to all appearance, terminated. Fuller details of the
Convention itself, as well as of Lord Kimberley's instructions
to the Roj'al Commission, &c., will be found in Appendices M.
and N.

On the following day General Sir Evelyn Wood addressed the
troops in garrison at Pretoria. His Excellency called upon:
them to remember that the excellence of the British Army was
based upon its esjjrit de corps and discipline, and that it was
their duty to obey his orders, although they might seem to be
rather hard. With regard to the state of aftairs in the Trans-
vaal, he begged them to remember that it was no part of their
duty to their Queen or country to take any part in political
questions ; and he requested that so long as they remained
there they would ofler no provocation or molestation, by word
or act, to the Boers. This was their duty, and in accordance
witli the instructions which he gave to them.

'J'hiiigs progressed quietly until the 8tli, and although several
thousand Boers were then expected, only a few hundreds turned
up, and they certainly behaved in a most moderate and quiet
manner. About ten o'clock the prominent Boer leaders assem-
bled at the Treasurer-General's office, and after brief addresses
from Vice-President P. Kruger and the Hon. INI. AV. Pretorius,
as soon as the flag had been hoisted, Mr. Bok, the State Secre-
tary, read, in a loud and lirni voice, the iirocJMmalion of tlio
I'l-iiinivirate, as follows: — "On lliis the 81h day of August,

Proclamation of Truimviratc. 269

1881, the country has again reverted to our Government. This
liappened after signing of a Convention on the 3rd of August
between the representatives of the Eoyal Commission and the
Members of the Triumvirate, which Convention will be laid
before the Yolksraad and made public. With the greatest gra-
titude to our God we communicate this to all inhabitants. Now
is the time for us all to prove the strength of our country, and
through unity to make power. We thank all the Burghers for
their zeal and obedience, and trust they will now also, without
delay, strengthen our hands. We expect that all inhabitants
will at once pay their taxes, in order to rule our country. To
all inhabitants, without exception, we promise the protection of
the law, and all the privileges attendant thereon. To inhabi-
tants who are not Burghers, and do not wish to become such,
we notify that they have the right to report themselves to the
Resident as British subjects, according to Article 28 of the now
settled Convention. But be it known to all, that all ordinary
rights of property, trade, and usages will still be accorded to
every one, Burgher or not. We repeat, solemnly, that our motto
is ' Unity and Reconcihation,' our liberty is ' Law and Order.' "

Commandant-General Joubert then spoke briefly, announcing
that the Government had arranged that religious service would
be held in the Dutch Reformed Church in the afternoon at
three o'clock, and requested those present to remain a few days
longer in Pretoria until matters should have been settled more
or less. The Triumvirate then repaired to the Court-room,
where some of the heads of departments were sworn in. As,
however, Mr. P. Kruger did not feel himself well, the further
swearing in of the officials was postponed for a future occasion,
and the crowd dissolved.

President Brand and Sir H. De Yilliers had left in the pre-
ceding week for the Cape via the Orange Free State, and they
were followed by General Sir E. Wood and Staff on the 5th,
And by Sir Hercules Robinson and Staff on the Gth, for Cape
Town vw Natal. President ]jrand reached Bloemfontcin, the
capital of the Orange Free State, on the 14th of August, and
received a cordial address of welcome from the citizens, in his
i-eply to which he said: — "It was very gratifying to me to

2/0 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

receive the invitation from Her Majesty's Government to be
present at the proceedings of the Ro^-al Commission, and I
rejoice that their labours have been crowned with such great
success. Tlie Royal Commission deserve the lasting gratitude
of South Africa for the patience and assiduity and the earnest
desire most faithfully to promote the interests entrusted to
them, with which they addressed themselves to their difficult
task, and the zeal and conscientiousness and ability with which
they accomplished their important work. The whole of South
Africa will enjoy the fruits of their self-sacrifice and exertions,
and if it has been permitted me to be of any assistance, then
I have only done my duty, which I owe as a South African."

The members of the old Volksraad having been called to-
gether for the 10th of August, assembled on that day (their
proceedings will be found in Appendix 0) ; they fixed upon the
loth of September for the election of a new Yolksraad, the
members of which were to be sworn in by a committee from
the old Council. The new officials then appointed were : — State
Secretary, Bok ; State Attorney, Jorrissen ; Auditor-General,
Buskes; Surveyor-General, Rissik; Registrar of Deeds, Meintjes;
Orphan-Master, J. S. Joubert; Postmaster-General, De Vogcl ;
Acting-Landdrost of Pretoria, Vogel ; Chief Justice, Kotze.
Landdrost De Yilliers of Harrismitli had to come as First
Landdrost of Pretoria. Another Cape Colony man, the Rev.
IMr. Du Toit, was brought up from the Paarl as Superintendent
General of Education ; and this step seemed one in the right
direction. The Volksraad also settled that the ofticial language
should be Dutch, and no other would be allowed in the law
courts. On the day following the High Court was re-opened by
Chief Justice Kotze, who had served under the old Government
and also during Shcpstono's rrfiinw, but over whose head, in
Sir 0. Lanyon's time. Judge De Wet had been brought from
the Cape. After the Chief Justice had taken his scat on the
Bench, I\rr. II. van Rosscm, Registrar of the Court, read the
proclamation of the Triumvirate, giving notice of the retro-
cession of the country to the Government of the Transvaal.
The Slate Attorney then addressed the Court at some length,
and the Chief Justice made a suitable acknowledgment in reply.

Minor Officials. 271

Mr. Juta was appointed High Sheriff; and Lieutenant-Colonel
Ferreira (of Ferreira's Horse in the Cape, Zulu, and Basuto
Wars) was appointed to the command of an irregular force of
500, to be a semi-police force for the country. The Sub-Com-
mission on Compensation Claims, consisting of Justices De Wet
and Kotze, and Mr. Hudson, the Resident, commenced to sit on
the 11th of August, and it was notified that the following
pensions had been granted by the British Government : — N. J.
Ft. Swart, i*240 ; Fred. Jeppe, £100 ; J. G. C. van Leenhoff,
£1G0; R. K. Loveday, £73 ; A.M. Goetz, £125 ; M. C. Genis,
£60 — per annum. Many more received gratuities of different
amounts, and among them the late Auditor-General, D. M.
Kisch, £500.

During the rest of the month arrangements progressed rapidly
and quietly for the Volksraad elections, and requisitions were got
up and numerously signed to all the best men in the various
districts. It was also decided that the usual Pretoria Annual
Races should be held on the 27th and 28tli of September ; and,
with the exception of an increased emigration to the Cape, the
Orange Free State, and Natal, of the Loyals and many officials,
things went on very much the same as before. Among sub-
sequent official appointments were the following : — J. S. Joubert,
sen.. Master of the Orphan Chamber ; J. A. de Vogel, Post-
master-General ; Hendrik Rissik, Surveyor-General ; Tannay,
Chief of the Telegraph Department ; Johan Z. De Yilliers,
late Landdrost of Harrismith, Landdrost of Pretoria ; T. J.
Krogh, Landdrost of Potchefstrom ; C. J. Bodensteyn, Land-
drost of Rustenberg ; J. C. Krogh, Landdrost of Wakkerstrom;
Jacobus Smit, Landdrost of Standerton ; J. Backer, Landdrost
of Utrecht; C. Botha, Landdrost of Waterberg ; Human,
Landdrost of Middelberg ; Jacobus Uys, Landdrost of Bloem-
hof ; Captain Dahl, Yon Brands, and Biedel, for Torstpansburg
District ; Hoolboom, Gold Commissioner, Pilgrim's Rest. As
an indication of the prevailing spirit among the Transvaal
Boers, mention may be made of a hitch that occurred in con-
nection with the appointment of Mr. T. J. Krogh as Landdrost
of Potchefstrom. This was, of course, made the most of by
the Boer " Jingoes." The people refused to allow Mr. Krogb

272 IJ'iih the Boers in the Trausvaa!.

to take possession, and Messrs. Joubert and Buskes ^Yent down
from Pretoria to arrange matters ; and on tlieir return they
reijorted that the people said they were willing to obey the
orders of the Government, but they did not want to have ]\Ir.
Ivrogh as Landdrost, he being a sympathiser with the British
Government. They would protest against his appointment,
find memorialise the Government for his removal. Mr. Krogh
nevertheless remained in office for a short time, but as his
nomination was almost universally opposed, he subsequently
iipplied to be relieved from the office, and was removed to Wak-
kerstrom, and a Mr. de Koch, the people's choice, was substituted
iis Landdrost of Potchefstrom in his place.

The Dutch paper, the Volksteni, under Mr. Yilliers, was
again re-published, and strongly objected to the Convention, a
feeling which seemed to be upheld by most of the candidates
awaiting election to the Volksraad. The Boer Government
also adopted the old title of " South African Piepublic ; " but
this met with objection on the part of the Imperial Govern-
ment, and caused a telegram from England to be sent out to
the effect that the title "Transvaal State" could alone be
employed. Another telegram from London on August 29th
Btated that Parliament had been prorogued till the 12th of
November, and that the Queen's Speech alluded to the suspen-
fiion of hostilities in ]Jasutoland, and the Transvaal Convention,
which secured local autonomy.

In England also Mr. White, the Loyal Refugees' Peprescnta-
tive, had written a long letter to Mr. Gladstone, in which he
asked : — " What can compensate the Loyalists for the loss of
their friends and relatives, for the breaking up of their homes,
for the loss of their status as British subjects ? Can money
compensate the 800 Loyalists who arc about to be deprived of
their nationality and turned into Boers'? And how are loyal
]3oers and the natives to bo compensated by any pecuniary
gifts '? " — and thus concluded : — " Wo claim, Sir , at least as
much justice as the IBoers. Wc arc fatt!ifuT~siiT)jccts of Eng-
iLind, ailcl" have BufferocT anXaro suffering for our fidelity.
S 11 rely~wo, the fncTids of our country, who stood by her in the
time of trial, have as much right to cotisideratiun as rebels

Holland'' s Addi'ess. 27

who fought against her. "VVe rely on the frequently- repeated
pledges and promises of her Ministers, in which we have
trusted. We rely on her sense of moral right not to do us
the grievous wrong which the miserable peace contemplates.
We rely on her fidelity to obligations and on her ancient repu-
tation for honour and honesty. We rely on the material conse-
quences which will follow on a breach of faith to us. England
ca nnot a fford to desert us after having solemnly pledged
herself to u¥! She~canhot afibrd to undergo "the danger o f
internecin e war , or o f _ native risings ; the danger of her
Possessions in South Africa rising in revolt and falling into the
hands of a rival Power, o f the pr emium offered to rebellion ;
the danger of losing her reputation for being a nation whose
word can be trusted, or the retribution which surely follows on
national, as on individual, wrong-doing. On all grounds, even
the very lowest, we cry for justice ; and we implore you, sir, in
particular, not to allow the close of an illustrious career to be
sullied by the wanton abandonment of the loyal defenders of
the national honour, and an entire disregard for obligations
which you yourself have acknowledged to be binding."

While the Premier was being blamed, on the one hand, for
his Transvaal policy, on the other, he received much praise in
an address sent on the 20th of August by the Dutch Central
Transvaal Committee, from Utrecht, in Holland, which stated :
— " With great satisfaction we have learned that the South
African Republic has been restored to its original founders.
In the name of the people of the Netherlands, we therefore beg
to tender our thanks and homage to your Government, which
has accomplished this work of justice and generosity, and in
the first place to you, whose wishes the Government has carried
into effect. England has thereby established a claim to the
respect and sympathy of all those who look upon the fraterniza-
tion of the white races in South Africa as an essential condition
to the happiness and peaceful development of that region.
That the power of England was more than sufficient to reduce
so small a nation to subjection, none of us ever doubted ; but
you would not use that power as soon as you were convinced
that justice required the restoration of the Transvaal to freedom'

, T

2/4 With the Boei's in the Transvaal.

and independence. You have thus ohtained a moral victory
greater than ever could have heen achieved by brute force.
You have won the reverence of the noblest and best among
all nations, and you have set an example which will assuredly
have the most salutary effect in promoting the happiness and
the advancement of mankind."

Early in September the 2-21st head-quarters, &c., left Pre-
toria md Heidelberg for Natal, being followed by the Artil-
lery and Mounted Infantry, some of the 94th being only left
'pro tern. A notice was issued that the Eoyal Sub-Commission
would leave for Potchefstrom and other towns shortly, and that
all claims against the British Government were to be sent in
not later than the loth of September to the British Piesident.
On the 9th of September an important meeting was held at
the farm of Mr. John Gray, for the election of three members
for the district of Pretoria. The favoured candidates were
F. J. Joubert, H. P. N. Pretorius, and P. Pioos. The meeting
was unanimous in desiring an alteration in the objectionable
clauses, but equally so in supporting the action of their leaders ;
and in demanding from their representatives that, should they
fail in peaceful persuasion to induce England to take a more
generous and confiding view, they should none the less ratify
the Convention. This was the first real indication that was
given of public feeling in the matter. The speech of the day
was that of Mr. Frans J. Joubert, the leader of the Bronkhorst
Spruit attack, and a cousin of the njember of the Triumvirate
of the same name. The most important portion of Mr.
Joubcrt's speech was that which related to the feelings that
had been aroused by recent proceedings betAveen diiTcrent
classes of the community. "I earnestly implore each one of
you to let us hear no more after this day of Boer, or English-
man, or Hollander, or of Kafih-. Let us bury the dead com-
pletely, or only remember it for our good. No one party in
the State can get on alone, nnd if we each go our own way wo
fhall fall to the gi'ound. Wc must therefore go hand-in-hand,
and if wc do so we must prosper. Extend then the hand of
friendship to every citizen of the State, or any stranger who
wishes to remain such, of whatever country he may bo. We

Nciv Volksraad Opened. 275

may all have felt aggrieved at the action of individuals, and
especially those who have misled the British Government, and
have misrej^resented us ; hut these are not the British nation,
which has now done us justice, and when you look at an
Englishman in future I wish you to regard him as one of tliat
nation, and so also with all other Europeans. We all come of
one stock, and so should live in the land as brothers."

Troopships sailed from England on the 12th of September,
in order to take home and to India the troops not required in
the Cape and Natal ; but it was notified locally that no final
movements of troops down country would take place till after
the 2ith, the date fixed for the ratification of the Convention
by the new Volksraad, which the Triumvirate had undertaken
should be done. Everything being in readiness at the time,
the opening of the New Volksraad took place on "Wednesday,
the 21st of September, at two o'clock, and the whole of that
afternoon was occupied in constituting the Eaad, swearing in
the members, and other official acts. The following is a list of
the returned members : — District of Pretoria — F. Joubert,
H. P. Pretorius, P. G. Roos. City of Pretoria— J. C. Preller.
District of Potchefstrom — C. J. Bodenstein, H. Lemmer,
P. A. Cronje. Dorp of Potchefstrom — J. van Eck. District
of Ptustenberg — J. H. Fouche, J. M. van Piooyen, J. Malan.
Dorp of Ptustenberg, G. Strock. District of Leydenberg —
C. J. Coetzee, G. S. Mare, A. A. D. Blaauw. Dorp of Leyden-
berg — J. J. Lombaard. District of Utrecht — J. Birkenstock,
J. J. Spies, T. G. Steuckamp. District of Wakkerstrom —
C. F. Laubeschagne, A. A. Stoop, G. Visagie. District of
Waterbcrg — C. C. van Heerden, H. J. Smit. District of
Bloemhof — H. Kok, J. Minnaar, G. Niekerk, G. Niemand.
District of Middclberg — J. H. Coetzee, S. P. Botha, Nicolas
Smit. District of Heidelberg — G. D. van der Heven, J. D.
Weibach, C. L. Neethling. District of Standertou — J. P.
Taljaard, J. P. Otto. District of Marico — P. J. van Staden,
C. Botts, N. C. Grey. District of Zoutpansberg — J. F. Fioos,
H. F. Smit, P. C. Smit. The members whose election was
declared formal proceeded to elect a Chairman, when the choice
fell by a large majority on Mr. C. J. Bodenstein, and Mr.

276 11 ith the Boers in the Trattsvaal.

Tournay was appointed Secretary. A discussion then arose
about some irregularity in the election of twelve members,
and new elections were resolved upon. Next day (Thursday)
the Eaad was formally opened at noon during a salute of
eighteen guns, and the Address of the Triumvirate was read by
the Chairman (for which see Appendix P). The next few
days, after the finish of the purely official necessary business,
were devoted to the discussion of the terms of the Convention,
and the speeches were nearly all unanimous in their desire ta
have certain clauses amended previous to final ratification. In
addressing the Raad at the opening, the President (Bodenstein)
concluded as follows : — ** A great responsibility rests on us alL
The people have chosen us to watch over their interests at this
unusual time of the year, and under very exceptional circum-
stances. The management of the country's affairs requires
great caution and discrimination. Many of you have shown
yourselves to be fearless of danger in the field. Forget not,
however, that here a new field is opened to you, on which j'ou
must act fearlessly, but with great prudence. The ej'es of the
world are fixed upon us. Be patient and circumspect in your
deliberations, as the future welfare of the people rests in your
hands." An adjourned discussion of the clauses lasted until
the 30th, when a Committee of the whole House sat with
closed doors ; and a Select Committee was appointed to report
upon various matters in dispute. ]\Ieantime Mr. G. P. Moodie
was ap})ointed Surveyor-General ; and, in the Volksraad, Mr.
Krugcr asserted that the members of the Sub-Commission on
Claims had done their work as far as they had gone with strict
impartiality, and were entitled to the fullest confidence.

As the discussion was lasting longer than had been antici-
pated, more supplies were sent up from NcMvcastlc for the troops,
uud all downward movements were counlcrnianded. The Raad
continued sitting during the first week in October, and, in
consequence of the Report of the Special Committee, sent the
following telegram to the Jiritish Government on October 5tli: —
*' To the Right Hon. \V. E. Gbidstonc: Triumvirate instructed
by Volksraad tf) apprise you tliat in their 0})ini()n the Con-
vention is contrary to the Treaty of Sand River, in 1852. The

Objections to Clauses. 277

Convention is, in many respects, an open breacli of the peace
agreement between Sir E. Wood, for Her Majesty, and the
Boer leaders, who, trusting tliat the principles laid down
there would be executed, laid down their arms. The Volks-
raad request that Articles 2 and 18 may be altered. The
Suzerain has no right to the conduct of foreign affairs ; only
.the control. Likewise, it is agreed by the peace agreement
that we should have complete self-government, and as they
stand Articles 3, 13, and sub-division of 26 are a breach of
that solemn treaty. The Suzerain has no right of approval of
■our laws. The Piesideut being a foreigner cannot be a trustee
■of property belonging to our citizens. It is 'infra dignitatem
for the President to be a member of a Commission.
Although willing to pay our debts, we want proof and
Touchers ; this is not given now. From Article 8 the word
* commandeering ' to disappear. Article 20 : They who
.annul grants pay damages. Articles 15, 16, 26, and 27 super-
fluous — only calculated to offend."

While awaiting the reply to these demands, the Volksraad
"proceeded with the other business of the country, affirming the
principle of monopolies, to develop the internal resources of
the country, and determining to show a spirit of j)rogress.
On the 11th of October a telegram was received from England
to the effect that Mr. Gladstone would not grant any further con-
cessions, and had stated that, while experience might necessi-
tate amendments in the Transvaal settlement, the protection of
the interests of the natives was necessary for the dignity of
England. On the 14th another and more decisive telegram
■came from London , saying that the Government was resolved
to insist upon the ratification of the Convention. Mr. Glad-
stone, in replying to addresses, also expressed his determina-
tion to abide by the Convention. Communications by tele-
graph continued between the Home Government and the
Transvaal Government until the close of the month ; and as
the final date for the ratification of the Convention by the
Volksraad had been fixed for the 3rd November, and in default
of such ratification on or before that date a forward movement
of the British forces was to be expected, considerable appre-

278 With the Boers in the Transvaal,

hension was excited as to the result. Bat in the end, finding
that no further concessions could be obtained, the Volksraad
waived their objections, as it were, under protest ; and the
Convention was finally ratified on the 25th of October, with the
expression of a hope that modifications in the sense desired
would thereafter be conceded by the British Government, after
experience of the future working of the settlement thus
definitely confirmed.*

* The concluding paragraph is a recent addition ; as the matter was
still under discussion in the Volksraad, and the result doubtful, at the
time when the author's labours were concluded, and the MS. was des-
patched to England for publication, towards the end of October.

279

CHAPTER XXV.

THE LAST THREADS.

Troubles in Zululand — Sitimela and Umlandela — Umgitwya and Soralilolo — John
Dunn intervenes — Sir E. Wood to the Rescue — Cavalry Escort — Interview
with Zuhi Chiefs— Journey through Zululand — Arrival at Delagoa Bay — By Sea
to Natal — Sir E. Wood opens Xatal Council — Extracts from Speech on
Transvaal and Zululand — Fresh Outbreak in Oham's District — Views on the
Zulu Settlement — Colonel Beliairs on Transvaal Natives — Claims sent to Sub-
Commissioners — Memorial started in Pretoria — Memorials of 58th, 3-60th
and 92nd Regiments — Boer Treatment of Wounded and Neutrals — Official
Reports thereon — The Exceptions — ilofiat at Zeerust — Dr, Crow at Heidelberg —
Use of Explosive Bullets.

In this chapter I intend gathering together the few remaining
threads necessary to complete my work, hefore concluding with
a general criticism on the campaign, and the prospects of the
future. The first matter that demands attention (although not
directly connected with the Transvaal) is the recent fighting in
Zululand, Sir Evelyn's visit thereto, and the new proposed im-
provements on the settlement efiected hy Sir Bartle Frere and
Sir Garnet "Wolseley. Towards the end of July hegau the trouble
in Umlandela' s territory. Sitimela (a younger brother of
XJmlandela's), supposed to be an escaped convict, but claiming
to be the chief of Umtetwas, managed to slip through into-
Zululand, collected a lot of people, and told Umlandela he
must go. Umlandela sent and finally fled to Chief Dunn for
protection. John Dunn immediately went to the Umhlatoosi,
and was soon in possession of an impi of from 3,000 to 4,000,
principally Umlandela' s men. He succeeded in putting down
the disturbance. Sitimela tried to tamper with Somkeli,
whose reply was — " "We were put here by the great white cbiof
(Sir Garnet), and I shall not move until he tells me to."
Another of the chiefs, Umgitwya, chief of the Umkosana tribe,

2 So IVith the Boers in the Transvaal.

also fled to John Dunn for protection, as liis people were siding
with Somlilolo, whom they declared to be the rightful heir.
In consequence of these disturbances General Wood arrived in
Ladysmith on the 15th of August, and arranged to start for
Zululand, to hold an indaha with tlie chiefs at the British
Resident's place on the Inhlazatye, and settle their disputes.
He had a long interview with Mr. Rudolph (late Landdrost of
Utrecht), the Resident Magistrate at Ladysmith, and started
the next day for Zululand, via Newcastle and Conference Hill.
A Squadron of the 14th Hussars, from Ladysmith, accom-
panied the General as an escort, and were met by a Squadron
of the Gth Dragoons and another of the 15th Hussars, all
under Colonel Luck, C.B., at State Drift. Sir Beaumont
and Lady F. Dixie accompanied the troops. General Buller,
Colonel Grenfell, and Captain Browne, A.D.C., also went with
them. Major Frazer accompanied General ^Yood, and Mr.
Rudolph left Ladysmith on the 22nd to meet them at tho
Inhlazatye on the 24th. General Wood and his Staff — Major
Frazer, Lieut. Slade, A.D.C., Lieut. Hamilton, Pr. Sec, and
Mr. Gurdon, C.B. — left the Inhlazatye on horseback on Septem-
ber 1st, having made a stay of a week. They proceeded through
Zululand and Swazieland to Delagoa Bay, where H.M.S.
Firebrand had gone up to await them. General Buller and
■Colonel Grenfell returned with Mr. Rudolph and the troops to
Newcastle on the 4th, the 14th Hussars and Mr. Rudolph
Teaching Ladysmith on the 12th of September. H.M.S. Firc-
hrand left Delagoa Bay at 3.30 r.M. on Tuesday, September
9th, and arrived in Durban on the Sunday morning following,
when Sir E. AVood came up by special train the same day to
Pietoi'niaritzburg. His Excellency opened the annual session
of the Legislative Council of Natal on Thursday, October Gth,
attended by a brilliant Staff, welcomed by a large concourse of
people ; and in the course of a long speeeli, delivered personally,
he said, referring to the Transvaal and Zululand : —

"TTa]ii)ily for Natal, Ium- inliabitiiiits liavo been spared the miseries
■wliioli are inseparable from \varlik(i operations, and, except in some
few instances, in the more serious of whicli tho snflcrers hjive already
been compensated, her ])eople have enjoyed undistiirlx'd traiupiillity
during the strife which was ended by the lioers aecepting the terms

Viezus on the Ziilu Settlement. 281

offereJ by Hei* Majesty's Government. It is to be hoped that the British
and Dutch inhabitants of the Transvaal, and also the coloured races,
ma}' equally prosper, that heartburnings engendered by recent events
may die out, and that all differences may be forgotten in promoting the
common welfare of all its peoples. Zulu affairs have for some time
occupied my serious attention, but peace prevailed in Zululand until
July. So far back as April complaints of undue severity on the part of
the appointed chiefs having been put forward, the chiefs concerned and
the complainants oxpre<scd through the British Resident their desire that
I, as the representative of Her Maiesty, should inquire into the circum-
stances and decitle thereon. Her Majesty's Government approved of my
proceeding to Zululand for this purpose, and also that I might per-
sonally ascertain the wishes and opinions of the appointed chiefs on
certain suggestions which have been made for the better government of
their country. Accordingly a meeting of chiefs was arranged for the
'29th of August, 18SI. Owing to the extraordinary severity of the weather
I postponed the meeting to the 31st. I gave my award in the cases
referred to me, and I was requested by the chiefs to convey to Her
Majesty's Government their unanimous desire that the suggestions for
the better government of their countries might be adopted. This I did
in the proceedings of the meeting, which have been submitted for the
approval of Her Majesty's Ministers."

Only a few days after this fighting again commenced in Zulu-
land, between Oham and the Bagulisini tribe, and between
Usibebu and Uudabuka, resulting in the former case in the
-entire dispersal of the Bagulisini tribe, the remnants of which
have fled to the Wakkerstrom district in the Transvaal ; and
in the latter many natives were killed, Usibebu himself wounded,
and his semi-official Sub-Resident, Mr. Colenbrander, dan-
gerously assegaied. What will be the outcome of these troubles
I do not knos\' ; but of one thing I am certain, namely, that
Sir E. Wood will not be able to find twelve men both able and
willing to undertake a British Sub-Eesidentship as proposed
■with the twelve different tribes and district chiefs unless an
example be made of the recent disturbers of the peace, and
unless a strong force be allowed them, for a time, to preserve
order, secure their persons from danger, and maintain their
authority. The Zulu people themselves are willing enough to
pay taxes for a strong visible form of Government that can keep
order and protect their lives and property. Under the circum-
stances I think that no better scheme can be devised than that
of Sir Evelyn, if Cetywayo be released and allowed to return to
a residence near the chief British Resident, who should have
XI council of representatives of each separate chief always near

282 IVitk the Boers in the Transvaal.

him, by whom matters shouhl be settled under the Kmg's order
and the British Eesident's advice. Until something of this
kind is done, the present unsettled state of affairs and the petty
jealousies between the different tribes and chiefs will only serve
to offer opportunities to the dissatisfied and to adventurers for
instigating disturbances in which they have everything to gain
and nothing to lose, I trust, however, that some definite and
real settlement will shortly take place in their unhappy and
distracted laud, where certainly it must be admitted that " all
the men are brave and all the women virtuous." This digres-
sion on the state of Zululand and its inhabitants will I hope be
pardoned for the importance of the subject, not only to Natal,
but also to the whole of South Africa.

"With regard to the firm stand being made by Mr. Gladstone
against the wishes of the New Volksraad on the subject of
Native Government in the Transvaal, the following letter, ad-
dressed to Sir E. Wood by Colonel Bellairs, C.B., — then ad
interim Administrator, and for nearly two years Military Com-
mandant in the Transvaal, — a clever, patient, and unprejudiced
officer, may be of service, as elucidating the matter, and also
affording a hint for the Government of Zululand : —

" Pretoria, May 18th, 1881. Sir, — I have recently forwarded for Yo\ir
Excellency's information many statements made by native chiefs to the
Secretary for Native Affairs, all more or less to the same purport, depre-
cating the retrocession of the Transvaal, and exjaressing dread at the
prospect of again coming v:nder Boer Government. Some of the chiefs
appear to have declared tlint they will be forced to takenp arms hereafter
against the Boers, and that they will only pay taxes to the British Govern-
ment. I therefbie desire to urge upon the consideration of tlie Eovul
Commissionr'rs, tliroiigh Your Excellency, in the interests both of the
natives and the future Government of the Transvaal, that steps should be
taken without delay to moderate the evil inthuMices at work, and to re-
assure the natives by proving to them that the}' will not suifer througli
the transfer of Government about to be carried into effect. This, of
course, can only be done by a hearty co-oi)eration on the part of the Boer
leaders. If a comm()n-.scnse view of the matter is taken, the question of
Native treatment and taxation in tlio Transvaal may bo said to resolve
itself almost into otie of mutual interest, and is one which might there-
fore be advantageously usetl as a 2>owerful engine to bring about a \)qv-
manent better understanding lictween the Boers and natives, (iive pro-
tection and equal justice to the natives, and they will be willing enough
to j»ay their taxes. Tiiat being so, it would surely be a suicidal policy on
tlie |iart of the Boers were they to act so as to jeopardize the collection of
Buch an ijnjjortant item of revenue as the hut tax, estimated to bring in

Claims scut to Sub-Commission. 2 S3

tliis year i!l:0,00O, ami an increasiug amount in succeeding years. Much
"would be gained it' the natives could be given to understand that the pay-
ment of these taxes bound the local government to give them protection
and ensure their receiving justice and good treatment at all hands; and,
again, if the Boers could be made rightly to comprehend that their own
interests, the future stability of their Government, and the principal
source of their revenue depend mainly on their treatment and behaviour
towiirds the natives. Taxation cheerfully submitted to is, it appears to
me, the true way to introduce industrious and civilized habits among the
natives. In order to raise the required amount for payment, numbers of
each tribe are annually sent away to work for the whites. Anything
tending to interfere with the collection of native taxes would affect not
only the revenue, but also the labour market. The future Boer Govern-
ment would, I submit, act wisel}- if, following the same lines as pursued
by ourselves, it appointed a Minister for Native Affairs, with District
Native Commissioners to overlook the natives and prevent any tendency
to aggression on the part of any neighbouring Boers."

Keferring to the work of the Sub- Commission on Claims, it
is interesting to note that those sent in to Pretoria alone
amounted to nearly 15,000. Of these there were sent from
Pretoria, 187 claims ; Potchefstrom, 251 ; Leydenberg, 60 ;
Middelberg, 41 ; M. W. Strom, 48 ; Standerton, 36 ; Marico
and Zeerust, 32 ; Utrecht, 21 ; Heidelberg, 15 ; Paistenberg,
35 ; Christiana, Bloemhof and Keate Award, 22 ; Zoutpans-
berg, 18 ; Waterberg, 1 ; New Scotland, 8 ; Kimberley, 5 ;
Natal, 71 ; Orange Free State, 4. These claims were sent in
by all .sorts and conditions of men, from bishops down to natives,
and included merchants, storekeepers, lawyers, professional
men, and private individuals. Many of them were put aside at
once as being indirect claims, among which the principal were
those of Bishop Jolivet, Barrett Bros., Bishop of Pretoria,
J. N. H. Crow, Cape Commercial Bank, T. Bond, N. G. Swart,
H. Smithers, A. Broderick, H. Nourse, Decker & Green, Father
De Lacy, and AValker E. Higginson. The Commission sub-
sequently held sittings at jNlaritzburg and Newcastle in order to
receive and examine the evidence of those claimants who desired
to be heard. Claims of a diflerent description were also made
by relatives of the dead, for personal mementoes and property
taken by the Boers. The following notice was issued by the
Triumvirate, but with what results I have not yet learned : —
"The Government and representatives of the people having
been frequently requested by the Royal Commission, in the

2S4 JVith the Boers in t/ie Transvaal.

name of the relations of the English officers and soldiers who
were killed in the last war, for their lost properties. To those
Burghers who may have such properties in their possession,
after having ohtained the consent of their officers, we give notice
that they might greatly please many of those relations hy
sending them back. "We are desirous also to add that the
military authorities have given notice that they will pay the
value of such properties." Memorials to the dead have also
been projected, and in some cases already erected. In Pretoria,
on August 24th, a meeting of the subscribers to the Volunteer
Memorial Fund was held in the European Hotel, when it was
resolved, " That in the opinion of this meeting it is advisable
that one monument be erected to all who fell in defence of Pre-
toria, and that the names of both military and volunteers be
included in the inscription to be placed on the monument, and
that the military be invited to subscribe." The hon. secretary,
Mr. "Wallace Duncan, communicated with General Bcllairs,
C.B., and asked him to arrange with the officers of H.M.'s
troops in Pretoria to co-operate in the movement. Another
meeting was held two days afterwards, at which General
Bellairs, C.B., Colonel Gildea, the British Resident, and a
number of others were present, when the following resolution
was almost unanimously agreed to: — "That united action be
taken by the military and volunteers of the Transvaal to erect
a monument to the memory of those who have fallen or other-
wise lost their lives in the Transvaal in the heroic defence which
was made from December IG, 1880, to March 31, 1881 ; and
that such memorial be erected, if i)ossible, in St. Paul's Cathe-
dral, or other national place in England." The following were
appointed as " a Committee, with power to add to their number,
to collect subscriptions and take such steps as they may see lit
for carrying out the former resolution, and bringing the memo-
rial to a successful issue: " — lirigadier-Gcneral Ikllairs, CM.,
Lieutenant-Colonel Gildea, Major Cunipbell, INIajor 13rowne,
Captain Churcliill, the Hon. the ]iritish Kcsident, Messrs.
n. C. (Jrcen, E. E. Simpson, Dr. Crow, and Wallace Duncan.
The following names have been added since : — Sir Owen
Lanyon, the Very Rev. Provost Gildea, Colonel IMontague,

Memorials. 285

Messrs. C. K. White, Johnston, Glyun, D'Arcy, and Rennie.
A Finance Committee was appointed, and a London Committee
with Sir Owen Lanyon as Chairman. Arrangements have heen
made with the Cape of Good Hope Bank and the Standard
Bank to receive subscriptions at any of their branches, and
credit the same to the account of the Transvaal Defence Memo-
rial Fund at their Pretoria branches.

At Mount Prospect the graveyard is carefully enclosed and
looked after ; and the survivors of that distinguished Regiment,
the 58th, who took part in the now memorable assault of
Lang's Nek, have determined to erect on the spot a Ptegimental
Monument to the memory of the brave men who lost their lives
on the 27th of January, while storming the Boer trenches. On
the summit of Amajuba a lasting memorial is also to be placed
in position by the men of the 92nd Highlanders to the memory
of their comrades who were killed at the battle fought at the
last-named place on the 27th of February ; and the 58th Regi-
ment also contemplate erecting a memorial stone on the Hill.
The officers and men of the 3-GOth also ordered a handsome
obelisk, which is placed at Schuin's Hooghte, in memory of
those who fell in that engagement. The inscription upon one
of its sides is as follows : —

This Memorial

Is erected by the Officers,

Non - Commissioned Officers,

And Men of the

60th Koyal Eifles,

In Memory of their Comrades

Who were Killed
Or Died of Wounds received
In Action, near this Spot,
On the 8th February,
1881.
Lieut. Garrett.
Lieut. O'Conncll.
2nd Lieut. ITaworth.

Then follow, on the other three sides, the names of the non-
commissioned officers and men.

286 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

Since the commencement of tlie outbreak great stress Las
often been laid upon the irreguhar and cruel way in which the
Boers carried on their warfare and ill-treated their prisoners
and those neutrals who tried to remain in the Transvaal quietly
while the war was in progress ; but I think, after the testimony
of the late Sir George Pomeroy Collej' himself, the ofiicial
inquiries of Colonel Stewart, and the subjoined matter which
I wish to bring prominently to the notice of my readers, that no
one will for a moment visit the Boer leaders, and the principal
portion of the patriots under their command, with the crimes of
a few unknown and unrecognized lawless individuals, such as
are always to be found in any country, whether civilized or not,
where warfare is going on. The conduct of Commandant
Cronje at Potchefstrom is certainly open to animadversion ; but
in all other cases I think it will be found that the ill-treatment
complained of was shown by purely private individuals, Avho, in
many cases, are undiscovered and unpunished to this date. In
corroboration of my opinions I wish to give a few documents
and letters, and first in the list are the following : — The London
Gazette of June 10th contains a despatch, dated April 16th, from
Sir Evelyn Wood to the Secretary of State for "War, enclosing
a report from Lieutenant-Colonel H. Stewart, 3rd Dragoon
Guards, whom he had directed to ascertain the condition of the
wounded and prisoners in the hands of the Boers. Sir E\clyn
Wood says : — " From this report it will be seen that both at
Heidelberg and at Bronkhorst Spruit the prisoners and wounded
received every attention, and that their confinement as prisoners
of war was of the least irksome kind."

The following letters, from one of the wounded at Amajuba,

and Lieutenant Jopp, 58th liegimcnt, speak for themselves : —

" It havinc,' come to my Icnowlcil^^o that l\rr. W. Scluilt/., of Utrecht,
who fon^'ht ill the IJocr ranks ;it jjimt^'s Nek iintl Am:ijiili!i, has lieeii
nccnsecl of ill-treatinp the woundetl on those occasions, 1 shall feel ohli^'cd
if you will ])uli]ish my testimony as to J\Ir. Schult/'s cdndiict. 1 was
found on the Held at Amajuba hy ^\v. Scliultz, havinf( fainted through
loss of blood from a bullet wound. Mr. S. l)rought water in his hat and
^'avc me a driidc, and wlien ho fmiiid Ihis did not revive me, obtained and
^ave me brandy, lie also helped me out of danger, lent nu' his coat i'or
a pillow, and placed a bottle of water by my side; after which Ik; returned
to the Uoer ranks. — Marit/burg, .Juno 10, 1881." "Newcastle, Ajiril 11,
1881. — Mr. W. hJchultz. — !Sir, — Agreeably to your request of thc'Jth inst,

Moffat at Zccrtist. 287

I have maJe every inquiry ro<TarcIiiig tlie subject mentioned in your
letter; and I am glad to be able to say that I can find no traces of
reports having been spread by any non-commissioned officer or soldier
of my regiment regarding your behaviour to the wounded during the
war. And I sincerely regret that some j^ersons have made a handle of
one of the men of my regiment to sjjread I'eports which are utterly untrue
and unfounded."

These are sufficient as to the treatment of the wounded hy
the Boers ; and with regard to their pillaging propensities, the
Special Correspondent of the Times of Natal, on his road up
to Pretoria after the peace, made special inquiries in many
localities along the route, and he reported that, with the excep-
tion of some isolated cases, the conduct of the Boers, generally,
iifibrded little, if any, real grounds for complaint.

Now, having given the bright side of the question, in fairness
I must also relate the particulars of two outrages which,
although objectionable in themselves, yet do not incriminate the
leaders of the people, with the exception of those whom I have
before named. First as to the ill-treatment of the Rev. Mr.
Moftat, the well-known missionary, the friend and brother-in-
law of the late Dr. Livingstone. In a letter from a gentleman
who escaped from Zeerust to Kimberley occurs the following,
under date January 17th, 1881 : — " On Christmas morning there
came 150 Boers on horseback and some in carts, all with guns.
The English people were all ordered to come together on the
stoep in front of the Court House. We numbered about
twenty-five. Of course we took no arms with us. The odds
would have been far too great, and another thing, there were
scarcely any rifles or ammunition in Zeerust. The Boers
raised their flag and fired a volley of bullets over it, then the
proclamation was read, and we were told we could not leave
unless we had a pass from the Commandant ; and we were also
informed by the Commandant that if any English person was
heard using any seditious language against the Dutch law, or
giving any Kaffir guns or ammunition, they would give us five
minutes to say our prayers and then shoot us. Mr. Moffat,
from Seychelles, being Kaffir Commissioner as well as Mis-
sionary, was ordered by th6 Commandant to tell the Kaffirs
they were under the Dutch law, and that they would have to do

288 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

what tliey ordered them to do. Mr. Moffat replied, ' While I
receive my orders from my Government, which is the English
Government, I shall endeavour to execute them.' You can
form no idea of the fiendish manner in which one of the Boers
dealt him a tremendous hlow in the chest with the stock of his
rifle ; another struck him in the face. I helieve they would
have torn him limb from limb if their Commandant had not
stopped them. All that time the other Boers had their guns
pointed at us. We expected one of their guns would have gone
off by accident, and then the others would have followed. If
such had been the case there would not have been a man of us
to tell the tale. They then gave orders for all people having
ammunition to bring it out, or otherwise they would go into
the houses and turn everything upside down to look for it.
There was only one store which had powder, and that was Mr.
Daly's. They took 60 lbs. of powder and 1,000 lbs. of lead,
besides other things out of his store, and took what they
wanted out of the other stores also. We all had orders not to
leave the town until such times as the Commandant thought fit
to give us passes to leave."

The second case is that of Dr. J. N. Harvey Crow, a Civil
Surgeon employed during the war at Pretoria, who was sent to
Bronkhorst Spruit with Surgeon-lNIajor Comerford to attend to
the wounded of the 94th Regiment, and, in a statement of his
experiences, he relates that he accompanied ten prisoners of the
O-lth from the scene of the disaster to the Boer camp at Heidel-
berg, and arrived in the laager early on the morning of Sunday,
the Gth of February. Their waggon was taken to the centre of
the camp, and close to the inner or cattle laager. Their rations
being finished, the Boers supplied them with a goat and some
meat. As Dr. Crow was personally known to several of tho
Boers there, they sent to him for his personal use milk, biscuit,
and coffee. As the doctor had gone down for the purpose of
procuring hospital comforts for the wounded at ]3ronkhorst
Spruit, and thinking that the waggon niiglit bo sent back that
day, he asked permission to see the Commandant, and was
taken to jNFr. Muller, the Commandant of Heidelberg. On
infuiiniiig liini thai cerluin huspitul comforts were required for

Dr, Crozu at Heidelberg. 2S9

the wounded, Commandant Muller informed him that, hcing
Sunday nothing coukl he done then. He, however, gave the
doctor permission to take the prisoners whom he had accom-
panied down to the river for the purpose of bathing, which lie
did, the party being guarded by a number of armed Boers.
Nothing unusual happened that day. Early on the following
morning (Monday), a Mr. Brink came to the waggon and asked
for the doctor, inquiring what things were required for the
wounded, and telling the doctor that he could act in this matter
as well as the Commandant. Dr. Crow handed him a list of
what he wanted, and then accompanied him to the tent of the
Commandant, from whom he received a pass to go into Heidel-
berg to their commissariat stores, and also permission to wash
and breakfast at the Eoyal Hotel, but was told to return
without any unnecessary delay to the laager. Immediately on
his return he saw three of the soldiers with whom he»had come
down cooking at their fire, which was close to their waggon,
with Due sentry keeping guard. There were usually two
armed sentries there, but one had gone away at the time for
some purpose or other. The remainder of the ten soldiers
were outside the laager collecting fuel. Dr, Crow walked up
and down in front of the waggon, when suddenly a Boer with a
large ox whip in his hand rushed up to him, shouting out
something, which Dr. Crow, owing to his very imperfect
acquaintance with the Dutch language, did not understand.
Seeing that the Boer evidently meant mischief, in as good
Dutch as he could speak, the doctor said, " All right, what do
you say? " The only answer he got was a cut with the whip,
which the Boer wielded in a most brutal and unmerciful
manner about the doctor's legs. He did not move from the
place, when, while the cowardl}' assault was being committed,
another Boer, also with a whip in his hand, came up, and,
dropping his whip, presented his rifle at the doctor, who spoke
to a Boer standing near, who had seen the whole business.
The doctor told him it was a most cowardly and unprovoked
assault, as he was in their laager, and unable to defend himself.
He asked this Boer if he would tell him the names of his
assailants, and the answer he got was an abrupt order to hold

290 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

his tongue. Dr. Crow then said he felt certain that the assault
had been committed -without any authority, and asked one of
the sentries to accompany him to the Commandant's tent, as
he intended to lodge a complaint. This the sentry flatly
refused to do. All this happened in the presence of several of
the soldiers, who were then prisoners in the camp. On going
into the town about twelve o'clock, Dr. Crow met Sir Morrison
Barlow, and told him the whole particulars of the matter ; but
Sir Morrison said that any interference on his part, seeing he
himself was a prisoner, would be of no avail. He, however,
sent for the Landdrost, to whom Dr. Crow repeated his state-
ment. Nothing more was done in the matter then.

The charge of employing and arming natives against the
British Forces, as reported at Lang's Nek, was disproved; but
there can be no doubt that another charge, viz., that of using
in a few cases explosive bullets, is true. And when we consider
that the Boers arc noted hunters, and armed with the best
Avcapous of precision and certainty for killing game, it is easily
understood that a few of them, having arms and ammu-
nition of this kind, and not being armed by the State, should
have taken the field with what arms they possessed, and used
them unthinkingly and indiscriminately. AVhen the question
of customs of civilized warfare was raised at Potchcfstrom the
following conclusive correspondence passed : —

"Potchcfstrom, February t, 1881. — Comniandcr-dcnoral of IT.M.
Troops in the Camp at l\)tchofstrom. — Sir, — AVc are informed by one of
your spies, caught on the road going to Pretoria, that you are wantonly
destroying powder and ammunition, and, if the moment comes for sur-
ren<li.'r, that you will do so only after having spiked your guns. "Wo
remind you. Sir, that this is entirely against the usances and customs of
civilized warfare. We, from our side, wish to follow the law established
amongst civilized nations. We adopt the jirinciples laid down at tJeneva;
and it is, therefore, that we warn you not to commit the acts whereof you
are accuscil; it will only make the conditions of the hicvUaldc surrender
harder. — I iiavc, &c., P. A. CiioxJi:, Commandant-General."

Colonel Winsloe replied to the above letter as under, en-
clositig a eerlilicate, signed l^y two doctors, regarding the
explosive bullets : —

" Sir, — T liave the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
this day's date. 1 beg, witliout being discourteous, to decline to cuter on

Use of Explosive Bullets. 291

any subject which may have been raised by any messenger of mine. I
thank you for the hints you give me as to the customs of civihzed war-
fare, and would ask to be allowed to assure you that I have been accus-
tomed to no other, and that I have no intention of breaking these rules
in the smallest particular. In the second paragraph of your letter I find
the following, viz. : ' We, from our side, wish to follow the line of warfare
established amongst civilized nations. We adopt the principles laid down
at Geneva, &c., &c.' I take leave. Sir, for the third time to remind you
of the fact of explosive bullets from sporting rifles having been tired
into my camp, and that this practice is still continued. This, as I before
stated and still continue to believe, is contrary to your orders; and I
again ask that it be immediately discontinued, licing contrai-y to the i^ro-
visions of the Geneva Convention, which ycu wish to follow. If you will
do me the favour of sending one of your doctors to my camp I will show
him the Avound for j'our satisfaction. I have not yet thought of sur-
render, and therefore I think you will excuse my discussing that point. I
shftil feel obliged by receiving an answer to paragraphs 3 and 4 at your
e'.rliest convenience. I enclose a letter from one of my surgeons for your
information. — I have, &c., K. W. C. Wixst.ge, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel
Commanding'H.M. Troops, Potchefstrora." [Enclosure.] " Officer Com-
manding, Potchefstrom. — I hereby certify that Private Colvin, at present
in hospital here, was wounded on the 22nd of January by a rifle bullet,
the said bullet or missile being of an explosive character, as no kind of
bullet whatever allowed by the Geneva Convention could have caused
such a wound as the man is now suiFering fi*om. — R. S. Wallis, Surgeon,
A.M.D. ; CiiAS. Sketchley, Assistant District Surgeon. The Foi't,
Potchefstrom, 4th February, 1881."

Again at the Amajuba the same complaint was made, and
substantiated by the following reports ; and I myself saw a
Free State Burgher who had what looked to me like explosive
bullets during my stay in the Boer camp : —

" Sub-Lieutenant Augustus L. Scott, attached to the ISTaval Brigade,
referring to the use of ' exjilosive bullets ' by the Boers, says : — The
2nd section of the company Naval Brigade was then sent to line the
edge of the mountain in rear. I went with this section. Shortly after
part of the S-jth Regiment were withdrawn from the left of the moun-
tain, and replaced by portions of the 1st and 2nd sections of Naval
Brigade. Our men were lying down under good cover, firing seldom, as
the Boers did not show iu force on the left, and generally kept out of
range. Lieutenant Trower was near me, and Commander Romilly was
with us the greater part of the time. At about 11 a.m., twelve of my
men were taken from the left and sent to the front of the hill. Com-
mander Romilly came over from them, and in returning he was shot
through the body whilst standing by the General, the bullet exploding
after passing through him. Dr. Mahon, who was close hy, at once
attended him, and he was carried to the hollow of the mountain out of
fire. Surgeon Edward Mahon, R.N., in his report, adds : — Surgeon
Laudon and myself chose a position for the hospital near the centre of
the plateau, behind a ridge of rocks, and calculated to be out of the
enemy's fire. A well was immediately dug near this spot, and a good
supjjly of water was obtained at the depth of three feet. After about an

292 IVifh the Boers in the Transvaal,

hour a few shots began to be exchanged, but none of our force were hit
for about an hour. A desultory fire continued up to about 11 a.m., up
to which time five of the 92nd only had been slightly wounded, and were
dressed by Landon and myself. At about 11 am. I went over to the
west side of the plateau to see how Lieutenants Scott and Trower were
getting on. I had hardly been there three minutes when I heard a bullet
explode close to us. I heard the General say, ' Captain Romilly is hit,'
and turning round saw General Colley kneeling by the side of the Com-
mander, who was lying on the ground about four yards from us. I
sent for a stretcher, and proceeded to dress the wound, which I found
to perforate the left side of the abdomen and coming out of the loins.
The bullet had only passed through soft parts, which accounts for it not
exploding inside the body. I had him carried to the hospital. ... I was
returning to the hospital when I saw our force beginning a retreat, which
soon became a rout. The Boers gained the rocks just above the hospital
in great numbers, and poured a tremendous fire indiscriminately on every-
body they saw. Dr. Landon and two of the A.H.C. were shot down
■whilst attending to the wounded, the former being mortally wounded. I
then wont back to the Commander, and fixed my handkerchief on a stick
and held it up over him, but it was almost immediately shot away, and a
hot volley fired all round us. Bevis then fixed a piece of lint on a
bayonet, but was immediately twice shot through the helmet. I ordered
him to lie down until the la.st of our men had passed us, and did the same
myself When the ]5oers had driven our men over the side of the hill,
and had got within fifteen j^aces, I got up with a piece of lint in my
hand, and shouted to them that I was a doctor, and had a wounded
man with me. Two or three of the younger Boers wanted to shoot us,
but were prevented by the elder men. The Boers then got all round us,
and opened fire on our men retreating down the side of the hill. While
they wen; thus engaged, Bevis and myself jiicked up the stretcher, and
carried Commander Romilly back to where the hospital was. When
about half way across we were surrounded by Boers, \s\\o were with great
difficulty prevented from shooting the Commander as he lay, they being
under the idea that he was either Sir Garnet Wolseley or Sir Evelyn
Wood."

This brings to an end my chapter of odds and ends, or the
last threads, and leaves me free to introduce my concluding
.remarks in the twenty-sixth and final chapter.

293

CHAPTER XXYI.

GENERAL REVIEW.

The Annexation Question— The Charges against Burners — Ill-advised Proceedings —
The Ilepublican Government— ililitary Defects — Mistaken Tactics — The Bronck-
horst Spi-uit Affair — The Amajuba Defeat — The Conduct of the Boers — The
Medical Stafl— British Colonial Policy— The South African Colonies— Sir T.
Shepstone's Defence — Concluding views.

In taking a final retrospect of the causes, rise and end of
the late war, a short summary of the various undoubted and
admitted facts (as given in this work) may aid the memory and.
place the present position and future prospects of Transvaal
affairs plainly before all. The great exodus on "trek" in
1833 — the causes and course of which are fully given in pre-
vious chapters — produced for many years an unsettled state of
affairs in all the regions north of the Orange Eiver ; and it was
not until the Orange Free State had been relinquished to its
Boer inhabitants, and the Treaty of Sand River in 1852 had
given similar rights of freedom under their own laws to the
Boers who were scattered beyond the Yaal River, that things
began to settle themselves and some order was obtained out of
chaos. Events went on slowly and with changing fortunes
until President Burgers was elected to succeed Mr. M. W.
Pretorius as the second President of the South African Re-
public, as the Transvaal was then denominated. This gentle-
man being a Hollander, although born at the Cape, naturally
enough initiated and instituted a new order of things, more after
the fashion of European States; 9vi -o aid him in his schemes

294 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

he called to bis assistauce other Hollanders, evidently not
being able to find the materials necessary among the Boers
of the State themselves. The new ng'nnc opened fairly ; and
when President Burgers went to Europe, was there recog-
nized as the head of an Independent State, and even arranged
for a large loan for railway purposes, every one in South Africa
looked forward hopefully. Unfortunately, neither the President
nor his advisers, nor the people themselves, had calculated
upon the almost complete absence of actual sympathy that
there was, as between the slow, indolent, semi-educated, and
patriarchal Boers and the more enterprising Hollanders and
others of advanced ideas. This dissidence, however, soon
began to manifest itself when the pockets of the Boers were
more frequently touched ; and it resulted gradually in alien-
ating from the Government the confidence of the great mass of
those inhabitants of the Bcpublic who lived at long distances
from the capital, and were, therefore, not capable of realising the
benefits of the more civilized and European form of Govern-
ment then being carried out. This state of things led to the
abandonment of the war against Secocoeni, and the failure of
the monetary arrangements and other schemes made for the
carrying on of the Government, together with the payment of
interest on the loans raised and the small national debt. Thus
matters were brought, in 1877, nearly to a crisis.

As a matter of course, this was too good an opportunity to be
neglected by a British jNIinistcr, whose ideas of the Confedera-
tion of all South Africa into one State under ]kitish supremacy
were strong and ever present. Sir T. Shepstone was therefore
despatched at this crisis with secret instructions, and evidently
large discretionary powers, to consult and advise with the
Transvaal Government under the circumstances then happen-
ing ; and the excuse made for this visit was the old cry of
iiliiiiii against " a general native rising or complications which
miglit lead to such." What Sir T. Sliepstone's real instruc-
tions were may perhaps remain unknown ; but that he bad
authority to do as ho did is as uiidou])tnd, as that the method
in wliicb lie carried out liis instructions was " cliildlike and
bland." However much, therefore, one may approve or dis-

The Charges against Burgers. 295

approve of the act of annexation itself, once that was effected
by the orders, or at any rate, let me say, with the knowledge
and subsequent consent of the British Government, there can
be no two opinions but that the terms upon which it was done,
and the promises made by Her Majesty's Special Commissioner
in so doing, should have been strictly redeemed and carried
out. It is even now a disputed point, though one in my
opinion of little consequence, as to whether President Burgers
consented voluntarily to the act of annexation, and issued a
protest _23ro/b?-/?««, receiving afterwards a pension for his act;
or whether he resisted it throughout in hona fulcs. At any
rate, not very long ago — in the course of a controversy which
arose in the public press, both in the Colony and in Holland,
with the Eev. Lion Cachet (a minister of the Dutch Iieformed
Church) regarding his accusation against the former President
of betraying his country for the sake of a pension — Mr. Bur-
gers wrote to the editor of the Zutphcnache Gourant, and said,
inter alui, that, " departing from the custom of defending
himself, he nevertheless stated his readiness to render a true
and faithful account of tli< pension question ; but that he
could shortly say that thu y/hole affair was an invention, as
neither from the British nor from the Transvaal Governments
did he receive a pension ; and he requested this most positive
statement to be repeated."

But to return to the annexation itself : no active steps were
taken, nor was any opposition made at the time by the Boers,
doubtless owing to the advice and good offices of some of the
leaders ; but the perfectly legal and constitutional com*se was
adopted of protesting against the act, and drawing up such
memorials and statements of facts as would, they hoped, induce
the British Government to annul Sir T. Shepstouc's annexa-
tion upon further representation and the evidence of the
truth. Of course, during the respective Administratorships of
Sir T. Shepstone and Sir Owen Lanyon, the Boers undoubtedly
have themselves to thank for many of their troubles ; for they
entertained, and openly evinced, such a profound hatred for
everything that was British that they, at once, without a fair
trial, condemned any measure, no matter what it was, or its

296 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

object. In consequence it Ayas certainly a very difficult matter,
M-ithout using a certain amount of severe authority, to tiy and
govern to their advantage an alien people, "who were deter-
mined not to be governed at all by the so-called and hated
oppressors. After repeated deputations and memorials had
been sent to Natal, to Cape Colony, and to England, the Boers
found that their statements were laughed at, their acts ridi-
culed, and their unity, determination, and j^luck not only
doubted, but held in derision. This exasperated the younger
Boers to such a pitch as to render them ripe for anything.
Even then, however, a little conciliation, or the appointment
of a well-known Colonial civUidn as a Governor — who would
exercise his authority only on the basis of their Constitution —
with the promise of a Royal Commission to inquire into their
grievances, would have been sufficient to pacify them. But
no ; blindly and wilfully the British Government allowed them-
selves to be led by the nose by a party of political pariahs and
specious speculators, and a system of coercive, autocratic
government was carried out by the military pro-consuls, who
neither took into consideration the crass ignorance of the ]3oer
people, nor made allowance for their total want of knowledge of
a strong civilized Government. And so at last the Boers rose
in desperation against their oppressors, saying, " Thrice they
had fled and thrice they had been overtaken by the grasping
spirit of the British Government ; but now they would go no
further." The result is known, and never was doubted by
those who recognized the simple, true, brave spirit of the
fieedom-loving lioers, on the one hand, and the constant
changes of political opinion and policy on the part of the
Jiritish Government and nation. In vain, after the first out-
breulc, did the Government — who then realized the danger —
successively ollVr easy terms, a Iloyal Commission, or partial
tiliandonment of the country if the peojile would only disarm.
It was then too late ; no faith was placed in the promises of
any English Ministry; and, with the examj)le of how Natal
hud iK-en treated before them, the lioers decided to risk their
all npon entiiH! lilxirty or extermination. 'J'lie nicdintion of
President Brand, the good wishes of Sir George Colley, and

The Rcpttblican Government. 297

the eTiclent conciliatory and yielding spirit of the British Govern-
ment were all of no avail, until the people had proved their
determination and pluck, and had washed out some of their
wrongs in blood. Then, and then only, could the leaders per-
suade the mass to listen to terms, with the result that peace
was made.

The first acts of the Eepublican Government, which took
np its head-quarters at Heidelberg, were doubtless sudden and
severe ; but, with a few exceptions, its subsequent conduct and
acts were all that could be expected from a semi-civilized, un-
military, but brave and determined people. Their proclama-
tions, notices, and letters, although written in a vaunting,
semi-religious style, yet bore the stamp of truth in their
contents, and, taken together, form a practical and conclusive
justification for their acts. In Sir George Pomeroy Colley the
Boers saw and recognized an enemy brave, generous, and un-
prejudiced ; and his constant attempts to carry out the war on
a proper basis, from beginning to end, were acknowledged and
met in the same spirit by the Triumvirate. The absurd
question of Natal's neutrality was at once put upon a proper
footing. Much as all Britons must regret the severe losses and
suff"erings of the British troops in the late campaign, it is
admitted by all that they were out-generalled, out-shot, and
over-matched in every way at the first. Of course there can
be no question as to what the result would have been in the
end had the conflict continued — although it might have caused
a warfare of race throughout South Africa dreadful to con-
template — it could only have ended in what the Boers them-
selves call entire extermination.

If we look into the course of the war, the condition of the
combatants, and the details of each engagement, the conclusion
is unavoidable that, until some radical changes are introduced
into our army, its old days of glory and pre-eminence are num-
bered. Attention must especially be given to the defects of
the short-service system, causing loss of csxirii de corps, and
producing nothing but raw lads, brave and willing enough it is
true, but wanting the requisite training and stamina — to the
lack of mounted infantry (not irregular cavalry) — and to the

298 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

theoretical and staff training of the greater portion of our
officers. These patent deficiencies, combined with the constant
changes of successive Governments, and the waste of valuable
lives in the conduct of our numerous little native wars — which
are never worth the risk or the price, and do nothing in the
end either to add to British glory or conquest — have prevented,
and will still prevent, our service attaining that state of
efficiency and pre-eminence hitherto considered as associated
with, or as inseparable from, the British arms. The days of
bayonet and cavalry charges, at least in Colonial wars, are gone
by ; the sword is almost useless and obsolete as a weapon, the
revolver nearly as much so, except for close quarters ; and
sending our officers into battle, conspicuous as they are, un-
mounted and comparatively unarmed, is nothing but homicide
when fighting against men armed with breech-loading weapons
of precision in difficult or rocky country, where they know every
inch of the ground, and can fight or decline as best suits them.
Bravery alone — always a characteristic of the British officer —
is now-a-days unavailing. And although, doubtless, it was in-
cumbent on Sir George to advance to the borders of Natal and
the Transvaal, in the hope of diverting the Boer strength from
the sieges of the various garrisons in the Transvaal — which Ihe
Genei-al knew were weak and badly provided — there can be no
doubt that after feeling the enemy's strength at Lang's Nek
(when everything was done that could have been done by the
force at his command) ho should have fallen back, to await the
arrival of reinforcements, to a good position, where ho was not
liable to have his communications cut off, and where he could
threaten the enemy's retreat in the event of llicir advancing
far into Natal.

The lironckhorst Spruit affair was undoulilcdly an unfoH nnato
and somewhat equivocal act from the British point of view ;
but Colonel Anstruther had received ample warning to enable
him to take adequate precautions, and to avoid being taken by
surprise. An able writer, wlio had all the facts before him,
expressed the following opinion, coinciding witli my views, after
the conclusion of the siege of Pretoria: — "Colonel Bcllairs
had sent off, 0:1 the evening of Dci-cndicr 15th, a special mes-

The Bro7ickhorst Spruit Affair. 299

senger with a letter to Lt. -Colonel Anstruther informing him
of the serious nature of aftairs, and cautioning him to guard
against any sudden attack or surprise, and instructing him to
send forward the natives (voerloopers, &c.), to reconnoitre along
the tops of and over the hills hefore advancing. It is proved
Lt. -Colonel Anstruther received this letter at six o'clock on the
morning of the 17th December, while encamped on the Middle-
berg side of the Oliijhant's River, and sent an answer the same
morning by the messenger who had brought the letter. Not-
withstanding these instructions scouting was very indifferently
performed. There were only four men of the Mounted Infantry
with the troops, and while on the march one man was always
sent to the rise in front, and another to the highest hill com-
manding the surrounding country. The natives do not seem to
have been used for scouting at all, which, considering the very
small number of mounted men they had for performing that
most necessary duty, was, in my opinion, a grave mistake.
Even had scouting been efficiently performed, it is quite possible
that the 94th might have met with defeat, outnumbered as they
were by the Boers; but, at all events, they would not have
been so thoroughly taken by surprise as they were." The men
and officers undoubtedly behaved pluckily enough under the
circumstances ; but the mistake lay in ever having placed them
in such a position as to become an easy prey, and give the
kudos of the first victory — always a great point — to their
enemies.

The fight on the Ingogo and Schuin's Hooghte was well
carried out, and would perhaps have had a difierent ending had
a larger force of mounted infantry been employed to keep off
the attacks of the enemy until the guns were got into a good
and unassailable position, well supported by the infantr}'. The
shooting of our men was certainly inferior to that of the Boers,
althou<2:h both had little cover except what each man could
individually gain. Here, more than ever, was shown the folly
of fighting against irregulars, so to speak, after the fashion
laid down and taui^ht in the official drill books. Theorv and
knowledge of tactics are all very well against highly-trained,
disciplined, and organized enemies, whose movements will be

300 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

based on similar principles. But when the enemy fights irre-
gularly and on a totally different system, success is to be
obtained solely, if at all, by meeting them with their own
weapons, and by a ready method of adaptation to the practical
circumstances. Evidence of the soundness of this line of
reasoning is supplied by the occurrences of the Zulu and
Afghan campaigns, where the British scarcely ever fought on
the ofiensive, but mostly awaited the attack of the natives-
with varying success, when and where their enemy chose ; and
this because of the great difficulty and delay attendant on the
transport and march of infantry and heavy cavaliy. On the
other hand, mounted infantry, pure and simple, can move with
the utmost independence and rapidity, fight or decline an en-
gagement as opportunity offers and as may seem best, and so
harass the enemy as to make the advance of the main body
more safe, rapid, and effective.

The ascent and attempt to hold the positions on the Ama-
juba, considered 'per se, must be acknowledged as a grave
mistake, having regard to the number and mixed character of
the force taken to effect the purpose. The position was cer-
tainly one of great strength if occupied by a number of men
sufficient to hold the brow or outer edges, provided with a
good supply of ammunition and provisions, and combined with
an attack in strength by another force upon the main or flank
position of the enemy. But, notwithstanding Sir Evelyn
Wood's declaration that had Sir George Colley lived he would
have satisfactorily explained his scheme, I cannot avoid coming
to the conclusion that, with the reinforcements so near at
hand, and the presence of Sir Evelyn Wood, the movement
was unnecessary, too incompletely organized and too hurriedly
executed, and that it should certainly have been done, if at all,
with Sir lOvclyn Wood's knowledge, if not actually under his
command. Sir George Colley had done everything that a good
soldier and brave man could have done up to that time under
the circumstances and with tlie forco at his command; but
his position, as Governor of Natal and High Commissioner,
ought to have prevented his leading such desperate oxi)cditious
in person, especiully when no combined ud finco movement or

The Amajnba Defeat. 301

general attack was contemplatod. Another point, upon which
^rcat stress was laid at the time, must not be forgotten — viz.,
that the two regiments, which alone he then had at his
<lisposal, were both composed of very young soldiers, who,
though not wanting pluck, had neither the experience nor the
•confidence necessary to be relied upon for important move-
ments and hazardous enterprises. This I say in no spirit of
•depreciation against the regiments themselves, among which
I have very respected friends, but simply as recording facts, and
as against the system at present in vogue, which allows such
a state of things to be possible. I myself saw, during my stay
amongst the Boers, that many of the rifles captured on this
occasion were sighted at 200, 300, and in some cases 500
yards. I am also borne out in my views by the following
extract from a letter written by ]\Irs. Montague (the wife of Major
Montague, of the 94th Regiment) — who accompanied Lady
Colley to the grave of her late husband at Mount Prospect —
written to a friend in England. After describing the going up
and back very vividly and pleasantly, she adds: — "In my
next letter you wdll hear some more about Sir George's death.
There seems no doubt he was left alone entirely ; he could not
Tun like all his men did. This comes of commanding hoys
instead of men. The officers did thoroughly well ! "

The behaviour and mode of fighting of the Boers themselves
lias been described more fully in the former part of this book; but
I would now wish to add the testimony of another " Special,"
of certainly anything but Boer proclivities, who says : — "The
behaviour of the Boers has won them the respect of many who
formerly held them in contempt. Hardly an officer is there
who has had anything whatever to do with our late enemies
■but is very favourably impressed with them. Their kind
-treatment of the wounded, their pluck, their civility on all
•occasions when meetings have taken place, have done much to
remove bad impressions. Their tactics have taught us lessons
which might with great advantage be studied by men who are
considered authorities on military matters. They move with a
rapidity that, compared to the snail-like pace of our men,
seems like lightning. Their doings are not cut and carved

302 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

by rule, precedent, and red-tape ; good common sense governs
their actions. While an English officer would be puzzling his
brains over the rules and regulations of the service, unable to
do this for fear of breaking that regulation, and yet afraid to
do anything else because failure seemed certain, a Boer leader
can mature his own plans as best suits the occasion ; he gets
his general instructions from his Commander-in-Chief, but
there the hampering ends, and the instructions are not to
be allowed to weigh for a moment against any act that may
appear justified by circumstances ; in short, a Boer leader,
instead of being, as an English officer is, but a part of a great
machine, very pretty to look at,>but very cumbersome and at
times useless, is a living, thinking human being, free to exercise
his judgment, and move wherever he thinks he may be of the
greatest service to the army to which he belongs, A man does
not need to pass the Staff College to be a good General.
Adjutant-General Smit, the great fighting man with the
Boers, is a simple farmer ; but he and Commandant-General
Joubert defeated Sir George Pomeroy Colley, one of the most
brilliant strategists in the whole English Army; — a man who
was looked upon as one who would yet be amongst the
greatest in the ranks of their leading commanders and
generals."

In praise of all the garrisons too much cannot be said; but
I think the palm must certainly be given to that of Potchef-
strom, where the conduct, cheerfulness under extraordinary
difficulties, and bravery, shown by the determined and plucky
little band under Colonel Winsloe, deserves special reward, and
ranks equal to the history of the besieged of Strasburg, or any
other of the noted sieges during the eventful war of 1870-1.

The only part of the British Army organization which was
com])] etc and never failiug was that of the Army Medical
J)c])artment, under Surgeon-General Holloway, C.B., and the
other medical officers, some of whom died on the field of battle,
and all of wliom worked splendidly throughout. The conduct of
Surgeon McGann, and the military chaphiin, licv. G. M. St. ]M.
Ritchie, at tho Ingogo fight, and all through the terrible events
which followed, when they were left alone on the field with tho

BritisJi Colonial Policy. 303

(lead, wounded, and dying, in a dark, cold, and rainy night,
Las been recounted before, and amply merited the mention and
reward it will doubtless obtain. Then, again, at the Amajuba,
Surgeons Landon and Cornish were either killed or died from
wounds received while in the execution of their simple duty
in attendance on the wounded during the engagement ; while
the work done afterwards by Surgeon-Majors Babington and
Mahon was beyond all conception and praise.

In Pietermaritzburg — the base of operations and head-
quarters of the line of communication — the routine work,
though extremely heavy, was done thoroughly and without a
hitch by Lieut.-Colonel Wavell, 41st Regiment, and the rest
of the Staflf; and, in fact, from the moment the war was
determined upon by the British Government and reinforcements
were sent on, the experience gained in the Zulu War was
visible through all departments, and everything went smoothly,
both in the landing operations at Durban, and the forwarding
up country by the Transport and Commissariat Departments
under Commissary-General Brownrigg, C.B.

The actions of the Liberal Government under Mr. Gladstone,
from the beginning to the end of the whole miserable affair, can
neither be said to have been guided by circumstances, necessar}'
for political purposes, consistent, nor yet calculated to please
cither the Boers or the British out in the colony. It is
true that some British statesmen now assert that the trade,
commerce, and prosperity of Great Britain depend very much
upon her colonies ; but, until lately, many if not most of
them thought that separation would be both best for the
colonies and cheaper for the mother country. How fallacious
this view is may be seen when our colonics are considered as
being the natural and best outlets for our surplus labour and
capital, much of which has, even up to now, been diverted to
foreign countries, through the shortsightedness of the British
Government and the paralyzing action of the Inquisitorial
Department of the Secretary of State for the Colonies — yclept
" the Colonial Office." With regard to Colonial Loans, it will
be generally admitted that the general public who subscribe to
them have more faith in them, because, somehow or the other,

304 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

they have come to a practical sense of their value. If we
look at the grand total of Colonial Loans which have been raised
in England, and then reflect that the interest on those loans is
paid with the regularity of the dividends of the Bank of
England, we shall discover that from this source of revenue
alone English capitalists are benefited to the extent of mil-
lions sterling annually. Then, as these loans are generally
applied to purposes necessitating the expenditure of large sums
for material, England benefits again by being called upon to
supply it. In the face of these facts, then, it is folly to
contend, as some writers do contend, that our colonial pos-
sessions are overgrown and too great for the mother country
to support ; because, in the light of the fact that the colonies
are self-supporting, this is an evident contradiction. It may
be news, perhaps, to people who argue in this way, to tell
them that England's prosperity is likely to increase rather
than to diminish just in proportion as the colonies become
" overgrown," or just in the ratio in which labour and capital
can find reproductive employment.

Of course, as regards the South African Colonies, it will be
said, indeed it is said, that the Native Question is such a bug-
bear as to prevent that attention being paid to them as a field
for emigration or investment as would otherwise be done.
This view may be perfectly correct at present ; but as schemes
are now being arranged for a projected strong native policy to
be adopted mutually throughout all the South African States,
I hope in the course of a few years that the anomaly of an
English colony, like Natal, encouraging a native race in idle-
ness, and security, without an adequate payment in the shape of
taxes — with a High Court, presided over by an English Judge,
to encourage polygamy, and enforce the payment of loboli, or
purchase-money for wives, and other repugnant native laws and
customs — may be swept away, and a brighter time set in for all.
When that time shall come, and come soon it must ; when the
Crown lands shall bo cleared of the numerous unauthorized
native squatters, and thrown open upon a cheap and broad
system to lOuropean occupation ; when tribal chieftainship,
polygamy, and native locations are done away with ; then, and

Sir T. Shcpstones Defence. 305

then only, will the Kaffirs be obliged to work for a certain
portion of the year ; and in return for the security of law and "
order given to them they will willingly pay taxes, and thus
contribute a large share to the Colonial revenue, lightening the
heavy burdens now entirely borne by the white inhabitants.
Then they may begin to learn more thrifty habits, and feel the
benefits of civilization. And surely, if, in all these past forty
years, the small white population in Natal have been able to-
keep peace among the native inhabitants of this colony, who out-
number them by nearly thirty to one, even under the present
admittedly bad system, when a united native policy shall have
been inaugurated between all the States and Colonies, the native
question ought no longer to be looked upon as a bugbear ; and
British interference, and the continued presence of Imperial
troops throughout South Africa will cease to be a necessary evil.

To return to the more immediate question of the Transvaal.
Many attempts were made to obtain from Sir T. Shepstone a
public statement of his views during the outbreak and continu-
ance of hostilities ; but, although he made a semi-private state-
ment to General Yaughan, the Special Commissioner of The
Times, which was published in that paper, this justification for
his past acts and present silence contained little else tban I
have before given on the subject. After peace was declared,
however, the Press of the Transvaal was resuscitated, and so
strongly attacked Sir T. Shepstone that they obtained the
following straightforward and manly letter from him, which^
as being his only public utterance on the subject, I have much
pleasure in bringing before my readers. The letter was
addressed to the Editor of the Transvaal Argus, and dated
June 17th, 1881 :—

** Sir, — In a sub-leader that appears in your paper of the-
4th inst. you comment, with perhaps not unnatural severity,
upon what you describe as my ' taciturnity at the present junc-
ture.' It seems to you that some action on my part is
demanded by the position in which atfairs at present stand ;
you remind me that I am primarily answerable for the present
condition of the loyal residents of the Transvaal ; that it was I
who acted as the agent and representative of England in taking

3o6 With the Boers in the Transvaal.

over the country ; and that it was on the guarantee of promises
made by me, on behalf of the English Government, that men
of capital and energy went into the Transvaal and did their best
to develop the resources of the land.

" You proceed to say, one would have thought that, under
the circumstances, a chivalrous regard for those who believed
in the promises, of which I was the official and recognized
mouth-piece, would have induced me to break a lance in defence
of the policy initiated by me, and yet I remain * mute as a fish.'
This ' taciturnity ' or ' muteness ' you attribute to * moral
cowardice,' although, in doing so, you disclaim the wish to do
me injustice.

** You are right in crediting me with the belief that * silence
is golden,' and especially do I believe it to be so, when speech
would be inefiectual or mischievous; no one, I venture to say,
has been more deeply grieved by the course which events have
taken in the Transvaal than I have been, or has felt more
keenly the consequences which have followed the act which I
carried out as the Representative of Her Majesty's Government
in that country ; and no one can sorrow more sincerely than I
do for the suflerings and losses of those w^ho believed, as I did,
in the promises ministerially made by me on that occasion ;
and this sense of grief and sorrow is intensified tenfold by the
reflection that all the bloodshed, the misery to the survivors of
the hundreds killed, the bitterness of feeling, and the ruin of
perhaps thousands, which this unnatural struggle has caused,
to say nothing of prospective evils, were wJioUy unnecessary,
and might have been avoided.

" But what action on my part would have prevented all this,
or could remedy what has happened ? Would defence of the
policy ' initiated by me ' have had cither of these effects ? Is
the Annexation doubted ? Are the promises made by me in
the name of llcr Majesty's Government denied ? Could any
justification of these passages in the history of the Transvaal,
four years ago, have changed or modified what has taken place
during the last seven months ? In my judgment nothing that
I could have said or done would have availed to change the
current of events in any way, and nothing that I can say or do

Conchiding Views. 307

now would have any other effect than to damage or to irritate.
The considerations which have led me to arrive at these con-
clusions are precisely those upon which you urge the opposite
course ; my duty to all concerned, and especially to the
sufferers, seems to me, for the present at least, to impose
silence, not the silence of indifference, but that which is
dictated by sincere respect and deep sympathy.

*' You refer me to the service which Sir Bartle Frcre has
done, and urge that such service might well be imitated and
emulated by me. Sir Bartle Frere, you say, and say truly, has
had infinitely less to do with politics in the Transvaal than I
have ; and in saying this, you give the reason why that which
might be proper and effective, if done by such an eminent
statesman as Sir Bartle Frere, would be out of place and mis-
chievous if done by me. I may be wrong, but you must allow
me the privilege of acting as I believe to be becoming and
right, and possibly you may, on further consideration, be in-
clined to admit that the method adopted by Sir Bartle Frere,
although perhaps the only method by which those concerned
may become aware of his sympathy and good service, is not the
only way in which good service may be rendered ; and if you
admit this, you will, I think, be unable to resist the further
admission that you have assumed a little more than you had
any right to assume." — This plain-dealing letter speaks for
itself, and needs no comment,

I had intended writing a few lines upon the present aspect
of affairs in the Transvaal (October, 1881) and their probable
outcome ; but the action of the Volksraad in delaying to ratify
the Convention, the consequent movement of troops in this
Colony, and the firm stand at last made by Mr. Gladstone,
combine to throw so much uncertainty over the future course of
events, that I am induced to let matters be — only remarking
that it will require many months of firm, straightforward action
on the part of the New Transvaal Government to carry out their
ideas, and to imbue their followers with the absolute necessity
of acting up to the laws issued for' their government, and of
giving a united and frank support to the Executive in their
every attempt to execute them. The Boers have certainly no

X 2

3oS Wtf/i the Boers in the Transvaal.

cause to grumble at the terms granted them, and I trust that
they will not "lose the reality in grasping at the shadow," as
others have done before them ; but that they will see the ex-
pediency and wisdom of ^v'orking in concert and amity with the
British and surrounding Colonial Governments, for the general
good, and the advancement of South Africans of all nationali-
ties, irrespective of colour, race, or creed.

In conclusion, I have to acknowledge the uniform kindness
and assistance shown me both in Natal, the Orange Free State,
and the Transvaal, by those who, knowing ray errand, might
have otherwise hindered my object and placed great obstacles in
my way, and thus have made my task harder, if not impossible.
In the publication of this work I cannot, of course, hope that
every one should agree with my views ; but I have endeavoured
to place the facts fairl}', plaiul}', and consecutively before my
readers, so as to enable them to have a thorough understanding
of the great questions now troubling South Africa, both " Boer,
Black and British." My knowledge of and stay among the
Boers of the Orange Free State and Transvaal will not have
been in vain, if they have enabled me to succeed in this object.

I find I have omitted to give an official statement of the total
losses of the Boers throughout this war, and to remedy this I
have placed them with some other interesting details in the
Appendix Q, along with a short biography of the five principal
Leaders.

APPENDIX.

SOUTH AFRICAN CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE.

A.D.

Cape of Good Hope discovered by Bartholomew Diaz . . . 14S6

Discovery of Natal by Vasco de Gam a 1497

A Dutch Company obtained Charter of Ports, &c., beyond the Cape 1602

Dr. Van Riebeeck arrives and founds the Cape for the Company . 1652

First Cargo of Slaves arrived in the Colony from Guinea . . 1668
Quarrels with Native Hottentots ended and their Lands bought 1671-2

First War between Dutch and Kaffirs 1683

Natal first visited by the English 1683

Arrival of French and other Refugees at Cape . . . 1685-9

First Vineyard planted at Constantia, Cape Colony . . . 1688

Fish River constituted Eastern Boundary 1778

Cape Settlement first captured by British ..... 1795
South African Library started at Cape Town (lirst commenced

1761) 1800

Cape restored to the Dutch 1803

British capture it again after Battle of Blueberg . . . . 1806-

Last Cargo of Slaves ai'rived 1807

Boers reach northward to Graaff-Reinet (established a Magistracy

in 1786) 1811

First Kaffir Border War 1811

Natal first visited by Zulus 1812

Cape Colony finally ceded by Holland to Great Britain by Con-
vention . 1814

« Slaghter Nek " Rebellion at Cape 1815

N'Gaika acknowledged Supreme Chief of the Amascosa . . 1817

War with Amascosa Chiefs . 1818

Cape Colony Boundary on East extended to Keiskarama River . 1811^

First British Settlers located in Albany District .... 1820

Natal devastated by Zulus under Charka 1820

Koyal Observatory founded at Cape Town 1820

Waterboer succeeds Adam Kok as Chief of the Griquas in Griqua-
land West, and Adam Kok and his People located in Grio'i-i.-

land East _ . . _ . , . • 1821

Proclamation of Lord C. Somerset against Public Meetings . . 1822

Lieutenant Farewell and Mr. Fynn arrive at Natal . . . 1S23

Memorial sent by Cape Colonists to Great Britain . . . 1823

First Lighthouse erected and Newspaper issued at the Cape . . 1824

Appendix.

1835
1836
1836
1836

1837
1838
1838

A.D.

First Eoyal Commission sent out ...,,., 1826

Exclusive use of English Language ordered 1827

Dutch Courts of Law first abolished at Cape .... 1828

Zulu King Charka died 1828

Kat Eiver Hottentot Settlement 1829

Griquas attack Umzilyazi, Chief of the AmataLili . . . 1831

Exodus of Dutch Boers first commenced 1833

Convention with Wa'erboer for defence of Northern Boundary . 1834

Slavery abolished at the Cape 1833-4

Boer Emigration over Drakensberg to Natal 1834

Second Kaffir Cape War 1834-5

Fingoes released from Slavery and located between Fish and Keis

kanima Rivers

Potgieter's Party settle in Orange Free State

Battle between Boers and Amatabili

Pieter Retief and Party arrive in Natal

Dingaan massacres Pieter Retief and his Party, while on a Visit

in Zululand .........

7Jefeat of Zulu Army, under Dingaan, by Pretorius and 460 Boers

Pietermaritzburg and Durban laid out by Boers

Battles at Tugela Mouth between British and Native Allies and

Zulus

Major Charteris, wiili Detachment of Soldiers, occupies Port Natal
Abandonment of Natal by Captain Jervis ....
Boers and Zulu Allies, under Umpanda, defeat Dingaan
Umpanda proclaimed King of Zululand by Pretorius .
Mr. Justice Menzies crossed Orange River and declared British

Sovereignty to 25 degs. S. lat. and 22 degs. E. long.
Second Military Occupation of Natal by British .
Engagement between Military and Boers at Durban
Reinforcements arrive from Cape and Boers retreat
Natal recognized as being a British Dependency .
Battle of Zwaart Kop between Boers and British .
Natal annexed as District of Cape Colony ....
Third Kaffir Cape War, called the " War of the Axe " .
Martin West, Esq., appointed First Lieutenant-Governor
A. Pretorius journeys from Natal to Cape to reju-csent Grievances
Battle of Boomplaats, between Boers and British in Orajige Free

State

Orange River Sovereignty declared British Colony

Anti-Convict Movement at Cape .......

War in Orange Frei' State with Basntos under Moshesli

Fourth Katlir Cajie War IS.

Rebellion of Kat Jliver Settlement Hottentots ....
Battle of Berea between Basntos aiid ]5ritish in Orange Free State
Sand River (convention d'claring Independence of 'I'ransvaal
General A. Preloriiis died, ami his Son, ]\1. W. I'retoriu.s, succeeds

liim as l'r(>sident of the 'J'ransvaal

Pieterniarit/hurg created a City and Bishop's See — Dr. Colenso

first Bishoji ..........

Orange Free State al)an(loned to Boer.'f by Convention of BKieni-

Ibntein ...........

Tragedy of Potgieter's Rust and ]\Iakai)an's Caves

1838
1838
1839
1840
1840

1842
1812
1.S42
1842
1843
1^14
1H45
1846
1817
1847

1848
1848
1849
1850
0-1-2
ls:,i
1H52
1852

1853

1854
1854

Appendix. 311

A.D.

Mr. Boshoff appointed First President, Orange Free State . . 1854

Matyana's Affair in Natal 1867

First Transvaal Free Constitution (Grondwet) drawn up . . 1858
Wars between Basutos and Boers of Orange Free State . 1858-64-66

M. W. Pretorius elected Second President Orange Free State . 1860
Griquas moved from Orange Free State to "No-man's-land" . 1860

M. W. Pretorius retires back to Transvaal 1863

Internecine Boer quarrels in Transvaal .... 1863-69-74-79
President Brand elected Third President Orange Free State . . 1864
Carl Manch and Hartley discovered North-East Gold Fields . 1865

Transvaal Paper Currency issued 1H65

First Diamond found in South Africa 1867

Pretorius resigns his Transvaal Presidentship .... 1868

Basutos become British Subjects ....... 1868

Basuto Boundary Line defined by Aliwal North Convention . . 1869
First Diamond found at Kiraberley, Griqualand West . . . 1869
Griqualand West ceded to British by Waterboer .... 1871

Pretorius succeeded by Dr. T. F. Burgers as Transvaal President . 1872
Eesponsible Government granted to Cape Colony .... 1872

Umpanda, King of Zululand, died, and succeeded by Cetywayo . 1872
Leydenberg and Marabastadt Gold Fields discovered . . 1872-3

Langalibalele's Rebellion in Natal 1873

Dr. Livingstone died June, 1873

Diamond Fields Rebellion . . 1873

Cetywayo crowned by Sir T. Shepstone in Zululand . Sept. 2, 1 873
Stamps and Gold Coinage issued in Transvaal . . . 187'3-4<

First steps at Confederation by Lord Carnarvon .... 1874

" No-man's-land " annexed to Cape Colony 1875

President Burgers left for Europe 1875

British Government paid Orange Free State £90,000, in settlement

of Diamond Fields' Claim . 1876

Judge A. Stockenstrom appointed to Special Land Court in Gri-
qualand West 1876

First Confederation Conference in London ..... 1876

Transvaal First War with Secocoeni 1876-7

Secocoeni sues for Peace 1877

Sir T. Shepstone annexes the Transvaal . . . April 12, 1877

Arrival of 13th Regiment (P. A. L. L) at Pretoria . . .1877

British Flag hoisted at Pretoria May 25, 1877

Fiftli Kaffir Cape War against Gaikas and Galekas . . . 1877
Zulu Boundary Commission in Natal .... February, 1878
Outbreak in Griqualand East of Pondos and Griquas . . 1878

Fighting between Konannas and Damaras in Namaqiialand . . 1878
80th Regiment and Volunteer Corps sent up to Transvaal, also

90th Regiment July, 1878

Second Secocoeni Campaign .

Boer Deputation to England with Protest

Zulu War, Border crossed

Boers held great Meeting near Pretoria .

Sirayo's Kraal attacked ....

Isandwhlana Massacre ....

Gallant Defence of Rorke's Drift .

Colonel Pearson's Fight at Inyezane River

1878
- 1878
January 10. 1879
January 10 „
January 12 „
January 22 „
January 22 „
January 22 „

3 1 2 Appendix,

A.D.

Sir Bartle Frere's meeting at Pietermaritzburg with Boer Depu-
tation . February 4, 1879

Sir Owen Lanyon arrives at Pretoria as Administrator March 4 „

Intombi River Massacre !March 12 „

Fight at Zhlobane Mount March 28 ,.

Battle of Kambula March 29 „

„ Umguganhlovo . ..... April 2 „

Eelief of Ekowe April 3 „

Attack on Moroisi's Mount, Cape Colony . . . April 8 „

Sir Bartle Frere reaches Pretoria April 10 „

,, attends great Boer Meeting at Kleinfontein, April 12 „

The Prince Imperial of France killed .... June 1 „

Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolseley at IS'atal . . . June 28 „

Battle of Ulundi ........ July 4 „

Griqnaland West Outbreak quelled .... July 28 „

Fight between Amapondas and Xesibos . . • August 1 „

Cetywayo captured August 28 „

•Sir Garnet arrives at Pretoria .... September 27 ,•

,, commences Third Campaign against Secocoeni, October — „

„ attacks Secocoeni's Town . . . November 28 „

Moroisi's Mount taken, Cape Colony . . . November „

Secocoeni captured ...... December 2 „

Third great Boer Meeting near Pretoria . . December 10-17 „

Ocean Cable opened to England .... December — „

Arrest of Pretorius, Bok, and Erasmus for Treason January 1880

Sir Garnet Wolseley's gift of Constitution to Transvaal, March „

Sir Garnet Wolseley left the Transvaal . . . April 4 „

Sir George Pomeroy Colley as Governor of Natal . July „

Sir Bartle Frere recalled from Cape .... August „

Sir G. Colley visits the Transvaal .... August „

Arrest of J. F. Celliers, Editor of Volksfi'm, for Treason, October „

Natal Government Railways opened to Pietermaritzburg, October „

Fourth Boer Mass Meetintr at Paanle Kraal . December 8-13 „

Republic re-proclaimed at Heidelberg . . . December 16 „

Bronkhorst Spruit Disaster December 20 „

Sir O. Lanyon proclaims ]\Iartial Law . . . December 21 „
Potchefstrom, Pretoria, and other Garrison Towns besieged,

December, 1880, to March, 1881
Murder of Captain Elliott on Y-.v.A River . . . December 29, 1880
Cape Colony aiid Great Basuto War ..... 1880-1
Sir G. I*. Colley advances with Natal Field Force from New-
castle January 21, 1881

Lang's Nek Engagement January 28 „

Scliuin'H Ilooglite or Ingo^jo Fie.Iit .... Feljruary 8 „
General Sir E. Wood reach .-s Newcastle with Indian

(Column February 17 „

Orange Free State Yolksraad dpriicd . , . Feliruary IS „

The Aniiijuba Figlit and Death of General Colley . I'elMiiary 27 „

Armistice signed for eight (lays .... March (5 ,,

Pnisident Brand arrives at Newc!^^tl(! . . . M arch 19 „

Terms of Peac»i agreed to JManli 23 „

Sir O. Lanyon left Pretoria ...... Aiiril 8 „

Royul Commis^iim opened in Newcasllo .... May 10 „

Appendix. 3 1

A.H.

Hoyal Commission left for Pretoria June 2, 1881

Trials for Murder of Malcolm and Captain Elliott at Pre-
toria June 18-25 „

Convention signed by Triumvirate .... August 3 „

Government transferred August 8 „

New Volksraad opened at Pretoria . . . September 21 „

Trial for Murder of Dr. Barbour, held at Hai-rismith, Orange Free

State ..... . . September 27-29 „

Convention ratified . ...... October 2o ,,

Evacuation of the Transvaal by the last British Troops (N Batterv,
5th Brigade E.A., and 21st Eegt. R.S.F. under Colonel

Gildea jSTovember 18 „

Great Thanksgiving Meeting of the Boers at Paardekraal, for

popular Confirmation of the Convention December 13-16 ,»

Appendix.

GLOSSAEY OF LOCAL TEEMS USED D^ SOUTH AFBICA.

TERMS.

DERIVATIONS.

MEANING.

Achter .

Dutch .

Behind.

Ama .

KaiSr .

Plural prefix, as Amaswazie.

Baai .

Dutch .

Gulf or bay.

Baaken

Dutch .

Landmark or beacon.

Bad .

Dutch .

A hot spring.

Berg .

Dutch .

Mountain.

Bergen

Dutch .

Mountains.

Boer .

Dutch .

A peasant farmer.

Bokkeveia .

Dutch .

Country fit for goat rearing.

Bosch .

Dutch .

Thicket or bush.

Boschjes

Dutch .

Little bushes or clumps.

Bron .

Dutch .

. A spring.

Burg .

Dutch .

. Town.

Burgher

Dutch .

( A citizen, by birth, qualification, or
■ \ naturalization, entitled to vote.

Commando .

Dutch .

j A forced levy of armed burghers, as
\ allowed by early Cape laws.

Dal .

Dutch .

. A dale.

Donga .

Dutch .

, A dry watercourse, or deep cleft.

Dorp .

Dutch .

. Village.

Drift .

Dutch .

. A ford over a river

Droogeveld .

Dutch .

. Dry country.

Duinen

Dutch .

. Bush -covered sand-hills.

Eiland or Eyland

Dutch .

An island or islet.

Fontein

Dutch .

. Fountain or spring.

Gat .

Dutch .

(. A hole or deep reach in a river or
* ( stream.

Geberpto

T^iitch .

A range of mountains.

Grasveld

Dutch .

(Irassy plains.

Grensvclil .

Dutcli .

Frontier district.

Grondwct .

Dutch .

JJasis of Constitution.

Hanglclip .

Dutch .

An overhanging rock or mountain.

Hardi'vild .

Dutch .

liocky or stony country.

Heuvel

Dutch .

. A height.

Hock .

Dutch .

A cnrnor, or retired valley.

Hooj;eveld .

Dutcli .

llii,di region.

Hoogto

Dutcli .

Hcij,rht8.

Impi .

Kaliir

. An army.

Inbdrkcn

Dutch .

. Iiulcntured.

Indarhil

Kalfir .

A talk or ]>alaver.

Tndiina

K'alfir .

i'etty chief or headman.

Kiiap .

Dutch .

A cajie.

( Gciieric term for all South African

Kallir .

Arabic .

' ( black races.

Appendix.

6'o

TERMS.

BKniVATIONS.

Kamnia

. Hottentot

Karroo

. Hottentot

Klein .

. Dutch .

Klip .

. Dutch .

Kriejsraiul .

. Dutch .

Kloof

. Dutch .

Kolk .

. Dutch .

Kop

. Dutch .

Kopjie.

. Dutch .

Kondeveld .

. Dutch .

Kraal .

. Dutch .

Kranz .

. Dutch .

Kuil .

. Dutch .

Laager

. Dutch .

Laa^te

. Dutch .

Maatschappij

. Dutch .

Moeras

. Dutch .

Mond .

. Dutch .

Nek .

. Dutch .

. Kaffir .

Omtrek

. Dutch .

Oom .

. Dutch .

Paard .

Dutch .

Pan .

Dutch .

Plaatberg .

Dutch .

Plaats .

Dutch .

Poort .

Dutch .

Puit .

Dutch .

Eand .

. Dutch .

Rivier .

Dutch .

Eoodeberpf

Dutch .

Eooi Battje .

Dutch .

Ruggens

Dutch .

Span

Dutch .

Spitzkop

Dutch .

Sjirnit .

Dutch .

Strandveld .

Dutch .

Tat'elberg .

Dutch .

'Thab .

Kaffir .

Trek .

Dutch .

Trekveld .

Dutch .

Uitkyk

Dutch .

Urn . . .

Kaffir .

Vallie,VlciorVley

Dutch .

MEANING.

j Water (used as affix to rivers, as

* ( Keiskamma).

i Desert district covered with low

■ ( scrubby plants.
. Small or little.

. Large stone or isolated rock.

. A War Council.

. Mountain pass.

. Hole or pit.

. A head, or small hill.

A small hill.
. High region.

Cattle enclosure, or Native village.
. A rocky precipice.
. A cave.

( A defensive enclosure or camp, pro-
' i perly formed with waggons.
, Valley, or lowland.
. A Republic, or Free State.
, A marsh or bog.
, The mouth of a river.

Depression in mountain range.
( Prefix to names or places, as

■ ( "N'Gaika."

Certain extent of land.

Uncle.

A hoi'se.
( A surface depression, in which water
( or salt collects.

Flat topped mountain.

Location or ])lace.

A gate, or opening in mountain range.

Pit or well.
( The high land lying on each side of
( a river valley.

A river. *

Red mountain.

Red coat or soldier.

A ridge-covered country.

A team of oxen, gencrallj'' sixteen

A peaked or sugai*-loaf hill.

Small stream.

A coast-lying district.

A flat ciriable-to]i)icd mountain.

]\rouiiiai!i, as 'Tliab-Tnlculu.

To move from jtlace to ]ilace.
I Country not yet subdivided into
< I'arnis.
( An outlook, or locality giving a good

♦ view.

j A prefix signifying river, as Um-
( vuloosi.
A valley, lowground, or shallow water.

3i6

Appendix.

TERMS.

Yeld .
Ylakte .

Volksraad .

Yoorlooi^cr .

Voortrekkcr .
AVasclibank .

Winterveld
Bush veld .

Witte Bergen
Woonplaats.
Zandveld
Zee .
Zoeteveld

Zuurberg
Zuurveld

or)

PERIVATIOJCS.

Dutch
Dutch

Dutch

Dutch
Dutch

Dutch

Dutch
Dutch
Dutch
Dutch
Dutch

Dutch
Dutch

Zwart . . . Dutch
ZwartBergorKop Dutch

MEANINa.

A field or large extent of country.

Low plains or flats.
( People's Council or Legislative As*
y sembly.

j Leader of span of oxen, or advanced
( settler.

Early pioneer in new country.

Quartz-covered country, looking white
f Winter location for farmer's stock,
\ always fever-strickeu in summer
( and wet season.

White mountains, i.^. snow peaks.

Homestead, farm, or dwelling

Sandy district.

The sea or ocean.

Sweet grass-covered country.
f Mountain range, covered with sour
I grasses. _ _

(A country or district covered with
\ sour grasses.

Black.

A black or dark mountain.

This glossary can be relied on as being complete and absolutely cor*
rect, and the only one as yet published in any work on S(>uth Africa.

Pieterraaritzl lire, Natal,
Septtmler, ISSl.

Appendix. 3 r 7

APPENDIX A.
ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL.

Commission appointing Sir Theophilus Shepstone, K.C.M.G.. of Natal,
to be a Special Commissioner for certain Purposes.

VlCTOIUA R.

Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kinfrdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, Empress of India : To
Our Trusty and Well-beloved Sir Theophilus Shepstoxk, Knight
Commander of our Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and
Saint George, greeting : —

Whereas grievous disturbances have broken out in the territories
adjacent to our colonies in South Africa, with war between the white
inhabitants and the native races, to the great peril of the peace and
safety of our said colonies ; and whereas, having regard to the safety of
our said colonies, it greatly concerns us that full inquiry should be made
into the origin, nature, and circumstances of the said disturbances, and
with respect to the measures to be adopted for preventing the recurrence
of the like disturbances in the future; and whereas, it may become
requisite to this end that the said territories or portions of them should
be administered in our name and on our behalf, now know you that
we, reposing especial trust and confidence in the loyalty and fidelity of
you, the said Sir Theophilus Shepstone, have appointed you to be our
Special Commissioner for the purpose of making such inquiry as afore-
said, and we do authorize and require you with all convenient dispatch,
and by all lawful ways and means, to enter upon such inquiry, and we do
require you to communicate to us, through one of our Principal Seci'e-
taries of State, any facts which ought to be made known to us, as well
as any opinions which you may think lit to express thereon, and if the
emergency should seem to you to be such as to render it necessary, in
order to secure the peace and safety of our said colonies, and of our
subjects elsewhere, that the said territories, or any portion or portions of
the same should provisionall}', and pending the announcement of our
pleasure, be administered in our name and on our behalf, then, and in
such case only, we do further authorize you, the said Sir Theophilus
Shepstone, by proclamation under your hand, to declare that from and
after a day to be therein named so much of au}' such territories as afore-
said as to you, after due consideration, shall seem fit, shall be annexed to,
and form part of our dominions. And we do hereby constitute and
appoint you to be thereupon Administrator of the same provisionally
and until our pleasure is more fully known. Provided, first: That
no such proclamation shall be issued by you with respect to any
district, territory, or state, unless you shall be satisfied that the in-
habitants thereof, or a sufficient number of them, or the Legislature
thereof desire to become our subjects; nor if any conditions unduly
limiting our power and authority therein are sought to be imposed

3 1 8 Appendix.

And, secondly, that unless the circumstances of the case are such as,
in your opinion, naake it necessary to issue a proclamation forthwith,
no such proclamation shall be issued by you until the same has been
submitted to and approved by our trusty and well-beloved Sir Henry
Barkly, Knight Grand Cross of our Most Distinguished Order of Saint
Michael and Saint George, Knight Commander of our Most Honourable
Order of the Bath, our Governor and Commander-in-Chief of our Colony
of the Cape of Good Hope, and our Commissioner for the settling and
adjustment of the affairs of the territories adjacent or contiguous to tli*-.
Eastern Frontier of our said Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. And
we do further require that you do in all things conform to such instruc-
tions as shall at any time be addressed to 3'ou by us through one of our
Princijjal Secretaries of State; and we do strictly charge and command
all our officers, civil and militarj', and all other our faithful subjects,
that in their several places, and according to their respective powers
and opportunities, they be aiding to you in the execution of this our
commission. And for so doing this shall be your warrant. Given at our
Court, at Balmoral, this fifth day of October, 1876, in the fortieth year
of our reign. By Her Majesty's Command, Caknauvox.

PROCLAMATION

By His Excellency Sir Theophilus Shepstone, Knight Commander of
the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George,
Her Majesty's Special Commissioner for certain Purposes in South
Africa.

"Whereas at a meeting held on the sixteenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, at the Sand
Piver, between Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners, Major Hogge and
C. M. Owen, Esq., on the one part, and a deputation from the emigrant
farmers then residing north of the Yaal River, at the head of which was
Commandant-General A. W. J. Pretorius, on the other part, the said
Her Majesty's Assistant CommissiDuers did " guarantee in the fullest
manner on the part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers
north of the Vaal River, the right to manage their own affairs, and to
govern themselves according to their own laws, without any interference
on the part of the British Government :

And whereas the evident objects and inciting motives of the Assistant
Commissioners in granting such guarantee or permission to persons
•who were Her ]\Iajesty'3 suljects were " to i)romote peace, free trade,
and friendly intercourse" with and among the inhabitants of the Trans-
vaal, in the hope and belief that the territory which a few years after-
wards, namely, in February, 185S, became known by the style and title
of "'J'iie South African Kepublic," would become a flourishing and sclf-
Bustaining State, a source of strength and security to neighbouring
European communities, and a point from wliicli Christianity and civiliza-
tion might rapidly spread toward.s Central Africa :

And whereas the hopes and cxjjectation.s upon which this mutual
compact was reasonably and honourably founded have been disappointed,
and the circumstances as set forth more at length in my address to the
people, of to-day's date, hereunto attached, show that increasing weak-
ness in the State itself on the one side, and more than corresponding
prowil) of real strength and ciniiidenco among tlie native tribes on the
other, have i)roduc.ed their natural and inevitable consequences, as will

Appendix. 3 1 9

more fully appear from a brief allusion to the facts that, after more or
less of irritating contact with aboriginal tribes to the north, there com-
menced about the year 18G7 gradual abandonment to the natives, in
that direction, of territory settled by burghers of this State, in well-built
towns and villages, and on granted farms; that this was succeeded by
the extinction of all effective rule over extensive tracts of country,
included within the boundaries of the State, and as a consequence by the
jiractical independence, which still continues, of large native tribes
residing therein, who had until then considered themselves subjects :

That some few farmers, unwilling to forfeit homes which they had
created for their families, and to which they held grants from the
Government of the Transvaal, which grants had, however, ceased and
still fail to ijrotect them in their occupation, made terms with the chiefs,
and now occupy their farms on condition of periodical payments to
those chiefs, notwithstanding the acknowledgment which such pay-
ments involve : That this decay of power and el)b of authority in the
north is being followed by similar processes in the south, under yet more
dangerous circumstances, people of this State residing in that direction
have been compelled within the last three months, at the bidding of
native chiefs, and at a moment's notice, to leave their farms and homes,
their standing crops, some of which were ready for reaping, and other
property, all to be taken possession of by natives, but that the Govern-
ment is more powerless than ever to vindicate its assumed rights, or to
resist the declension that is threatening its existence; that all con-
iidence in its stability once felt by surrounding and distant European
communities has been withdrawn ; that commerce is well nigh de-
stroyed ; that the country is in a state of bankruptcy ; that the white
inhabitants, discontented with their condition, are divided into factions;
that the Government has fallen into helpless joaralysis from causes
which it has been and is unable to control or counteract; and that the
prospect of the election of a new President, so far from allaying the
general anxiety, or from inspiring hope in the future, is looked forward
to by all parties as most likely to result in civil war with its attendant
anarchy and bloodshed :

That the condition above described affords strong temptation to
neighbouring native powers, who are known to be anxious and ready to
do so, to make attacks and inroads upon the State, which from its weak-
ness it cannot repel, and from which it has hitherto been saved by tlu'
restraining influence of the British Government, exercised from Natal
by Her Majesty's representative in that colony, in the hope, yet
nnfultilled, that a friendly understanding might be arrived at between
the Government of the Transvaal and the cnmplaluing native chiefs :

That the Sccocoeni war, which would have produced but little effect
upon a healthy Constitution, has not oul}- jiroved suddenly fatal to the
resources and reputatii)n of the llepnblir, but has hhown itself to be a
culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or
Easuto tribe, unwarlike, and of no account in Zulu estimation, success-
fully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for the first
time tc the native powers outside the Kopublic, from the Zambesi to the
Cape, the great change that had taken ])lace in the relative strength of
the white and black races; that this disclosure at once shook the
prestige of the white man in South Africa, and ])laced every European
community in peril ; that this common danger has caused universal
anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to investigate its causes.

320 Appendix,

and to protect themselves from its consequences, and has imposed tho
duty upon those who hav-e the power to shield enfeebled civilization
from the enroachments of barbarism and inhumanity :

And whereas the inherent weakness of this Government and State
from causes above alluded to and briefly set forth, and the fact that the
past policy of the Eepublic has not only failed to conciliate the friend-
ship and goodwill, but has forfeited the respect, of the overwhelming
native populations within and beyond its boundaries, which together
probably exceed one-and-a-half millions, render it certain that the
Transvaal will be the first to suffer from the consequences of a pressure
that has already reduced its political life to so feeble a condition :

And whereas the ravaging of an adjoining i'riendly State by warlike
savage tribes cannot for a moment be contemplated by Her Majesty's
Government without the most earnest and painful solicitude, both on
account of the miseries which such an event must inflict upon the
inhabitants of the Transvaal, and because of the peril and insecurity to
which it would expose Her Majesty's possessions and subjects in South
Africa; and seeing that the circumstances of the case have, from the
inherent weakness of the country already touched upon, become so grave,
that neither this country nor the British colonies in South Africa can
be saved from the most calamitous circumstances except by the exten-
sion over this State of Her Majesty's authority and protection, by
means of which alone oneness of purpose and action can be secured,
and a fair prospect of peace and prospei-ity in the future be established :

And whereas I have been satisfied by the numerous addresses, memo-
rials, and letters which I have received, and by the abundant assurances
which personal intercourse has given me, that a large proportion of the
inhabitants of the Transvaal see in a clearer and stronger light than I
am able to describe them, the urgency and imminence of the circum-
stances by which they are surrounded, the ruined condition of the
couutry, and the absence within it of any element capable of rescuing it
from its depressed and afflicted state, and therefoi-e earnestly desire the
establishment within and over it of Her Majesty's authority and rule;
and whereas the Governmcut has been unable to point out or devise
any means by which the country can save itself, and as a consequence
relieve the other white communities of South Africa from the danger of
the dire events certain speedily to result from the circumstances bj
which it is surrounded, and can entertain no reasonable hope that it
possesses, or is likely under its present form of Government to possess,
the means to raise itself to a sate and prosperous condition :

And whereas the emergency seems to me to be such as to render it
necessary, in order to secure the peace and safety of the Transvaal
territory, as well as the peace and safety of Her .Majesty's colonies and
of Her Majesty's subjects elsewhere, that the said Transvaal territory
sliould provisionally and pending the announcement of Her ^Majesty's
pleasure be administered in Her iMajesty's name and on lier behalf:

Kow, therefore, I do, in virtue of the power and authority conferred
11] ion me by Her ilajesty's lloyal ('ommission, dated at IJalmoral, the
ti fill day of October, Iy70, and pnlilishcd herewith, and in accordance
with instructions conveyed to me thereby and otherwise, proclaim and
make known that, from and after the publication hereof, the territory
heretol'ore known as the South African Kepuhlic. as now measured and
bounded, subject liowevcr to such local modilications as may hereafter
appear necessary, aud as may be ajfprovcd of by Her iMajesty, shall bo

Appendix. 321

and shall be taken to be Bi-itish territory, and I hereby call upon and
require the inhabitants of the Transvaal, of every class and degree, and
all Her Majesty's subjects in South Africa to take notice of this my
Proclamation and to f,aiide themselves accordingly.

And I hereby further jjroclaim and declare that I shall hold responsible
all such persons who in the Transvaal shall venture opposition, armed or
otherwise, to Her Majesty's authority hereby proclaimed, or who shall
by seditious and intlammatory language or exhortations or otherwise
incite or encourage otliers to offer such opposition, or who shall injure,
harass, disturb, or molest others because they may not think with them
on political matters; and I do warn all such that upon conviction of any
of the above offences they will be liable to the severe penalties which
The law in such cases ordains; and I hereby appeal to and call upon the
orderly, right-thinking, and peace-loving people of the Transvaal to be
aiding and suj^porting Her ]\Injesty's authority.

And I proclaim further that all legal courts of justice now in existence
for the trial of criminal or civil cases or questions are hereby continued
and kept in full force and effect, and that all decrees, judgments and
sentences, rules and orders, lawfully made or issued, or to be made or
issued by such courts shall be as good and valid as if this Proclamation
had not been published ; all civil obligations, all suits and actions, civil,
criminal, or mixed, and all criminal acts here committed, which may
have l)een incurred, commenced, done, or committed before the publica-
tion of this Proclamation, but which are not fully tried and determined,
may be tried and determined by any such lawful courts or by such
others as it may be found hereafter necessary to establish for that
purpose.

And I further proclaim and make known that the Transvaal will
remain a separate Government, with its own laws and legislature, and
that it is the wish of Her Most Gracious Majesty that it shall enjoy the
fullest legislative privileges compatible with the circumstances of the
country and the intelligence of its people. That arrangements will be
made by which the Dutch language will practically be as much the
official language as the English ; all laws, proclamations, and Govern-
ment notices will be published in the Dutch language; in the Legislative
Assembly members may as they do now use either language ; and in
the courts of law the same may be done at the option of suitors to a
cause. The laws now in force in the State will be retained until altered
by competent legislative authority. Equal justice is guaranteed to the
persons and property of both white and coloured; but the adoption of
this i^rinciple does not and should not involve the granting of equal
civil rights, such as the exercise of the right of voting by savages, or
their becoming members of a legislative body, or their being entitled to
other civil privileges which ai'e incompatible with their uncivilized con-
dition. The native tribes living within the jurisdiction and under the
jDrotection of the Government must be taught due obedience to the
paramount authority-, and be made to contribute their fair share towards
the support of the State that jirotects them. All private l)onil fide
rights to property, guaranteed by the existing laws of the country, and
sanctioned by them, will be respected. All officers now serving the
Government, and who may be able and willing to serve under the altered
circumstances of the country, shall be entitled to retain their positions,
and such rights as their positions now give them. ^11 Jmud, fide con-
cessions and contracts with Governments, companies, or individuals, by

32 2 Appendix.

■which the State is now hound, will he honom*ahly maintained and
respected, and the payment of the dehts of the State must he provided
for. The appointments or licenses, in virtue of which attorneys, land
surveyors, and others are entitled to practise their callings shall be
respected in accordance with the terms and conditions of such appoint-
ments or licenses.

Given under my hand and seal at Pretoria, in the South Africai*
Eepnblic, this twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord one thousancl
eight hundred and seventy-seven, &c.

APPENDIX B.

COPY OF PROTEST AND EESOLUTION OF TPIE TRANSVA^VL
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL.

April 1877.
On the Order, —

Despatch from Her Britannic Majesty's Special Commissioner, dated
the 9th of April, 1877, giving notice that iiis Excellency has decided ti>
proclaim, without delay, British authority over the South African
Republic :

That whereas Her Britannic Majesty's Government, by the Convention
of Sand River, 1852, has solemnly pledged the indeitendonce of the peoi)le
to the north of the Vaal River, and that, — ■

Whereas the Government of the South African Republic is not aware
of ever having given any reason for a lujstilo act on the part cV Her
Majesty's Government, nor any ground for an act of violence; that. —

Whereas this Government has ever shown its readiness, and is still
prepared to do all which in justice and equity may be demanded, and
also to remove all causes of dissatisfaction that may exist :

AVhereas also this Government has rejieateilly expressed its entire
willingness to enter into such treaties or agreements with Her Majesty's
Government as may be considered necessary for the general protection
of the whole population of South Africa, and is ju'epared ]iunctually to
execute such agreements ; and whereas, according to public statements
of Her ^Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Carnarvon,
there exists no desire on the part of the British Government to force the
])eoplc of the South African Republic, against their wish, under tho
authority of the British Government:

Wliereas the people by memorials, or otherwise, have by a largo
niiijority iilainly declared to be averse to it, and whereas this Government
is aware tliat it is not in a condition to maintain the riglit and indepen-
(lenci; of the jteople with the sword against the superior power of (ireat
]{ritain, and, more<iver, has no desire to take any stejjs by wiiicli the
wiiite inhabitants of Soutli Africa would be divided in the face of the
mutual enemy against each other, or might come in lutstile contact with
each other, to tl\e great dangi'r of tlie entire Christian population of
South Africa, without liaving lirst emi)loyed all means to secure, in a
]»caceful way and by friendly mediation, the right of the people:

Appendix. 323

Therefore the Government protests most strongly against this act of
Her Majesty's Special Commissioner. It is also further resolved to send,
"without delay, a Commission of Delegates to Europe and America, with
full power and instructions to add to their number a third i^erson if
required, in order to endeavour, in the first place, to lay before Her
Majesty's Government the desire and wishes of the people; and in case
this might not have the desired effect, which this Government would
deeply regret and cannot as yet believe, then to try and call in the
friendly assistance and intercession of other Powers, and particularly of
those who have acknowledged the independence of this State. As
members of this Commission are appointed the Honourable Attorney-
General, Dr. E. F. P. Jorrissen, and S. J. P. Kruger, Vice-President of
the South African Republic.

PROTEST.

Peetori.\, Aiir'd 11, 1877.

Whereas I, Thomas Francois Burgers, President of the South African
Republic, have received a letter, dated the 9th instant, from Her Britannic
Majesty's Special Commissioner, Sir T. Shejjstone, informing me that
his Excellency has determined, in the name of Her Majesty's Govern-
ment, to bring the South African Republic under the jurisdiction of the
British Crown by annexation; and whereas I am not strong enough to
draw the sword for the successful defence of the independence of this
State against a superior Power like that of England; and, moreover,
with a view to the welfare of all South Africa, I am altogether disinclined
to bring its white inhabitants into a disastrous complication of warfare
by any hostile proceeding on my part before having first of all tried
every means to secure the rights of the people in a peaceable manner;
therefore, in the name and by authority of the Government and the
people of the South African Republic, I hereby make my solemn protest
against the intended annexation.

APPENDIX C.

PROCLAMATION

By his Excellency Sir Theophilus Shepstoue, Her Majesty's Special Com-
missioner for certain Purposes in South Africa, and Administrator
of the Government of the Transvaal.

Whereas the return from Europe of the Transvaal deputation has
been made the occasion by designing persons of creating and fostering
agitation and alarm, by imposing upon the credulity and ignorance of
the quietly disposed inhabitants of this country, and of endeavouring by
the illegal use or assumption of authority, such as the banding together
of themselves into committees for the purpose of misleading the public
and coercing individuals, false representations, threats of violence, and
seditious utterances, to cause disturbance iu the land and to bring mia-
fortuue upon innocent people :

32^ Appendix.

And whereas it is my duty as it also is my inclination and strong
desire, by timely and friendly warning, to prevent such misfortune from
falling upon this country and its inhabitants ; and whereas the Govern-
ment has hithei'to avoided all interference with the free expression of
feeling on matters of public interest, whether expressed by words spoken,
or written, or printed, even although in some cases the words have been
calculated to disturb the pubHc peace :

And whereas this forbearance appears to have been misunderstood by
some, and to have been misrepresented by others, and a mischievous
impression to have been created, that the laws of the country are
ineffectual to secure quiet and orderly behaviour, and are incapable of
awarding adequate punishment to disturbers of the public peace;
and whereas it is necessary to set forth and proclaim that the forbear-
ance aforesaid has arisen, not from any doubt of the stringency or
applicability of the law, or the power of applying it, but solely from a
consideration of the peculiar state of public affairs which has until
lately existed, and from a sincere desire to avoid the appearance even
of harshness towards the pei-sons concerned ; as will more fully appear
from the fact that, although it was officially notified in the " Govern-
ment Gazette" of August 4,1877, that the proclamations of the 12th
April, 1877, had been confirmed by Her Majesty the Queen, and that
although this notification informed all Government officers, and the
inhabitants generally, that the act of annexation had been formally and
finally ratified, and they were legally bound thereby; yet, notwith-
;standing this, the Government took into its consideration the want of
knowledge of official forms and usages that prevailed among the people,
and also among some of the public officers, which ignorance had led
them to believe that such decision could not be final and irrevocable,
until declared so to be by the members of the deputation on their return
to this country ; and the Government therefore overlooked much that it
might have taken serious notice of, and in deference to what it considered
u natural but mistaken view on the part of certain of the people of this
territory of the real state of the case, the laws of the country were not
a])l)ealed to, or put in force, although the right of so ajipealing to and
enforcing them existed and still exists:

And whereas these considerations have now ceased, and the dejiuta-
tion hereinbefore referred to lias returned from Europe, and the members
of it have, by written documents publislied by them and otherwise, truth-
fnlly reported that the act of annexation is final and irrevocable; and
whereas the Government would not be fulfilling its duty to the country
by any longer exercising such forbearance ; and whereas it is necessary
to declare and make known that all attempts — whether by j)ublic meet-
ings or otherwise — to unsettle and iilarni the minds of the jieojile, and
all utterances calculated to distnrl) the pulilic ])eace and the quiet ot the
•coiiiitry, and to create disaU'eetion towards the Government, wdl be dealt
with as the law directs, and that those who are found guilty of these
iind the like oil'ences will sutler and undergo the penalties which the law
oiilains :

And whereas one of the pretexts under which the evils and mischief
nrore>aid hav<! been and \\\\\ yet being done is to olitain signatures to a
memorial to Jler ^Majesty's (Government; and it has been rejiresented to
7iie by many persons and from difl'erent quarters, that intimidation l)y
means of threats of personal violence, confiscation of jiroperty, and even
of death, has been resorted to by those engaged in coercing others to sign

Appendix^ 325

the said memorial and other documents, although it is well known that
whorver signs a document is responsible tor the consequences which may
result from such signature; and whereas the setting on foot of the said
memorial and other documents was prompted by a spirit of sedition, and
their professed object was at the time known by those who promi)teil it
to be unattainable ; and whereas there is a possibility of many innocent
people being made to suffer in consequence of the agitation that it has
created and was intended to create ; and whereas it is incumbent upon
me, as representing the authority of Her Majesty's Government in this
country, to protect, as far as it may be in my power so to do, all peace-
ably disposed and loyal inhabitants from the injury to their persons and
property, which believing in, and acting upon, the false and seditious
representations aforesaid will inevitably brii.g upon them ; and whereas
it is the duty as well as the interest of every one in this country to dis-
courage, and by every means in his power to repress, this dangerous
agitation :

Xow, therefore, I do call upon, enjoin, and strictly charge all peaceub'y
disposed and orderly piersons to aid the otficers of the Grovernment iu
maintaining order, and in bringing to justice the seditions agitators who
have endeavoured, and are still endeavouring, to mislead the pjeople of the
Transvaal to commit a breach of the public peace, and acts of sedition
against Her Majesty's Government, thereby bringing serious misfortune
upon the country and its inhabitants ; and I do further hereby warn all
such mischievous and evil-disposed persons as may be found to be foment-
ing or instigating any such unlawful agitation, and who by threats,
seditious words, whether spoken, written, or printed, or by any other
means, are engaged inciting the people of this country to acts of dis-
loyalty, sedition, resistance to, or rebellion against, the Government, that
they are hereby made and held liable, and subject, under the law and this
my proclamation, to imprisonment, fine, and such other and further
punishments as the law may direct. And I do also hereby make known
that all meetings convened for seditious or any other unlawful purpose
whatever, at wliich are proposed, discussed, or passed any resolution or
resolutions aiming to weaken, resist, or oppose the power and authority
of the Government, or to incite the taking up of arms by the people of
this country against the said Government, or in any way whatsoever
tending to disturb the peace of this country, are contrary to law ; and I
do warn all persons attending such unlawful and seditious meetings, and
more especially the conveners thereof, and all such who, by word of
mouth or otherwise, do encourage and incite to unlawful or rebellious
acts such persons so met together, that they render themselves liable to
the punishments and penalties set forth in the foregoing section of this
my proclamation. And I do hereby call upon and command all otficers,
civil and military, and more especially all landdrosts, justices of the
peace, tield-cornets, and other otficers of the law, to aid and strenuously
exert themselves in the execution of the provisions of the law and of this
my proclamation, as they shall answer to the contrary at their peril.

Given under my hand and seal, at Government House, Pretoria, thi.q
11th day of March, 1878, &c.

Appendix.

APPENDIX D.

Letter to Sir M. Hicks-Beach, Secretary of State tor the
Colonies, froji the Transvaal Delegates, dated IOth July, 1878.

Sir, — The deputation wio -svere commissioned by the Government and

the people of the South African Eepublic to lay before the Government
of Her Majesty the Queen of England their protest against the annexa-
tion of the Ti-ansvaal Territory, having failed to attain the object of their
mission, have rejDorted to the inhabitants the result of their proceedings.
Deeply grieved and disappointed at this failure to obtain restitution of
their rights, the citizens of the Eepublic have resolved once more to
appeal to the .justice of England, and have de]nited the undei-signed
S. J. P. Kruger, and P. J. Joubert, again to submit, on their behalf, that
protest and the memorial on this subject. In carrying out the wishes of
their constituents, it becomes the duty of this deputation to bring pro-
minently to the notice of Her Majesty's Government certain facts in
connection Avilh the instructions issued to Her Majesty's Special Com-
missioner, Sir Thcophilus Shepstone. K.C.M.G., in the commission of the
Queen, dated at Balmoral the 5th October, 1870, also in regard to the
circumstances attending its execution by him, as well as those under
■which Her Majesty's approval of his proceedings was obtained. A full
consideration of these circumstances will, it is the belief of this deputa-
tion, justify them before Her Majesty's Government, the South African
communities, and the world at large, in the action which they now take,
and will, they have full confidence, obtain for them and lor their country
the redress tliey now seek.

In the Commission appointing Sir Thcophilus Shepstonc, and which
empowers him, under certain conditions, to proceed to the extreme measure
of annexation, it is made a necessaiy condition, as follows: — "Provided,
first, that no such proclamation should be issued by yott with respect to
any district, territory, or state, unless you shall be satisfied that the
inhabitants thereof, or a sufficient number of them, or the Legislature
thereof, desire to become our subjects." It is not our wish at this stage
to enter into the question as to the evidence adduced or the means
adopted by Sir Thcophilus Shepstonc to satisfy Her j\Iajesty's Govern-
ment that this condition had in any way been fulfilled. It was in the
lirm l)elief that it had been so liiliillcd tliat your ju'edecessor, Lord
Carnarvon, declined to enter with the late deputation on any discussion
as to the propriety of the annexation itself; and it was at this distance
beyond thi; ])owcr of the latter, though disputing the fact, to refute an
allegation so confidently ])ut forward. Since that time, however, measures
have lieen taken for jilaeing beyond any doubt what the feelings of the
very large majority of tlu' (jualified electors are; and these will be shown
by the following documents, co])ies of which we have the lionour to
enclose : — «. The Kesolution of the Honourable Volksraad of the lie-
pulilic, dated '22nd February, 1877, calling upon the Executive to
maintain the independence of the country, h. The Resolution of the

Appendix. 327

Executive Council, dated 11th Aj)ril, 1877, protesting against the
threatened annexation, and nominating a deputation to lay tlie protest
before Her Majesty, c. The protest of the President of the Eepublic,
dated 11th April, 1877. d. A memorial in support of the protest, signed
by 6,591, out of a possible 8,000 electors, and dated 7th January, 1878.

As the fulfilment of the above piimary condition may be regarded as
having been held by Her Majesty's Government as essential to a justifica-
tion of the act of annexation, and as the above documents prove beyond
any doubt that so far from these conditions having been observed, the
Legislature, the Executive Government, and nearly seven-eighths of the
people were, as they have now shown, opposed to the annexation, it
would seem unnecessary to siip]")ort Ity further argument a cause which
is so clearly established. But Sir Theophilus Shepstone has not been
content to rely on this ground, and has thought proper to bring forward
a variety of other reasons in support of his action. These we are thus
compelled to notice. Apart from the question as to the wishes of the
inhabitants, the chief grounds upon which the Commissioner has essayed
to justify himself are to be found iu the preamble of the Proclamation of
Annexation.

It is thus to be seen that the reasons which have urged Her Majesty to
approve of the annexation were based : — 1. On the belief that a large
proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal earnestly desire the
establishment of Her Majesty's rule. 2. On the disappointment of the
hope upon which the guarantee of indeijendence was given by Her Majesty
— viz., " That the South African Pepubhc would become a nourishing and
self-sustaining State, a source of strength and security to neighbouring
EurojDean communities, and a i:)oint from which Christianity and civiliza-
tion might rapidly spread towards Central Africa." 3. The general
poverty and defencelessness of the country, the encroachments of the
natives, the failure of the war with Secocoeni, and the consequent danger
to the British colonies. — To these points the deputation will confine their
xeply.

1. In regard to the first point, we have to state that, as the enclosed
coiTespondence will show, Her Majesty's Commissioner was in possession.
of the resolution of the Volksraad to maintain the independence of the
Kepublic, as well as of the protest of the Executive, prior to the issue of
the Proclaniution of Annexation. That the petitions in favour of annex-
ation, which in all represent but a very small proportion of the inhabi-
tants of the country, were for the most part obtained subsequently to the
annexation, and that the signatures to them are those of the classes which
are described in Sir Theophilus Shepstone's " Address to the Burghers of
the Transvaal " as the " 1,000 who live in towns and villages," and the 350
fluctuating pojiulation of" gold diggers," and not of the remaining 6,650
farmers, upon whom is laid the task of supporting the State bj^ the ]3ro-
duce of their farms, and upon whom also rests the miUtary duty of
defending the country, or fighting for its rights.

2. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, in stating that the guarantee of inde-
pendence was grounded on a certain "hope and belief," refers for an
explanation of the same to his address to the people, where we find that
he with candour admits that such a condition is to be found only by
reading between the lines of the Convention. ^Ve, for our part, and on
behalf of the j>eople of the Transvaal, however much we may admit the
reasonableness of such a hope and belief, can in no way allow either that
it was a condition of our independence, or that its disappointment is a

28 Appendix,

Bufficient ground for tlie withdrawal of the same. Bat even should this;
be so, we further say that the argument is one of which the British.
Government is not in justice entitled to avail themselves. The reasons^
which actuated the British Government in recognizing the independence
of the Transvaal, and in abandoning the Orange River Sovereignty, are,
we believe, better to be found by referring to the correspondence on the
subject between Her Majesty's Government and the Commissioners era-
ployed to give efiect to the Imperial policy. But if the hope that the
Republic would be a source of strength and security to the neighbouring
British colony has not been fulfilled to the extent desired by Her Majesty,
then we contend, and are prepared to show, that its failure to be sO'
is due chietiy, if not wholly, to the action of the Government of the
adjoining British colonies.

3. With respect to the third point — viz., the defencelessness of the
country, the encroachments of the natives, and the failure of the war
with Secocoeni — these, as well as the financial troubles, we are also pre-
pared to a certain extent to admit, though we utterly reject the exag-
geration with which they have been described, and the inferences of utter
disorganization and danger which have been drawn from them. We deny
the inference which has been drawn from the failures to dislodge a chief
from fastnesses such as Secocoeni occupied at the first attempt. He had
been reduced to the greatest straits, and had sent to Pretoria to sue for
peace, which, under the pressure of the circumstances in which the
Government of the Republic found themselves, owing to the action of the
British authorities in supporting the cause of the rebel chief, was ulti-
mately agreed to, upon the payment of a fine, which fine is now being-
enforced by the Administrator. It is utterly incorrect to say that there
was any danger to be feared from Secocoeni, for it is well Icnown that h^
never came beyond his own strongholds. So also with regard to the
Zulus. Sir Theophilus Shepstone has said that, owing to this disclosure
(that is, the failure to dislodge Secocoeni) for the first time to the native
Powers, from the Zambesi to the Cape, of the great change that had
taken place in the relative position of the white and black races, there
was an imminent fear of invasion (presumably Zulu), and that every
community in South Africa was in peril. AVe complain tliat this is an
exaggerated and unwarranted conclusion. The danger as described by
him has at no time been felt by the Government of the Repul>lic, W(^x by
those who have struggled through similar dangers with the same native*
when more united then, under Dingaan. Wc beg to draw attention tO'
the fact that tlie opinion here expressed is but that of an individual, and
that Sir Tluvjpliilns She])stone .seems to have forgotten the seriouS'
reverses of the whites in former Cape wars, and especially that of Sir
George Cathcart in the Basuto war; and we have al.so to jxiint out a.s a
matter of fact, tliat the Zulu army never ai)proached tlie Transva;il
boundary until tlie Commissioner had crossed it, and thus that if tli«
danger existed, it arose only after tliat event.

In order fiirtlier to esta!»lish the ]>osition we have taken up, and to
disprove the riglits wliicii have lieen assumed to be a legiliiiiale seiiuence
to the statements made in the jTeamble to the Proclamation of Annexa-
tion, it is necessary that we should ]ireseut a view of the jiolilieal condi-
tion of the Transvaal as taken from tlie stand-point of the Government
of tlie Ke])ublic, and jilace it in opiiosition to that which has been drawn
by Her Majesty's Commissioner, i'he national status of the Transvaal
commenced in ]8o"J; prior to that date the emigrant farmers were scatr

Appendix. 329

tered in small commnnities or in isolated farms over tlie vast extent of
country between the Yaal River and the Limpopo. There was no Central
Government, nor indeed any cohesion amontr them, except that dictated
by unity of interest, in protecting themselves from the natives, with
"whom they were from time to time driven to war. It was during a short
interval of peace, or rather a suspension of arms, that the independence
of the Republic was recognized by England, and that the Convention
was signed, guaranteeing in " the fullest manner on the pjart of the
British Government to the emigrant farmers 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," with the further
promise that " no encroachment should be made by the said Government
in the territory beyond to the north of the Yaal River," and at the same
time disclaiming "on the part of Her Majesty's Government ail alliances
whatever, and with whomsoever, of the coloured natives on the north of
the Vaal River." The emigrant farmers continued for many years in
the same unorganized state in which they had been prior to the Con-
vention, and it was not till 18-Lj8 that their divisions, which had almost
occasioned a civil war, were brought to an end, and they became imited
under a Constitution and a Central Government. From that period a
marked and steady progress took place. The farmers settled down to
more steady occupation of their lands, laws were framed and administered
with increasing order, and churches and schools erected in every town.
The Republic had, with its very small body of whites and overwhelming
native population, kept peace for years, having from that time until the
late expedition against Secocoeni had no serious wars except that of
Zoutpansberg in 18tJ6. From the year 1858 to 18G9 the Republic ful-
filled the requirement now insisted on. It was a " flourishing and self-
sustaining State, a source of strength and security to neighbouring
European communities, and a point from which Christianity and civiliza-
tion were rapidly spi-eading towards Central Africa." It formed a barrier
between Natal and the Native tribes of the interior, and was thus a
source of strength and security to that colony. There was also a rapid
advance in civilization among the natives, who, as is well known, have
adopted European customs, and accepted Christian teaching in larger
numbers and to a greater extent than has been the case in any other
portion of South Africa.

Though not forming one of the grounds mentioned in the Proclamation
of Annexation, there can be little doubt, judging from the tenour and
tone of the despatches which have passed between the Secretary of State
and the Colonial Governors, that the charges of op]>ression of the natives
have had some weight in determining the policy of Her Majesty's Govern-
ment in asserting her rule over the countrj'. These charges, which have
been put forward with most unjustiKable exaggeration, have been a
serious injustice to the Government and people of the Republic, and
would pe-haps never have been made or believed had the British Govern-
ment been dulj- represented by a consular or diplomatic agent in the
country. "Without des^iring to recriminate, we cannot but feel that, tr>
say the least, the same allowance has not been made for the necessity
for any war or perhaps harsh measures in the Transvaal, that has been
accorded to Natal in the cases of Isidoi.Matyana, and Langalibalele ; and
in resj'ect to the Cajie, to the very serious wars which have from time to
time taken place. AVe have stated that the Republic continued to flourish
and to progress until 1869. In that year the prestige of the emigrant

330 Appendix.

farmers received a shock from which it conld not soon recover, and which
was occasioned by the action of the Cape Colonial authorities in espousing
the cause of the natives at the Diamond Fields, and opening the sale of
firearms and ammunition to them, in violation of the Sand Kiver Con-
vention. Although unwilling to adopt this o]3inion in any other than a
qualified manner, it is well known that Mr. Froude has i^ronounced the
annexation of the Diamond Fields as " perhaps the most discreditable
incident in British colonial history." The effect of the act has at least
been to bring the Government and citizens of the llepublic into contempt
in the eyes of the natives, whose power became, at the same time, im-
mensely increased by the possession of guns, of which, as the official
returns will show, 236,576 were imported into the Cape and Xatal from
1871 to 1875, subject to an import duty of lOs. and £1 a barrel. If the
cause of the poverty and weakness of the llepublic is to be sought, it is
not just to attribute it to "inherent" defects while it can be thus ex-
plained. If the natives had not been furnished with firearms, or if the
amount of custom duties paid on them had enriched the Transvaal,
these evils would probably have been avoided.

In furtherance of the policy which it would seem that Sir Theophilus
Shepstone had predetermined to follow, wo find that in a despatch to
Lord Carnarvon of the 12th of March, 1^77, he states that all the native
tribes within the State would hail the introduction of British rule as
a positive blessing, and that the British (jovernment had paramount
inlluence with the most wai'like of the native tribes outside the Trans-
vaal boundary. This assertion, togetlier with that contained in the
Proclamation of Annexation, where Sir T. Shepstcne states that the
llepublic had " hitherto been saved from the attacks and inroads of
natives by the rcstraming infiuence of the British Government, exercised
from IS'atal by Her Majesty's representative in that colony," had doubt-
less the etiect of determining the policy of Her Majesty's Government in
regard to annexation ; and as it is this alleged actual danger to the
Transvaal, and the fear of general conllagration, which alone could be
held to justify the intervention of the British Government, it is important
that we should inquire into the grounds which have existed to justify
these statements.

It should be borne in mind that, as a rule, ail information possessed
by the Home or Colonial Governments, or by the British public, is
derived from Sir T. She])stone himself, and that all opinions on the same
are but tlie reflection of his. The alhisions l)y him to tlie estimation in
which '' ]Jritish rule" is held by the natives, and to the "restraining
inllnenc(> exercised by Her j\lajesty's representative in Natal," it is not
too much to assume, point only to the power and inilneneo exercised by
himself; and that it has been taken in this sense by Her ]\Injesty'.s
Government is clear from the constant reference to his personal infhuii<!e
in the published despatches. It is our desire to show tliat whatever the
real grounds for this belief may be, no evidence in support of it has been
given, (.'xcept what is oidy a ])ersonal o])inion, and one which, under such
circumstances, should be received with caution.

We now ask whether, looked. upon in \\w. light which recent events
have thrown on the suliject, these ojiinions can be justified ; whether
there has been actiuil danger of Zulu invasion, and whether the mea.sures
iido]it(d were necessary and suliicieut to avert if? Such fear has, as
befon; remarked, never been felt by the G'overnnjent or people of tho
llepublic. Up to the time of annexation, isolated border farjns wcro

Appendix. 331

occtipied by our farmers witliont the least apprehension of danger ; and
but a few weeks before, a small patrol of men had followed the chief
Umbelini into the heart of the Zulu country. It is only since the
annexation that our farmers' homesteads have been burnt, and that
they, with their wives and children, have been compelled to take to the
plains. It is, Ave unhesitatingly declare, owing to the course pursued
by Sir T. Shepstonc that the present crisis has been produced. Cety-
wayo, believing himself to be encouraged by the Katal Government, or
by Sir T. Sliepstone, in the demands he was making on the Transvaal,
was no doubt daily becoming more insolent and exacting; but his
threats to the Transvaal, which reached the Transvaal only through
Natal, produced little or no effect until, by the advance of the British
troops, he was led to make a similar movement towards the frontier.
Cetywayo has, with much ingenuity, endeavoured to play off one white
Government against the other, and, as it seemed to him at first, with
some success. That he should now be exasperated can excite no
surprise, for he finds himself not alone foiled in his game, and disap-
pointed of the plunder which he expected a joint invasion of the
Transvaal would afford, but he also now finds the cause of his opponent
espoused by those who, he had been led to hope, were his friends and
supporters. Evidence in sujiport of what has been advauced by Sir T.
Shepstone is, as has been said, entirely wanting; while, on the other
hand, the most striking contradictiou is given to it by the present
attitude of the Zulus towards his Government, and by the hostilities in
Secocoeni's country, and with the Griquas at the south-western border.

The above are some of the chief arguments which we have to advance
in order to carry out the instructions with which we have been charged ;
and though we are prepared to meet any further points which may be
urged in defence or justification of the annexation, we do not feel it
necessary here to go into further detail. We are directed to support
with the voice of the people the protest against the annexation, and at
the same time humbly and earnestly to solicit Her Majesty's gracious
consideration of their cause. AVe pi'otest against the annexation of the
South African Republic on the following gi-ounds: —

1. That it is a violation of the Convention entered into at Sand River
in Januarj^ 1852, between Her Majesty's Assistant Commissioners and
the representatives of the emigrant farmers.

2. That the reports as to the nature of the distui'bances in the Trans-
vaal, and the peril to the peace and safety of the adjoining colonies
thereby threatened, and upon which the instructions to Sir Theophilus
Shepstone were founded, were gross exaggerations of fact, and misrepre-
sented the actual position of the country.

3. That the condition laid down in Her Majesty's Commission to Sir
TheophiJus Shepstone requiring the assent of the inhabitants thereof,
or a sufficient number of them, or the Legislature thereof, has not been
complied with.

4. That the British Government cannot, with justice, avail themselves
of the plea that the defencelessness and disorganization of the Republic,
and the enroachments of the natives, and consecjuent danger to the
British colonies, made the intervention of their authority a necessary act,
inasmuch as those evils, if they existed, were the direct result and con-
sequence of the acts of their own representatives as above referred to.

In concluding a letter upon a subject of such vital importance to our
fellow-countrymen — to those who have struggled through toil and

JJ-

Appendix.

through danger for years in the one hope of preserving their hard-earned

freedom — we cannot but feel the deep responsibility that rests upon us,
and that, should we fail in conveying to Her Majesty's Government the
conviction of the righteousness and justice of our cause, it will be due
only to our defects in laying it before them. We believe, however, that
we have fully met every argument tliat has been advanced to justify the-
act for which we now seek redress; and we rest with the fullest con-
fidence on the sense of justice and integrity of the British nation. "We-
Icnow that, as a subject- people, and who have been deprived of their
independence by such means, there will be before us many years of
bitter heart-burnings, of ill-feeling, of desertion of homes, and of wild
and objectless wanderings ; while, on the other hand, with justice and
with freedom, there is every reason to hope that the Transvaal may join
hand in hand with the neighbouring States and colonies to work
together for mutual prosperity and happiness, and for the extension of
civilization and Christianity into the far interior.

It is now our earnest prayer that Her Majesty's Government may
direct the removal from the Transvaal of the Aflministrator of the
Government, with the British troojss and the official stall', and may
restore to the country the independence which was guaranteed by the
Convention of 18o"2, and which has been formally acknowledged by the
Governments of Germany, France, America, Holland, Belgium, and
Portugal. We have, ttc. — S. J. P. Kkugki!, P. J. Jolbert, Uelegates,
W. Ed. Bok, Secy.

APPENDIX E.
PROCLAMATION BY THE BOER TRIUMVIRATE.

The Triumvirate, consisting of Messrs. J. P. Kruger (Vice-President),
M. W. I'retorius, and P. J. Joubcrt, apjiointed by the A^'olksraad of the
Transvaal, in its sitting of the loth Dfcember, 1880, at I'aardckraal,
issued a Proclamation reciting at length the well-known 8and l{iver
Convention, as well as the Protests of the 11th and l-2th of April, 1877,
against the Anne.v.ation of the Transvaal (for which see previous Appen-
dices), and formulated the reasons for the rising in the following para-
gra])hs : —

"2. By this (Sand River) Convention, the perfect independence of the
Repuldic was acknowledged, without any restriction, and classed among-
the independent States.

" I?. In the course of time it was acknowledged, besides England, by
the (ircat Powers, France, Prussia, America, Portugal, Belgium, and
Holland.

"'!■. Never has any provision of this Convention been violaled, whereby
even the j)retence of right has been given to England to withdraw from
its obligations.

" Tj. Although from different sides the Republic has been charged
with favouring slavery, the untruth of such accusations has been
ghiringly brouglit Uj liglit, liy the very annexation ; the representatives
of H M. in (lur country have liad no opportunity to rejjair any wrong
done by Boers to the natives, for the simple reason that no wrong wa«

Appendix. > 333

committed. In the whole country no slave has been liberated, because
there were none.

" 0. If this Convention has been violated, it is not done by the people,
but perhaps Sir G. Wolseley has brought the truth to light when he
declared : That British shopkeepers provided the natives with guns and
ammunition ; contravening Art. 5 of the Convention.

" 7. The most amicable relations have since that time existed between
B.M.'s Government and the Hepublic. When, in Natal, the difficulty
arose with Langalibalele, the Republic has proved this by deeds, as was
-also gratefully acknowledged by the Legislative Assembly of Natal.

"8. In consequence of wrong information — and notwithstanding the
then Governor of Natal, in his despatches to the Secretary for the
■Colonies, expressly stated that the Republic had re-established her pre-
dominance among the natives, notwithstanding that it had for a period
suffered by the Secocoeni rebellion — Sir T. Shepstone abused a special
power granted to him under entirely different circumstances.

" 9. This official has thought fit to annex, on the 12th April. 1877,
the S. A. Republic, in the name of H. M., notwithstanding that his
power had only been granted to him to do so with consent of the Volks-
raad, and naturally for satisfactory reasons.

" 10. Government and people of the Republic have then not made use
of their right to take up arms, being convinced that Her Majesty's
4jrovernm ent, better informed, would disapprove of the action of her
■official, and as the threats of that official made them fear that armed
resistance should cause civil war among the colonists in South Africa,
.and a war of extermination between the white and black race.

" 11. The Government of the South African Republic has allowed
this act of violence to be committed under protest, and the people have
kept quiet in obedience to the lawful authority.

"12. Three-and-a-half j^ears have since that time passed, and the
people have behaved quietly, always contending that they were a free
people, and no subjects of Her Majesty (in the confidence that Her
JMajesty's Government would subject the actions of her officials to
serious consideration); and meantime, out of regai'd for its laws, co-
operating with the Government i^ro. terii., to honour these laws, faith-
fully attending, as for instance as jurymen, to further the application of
the laws.

" 13. This leniency of the people has been badly rewarded. Two
deputations, sent in '77 and '78 to England, have been well rectived. but
not been allowed to lay before H.M.'s Government the subject of an-
•nexation.

*' 1-1. When, after the commencement of the unjustifiable Zulu war,
which war might easily have been avoided, the High Commissioner, Sir
3artle Frere, visited our country, this high official tried to persuade the
,people to desist from its resistance, but in vain. A camp of more than
4,000 burghers sent its representatives, and His Excellency was necessi-
tated to acknowledge openly that the objection of the burghers to the
.annexation was more general than was represented to him by the
officials, and that the leaders of the movement were the best and most
j^rincipal people of the country.

" 15. Sir Bartle Frere took from the hands of the people a memorinl
to H. M. the Queen, wherein it was stated unreservedly that the jieople
would not be subject to Her Majesty, and he accompanied this memorial
l)j a despatch, wherein he declared that the representations of the people

334 • Appendix,

•were worthy of the most serions consideration of Her Majesty's Gorern-
ment. He read this despatch for approbation to the Commission of the
people, and the thousands of burtrhers, this time believing that their
good right had at last found a defender, went peacefully back to its
occupation.

" 16. Meantime, said high official, in a private letter to Her Majesty's
Secretary for the Colonies, wrote that he regretted not to have sufficient
artillery to chase this camp home. This letter was written on the same
day that he had the interview with the people.

" 17. The Government of Her Majesty, misled by her High Commis-
sioner, has never given an answer to this memorial of the people. And
when Sir Garnet AVolseley reached our boundary, he expressed as the
general feeling of England's Government, that knew not of the state of
affiiirs, that 'as long as the sun shines the Transvaal will remain British
territory.'

" 18. The answer of the people upon this declaration is contained in
Ihe resolutions of the general meeting of the people, which took place
from lUth to 17th Dec, 1879, when it was decided that, there being no
hope of recovering the independence by jjeaceful means, the Volksraad
should be convened to proclaim what has now been proclaimed and
finally decided : That the people declares that, with the help of God, it
demands a strong form of the S. A. Republic, respect for the laws, the
l^rosperity and progress of the country, and that it promises man for
man to co-operate for that 2)urpose, and to defend the Government until
death. So truly help us God Almighty.

" 19. The Committee gave hereof official notice to Sir Garnet TVolseley,
with request to communicate same to English Government. This request
was answered by an accusation of high treason against the President,
Mr. M. AV. Pretorius, and the Secretary, Mr. E. 15ok. It is generally
known that the.se accusations have been dropped, and have alone served
to create fear.

"20. The meeting announced in the.se resolutions has been delayed, as
we trusted that by a deputation to the Cape Colony the threatening
danger of a Conference, the precursor of a Confederation of all Colonies
in South Africa, where our interests would for ever have been neglected,
might be averted. This deputation has done good, and established in
South Africa the conviction, that no Conrereuce is possible without the
injury done to us being first repaired.

" 21. ]\leaiitime the peace ob.servcd by the people has been continually
and purpo.sely misrepresented. Tlie iK'ojjle had decreed to pay its taxes
only under ])rotest or by force, while the Covenimcnt for the time being
has thought well to write to England that the jjcople were satisfied, and
paid tluir taxes.

"22. Upon these statements, the English Parliament in September
last allowed the matter of the Annexation to pass nr.challeuged, because
Her ^Majesty's Government declared that the Administrator reported the
opposition of the people abating, and tliiit they ])aid their taxes.

** 2;{. Deceived by such reports from Pretoria, His Excellency Sir
Pomeroy Collcj', H.M's. Governor for Natal, no later than the 19th
October, 18S(>, declared at the o])cning of the Legi.slative Council in that
Colony, that tlu; movement in the Transvaal was apparently settling, that
everywhere order and law reigned, and that ihe taxes were paid by
natives as well as wliilc iidiabitants.

•'21. Indescribable was the anger of the people when they saw that.

Appendix. 335

purposely and wilfully, the truth was obscured by the authorities in
Pretoria, and that the unwilling and extorted payment of taxes was used
as a weapon against the people.

" 25. Immediately the people gathered, and from all sides declarations
were signed by the burghers that they should either j^ay no longer taxes
or alone under protest, exercising thereby their rights as an independent
peojile that may be silent for a time, but reserves its rights.

" i!o. This declaration was printed in the newspapers, and the Govern-
ment in Pretoria, afraid, doubtless, that now the untruth of its informa-
tion should come to light, crowned its work of tyranny by prosecuting
criminally for the publication of seditious writing the Editor of the paper
who published those declarations. The liberty of the Press was a thorn
in the side of the Government 'pro. tern.

" 27. The unwillingness of the people to pay taxes led to small colli-
sions. Yet everything was still done by the leaders of the people to
l^revent a public disturbance of the peace. With the full approval of
the Colonial Secretary and Mr. Kruger. it was decided to tiy whether the
jieople's meeting, which was near at hand, could not effect the peaceful
solution of the difficulties.

" 2y. Then the Government at Pretoria thought it well, in contradic-
tion to this agreement between Mr. Hudson, the Colonial Secretary, and
]\Ir. Paul Kruger, and two days before the meeting, to publish a Procla-
mation, which leaves us no clroice between being treated as rebels or
exercising our eternal rights as a free people.

" 29. We have decided, and the people has shown to us our path. We
declare before God, who knows the heart, and before the world : Any one
siieaking of us as rebels is a slanderer ! The people of the South African
Republic have never been subjects of Her Majesty, and never will be.

*' oO. We therefore return to the protest of the Government referred to
above, and declare that on our jmrt the last means have l*een tried to
ensure the rights of the jieople by peaceful means and amicable arrange-
ments.

" 31. AVe therefore make it knovv^n to everybody that on the 13th of
December, 1880, the Government has been re-established. Mr. S. J. P.
Kruger has been appointed Yice-Presitlent, and shall form with ]\Ir.
M. W. Pretorius and P. Joubert the Triumvirate that shall execute the
Government of the country. The A^olksraad has recommenced its sitting.

" 32. All inhabitants of this country who will keep themselves qxriet
and obedient to the laws shall stand under the protection of the laws.
'L'he jx^ople declares to be forgiving to all burghers of the South African
Itopublic who by circumstances have been brought to desert for the time
being the part of the people, but that it cannot promise to extend this
forgiveness to those burghers of the South African Republic who assunui
the ] losition of 0[>en enemies to the iieo|)lo, and continue to deceive the
English Government by their unti'uthful representations.

" OO- All officials who serve the Government now, and who are able
and willing to serve under the altered circumstances of the country, shall
have a claim to retain their places and such advantages as their positions
now atlbrd to them.

" 3i. To the English Government the right is reserved to maintain in
our country a Consul or Diplomatic Agent to represent the interests of
Pritisli suijiects.

" Cj Tiie lawful expenditure lawfully incurred for the necessary cxi^cu*
diturc during the interregnum shall be confirmed.

6 Appendix.

" 33. The difFereaces over boundaries of natives shall be submitted to
arbitration.

" 87. For the Native policv the Government is prepared to accept
general principles to be decided upon after deliberation witli the Colonies
and States of South Africa.

" 38. The Eepublic is prepared to confederate with the Colonies and
States of South Africa.

" And, tinall3% we declare and make known to all and everybody that
from this day the country is declared to be in a state of siege and under
the provisions of martial law. — Paardekraal, Pretoria, Dec. 1830."

APPENDIX F.

OFFICIAL DESPATCH OF THE LATE COLONEL AN-
STRUTHER ON THE ACTION AT BRONKHORST SPRUIT.

" Transvaal, Camp Modder Spruit, near Mr. Prinsloo's Farm, December
26, 1880. — SiK, — I have the honour to report that, on the iOth inst., the
troops under my command, while on the march from ]Middlebur<T to
Pretoria, had an engagement with a large body of Boers under Com-
mandant-General P. Joubert, near Prinsloo's Farm, on the Modder
Spruit. I had no expectation of meeting the enemy at this spot, as the
Field-Cornet had stated in conversation to some of the officers that there
was a friendly meeting going on close by, and that emissaries had gone
through the country endeavouring to rouse the people to stop us, but that
the appeal met with no response. The only cavalry with us were four
mounted infantry, so that scouting could not be efficiently performed ;
but one man, wliile on the march, was always sent to the rise in front,
and another one to the highest hill commanding the country. liieutenant
MacSwiney was employed as intelligence officer, to give information as
to the enemy's whereabouts. I understand that the enemy followed ua
nearly all the way from INIiddloburg, keeping well out of sight, which, as
they were all mounted, did not interfere with their power of catching us
«p at any moment. The country round the scene of action is well but
not thickly wooded, and well suited for cavalry, and i'ringed round the
edge of the plateau by ravines, intcrmi.xed by well-wooded farmyanhs,
which concealed a large number of troops. About 1"2.15 r.M. two or
three scouts were seen at about (>l>() yards' distance. 1 therefore rode
back to form up the leading and stop the remaining waggons; but witliin
five minutes of this, the enemy appeared in skirmishing order on the rise
of a slight- wooded hill on the left. \\\ addition, there were large numbers
in rear and on our right Hank, but what nnniber I am unable to state,
nor have I been able since to obtain any accurate information ; but from
the report of the officer commaniling the rear-f,niard, and from the state-
m<!nt3 of the Boers themselves alter the action, I do not think that troni
1,200 to ],">"<• would be overstating their numbers. The Hoers .sent
forward a fla<.,' of truce half-way Itetween the lines, and 1 walked to meet
it. The bearer handed me an English letter, signed by i'. Joubert, and

Appendix. 337

countersigned by other Boers, requesting me to wait at the spot where I
then was until a reply had been received to an ultimatum that had been
sent to Sir Owen Lanyon. I told the interpreter I could not do so, as I
had orders to proceed with all possible despatch to Pretoria, and that I
had no wish to meet him hostilely. He said that he would take my
message to the Commandant-General, and I asked him to let me know
the result, to which he nodded assent.

Almost immediately, however, the enemy's line advanced. I ran back
as fast as I could, ordering the leading company to skirmish, but before they
could open out to more than loose tiles a murderous fire was poured upon
them, which was as hotly returned. The fire lasted for less than a quarter
of an hour, when, observing that all the officers and about two out of
three of the non-commissioned officers and men were either dead or
wounded, I ordered the cease-fire to be sounded, and hoisted a flag of
truce to save the lives of the remainder. In the meantime, fighting was
going on all along the line of waggons up to the rear-guard, about 200
Boers firing a volley within 430 yards, then dashing up to the waggons,
shooting the oxen, particularly the leading ones, and killing or wounding
a great many of the men in charge. Immediately after the flag of truce
was hoisted, Commandant Joubert came forward and shook hands with
me, saying he was sorry to see me wounded. He then ordered the
remainder of the men to surrender their arms, accoutrements, &c.,
together with all the waggons, to proceed to their camp, some distance
oft', promising, however, that all the private baggage should be returned ;
he also allowed 1 8 men to be left to attend to the wounded, and the
remainder, about 40 non-commissioned officers and men, and Captain and
Paymaster ElUott, Army Pay Department (not wounded), to proceed to
their camp en route to Heidelberg, where he was proceeding the same
afternoon with his army. Our casualties are as follows : —

Killed. — 94th Foot — ^Captain Nairn, Lieutenant MacSwiney, mortally
wounded, died in a few hours; Lieutenant and Adjutant Harrison; 59
non-commissioned officers and men (including six died since action).
Army Service Corps — Two non-commissioned officers : Conductor
Bancroft.

Wounded. — 94th Foot — Lieutenant-Colonel Anstruther, dangerously;
Lieutenant Hume, severely; 82 non-commissioned officers and men (the
gi'eater part of whom severely); the wife of Sergeant-Major Fox, severely.
Army Service Corps — Deputy- Assistant Commissary- General Carter,
dangerously ; Conductor Egerton, slightly ; two non-commissioned officers.
Army Medical Department. — Surgeon Ward, slightly; Army Hospital
Corps — two privates.

All horses were killed or taken.

With regard to the losses of the enemy, it is difficult to give an accurate
estimate. The Provost- Sergeant tells me he counted 27 bodies in one farm
and 17 in another, waiting for interment. But the Boers are very reticent
on the subject, and I fancy a great many more were killed.

I regret exceedingly the disastrous termination of the engagement,
but I trust that it will be considered I did right in surrendering when
I did ; outnumbered as we were, we could have no chance of success in
continuing it. I also regret that the whole of the orderly-room, pay-
master's and quartermaster's books, &c., have been taken ; but I am
informed by Commandant Prinsloo, in command here, that they, together
with the private property, will be returned. All the officers ])resent at
the engagement behaved well, particularly Lieuteiiant and Adjutant

338 Appeitdix.

Harrison, who encouraged the men to the utmost of his power until shot
through the head alongside of me ; also Lieutenant Hume, who com-
manded his company very efficiently. Orderly-room Clerk Maistre and
Sergeant Master-Tailor Pears, in the absence of officers, carried the
colours, and showed good service in hiding them in a waggon. Sergeant-
Major Fox and Quartermaster- Sergeant Earle (both wounded) rendered,
in the absence of officers, able assistance ; and Sergeants Newton and
Hook indefatigably exerted themselves in bringing in the wounded and
burying the dead all through the night and the following day. Deputy-
Assistant Commissary-General Carter, Conductor Egerton, and Transport-
Sergeant Bennett, Army Service Corps, were simply indefatigable. They
were all wounded, Mr. Carter very severely, thi-ee places, and Sergeant
Bennett dangerously, and I am much afraid that his wounds may entail the
loss of his thigh. Conductor Egerton, though wounded, volunteered to
walk into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, and also to carry in the
colours, which he had judiciously torn from the poles and wrapped round
him under his coat. Mess- Sergeant Bradley volunteered to accompany
him, and, having obtained a safe-conduct, they started, and I believe
delivered the news about 4 a.m. next morning, having run the distance of
42 miles within 11 hours. It was exceedingly fortunate that Providence
spared our only medical officer and his assistant-surgeon. Ward's work
can hardly be described. It was endless for 48 hours; until assistance
arrived, he had not one moment to himself.

In conclusion, I have only to bring to notice the conduct of the men,
which was admirable. They were steady as rocks, and consoled them-
selves for the surrender with the thought that the tables would be turned
before long. The Boers are very sorry at having wounded a woman, and
the minute after the arms were laid down they became most obliging and
civil. They offered to get us everything they could for our comfort, and
it was not a hollow promise. Every day they come in numbers, bringing
milk, butter, eggs, bread, apricots, <fec., and if a man goes to any of their
farms they at once, without payment, give him anything he wants. — I
have, &c., Philip E. Anstrutuek, Lieut-Colonel, Commanding 94th
Ee^t."

Lieut.-Colonel Anstruther subsequently died of his wounds.

APPENDIX G.

THE FIRST BATTLE OF LANG'S NEK.

Official Despatch.

" Army ITcad-quartors, i\Iount Pro.spcct, Natal, February 1, 1881. —
Sir, — 1 have already, from time to time, forwarded to you all information
tliat has reached me regarding the Boer outl^roak, which, commencing
with acts of resistance to the civil ])()wt'r, culminated iu the procliunation
of the South African Republic <in the lOth of Deceml)er, 1880, and the
attack on the detiicluiient of the '.) Ith Regiment on the '20th of that
ni until. I have also reported to you the measures taken to organize and

Appeiidix. 339

concentrate a force with which to attempt the relief of the besieged gar-
risons of the Transvaal, and the re-establishment of Her Majesty's
authority in that province. On the 10th of January I left Maritzburg
for Newcastle to personally supervise the formation and equipment of
the columns collecting for that purpose under the command of Colonel
Deane; and on the 19th and 2Uth the last detachments, consisting of
drafts just landed from England, two field-guns, manned by gunners
from the garrison battery at Cape Town, and a naval detachment, kindly
placed at my disposal by Commodore Eichards, C.B., A.D.C., reached
Newcastle.

The force then assembled at Newcastle consisted of two guns N-5
Royal Artillery, properly horsed and equipped; two field-guns, manned
by a detachment 10-7 Royal Artillery, Garrison Battery, and drawn
partly by horses, partly by oxen ; two 7-pounder guns, drawn by mules,
and manned by men of the 60th Rilles, under direction of Artillery non-
commissioned officers; •ne mounted squadron, formed of details of King's
Dragoon Guards, Army Service Corps, and men of the 58th and Guth
Regiments ; head-quarters and five companies 58th Regiment ; head-
quarters and live companies 60th Rifles; a draft of 80 men of the 2nd
Battalion 21st Royal Scots Fusiliers ; a Naval Brigade of 120 men, with
two Catlings and three rocket tubes; a detachment of Natal Mounted
Police. In all 1,146 infantry, 191 cavalry, six guns, and two Gatlings.
The column thus formed was small in numbers and somewhat hetero-
geneous in composition. But no further reinforcements could reach me
for, at least, three weeks; and, having regard to the effect of such delay
on Pretoria, where the loyal population has had to take refuge in the
camp, and is undergoing all the miseries of a close siege, and on Potchef-
strom, where the garrison is scantily supplied, and can scarcely hold out
much longer, I decided to move forward at once with the force at my
disposal.

Regarding the Boer forces opposed to me it was difficult to get reliable in-
formation. Captain Lambart, 2nd Battalion 21stRoyalScotsFusiliers, who
had been for some time a prisoner at the Boer head-quarters at Heidelberg,
estimated their numbers at 16,000, and similar estimates were current in
Natal and the Free State. From other, and what appeared to me more
accurate information, however, I was inclined to estimate their forces at
between 5,000 and 7,000, of whom about 2,000 were directly opposed to
me on the border under their Commandant-General J. P. Joubert. These
numbers were necessarily liable to considerable fluctuation, as day by day
fresh men arrived or others went to their homes. The Boers were without
artillery, but all mounted and armed, amply supplied with ammunition,
and generally excellent shots.

From Newcastle three roads lead into the Transvaal— one to the right
going to Utrecht, with a branch to Wakkerstrom ; one in the centre to
Wakkerstrom direct, and thence to Standerton or Leydenberg; and one
on the left direct to Standerton, joining in the Wakkerstrom- Standerton
road at a place called Meek's. Utrecht lies to the east of and below the
Drakensberg range and plateau; but the roads to "Wakkerstrom and
Standerton both cross this range at elevations of from 5,000ft. to 6,000ft.
The pass where the direct Standerton road crosses the Drakensberg range
is called the Lang's Nek, and lies within Natal territory, about twenty
live miles from Newcastle. During my stay at Newcastle I learnt that
the Boers had established their main camp at a point a little south of
the "Wakkerstrom-Standerton road, and about six miles from the former

z 2

340 Appendix.

place. From tliis point, centrally situated between the two roads crossing*
the Drakensberg, they could move at once to occupy either pass according-
to the route that I might choose for my advance. Their patrols watched
the fords on the Buffalo River, and a detached force usually occupied
Lang's Nek, whence parties were occasionally pushed to the vicinity of
Newcastle. As my objects were the dispersion of the Boer forces in the
iield, and the earliest possible relief of the garrisons of Standerton,
Pretoria, and Potchefstrom, I selected the direct Standerton road for my
advance, though in character and in the defensive position it affords,
this road compares unfavourably with that by Wakkerstrom.

Two days were occupied in completing the equipment of the force, and,
a heavy day's rain on the 22nd having made the roads almost impassable,

1 was compelled to defer my advance till the 2 Ith, on which day the-
column made a short march, halting a few miles outside Newcastle. Oa
the 25th the column, which was accompatiied by a heavy convoy of sup-
plies, crossed the deep and difficult valley of the Imbazane River, the-
convoy defiling under cover of positions held by infantry and artillery.
On the 26th the valley of the Ingogo was similarly crossed, and the-
troops encamped on a commanding ridge between three and four miles
from Lang's Nek pass. No opjiosition was offered to the march, though
Boer patrols were occasionally visible, but Lang's Nek was seen to be
occupied in force. Heavy rain and mist prevented any movement on the
27th, but on the morning of the 28th I moved out with the Royal
Artillery — 4 officers, 6 guns; mounted troops, 6 officers, 113 men; Natal
Mounted Police— 3 officers, 63 men; 58th Regiment — 15 officers, 47^
men; 60th Regiment — 13 officers, 321 men; Naval Brigade — 1 officers,
84 men; 2nd Battalion 21st Regiment — 1 officer, 6 men; Army Medical
Department and Army Hospital Corps — t officers, 26 men ; column staff —

2 officers ; leaving the laager, which had been strengthened with redoubts
constructed round it, garrisoned by the detachment of the 2-21st Royal
(Scots Fusiliers, a company of the 3-6()th Riiles, a detachment of the
Naval Brigade, and details of the various corps, in all 260 men, under
Captain Whitton, 2-21st Royal Scots Fusiliers.

The pass over Lang's Nek lies about the centre of a rough semicircle
of hills six miles in length, culminating towards the west (our left) in a
lofty, square-topped mountain, natned tlie Aniajuba, with jn-ecipitous
sides and deep, wooded ravines, and ended on the east by the Buffalo
River running througli a deej) and rugged gorge. The road skirts the
foot of the Amajuba mountain until it rises the Lang's Nek ridge, re-
entering the bend of this semicircle. It is then commanded along the
greater part of its length by the mountain spurs on its loft, and, where
it crosses the Nek, by the hills on both sides. The ground within the
Bcmicircle is an umlnlatiug grassy plateau, broken by a few deep ravines.
From Jiang's Xek the ground rises on the west, in a scries of ridges and
shouMerH, furrowed witii deep wooded ravines, to the Amiijubamouutain.
To the cast the ground rises steeply about 300 yards to a table liill
having a hmgth of 1,000 yards, and a command over the ])lains below of
about 6oO fe(;t, and then falls in a numiier of spurs and ridges to the
dee[) valley of th(! Bull'alo River. This table hill is the key ot the posi-
tion, and against its outer (eastern) end I directed my attack. Leaving
the main road al)0ut half a mile to our left, and crossing a deep valley
immediately under our camp, the column moved towards the enemy's
position along an open ridge, out of shot of the hills, and formed upon
a rise directly opposite, and from 2,3i.i0 yards to 2,5iJO yards distant from

Appendix, 341

the table hill above mentioned, with guns in the centre, the 60th lliflea,
INaval Brigade, and Natal Mounted Police on the left; the ■'JBth Regi-
ment and mounted squadron on the right. From near the eastern end
of the table hill a spur runs forward in a southerly direction, falling
steeply almost to the level of the ground occupied by us, and then rising
again with easy and open slopes to an isolated conical hill 1,500 yards
distant from the table hill, and overlooking our right at the same dis-
tance. This hill was occupied by a picquet of the enemy, probaVjly 100
to 200 strong. Had the force at my disposal been sufficient I would
iiave commenced by taking this hill with my infantry, but to have done
so would have entailed a wide turning movement, and would have too
much extended my small force. I determined, therefore, to attack the
spur, directly covering the attack with artillery fire, and jn-otecting the
Tight or exposed flank of the infantry with the mounted corjjs. The faco
■of the spur was very steep, but hidden from view or fire, except from the
«lopes of the isolated hill already mentioned.

At half-past nine o'clock I commenced the action by shelling different
parts of the enemy's position, and pushing forward a company of the
'60th Rifles and the Naval Brigade with their rockets into some enclosed
jgrounds on the road about 1,200 yards from the Nek. From this point
the Naval Brigade sent rockets with good effect on the Nek and among
the Boer reserves and horses collected behind. A sharp fire was soon
•opened on this force from the wooded kloof beyond the road ; but, as the
men were well posted under cover of a stone wall, our casualties here
were few. When this force had become engaged, the 58th Regiment,
under Major Hingeston, moved forward to attack the spur; covered on
their right by the mounted squadron, under Major Brownlow, King's
Dragoon Guards, and by the fire of the Artillery, which was now con-
centrated on this part of the enemy's position. Colonel Deane, com-
manding the Natal Field Force, personally led this attack. The mounted
squadron, moving on the right of the infantry, gradually drew up the
slope of the isolated hill on our right, and, coming under the fire of the
Boers on the hill, faced the hill and charged. This charge was splendidly
led by Major Brownlow, who, with Troop-Sergeant-Major Lunny, King's
Dragoon Guards, was first on the ridge. Major Brownlow's horse was
shot under him, as was that of his subaltern, Lieutenant Lermitte, 21st
(Royal Scots Fusiliers), and Sergeant- Major Lunny was instantly killed;
but Major Brownlow shot the Boer leader with his revolver, and con-
tinued to lead his men, who now crowned the ridge. Could he have
been promptly supported the hill was won, for the Boers had already
begun to retire. But the fire was still heavy, and the hill was steep.
The support troop was checked ; the leading troop, fatigued and broken
by the charges, with its leaders all down, cordd not push on ; and the
•whole jjarty gave way down hill. Meanwhile the 58th Regiment had
begun climbing the steep ascent on the spur, when the Boers ou the
isolated hill, having repulsed the cavalry attack, moved down the ridge,
and opened fire on the right rear of the iutantry, now ex])0^;ed, the
■enemy on the table hill at the same time collecting to resist them at the
brow of the hill. The 58th now pushed on eagerly, forming a few men
to the right flank to return the enemy's fire. But the climb was a very
trying one, and when the men got near the top they were too fatigued
and breathless for a charge, while the fire from a ridge behind continued
to tell heavily, and the Boers shot down the men as they struggled up.
The officers led nobly, and Colonel Deane, with splendid gallantry, tried

34-' Appendix.

to carry tlie hill by a rush. His horse Ayas shot, hut he extricated him-
self, and dashing forward on foot fell riddled with bullets ten yards ir»
front of the foremost man. Major Poole, who joined him in the charge,
•with Lieutenant Inman, GOth Rifles, and Lieutenant Elwes, Grenadier
Guards, my aide-de-camp, were killed close by him, and ^lajor Hingeston,
commanding o8th Eegiment, and all mounted officers of the Regiment,
wen^ shot down or dismounted. The men continued to hold their ground
■nn'linchingly for sometime, but the ground was too unfavourable and
the hre too severe, and ultimately the Regiment was compelled to retii-e,
covered for some time by the fire of two companies posted under the
direction of i\Iajor Essex, 75th Eegiment, column staff olHcer, behind a
slight ledge. Part of the 6tith pushed forward to cover the retirement,
and the o8th, which had fallen back leisurely, without haste or confusion,
re-formed at the foot of the hill, and marched back into position in a3
good order, and with as erect and soldierly a bearing, as when it marched
out. The main attack having failed, it became necessary to withdraw
the advanced parties on the left. This was done without loss."

General Colley mentions that the casualties were very severe, and
adds : — " I have especially to deplore the death of Colonel Ueane, com-
manding the Natal Field Force, in whom this force has sufi'ered an
irreparable loss. I have also deeply to deplore the loss of Major Poole,
R.A., D.A.A.G. ; Lieut. Elwes, Grenadier Guards, my A.D.C.; and
Lieut. Inman, 60th Rilles, orderly officer to Colonel Deane, who all fell
with Colonel Deane in his determined effort to cai'ry the hill. Major
Poole was an able and most promising staff officer, and hud l>een of the
greatest service since he joined my staff; whilst I have snfl'ored a heavy
personal loss in the death of my A.D.C, Lieut. Elwes. Of the conduct
of the 58t?. Regiment during this trying day I cannot speak in too high
terms. Major Ilingeston, commanding the regiment, was mortally
wounded; Captain Lovegrove, second in command, severely wonnded;
Lieuts. Dolphin and ]5aillic killed; Lieut. O'Donel wounded; the
sergeant-major and most of the colour-sergeants killed or wounded;
but to the last the men were ])erfectly in hand, clirerful, and ready to
fight on. They only fell back wiicn further lighting was hopeless and
the order given to retire, and then moved down the hill li isnrely, not a
man running to save himself from the heavy fire whicli fillowcd them
down. The perfect order and soldierly bearing of the remains of the
regiment as they marched back into position, under tlie command of
Lieut. Jopp, deservedly called fdrth the admiration of all who witnessed
it. I have already reported the gallant char^^e made ly the mounted
squadron, under Major Brownlow, and I wonld now explain my very
high sense of the services rendered by that officer. "Willi only a small
number of dismounted Dragoons, Army Service Corps, and v<i!unteer3
from infantry regiments at liis command, and '^reat ditlicnlty in
obtaining horses and eijuipment, he has, with iiiilefaligaiile industry ami
zeal, succeeded in creating the most serviceable nujunled force, with
which he has admirably ;>erformed the scouting and other cavalry
duties of the column. In iho charge his conduct was conspicuous, and
his escape wonderful. Associated with him, alike in organizing and
training this force, and in the charge, his sergeant-major — 'I'roop-
Sergeant- Major Jiiinny, King's Dragcjon Guard.s — died beside him as
they crested the liill together, in sight of the whole force; ami no man
ever <lied more gallantly. Of the conduct of the force generally I can
epeak ia terms of the liighest praise. The 00th Rilles were not closely

Appendix. 343

engaged in the action of the 28th, but skirmished steadily and wel], and
covered the witlidrawal of the 58th. The artillery was well served,
thoiigh from the nature of the ground, and the cover it afforded the
Boers, the fire was not very effective. Much credit is due to Captain
Greer and Lieutenant Parsons for the efficiency of my artillery forces,
seeing that there were originally only two guns properly manned and
equipped in this country, the other four having been equipped and
horsed locally, and manned partly by artillerymen from a garrison
brigade, and partly by volunteers from the (JOth Rifles. The Naval
Brigade threw their rockets well, and covered the left flank of the force
in action. The Natal ]\Iounted Police, a remarkably fine body of men,
though not directly engaged on the '28th, rendered most valuable service
in scouting and protecting the march of the column from Newcastle."

Among other officers honourably mentioned are : — Lieutenant-Golonel
Ashburnham, commanding the 3rd Battalion 60th Rifles; Commander
Romilly, commanding Naval Brigade; Major Dartnell, commanding
Natal Mounted Police; Captain Greer and Lieutenant Parsons, R.A. ;
the Rev. G. M. St. M. Ritchie, Chaplain to the Forces; Surgeon-Major
Babington. who was in chai-ge of the field hospital; Surgeons E. King
and J. M'Gann, A.M.D., and Surgeon E. E. Mahon, R.N., Her Majesty's
ship Flora; Assistant-Commissary-General Elmes, the senior Com-
missariat officer; Lieutenant Brotherton, R.E.; Major Essex, Staff
Officer of the column, who was with Colonel Deane in the attack on the
hill, where his horse was killed under him, and distinguished himself by
his courage and coolness, remaining to the last, and directing the
companies that covered the retirement of the 58th Regiment ; Captain
McGregor, R.E., Assistant Military Seci-etary; and Commodore Richards,
C.B., Aide-de-Camp, who was present at the engagement.

The despatch then continues: — "The behaviour of the men on the
line of march, in camp, and before the enemy, has been all that could be
desired, and deserves sj^ecial mention. The amount of crime has been
almost nil, and on the day that the column marched against the enemy
there were only two men sick in hospital. Among many gallant deeds
performed during the action I would wish especially to mention the
following: — Lieut. Hill, 58th Regiment, as the regiment was retiring,
passed Lieut. Baillie badly wounded, and tried to bring him out on hia
Horse. While so trying, Lieut. Baillie was hit again and killed.
Lieut. Hill then brought another man out of action on his horse,
and immediately returned to the hill to aid the wounded under fire,
remaining there till taken prisoner, but afterwards released by the Boers.
Sergeant-Major Murray, 58th Regiment, though severely wounded,
refused to go to the rear, but remained with a few men to the last
to cover the retirement of the regiment, and was again hit. Private
J. Doogen, King's Dragoon Guards, servant to Major Brownlow, was
charging with the troop when Major Brownlow's horse was shot. Seeing
Major Brownlow dismounted and among the Boers, he rode up, and
though himself severely wounded, dismounted and wished Major
Brownlow to take his horse, receiving another wound while trying to get
him to take it. Private Godfrey and Band-boy Martin, 58th Regiment,
remained with ]\[ajor Hingeston and Captain Lovegi'ove respectively
when these officers were wounded, and, notwithstanding the heavy fire,
refused to leave them till they had been carried down the hill and taken
to the ambulance.

Of the numbers of the Boers, and their losses, it is difficult to forox

344 Appe7idlx,

any reliable estimate. Judging, however, by the numbers who actually
showed at the points attacked, and by information obtained from
various sources, 1 should put their number at about 2,000. Considering
the excellent cover under which they mostly fought, I cannot supj'ose
that their losses were henvy. I must do my adversaries the justice to
say that they fought with great courage and determination. A good
deal of the fighting was at short ranges of 20 to 100 yards, and the
Boers showed no fear of our troops, but rather advanced to meet them.
I have also to acknowledge the courtesy shown by some of their leaders
in giving facilities for the care and removal of the wounded. I shall
hold this camp until I receive reinforcements sufficient to enable me to
renew the attack. The Indian reinforcements are already in the
country, and will reach me in about a fortnight's time, and Brigadier-
General Sir Evelyn Wood and the reinforcements from home may be
expected in a fortnight later.

I am unable to send a sketch of the ground with this report, as Major
Poole, D.A.A.G., who was making the sketch, was killed, and his papers
lost. — I have, &c., C Pomekoy Colley, Major-General, Commanding
the Forces, Natal and Transvaal.

CASUALTIES.

Officers

Men.

Killed.

Wounded.

Killed.

\V(

junded.

Staff .

. 3

1st King's Dragoon Guards

68th Kegiment

. 3

3-GOth Rifles .

. 1

Army Service Corps

Army Hospital Corps .

Naval Brigade

Totals .... 7 2 76 109

One of the 1st Dragoon Guards, and one of the 58th Regiment, taken
prisoners of war.

APPENDIX H.

THE FIGHT AT THE INGOGO, OR SCHUIN'S HOOGHTE.

Official despatch from Major-Cjoneral Sir G. Pomeroy Colley to the
Secretary of State for War. (Heccived ]\rarch 'll\ IHSI.)

Army Ilcad-finarters, Muunt Prospect, Fcl)ruary 12, ISSI. — Sir,— For
some days after the engagement at hang's Nek, reported in my despatch
of the Ilrd inst., the Boers remained quiet, occni)ied, apiiarently, in further
concentrating their foroes ;ind strengthening their position, and our com-
munications with Newcastle were uninfennpted. I sent the Natal
^Mounted I'olice hack to Newcastle at once, to guard against any raids
on that part of Natal; and some days later sent in tlie bulk of our
transjjort, with the double olyoct of reducing the number of animals ia

xppendix. 345

camp and bringing out fresh supplies when opportunity should offer. Ou
the 3rd a large convoy of wounded was sent in to Newcastle, and, up to
the Gth, waggons with bread and other supplies reached the camp un-
molested. The post ran regularly, and the telegraph was uninterrupted.
On the 7th the post, proceeding as usual with a small escort, was fired
upon by a party of Boers, at a point a little beyond the double drift on
the Ingogo, and obliged to return. The escort reported having seen about
60 or 100 Boers in the Ingogo and the Imbazane valleys. The same
evening I received information from other sources that the Boers had
detached a small force to harass our communications and intercept
waggons, &c., passing between this and Newcastle.

On the morning of the 8th I moved out with a force of five companies
60th Rifles, under Colonel Ashburnham, two field and two mountain
guns, vmder Captain Greer, R.A., and a detachment of 38 mounted troops,
under Major Brownlow, King's Dragoon Guards, to patrol the road and
meet and escort some waggons expected from Newcastle. My mounted
force was necessarily very weak, owing to the withdrawal of the Natal
Mounted Police and to the casualties suffered bv the Mounted Squadron
on the 28th ult. The Ingogo river crosses the Newcastle road about five
miles south of this camp, taking its rise in a deep recess or bend in the
Drakensberg, and running from west to east, through a valley about five
miles wide, to the Buffalo River, which it joins about four miles below the
road. Two main branches unite just below where the road crosses them,
whence this crossing is known as " The Double Drift." The two fords,
which are about 100 yards apart, are rocky, with a rapid current, and
sometimes dangerous in the sudden floods to which these mountain
streams are liable. The ridges to the north of the river, which are spurs
of the remarkable square-topped mountain immediately overlooking this
camp, and named the Umquelo, fall steeply in a series of steps to the
Ingogo ; the road winds down a long stony hill, two miles in length,
between two of these spurs, commanded for its whole length by the ridges
on each side. On the south side of the river a plain or very gentle rise
extends for more than a mile to the foot of the ridge or plateau which
separates the Ingogo and Imbazane valleys. The ridge is nearly level on
its summit, strewn with rocks and boulders, and irregularly cut by rocky
valleys, now expanding into a broad plateau, and again narrowing to a
mere neck. Its slopes, as a rule, are stony, but not very steep. The road
rises to its summit by an easy ascent along the face of a projecting
spur.

Leaving two mountain guns and a company of the 60th on a command-
ing position on the crest of the ridge to the north of the Ingogo, I moved
down the road with the rest of the force, our front covered by the mounted
troops, and the ridges on each side occupied by infantry. No enemy,
however, was seen until our scouts, cresting the hills beyond the Ingogo,
reported patrols in sight. The column, having crossed the Ingogo and
drawn in its Hankers, halted and formed on the plain south of the Double
Drift, and then resumed its march. As we approached the foot of the
ridge already described, reports were brought in that the Boers were in
considerable force in our front, showing a strong skirmishing line, with
four supports of forty or fifty men each, and shortly afterwards our
vedettes were driven in. I immediately pushed forward with the ad-
vanced guard to occupy the point of the ridge which the road ascends.
As we did so the Boers showed in large numbers about halfa mile distant,
and at once galloped forward boldly to dispute the ridge, and to take ad-

34^ Appendix.

vantage of the cover which the intersecting valleys afforded. The guns
•were brought into action, but the Boers had already got nnder cover, and
now pushed up the valleys wherever cover could be got, directing a heavy
and accurate tii-e on our guns and skirmishers, at the same time throwing
their right rapidly forward to envelop iis. The companies of the 60th,
as they came up the hill, were pushed forward to meet these attacks, and
in a few minutes the engagement became heavy and general. The ground
occupied by us was a small plateau, roughly triangular in shape, forming
part of the main ridge, with which it is connected by necks slightly
lower than the plateau we held. The enemy's attack embraced the south
and western fiices of the triangle and the eastern angle. Part of the
plateau was i'ringed with rocks affording good cover, but towards the
eastern angle there was no cover except such as the grassy brow of the
hill afforded ; and one company of the 60th Rifles pushed forward in the
angle to cover the guns, and, meeting the Boers at close range, suffered
terribly from the close and accurate fire of the Boers, who were able to
seize some rocks on the slope, giving good cover. With a moderate
mounted force at my disposal it would not have been difficult to have
rolled up the Boer right, which was dangerously extended and exposed.
But the small detachment under Major Brownlow, already reduced by
casualties among the horses, was too weak for such an attempt. The
level top of the plateau afforded no cover for our horses, and these in
consequence suffered cruelly. The artiller)', also exposed to a concen-
trated tire, lost so heavily that I found it necessary to withdraw the guns
to a less exposed position, from which, however, they still fired shells
occasionally when opportunity offered. When it became evident that
the attack was serious and a sustained one, and that reinforcements were
coming to the Boers, I sent orders to camp for three companies of tVie
o8th Kegiment to move out and occupy the ridges over the lugogo.
Later in the afternoon, when it was clear that the enemy had no force in
our left rear which could cut the reinforcements off from cami>, I directed
them to endeavour to push across the Ingogo towards us, holding, how-
ever, the spur immediately overhanging and commanding the Double
Drift.

Tlic action commenced a little after twelve, and for some time the fire
was very heavy. Towards three, however, it began to slacken, and the
enemy apparently abandoned the idea of trying to win the position, though
a steady and very accurate tire was still maintained, any one at all
exposing himself being almost certainly struck. Our men fired with
great steadiness and coolness, husbanding their ammunition. Towards
four o'clock the meniy could be seen removing his wounded from tlie
field and collecting them at a point about a mile distant, and a little
later began to draw off from our lett front. About this time the Boer
reinforcements, which had been dro]>ping in during the afternoon, began
to stream in in large numbers, and the attack on our right was for a time
more vigorously renewed ; but towiirds sundown tin; iirc slackened on
this sidt; also, and the enemy withdrew and concentrated their forces in
the valleys on our right. A movetnent made by a considerable body of
Boers towards the ingogo Drilt, ajiparently with the object of intercept-
ing our return to camp, was stopped by the ajipearanco of the companies
ofthe^Hth on the ridge above the drift, and before dusk the lire had
ceased altogether.

Ah I had not eontemplated camping out, and had brought no supplies,
and as the enemy was evidently 2)rei)aring to renew the engagement with

Appendix. 347

overwhelming numbers the following morning, I deciiled to withdraw to
camp during the night. I was cliieHy anxious about the guns, as the
casualties among the horses had been so numerous that it seemed im-
possiljle to make up the necessary teams; but by withdrawing the team,
from the ammunition waggon and collecting all available horses we were
able to horse, though insutfic ently, the two guns. As soon as it was
dusk the fighting line was drawn iu quietly, the guns run back, and the
wounded collected. The severity of the tire had made it impossible in
many cases to remove the wounded from the advanced positions, and the
ambulances sent out had been unable to reach the plateau, the Boers
having threatened to fire on them if they advanced while the engagement
was going on. One waggon, indeed, which accompanied the column had
been left at the foot of the hill, all the mules being killed, and the waggon,
riddled with bullets. All waterproof sheets, blankets, greatcoats, &c.,
were collected, and the wounded sheltered as well as they could be until
the ambulances could be sent up. The night closed in with dark clouds,
heavy, pelting showers, and occasional lightning, the moon from time to
time breaking through the clouds and lighting up the country in di'iftiug
gleams. When all arrangements were completed the force moved off iu
silence in perfect order, arranged in a hollow square, the guns, &c., in the
centre, the infantry in skirmishing order on the four sides. On approach-
ing the Double Drift the column halted, and a patrol was sent out to
ascertain that the drift was clear; and the column then filed across. A
heavy thunderstorm had now come on, the darkness was intense, and the
river, swollen by the rains, was deep and rapid. Some of the first men
ti'ying to cross were swept down, but saved by a projecting sand bank.
The rest were got over iu dutachmeuts, holding hands. When all were
across the force resumed its march to camp, which it reached about
4 A3I. ; the guns were drawn up the hill by the 60th Rifles, the horses
being unable to imll them up the steep and slippery road. The 68th
Com [)anies remained in possession of the ridges commanding the drift
until withdrawn the following day. The officer commanding the 58th
had crossed the Ingogo as directed, but, as darkness came on before he
could advance to our po.sition, he rightly withdrew again, and concen-
trated his force on the hill immediately overlooking and commanding the
Double Drift.

I enclose a return of the casiialties, which, I regret to say, were severe.
I have suffered a heavy [icrional loss (and the service generally has also
suffered) iu the death of Captain Macgregor, R.E.,my xVssistant Military
Seci'etary, a most promising officer, who would certainly have risen to
distinction if spared, of soldierly bearing, of distinguished ability, and
possessing in an eminent degree all the most valuable qualifications of a
Staff officer. He was killed early in the engagement, while pointing out
the ground to Lieutenant Garrett of the 00th, as the latter brought the
company into action. I have also suffered, in common with the Civil
Service and Colony of Natal, by the death of Mr. Stuart, Resident
Magis-'trate of the Ixopo Division, and one of the ablest and most promis-
ing Civil Servants of Natal, who was attached to my Staff as Dutch
inter) ireter. Iu Captain Greer the Artillery has lost a gallant and
valuable officer. [laving volunteered and obtained leave from the Staff
of Sir George Strahau, late Administrator of tiie Cape Colony, he
organized and equipped a division or" field artillery fro.m guns in store at
Durban, horses purchased at Newcastle, and a detacr.ment of a garrison
battery sent up from Capetown, and rendered good service in command of

34^ Appendix^

the artillery of the column. He was killed early in the engagement ■while
directins the fire of his guns. The 60th Ritles have lost two promising
young officers in Lieutenant Garrett and Second Lieutenant O'Connell.
The latter, having been temporarily -withdrawn from the fighting line
with a few men to form a reserve, asked leave to rejoin his company, and
was almost immediately killed. But the battalion has suffered a still
heavier loss in the death of its adjutant. Lieutenant Wilkinson. Having
distinguished himself through the engagement by his coolness and
gallantry, volunteering for every difficult or dangerous task, he was
drowned crossing the Ingogo after returning to the battle-field with
assistance for the wounded. Of singularly winning disposition and
manners, distinguished in all manly games, an excellent adjutant, and
most promising officer, few men of his standing could boast so many and
such warm friends, or be so widely missed and deeply mourned.

The conduct of all ranks throughout this trying day was admirable.
After the death of Captain Greer, Lieutenant Parsons continued to direct
the guns and assist in working them under a heavy fire until ordered to
withdraw, having lost more than half of his detachment; and then, with
the assistance of a few men of the 60th Rifles, again served the guns
until severely wounded himself. The conduct of the men of the Royal
Artillery well sustained the reputation of that corps. The comparatively
young soldiers of the 60th Rifles behaved with the steadiness and cool-
ness of veterans. At all times perfectly in hand, they held or changed
their ground as directed, without hurry or confusion, though under heav^y
fire, themselves fired steadily, husbanding their ammunition, and at the
end of the day, with sadly reduced numbers, formed and moved off the
ground with the most perfect steadiness and order; and finally, after
eighteen hours of continuous fatigue, readily and cheerfully attached
themselves to the guns, and dragged them up the long hill from the
Ingogo, when the horses were unable to do so. ^My thanks are due to
Lieutenant-Colonel Ashbnrnham, GOth Rilles, for the manner in which
he commanded his battalion and the valuable assistance which he
rendered me through the engagement; also to Major Brownlow, King's
Dragoon Guards, for the manner in which he covered the advance of the
force with the limited means at his disjiosal, and for his ever cool and
ready help during the action. The Rev. George M. Ritchie, Chaplain to
the Forces, again distinguished himself, and honoured his office by his
humane zeal and indefatigable attention to the wounded, with whom he
remained until late the following night, and until he had assisted at the
burial of the dead. Major Essex, Column Staff Officer, and Lieutenant
B. Hamilton, l.")th Regiment, my aidc-de-cam)i, rendered me active and
valuable assistance throu^'lidut the day. I desire especially to mention
the conduct of Sergeant-Miijor T. Toole, R.A., who well seconded Captain
Greer and Lieutt'iiant l';irsons in working the guns till the end of the
iiction, and on whom the charge of the f^u)is ajid the arrani,f(Miients for
their withdrawal devolved when the latter ollicer was wounded; also of
Sergeant- Major Wilkins, lidth Riiies, who tliroiighout the day was to be
Been wherever the; lire was hottest, setting ati example to the men by hia
cool and steady shooting and cheerful L,^dlantry. Surgeon M'tJaun well
niainlained the distingnisliiMl reputation of the ^Medical Di'partment for
Helf-sacrilieihg ex]i<)sur«! in attendance on tlu; wound<'d. Until the arrival
of the aniljulanees, witii Surgeons Ring and Ijaiidon, he was the only
medical officer with the force, and liilxjured indefatigably with the
wounded. The wounded were all removed to the base hospital at New-

Appendix, 349

castle in the course of the following day, and the dead buried on the field
by a burial party sent out under a flag of truce. The dead otBcers were
brought in and Iniried here. I sent to offer the Boer Commandant medi-
cal assistance for their wounded, but the offer, though most gratefully
acknowledged, was not accepted. Later, however, they sent to ask
permission for waggons, with their wounded, to jjass through our lines.
They were courteous in allowing all facilities for the removal of the
wounded, but seemed surprised and disappointed to find that we were
not still in the same pc^sition in the morning. I regret to say that we
had to leave one artillery ammunition waggon in the enemy's hands.
Owing to the heavy casualties among the horses it was impossible to do
more than horse the two guns when we marched from the plateau. I
sent out fresh artillery horses during the night, and they succeeded in
bringing the waggon down to the Double Drift; but by that time the
river had risen so high that it was impossible to get the waggon across ;
and finally it had to be emptied of its contents and abandoned, the
artillery officer in charge, with the horses, making his way to Newcastle.
I estimated the force of the Boers at first engaged against us at about
300, afterwards increased by reinforcements to 800 or 1,000. Probably
during the night their numbers were raise! a good deal higher, as a con-
tinuous stream of reinforcements passed to them from Lang's ISTek by a
road leading round the back of Umquelo Mountain. P. Joubert, the
Commandant- General, and their Field Commandant-General Schmidt,
were both present at the engagement. It is difficult to estimate their
losses, which the Boers set down as small ; but this is hardly consistent
with the character of the engagement, or with the numbers that were seen
removed from the field. It is reported to me that P. Joubert and a con-
siderable part of the Boer force have returned to the Nek ; that several
hundred occupy a position between this and Newcastle, about eight
miles from the latter place ; and that another party are working round
Newcastle with a view to intercept the ap]:iroaching reinforcements on
the Ingagani River. Reinforcements, consisting of the 15th Hussars,
2nd Battalion 60th Rifles, 92nd Highlanders, and two guns Naval
Brigade, are now between Ladysmith and the Biggarsberg; and I have
ordered a concentration on the latter point, whence the united force will
move forward in one strong column. — I have, &c., G. PoiiEROY Colley,
Major-General.

OFFICIAL LIST OF KILLED AND WOUNDED.

The following is corrected list of casualties on February 8th : — Staff—
Captain MacGregor, R.E., Assistant Military Secretary, Mr. M. Stuart,
Resident Magistrate, my Interj^reter, killed. K.D. Guards — 1 man
wounded. Royal Artillery — Captain Greer, 3 men, killed; Lieutenant
Parsons, 10 men, wounded. 58th Regt. — 2 men killed. 60th Rifies — Lieu-
tenants Garrett and O'Connell, 56 men, killed ; Second Lieutenants
Pixley, Haworth, Thistlewaite, 52 men, wounded; Lieutenant Wilkinson.
8 men, missing. Army Service Corps — 1 man wounded. AVounded
all removed to Newcastle. Dead buried on the field. Lieutenant
Wilkinson believed to have been drowned crossing flooded stream taking
aid to wounded after engagement. Haworth dangerously wounded (died
subsequently); Parsons and Pixley, severely; Tliistlewaite, slightly.

150

Appendix^

APPENDIX I.

THE AMAJUBA FIGHT.

The following is the official retura of the casualties in the action of
27th of February, 1881 :—

Corps.

Staflf

Attached .58th Re.gt.
Army Medical Dept.

Naval Brifrade
H.M.S.i?oa<Z;cea
68th Eejjiment

9'2nd Regiment

94th Regiment

Naval Brigade
H.M.S. Boadicca

StaflF

68th Regiment

92nd Regiment

94th Regiment
Army Sci*vice Corps

Natal Field Force.
Eegtl. No. Rank and Name.

H.E. Major-General Sir G. Pomcroy
CoUey
Captain Hon. Maude, C.
Surgeon-Major Cornish, H.
Surgeon Laudon, A.

Lieutenant Trower, C. J.
Captain Morris, A. "W.
Second Lieutenant Hill, A. R.
,, Lucy, F. H.

... Major Hay, F. C.

Captain Singleton, L. C.
Lieutenant Hamilton, J. S. M.
Captain Anton, A. H. G.

Commander Romilly, F.

A.M.S. Lieut.-Colonel Stewart, H,
Captain Hornby, C. L.
Captain McGregor, A. D.
Lieutenant Wright, H.
Second Lieut. Macdonald, H. O.
„ Tliornton, G.

Miller, C. T.

Conductor Field, F.

Nature of
Cisualty.
Killed

"Wounded

Wounded,
died 2-3-81
Prisoner

Prisoner,
Wounded

NON-COMMISSIONED Ol'FICKItS AXD Mf.N.

l.">th Hussars— 2 killed, 1 wounded, 1 |)risoncr. 2-21st Regt. — 2 killed.
68th Regt. — ','>l killed, 42 wounded, 1)5 prisoners, 2 missing. ;i-(ii)th Ritles
— 11 prisoners. 92nd Regt. — 3 !• killed, 03 wounded, 21 prisoners. 94th
Regt. — 1 killed, 1 wounded, 1 prisoner. Army Service Corps — 1

rri.soner. Army JTosi)ital Corps — 2 woumleil. Naval Brigade — Ki killed,
6 wounded, 15 prisoners. Of these incu G died subsequcutly of their
wounds.

Appendix,

'351

Recapitulation,

Kid.

Staff 1

15th Hnssars

2-21st Regiment

68th „ 1

3-60th Rifles

92nd Highlanders

94th Regiment

Army Service Corps

Army Medical Department 2

Army Hospital Corps

Naval Brigade 1

Total 4

Officers.
W.

3
1

Pr.
1

4
1

N.-Com. Officers and Men.

Kid.

2
31

42
1
63
1

Pr.

Mis.

86 125

APPENDIX K.

LETTERS AND TELEGRAMS RELATING TO THE PEACE
NEGOTIATIONS.

Official Correspondence.

"Head-quarters, 12th February, 1881.— To His Excellency Sir G.
Pomeroy Colley, &c., &c., Head-quarters, Lang's Nek. — Excellency, —
Since I have arrived here at head-quarters I have inquired from the Hon.
P. J. Joubert, Commandant-General over the Burghers of the South
African Republic, concerning the different positions in our possession ; I
have found that we, against our will, are forced into a bloody conflict, and
that our positions taken up are of this nature that we cannot but main-
tain the once determined upon path of self-defence, and follow it so far as
our God gives us strength thereto. Excellency, we know that all our
intentions, letters, or whatever else have always missed their true object
in that they are misrepresented and wrongly understood by the Govern-
ment and the people of England. It is on this account that we fear
to send your Excellency this communication, but, Excellency, I should
esteem myself responsible to my God if I did not once more make known
our intention, knowing it is in your Excellency's power to place us in a
condition to withdraw from the position taken up by us. The people
have repeatedly declared their willingness, on the annulling of the Act of
Annexation, to work together with Her Majesty's Government in all
things which can serve the whole of South Africa. The people were
unfortunately not in a position to carry into execution their good inten-
tions, because they were unlawfully attacked, and forced to act in self-
defence. AVe desire to seek no conflict with the Ini])erial Government,
but cannot do otherwise than give the last drop of blood for our lawful
right, for which also each Englishman would give his blood. We know
that the honourable English jjeople, when once the truth and the right

352 Appendix.

can be impressed upon them, will stand on our side. We are so strong in
this conviction that we should not fear the inquiry of a Royal Commission,
which we know would restore us our lawful right, and therefore we are
prepared, whenever your Excellency will order that Her Majesty's troops
shall immediately withdraw out of our country, to permit them with full
honours to go out of the country, and to relinquish the position we have
now taken up. Whilst, however, the Annexation is persisted in, and the
shedding of blood by your Excellency continues, then will we submit our-
selves to our fate under our God, and to the last man strive against the
in-'ustice and violence done to us, and throw the responsibility of all the
irJsery which will visit this land entirely on your shoulders. — I have, &c ,
r», P. J. EaiUGEK, Vice-President."

"Army Head-quarters, 21st February, 1881. — To the Honourable
P. Kruger.- — Sir, — ^I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter of the 12th inst. In reply, I must inform you that as soon as the
Boers, now in arms against Her Majesty's authority, discontinue their
armed resistance. Her Majesty's Government is prepared to appoint a
Commission, with extensive powers, which may develop the scheme which
is alluded to in Lord Kimberley's telegram of the 8th inst., and which
was communicated to you by his Honour President Brand. I must add
that if this proposal is accepted within 48 hours from and after the
receipt of this letter, I have empowered a cessation of hostilities on our
side. — I have, &c., G. PoiiEKOY Colley, Major-General, High Com-
missioner."

"Government House, 28th February, 1881. — To His Excellency Sir
G. Pomeroy CoUej', Major-Gcncral, Governor, &c., — Excellency, — Your
letter of the 21st February, 1881, reached me to-day, the 28th February,
when I arrived back from an inspection. In conjunction with the
members of the Government here, I have the satisfaction in my own and
their name to inform you that we are very thankful for the declaration
of your Excellency in the name of the Government of Iler Majesty, that
tinder certain conditions they are prepared to stop hostilities; that it
appears to us that now for the first time, since the unhappy day of the
Annexation, an opjiortunity occurs of coming to a friendly settlement;
that our heart bleeds for the necessity of shedding further blood — as well
the blood of our burghers as that of your brave soldiers ; that in our
opinion a meeting of committeemen from bolli sides would, perhaps,
speedily lead to a satisfactory result ; we, therefore, have the honour to
propose that committeemen shall be chosen by you and us, with suitable
and suihcient authority, to establish and to ratify tlie ]n-e]iniinarios of an
honourable peace. — 1 have, &c., S. P. J. KiiuiiEK, Yice-1'resideut."

TELEGRAMS.
Secretary of State for Colonies to Governor Sir G. P. Colley.—r.th
February. 1 think it rij^dit to intimate to you, as you liave iuHtriictions
to asHiiino th(! fiinctions of (Jovcrnor when you are al)le to enter the
Transvaal, tliiit, whenever you m;iy succeed in re-estublisliiiig tlie Queen's
authority tliere, all (piestions ali'ecting the future administration and
Bettlcmcnt of the country, as well as questions as to dealing with those

Appendix. 353

■who have taken part against the Government, should be reserved by you
for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government.

Governor Sir G. P. Colley to Secretary of State for the Colonies. — 5th
February, Have received two long telegrams from Brand earnestly
urging that I should communicate your reply to him to Boers, state
nature of scheme, and guarantee their not being treated as i-ebels if they
submit. I have replied that I can give no such assurance, and can add
nothing to your words, but suggested he may do good by making your
reply known through Transvaal.

Governor Sir G. P. Colley to Secretary of State for Colonies. — 7th
February. I have received your telegram of the 5th instant, which shall
be attended to. I have purposed, with a view to the speedy pacification
of the country, to publish, on entering the Transvaal, through the
Landdrost of each district which the investing army occupies, a promise
of amnesty to all people of the district (with certain names excepted) who
shall return to their homes and sign a declaration of loyalty to the
Queen, issuing, however, no proclamation until the Queen's authority
has been re-established throughout the country, and I shall have received
your instructions. I further propose to appoint a day for the inhabitants
of the occupied districts to attend before their magistrates and sign such
declaration, and then to let them choose two of their number to represent
to me their views and their alleged grievances, for the consideration of
Her Majesty's Government. I should take care to see the spokesman of
€ach district separately, and to avoid giving the representatives any
status as a body, but I think that I might thus both sound the general
feeling and test the joracticability and probable character of an elected
body should any such be hereafter considered desirable. Do you approve
this, or must all questions of amnesty be deferred until the Queen'a
authority is re-established throughout the country ?

Secretary of State for Colonies to Governor Sir G. P. Colley. — 9th
February. In reply to your telegram of the 7th instant, you should
confine yourself to promising protection to the inhabitants of the districts
occupied as long as they behave peaceably, reserving all further questions
for instructions from home.

Secretary of State for "War to the General Officer Commanding, l^atal
and Transvaal. — 16th Februai-y, 1881. With reference to Lord Kim-
berley's telegram as respects the interval before reply from Boers is
received, we do not bind your discretion ; but we are anxious for your
making arrangements to avoid effusion of blood.

Deputy Governor of Natal to Secretary of State for Colonies. — Pieter-
maritzburg, 19th Febmiary. Colley telegraphs to you: — -"Latter part
of your telegram of 16th to Wood not understood ; there can be no hos-
tilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in JNatai
territory in Boer occupation, and oiir garrisons isolated and short of pro-
visions, or occupy former and relieve latter .P "

Secretary of State for Colonies to Deputy Governor of Natal. — 19th
February. Telegraph following to Colley : " It will be essential that
garrisons should be free to provision themselves and peaceful intercourse

A A

354 Appendix.

•with them allowed, but we do not mean that you should march to the
relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if arrangement proceeds. Fix
reasonable time within which answer must be sent by Boers."

Governor Sir G. P. CoUey to Secretary of State for Colonies. — 20th
February, 1881. May I pi'omise pardon to men now serving under com-
pulsion with Boers if they withdraw before troops enter Transvaal?
Many are inquiring through friends.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Governor Sir G. P. Colley. — 21st
February. You may promise full exomption from penalty to all persons
mentioned in your telegram who withdraw before troops enter Trans-
vaal.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir Evelyn Wood. — 1st ]March, ISS'l
Inform me, if you know, when Sir G. Colley made communication to
Kruger in pursuance of my telegram of the 16th Februarys what time he
fixed within which answer must be given, and whether an}', and if so
what, communications have since passed between him and Boer leaders.

Secretai-y of State for Colonies to Governor Sir H. Eobinson. — 2nd
March, 1881. Desirable that you should at once appoint Wood to be
your Dei)uty Commissioner for South-Eastern Africa as included in
Colley's Commission, with full powers to perform any acts within and
relating to that district. Necessary in present circumstances to make
provision for prompt action without reference to Capetown.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. Wood. — 3rd March. ]\ry
telegram of March 1st. If you find that Sir G. Colley made communi-
cation to Krnger, but no answer has been received, inquire of Boer leaders
whether an answer will be sent to you.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. Wood. — 1th March. Your
telcgrain of March 2nd. State date on which Colley's communication
sent to ]3oor.«, to whom addressed, and to what place. Was person to
whom sent known to be competent to reply without reference to others?
Keply as quickly as possible. I nnderstand from your telegram that no
an.swer has Ijeen received from Krugcr, and therefore inquiry directed in
my telegram of yesterday should still be made.

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonics. — Fort Amiel, Itli
March. Yours received as I left IMount Prospect; Colley wrote, 21 st
Fel)ruary, to Joubert, offering to suspend hostilities if answer were re-
ceived within IS hours, not 24, as 1 telegraphed; ho moved night of
2r)Lh. I expect answer when Kruger can be conununicated witli, but ])leaso
read my teh'gram liercwith sent yesterday to Brand. Message to Brand
begins: — " lird March. I gratefully acknowledge your Honour's con-
tinuous cfibrts in the cause of peace, and I cordially desire such may
ensue without further bloodshed. I know and esteem numy of those
novv in arms ngainst my Sovereign, and I therefore regret tloubly they
will not, by desisting from firmed opposition, open the door to arrange-
ments which I conscientiously believe might bo rendered acceptable to
every reasonable Africander. Any reinforcements I require are placed

Appendix. 355

at my disposal, but I would greatly prefer they should not be sent here.
I would gladly abstain from making any movement in advance of my
present j^osition for a few days, say till 10th March, if the Boers on their
part promised the same, and you believe peace would at once ensue, but,
your Honour will understand, as they not only blockade our garrison in
Transvaal, but occupy Natal territory, I cannot go further in my desire
to stop the war. Any communication you may desire to make to tin;
Boers should be transmitted through our posts. I hear Mr. Kruger has
gone to Rustenberg. Injustice to our common friend Sir G. Colley, I
state he did not receive an}^ answer to his message or letter, and I read
Mr. Bok's letter, which was not received until Sir George was dead."

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. Wood. — 5th March. Your
telegram of 4th. We approve your message to President Brand. AVe
await answer from Boer leaders to communication made by Sir G. Colley
to Kruger before giving you any fresh instructions.

Sir E. Woo.1 to Secretary of State for Colonies. — Newcastle, 5th
^larch, noon. I anticipate hearing from Joubert soon. Fear until
Boers are defeated leaders, if altogether excluded from amnesty, will con-
tinue hostiUties if they can; but, on the other hand, the very unfavour-
able weather and their admitted certainty of eventual suppression may
cause disjoersion. Sir G. Colley was very averse to pardon leaders, and
your telegram of 10th implies such cannot be granted. Instruct me fully
on this point, for much will turn on it; and, reflecting on similar struggles
in history, I do not attach much importance to punishing leaders, as did
Sir G. Colley, though I would not recommend allowing them to remain
in Transvaal, nor would I accept them as representatives of people. In
discussing settlement of country, my constant endeavour shall be to carry
out the spirit of your orders; but, considering the disasters we have sus-
tained, I think the happiest result will be, that after accelerating success-
ful action, which I hope to fight in about l-i days, the Boers should
disperse without any guarantee, and then many now undoubtedly
coerced will readily settle down. In any negotiations Joubert will pro-
bably make dispersion contingent on amnesty. I may be cut oiF fi-om
communication with you, and if you wish to avoid further fightiug, I
suggest, while giving me no instructions for the future settlement, you
should empower me, if absolutely necessary, to promise life and proi^erty,
but not residence to leaders. This I would not do, if dispersion could
be effected without it. Consider whether you be disposed to give me
names of proposed Commissioners, for information of Boers, as such
knowledsre micrht have favourable effect.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E, Wood. — 6th March, 1881.
If by my telegram of 10th, you mean mine to Colley of 9th February, I
never intended to imply that pardon could not be granted to leaders, but
only to reserve that and other similar questions for decision of Her
^Majesty's Government. I will send further answer to yours of 5th as
soon as possible.

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonies. — Newcastle, 7ih
March, 2 p M. Kruger's answer, dated Heidelberg, 28th, to Colley'.s
cf 21st, now received through Joubert. Gist as follows: — In conjuuo-

A A 2

356 Appendix.

tion ■with members of Government here, have satisfaction to assure you
that we are very grateful for the declaration, in the name of Her
Majesty's Government, that nnder certain conditions they are inclined
to cease hostilities. It appears to us that, for the first time since un-
lucky annexation, there is chance of coming to peaceful settlement.
Our hearts bleed over shedding more blood of burghers and soldiers.
In our opinion, a meeting of representatives from both sides will pro-
bably lead speedily to satisfactory result, therefore suggest representa-
tives from both sides should be present, with full powers to determine
Ijreliminaries of honourable peace, and ratify same.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. "Wood.— 8th March. With
reference to your telegram of the 6th Her Majesty's Government would
be ready in any settlement to grant complete amnesty to all, including
leaders, excepting only persons who have committed, or are directly
responsible for, acts contrary to rules of civilized warfai'e; make this
known in such way as you consider most expedient. AVe should make no
exception as to persons with whom we will negotiate, requiring only that
they shall be duly authorized representatives of Boers, with power to
act in their behalf. "We understand Kruger's answer as opening way
to further proceedings on basis of preceding communications, and we
now propose to appoint Commissioners, whose names I Avill state at
earliest moment, who will examine whole matter, and will be ready for
friendly communications with any persons appointed by Boers.

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonies. — 10th March.
Following telegrams passed between Hoffmeyer, ]\I.L.A., Cape Town,
and Joubert : — "8th March. Hoffmeyer, Cape Town, to Joubert.
Friends here heard with great pleasure armistice, as promising of peace.
Believe British Government anxiuus to meet wishes of Boers, but diffi-
culty is how to grant concession either before yon have desisted from
opposition or British arms victorious. We pray you help Government,
by adopting conciliatory tone, and offering desi.st from armed opposition,
on tacit understanding that no further use be made by British of
such desisting than to send limited number of troops across border and
provisioning garrisons. Also hoj^e, if Commissioners jiroposed, if either
Wood or Robinson, with Brand and Villiers, you will not hesitate
accept, if such Commission have full power." — " !>th !March. Joubert,
Lang's Nek, to Hoffmeyer. We are ready to co-operate iu every way for
an honourable peace for England, with the retentionof our independence.
Confidence in the British Government can be better restored by doing
away than by using arms."

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonies. — Newcastle, 11th March.
Following is translation of message sent forward : — " Hoffmeyer to
.Joubert. After a thorough investigation by my frii'uds, independence
can be secured in no other way than as follows: 'i'ho assembly of a
Commission as proposed in my former telegram ; should the Commission
be a|)poiiited with full power, your conditional indei)endence must be
begged for through the pcojile as a rechimation ; l)ut in any case, before
the (Jommission can lie appointed, either the Uritish arms must have
conquered, or the Hoers must have given a tangible proof of submission
in the eyes of Ihe world : consiiler earnestly, I i)ray you, what is said in
my previous telegram ; also that in case no agreement is como to, the

Appendix. 357

armistice will give rise to great dissatisfaction among the Boers, and
give occasion for fresh accusation of untrustworthiness against the Boers.
God give you peace ! "

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. Wood. — 13th March, 8 p.m.
Inform Boer leaders that, if Boers will undertake to desist from
armed opposition and disperse to their homes, we ai'e willing to name
the following as Commissioners: Sir H. Robinson, Chief Justice de
Villiers, and yourself. President Brand would be asked to be present as
representing friendly State. Commission would be authorized to con-
sider following points : Complete self-government under British suze-
rainty, with British Resident at Pretoria, and provisions for protection
of native interests and as to frontier affairs. Control of relations with
foreign Powers to be reserved. It would be well, also, to consider
scheme for severance of territory eastward to divide Zulus and
Swazies, retaining great native districts on the east and north-east.
Amnesty to be granted as stated in my telegram to you of 8th. You
may consent to prolongation of armistice till 18th, if desired by Boer-
leaders, in order to give time for answer.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. Wood. — lith March, 8 p.m.
In order to enable me to answer questions in Parliament, inform me
whether suggestions for armistice proceeded from you or Joubert, or
from whom.

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonies. — Newcastle, l'2th
March, 10.30 p.ii. A letter from Kruger to Brand, of 3rd March, has
been handed to me by Joubert for perusal. Gist as follows : — We will
do our best to make it easy for the honour of England to be indulgent;
glad if negotiations could be left in your hands. It grieves us that you
refer to Lord Kimberley's telegram of the Sth February ; this telegram
cannot be basis of j^eace. Reasonable guarantees for their treatment we
cannot admit, as it looks like admitting that we are in wrong. We hold
to Colley's telegram of 16th February to you, and his letter of 21st
February. Telegram of 16th February is based on Kruger's letter of
12th February and the letter of Triumvirate of 29th January, wherein is
offer of restoration of Republic, with British protectorate ; short of this
condition we cannot treat.

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonies. — Mount Prospect,
16th March, 6 p.^i. Have conferred since 10 a.m. Result: — Boer
leaders state they accept, to a great extent, and generally, the proposition
contained in your telegrams of Sth and 12th, but they make withdrawal
from Nek and dispersion depend upon the following concession : that the
Boers be represented on the Commission in the proportion of two to
three. They further express the hope that in order they may have a
fair chance of maintaining order in the Transvaal, instructions may be
given to withdraw garrisons from Transvaal without waiting for the
assembly of the Commission. It is agreed that the word dispersion will
not prevent the Boers retaining sufficient forces to support their Govern-
ment internally. Joubert says plainly that he expects trouble from
English party. I am most anxious for an early reply.

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonies. — Mount Prospect,

358 Appendix.

ICth March, 9.5 p.m. Precis of interview wifh Boer leaders. Head
conditions, extracted from your telegrams of 8tli and l2th as explained
by mine of l-jth. Krnger approved generallj^ of them as basis of
peace, but aslced, had I power to recognize him as rej^resenting Boer
Government, and did I represent English ? Eeplled, Yes. Objected
to proposed Commission as one-sided. AVh}!- not make peace at once
without Commission "^ Eeplied, had not power. Then there must be
Boers on Commission. After much talk he proposed two Boers in five.
Krnger then said that we must withdraw troops from Transvaal
garrisons if he consented to disperse. Eeplied, was sure this would not
be granted. How could we leave Transvaal before Commission said
what Transvaal was ^ Kruger said Transvaal is what you annexed,
and have since held. Kruger consented to Eesident, but said that
Government would deal with interior native affairs, and accej^ted
suzerainty, as explained by me. It appeared clear that they fear
trouble from loyal English, and therefore cannot entirely disperse their
own, while they are anxious to get rid of English forces. I do not think
they realize they may have to yield extensive tract to native tribes, and
if they contemplated chance of Commission arranging this, they would
not withdraw from Kek. After eight hours' talk I am confirmed in the
oj^inion expressed in my telegram of 5th instant, words 131 to 149.

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. Wood.— 17th March. The
suggestion for Eoyal Commission came from Boers. "We agreed to it, in
belief that it was the most convenient way of inquiring into facts and
considering details. Commission would consider all representations and
would make representations, but not finall}' decide. We could not agree
to mixed Commission, luit Commission would meet representatives of
Boers and discuss all matters with them. You report that of the points
mentioned in my telegram of r2th instant, suzerainty and Eesident
are acce])ted, and we infer that control of foreign relations and frontier
affairs is also accepted. With regard to interior native affairs. Com-
mission would have to consider what securities should be_ taken as to
future treatment of Natives. As to re-arrangement of territorial limits,^
we never contemplated that territory north ofVaal Eiver and west of
OHphant's Eiver should be severed from Transvaal. Commission would
considrr how much, if any, of the territory to the east of a line
practically thirtieth parallel of longitude should be retained. Joubert
Beems to have been favourable so far as concerns territory south of Vaal
Eiver, and we think a separation of the Transvaal territory froni such
native tribes as Zulus and Swazies niii)' prove to be as much, if not
more, f(ir interest of IJoers as of ourselves. As regards disjiersion, we
understand that Boers are disposed to agree generally to our terms as
«'xplained in your telegram of U)th ; but our troops must remain in
'J'ransvaal till final settlement, and it will be their duty to prevent any
])arty from using the situation to the prejudice of Boers. Use your
discretioa as to further prohjngation of armistice.

Sir E. Wood to Secretary of State for Colonies.— iVFount Prosnect,
21st Marrh, i».'2."i p.m. After sitting twelve and a half hours withdut
intermission the following is an epitouu". attested by tlic leader.s and nu>,
as correctly showing proceedings, which yiroeeediugs luive been sigiu'd by
the Boers and me, subject to your ratilication. Itn-geyonr ;i|'iirova],
and, if you can, to shorten the interval to four mo-itlis; authoiizc mo

Appendix. 359

to ratify proceedings, when Boers will disperse. Armistice prolonged for
forty-eight hours. Briiud's presence has been invaluable. " The Boer
leaders having previously accepted telegrams of 8th and 12th, except in
two points since abandoned, and having been acknowledged as leaders by
8ir Evelyn Wood, have accepted the principle of suzerainty as defined
by him — viz., that the country have entire self-government as regards
its own interior affairs, but that it cannot take action against or with,
an outside Power without iDcrmission of the suzerain. They agree to
recognize a British Eesident at the future capital of the country with
such functions as the British Govei-nment may decide on the recom-
mendation of the Royal Commission, and also that the Royal Com-
mission should consider the provisions for the protection of native
interests, and as to frontier affairs, that control of relations with foreign
Power should -be reserved. We further trust that if the Royal Com-
mission considers any separation of land to the east of the thirtieth
degree of longitude to be necessary, such Commission will not recom-
mend the separation of more land than is necessary for the purpose of
the English j^olicy, as indicated in the telegram of the 17th March.
We accept the arrangement proposed by Sir E. Wood about exchange of
property captured during the war or taken over at the annexation, the
exchange to be carried out when self-government is fully accorded.
Sir E. Wood acknowledged the right of the Transvaal j^eople to com-
plete self-government, subject to suzerain rights. The Boer leaders
stated they would gladly co-operate with Her Majesty's Government in
bringing to justice those who have committed or are directly responsible
for acts contrary to civilized vrarfare. As the Boers have agreed' to
withdraw from the Nek and disperse to their homes, Sir E. Wood
promises that he will not occupy that position, nor follow them up with
troops, nor send ammunition into the Transvaal. The Boer leaders
accept the terms offered in the telegi-am of the 17th March. They state
we will trust to the British Government to give to us complete self-
government as soon as possible, and, at latest, within six months, it being
understood that no civil action be entertained in respect of proceedings
taken during or in reference to the war, and equally no action shall be
taken in respect of taxation until the self-government is accorded."

Secretary of State for Colonies to Sir E. Wood.— 7 p.m., 22nd March,
1881. We approve your proceedings as reported in your telegram of
the 21st, and authorize you to ratify them accordingly. ^Ve will do our
best to shorten the interval as much as possible. We find it hard to
understand precise bearing of sentences of your telegram after words
" at latest within six months," but see no reason to anticipate difficulty
or delay on their account conclusion of present arrangement. I need
only obsorve, with reference to the provision as to civil action, that it is
of course understood that there will be no molestation hereaiter for
jDolitical opinion or action either way in connection with the war.
Convey to President Brand warmest acknowledgments of Her Majesty's
Government.

Secretary of State for Colonics to Sir E. Wood.— Sent 7 p.m., March
22nd, 1881. Her Majesty's Government desire to convey to you their
high sense of your conduct in the recent proceedings, and the skill and
jndgment which you have shown throughout in your communications
with the Boer leaders.

;6o Appendix,

APPENDIX L.

THE POTCHEFSTEOM SURRENDER.

The following is a summary of the Address of the Boer Triumvirate to
the Burghers : —

We consider it our duty to communicate to you in detail what haa
happened in Potchefstrom, and to state to you the reasons why we have
permitted that surrender to be cancelled and the garrison to return to
that place. It is thought the Commandant at Potchefstrom had sup-
pressed the existence of an armistice, as if that armistice had immediately
to commence for Potchefstrom also, and had thus committed a disgraceful
act of treachery. As soon as we saw this we requested the Royal Com-
mission to grant us an opportunity to explain the whole matter so as to
remove the blame cast ujjon us. The Royal Commission has courteously
granted us an opportunity last Monday, 20th inst., to give the ex-
planation offered. We now proceed to state what has been declared by
us there : —

1. On the 6th of March, 1S81, the deed of armistice was signed at a
place half-way between ]\lount Prospect and Lang's Nek,

2. Information of this armistice reached the Government at Heidelber^j^
on the 10th of March, with a letter from Commandant-General P. J.
Joubert. This letter was accompanied by some instructions, forwai-ded
immediately from the Government to General P. A. Cronje, at Potchef-
strom.

3. These documents, forwarded by an express, reached Potchefstrom
on the 12th of March.

4. While the General was preparing to carry out his instructions, and
letters for that purpose were being written to Rustenberg, Alarico, and
Bloemhof, one G. P. MoUet from Kronstadt, in the Orange Free State,
arrived at the moment when copies of these instructions were being pre-
pared, lie brought a letter from His Honour the President of the Free
State.

5. In that letter there was a telegram from General Wood to tho
President, in wliicli he requested His Honour to forward news to Pot-
chefstrom of the armistice agreed to.

G. General ("ronjo was brought into a state of uncertainty by all this.
According to the instructions sent to him in the name of Connuandant-
General P. J. Joubert, he had to send the notice to the garrison, and
from the letter of the President of tho Free State, he saw that General
Wood invited the latter to send this notice, lie considered this contra-
dictory, and now determined to refrain from all steps until ho had received
further instructions from the (jovernment.

7. On tli(! 1 I til of March a court-martial was held, when it was resolved
to write to His Ifonoiir tlie President, tluit the letter would as yet not bo
Bent in, and thiit instructions would lirst be asked from Heidelberg.

H. On the It;th of Marcli tho post left for Heidelberg, and by it written
instructions were a.sked from tho (lovernment bow to act in this mat tor.

i.». Before any reply could bo received from Heidelberg, (Jeneral Croujo

Appendix. 361

received a letter from Colonel Winsloe, asking him for an interview and
for the reason why he had received no intimation of the armistice.

10. Genera] Cronje rej^lied that he would strictly adhere to the terms
of the armistice, and therefore required no interview, before the arrival of
the provisions.

11. The same morning a reply arrived, in which Colonel "Winsloe again
solicited an interview, and intimated that he had to communicate im-
portant documents.

12. General Cronje now consented to an interview and fixed, for that
purpose, on a spot between the English camp and the Boer fortifications,
on condition of temporary cessation of hostilities from the same Saturday
at 12 noon.

13. By order of General Cronje, a marquee was put up and he pro-
ceeded thither, accompanied by Messrs. Bodenstein, J. Kock, Coos
Wolmarans, and G. H. Buskes as interpreter. When their arrival was
noticed in the English Camp, Colonel Winsloe approached, accompanied
by Lieutenant Rundell, Lieutenant Woollies, and a Burgher, Nelson,
who had assumed the military dress.

14. All remained outside the marquee. Colonel Winsloe had two
papers in his hand, the documents mentioned in his letter. He read
them, and it then came out that they were (1) copy of the armistice and
(2) copy of General Wood's telegram to President Brand.

15. Colonel Winsloe pointed to Article 3 — "That Piet Joubert engages
to make known this agreement of armistice to the garrisons," and asked
why this was not carried out. Cronje replied that something had
occurred, after he had received his instructions, which had compelled
him to ask further instructions from his Government.

16. Colonel Winsloe then said that he had also received information
that the j^rovisions had arrived in the town, which General Cronje posi-
tively denied. Colonel Winsloe asked : "Are they not on the banks of
the Vaal Eiver in the Orange Free State ? " General Cronje replied :
" If you will believe me as a man of honour, then I must assui-e you
that I have jDositively no information thereof." Upon this the English
Commandant was requested to enter the tent with his staff.

17. A discussion ensued about the armistice. Colonel Winsloe spoke
about the terms, and said he thought that now a cessation of hostilities
had been agreed ti.) in the Drakensberg the hope might be entertained
that peace would ensue, which he for himself heartily wished for, and
that therefore the further shedding of blood would be prohibited from
both sides equally at Potchefstrom. He then asked whether he could not
agree with Cronje to commence an immediate armistice there also, instead
of waiting until the day of arrival of the provisions there, as stipulated
in the deed of armistice. He also intimated that he did not ask to be
supplied with provisions, as he could, if required, still hold out for eight
days. General Cronje refjlied, " The terms of the armistice do not allow
me to accejDt this, and my further instructions positively forbid me to do
this."

18. Upon this Colonel Winsloe and his staff withdrew outside the
marquee, and on returning asked for an armistice for twenty-four hours,
in order to consult with his officers on the question as to whether a sur-
render was possible. General Cronje, with his officers, then withdrew
outside the marquee, and on returning said, " I will give you an armistice
of twenty-four hours, and then we can meet again at the same spot to-
morrow at 12 o'clock. During that time no hostiUties will be carried on.

362 Appendix.

but both sides will remain inside their positions." It was thus decided
by verbal agreement, which both ])arties strictly observed.

19. The next day at Vl noon, Sunday, March '20, the second meeting
took place. Colonel AYinsloe had put down three or four points on a
small slip of paper, and stated that he had consulted with his officers,
and was willing and had decided to surrender, if this could be done with
military honour, with the retention of all the arms and i:)ri\ ate effects of
the officers. Our General declared that he agreed to this, and most of
the other points, as embodied in the memorandum or protocol the next
day, were then discussed and decided upon, Advocate Bushes and Lieu-
tenant Rundell being appointed to draft a contract in triplicate, which
was to be signed the next day.

20. Another request was made by Colonel Winsloe, namely, whether
the prisoners of war, taken at the surrender of the Landdrost Office on
the 18th of December, 1880, and of whom, although the majority had
been released, some were still retained as prisoners of war, could not also
be released on the same favourable conditions now agreed to with regard
to the troops in the fort. General Cronje replied he could not decide
upon this before consulting his court-martial. That same day he con-
vened a conrt-martial and forthwith communicated, bj^ letter, to Colonel
"Winsloe the favourable decision arrived at by that Coui't. Colonel
AVinsloe, in reply, expressed his appreciation of this courteous con-
sideration.

21. On Monday, March 21st, at 9 a.:m., the Protocol or Memorandum
was signed on the same sjjot where the two previous meetings had been
held. This document, already published, proved that General Cronje
granted the most favourable terms possible, considering the circumstances,
und that he fully understood and gallantly carried out the repeated in-
structions to honour the courage of the brave troops who for months had
suffered a most trying siege.

22. On the evening of the same day the English officers were present
at a dinner given to them by General Cronje, and repeatedly expressed
their appreciation of the courtesy with which the negotiations had been
conducted by General Cronje.

23. The troops, under the escort of ]\Ir. Wolmarans and three other
Burghers, left on the 23rd of IMarch. The Colonel was assisted in various
ways, tents were given him, waggons were procured and provisions pro-
cured from the Commissariat, to prevent their falling into the hands of
speculators, who would have made the most of their position. Colonel
"VVinsloo ex]>ressly thanked General Cronje for his courtesy.

24. (Jn the 9th of A]iril o:ily a messenger arrived at Potchefstrom,
bringing the news that the provisions were ai)i)r(>aching.

25. On Friday, Ajiril 8th, General Wood informed the Government at
Heidelberg that General Cronje had neglected to send in notice of the
armistice, as agreed in the armistice. The members of the Government
present at that interview were not aware of this, and voluntarily dechired
that, if the circumstances connected with the surrender were such as thcjjr
were said to be, they would not allow a stain to rest on the people, as if
they had derived any benefit from taking advantage of a good oppor-
tunity. Tiny olfered (ieneral Wood in a letter, assuming the information
given them by (Jeiieral Wood to Ijc correct, to cancel the surrender, to
restore everything taken, and to allow (jlencral Wood to send back tho
garri.son, if ho con.'^idcred it necessary. General Wood then expressed
oia satisfaction with that oiler.

Appendix. 3'63

26. At Newcastle it was deemed necessary that the garrison, accom-
panied by an escort and one of our most trustworthy Commandants,
should return, while two of our best men were to I'emain at Newcastle as
hostages until the escort should have returned. Messi-s. J. S. Joubert
and J. Cronje— the latter of whom was afterwards relieved by Mr. W.
Kok — influenced by patriotism, did not hesitate to suffer this kind of im-
prisonment, a7id they are hostages still.

27. The above-mentioned points were fully explained in the meeting of
the Royal Commission of last Monday, and in conclusion it was stated :
That we refrained from drawing any conclusions from the facts communi-
cated or to make the least remai'k ; that we did not desire to alter or
withdraw anything that was granted or agreed to execute ; that it was
our endeavour to show that when once we promised anything, we, as
men of honour, would see such promise fulfilled; that we now placed the
whole case in the hands of the Royal Commission, whose defence we
asked against the accusation that we acted treacherously with respect to
the surrender of Potchefstrom, which stain we cannot possibly allow to
remain on us. The Commission had the power to justify us, and we
fully trusted that they would do so. We now expect the Commission's
decision. Fellow-burghers, to you also we say nothing more about this ;
the facts speak for themselves.

The list of casualties on the British side during the siege of Potchef-
strom comprised the following : — Killed or died of their wounds, 1 officer
(Captain A. L. Falls, 2-21st Regiment), 24 non-commissioned officers and
men ; died from disease, 4 non-commissioned officers and men, 2 civilians
(of whom one was Mrs. Sketchley); wounded, 5 officers (Lieutenant-
Colonel Winsloe, 2-21st, Lieutenants H. M. S. Rundle, R.A., P. W.
Brown, and Dalrymijle Hay, 2-21st; Surgeon Wallis, A.H.C.; 47 non-
commissioned officers and men, and 2 civilians.

APPENDIX M.
THE ROYAL COMMISSION.

The following is the full text of the instructions from the Colonial
Office to H.E. Sir H. Robinson : —

" Downing Street, 31st March, 1881.

" You have received from Sir E. "Wood a statement of the conditions
agreed upon between him and the leaders of the Transvaal Boers on the
21st March, and I have now the honour to acquaint you that the Queen
has approved of the appointment of yourself. Sir E. Wood, and Sir H.
de Villiers to be Her Majesty's Commissioners for considei-ing and
advising upon the final arrangements for the settlement of the affairs of
the Transvaal. I shall shortly transmit to you a Commission under the
Queen's sign manual and signet for the appointment of the Commis-
sioners, but as the first duties of the Commissioners will be those of
inquiry and discussion, and some time must elapse before any formal

364 Appendix.

action on their part will be required, the Commission will have been able
to enter without delay upon the consideration of the matters referred to
it. You will preside at the meetings of the Commission, and in your
absence Sir E. Wood has precedence of Sir H. de Villiers. I have com-
municated to President Brand by telegraph the hope of Her Majesty's
Government that he will be able to be present, as rei^resenting a friendly
State, at the proceedings of the Royal Commission, and I understand
that he proposes to apply to the Volksraad for the leave necessary to
enable him to go beyond the Free State for that purpose.

" It has been agreed that the Commissioners should meet such repre-
sentatives as the Boers may select to express their views, and should
fully discuss with them the questions which have to be settled. The
Commissioners will make such arrangements for the time and place of
their meetings as may be most convenient to all parties.

" It may be desirable that the Commission should in the first instance'
address itself to the principal points referred to in the general terms of
settlement agreed to by Sir E. Wood with the Boer leaders, a summary
of which is contained in his telegram to me of the 21st March, and to
some extent further explained in subsequent telegraphic correspondence.
I may recapitulate them briefly as follows : —

" Tlie Transvaal State is to enjoy complete self-government under th&
suzerainty of the Queen ; the control of its relations with Foreign Powers
being reserved to the British Government.

" A British Resident may be appointed at the capital of the Transvaal
State, with such functions as Her Majesty's Government may determine,
on the recommendation of the Commission.

" The Commission is to consider provisions for the protection of Native
interests.

" The Commission is further to consider whether any portion, within
certain limits, mentioned in my telegram to Sir E. Wood of March 17tb,
should be severed from the country now included in the Transvaal
Province.

" There is to be no molestation for political ojiinion either way, and a
complete amnesty is to be accorded to all who have taken part in the
present war, excepting only persons who have committed or arc directly
responsible for acts contrary to the rules of civilized warfare.

" Immunity from civil process is guaranteed to the Boer leaders in-
dividually and collectively for acts done in reference to the war until
self-government is accorded, and the question of compensation to either
side for acts not justified by necessities of war is remitted to the Com-
mission to judge what acts were justified.

" Besides th'.'se princii)al jjoints there are some other matters referred
to in the agreement entered into by Sir E. Wood, as reported in his tele-
grams tome, and there are further pomts not mentioned by him which
will have to be provided for in the final settlement. Of the latter, the
most imjiortant are the determination of a boundary line in the territory
known as the Keate Award, the jiaynu-nt of the public debt of the
province, and the recognition of all lawlul acts done by the tioverninent
during the British occupation. 1 will deal in order with the various
points to which I have referred.

" Entire freedom of action will be accorded to the Transvaal Govern-
ment so far us is not inconsist(!iit with tin; rights expressly reserved to
the Suzerain I'owcr. The term Suzerainty has been chosen as most
conveniently describing snpcriority over a State possessing independent

Appendix. ^^^

rights of government, subject to reservations with reference to certain
specified matters.

" The most material of these reserved rights is the control of the
external relations of the future Transvaal State, which will be vested ia
the British Government, including, of course, the conclusion of treaties
and the conduct of diplomatic intercourse with Foreign Powers. As
regards communication with Foreign Governments, it will probably be
found most convenient that the Transvaal Government should correspond
on such matters with Her Majesty's Government through the Eesident
and the High Commissioner.

" There remains for consideration under this head the manner in
which the relations with the independent native tribes beyond the
frontier should be conducted. The general superintendence of these re-
lations would seem naturally to fall within the functions of the British
Resident, under the direction of the High Commissioner. It will be for
the Royal Commissioners, after examination of the whole question, to
recommend what should be the precise limits of the powers assigned to
the Resident in regard to this important matter. You will bear in mind
that the objects to be aimed at are to preserve the peace of the frontier
and to maintain a course of policy conducive generally to the interests
and tranquillity of the whole of South Africa, and that Her Majesty's
Government have no desire to interfere with the local administration
beyond what may be indispensable for the furtherance of these objects.
A still more difficult question will be to determine what pi'ovisions shall
be made for the protection of the interests of the natives who dwell
within the present territorial limits of the Transvaal. The districts vary
greatly in circumstances, but they may be divided into three categories: —

" 1. Districts which have been really occupied by white settlement,
such as Pretoria, Heidelberg, Middelberg, and Potchefstrom, where the
white settlers are not much outnumbered by the natives, and where the
authority of the Republican Government was thoroughly established
before the annexation.

*' 2. Districts like Leydenberg, where the white settlements are sur-
rounded by native tribes vastly preponderating in numbers, which either
refused to recognize the rule of the Boers, or gave it but imperfect
obedience. In the northern part of this district is Secocoeni's tribe,
which we found at war with the Boers, and practically independent, and
which was reduced to submission by the operations of Sir Garnet
Wolseley.

" 3. Such districts as Zoutpansberg, where the population is estimated
at nearly 365,000 souls, while the white settlers are said to number only
about 800, and where the authority of the Republic was at the time of
the annexation scarcely acknowledged. It is true the Boers laid claim
to the country and formerly held possession of parts of it, but they had
been gradually pushed back by the natives, who had virtually regained
their independence. The difficulty of dealing satisfactorily with the dis-
tricts in the two last categories led Her Majesty's Government to think
that it might be found exj^edient to sever from the Transvaal the eastern
portion of the territory now comprised within its limits, taking the Vaal
River and a line drawn from the Vaal northward near the 30th degree
of longitude as the new boundary. This would, however, include a part
of the district of Middelberg, audit will be probably sufficient to consider
the suggestion as limited to the severance of the districts of AVakkerstrom,
Utrecht, Leydenberg, and Zoutpansberg. The district of Waterberg

66 Appendix.

resembles that of Zontpansberg in the vast numerical superiority of the
natives, but its position is such that it could not form a part of a separate
British province, and as far as I am aware the natives had not driven
back the Boer settlers in the same wa}' as in Zonti^ansberg. I will,
however, refer to this district further on in connection with Zoutspans-
berg.

" To deal first with the "Wakkerstrom and Utrecht districts. There
would be one obvious advantage in retaining these districts under British
rule, inasmuch as they would separate the Transvaal State from Zulu-
land, and prevent the recurrence of those dangerous border disputes
between the Boers and the Zulus which were in large measure the cause
of the Zulu war. Moreover, the existence of another authority on the
Zulu border would render it extremely difficult for the British Govern-
ment to maintain that influence with the Zulu Chiefs which is essential
for the maintenance of peace in Zululand, and for the success of the
settlement of that country made by Sir Garnet "Wolseley. The same
reasons apply to that part of Leydenberg known as New Scotland, by
retaining which as British the Swazies would in great measure be kept
apart from the Boer frontier. If strong objections were raised on the
part of the Boers to the severance from the Transvaal of the whole of
AYakkerstrom, so much only might be retained as would be necessary to
maintain the communications betv;een Natal and the British territory
further northward, but the Vaal River would form the most natural and
convenient boundary.

" With regard to the Leydenberg district apart from ISTew Scotland, the
argiiments in favour of maintaining British rule over it are that the
population is stated to contain an increasing British element princijially
at the Gold Fields ; that the native poinilation vastly outnumbers the
white inhabitants, being estimated at 123,300 as compared with 1,578;
and that having subdued Secococni's tribe which occupies an important
part of the district we are under peculiar obligations to make provision
for its fair treatment. On the other hand, the Leydenberg district could
scarcely be annexed to Natal, and as a separate British ])rovince it would
form an inconvenient narrow strip of territor}-, which would probably not
pay its own expenses. Lastly, Her ]\Iajosty's Government are averse, on
general grounds of policy, to the extension of British territory in South
Africa.

" A most important consideration will be the wishes of the settlers them-
selves, and you will be careful to ascertain in the fullest manner whether
they would willingly accept the continuance of British rule, if it should
be determined to retain any of the territory to which I have referred. If
Secococni's country is not retained under British rule, or declared to be
an independent native district, it might be advisable that some special
conditions should be made as to its relations with the Transvaal State,
and should it be ultimately decided that no territory should intervene
between the Transvaal State and Zululand or Swazieland, it will bo
necessary that the Transvaal Government .should distinctly recognize the
boundaries of Zululand and Swazit'land as lately defined, and the indo-
pendcnce of the latter, over which the ]{epublie appears to have claimed an
undefined supremacy before the annexation, though it was not acknow-
ledged by the Swazies.

" 1 now pass to Zoutpansberg. I incline to the opinion that the mo.st
satisfactory arrangement as to this district would be that it should bo
left to the native tribes. I should bo glad if some similar arrangemeut

Appendix, 367

could liave been made as to "VVaterberg, but tlie reasons for leaving the
district to the native tribes do not appear to be so strong as in the case of
Zoutpansberg; and as the Boers have been informed that it was not the
intention of Her Majesty's Government that territory should be severed
from the Transvaal west of the 30th degree of longitude, the question
does not stand on the same footing.

" It should be remembered, however, that the severance of the districts
principally inhabited by natives would have the effect of lessening the
necessity for interference for the protection of the natives within the
territories of the Transvaal State, and such a measure might, therefore,
I'ecommend itself to the Boers as diminishing the occasions for action ou
the p)art of the British Government with regard to their interior affairs.
It is on every account desirable tha,t interference in those affairs should
be confined to the fewest possible points, and those points should be
clearly defined and embodied in the final settlement among the condi-
tions upon which the government of the country is handed over. The
subject is one especially requiring examination on the spot, but I may
mention one or two points as indicating the nature of the jDrovisions
which might be made; as, for examjale, the stipulations that no law
should be enacted forbidding the natives to hold land, and that they
should be allowed to move as freely within the country as may be con-
sistent with the requirements of public order, and to leave it for the
purpose of seeking employment elsewhere.

" The provision in the Sand River Convention against slavery, in any
form, must of course be re-afErmed. Perhaps on some matters of
especial importance affecting the natives it might be provided that the
Suzerain power should have a veto upon any new legislation. Whatever
previsions are made, it would be one of the duties of the British Resident
to report to the High Commissioner as to their working and observance.

" It is scarcely to be hoped that political passions will immediately
calm down, and Her Majesty's Government are bound to take care that
those who ha'^e been faithful to the British cause during the late war shall
not suffer any detriment in consequence of their loyalty. Her Majesty's
Government have agreed to a complete amnesty to those who have taken
part with the Boers, and the Boers on their side have engaged that no
one shall suffer molestation on account of his political opinions. It will
be your duty to lay down full and explicit conditions for securing to those
who have been loyal to Her Majesty, whether of English or Dutch origin,
full liberty to reside in the country, with enjoyment of all civil rights and
protection for their persons and property.

" You will make every effort to bring to justice those who are accused of
the murder of Captain Elliott and Mr. Barbour, or of any similar acts, and
you will call on the Boer leaders, in accordance with their engagement 1 o
Sir Evelyn Wood, to afford yon their assistance in tracing out and arrest-
ing the offendei's.

" Having thus gone through the principal points arising out of the
agreement between Sir E. Wood and the Boers, I will i^roceed to notice
the other matters to which I have referred.

" You will find the question of the territory known as the ' Keate
Award' somewhat fully discussed in my Desj^atch of the ^"th May last
to the late Sir G. P. Colley. It was m}'- intention on receiving his report
to instruct him to determine such a new line of boundary as might in
present circumstances appear to be the fairest to all parties, and best cal-
culated to preserve the peace on the western frontier of the Transvaal.

68 Appendix.

Sir G. Colley liad unfortunately not made any official report of the
result of his visit to this territory, but I have reason to believe that he wag
of opinion that it was out of the question now to maintain the line laid
down in 1871 by Lieutenant-Governor Keate, and that he would have
recommended a new line, leaving a considerable part of the territory to
the Transvaal. It will be for you to consider what line should be
adopted, and you will, I have no doubt, derive valuable information and
assistance from Lieut.-Col. Moysey, R.E., the Special Commissioner in
the Keate Award District. It may be found desirable to annex some
part of this territory to Griqualand West or to the Orange Free State,
but this must depend upon considerations which I am unable from want
of local knowledge fully to appreciate. I will only add that this border
has been so long in an unsettled condition that it is urgently necessary
that the frontier line should be definitively fixed with as little delay as
possible.

" On reference to the constitution of the former South African Re-
public I find that there are articles which appear to infringe upon the
principle of religious toleration. I am not aware that any actual im-
q^ediment was placed by the State in the way of the free exercise of their re-
Jigion by persons belonging to the Dutch Reformed Church ; but to prevent
any misconception on the point it will be well to provide for the un-
restricted exercise of their religion by all denominations within the future
Transvaal State.

"The Commission will have to consider the arrangements to be made
for the assumption by the Transvaal State of the debt incurred in con-
nection with the administration of the affairs of the country, whether by
the South African Republic before the annexation, or by the Provincial
Oovernment subsequently. I may refer you on this point to the declara-
tion made by the 13oer leaders in their proclamation of the Itith Decem-
ber last, that the ' lawful expenditure lawfully incurred for the necessary
expenses of the country by the intermediate Government will be ac-
knowledged.'

" There will also be other financial arrangements to be considered in
connection with the transfer of resiionsibilities and liabilities to the future
Transvaal State, including such jirovision as is usually made on these
occasions for compensating any permanent officers displaced by the change
of Government.

" I need scarcely say that it will be expected that full security for the
continued enjoyment of their rights shall be guaranteed to all holders of
property in the Transvaal, after the establishment of the new govern-
ment. I cannot doubt that the necessary undertaking will be readily
given, and it will be for the Commission to consider and recommend the
lerms in which such undertaking should be Iramed. Provisions will
also be required for securing to British subjects complete freedom of triule
to and through the 'i'ransvaal, <in the same footing as citizens of the
Transvaal State. I shall transmit to you a copy of a treaty now in
force, which will be of use to the Commission in considering the stipula-
tions to Ijc entered into on this subject.

" With regard to the formal style and designation of the future Trans-
vaal State, 1 am dis])Osed ti> think that instead of reviving the name
' South African Republic ' (which never was appropriate, having regard
to the fact that tliere were two I{e])ublicH in South Africa) it would bo
jireferable to adopt tlic name ' Transvaal State.' Rcforc the annexation
the country was very coninionly spoken of aa the Transvaal, and it

Appendix. 369

would be convenient, as in the case of the Orange Free State, to describe
it by the river which forms its southern Ijoundary. I shall from time to
time address to you instructions upon any further points which may
arise. — I have, &c.,

" KniBERLEY."

"Downing Street, April 7, 1881.

" Sir, — In my despatch of the 31st March, which conveyed to you the
instructions to the Eoyal Commissioners for the settlement of the affairs
of the Transvaal, I referred to the arrangements to be made for the
assumption by the Transvaal State of the debt incurred in connection
with the administration of the affairs of the country.

" 2. You will find a full and careful examination of the liabilities of the
Transvaal in the report which I enclose on the financial affairs of that
province made to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury in February
of last year by the officers appointed to inquire into the military expendi-
ture in South Africa. I also enclose a copy of a report by Mr. W. C.
Sargeaunt, C.M.G., on the financial condition of the Transvaal, and
other matters, and a copy of a despatch from Sir W. O. Lanyon, dated
December 9, 1880, in which you will find a statement by Mr. Steel, the
Acting Colonial Secretary of the Province, showing the amount of the
debt, as calculated by the Provisional Government, ujj to October of that
ytar.

" 3. The Commissioners will perceive that two divisions of the debt, viz.,
the loan raised by the former Government of the South African Republic
for railway construction, and the advance obtained by that Government
from the Commercial Bank at Capetown for the redemption of its paper
currency, are connected with transactions anterior to the British annexa-
tion.

" 4. In the next category, that of the ' lawful expenditure lawfully in-
curred for the necessary expenses of the country by the intermediate
Government,' which the Boer leaders in their proclamation of the 16th
December last declared that the people of the Transvaal would acknow-
ledge, the principal item is the overdraft at the Standard Bank of British
South Africa in Pretoria. This overdraft, which was not to exceed
i;150,000, and had apparently been reduced in November last to .£140,900,
but may probably have since been again increased, was arranged in order
to meet outstanding liabilities partly incurred by the South African
Republic, and to provide for the deficiency of current revenue.

" 5. The only other principal head of indebtedness (independent of the
war expenditure to which 1 shall presently refer) is the Parliamentary
grant of xl 00,000. This sum was advanced to the province in 1878 on
the understanding that there was a fair prospect of its repayment within
a few years, to meet expenses connected with and immediately consequent
upon the annexation, as well as liabilities taken over from the Govern-
ment of the South African Republic, or incurred in connection with the
administration of the province. To this grant should be charged, in the
first place, all the expenses of Sir T. Shepstone's mission to the Transvaal,
and the payments made by him on account of services directly relating
to the annexation of the territory. Her Majesty's Government will be
disposed, when the i)articulars of this expenditure have been ascertained,
to consider whether the repa^-ment of all the outlay arising out of the act
of annexation should not be foregone.

B B

o Appendix.

''6. Her ]^[ajesty's Government will in like manner be prepared to
consider any suggestions which may be madeb}^ the Commissioners, after
their examination of the accounts have been completed, for the exemption
of the Transvaal State from liability in respect of any item which, haviug
regard to all the circumstances, may appear to be fairly chargeable to
Imperial funds.

" 7. There remains for consideration a large amount advanced to the
Provincial Government by Her Majesty's Government from the Treasury
Chest on account of the war against Secocoeni. I cannot at present
give exact particulars of this advance, but, including the cost of the un-
successful campaign conducted by Colonel Rowlands, it may amount to
i'400,000. It would in due course have been repaid to Her Majesty's
Government, and it is obvious that the question whether it, or part of it,
shall continue to be so repaj-able is closely connected with the question
■whether any and what part of the country within the present limits of
the province shall be severed from the future Transvaal State. If the
territor}^ occupied by Secocoeni's tribe continues to be within the Trans-
vaal State, the cost of subjugating it would obviously be a reasonable
charge on Transvaal funds. The case would of course be otherwise if
the Leydeuberg or other districts in or in relation to which the war ex-
penditure now under consideration was incurred should remain British
territor}', and the Commission would then have to consider with reference
to the tinal territorial arrangements how this charge should be adjusted.
And in connection with the whole question of the debt it should liere he
observed that if any portion of the present Transvaal Province is severed
from the Transvaal State it would have to be considered how the charge
for the total debt should be apportioned ; but it is to be remembered that
the revenue on the security of which the lo;ins have been raised was ])ro-
duced principally within the districts to the westward of the thirtieth
parallel of longitude.

"8. Among the points which I have thus indicated as demanding the
special attention of the Eoyal Commissioners, there are some whicli
present considerable diillculties, and will involve the consideration of
Com])licated details. I am disposed to think that it may be necessary to
give the Commissioners the assistance of one or more financial Sub-Com-
jnissioners for the examination of the facts connected with this jiart of
the inquiry.

" 0. I desire to receive, as soon as may be convenient, any observatioi'*
which the Commissioners may have to oflfcr on the subjects referred
in this despatch. — I have, <ic.,

" IvniBKltl.KY."

APPENDIX N.
THE CONVENTION.

"^I'lio following arc the full terms of the Convention: —
Her iMiijcsty's (Jonirnissioners, for the settlement of the Transvaal
Territory, duly apjidinted as sucli l^y a Commi.ssion, pa.ssed under the
lloyul Sign Manual and Signet, bearing date the Cth of April, 1881, do

Appendix. 2)7^

hereby undertake and guarantee, on behalf of Her Majesty, tbat 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 i-eservations and
limitations : —

Article I. — The said territory, to be hereinafter called the Transvaal
State, will embrace the land lying between the following boundaries, to
"wit :

(Here follows the frontier-trace and definition of the boundaries.)

Article II. — Her Majesty reserves to Herself, Her heirs and successors,
{a) the right from time to time to appoint a British Resident in and for
the said State, with such duties and functions as are hereinafter defined ;
{h) the right to move troops through the said State in time of war, or in
case of the apprehension of immediate war between the Suzerain Power
and any foreign State or native tribe in South Africa ; and (c) the
control of the external relations of the said State, including the conclu-
sion of treaties and the conduct of diplomatic intercourse with foreign
Powers, such intercourse to be carried on through Her Majesty's diplo-
matic and consular officers abroad.

Article III. — Until altered by the Yolksraad or other competent autho-
ritj% all laws, whether passed before or after the annexation of the Trans-
vaal Territory to Her Majesty's Dominions, shall, except in so far as they
are inconsistent with, or repugnant to, the provisions of this Convention,
be and remain in force in the said State, in so far as they shall be appli-
cable thereto : Provided that no future enactment sjDecially affecting the
interests of natives shall have any force or effect in the said State with-
out the consent of Her Majesty, Her heirs and successors, first had and
obtained, and signified to the Government of the said State through the
British liesident : Provided, further, that in no case will the repeal or
amendment of any laws which have been enacted since the Annexation
have a retrospective effect so as to invalidate any acts done or liabilities
incurred by virtue of such laws.

Article IV. — On the 8th day of August, 1881, the Government of the
said State, together with all rights and obligations thereto ajjpertaining,
and all State property taken over at the time of Annexation, save and
except munitions of war, will be handed over to JMessrs. Stephanus
Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus
Joubert, or the survivor or survivors of them, who will forthwith cause a
Yolksraad to be elected and convened, and the A^olksraad thus elected
and convened will decide as to the future administration of the Govern-
ment of the said State.

Article V. — All sentences passed upon persons who may be convicted
of offences contrary to the rules of civilized warfare committed during
the recent hostilities will be duly carried out, and no alteration or mitiga-
tion of such sentences will be made or allowed by the Government of the
Transvaal State without Her Majesty's consent, conveyed through the
British Resident. In case there shall be any prisoners in any of the
gaols of the Transvaal State whose respective sentences of imprisonment
have been remitted in j^art by Her Majesty's Administrator or other
Officer Administering the Government, such remission will be recognized
and acted upon by the future Government of the said State.

Article A^I. — Pier Majesty's Government will make due compensation
for all losses or damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in

B li 2

372 Appendix.

Article YIII. hereinafter specified, whicli may have been committed by
Her Majesty's forces during the recent hostilities, except for such losses
or damage as may already have been compensated for; and the Govern-
ment of the Transvaal State will make due compensation for all losses or
damage sustained by reason of such acts as are in Article VIII. herein-
after specified, which may have been committed by the people who were
in arms against Her Majesty during the recent hostilities, except for such
losses and damage as may already have been compensated for.

Article YII. — The decision of all claims for compensation, as in the'
last preceding Article mentioned, will be referred to a Sub-Commission,
consisting of the Hon. George Hudson, the Hon. Jacobus Petrus De Wet,
and the Hon. John Gilbert Kotze. In case one or more of such Sub-
Commissioners shall be unable or unwilling to act, the remaining Sub-
Commissioner or Sub-Commissioners will, after consultation with the
Government of the Transvaal State, submit, for the approval of Her
Majesty's High Commissioner, the names of one or more persons to be
appointed by him to fill the place or places thus vacated. The decisions
of the said Sub-Commissioners, or of a majority of them, will be final.
The said Sub- Commissioners will enter upon and laerform their duties
with all convenient speed. They will, before taking evidence, or ordering'
evidence to be taken in respect of any claim, decide whether such claim
ran be entertained at all under the rules laid down in the next succeed-
ing Article. In regard to the claims which can be so entertained, the
Sub-Commissioners will, in the first instance, aff'ord every facility for an.
amicable arrangement as to the amount payable in respect of any claim,
and only in cases in which there is no reasonable ground for believing
that an immediate amicable arrangement can be arrived at will they
take evidence, or order evidence to be taken. For the purpose of taking-
evidence and reporting thereon, the Sub-Commissioners may appoint
deputies, who will, without delay, submit records of the evidence and
their reports to the Sub-Commissioners. The Sub-Commissioners will
arrange the sittings and the sittings of their deputies in such a maimer
as to afford the greatest convenience to the parties concerned and their
witnesses. In no case will costs be allowed to either side other than the
■usual and reasonable expenses of witnesses whose evidence is certified by
the Sub-Commissioners to have been necessary. Interest will not run on
the amount of any claim, except as is hereinafter px'ovided for. The said
Sub-Commissioners will forthwith, after deciding upon any claim, an-
nounce their decision to the Government against which the award is
made, and to the claimant. The amount of remuneration jiayable to the
Sub-Commissioners and their dejiuties will be determined by the High
Commissioner, after all the claims have been decided upon. The British
Government and the Government of the Transvaal State will pay pro-
portionate shares of the said remuneration, and of the expenses of the
Sulj-Commissioners and their deputies according to the amounts awarded
against them respectively.

Article YIII. — For the ])urposc of distinguishing claims to be acoepled
from those tf) be rejected, the Sulj-Commissioners will Ix; guided by the
following rules, viz. : — Comjiensation will be allowed for losses or damage
sustained liy reason of the following acts conuuitted during the recent
ho.stilitie**, viz.: {<i.) Commandeering, seizure or destruction of jiroperty,
or damage done to property ; (h.) Yiolence done or threats used by per-
sons in arms. In regard to acts under (d) compensation will be allowed
for direct losses only. In regard to acts falling under (t) compensation

Appendix. 373

will be allowed for actual losses of property or actual injury to the same,
proved to have been caused by its enforced abandonment. No claims for
indirect losses, except such as are in this Article specially provided for,
will be entertained. No claims which have been handed in to the Secre-
tary of the Royal Commission after the 1st day of July, 1881, will be
entertained, unless the Sub-Commission shall be satistied that the delay
was reasonable. When claims for loss of property are considered the
Sub-Commissioners will require distinct proof of the existence of the
property, and that it neither has reverted nor will revert to the
claimant.

Article IX. — The Government of the Transvaal State will pay and
satisfy the amount of every claim awarded against it within one month
after the Sub-Commissioners shall have notified their decision to the said
Government, and in default of such payment the said Government will
pay interest at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum from the date of such
default; but Her Majesty's Government may, at any time before such
payment, pay the amount, with interest, if any, to the claimant in satis-
faction of his claim, and may add the sum thus paid to any debt which
may be due by the Transvaal State to Her Majesty's Government, as
hereinafter provided for.

Article X. — The Transvaal State will be liable for the balance of the
debts for which the South African Republic was liable at the date of
annexation, to wit : the sum of £48,0U0, in respect of the Cape Com-
mercial Loan, and i;85,667 in respect of the Railway Loan, together with
amount due on the 8th August, 1881, on account of the Orphan Chamber
Debt, which now stands at <£"22,000, which debts will be a first charge
upon the revenues of the State. The Transvaal State will, moreover,
be liable for the lawful expenditure, lawfully incurred, for the necessary
•expenses of the Province since annexation, to wit : the sum of £265,000,
which debt, together with such debts as may be incurred by virtue of
the 9th Article, will be a second charge upon the revenue of the State.

Article XL — The debts due as aforesaid by the Tranvsaal State to
Her Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a
half per cent., and any portion of such debt as may remain unpaid on
the 8th August, 1882, shall be repayable by a payment for interest and
sinking fund of Six Pounds and Ninepence per £'1U0 per annum, which will
■extinguish the debt in twenty-five years. The said payment of Six Pounds
and Ninepence per iilOO shall be payable half-yearly in British currency
on the 8th February and 8th August in each year, provided always that
the Transvaal State shall pay in reduction of the said debt the sum of
i'100,000 before the 8th August, 1882, and shall be at liberty at the close
•of any half-year to pay off the whole or any portion of the outstanding
■debt.

Article 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 re-
mained loyal to Her Majesty during the recent hostilities shall suffer any
•molestation by reason of his loyalty, or be liable to any criminal pro-
secution or civil action for any part taken in connection with such
hostilities, and all such persons will have full liberty to reside in the
•country with enjoyment of all civil rights and protection for their persona
.and property.

Article XIII. — Natives will be allowed to acquire land, but the grant
or transfer of such land will be in every case made to and registered in

3 74 Appendix.

tlie name of the ISTative Locatiou Commission hereinafter mentioned in
trust for such natives.

Article XIV. — Natives will be allowed to move as freely within the
country as may be consistent with the requirements of public order, and
to leave it for the purpose of seeking employment elsewhere, or for other
lawful purposes, subject always to the Pass Laws of the said State, as
amended by the Legislature of the Province, or as may hereafter be
enacted under the provisions of the 3rd Article of this Convention.

Article XV. — The provisions of the 4th Article of the Sand Eiver
Convention are hereby re-affirmed, and no slavery or apprenticeship par-
taking of slavery will be tolerated by the Government of the said State.

Article XVI. — There will continue to be complete freedom of religion
and protection from molestation for all denominations, provided the same
be not inconsistent with morality and good order; and no disability shall
attach to any person in regard to rights of property by reason of the.
religious ojjinions which he holds.

Article XVII. — The British Eesident will receive from the Government
of the Transvaal State such assistance and support as can by law be
given to him for the due discharge of his functions. He will also receive
everj' assistance for the proper care and preservation of the graves of
such of Her Majesty's forces as have died in the Transvaal, and if need
be for the reprojiriation of land for the purpose.

Article XVIII. — The following will be the duties and functions of the
British Kesident: — 1. He will perform duties and functions analogous to
those discharged by a Charge d' Affaires and Consul-General. 2. In
regard to Natives within the Transvaal State, he will («) report to the
High Commissioner, as representative of the Suzerain, as to the working
and observance of the provisions of this Convention ; (?>) report to the
Transvaal authorities any cases of ill-treatment of Natives, or attempts
to incite Natives to rebellion, that may come to his knowledge; (c) use
his influence with the Natives in favour of law and order ; and (<?) gene-
rally perform such other duties as are by this Convention entrusted to
him, and take such steps for the protection of such persons and property
of Natives as are consistent with the laws of the land. 3. In regard
to Natives not residing in the Transvaal, (^f) he will report to the High
Commissioner and the Transvaal Government any encroachments re-
ported to him as having been made by Transvaal residents upon the land
of such Natives, and in' case of disagreement between the Transvaal
Government and the British Resitlent as to whetlier an encroachment has
been made, the decision of the Suzerain will be iinal; (6) the British
ResiJent, will be tiie medium of communication with Native Chiefs
outside the Transvaal, and, subject to the a]>proval of the High Com-^
missioner, as representing tl;e Su/.erain, he will control the conclusion of
treaties with them ; and W) I'.e will ariiitrato ujion every dispute between
'J'ransvaal residents and ISatives ouisidc the Transvaal (as to acts com-
mitted beyond tlie boundaries of the Transvaal) which may be reterred to
him by the parties interested. 4. In regard to communications with
Foreign Powers, the 'I'ransvaal Government will corres])ond with Her
majesty's Government tlirough the British Resident and the iligli Com-
missioner.

Artich; XIX.— The Government of the Transviial State; will strictly
adhere to the boundaries deiined in the lirst Article! of the Convention,
and will do its utmost to ])revent any of its inhabitants from niiilv.;.-,' aiiy
encroachment upon lands beyond the said State. The Royal Cumm.ssiou

Appendix. 375

■will forthwith appoint a person who will Leacon off the boundary line
between Ramatlabana and the point where such line first touches the
Griqualand West boundary, ending between the Vaal and Hart Rivers.
The person so appointed will be instructed to make an arrangement
between the owners of the farms (Groot Fontein and Valley Fontein) on
thy one hand, and the Baralong authorities on the other, by which a fair
share of the water supply of the said farms shall be allowed to How
undisturbed to the said Baralongs.

Article XX. — All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal
Government in respect of and outside the boundary of the Transvaal
State, as defined in Article I., shall be considered invalid and of no effect,
except in so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within
the boundary of the Transvaal State, and all persons holding any such
grant so considered invalid and of no effect will receive from the Govern-
ment of the Transvaal State such compensation, either in land or in
money, as the Volksraad shall determine. In all cases in which any
ISTative Chiefs or other authorities outside the said boundaries have
received any adequate compensation from the Government of the former
South African Republic for land excluded from the Transvaal by the
first Article of this Convention, or where permanent improvements have
been made on the land, the British Resident will, subject to the approval
of the Higli Commissioner, use his iufiuence to recover from the Xative
authorities fair compensation for the loss of the land thus excluded, or of
the permanent improvements thereon.

Article XXI.^ — Forthwith after the taking effect of this Convention, a
Native Location Commission will be constituted, consisting of the Pre-
sident (or in his absence the A'ice-President) of the State, or some one
deputed by him, the Resident or some one deputed^by him, and a third
person to be agreed upon by the President, or the A'ice-President, as the
case may be, and the President and siich Commission will be a standing
body for the performance of the duties hereinafter mentioned.

Article XXII. — The Xative Location Commission will reserve to the
Native tribes of the State such locations as they may be fairly and
equitably entitled to, due regard being had to the actual occupation of
such tribes. The Native Location Commission will clearly define the
boundaries of such location, and for that purpose will in every instance
first of all ascertain the minds of the parties interested in such land. In
case land already granted in individual titles shall be required for the
purpose of any location, the owners will receive such compensation, either
in other land or in money, as the Volksraad shall determine. After the
boundaries of any location have been fixed, no fresh grant of land within
Buch location will be made, nor will the boundaries be altered without
the consent of the Location Commission. Xo fresh grants of land will
be made in the districts of Waterberg, Zoutpansberg, and Leydenberg
nntil the locations in the said districts, respectively, shall have been
defined by the said Commission.

Article XXIII. — If not released before the taking effect of this Con-
vention, Secocoeni and those of his followers who have been imprisoned
with him will be forthwith released, and the boundaries of their location
will be defined by the Native Location Commission in the manner indi-
cated in the last preceding Article.

Article XXIV. — The independence of the Swazi within the boundary
line of Swaziland, as indicated in the first Article of this Convention,
will be fully recognized.

Article XXV. — No other or higher duties will be imposed on the im-

37^ Appendix.

portation into the Transvaal State of any article tlie prodnce or manu-
facture of the dominions and possessions of Her Majesty, from whatever
place arriving, than are or maybe payable on the like article, the produce
or manufacture of any other country. Nor will any prohibition be main-
tained or imposed on the importation of any article the produce or
manufacture of the dominions and j^ossessions of Her Majesty which
shall not equally extend to the importation of the like articles being the
produce or manufacture of any other country.

Article 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;
(6) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, ware-
houses, shops, and premises; (c) they may carry on their commerce either
in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; {A) they
will not be subject in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of
their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other
than those which are, or may be, imposed upon Transvaal citizens.

Article XXVII. — All inhabitants of the Transvaal shall have free
access to the Courts of Justice for the prosecution and defence of their
rights.

Article XXVIII. — All persons other than natives who established their
domicile in the Transvaal between the 12th day of April, 1877, and the
date when this Convention comes into ctTect, and who shall, within
twelve months after such last-mentioned date, have their names registered
by the British Resident, shall be exempt from all comjjulsory military
service whatever. The Resident shall notify such registrations to the
Government of the Transvaal State.

Article XXIX. — Pnovision shall hereafter be made by a special instru-
ment for the mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender
of deserters from Her j\Iajesty's forces.

Article XXX. — All debts contracted since the Annexation will be pay-
able in the same currency in which they m.ay have boon contracted. All
uncancelled postage and other revenue stamps issued by the Government
since the Annexation will remain valid, and will be accepted, at their
present value, by the future Government of the State. All licenses duly
issued since the Annexation will remain in force during the period for
which they have been issued.

Article XXXI. — No grants of land which may have been made, and
DO transfers or mortgages which may have boon passed since the time of
the Annexation will be invalidated by i-oason merely of tlioir liaving been
made or passed after such date. All transfers to the British Secretary
i'or Native Affairs in trust for Natives will remain in force, the Native
Location Cdmmission taking the place of such Secretary for Native Affairs.

Article XXXII. — This Convention will be ratified by a newly-elected
Volksraad within tlie period of three month.s after its execution, and in
default of such ratification this (,'oiivention shall be null and void.

Article XXXIII.-- Fortliwifh after the ratiticiition of tiiis Convention,
as in the last jirocoding Article mentioned, all nritisli troops in Transvaal
territory will leave the same, and the mutual delivery of munitions of
war will be carried out.

Signed at Pretoria this :'rd day of August, 1881.
Hkiu ui.i:s lloiiiNsoN,
KvKi.YN Wood,
II. i)K Vii-i,ii;i(s,

lioijal C'ouiDiissiunera.

Appendix. 377

We, the undersigned, Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, Martinus
Wessel Pretorius, and Petrus Jacobus Joubert, as representatives of the
Transvaal Burghers, do hereby agree to all the above conditions, reserva-
tions, and limitations under which Self-Government has been restored to
the inhabitants of the Transvaal territory, subject to the Suzerainty of
Her Majesty, Her heirs and successors, and we agree to accept the Govern-
ment of the said territory with all rights and obligations thereto apper-
taining, on the 8th day of August, 1881, and we promise and undertake
that this Convention shall be ratified by a newly-elected Volksraad of
the Transvaal State within three months from date.

Signed at Pretoria, this 3rd day of August, 1881.

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger,
Martinus Wessel Pretorius,
Petrus Jacobus Joubert.

APPENDIX 0.
THE TRANSYAAL VOLKSRAAD.

The following were the proceedings of the special session of the old
Volksraad, held at Pretoria, on Wednesday, August 10th, in relation to
the Convention between the Royal Commission and the Boer Leaders.
The members present were:- — C. J. Bodensteijn, Chairman, T. N. de
Villiers, D. P. Talajaard, P. Roets, M. van Breda, C. J. C. van Rooijen,
C. B. Otto, T. Dreyer, J. Spies, C. Birkenstock, J. H. Potgieter,
P. Venter, M. W. Vorster, J. J. Hoffman, S. T. Prinsloo, P. de la Rey,
C. C. van Heerden, and J. P. Otto.

His Honour Vice-President Kruger said that on account of bodily
infirmity he was not able to read the opening speech himself.

Mr. Bok, the State Secretary, then read the opening speech : —

" Honourable President and Members of the Volksraad.

"1. I have summoned you, as representatives of the people, for the
purpose of informing you that a Convention relative to the restoration
of the country has been signed by the Royal Commission, appointed by
the Government of Her Majesty the Queen of England, and by us, the
Triumvirate elected by you at Paardekraal, in accordance with the Com-
mission given us at the special session of the Volksraad at Heidelberg
on the 15th April last.

"2. Seeing that it is my earnest wish and desire that the several
districts shall be fully represented at the contirmatiou of the said Con-
vention, and seeing that, in consequence of the circumstances in which
the country has now for more than four years been placed, many districts
are not fully represented, and .some are wholly represented, I therefore
request you, by the oiiening of a new election for members of tlie A'olks-
raad, to enable me to lay the Convention for coufirnuition before a fully-
constituted \'olksraad, and to obtain its direction as to the future con-
cerns of the country.

37^ Appendix.

" 3. I request yon to appoint this election within tlie shortest possible
time, so that a special session of the Volksraad may be held during the
month of September next.

" 4. May Almighty God bless your delIbei*ations."

The Chairman replied as follows: — "Honourable Members of the
Triumvirate, — We heartily welcome you in oiir midst, and are more par-
ticularly delighted to see amongst us again our Vice-President, who
has been confined to a bed of illness during the last few days. "VVe are
filled with extreme gratitude that Providence has spared your valuable
life so as to enable us to leam through you from the Triumvirate that
the commission entrusted to them in our last sitting at Heidelberg has
been executed so far, and that our God has blessed your endeavours so
that you are i^repared to lay before the people, for ratification, a Conven-
tion, by which the peojile's independence and freedom have been restored.
We appreciate it highly, and agree with j'our Honours that this Con-
vention should be made known to the whole people, for the purpose of
being ratified thereafter, as soon as possible, and we therefore consider
your proposals so that, in accordance with the existing laws of the
country, the burghers of the country should, at the next ensuing extra-
ordinary session of the Volksraad, be properl3% and, if possible, fully
represented, and to accomplish the work which will then be submitted
to them by your Honours."

In accordance with agreement, section 32 of the Convention was read,
as also the concluding paragraph by which the Triumvii'ate agree to
accept the conditions and stipulations of the Convention.

After some discussion, the following motion, projDosed by the Chair-
man and seconded by Mr. D. P, Taaljaard, was carried by acclama-
tion :—

" The Volksraad, having seen section 1 of the opening speech of their
Honours, rejoices to learn that a Convention has been entered into
between Her Mnjesty's special representatives and our Triumvirate, by
which amongst otliers our self-govermeut and independence are restored,
and requests the Executive Council to publish this Convention forth-
with, in the Dutch language, in the State Gazette."

The second section of the Vice-President's. sj)cech was put on the order,
and elicited some discussion. The following resolution, proposed bylMr.
S. T. Prinsloo and seconded by ]\[r. jM. W. Vorster, was carried, with one
dissentient vote: —

"The Volksraad, having noticed section 1 of the opening speech,
resolves to authori/.e the Executive to o]wn an election for members of
the Volksraad fortliwith, so that all districts and burghers may lie
represented in the Volksraad according to law, niul commission Iho
Government immediately to notify to the officers and to instruct
them to act in accordance with Volksraad resolution of JMay 29, Iy7l5,
Art. 91."

Sectitm 3 of the opening speech coming on for discussion, it was
resolved, upon the motion of Mr. C. B. Otto, seconded by Mr. J. P.
Otto, to shorten the term of elections, in view of tlie pcctiliar circum-
stances of the country, and to instruct the l*]xeeutive to h;u'0 thaii
term closed on the \-)i\\ of September at the fartliest, and to have
the first ensuing extraordinary meeting of the Volksraad as soon after
as jjOKsiljle.

The (Jliairman, having pointed out that the Volksraad would now bo
totally dissolved, so tiiat there would be no legal nvuOiinery to swear

Appendix.. 3 79

in the newly-elected members, unless special provision wei*e now made,
it was nnanimously resolved to empower the Government to give timely
notice to the Chairman, or oldest member of the Volksraad, and two
other members who may not be re-elected, to be in attendance here for
the [iurpose of swearing in the newly-elected members.
This closed the proceedings of the session of the Eaad.

APPENDIX P.

THE NEW TRANSVAAL YOLKSRAAD.

The Triumvirate, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, drew up and
submitted the following Address to the newly-elected Volksraad, on the
subject of the Convention and its ratification, as well as the measures
which they recommended for the future conduct of the Government: —

"Mr. President and Members of the Honourable Volksraad, — It is
with a feeling of inexpressible gratitude to God the Creator of all things
that we at this special moment again welcome you here, and see you
assembled to discuss the interests of our dearly-beloved Fatherland.
Those interests, Gentlemen, are undoubtedly very important, and will
require your individual attention and utmost exertion. We are, how-
ever, assured that God, who has thus far so visibly led us, will not
withhold from you His supjiort and assistance, but will accomplish the
work of His hands.

" 1. The commission entrusted to us by you at Paarde Kraal in
December last, to exert all means which could lead to the restoration of
the independence of the country without distinction ; the preliminary
conditions of peace entered into at Lang's Nek between the delegates of
Her Majesty's Bi-itish Government and our Government; the extra-
ordinary Session of the Honourable the Volksraad held at Heidelberg;
the negotiations with the Royal Commission appointed by the English
Government — all this, gentlemen, has led to the conclusion of a Con-
vention upon which the Honourable the Volksraad was convened on the
10th of August last, solely for the purpose of opening an election upon
which your Honours have been elected, and which Convention we submit
to you, and by which we have taken upon ourselves the obligation of
laying it before you for ratification. "We cannot flatter ourselves with
the hope that the Convention will satisfy you in its various provisions.
It has not satisfied ourselves, but we venture to give you this assurance,
that we signed it under the conviction that, under the circumstances,
sincere love for our Fatherland and solicitude in the welfare of South
Africa demanded from iis not to withhold our signatures from this
Convention. We published in our Staats Courant literally, as far as
possible, everything that has been uttered and that has happened
between members of the Royal Commission and the Honourable Trium-
virate and Members of the Transvaal Commission, from which you will
see that we left nothing imtried on our side to obtain those modifi-
cations in the Convention which appeared desirable to us. We are,
however, convinced that many, if not all, the remarks advanced by us

80 Appendix.

will appear later on to have been well-founded, and tliat the BritisTi
Government itself will have to propose modifications and changes in the
Convention.

" 2, It is our duty to remind you of the great amount of sympathy
which we experienced from all sides during the late struggle from our
brethren and co-religionists in the Orange Free State, Natal, and the
Cape Colony, as well as from Europe, America, and not excluding the
whole English Nation. This interest has evinced itself also in deeds.
Not only from the Orange Free State, Natal, and the Cape Colony have
important gifts been received for the alleviation of the needs of our
wounded, and of the widows and orphans, but generally in suppoi't of
our good cause were gifts forwarded to us from Holland, Germany, and
France.

" 3. When at Paarde Kraal the Government undertook its important
task, the people bound themselves to it by a solemn oath. This oath
they have faithfully observed, and the unanimity of the people became
the strength of the country. Some fifty of our burghers have sacrificed
their lives, and we stand by their graves with grief and gratitude. Many
other Imrghers have paid in wounds for their patriotism. Government
has provisionally appointed a Commission to make permanent provision
for the widows and orphans of the burghers killed and for the famihes of
the wounded. We will be glad of your co-operation in further regulating
this matter. A great struggle for a good cause bears good fruits, and it
is a pleasant task to us to refer you to the eminent spirit of invention
showed by our burgher i\Ir. Ras, in the manufacture of two good guns,
•as also to the successful exertions of a number of our burghers who
have succeeded in manufacturing cartridges and gunjiowder. Without
anticipating your decision, we think these men ax"e entitled to public
recognition at your hands.

" 4. Two estimates will be submitted to your Assembly — one to the
end of December next, and one for the financial year of 1882-83.
Extraordinary circumstances demand extraordinary measures. The
special expenses incurred by us for the war, in which many of our
burghers have already come to our assistance; the expenses in con-
sequence of the Convention; the payment of the old vested debt; and
the deficit in the Orphan Chamber, urge us to lay liefore you special
proposals, and in jiarticular to ask your sanction for a modification
of our system of taxation, which will more fairly and proportionately
divide the burdens amongst the burghers. We are prepared to lay
before you everything for the further elucidation of these financial
matters.

" 5. We further recommend to you to empower the Government to
grant certain monopolies by which the industry of the country will
be materially promoted. The nianufaciuring of ai-ticles, for which this
our country itself jjossesses the finest mati-rials, and which had hitherto
to be imported at great exjjen.sc from elsewhere, is a question of vital
importance for the welfare of the State, as is also the better exploration
of mines. Closely connected with this is the oiFer of jiremiunis to
inventors or manufactui-ers of requisites which have hitherto heen im-
ported from ahroail, for which the (iovernincnt requests your authority.

" (i. The circnmslances f)f the country have c<)ni|)ell('d us to gratit
many burghers of tin; ronntry exeniptidU from the fine iin]iosed on the
jiayinent of Governmrnt dues. For this wc solicit your ap|>nival.

" 7. With regard to the Supremo Court, we request you to adopt

Appejidix. 381

measures in order to enable us to appoint competent persons as Puisne
Judges,

" 8. The Government has decided, in anticipation of your approval, to
establish a corps destined to become the nucleus of select artillerists,
composed of sons of the soil, and also to establish cavalry corps.

" 9. In submitting to you the list of officials appointed by us, we have
to point out to you that the term of office of C. J. Joubert, ex-member of
the Honourable the Executive Council, has terminated, and that in this
matter provision will have to be made during the sessicn. We also look
to j'our Honourable House for a pi'ovision for the salary of the Honour-
able the Triumvirate and the members of the Executive Council.

" 10. We have earnestly regarded the state of education in the whole
country, which we have taken greatly to heart. We have considered
that we have taken the first step in a better direction by appointing a
very eminent gentleman (the Eev. S. J. Dutoit), of the Paarl. We
recommend this subject to your attention with the utmost earnestness.

"11. Several other matters of greater or lesser importance will be laid
before you during the session.

" Gentlemen, — We now beg to lay in your hands the welfare of the
country, with full reliance on your collective co-operation, and the
blessing of the God of our fathers.

" May the Lord bless your deliberations."

APPENDIX Q.

The annexed particulars in relation to the Boer losses and the numbers
of their forces are given from authoritative sources : —

KILLED.
1880.
DbC. 17 — Pieter van Yuren, Potchefstrom,
„ 20 — A. Kiezer, Bronkhorstspruit.
„ 20 — C. Coetzee, do.

„ 21 — Hendrik Neethling, H'son, Pretoria.

1881.

Jan. 1 — Jacobus Grundling, Potchefstrom.
„ 4 — Johannes Joubert, do.

„ 6 — 4 men (names unknown), Pretoria.
„ 8 — Barend Jacobus de Lange, Rusteuberg.

„ 12 — Hendrik Pretorius, S'son, Pretoria.

„ 27 — Hendrik Combrink, Potchefstrom.

„ 28 — Hendrik Klopper, Lang"sKek.

„ 28 — Jacobus Potgieter do.

„ 28 — Jacobus Coetzee do,

„ 28 — Adriaan Swanepoel do.

„ 28 — Izak Johannes Ketief do.

w 28 — DirkUys, jun. do.

3S2 Appendix.

Jan. 28 — Johannes Potgieter, Lang's !N"ek.

,, 28 — "Wynand Bezuidenhoud do.

,, 28— Lodew5'k Bouwer do.

,, 28 — Hermanns van Yuren do.

„ 28— Willem du Toit do.

„ 28 — Johannes Botha do.

„ 28— Gerrit Potgieter da

„ 28 — Johannes Botman do

„ 28 — "Willem Grobbelaar do.

„ 28 . Vorster do.

Pcb. 1— M. J. le Grange, Potchefstrom.

,, 8 — Johannes Kruger, Ingogo.

., 8 — Jacobus Ilaman, A'son do.

„ 8 — Gerrit Jordaan do.

„ 8 — Pieter Karelsen do.

,, 8 — Stefanus Oosthuijzen do.

„ 8 — Johannes Maton do.

„ 8 — Hendrik Pretorius, B'son do.

„ 8— Hendrik Dafel do.

„ 8 — Jacobus Greiling do.

,, 2-i — William Findlay, Potchefstrom.

., 26 — Johannes Bekker, Mount CoUey.

,, 26 — Johannes Groeuwald do.

Mar. 10 — Frederick Bernardus Muller, Potchefstrom.

This shows 43 killed.

WOUXDED AXD KECOVEEED.

1880.^
Dec. 16 — Frans Eobertse, Potchefstrom.
„ 16 — Christotfel Engelbrecht do.
„ 18— Daniel van Graan do.

,, 20 — Four men (names unknown), BronkhorBt Spruit

1881.
Jan. 1 — Frederick Berning, Potchefstrom.
„ 6 — Two men (names unknown), Pretoria.

„ 16— H. P. N. Pretorius do.

„ IG — Cornelis Lochenberg do.

„ 16 — Frans Roberts do.

„ 22 — Adriaan Venter, Potchefstrom.

„ 22 — Frederick A'^isscr do.

„ 22 — Hendrick SchefTers do.

„ 22 — Kiirl Buys do.

„ 22— Okkert Botha do.

„ 27— S. Wolfiiard, P'son do.

„ 28 — Stefanus Fourie, Lang's Nelc

„ 28 — Johannes Botha do.

„ 28 — Adriaan Venter do.

„ 28— AVynand Vi.sagc do.

„ 28— IJoelcif Visage do.

„ 28 — Sybrand du Precz do.

.. 28— Michael Vcltnuui do.

Appendix. 383

Jan. 28 — Petrus Stoop Lang's Nek.

„ 28— Albert Stoop do.

„ 28 — Josua Joubert do.

„ 28— Adolf Craufort do.

„ 28 — Jan Greyling do.

„ 28 — Hendrik Hatting do.

„ 28 — Jacob Van der Merwe do.

„ 28 — Jaa van Kensburg do.

„ 28 — Jacobus Smit do.

„ 28^ — Lucas Potgieter do.

„ 28 — Petrus Erasmus do.

,, 28 — Cornells Erasmus do.

,, 28 — Frans Badeuhorst do.

„ 28 — Johannes Herbst do.

■: „ 28 — Philippus Oosthuyzen do.

„ 28 — Dirk Osthuyzen do.

,, 28 — Johannes Slabbert do.

Teb. 4 — Bernhard Mahler, Potchcfstrom.

,, 8 — Hermanus de Jager, Ingogo.
"* „ 8 — Lucas Meyer do.

„ 8 . Scholtz do.

„ 8— Tjaard Van der Walt do.

,, 8 — Gerrit Oosthuyzen do.

„ 8 — Jacobus Botha do.

„ 26 — Jacobus Labuschagne, Mount Colley.

„ 26 — Samuel Muller do.

„ 26 — Kai'el Pretorius do.

„ 26 — Gabriel Van der Merwe do.

„ 26 — Theunis Vermaak do.

Mar. 5 — Barth Roelof J. de Beer, Potchefstrom.

„ 9 — Coenraad Van der Berg do.

„ 9 — Marthinus Keen do.

Total : 68 wounded.

The Eev. Dr. Merensky, Superintendent of the Berlin Mission in the
Transvaal (who has been Chief Surgeon in the hospital, and treated all the
wounded of the Transvaalers who were engaged in the three fights), gives
the following particulars of the Boer losses during the war : —

At the fight of Lang's Nek, about 800 of the Transvaalers were at the
Laager at Meeks, about six miles from the Nek ; at the Nek there Avas only
a small detachment. The loss of the Transvaalers in this engagement
was: 14 killed, 20 wounded; two of them died afterwards.

At Schuin's Hooghte not more than 200 Transvaalers fought : losses, '
8 killed, 10 wounded; two of them died afterwards.

At Amajuba Hill (or as this mountain is now called by the Transvaalers
— Colley's Kop) less than 200 Transvaalers climbed the mountain and
took it; they were supported by a few hundred who remained below.
They lost 1 killed, 6 wounded ; one of them died afterwards.

The names of all these men can be had by applying to Dr. Mereuskj'-,
•who has booked them.

The strength of Burghers (Boers) was stated as follows, viz. : — At
Potchefstrom, 400 men, under Commandant Cronje; Eustenberg, 200

;84 Appendix.

men, under Commandant Sari ElofF; Pretoria, 1,000 men, under Com-
mandants Erasmus and H. Pretorius ; Christiana, 300 men, under Com-
mandant Antonie Kock ; Heidelberg:, 250 men, under Commandant
Malan ; Leydenberg. 200 men, imder Commandant P. Steyn ; Standertou,
250 men, under Philip Minnaar; Wakkerstrom, 200; Laager on Berg
and at Lang's Kek, 1,500 men, under Commandant- General Joubert —
making a total force of 4,500 burghers.

Appendix.

APPENDIX R.

A CONVENTION BETWEEN HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN OF
THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
IRELAND AND THE SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC.

Wherecas the Goverument of the Transvaal State, through its Delegates,
consisting of Stephanus Johannes Panlus Krnger, President of the said
State, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, Superintendent of Education, and
Nicholas Jacobus Smit, a member of the Volksraad, have represented that
the Convention signed at Pretoria on the 3rd day of August, 1881, and
ratified by the Volksraad of the said State on the 25th October, 1881,
contains certain provisions which are inconvenient, and imposes burdens
and obligations from which the said State is desirous to be relieved, and
that the south-westei'u boundaries fixed by the said Convention should be
amended, with a view to promote the peace and good order of the said
State, and 'jf the countries adjacent thereto ; and whereas Her Majesty
the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, has been
])leased to take the said representations into consideration : Now,
therefore, Her Majesty has been pleased to direct, and it is hereby
(.leclared, that the following articles of a new Convention, signed on behalf
ot Her Majesty by Her Majesty's High Commissioner in South Africa,
the Right Honourable Sir Hercules George Robert Rolnnson, Knight
Ch'and Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint
George, Governor of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope, and on behalf
of the Transvaal State (which shall hereinafter be called the Soutii
African Republic) by the above-named Delegates, Stephanus Johannes
Paulus Kruger, Stephanus Jacobus Du Toit, and Nicholas Jacobus Smit,
shall, when ratified by the Volksraad of the South African Rejjublie, l)e
substituted for the articles embodied in the Convention of 3rd August,
1881 ; which latter, pending such latitication, shall continue in full force
and e fleet.

ARTICLES

Article I.

The Territory of the South African Re])ul)lic will embrace the land
lynig between the following boundaries, to wit :

Beginning from the point where the north-eastern boundary line of
Griqualand West meets the Vaal River, up the course of the Vaal River
to the point of junction with it of the Klip River ; thence up the course
of the Klip River to the point of junction with it of the stream called
Gansvlei ; thence u[) the (lajisvlei stream to its source in the Drakensberg ;

c c

86 Appendix,

theuce to a Leacon in the boundaiy of Natal, sihiated immediately
opposite and close to the source of the Gansvlei stream ; thence in a
north-easterly direction along the ridge of the I)rakensbevg, dividing the
waters flowing into the Gansvlei stream from the waters flowing into the
sources of the Buftalo, to a beacon on a point whei-e this mountain ceases
to be a continuous chain ; thence to a beacon on a plain to the north-east
of the last described beacon ; thence to the nearest source of a small
stream called " Division Stream " ; thence down this division stream,
which forms the southern boundary of the farm Sandfontein, the property
of Messrs. Meek, to its junction with the Coldstream ; thence clown the
Coldstream to its junction with the Buflalo or Umzinyati River ; thence
down the course of the Buflalo Eiver to the junction with it of the Blood
Kiver ; thence up the course of the Blood Biver to the junction with it
of Lyn Spruit or Dudusi ; thence up the Dudusi to its source ; thence
80 yards to Bea. I., situated on a spur of the N'Qaba-Ka-hawana ISIoun-
tains ; thence 80 yards to the N'S(Uito Eiver ; thence down the N'Sonto
Kiver to its junction with the "White Umvnlozi Kiver ; thence up the
White Umvulozi Kiver to a white rock where it rises ; thence 800 yards
to Kambula Hill (Bea. II.) ; thence to the source of the Penivana Kiver,
where the road from Kambula Camp to Burgers' Lager crosses ; thence
down the Pemvana Kiver to its junction with the Bivana Kiver ;
theuce down the Bivana Kiver to its junction with the Pongolo Kiver ;
thence down the Pongolo Kiver to where it passes through the Libombo
range ; thence along the summits of the Libombo range to the
northern point of the N'Yawos Hill in that range (Bea. XVI.) ; thence to
the northern peak of the Inkwakweni Hills (Bea. XV.) ; thence to
Sefunda, a rocky knoll detached from and to the north-east end of the
White Koppies, and to the south of the ^lusan.' I\iver (Bea. XIV.) ;
thence to a point on the slo])e near the crest of Mataiijeni, which is the
name given to the south-eastern jiortion of the iNlaliandia Hills
(Bea. XIII.) ; thence to the N'gwangwana, a double-jjointed hill (one
] joint is bare, the other wooded, the beacon being on the former),
on the left bank of the Assegai Kiver and upstream of the Dadusa
Spruit (Bea. XII.) ; thence to the .southern ])oint of liendita, a
rocky knoll in a jjlain between the Little Illozane and Assegaai Kivers
(Bea. XI.) ; thence to the highest ])oint of Suluka Hill, round the
eastern shjjjes of which flows the Little Hlozane, also called Ludaka or
Mudspruit (Bea. X.) ; thence to the beacon known as " Viljoon'.s," or
N'Duko Hill ; thence to a ))oint north.-east of Herby Ho\ise, known as
Magwazidili's Beacon ; thence to the Igaba, a small knoll on tlu^
Ungwempisi Kiver, also called " .Tonbert's Jieacon," and known to the
natives as " l^iet's ]>eai;on " (Bea. iX.) ; thence to the highest |)oint of the
N'Hhlovudwalili or Ifoutbosch, a hill on the northern b.nik of the

Uni<|wcnipisi l{ivcr (Bea. VIII.); thence to a beacon on ll uly flat-

tol)|K'd rock, about 10 feet high and about ;{() yards in ciriinnference at
its base, situated on the south side of the Jianisainane range of hills, and
overlooking the valley of the great I'snto Hi\"er ; this rock being 45
yards noi'lli of the road from Camden and Lake P>anagher to the forests
on the I'.suto Jkivt-i- (sonietimeH called Sandhianas IJeacon) (liea. VI 1.) ;
thence to the < Julun-^wana or liiuliulnnili, four smooth bare hills, the
highest in that neighbourhood, situated to the south of the Umtuii
River (Bea. VI.) theuce to a flat-topped rock, 8 feet high, on the crest of
the BuBuku, a low rocky range Houth-west of the Impulazi River

Appendix. 3§7

(Bea. V.) ; thence to a low bare hill on the north-east of, and overlooking
the Impulazi River, to the south of it being a tributary of the Impulazi,
with a considerable waterfall, and the road from tlie river passing 200
yards to the north-west of the beacon (Bea. IV.) ; tlience to the highest
point of the Mapumula range, the wateished of the Little Usuto Eiver
on the north, and the Umjnilazi Eiver on the south, the hill, the top of
which is a bare rock, falling abruptly towards the Little Usuto (Bea. Ilf.) ;
thence to the western point of a double-pointed rocky hill, precipitous on
all sides, called Makwana, its top being a bare rock (Bea. II.) ; tlience
to the top of a rugged hill of considerable height falling abruptly to the
Komati iiiver, this hill being the northern extremity of the Isilotwaui
range, and separated from the highest peak of the range Inkomokazi (a
sharp cone) \>y a deep neck (Bea. I.). (On a ridge in the straight line
between Beacons I. and II. is an intermediate beacon.) From Beacon I.
the boundary runs to a hill across the Komati Eiver, and thence along
the crest of the range of hills known as the Makongwa, whicli runs
north-east and south-west, to Kanihlubana Peak ; thence in a straight
line to Mauanga, a point in the Libombo range, and thence to the
nearest point in the Portuguese frontier on the Libombo range ; thence
along the summits of the Libombo range to the middle of the poort where
the Komati Eiver passes through it, called the lowest Komati Poort ;
thence in a north by easterly direction to Pokioens Kop, situated on the
noi'th side tif the Olifant's Eiver, where it passes through the ridges ;
thence about north-north-west to the nearest point of Serra di Chicundo ;
and thence to the junction of the Pafori Eiver with the Limpopo or
Crocodile Eiver ; thence up the course of the Limpopo Eiver to the
point where the Marique Eiver falls into it. Thence up the course of
the Marique Eiver to '• Derde Poort," where it passes through a low
range of hills called Sikwane, a beacon (No. 10) being erected on the sjjur
of said range near to, and westward of, the banks of the river ;
thence, in a straight line, through this beacon to a beacon (No. 9),
erected on the top of the same range, about 1,700 yards distant from
beacon No. 10 ; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 8) erected on
tlie highest point of an isolated hill, c;dled Dikgagong, or '• Wildebeest
Kop," situated south-eastward of, and about 3]- miles distant fi'om a high
hill, called Moripe ; thence in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 7) erected
on the summit of an isolated hill or "koppie" forming the eastern
extremity of the ninge of hills called Moshweu, situated to the north-
ward of, and about two miles distant from, a lar^e isolated hill called
Chukudu-Ohochwa ; thence, in a straight line, to a ueacon (No. 6) erected
on the summit of a hill forming part of the same range, Moshweu ;
thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 5) erected on the summit of a
pointed hill in the same range ; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon
(No. 4) erected on the summit of the western extremity of the same
range ; thence, in a straight line, to a beacon (No. 3) erected on the
summit of the northern extremity of a low, bushy hill, or " koppie,"
near to and eastward of the Notwane Eiver ; thence in a straight line to
the junction of the stream called Metsi-^Iashwane with the Notwane
Eiver (No. 2) ; thence up the course of the Notwane Eiver to Sengoma,
being the Poort where the river ])asses through the Dwarsberg range ;
thence, as described in the Award given by Lieutenant-Governor Keate,
dated October 17, 1871, by Pitlanganyane (narrow place), Deboaganka
or Schaapkuil, Sibatoul (bare jjlace), and Maclaae, to Ramatlabama,

388 Appendix.

a pool on a spruit north of the Molopo Eiver. From Eauiatla-
liania the boundary shall run to the summit of an isolated hill,
called Leganka ; thence in a straight line, passing north-east of a
Native Station, near " Buurman's Drift," on the Molopo River, to
that point on the road from Mosiega to the old drift, where a I'oad
turns out througli the Native Station to the new diift below ; thence to
"Buurman's Old Drift'" ; thence in a straight line, to a marked and
isolated clump of trees near to and north-west of the dwelling-house of
C. Austin, a tenant on the farm " Yleifontein," No. 117 ; thence, in a
straight line, to the north-western corner beacon of the farm "Mooinieis-
jesfontein," No. 30 ; thence, along the western line of the said farm
" Mooimeisjesfontein," and in prolongation thereof, as far as the roail
leading from " Ludik's Drift," on the Molopo River, ])ast the homestead
of "Mooimeisjesfontein," towards tlie Salt Pans near Harts River;
thence, along the said road, crossing the direct road from Polfontein to
Seludja, and until the direct road from Polfontein to Lotlakane or
Pietfonteiu is reached ; thence, along the southern edge of the last-named
I'oad towards Lotlakane, until the tirst garden ground of that station is
reached ; thence, in a south-westerly direction, skirting Lotlakane, so as
to leave it and all its garden ground in native territory, initil the I'oad
from Lotlakane to Kunana is leached ; thence along the east side, and
clear of that road towards Kunana, initil the garden grounds of that
station are reached ; thence, skirting Kunana, so as to include it and all
its garden ground, but no more, in the Transvaal, until the road from
Kunana to Mamusa is reached ; thence, along the eastern side and clear
of tlie road towards Mamusa, luitil a road turns out towards Taungs ;
thence, along the eastern .side and clear of the road towards Taungs, till
the line of the district known as "Stellaland" is reached, about 11 miles
from Tnungs ; thence, along the line of the district Stellaland, to the
Harts River, about 24 miles below Mamusa ; thence, across Harts Rivei',
to tlie junction of tlie loads from Monthe and Phokwaiie ; thence, along
the western side and clear of the nearest roatl towards " Koppie Enkel,"
an isolated hill about 'MS miles from Mamusa, and about 18 miles north
of Christiana, and to the summit of the said hill ; thence, in a straight
line, to that ))oiiit on the nortii-east boundary of (Jri(|ualand West as
beaconed by Mr. Surveyor Ford, where two farms, registei-ed as Nos. 72
and 75, do meet, about midway between the Vaal and Harts Rivei>i,
niea.sured along the .said bouinlary of Griciualand West ; thence to the
tirst ]>oiiit where the north-east l)(iund;ny of (iriijualand West meets the
Vaiil River.

AUTICLK II.

The GoveriiDient of the South African Republic will strictly adhere to
tlie boinnlarie.s delined in the tir.st Article of this ('onvention, an<l will do
its utmost to ])revent any of its inhabitants from making any eiicroach-
nieiits upon lands beyond the saiil boundaries. The CJovernnu-nt of the
South African Republic will appoint Commissioners u])on the eastern and
western borders wliose duty it will lie strictly to gnard against irrcgiilaii-
lies and all trespassing over the boiindariis. Her JMajesty's (Joveiiiinent
will, if neces.sary, appoint Commissioni'is in the native territories outsiile
the ea.steni ami weslci'u borders of tlu- Sonth Afii<an h'cpublic to main-
tain order and prevent em id.ichmenls.

Her Majesty's (joveriMiienL and the CiuvcrumcnL ut the ^ouLh African

Appendix. 389

Republic will each appoint a person to proceed together to beacon off' the
amended south-west boundary as described in Article 1 of this Conven-
tion ; and the President of the Orange Free State shall be requested to
appoint a referee to whom the saiil persons shall refer any questions on
which they may disagree respecting the interpretation of the said
Article, and the decision of such referee thereon shall be final. The
arrangement already made, under the terms of Article 19 of tlie Con-
vention of Pretoria of the 3rd August, 1881, between the owners of the
farms Grootfontein and Valleifontein on the one hand, and the Barolong
authorities on the other, by which a fair share of the water supply of the
said farms shall be allowed to How undisturbetl to the said Barolongs,
shall continue in force.

Article III.

If a Briti.sh officer is appointed to reside at Pretoria or elsewhere within
the South African Republic to discharge functions analogous to those of
a Consular officer, he will receive the protection and assistance of the
l{ej)ublic.

Article IV.

The South African Republic will conclude no treaty or eng;;gement with
any State or nation other than the Orange Free State, nor with any native
tribe to the eastward or westward of the Republic, until the same has
been approved by Her Majesty the Queen.

Such approval shall be considered to have been granted if Her Majesty's
Olovernment shall not, within six months after receiving a copy of such
tieaty (which shall be delivered to them immediately upon its completion),
have notified that the conclusion of such treaty is in conflict with the
interests of Great Britain or of any of Her Majesty's possessions in
South Africa.

Article V.

The South Africavi Repul)lic will be liable for any balance which may
still remain due of the debts for which it was liable at the date of
Annexation, to wit, the Cape Commercial Bank Loan, the Railway Loan,
and the Orphan Chamber Debt, which debts will be a first charge upon the
levenues of the Republic. The South African Republic will moreover be
liable to Her Majesty's Government for 250,000/., which will Ijc a second
charge upon the revenues of the Republic.

Article VI.

The debt due as aforesaid by the South African Republic to Her
Majesty's Government will bear interest at the rate of three and a half
])er cent, from the date of the latification of this C( nvention, and shall be
repayable by a payment for interest and Sinking Fund of six pounds and
ninepence ])er 100/. i)er annum, which will extinguish the debt in twenty-
five years. The said payment of six pounds and ninepence ])er 100/. sliall
be payable half-yearly, in British currency, at the close of each half year
from the date of such ratification : Provided always that the South
African Rejiublic shall be at liberty at the close of any half yeai- to j^ay
off the whole or any portion of the outstanding debt.

Interest at the rate of three and a half per cent, on the debt as standing
under the Convention of Pretoria shall as heretofore be paid to the date of
the ratification of this Convention.

C o

390 Appendix.

Article VII.

All persons wlio held pro))eity in the Transvaal on the 8tli day of
August, 1881, and still hold the same, will oojitinue to enjoy the rights of
property which they have enjoyed since the 12th April, 1877. No pei-son
who has remained loyal to Her Majesty during the late hostilities shall
suffer any molestation by reason of his lo3'alty ; or be liable to any
criminal prosecution or civil action for any part taken in connexion with
such hostilities ; and all such ])ersons will have full liberty to resitle in the
countiy, with euj<jyment of all civil rights, and protection for their persons
and property.

Article VIII.

The South African Republic renews the declaration niade in tlie Sand
River Convi-ntion, and in the Convention of Pretoria, lliat no slavery or
apprenticeship ])artaking of slaveiy will be tolerated by the Government
of the said Republic.

Article IX.

There will continue to be complete freedom of religion and protection
from molestation for all tlenominations, jirovided the same be not incon-
sistent Avith morality and good order ; and no disability shall attach to
jiny jjei-son in regard to rights of property by reason of the religious
•opinions which he holds.

Article X.

The British officer appointed to reside in the South African Republic
will receive every assistance from the Government of the saiil Republic in
making ihie provision for the projier care antl preservation of the graves of
such of Her ^Majesty's Forces as have died in the Transvaal ; and if need
be, for the apjn-opriation of land for the jiurpose.

Article XI.

All grants or titles issued at any time by the Transvaal Government in
respect of land outside tlie boundary of the South African Rej)ublic, as
iletined in Article 1, shall be considered invalid an<l of no effect, except in
so far as any such grant or title relates to land that falls within the
boundary of theSoutli African Republic ; and all persons holding any such
grant so considered invalid ami of xuy effect will receive from the (Jovern-
ment of the South .\fiican Kepublic such compensation, eithei- in land or
in money, as the V'olksiaad shall determine. In all cases in which any
.N'ative Chiefs oi- other authorities outside the saiil boundaries have received
any adecpiate consideration from the (iovernment of the South Afrii-an
I?e])ublie for land exehnliMl from the Transvaal l)y thi' first Article of this
< 'onvention, or where permanent improvements ha\'e been made on tin?
land, th(! High (Commissioner will recover from the native authorities fair
<-ompers;ition for the loss of the land thus e.\cluded, or of the peiinanent
improvements thereon.

Artklk XI f.

The iM<li'peiidence of the Swa/.is, within the boundary line of Swaziland,
jw indicated in the first Article of this Convention, will be fully recog-
Jiised.

Appendix. 391

Article XIII.

Except in pursuance of any treaty or engagement made as provided in
Article 4 of this Convention, no otlier or higher duties shall be imposed on
the importation into the South African Republic of any article coming
from any part of Her Majesty's dominions than are or maybe im]jnst;d on
the like article coming from any other jjlace or country ; nor will any
prohibition be maintained or imposed on the importation into the South
African Republic of any article coming from any jjart of Her Majesty's
dominions which shall not equally extend to the like article coming from
any other place or country. And in like manner the same treatment shall
be given to any article coming to Great Britain from the South African
Republic as to the like article coming from any other i)lace or country.

These provisions do not preclude the consideration of special arrange-
ments as to import duties and commercial relations between the South
African Republic and any of Her Majesty's colonies oi- i^ossessious.

Article XIV.

All persons, other than natives, cor.forming themselves to the laws of the
South African Republic (a) will have full liberty, with their families, to
enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Re^jublic ; (6) they
will be entitled to hire or j^ossess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops,
and premises ; (e) they may carry on their commerce either in person or
by any agents whom they may think fit to employ ; {d) they will not be
subject, in respect of their persons or property, or in respect of their
commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than
those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said Republic.

Article XV.

All persons, other than natives, who established their domicile in the
Transvaal between the 12th day of April, 1877, and the 8th August, 1881,
and who within twelve months after such last-mentioned date have had
their names registered by the British Resident, shall be exemj^t from all
■comijulsory militaiy service whatever.

Article XVI.

Provision shall hereafter be made by a separate instrument for the
mutual extradition of criminals, and also for the surrender of deserters
from Her Majesty's forces.

Article XVII.

All debts contracted between the 12th April, 1877, and the 8th August,
1881, will be payable in the same currency in which they may have been
contracted.

Article XVIII.

No grants of land which may have been made, and no transfei-s or
mortgages which may have been j)assed between the 12tli April, 1877, and
the 8th August, 1881, will be invalidated by reason merely of their having
Joeen made or passed between such dates.

39- Appendix.

All transfers to the British Secretary for Native Affairs in trust for
]iatives will remain in force, an officer of the Snnth African Ropnblie takins;;'
the place of such Secretary for Native Aflfaivs.

Article XIX.

The Government of the South African Rei)ul)lic will eugaye faithfully
to fulfil the assurances given, in accordance with the laws of the South
African Republic, to the natives at the Pretoria Pitso bv the Royal ( 'onimis-
sion in the presence of the Triumvirate and with their eutire assent, (1) jus
to the freedoni of the natives to buy or otherwise acquire land inider
certain conditions, (2) as to the ajjpointment of a commission to mark out
native locations, (3) as to the access of the natives to the courts of law,,
and (4) as to their being allowed to move freely within the country, or tO'
leave it for any legal purpose, under a pass system.

Article XX.

This Convention will be ratified by a Yolksraad of the South African
Republic within the period of six months after its execution, and in default
of such ratification this Convention shall be null and void.

Signed in duplicate in London tliis 27tli day of Februaiy, 1SS4.

(Signed) HERCJULES ROBINSON,

(Signed) S. J. P. KRUCJEK.

(Signed) S. J. DU TOIT.

(Signed) M. J. SMIT.

ADDEND A.

NOTICES OF THE BOER LEADERS.

STEPHANUS JOHANNES PAULUS KRUGER.

The Vice-President; of the Boers is about 60 years of age, a native of
the district of Cradock. (Jiipe Colony, and one of the " voertrekkers," or
original emigrants from the Old Colony, wlio trekked north to the Vaal
River, while another branch came over the Drakensberg to Natal. Those
" trekking" northwards remained longer isolated than the others; and
several travellers have noticed the almost unnatural jealousy with which
they kept strangers out of the country, iinder the influence of their
leaders. The Krugers settled in the fertile district behind the ]\Iagalies-
berg range ; and Paul became a leader among his people, known as the
" Uoppers " — a kind of extremely advanced and strict body of Dutch
Protestants ; jDeculiar in dress, manners, and mode of life. " Oom (Uncle)
Paul," as he is affectionately called, came first into prominent notice at
the time of the civil war between the northern Roers and those of Utrecht,
Wakkerstrom, and Leydenberg, under Commandant Sclioemann — who
had a kind of commonwealth of their own. Paul commanded the North-
men, and after an engagement they fraternized; and the Republic started
anew under M. W. Pretorius, son of Genei-al Andries Pretorius, who was
head of the Boers of Natal after the death of J\Jaritz and Jletief Mr.
Krnger has been in command in several wars, and but for incapacity from
illness would probaljly have commanded the people at the attack on the
stronghold of Secocoeni, instead of Cootzee (who acted a very peculiar
part on that occasion), and possibly with a different result, as it is said
that Paul believes firmly that he is ball-jn-oof. Personally, ]Mr. Kruger
is of middle height, and he is much resjjected by all who know him as an
honest man and sincere patriot. During the troubles which ended in the
annexation of the Transvaal, Mr. Kruger fearlessly helped his country's
cause in purse and person. He made two journeys to London, prote.st-
ing against the annexation, and although he had seen and appreciated
the power of Great Britain, he did not hesitate to throw his lot in with
the insurgents. A fuller description of his person and peculiarities will
be found in Chapter XVIII., detailing my experiences in the Boer camp.

PETRUS JACOBUS JOUBERT.

The Commander-in-Chief, or Commandant General of the Boer armies
is one of those who reached the country ci'i Natal — the family leaving
that Colony on its conquest, or rather acquisition, by the Briti.sh Govern-

394 Addenda.

ment. Yet the subject of this notice did not go fur, as his " woonplaats "
(farm) almost joins the Colony at its northernmost point; and he has
many relations living in Natal. In many ways Mr. Joubert is a remark-
able man, and may be called self-educated, until manhood never having
seen any book but the Bible and Psalter. Indeed, he was 19 years of age
before he saw a newspaper. Mr. Joubert led some expeditions against
IvatHrs in the early da3's of the Kepublic, and some of his detractors say
he was very severe on the natives in these raids. He was Vice-President
during the rule of President Burgers, and acted as President during His
Honour's absence in Euroije, when the misconduct of Cooper Landdrost
at Leydenberg is said to have produced the Secocoeni troubles, which
stopped thetlotation of the National Loan through Itsinger and Co., of
Amsterdam, and caused the final financial collapse of the Republic. He
also has been accused of being unduly inlluenced by persons of peculiar
character; but no one has ever impugned his honesty of purjjose or
patriotism. Mr. Joubert was Kruger's colleague in the mission to London
on both occasions. He is younger than " Oom Paul," and the improve-
ment in his gait, dress, and manner on his return from Loudon was
remarkable. During his sh(jrt visit to Pietermaritzburg to see Sir Bartle
Frere, Mr. Joubert freely expressed his opinions, sa3'ing oj^enly that he
regretted the step his peoj^le were driven to, as it was certain to retard
the progress of the country and the peoj^le for many years. The com-
promise he would accept was — The Governors to exercise authority in the
name of the (^ueen, but to be elective as were the Presidevits ; the
restoration of the Volksraad, with additional town merjbcrs commensu-
rate with their rise ; a Treaty, offensive and defensive, with South African
Colonies ; and a compact, or project of law, for repayment of Imjjerial
advances ; with a final sum iiiu'i. 'iiou, that no patronage was to be exer-
cised by any authority or person foreign to the land.

MARTINUS WESSEL PRETORIUS.

This gentleman is the eldest son of the late Andries Preluriiis, who
was the principal man among the Natal Boers after the death of Retief ;
and whose mission to the Cape in 1817 in order to interview Sir H. Pot-
tinger, and afterwards Sir Harry Smith, in order to represent the griev-
ances of the Natal Boers, and his alter rebellion in the Orange Pree
State, when he was defeated at the battle of Boomplaats, has been well
described by Noble in his History, a summary of which appears in Chapters
IV. and V. After the death of liis father in the Transvaal, in 1853, he waa
selected to succeed him as the President, and under him in the course of
the next few years a final union of the different contending ])arties took
]ilace. In iy.j'.», when M. Hoschoff, the first President of the Orange Free
State, had resigned theotlice, out of four candidates nominated to succeed
him, Mr. M. \V. Pretorins w;im elected by a lari^n' majority of votes, and
he accepted the post, leaving I'ot'hefstrom, the then seat of government of
theTransvaal, for Hloemfontcin, where he remiiincd u|tto iSti:!. lie there
earnestly strove for the union of the two llepublirs, but found that neitlier
the Home (lovernnu'iit would allow it, nor did the majority of llio
Orange Free State Iturghers wish it. In ISd!!. Mr. J'retorius left the
( 'range Free State to look aft(;r his own interests in the Transvaal, where,
after his departure, all had Ijeen anarchy, several parties striving fur the
u.^cendtni;y ; and he was huon reinstated as i'resident, in wliieli position

Addenda. -.gr

he remained until 1871, when, in consequence of a vote of censure passed
u^ion him by the Volksraad, for the part he took in the " Keate Award,"
he resigned and was succeeded by the Rev. T. F. Burgers. Mr. Pretorius
then retired into j^rivate hfe and looked after his extensive properties,
remaining, however, always a member of the Raad. and sometimes of the
Executive Council. At the time of the Annexation he took no active
part in resistance, but was afterwards prominent among the leaders both
by his moderation and advice. He was at once, upon the last rising,
appointed as one of the Triumvirate, which position he still occupies.

DR. E. F. JORRISSEX.

Professor Jorrissen is the legal adviser of the Triumvirate — or, as they
call it, " Staats Procureur" — a Doctor of Divinit}', and a clergyman of
some celebrity in Holland, and is known to entertain very broad and
liberal views on ecclesiastical matter.*. He was brought from Holland
by President Burgers, as Inspector of Education under that Government,
and at the change which took place in 1875 was made Staats Procu-
reur, or Attorney- General. Dr. Jorrissen is an extremely learned and
talented man; but he is hasty, prejudiced and rather bigoted, and his
temper is somewhat of the shortest. He is an irreconcilable, esj^ecially
since his ])ersonal views were ignored and his office treated with very
scant courtesy at the time of the Annexation, and although he remained
for some time in office, under Sir T. Shepstone's administration, he never
managed to " hit it " with the authorities. On this gentleman and Mr.
Bok have tallen much objurgation from a portion of the Press, as having
been the real instigators of the recent rising and of the previous discon-
tent which led to it. They are describ^ed by even Sir Bartle Frere as not
being at all representative men of the Boers ; but they are at an}' rate
much tritsted and liked among them now.

W, EDOUARD BOK.

The " Staat Secretaris," the youngest of the quintette, was born at
Texel, and is a son of the late MV. AVilliam Bok. a native of Amsterdam
who practised with success as an advocate at Texel, and was a member of
the School Board for Xorth Holland. His mother is living at the Hague,
and one of the State Secretary's brothers is the minister of a large
congregation at Amsterdam. He is a good specimen of an educated
foreignei". His command of the English language and acquaintance with
its literature is extensive. He accompanied the deputation to England as
interpreter and secretary. He is about 30 j^ears of age ; and is a studious,
thoughtful, and withal gaj', genial man, who will probably make hi?
mark in the world.

Harrison ^- iSons, Printers, St, Martin's Lane.

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