H
\
THE LAST BOER WAR
•'I am told that these men (the Boers; are told to keep oa
agfltatiug in this way, for a change of Government in England
may give them again the old order of things. Nothing can show
greater ignorance of English politics than such an idea. I tell
you there is no Government— Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conser-
vative, or Radical — who would dare, under any circumstances,
to give back this country (the Transvaal). They would not dare,
because the English people would not allow them.."— (Extract
from Speech of Sir Garnet WoUeley, delivered at a Public Banquet
in Pretoria^ on the 17th December 187Q.)
"There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding
(from the Transvaal) ; it was impossible to say what calamities
such a step as receding might not cause. . . . For such a risk he
could not make himself responsible. . . . Difficulties with the
Zulu and the frontier tribes would again arise, and looking as
they must to South Africa as a whole, the Government, after a
careful consideration of the question, came to the conclusion
that we could not relinquish the Transvaal." — (Extract from
Speech of Lord Kimberley in the House of Lord*, 24th May J 880.
H, P. D., vol. cclii., p. 208.)
" Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to re-
linquish the Transvaal."— (7?x<rac^ from Reply of Mr. Gladstone
to Boer Memorial, Sth June 1880.)
THE
LAST BOER WAR
BY
H. RIDER HAGGARD
THIRTY.FIFTH THOUSAND
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. L^i'
PATERNOSTER HOUSE, CHARING CROSS ROAD
1900
X'l
oo
Wr.
WORKS BY H. RIDER HAQQARD.
Cetywayo and His White Neighbours. ^
Dawn.
King Solomon's Mines. K
The Witch's Head.
She.
Allan Quatermain.
Jess.
Colonel Quaritch, V.C.
Maiwa's Revenge.
Mr. Meeson's Will.
Allan's Wife.
Cleopatra.
Beatrice.
Eric Brighteyes.
Nada the Lily.
Montezuma's Daughter.
The People of the Mist.
Joan Haste.
Heart of the World.
Doctor Therne.
Swallow.
A Farmer's Year.
\ :IN COLLABORATiOi: WITH ANDREW LaNG,
Yhe World's Desire.
/
The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.
AUTHOR'S NOTE,
It has been suggested that at this juncture some
students of South African history might be glad to
read an account of the Boer Kebellion of 1881, its
causes and results. Accordingly, in the following pages
are reprinted portions of a book which I wrote so
long ago as 1882. It may be objected that such matter
must be stale, but I venture to urge, on the contrary,
that to this very fact it owes whatever value it may
possess. This history was written at the time by
one who took an active part in the. sad and stir-
ring events which it records, immediately after the
issue of those events had driven him home to England.
Of the original handful of individuals who were con-
cerned in the annexation of the Transvaal by Sir
Theophilus Shepstone in 1877, of whom I was one,
not many now survive. When they have gone,
any further accurate report made from an intimate
personal knowledge of the incidents attendant on that
act will be an impossibility ; indeed it is already im-
possible, since after the lapse of twenty years men can
scarcely trust to their memories for the details of
intricate political occurrences, even should they be
253350
Ti AUTHOR'S NOTE.
prompted to attempt their record. It is for this
reason, when the melancholy results which its pages
foretell have overtaken us, that I venture to lay them
again before the public, so that any who are interested
in the matter may read and find in the tale of 1881
the true causes of the war of 1 899.
I have written " which its pages foretell" Here
are one or two passages taken from them almost at
hazard that may be thought to justify the words :
" It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy
of the consideration of those who at present direct the
destinies of the Empire, whether it would not be wise,
as they have gone so far, to go a little farther, and
favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South
Africa, retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it
is now quite within the bounds of possibility that
they may one day have to face a fresh Transvaal
rebellion^ only on a ten times larger scale, and might
find it difficult to retain even Table Bay."
And again : " The curtain, so far as this country is
concerned, is down for the moment on the South
African stage; when it rises again, there is but too
much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of
confusion which, unless it is more wisely and con-
sistently dealt with in the future than it has been in
the past, may develop into chaos."
One more quotation. In speaking of the various
problems of South Africa, I find that I said that " unless
they are treated with more honest intelligence, and
AUTHOR'S NOTE. vii
on a more settled plan than it has hitherto been
thought necessary to apply to them, the British tax-
payer will find that he has by no means heard the
last of that country and its wars."
Perhaps in a year from the present date the British
taxpayer will be in a position to admit the value of
this prophecy.
Nearly two decades have gone by since these words
were written. Put very briefly, what has happened
in that time? In 1884, at the request of the Trans-
vaal Government, the Ministry, of which the late Lord
Derby was a member, consented to modify the Con-
vention of 1 88 1, and to substitute in its place what is
known as the London Convention. This new agree-
ment amended the terms of the former document in
certain particulars. Notably all mention of the suze-
rainty of the Queen was omitted, from which circum-
stance the Boers and their impassioned advocates have
argued that it was abrogated. There is nothing to show
that this contention is correct. Mere silence does not
destroy so important a stipulation, and it appears to be
doubtful whether even a Lord Derby would have been
prepared to nullify the imperial rights of his sovereign
and his country in this negative and novel fashion.
It is more probable to suppose that had such action
been decided on, effect would have been given to it in
direct and unmistakable language. But even if it
could be proved that this view of the case is wrong,
the general issue would scarcely be affected.
viii AUTHOR'S NOTE.
That issue, as I understand it, is as follows : The
Convention of 1881 guaranteed to all inhabitants of
the Transvaal equal rights — " Complete self-government
subject to the suzerainty of her Majesty, her heirs and
successors, will be accorded to the inhabitants of the
Transvaal territory " — Mr. Kruger explaining verbally
at a meeting of the conference, that the only difference
would be that in the case of young persons who became
resident in the Transvaal, there might be some slight
delay in granting full burgher privileges, limited, it
would appear, to one year's residence.^ After that
time, then, according to the terms of this solemn
agreement, which in these particulars were not modi-
fied or even touched, by the supplementary and amend-
ing paper of 1884, any one who wished to claim the
advantages of Transvaal citizenship might do so.
Some years later an event occurred fated profoundly
to influence the destinies of South Africa, namely, the
discovery of the Witwatersrand gold deposits, perhaps
the richest and the most permanent in the whole
world. Instantly adventurers, most of them of Anglo-
Saxon origin, flocked in thousands to the place where
countless wealth lay buried in the earth, and on the
plains over which I have seen the wild game wander-
^ In .1881, when the Convention was being discussed, President
Kruger was asked by our representative what treatment would be
given to British subjects in the Transvaal. He said, " All strangers
have now, and will always have, equal rights and privileges to
the Burghers of the Transvaal." — Quotation fnw, Speech of Mr. J.
Chamberlain, June 26, 1899.
AUTHOR'S NOTE. ix
ing, sprang up the city of Johannesburg with its motley
and cosmopolitan population, its speculators, company
promoters, traders, miners, and labouring men.
To the Transvaal, at any rate in the beginning, the
arrival of these wealth-engendering hordes was what
the fall of copious rain is to the sun-parched veld.
By this time the country was once more almost bank-
rupt, but now, as though by the waving of a magician's
wand, money began to flow into its coffers. One of
the characteristics of the Boer is his hatred of taxa-
tion ; one of his notions of terrestrial bliss is to live in
a land where the necessary expenses of administration
are paid by somebody else, an advantage, I understand,
that among all the civilised nations of the earth is
enjoyed alone by the inhabitants of the Principality
of Monaco. It is not usual, either in the instance of
communities or individuals, that such ideals should
be absolutely attained. Yet to the fortunate possessors
of the South African Eepublic this happened. For
quite a long period they lived at ease in their dorps
and on their farms, while the dwellers at Johannes-
burg, delving like gnomes in the reefs of the Kand, pro-
vided them with magnificent and never-failing supplies
of cash. Then questions began to arise, as they will
do in this imperfect sphere. The Uitlanders, as the
strangers were called, remembering the terms of the
Conventions, drawn under a very different condition
of affairs but still binding, hinted at a wish for burgher
rights.
X AUTHOR'S NOTE.
The Boers, who if they liked their money ob-
jected to the money-makers, instantly took alarm.
If the vote were given to the Uitlanders it was
obvious that very soon they would outnumber the
original electors. Then in a natural, but to them
terrifying, sequence would come a redistribution of
the burdens of taxation, the abolition of monopolies,
the punishment of corruption, the just treatment
of the native races, the absolute purity of the
courts, and all the other things and institutions,
in their eyes abominable, which mark the advent of
Anglo-Saxon rule. Behind these also loomed another
danger, that of the ultimate reappearance of the
English flag. So legislation was resorted to, and bit
by bit the Uitlanders were stripped of the rights in-
herent to their position as " inhabitants of the Trans-
vaal territory," till at last none were left to them at
all. Indeed Press laws were passed and other enact-
ments controlling the privilege of free speech and
public meetings. Of course had the British Govern-
ment put down its foot firmly and at once at the
first symptom of a desire on the part of the Boers
to whittle away such advantages as the Conventions
secured to our fellow-subjects, the present sad situation
need never have arisen. But British Governments are
seldom fond of doing things at the right time, more
especially if the issue is not sufficiently distinct to be
appreciated by the masses of the electorate. There-
fore matters were allowed to drift, and they drifted
AUTHOR'S NOTE. 3d
into that outrageous fiasco, the Jameson Kaid of
1895.
Into the history of that event I do not propose to
enter ; it is sufi&ciently well known. Suffice it to say
in this brief summary, that it was the result of a
compact under which Dr. Jameson was to come to
Johannesburg with a large armed force of Ehodesian
police, with the view of assisting the Uitlanders to
obtain by arms what was denied to their petitions.
The agreement is undoubted and admitted, but all
the rest is chaos. Failure in a hundred shapes dogged
the steps of these inefiective conspirators. Dr. Jameson,
with 500 men instead of 1200, took the bit between his
teeth and started at the wrong time. The Uitlanders
did not sally forth to meet him, the wires were not
cut, the railway line was not destroyed, the Boers were
warned, and assembled in great numbers. Dr. Jameson,
who apparently lost his way on the veld, was entrapped
into a bad position, where, after a space of somewhat
feeble combat, he and his whole force surrendered,
their lives being guaranteed to them. The despatch'
box of the raiders, with the ciphers and sundry in-
criminating documents, was allowed to fall into the
hands of th^ enemy, and, on their own ammunition-
waggons, the personnel of the Kaid performed the
journey to that city of Pretoria, which when reinforced
by the Uitlanders they were to have entered in tri-
umph. Thence they were in due course despatched
to London for trial The members of the Reform
xii AUTHOR'S NOTE.
Committee were also seized and tried at Pretoria,
several of them being condemned to death, a sentence
which was not executed ; the whole story, coming to
its end to an accompaniment of the clash not of
swords, but of gold ; the fines inflicted upon the con-
spirators by the Transvaal Government amounting to
a total of many tens of thousands of pounds.
Such, except for mutual recriminations which still
continue, was the end of Johannesburg's armed attempt
to throw oflp the yoke of the Boer, and of the efforts
of the ruling powers of Khodesia to assist them in
the task. Of course the upshot was that the poor
Uitlanders fell into a still deeper pit of oppression and
despair. Lord Eosmead, then Sir Hercules Kobinson,
never a proconsul remarkable for an iron will, it is
true visited the Transvaal in a great flurry, and
assured, or caused Sir Sidney Shippard and the British
agent, a gentleman of the somewhat alien-sounding
name of Sir Jacobus de Wet, in substance to assure
the Uitlanders that if only they would disarm probably
their wrongs must shortly be righted by a beneficent
Boer president, assisted to the task by a Kaad full of
forgiveness and charity. Moreover, Sir Jacobus de
Wet told them explicitly that the lives of Jameson and
his men depended upon their laying down such weapons
as they possessed, although of course those lives were
already guaranteed by the terms of the surrender.
But this raid had wider issues of an imperial nature.
Thus it provoked the famous telegram from the
AUTHOR'S NOTE. riii
Emperor William II., which at one time threatened
to bring about a war between Great Britain and
Germany. Also, so far as these South African troubles
were concerned, it put our country hopelessly in the
wrong in the eyes of the civilised world, whom it
proved difficult to persuade, although in fact this was
the case, that such strange and tortuous develop-
ments of political and martial activity were purely
local in their origin. Again it armed the Boer with
a sword of wondrous power. If Providence had sent
all the German legions to his aid it could scarcely
have served him better. Now indeed he was able
to point to his land violated by the foot of the in-
vader, and to talk of raids as though such a wicked
word had never defiled the innocence of his ears; as
though in truth he had never heard of the plains
of Stellaland, and of a certain expedition sent by
the British Government under the command of Sir
Charles Warren to preserve those territories to the
peaceful enjoyment of their owners; nor of that
stretch of country which once belonged to the Zulus,
but is now called the New Republic ; nor of the trek
into Rhodesia that was " damped " ; nor of the extension
of authority over Swaziland in defiance of the provisions
of the Convention, and of other kindred matters.
Also it enabled him to claim " moral and intellec-
tual damages " to a considerable amount, although, so
far as the public is aware, these have never been
satisfied, and indeed caused Pharaoh to harden his
xiv AUTHOR'S NOTE.
heart, and while demanding from the new Israelites
of Johannesburg an even heavier tale of bricks in the
shape of direct and indirect taxation, to deprive them
one by one of their last straws of freedom.
Thus things fell back into their former courses, the
old abuses flourished like bay trees, the lucky holders
of dynamite and other monopolies grew fabulously
rich, and — so powerful is the love of gold — auri sacra
fames — so much more do men value it than freedom
and pure government — the population of Johannesburg
still increased.
More than two years have gone by since Sir Alfred
Milner was sent as High Commissioner to South
Africa, during all which time, backed by her Majesty's
present Government, he has been doing his best to
secure redress for the Uitlanders, and to arrange various
differences that have arisen between the Empire and
the Transvaal Eepublic. At length these efforts re-
sulted in the meeting between himself and President
Kruger, known as the Bloemfontein Conference, which
took place about four months ago. At that Conference
Sir Alfred Milner advanced the request, modest enough
seeing that they are entitled to nothing less than equal
rights with the other "inhabitants of the Transvaal,"
that those Uitlanders who wished to adopt the country
as their home should be entitled to the franchise after
five years' residence. This was refused by President
Kruger as endangering the independence of the State,
and the Conference broke up. It was from this time
AUTHOR'S NOTE. xt
forward that war came to be looked upon as probable.
In reply to various despatches and representations of
the Imperial Government, the President and Volksraad
made certain offers of a franchise which, if they were
ever seriously meant, were hampered with provisos, such
as rendered them impossible for this country to accept.
Thus the five years' offer of August 19 was coupled with
the conditions that in the future there should be no
interference in the internal affairs of the Eepublic, that
her Majesty's Government would not further insist on
the assertion of the suzerainty, and that the principle
of arbitration in the event of future differences arising
should be admitted.
Had the Government agreed to these terms it would
have meant, of course, that the last shadow of the
Queen's authority would have vanished from the
Transvaal, and as they had bound themselves not to in-
terfere in future, that they might be forced to look on
while the franchise which was granted one year was
repealed or rendered nugatory the next. Also, it must
be remembered that this question of the franchise does
not cover all the grounds of difference between the
two parties; indeed, it seems that a great deal too
much importance has been given to the matter. Even
if a certain number of Uitlanders elected to become
citizens of a Boer state, it is difficult to see, however
advantageous that circumstance might prove to them-
selves, in what way it would directly assist the Imperial
power on such a question, let us say, as the treatment
b
ivi AUTHOR'S NOTE.
of our Indian subjects settled in the Transvaal To
begin with, the new-born burghers might be indifferent
to the needs and wishes of the country they had re-
nounced. They might even consider that their oath
of allegiance bound them to oppose those wishes. At
the least, even if they had the power to help us, which
could not be the case for many years, surely it would be
neither wise nor dignified for the Power to which they
once belonged to trust solely to their good offices.
In the newspapers and elsewhere Johannesburg and
its Uitlanders are spoken of continually as though
they made up the sum of the situation. It is the
common cry of Liberal Forwards and of those gentle-
men who might perhaps be called Eadical Backwards,
that this war is to be waged for the Uitlander and
the millionaire. Of course this is not in the least
true. The Uitlander, with his woes, is only the blister
that has brought the sore of Transvaal misrule and
Dutch ambitions in South Africa to so proud a head,
that at last the South African Eepublic has come to
describe itself as "a Sovereign independent State."
That he and his "Magnates," as Eand millionaires
are called, will profit enormously from a successful
war waged by the Imperial Power is admitted; but
because the effect of such a struggle will be ultimately
to put a number of annual millions into certain
pockets, it does not follow that the war is fought for
that purpose. Indeed the veriest "jingo" could
scarcely show himself self-sacrificing and altruistic.
AUTHOR'S NOTE. ivii
This is no local but an Imperial question to be decided
in the interests of the Empire.
To return to the course of the negotiations. Offers,
withdrawals, stipulations, palliative clauses, proposals
for further conferences followed each other in be-
wildering variety, till at length, worn out, Mr.
Chamberlain, on September 22, intimated to the
Government of the South African Kepublic, through
Sir Alfred Milner, that it was "useless to further
pursue a discussion on the lines hitherto followed,
and her Majesty's Government are now compelled
to consider the situation afresh, and to formulate their
own proposals for a final settlement of the issues which
have been created in South Africa by the policy con-
stantly followed for many years by the Government
of the South African Eepublic. They will communi-
cate to you the result of their deliberations in a later
despatch."
It is rumoured that this later despatch has been
delivered at Pretoria, but has as yet received no reply.
Three days later, however, namely, on September 25,
that industrious body, the Liberal Forwards, was
honoured with a telegram from the State Secretary
of the Transvaal, which runs as follows : —
" Liberal Forwards, London. Many thanks for your
telegram. We stick to the Convention, and rely upon
England doing the saiiie, as Convention does not allow
interference in internal affairs."
When, however, it is remembered that the Con-
rviii AUTHOR'S NOTE.
vention did allow equal rights to all the " inhabitants
of the Transvaal," it will be admitted that this cable
is about the strangest of the remarkable series of State
documents which of late have emanated from Pretoria.
Very aptly it crystallises the spirit of Boer diplomacy
— a bold disregard of inconvenient facts.
Meanwhile in South Africa various events of im-
portance have happened. The Orange Free State has
openly thrown in its lot with the Transvaal. The
Uitlanders have fled by thousands from Johannesburg.
The Boers have massed their commandos at various
points on the !N"atal and other British borders, pre-
sumably for offensive purposes, since at present they
can expect no invasion of their territory. The first
of these occurrences reveals the hidden purpose of
the Dutch party in South Africa, as at night a sudden
flash of lightning reveals the face of the veld. We
have never threatened the Orange Free State ; it has
no grievance, no cause of quarrel, yet suddenly it
appears in arms against us. Why? Because its
citizens believe that the time has come to translate
into action the old dream of the Boers, which so long
as five-and-twenty years ago was familiar to the late
President Burgers when he spoke of the coming
Dutch Eepublic, with its eight millions of inhabi-
tants ruling supreme in the vast territories between
the Zambezi and the Cape. Now the great conspiracy
that it has proved so hard to persuade the British
public, or a ^lind section of it, to credit stands un-
AUTHOR'S NOTE. xix
veiled, and it has for object nothing less than the
expulsion of the English power from Southern
Africa — a vain thing fondly imagined, but still a
thing with which we must reckon, and it is to be
feared by the last stern expedient of arms, since here
soft words and diplomacy are of no avail.
Difficult as it is to make the fact understood among
a proportion of the home electorate and publicists, it
cannot be stated too often or too clearly that this war,
which is to come, is a war that was forced upon us by
the Boers in their blind ignorance and conceit. The
mass of them believe, because they defeated our troops
in various small affairs in 1881, that they are a match
for the British Empire. Their leaders are better
instructed. They trust not so much, perhaps, to the
rifles of their compatriots as to the prowess of
certain party captains in England, and to the en-
thusiasm of their advocates among the English Press
and public. They remember that the activity of
these forces eighteen years ago was followed by a
miserable surrender on the part of the English
Government, and not understanding how greatly
opinion has changed in this country, they hope
that history *may repeat itself, and that England,
wearying of an unpopular struggle, will soon cede to
them all they ask. They are mistaken, but such is
their faith. They hope also, perchance with better
reason, that other complications may force us to stay
our hand. If no more telegrams can be extracted
XX AUTHOR'S NOTE.
from the German Emperor, still there is a German
regiment fighting on their side who will take with
them the sympathies of the Fatherland, and they
know that the hearts of the great Powers of Europe
will go out towards any people who try to strike a
blow at the root of the ever-growing tree of the
might of the British Empire. Buoyed up by bubbles
such as these they have determined to tempt the
stern arbitrament of battle.^
Can it still be avoided ? It would seem that except
by our surrender, which is out of the question, for that
means the loss not only of South Africa, but of our
prestige throughout the world, this is not in any way
possible. Already acts of war have taken place, such
as the seizure of the gold from the mines, and the
commandeering of goods belonging to British subjects,
and perhaps days before these lines can appear in
print the guns will have begun their reasoning.^ •
After the rebellion of 1881 a Boer jury, to whom
the case was committed by the tender mercies of Mr.
Gladstone's Government, with the murdered man's
^ See the very remarkable letter of the Boer "P. S." to the
Times of October 14th, printed as Appendix III. to this book,
p. 241.
* Since the above was written, in the swift march of events, the
Transvaal has despatched its ** ultimatum," perhaps the most
egregious document ever addressed to a great Power by a petty
State. In effect it is a declaration of war, and hostilities have now
commenced with the destruction by the Boers of an armoured
train at Kraaipan, and the capture or slaying of its escort.
14th October 1899. ^' ^ H*
AUTHOK'S NOTE. xxi
bullet-riddled skull lying before them upon the table
of the Court, acquitted the brutal slaughterers of
Captain Elliot, not because they had not done the
deed with every circumstance of horrible treachery
and premeditation, but because to find them guilty
was against their brethren's wish. In much the same
way, with all the facts staring them in the face, there
are men in England, some of them of high position
and character, who urge the righteousness of the Boer
cause, and with tongue and pen paint our national
iniquity in hues black as ink and red as blood. They
write of the " Objects of the War," which they do not
hesitate to describe as self-seeking and infamous, so
far of course as the English people are concerned,
for according to the same authorities, the Boer objects
are uniformly pure and noble. Would it not be better
if they looked back a little and tried to discover the
causes of the war ? I think that if they could have
witnessed a certain scene upon the market-square at
Newcastle, at which it was my misfortune to be pre-
sent, on that night of the year 1881 when the news
of the base betrayal of the loyalists by England
became known, they would win a better understand-
ing of the question. In the spectacle of that mad-
dened crowd of three or four thousand ruined and
deserted men, English, Boer, and Kafi&r, raving,
weeping, and blaspheming in the despair of their
shame and bitterness, they might have found enlighten-
ment. Even now a study of the following forgotten
xxli AUTHOR'S NOTE.
letter written by Mr. White, the chairman of the
Committee of Loyal Inhabitants, to Mr. Gladstone,
might give to some a food for thought : —
" If, sir, you had seen, as I have seen, promising
young citizens of Pretoria dying of wounds received for
their country, and if you had had the painful duty, as I
have had, of bringing to their friends at home the last
mementoes of the departed ; if you had seen the priva-
tions and discomforts which delicate women and children
bore without murmuring for upwards of three months ;
if you had seen strong men crying like children at the
cruel and undeserved desertion of England ; if you had
seen the long strings of half-desperate loyalists, shak-
ing the dust off their feet as they left the country, as I
saw on my way to Newcastle ; and if you yourself had
invested your all on the strength of the word of Eng-
land, and now saw yourself in a fair way of being
beggared by the acts of the country in whom you
trusted, you would, sir, I think, be * pronounced,' and
England would ring with eloquent entreaties and
threats which would compel a hearing. . . . We claim,
sir, at least as much justice as the Boers. We are
faithful subjects of England, and have suffered and are
suffering for our fidelity. Surely we, the friends of our
country, who stood by her in the time of trial, have as
much right to consideration as rebels who fought against
her. We rely on her word. We rely on the frequently
repeated pledges and promises of her ministers in which
we have trusted. We rely on her sense of moral right
I
AUTHOR'S NOTE. xxiii
not to do us the grievous wrong which this miserable
peace contemplates. We rely on her fidelity to obliga-
tions, and on her ancient reputation for honour and
honesty. We rely on the material consequences which
will follow on a breach of faith to us. England cannot
afford to desert us after having solemnly pledged her-
self to us/'
" England cannot afford to desert us ! " but England,
or her rulers, could and did afford itself this luxury.
In vain did such men as the late Lord Beaconsfield,
the late Lord Cairns, and Lord Salisbury protest and
point out dangers. In vain did agonised loyalists
flourish their own words and promises in the face of
her Majesty's Government ; the spirit of party, or the
promptings of a newly acquired conscience proved too
strong. Her Majesty's loyal subjects were sneered
at, insulted, and abandoned, and the Boer, who had
butchered them, was bid to go on and prosper.
Now, nearly twenty years afterwards, England is
called upon to pay the bill of what is in effect, what-
ever may have been its motives, one of the most
infamous acts that stains the pages of her history.
From the moment that the Convention of 1881 was
signed it became as certain as anything human can
be, that one of two things would happen — either that
the Imperial Power must in practice be driven out of
South Africa, or that a time would come when it must
be forced to assert its dominion even at the price
of war.
xxiv AUTHOR'S NOTE.
Now that miserable hour is with us, aud we are
called upon to suppress by arms a small, but sullen
and obstinate people, whom we have taught to believe
themselves our equals, if not our superiors. Unless
they will yield at the last moment, which seems im-
possible seeing that the war is of their own choosing,
the new settlement of South Africa must be celebrated
by a mighty sacrifice of their blood and our blood,
Not to dwell upon other griefs and dangers, when,
I ask, will the smoke and the smell of it depart from
the eyes and nostrils of the dwellers in that unhappy
land ? As they troop back merrily to their mines and
workshops the money-spinners of Johannesburg may
forget a past of which, in many instances at least, their
chief impression will be that it was unpleasant and un-
profitable. But after the Band is worked out, when
the stamps cease to fall heavily by day and night, when
the great heaps of tailings no longer increase from
month to month, when the broker's voice is quiet in
the Exchange, and the promoter inhabits some new
city, still the Boer women in the farmhouses will tell
their children how the "damned English soldiers" shot
their grandfathers and took the land. In South Africa
new Irelands will arise, and from the dragon's teeth that
we are forced to sow the harvest of hate will spring, and
spring again. Thus must we eat of the bitter bread which
we have baked, and thus the ill fowl that we reared have
come home to roost, bringing their broods with them.
Again and again we have blundered in our treatment
AUTHOR'S NOTE. xxy
of the Dutch. For instance, with kinder and fairer
management they would never have trekked from the
Cape sixty years ago. Also, had the promises which
were made to them at the annexation in 1877 been
kept, and had not Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who
grew up amongst them and to whom they were
attached, been removed in favour of a military
martinet, there would have been no rebellion, let the
Cape wire-pullers working under a cloak of loyalty to
the Crown strive as they might. But the rebellion came
and the defeats, and after these that surrender whereof
this country is called upon to pluck the fruit to-day,
which, by the Boers, is attributed to those defeats with
the fear of their prowess and to nothing else.
And now, in due season, the war comes ; an inevit-
able war which cannot be escaped, and must be fought
out to the end. There is only room for one paramount
power in Southern Africa !
How all these things happened is told briefly, but I
trust clearly, in the following pages. My excuse for
reprinting them must be the desire which, it is said,
exists among some readers to become better acquainted
with the facts that engendered the present fateful
crisis.
H. RIDER HAGGARD.
gih October 1899.
CONTENTS.
Author's Noti
CHAPTER I.
Its Inhabitants, Laws, and Customs.
PAOKI
Invasion by Mosilikatzi — Arrival of the emigrant Boers — Estab-
lishment of the South African Republic — The Sand River
Convention — Growth of the territory of the republic — The
native tribes surrounding it — Capabilities of the country —
Its climate — Its inhabitants — The Boers — Their peculiarities
and mode of life — Their abhorrence of settled government
and payment of taxes — The Dutch patriotic party — Form
of government previous to the annexation— Courts of law —
— The commando system — Revenue arrangements — Native
races in the Transvaal ....... 1-22
CHAPTER II.
Events Pbkgedino the Annexation.
Mr. Bnrgen elected president — His character and aspirationa —
His pension from the English Government — His visit to
England — The railway loan — Relations of the republic with
native tribes — The pass laws — Its quarrel with Cetywayo
— Confiscation of native territory in the Keate Award —
Treaty with the Swazi king — The Secocoeni war — Capture
of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi allies — Attack on
Secocoeni'i mountain — Defeat and dispersion of the Boers
— Elation of the natives — Von Schlickmann's volunteers —
Cruelties perpetrated — Abel Erasmus — Treatment of natives
by Boers — Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1868 — The
slavery question — Some evidence on the subject — Pecuniary
position of the Transvaal prior to the annexation — Internal
troubles — Divisions amongst the Boers — Hopeless condition
of the couptry 23-49
xxviu CONTENTS.
CHAPTER IIL
The Annexation.
Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon — Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as
Special Commissioner to the Transvaal — Sir T. Shepstone,
bis great experience and ability — His progress to Pretoria,
and reception there — Feelings excited by the arrival of the
mission — The annexation not a foregone conclusion — Charge
brought against Sir T. Shepstone of having called up the
Zulu array to sweep the Transvaal — Its complete false-
hood — Cetywayo's message to Sir T. Shepstone — Evidence
on the matter summed up — General desire of the natives
for English rule — Habitual disregard of their interests —
Assembly of the Volksraad — Kejection of Lord Carnarvon's
Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new con-
stitution — President Burgers' speeches to the Raad — His
posthumous statement — Communication to the Kaad of Sir
T. Shepstone's intention to annex the country — Despatch of
Commission to inquire into the alleged peace with Secocoeni
— Its fraudulent character discovered — Progress of affairs in
the Transvaal — Paul Kruger and his party — Restlessness of
natives — Arrangements for the annexation — The annexation
proclamation .,,.,,,» 50-86
CHAPTER IV.
The Transvaal under British Rule.
Reception of the annexation — Major Clarke and the Volunteers
— Effect of the annexation on credit and commerce — Hoist-
ing of the Union Jack — Ratification of the annexation by
Parliament — Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen's mission to
England — Agitation against the annexation in the Cape
Colony — Sir T. Shepstone's tour— Causes of the growth of
discontent among the Boers — Return of Messrs. Jorissen
and Kruger — The Government dispenses with their services
— Despatch of a second deputation to England — Outbreak
of war with Secocoeni — Major Clarke, RA. — The Gunn of
Gunn plot — Mission of Captain Paterson and Mr. Sergeaunt
to Matabeleland — Its melancholy termination — The Isand-
hlwana disaster — Departure of Sir T. Shepstone for England
CONTENTS. xxix
—Another Boer meeting — The Pretoria Horse — Advance of
the Boers on Pretoria— Arrival of Sir B. Frere at Pretoria
and dispersion of the Boers— Arrival of Sir Garnet Wolse-
ley— His proclamation— The SecoccBni expedition— Proceed-
ings of the Boers— Mr. Pretorius— Mr. Gladstone's Mid-
Lothian speeches, their effect — Sir G. Wolseley's speech at
Pretoria, its good results — Influx of Englishmen and cessation
of agitation — Financial position of the country after three
years of British rule— Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr.
Courtney 87-119
CHAPTER V.
The Boeb Rebellion.
A-ccession of Mr. Gladstone to power — His letters to the Boer
leaders and the loyals — His refusal to rescind the annexation
— The Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radi-
cal party — The Bezuidenhout incident — Despatch of troops to
Potchefstroom — Mass meeting of the 8th December 1880 —
Appointment of the Triumvirate and declaration of the re-
public — Despatch of Boer proclamation to Sir O. Lanyon —
His reply — Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom — De-
fence of the court-house by Major Clarke — The massacre of
the detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther — Dr.
Ward — The Boer rejoicings — The Transvaal placed under
martial law — Abandonment of their homes by the people of
Pretoria — Sir Owen Lanyon's admirable defence organisation
— Second proclamation issued by the Boers — Its complete
falsehood — Life at Pretoria during the siege — Murders of
natives by the Boers — Loyal conduct of the native chiefs —
Difficulty of preventing them from attacking the Boers —
Occupation of Lang's Nek by the Boers — Sir George Colley's
departure to Newcastle— The condition of that town — The
attack on Lang's Nek — Its desperate nature — Effect of vic-
tory on the Boers — The battle at the Ingogo — Our defeat
— Sufferings of the wounded — Major Essex — Advance of the
Boers into Natal — Constant alarms— Expected attack on
Newcastle— Its unorganised and indefensible condition —
Arrival of the reinforcements and retreat of the Boers to
the Nek — Despatch of General Wood to bring up more re-
inforcements — Majuba Hill — Our disaster, and death of Sir
George Col ley — Cause of our defeat — A Boer version of the
disMter — Sir Greorge Colley's tactics . . . . 120-155
XXX CONTENTS.
CHAPTER VL
/'
The Retbooission op thb Tbansvaau
pioxa
The Queen's Speech — President Brand and Lord Kimberley — Sir
Henry de Villiers — Sir George Colley's plan — Paul Kruger's
offer — Sir George Colley's remonstrance — Complimentary
telegrams — Effect of Majuba on the Boers and English
Government — Collapse of the Government — Reasons of the
surrender — Professional sentimentalists — The Transvaal In-
dependence Committee — Conclusion of the armistice — The
preliminary peace — Reception of the news in Natal — New-
castle after the declaration of peace — Exodus of the loyal
inhabitants of the Transvaal — The value of property in
Pretoria — The Transvaal ofl&cials dismissed — The Royal
Commission — Mode of trial of persons accused of atrocities —
Decision of the Commission and its results — The severance .
of territory question— Arguments pro and con — Opinion of
Sir E. Wood — Humility of the Commissioners and its cause
— ^Their decision on the Keate Award question — TheMontsioa
difl&culty — The compensation and financial clauses of the re-
port of the Commission — The duties of the British Resident
— Sir E. Wood's dissent from the report of the Commission
— Signing of the Convention — Burial of the Union Jack —
The native side of the question — Interview between the
Commissioners and the native chiefs — Their opinion of the
surrender — Objections of the Boer Volksraad to the Con-
vention — Mr. Gladstone temporises — The ratification — Its
insolent tone — Mr. Hudson, the British Resident — The Boer
festival — The results of the Convention — The larger issue of
the matter — Its effect on the Transvaal — Its moral aspects
— Its effect on the native mind ..... 156-203
CHAPTER VII.
Extract from Introduction to new edition of 18S8 • • aoj
APPENDIX
I. The Potchefstroom Atrocities, &c 231
II. Pledges given by Mr. Gladstone's Government as to the
Retention of the Transvaal 239
III. A Boer on Boer Designs 241
THE TRANSVAAL.
CHAPTEE I.
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS.
The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its
very existence was hardly known of until about fifty
years ago. Of its past we know nothing. The genera-
tions who peopled its great plains have passed utterly
out of the memory and even the tradition of man,
leaving no monument to mark that they have existed,
not even a tomb.
During the reign of Chaka, i8 13-1828, whose
history has been sketched in a previous chapter, one
of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze, sumamed the
Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his
soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction,
settled in or about what is now the Morico district of
the Transvaal. The country through which Mosilikatze
passed was at that time thickly populated with natives
of the Basuto or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look
upon with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the
feelings of his tribe in a practical manner, by mas-
sacring ftvery living soul of them that came within
2 THE TRANSV^AAL.
his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very
great, the numerous ruins of Basuto kraals all over
the country testify.
It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze
and destroy him, but he was himself assassinated be-
fore he could do so. Dingaan, his successor, how-
ever, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a
large force to punish him. This army, after marching
over 300 miles, burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him
back with slaughter, and returned home triumphant
The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim
the greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue
of it.
About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered,
1 83 5-1 840, the discontented Boers were leaving the
Cape Colony exasperated at the emancipation of the
slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they made
their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the
English flag they travelled further inland over the
Vaal Eiver and founded the town of Mooi Eiver Dorp
or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by other mal-
contents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, though
afterwards abandoned, was at that time a British
possession. Acting upon
** The good old nile, the simple plan,
Of let him take who has the power,
And let him keep who can,"
the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as
much territory as they wanted. Nor was this a difi&-
cult task. The country was, as I have said, peopled
by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared
to the Zulus, and had had what little courage they
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 3
possessed crushed out of them by the rough handling
they had received at the hands of Mosilikatze and
Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat
them worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally
a chief, bolder than the rest, would hold out, and then
such an example was made of him and his people that
few cared to follow in his footsteps.
As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their
new home, they began to think about setting up a
G-overnment. First they tried a system of Comman-
dants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not
seem to have answered. Next, those of their number
who lived in Lydenburg district (where the gold-fields
now are) set up a Eepublic, with a President and
Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was
followed by the other white inhabitants of the country,
who formed another Eepublic and elected another
President, with Pretoria for their capital The two
republics were subsequently incorporated.
In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to
the expense of maintaining an effective government
over an unwilling people in an undeveloped and half-
conquered country, concluded a convention with the
emigrant Boers " beyond the Vaal Eiver." The fol-
lowing were the principal stipulations of this conven-
tion, drawn up 'between Major Hogg and Mr. Owen,
Her Majesty's Assistant- Commissioners for the settling
and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-
eastern boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good
Hope on the one part, and a deputation representative
of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal Eiver on
the other. It was guaranteed " in the fullest manner
on the part of the British Government to the emigrant
4 THE TRANSVAAL.
farmers beyond the Vaal Kiver the right to manage
their own affairs, and to govern themselves according
to their own laws, without any interference on the
part of the British Government, and that no encroach-
ment shall be made by the said Government on the
territory beyond to the north of the Vaal Kiver, with
the further assurance that the warmest wish of the
British Government is to promote peace, free trade,
and friendly intercourse with the emigrant farmers
now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit that
country, it being understood that this system of non-
interference is binding on both parties."
. Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British
Government, " all alliances whatever and with whom-
soever of the coloured nations to the north of the
Vaal Kiver."
It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be
permitted or practised in the country to the north of
the Vaal Kiver by the emigrant farmers."
It was further agreed " that no objection shall be
made by any British authority against the emigrant
Boers purchasing their supplies of ammunition in any
of the British colonies and possessions of South
Africa ; it being mutually understood that all trade
in ammunition with the native tribes is prohibited
both by the British Government and the emigrant
farmers on both sides of the Vaal Kiver."
These were the terms of this famous convention,
which is as slipshod in its diction as it is vague in
its meaning. What, for instance, is meant by the
territory to the north of the Vaal Kiver ? According
to the letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen
ceded all the territory between the Vaal and Egypt
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 5
This historical document was the Charta of the new-
bom South African Kepublic. Under its provisions,
the Boers, now safe from interference on the part of
the British, established their own Government and
promulgated their " Grond Wet," or Constitution.
The history of the Eepublic between 1852 and
1876 is not very interesting, and is besides too weari-
some to enter into hera It consists of an oft-told tale
of civil broils, attacks on native tribes, and encroach-
ment on native territories. Until shortly before the
Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, en-
titled to receive from the Government 6000 acres
of land. As these rights were in the early days of
the Eepublic frequently sold to speculators for such
trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer,
and as the seller still required his 6000 acres : for a
Boer considers it beneath his dignity to settle on less,
it is obvious that it required a very large country
to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the
territories of the Eepublic had to be stretched like an
elastic band, and they were stretched accordingly, — at
the expense of the natives. The stretching process
was an ingenious one, and is very well described in a
minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late magistrate
at Newcastle, dated 2 2d September 1876, in these
words : —
" The Boers, as they have done in other cases and
are still doing, encroached by degrees on native terri-
tory, commencing by obtaining permission to graze
stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of the
year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from
native headmen a sort of right or license to squat
upon certain defined portions, ostensibly in order to
5 THE TRANSVAAL.
keep other Boer squatters away from the same land.
These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or
neighbourly acts by unauthorised headmen, after a
few seasons of occupation by the Boer, are construed
by him as title, and his permanent occupation ensues.
Damage for trespass is levied by him from the very
man from whom he obtained the right to squat, to
which the natives submit out of fear of the matter
reaching the ears of the paramount chief, who would
in all probability severely punish them for opening the
door to encroachment by the Boer. After a while,
however, the matter comes to a crisis in consequence
of the incessant disputes between the Boers and the
natives; one or other of the disputants lays the case
before the paramount chief, who, when hearing both
parties, is literally frightened with violence and threats
by the Boer into granting him the land. Upon this
the usual plan followed by the Boer is at once to
collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field
cornet, or even an acting provisional field cornet,
appointed by the field cornet or provisional comet, the
latter to represent the Government, although without
instructions authorising him to act in the matter. A
few cattle are collected among themselves, which the
party takes to the chief, and his signature is obtained
to a written document alienating to the Eepublican
Boers a large slice of all his territory. The contents
of this document are, as far as I can make out, never
clearly or intelligibly explained to the chief, who signs
and accepts of the cattle under the impression that
it is all in settlement of hire for the grazing licenses
granted by his headmen. This, I have no hesitation
in saying, is the usual method by which the Boej*
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 7
obtain what they call cessions to them of territories
by native chiefs. In Secocoeni's case they allege that
his father Sequati cedes to them the whole of his terri-
tory (hundreds of square miles) for a hundred head of
cattle."
So rapidly did this process go on that the little
Republic to the *' North of the Vaal Eiver " had at the
time of the Annexation grown into a country of the
size of France. Its boundaries had only been clearly
defined where they abutted on neighbouring White
Communities, or on the territories of great native
powers, on which the Government had not dared to
infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo
Bengula's people in the north. But wheresoever on
the State's borders there had been no white Power
to limit its advances, or where the native tribes had
found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist
aggressions, there the Eepublic had by degrees en-
croached, and extended the shadow, if not the sub-
stance, of its authority.
The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1600
miles in circumference, and of this a large portion is
disputed by difierent native tribes. Speaking generally,
the territory lies between the 22° and 28"* of South
Latitude and the 25° and 32** of East Longitude, or
between the Orange Free State, Natal and Griqualand
West on the* south, and the Limpopo River on the
north ; and between the Lebombo mountains on the
east, and the Kalihari desert on the west. On the
north of its territory live three great tribes — the
Makalaka, the Matabele, (descendants of the Zulus who
deserted Chaka under Mosilikatze), and the Matyana.
These tribes are all warlike. On the west, following
8 THE TRANSV
the line down to the Diamond Field territory, are the
Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the Baralong, and the Koranna
tribes. Passing round by Griqualand West, the Free
State, and Natal, we reach Zululand on the south-east
corner; then come the Lebombo mountains on the
east, separating the Transvaal from Amatonga land,
and from the so-called Portuguese possessions, which
are entirely in the hands of native tribes, most of
them subject to the great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who
has his stronghold in the north-east.
It will be observed that the country is almost sur-
rounded by native tribes. Besides these there are
about one million native inhabitants living within its
borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is
computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared
to about 750 whites.
If a beautiful and fertile country were alone
necessary to make a state and its inhabitants happy
and prosperous, happiness and prosperity would rain
upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The capa-
bilities of this favoured land are vast and various.
Within its borders are to be found highlands and low-
lands, vast stretches of rolling veldt like gigantic
sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling bushland,
huge tracts of mountainous country, and even little
glades spotted with timber that remind one of an
English park. J'here is every possible variety of soil
and scenery. Some districts will grow all tropical
produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding
sheep, cattle, and horses. Most of the districts will
produce wheat and all other cereals in greater per-
fection and abundance than any of the other South
African colonies. Two crops of cereals may be
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 9
obtained from the soil every year, and both the vine
and tobacco are cultivated with great success. Coffee,
sugar-cane, and cotton have been grown with profit
in the northern parts of the State. Also the un-
developed mineral wealth of the country is very great
Its known minerals are gold, copper, lead, cobalt, iron,
coal, tin, and plumbago : copper and iron having long
been worked by the natives. Altogether there is
little doubt that the Transvaal is the richest of all the
South African states, and had it remained under English
rule it would, with the aid of English enterprise and
capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous
country. However there is little chance of that now.
Perhaps the greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in
its climate, which is among the best in the world, and
in all the southern districts very healthy. During
the winter months — that is, from April to October
— little or no rain falls, and the climate is cold and
bracing. In summer it is rather warm, but not over-
poweringly hot, the thermometer at Pretoria averaging
from 65° to 73* and in the winter from 59* to 65^
The population of the Transvaal is estimated at about
40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch origin, consisting of
about thirty vast families; and one million natives.
There are several towns, the largest of which are
Pretoria and Potchefstroom.
Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and
were drummed out of in 1881. Now let us turn
to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion to talk
of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived
in it. In reality the inhabitants were divided into
three classes : i. Natives; 2, Boers; 3. English. I
say were divided, because the English class can now
lo THE TRANSVAAL.
hardly be said to exist, the country having been
made too hot to hold it since the war. The natives
Bttind in the proportion of nearly twenty to one to
the whites. The Boers were in their turn much
more numerous than the English, but the latter owned
nearly all the trading establishments in the country,
and also a very large amount of property.
The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised
up by members of the Government in England, and
others who are anxious to advance their interests,
as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed,
can hardly find words strong enough to express his
admiration of their leaders, those "able men," since
they inflicted a national humiliation on us ; and doubt-
less they are a people with many good points. That
they are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way
they have dealt with the English Government.
The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though
they can hardly be said to be " zealous of good works."
They are very religious, but their religion takes its
colour from the darkest portions of the Old Testa-
ment ; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to
their liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels.
What they delight in are the stories of wholesale
butchery by the Israelites of old ; and in their own
position they find a reproduction of that of the first
settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think
they are entrusted by the Almighty with the task of
exterminating the heathen native tribes around them,
and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for
slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity
is continually on their lips, sometimes in connection
with very doubtful statements. Thev are divided
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. n
into three sects, none of which care much for the
other two. These are the Doppers, who number
about half the population, the Orthodox Eeform, and
the Liberal Eeform, which is the least numerous. Of
these three sects the Doppers are by far the most un-
compromising and difficult to deal with. They much
resemble the Puritans of Charles the First's time, of
the extreme Hew-Agag-in-pieces stamp.
It is difficult to agree with those who call the
Boers cowards, an accusation which the whole of their
history belies. A Boer does not like fighting if he
can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his own
life ; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as
anybody else. The Boers fought well enough in the
late war, though that, it is true, is no great criterion
of courage, since they were throughout flushed with
victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British
troops, in but little personal danger. One very un-
pleasant characteristic they have, and that is an
absence of regard for the truth, especially where land
is concerned. Indeed the national characteristic is
crystallised into a proverb, " I am no slave to my
word." It has several times happened to me to see
one set of highly respectable witnesses in a land case
go into the box and swear distinctly that they saw
a beacon placed on a certain spot, whilst an equal
number on the other side will swear that they saw it
placed a mile away. Filled as they are with a land
hunger, to which that of the Irish peasant is a weak
and colourless sentiment, there is little that they will
not do to gratify their tasta It is the subject of
constant litigation amongst them, and it is by no
means uncommon for a Boer to spend several thousand
12 THE TRANSVAAL.
pounds in lawsuits over a piece of land not worth as
many hundreds.
Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly.
Their women-folk are good-looking in early life, but
get very stout as they grow older. They, in common
with most of their sex, understand how to use their
tongues; indeed, it is said that it was the women
who caused the rising against the English Government
None of the refinements of civilisation enter into the
life of an ordinary Transvaal Boer. He lives in a way
that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five
shillings the week, although he is very probably worth
fifteen or twenty thousand pounds. His home is but
too frequently squalid and filthy to an extraordinary
degree. He himself has no education, and does not
care that his children should receive any. He lives
by himself in the middle of a great plot of land, his
nearest neighbour being perhaps ten or twelve miles
away, caring but little for the news of the outside
world and nothing for its opinions, doing very little
work, but growing daily richer through the increase of
his flocks and herds. His expenses are almost nothing,
and as he gets older wealth increases upon him.
The events in his life consist of an occasional trip on
** commando " against some native tribe, attending a
few political meetings, and the journeys he makes with
his family to the nearest town, some four times a year,
in order to be present at " Nachtmaal " or communion.
Foreigners, especially Englishmen, he detests, but he
is kindly and hospitable to his own people. Living
isolated as he does, the lord of a little kingdom, he
naturally comes to have a great idea of himself, and
a corresponding contempt for all the rest of mankind.
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 13
Laws and taxes are things distasteful to him, and he
looks upon it as an impertinence that any court
should venture to call him to account for his doings.
He is rich and prosperous, and the cares of poverty,
and all the other troubles that fall to the lot of civilised
men, do not affect him. He has no romance in him,
nor any of the higher feelings and aspirations that are
found in almost every other race ; in short, unlike the
Zulu he despises, there is little of the gentleman in
his composition, though he is at times capable of acts
of kindness and even generosity. His happiness is to
live alone in the great wilderness, with his children,
his men-servants, and his maid-servants, his flocks and
his herds, the monarch of all he surveys. If civilisa-
tion presses him too closely, his remedy is a simple
one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash
in his waggon, and starts for regions more congenially
wild. Such are some of the leading characteristics of
that remarkable product of South Africa, the Transvaal
Boer, who resembles no other white man in the world.
Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his
oddities is his abhorrence of all government, more
especially if that government be carried out according
to English principles. The Boers have always been
more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the
rule of the Company when the Cape belonged to
Holland, they rebelled against the English Govern-
ment in the Cape, they were always in a state of semi-
rebellion against their own Government in the Trans-
vaal, and now they have for the second time, with the
most complete success, rebelled against the English
Government. The fact of the matter is that the hviW
of their number hate all Governments, because Govern-
14 THE TRANSVAAL.
ments enforce law and order, and they hate the
English Government worst of all because it enforces
law and order most of all. It is not liberty they long
for, but license. The " sturdy independence " of the
Boer resolves itself into a determination not to have
his affairs interfered with by any superior power what-
soever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly avoid
it. But he has also a specific cause of complaint
against the English Government, which would alone
cause him to do his utmost to get rid of it, and that
is its mode of dealing with natives, which is radically
opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer
patriotism. To understand it, it must be remembered
that the Englishman and the Boer look at natives
from a very different point of view. The Englishman,
though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate
regards the Kafir as a fellow human being with feelings
like his own. The average Boer does not. He looks
upon the " black creature " as having been delivered
into his hand by the " Lord " for his own purposes,
that is, to shoot and enslave. He must not be blamed
too harshly for this, for, besides being naturally of a
somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native is
hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of
many a bloody struggle. Also the native hates the
Boer fully as much as the Boer hates the native,
though with better reason. Now native labour is a
necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do
hard manual labour himself, and there must be some
one to plant and garner the crops and herd the cattle.
On the other hand, the natives are not anxious to
serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and
plenty of thick stick, and sometimes worse. The
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 15
result of this state of affairs is that the Boer often has
to rely on forced labour to a very great extent. But
this is a thing that an English Government will not
tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he
cannot get the labour that is necessary to him.
Then there is the tax question. If he lives under
the English flag the money has to be paid regularly,
but under his own Government he pays or not as he
likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment
of taxes that brought the Eepublic into difficulties
in 1877, and that will ere long bring it into trouble
again. He cannot understand that cash is necessary
to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as
though it were so much money stolen from him.
These things are the real springs of the " sturdy
independence " and the patriotism of the ordinary
Transvaal farmer. Doubtless there are some who are
really patriotic ; for instance, one of their leaders, Paul
Kruger. But with the majority, patriotism is only
another word for unbounded license and forced labour.
These remarks must not be taken to apply to the
Cape Boers, who are a superior class of men, since
they, living under a settled and civilised Government,
have been steadily improving, whilst their cousins,
living every man for his own hand, have been deterio-
rating. The. old Voortrekkers, the fathers and grand-
fathers of the Transvaal Boer of to-day, were, without
doubt, a very fine set of men, and occasionally you
may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same
stamp whom it is a pleasure to know. But these are
generally men of a certain age, with some experience
of the world ; the younger men are very objectionable
in their manners.
I6 THE TRANSVAAL.
The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found
in the Transvaal, but in the Cape Colony. Their
object, which, as affairs now are, is well within the
bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to
swamp the English element in South Africa, and to
establish a great Dutch Kepublic. It was this party,
which consists of clever and well educated men, who
raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation,
because it meant an enormous extension of English
influence, and who had the wit, by means of their
emissaries and newspapers, to work upon the feeling
of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded
them to rebel ; and finally, to avail themselves of the
yearnings of English radicalism for the disruption of
the Empire and the minimisation of British authority,
to get the Annexation cancelled. All through this
business the Boers have more or less danced in obedi-
ence to strings pulled at Cape Town, and it is now
said that one of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. Hofmeyer,
is to be asked to become President of the Eepublic.
These men are the real patriots of South Africa, and
very clever ones too — not the Transvaal Boers, who
vapour about their blood and their country and the
accursed Englishman to order, and are in reality
influenced by very small motives, such as the desire
to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt away a neigh-
bouring Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement
are as offensive as his farm is desirable. Such are
the Dutch inhabitants of the Transvaai. I will now
give a short sketch of their institutions as they were
before the Annexation, and to which the community
has reverted since its recision, with, I believe, but fev
alterations.
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 17
The form of government is republican, and to
all intents and purposes manhood suffrage prevails,
supreme power resting in the people. The executive
power of the State centres in a President elected by
the people to hold office for a term of five years, every
voter having a voice in his election. He is assisted
in the execution of his duties by an Executive Council,
consisting of the State Secretary and such other three
members as are selected for that purpose by the legis-
lative body, the Volksraad. The State Secretary
holds office for four years, and is elected by the Volks-
raad. The members of the Executive have all seats
in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The Volksraad
is the legislative body of the State, and consists of
forty-two members. The country is divided into
twelve electoral districts, each of which has the right
to return three members ; the Gold Fields have also
the right of electing two members, and the four prin-
cipal towns one member each. There is no power in
the State competent to either prorogue or dissolve the
Volksraad except that body itself, so that an appeal to
the country on a given subject or policy is impossible
without its concurrence. Members are elected for
four years, but half retire by rotation every two years,
the vacancies being filled by re-elections. Members
must have been voters for three years, and be not less
than thirty years of age, must belong to a Protestant
Church, be resident in the country, and owners of
immovable property therein. A father and son cannot
sit in the same Eaad, neither can seats be occupied
by coloured persons, bastards, or officials.
For each electoral district there is a magistrate or
Landdrost, whose duties are similar to those of a Civil
B
i8 THE TRANSVAAL.
Commissioner. These districts are again subdivided
into wards presided over by field cornets, who exercise
judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war
have considerable authority. The Koman Dutch law
is the common law of the country, as it is of the
colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal, and of
the Orange Free State.
Prior to the Annexation justice was administered
in a very primitive fashion. First, there was the
Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal lay to a court
consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected
by the public. This was a court of first instance as
well as a court of appeal. Then there was a Supreme
Court, consisting of three Landdrosts from three dif-
ferent districts, and a jury of twelve selected from the
burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this
court, but cases have sometimes been brought under
the consideration of the Volksraad as the supreme
power. It is easy to imagine what the administration
of justice was like when the presidents of all the law
courts in the country were elected by the mob, not on
account of their knowledge of the law, but because
they were popular. Suitors before the old Transvaal
courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High
Court of Justice was, however, established after the
Annexation, and has been continued by the Volks-
raad, but an agitation is being got up against it, and
it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old
system.
In such a community as that of the Transvaal
Boers the question of public defence was evidently of
the first importance. This is provided for under what
is known as the Commando system. The President
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. 19
with the concurrence of the Executive Council, has
the right of declaring war, and of calling up a com-
mando, in which the burghers are placed under the
field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen
by the field cornets for each district, and a Com-
mandant-general is chosen by the whole laager or
force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief of
the army. All the inhabitants of the State between
sixteen and sixty, with a few exceptions, are liable for
service. Young men under eighteen, and men over
fifty, are only called out under circumstances of
emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials,
clergymen, and school-teachers are exempt from per-
sonal service, unless martial law is proclaimed, but
must contribute an amount not exceeding £is towards
the expense of the war. All legal proceedings in
civil cases are suspended against persons on com-
mando, no smnmonses can be made out, and as soon
as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can be
prosecuted, the pounds are closed, and transfer dues
payments are suspended until after thirty days from
the recall of the proclamation of martial law. Owners
of land residing beyond the borders of the Eepublic
are also liable, in addition to the ordinary war tax, to
place a fit and proper substitute at the disposal of the
Government, or otherwise to pay a fine of £1$* The
first levy of the burghers is, of men from eighteen to
thirty-four years of age; the second, thirty-four to
fifty; and the third, from sixteen to eighteen, and
from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound to
provide himself with clothing, a gun, and ammunition,
and there must be enough waggons and oxen found
between them to suffice for their joint use. Of the
20 THE TRANSVAAL.
booty taken, one quarter goes to Government, and the
rest to the burghers. The most disagreeable part of
the commandeering system is, however, yet to come ;
personal service is not all that the resident in the
Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested
in field cornets to commandeer articles as well as
individuals, and to call upon inhabitants to furnish
requisites for the commando. As may be imagined, it
goes very hard on these occasions with the property of
any individual whom the field cornet may not happen
to like.
Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent
ready and equipped for war, and this can only be
done by seizing goods right and left. One unfortunate
will have to find a waggon, another to deliver over
his favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-
horse or some slaughter cattle, and so on. Even
when the officer making the levy is desirous of doing
his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that very
great hardships must be inflicted under such a system.
Requisitions are made more with regard to what is
wanted than with a view to an equitable distribution
of demands ; and like the Jews in the time of the
Crusades, he who has got most must pay most, or take
the consequences, which may be unpleasant. Articles
which are not perishable, such as waggons, are sup-
posed to be returned, but if they come back at all they
are generally worthless.
In case of war, the native tribes living within the
borders of the State are also expected to furnish con-
tingents, and it is on them that most of the hard
work of the campaign generally falls. They are put
in the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-
ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS. ti
to-hand fighting, which, however, if of the Zulu race,
they do not object to.
The revenue of the State is so arranged that the
burden of it should fall as much as possible on the
trading community, and as little as possible on the
farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades,
professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on
farms, transfer dues and stamps, auction dues, court
fees, and contributions from such native tribes as can
be made to pay them. Since we have given up the
country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on
all imported goods, hoping thereby to beguile the Boers
Into paying taxes without knowing it, and at the same
time strike a blow at the trading community, which
is English in its proclivities. The result has been
to paralyse what little trade there was left in the
country, and to cause great dissatisfaction amongst
the farmers, who cannot understand why, now that
the English are gone, they should have to pay twice
as much for their sugar and coffee as they have been
accustomed to do.
I will conclude this chapter with a few words about
the natives who swarm in and around the Transvaal.
They can be roughly divided into two great races, the
Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or
Basuto tribes. *A11 those of Zulu blood, including the
Swazis, Mapock's Kafirs, the Matabele, the Knob-
noses, and others are very warlike in disposition, and
men of fine physique. The Basutos (who must not
be confounded with the Cape Basutos), however, differ
from these tribes in every respect, including their lan-
guage, which is called Sisutu, the only mutual feeling
between the two races being their common detestation
22 THE TKANSVAAL.
of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact, they
are timid and cowardly by nature, and only fight
when they are obliged to. Unlike the Zulus, they
are much addicted to the arts of peace, show consider-
able capacities for civilisation, and are even willing to
become Christians. There would have been a far
better field for the Missionary in the Transvaal than
in Zululand and Natal. Indeed, the most successful
mission station I have seen in Africa is near Middle-
burg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person
the Basutos are thin and weakly when compared to
the stalwart Zulu, and it is their consciousness of
inferiority both to the white men and their black
brethren that, together with their natural timidity,
makes them submit as easily as they do to the yokt
of the Boer.
CHAPTER II ^
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION.
In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic
elected Mr. Burgers their President. This remarkable
man was a native of the Cape Colony, and passed the
first sixteen or seventeen years of his life, he once in-
formed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards
became a clergyman noted for the eloquence of his
preaching, but his ideas proving too broad for his con-
gregation, he resigned his cure, and in an evil moment
for himself took to politics.
President Burgers was a man of striking presence
and striking talents, especially as regards his oratory,
which was really of a very high class, and would have
commanded attention in our own House of Commons.
He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly vola-
tile order that is sometimes met with in conjunction
with great talents, and which seems to be entirely with-
out ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-like nature,
and as incapable of being steered. He was always
soaring in the clouds, and, as is natural to one in that
elevated position, taking a very dififerent and more
sanguine view of affairs to that which men of a more
lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind
would do.
24 THE TRANSVAAL.
But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President
Burgers was undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night
and day for the welfare of the State of which he had
undertaken the guidance ; but his patriotism was too
exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate to
the rank of a nation a people who had not got the
desire to be elevated ; with this view he contracted
railway loans, made wars, minted gold, &c., and then
suddenly discovered that the country refused to support
him. In short, he was made of very different clay to
that of the people he had to do with. He dreamt of a
great Dutch Kepublic " with eight millions of inhabi-
tants," doing a vast trade with the interior through the
Delagoa Bay Eailway. They, on the other hand, cared
nothing about republics or railways, but fixed their
affections on forced labour and getting rid of the neces-
sity of paying taxes — and so between them the Eepub-
lic came to grief. But it must be borne in mind that
President Burgers was throughout actuated by good
motives ; he did his best by a stubborn and a stiff-necked
people ; and if he failed, as fail he did, it was more their
fault than his. As regards the pension he received from
the English Government, which has so often been brought
up against him, it was after all no more than his due
after five years of arduous work. If the Republic had
continued to exist, it is to be presumed that they would
have made some provision for their old President, more
especially as he seems to have exhausted his private
means in paying the debts of the country. What-
ever may be said of some of the other ofi&cials of the
Republic, its President was, I believe, an honest man.
In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having,
be says in a posthumous document recently published
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 25
been empowered by the Volksraad " to carry out my
plans for the development of the country, by opening
up a direct communication for it, free from the tram-
mels of British ports and influence." According to this
document, during his absence two powerful parties, viz.,
**the faction of unprincipled fortune-hunters, rascals,
and runaways on the one hand, and the faction of the
extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the
Dutch Keform Church on the other, began to co-operate
against the Government of the Republic and me per-
sonally Ill as I was, and contrary to the advice
of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in the be-
ginning of 1875, to carry out my project, and no sooner
was my back turned on the Transvaal than the con-
spiring elements began to act. The new coat of arms
and flag adopted in the Raad by an almost unanimous
vote were abolished; the laws for a free and secular
education were tampered with ; and my resistance to a
reckless inspection and disposal of Government lands,
still occupied by natives, was openly defied. The
Raad, filled up to a large extent with men of ill repute,
who, under the cloak of progress and favour to the
Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak to
cope with the skill of the conspirators, and granted
leave to the acting President to carry out measures
diametrically opposed to my policy. Native lands were
inspected and given out to a few speculators, who held
large numbers of claims to lands which were destined
for citizens, and so a war was prepared for me, on my
return from Europe, which I could not avert/' This
extract is interesting, as showing the state of feeling
existing between the President and his officers previous
to the outbreak of the Secocceni war. It also shows
26- THE TRANSVAAL.
how entirely he was out of sympathy with the citizens,
seeing that, as soon as his back was turned, they, with
Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at their head, at once
undid all the little good he had done.
When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city
capitalists would have nothing whatever to say to hif
railway scheme. In Holland, however, he succeeded
in getting ^90,000 of the ;^ 300,000 he wished to borrow
at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond or
five hundred Government farms. This money was
immediately invested in railway plant, which, when it
arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be mortgaged to pa}
the freight on it, and that was the end of the Delagoa
Bay railway scheme, except that the ;£" 90,000 is, 1
believe, still owing to the confiding shareholders ip
Holland.
On his return to the Transvaal the President was
well received, and for a month or so all went smoothly.
But the relations of the Eepublic with the surrounding
native tribes had by this time become so bad that an
explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874
the Volksraad raised the price of passes under the
iniquitous pass law, by which every native travelling
through the territory was made to pay from £1 to ;6"5.
In case of non-payment the native was made subject to
a fine of from £1 to ;f 10, and to a beating of from '' ten
to twenty-five lashes." He was also to go into service
for three months, and have a certificate thereof, for
which he must pay five shillings ; the avowed object of
the law being to obtain a supply of Kafir labour. This
was done in spite of the earnest protest of the President,
who gave the Eaad distinctly to understand that by
accepting this law they would, in point of fact, annul
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 27
treaties concluded with the chiefs on the south-western
borders. It is not clear, however, if this amended pass
law ever came into force. It is to be hoped it did not,
for even under the old law natives were shamefully
treated by. Boers, who would pretend that they were
authorised by Government to collect the tax; the
result being that the unfortunate Kafir was frequently
obliged to pay twice over. Natives had such a horror
of the pass laws of the country, that when travelling
to the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently
go round some hundreds of miles rather than pass
through the Transvaal.
That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary
to enact such a law in order that the farmers should
obtain a supply of Kafir labour in a territory that had
nearly a million of native inhabitants, who, unlike
the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with
decent treatment, is in itself an instructive commentary
on the feelings existing between Boer master and Kafir
servant.
But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race
in its entirety, which the Boers always have on hand,
they had just then several individual differences, in each
of which there lurked the possibilities of disturbance.
To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were
by no mea'hs amicable. During Mr. Burgers' absence
the Boer Government, then under the leadership of
P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message — a
message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert
was ready to enforce it with ten thousand men. After
making various statements and demands with reference
to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary line, <fec«
it ends thus : —
38 THE TRANSVAAL.
"Although the Government of the South African
Republic has never wished, and does not now desire,
that serious disaffection and animosities should exist
between you and them, yet it is not the less of the
greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly
to weigh these matters and risks, and to satisfy them ;
the more so, if you on your side also wish that peace
and friendship shall be maintained between you
and us."
The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments
on this message in these words : " The tone of this
message to Cetywayo is not very friendly, it has the
look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of the
Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is,
the message would suggest an intention to coerce if the
demands it conveys are not at once complied with ; but
I am inclined to the opinion that no such intention
exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the mes-
sage to the Natal Government is intended as a notifica-
tion that the Transvaal Government has proclaimed the
territory hitherto in dispute between it and the Zulus
to be Republican territory, and that the Republic intends
to occupy it."
In the territories marked out by a decision known
as the Keate Award, in which Lieutenant-Governor
Keate of Natal, at the request of both parties, laid down
the boundary line between the Boers and certain native
tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher
hand, insomuch as the natives of those districts, being
comparatively unwarlike, were less likely to resist.
On the 1 8th August 1875, Acting President Joubert
issued a proclamation by which a line was laid down
fax to the southward of that marked out by Mr. Keate,
£:VENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 29
and consequently included more territory within the
elastic boundaries of the Kepublic. A Government
notice of the same date invites all claiming lands now
declared to belong to the Republic to send in their
claims to be settled by a land commission.
On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same
neighbourhood (Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-
Governor of Griqualand West in these terms : —
" My Friend, — I wish to acquaint you with the
doings of some people connected with the Boers. A
man-servant of mine has been severely injured in the
head by one of the Boers' servants, which has proved
fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly treated
by a Boer tying a rein about his neck, and then
mounting his horse and dragging him about the place.
My brother Molema, who is the bearer of this, will
give you full particulars."
Molema explains the assaults thus : " The assaulted
man is not dead ; his skull was fractured. The assault
was committed by a Boer named Wessels Badenhorst,
who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he
fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim round his
neck, and made him run to the homestead by the side
of his (Badenhorst's) horse cantering. At the home-
stead he tied him to the waggon -wheel, and flogged
him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband."
Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good
terms neither with the Zulus nor the Keate Award
natives, they still had one Kafir ally, namely, Um-
bandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was con-
cluded under circumstances so peculiar that they are
worthy of a brief recapitulation. It appears that in
the winter of the year 1875, Mr. Rudolph, the Land-
30 THE TRANSVAAL.
drost of Utrecht, went to Swaziland, and, imitating
the example of the Natal Government with Cety-
wayo, crowned Umbandeni king, on behalf of the
Boer Government He further made a treaty of
alliance with him, and promised him a commando to
help him in case of his being attacked by the Zulus.
Now comes the curious part of the story. On the
1 8th May 1876, a message came from this same
Umbandeni to Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following
is an extract: — "We are sent by our king to thank
the Government of Natal for the information sent to
him last winter by that Government, and conveyed
by Mr. Eudolph, of the intended attack on his people
by the Zulus. We are further instructed by the king
to thank the Natal Government for the influence it
used to stop the intended raid, and for instructing a
Boer commando to go to his country to render him
assistance in case of need ; and further for appointing
Mr. Eudolph at the head of the commando to place
him (Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and
to make a treaty with him and his people on be-
half of the Natal Government. . . . The Transvaal
Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge
himself a subject of the Kepublic, but he has dis-
tinctly refused to do so." In a minute written on
this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal
says, "No explanation or assurance from me was
sufficient to convince them (Umbandeni's messengers)
that they had on that occasion made themselves sub-
jects of the South African Kepublic; they declared it
was not their wish or intention to do so, and that
they would refuse to acknowledge a position into
which they had been unwittingly betrayed." I must
EVENTS PKEOEDING THE ANNEXATION. 31
conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph
of Sir H. Bulwer's covering despatch, because it con-
cerns larger issues than the supposed treaty ; " It will
not be necessary that I should at present add any
remarks to those contained in the minute of the
Secretary for Native Affairs, but I would observe
that the situation arising out of the relations of the
Government of the South African Eepublic with the
neighbouring native States is so complicated, and pre-
sents so many elements of confusion and of danger
to the peace of this portion of South Africa, that I
trust some way may be found to an early settlement
of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be left
alone, as so many have been left, to take the chance
of the future."
And now I come to the last and most imminent
native difficulty that at the time faced the Eepublic.
On the borders of Lydenburg district there lived a
powerful chief named Secocoeni Between this chief
and the Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the
beginning of 1876 on the usual subject — land. The
Boers declared that they had bought the land from the
Swazis, who had conquered portions of the country,
and that the Swazis offered to make it "clean from
brambles," t.«., kill everybody living on it; but that
they (the Boers) said that they were to let them be,
that they mjght be their servants. The Basutos, on
the other hand, said that no such sale ever took place,
and, even if it did take place, it was invalid, because
the Swazis were not in occupation of the land, and
therefore could not sell it. It was a Christian Kafir
called Johannes, a brother of Secocoeni, who was the
immediate cause of the war. This Johannes used to
i^ THE TRANSVAAL.
live at a place called Botsobelo, the mission-station of
Mr. Merensky, but moved to a stronghold on the Spek-
boom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers sent
to him to come back, but he refused, and warned the
Boers off his land. Secocceni was then appealed to,
but declared that the land belonged to his tribe, and
would be occupied by Johannes. He also told the
Boers " that he did not wish to fight, but that he was
quite ready to do so if they preferred it." Thereupon
the Transvaal Government declared war, although it
does not appear that the natives committed any out-
rage or acts of hostility before the declaration. As
regards the Boers* right to Secocoeni*s country. Sir
H. Barkly sums up the question thus, in a despatch
addressed to President Burgers, dated 28th Nov. 1876:
— ** On the whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel
bound to repeat it, that Sikukuni was neither de jure
or de facto a subject of the Eepublic when your Honour
declared war against him in June last." As soon as
war had been declared, the clumsy commando system
was set working, and about 2500 white men collected;
the Swazis also were applied to to send a contingent,
which they did, being only too glad of the opportunity
of slaughter.
At first all went well, and the President, who accom-
panied the commando in person, succeeded in reducing
& mountain stronghold, which, in his high-flown way,
he called a " glorious victory " over a " Kafir Gibraltar."
On the 14th July another engagement took place,
when the Boers and Swazis attacked Johannes' strong-
hold. The place was taken with circumstances of
great barbarity by the Swazis, for when the signal
was given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 33
all the women were killed, and the brains of the chil-
dren were dashed out against the stones ; in one instance,
before the captive mother's face. Johannes was badly
wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was
dying, he said to his brother, " I am going to die. I am
thankful I do not die by the hands of these cowardly
Boers, but by the hand of a black and courageous
nation like myself . . ." He then took leave of his
people, told his brother to read the Bible, and expired.
The Swazis were so infuriated at the cowardice dis-
played by the Boers on this occasion that they returned
home in great dudgeon.
On the 2d of August Secocceni's mountain, which is
a very strong fortification, was attacked in two columns,
or rather an attempt was made to attack it, for when
it came to the pinch only about forty men, mostly
English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the
whole commando retreated with great haste, the greater
part of it going straight home. In vain the President
entreated them to shoot him rather than desert him;
they had had enough of Secocceni and his stronghold,
and home they went. The President then retreated
with what few men he had left to Steelport, where he
built a fort, and from thence returned to Pretoria. The
news of the collapse of the commando was received
throughout the .Transvaal, and indeed the whole of
South Africa, with the greatest dismay. Por the first
time in the history of that country the white man had
been completely worsted by a native tribe, and that
tribe wretched Basutos, people whom the Zulus call
their " dogs." It was glad tidings to every native from
the Zambesi to the Cape, who learnt thereby that the
wuite man was not so invincible as he used to be.
34 THE TRANSVAAL.
Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled
with alarm, and again and again petitioned the
Governors of the Cape and Natal for assistance. Their
fears were, however, to a great extent groundless, for,
with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting, Secocoeni
did not follow up his victory.
On the 4th September the President opened the
special sitting of the Volksraad, and presented to that
body a scheme for the establishment of a border force
to take the place of the commando system, announcing
that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlick-
mann to command it. He also requested the Eaad to
make some provision for the expenses of the expedition,
which they had omitted to do in their former sitting.
Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on
ihe war upon a different system. He got together a
band of very rough characters on the Diamond Fields,
and occupied the fort built by the* President, from
whence he would sally out from time to time and
destroy kraals. He seems, if we may believe the re-
ports in the blue-books and the stories of eye-witnesses,
to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat savage
way. The following is an extract from a private letter
written by one of his volunteers : —
" About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw
them first, and charged in front of them to cut off their
retreat. Saw they were women, and called out not to
fire. In spite of that, one of the poor things got her
head blown off (a d d shame). . . . Afterwards two
women and a baby were brought to the camp prisoners.
The same night they were taken out by our Kafirs and
murdered in cool blood by order of . Mr.
and myself strongly protested against it, but without
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 35
avail I never heard such a cowardly piece of business
in my life. No good will come of it, you may depend.
. . . says he would cut all the women and chil-
dren's throats he catches. Told him distinctly he was
a d d coward."
Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man
when compared to a certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards
denounced at a public dinner by Sir Garnet Wolseley as a
fiend " in human form." This gentleman, in the month
of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The
incident is described thus in a correspondent's letter : —
" The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise,
fied when they saw their foes, and most of them took
ihelter in the neighbouring bush. Two or three men
were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal, and
one of them is known to have been wounded. Accord-
ing to my informant the remainder were women and
children, who were pursued into the bush, and there,
all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by the
Boers' Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed
with assegais. After the massacre he counted thirteen
women and three children, but he says he did not see
the body of a single man. Another Kafir said, pointing
to a place in the road where the stones were thickly
strewn, ' the bodies of the women and children lay like
these stones.'. The Boer before mentioned, who has
been stationed outside, has told one of his own friends,
whom he thought would not mention it, that the shrieks
were fearful to hear."
Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can
be found in the blue-books, and I may add that it, in
common with others of the same stamp, was the talk
of the country at the time.
36 THE TRANSVAAL.
I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake
up old stories to the prejudice of the Boers, but because
I am describing the state of the country before the
Annexation, in which they form an interesting and
important item. Also, it is as well that people in
England should know into what hands they have
delivered over the native tribes who trusted in their
protection. What happened in 1876 is probably hap-
pening again now, and will certainly happen again and
again. The character of the Transvaal Boer and his
sentiments towards the native races have not modified
during the last five years, but, on the contrary, a large
amount of energy, which has been accumulating during
the period of British protection, will now be expended
on their devoted heads.
As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority
of them are beyond the possibility of doubt ; indeed, to
the best of my knowledge, no serious attempt has ever
been made to refute such of them as have come into
public notice, except in a general way, for party pur-
poses. As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote
the following extract from a despatch written by Sir
H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated i8th December
1876:—
"As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting
bravely, it is not without reluctance that I join in
affixing this dark stain on his memory, but truth
compels me to add the following extract from a letter
which I have since received from one whose name
(which I communicate to your Lordship privately)
forbids disbelief : * There is no longer the slightest doubt
as to the murder of the two women and the child at
Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann. and in
EVENTS PRECEDING THE AJtTNEXATION. 37
the attack on the kraal near which these women were
captured (or some attack about that period) he ordered
his men to cut the throats of all the wounded ! This
is no mere report ; it is positively true/ " He concludes
by expressing a hope that the course of events will
enable Her Majesty's Government to take such steps
" as will terminate this wanton and useless bloodshed,
and prevent the recurrence of the scenes of injustice^
cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is every day
forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace tJie
Republics beyond the Vaal ever since they first spran^g
into existence" ^
These are strong words, but none too strong for the
facts of the case. Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have
always been the watchwords of the Transvaal Boers.
The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier days
of the Kepublic are very numerous. One of the best
known of those shocking occurrences took place in the
Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On this occasion a large
number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the Boers
smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr.
Wangeman, whose account is, I believe, thoroughly
reliable, describes the scene of their operations in these
words :—
" The roof of the first cave was black with smoke ;
the remains of the logs which were burnt lay at the
entrance. The floor was stiewn with hundreds of skulls
and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses, kerries,
assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of
men, giving one the impression that this was the grave
of a whole people. Some estimate the number of those
who perished here from twenty to thirty thousand. This
* The italics are my own. — AcTHOB.
3« THE TRANSVAAL.
is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber there were
from two hundred to three hundred skeletons ; the
other chambers I did not visit."
In 1 868 a public meeting was held at Potchef stroom
to consider the war then going on with the Zoutpans-
berg natives. According to the report of the proceed-
ings, the Eev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular
occasion a number of native children, who were too
young to be removed, had been collected in a heap,
covered with long grass, and burned alive. Other
atrocities had also been committed, but these were too
horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his
authority for this statement, Mr. Ludorf named his
authority " in a solemn declaration to the State Attor-
ney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G. Steyn, who had
been Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said, " there now was
innocent blood on our hands which had not yet been
avenged, and the curse of God rested on the land in
consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked that "it was a
singular circumstance that in the different colonial
Kafir wars, as also in the Basuto wars, one did not hear
of destitute children being found by the commandoes,
and asked how it was that every petty commando that
took the field in this Eepublic invariably found num-
bers of destitute children. He gave it as his opinion
that the present system of apprenticeship was an essen-
tial cause of our frequent hostilities with the natives."
Mr. Jan Talyard said, "Children were forcibly taken
from their parents, and were then called destitute and
apprenticed." Mr. Daniel Van Nooren was heard to
say, " If they had to clear the country, and could not
have the children they found, he would shoot them."
Mr. Field-Coruet Furstenburg stated "that when he
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 39
was at Zoutpansberg with his burghers, the chief Katse-
Kats was told to come down from the mountains ; that
he sent one of his subordinates as a proof of amity;
that whilst a delay of five days was guaranteed by
Commandant Paul Kruger, who was then in command,
orders were given at the same time to attack the natives
at break of day, which was accordingly done, but which
resulted in total failure." Truly, this must have been
an interesting meeting.
Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must
touch on the question of slavery. It has been again
and again denied, on behalf of the Transvaal Boers, that
slavery existed in the Eepublic. Now, this is, strictly
speaking, true ; slavery did not exist, but apprentice-
ship did — the rose was called by another name, that is
alL The poor destitute children who were picked up
by kind-hearted Boers, after the extermination of their
parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they came of
age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never
attained their majority. You might meet oldish men
in the Transvaal who were not, according to their
masters* reckoning, twenty-one years of age. The asser-
tion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is only
made to hoodwink the English public. I have known
men who have owned slaves, and who have seen whole
waggon-loads of "black ivory," as they were called,
sold for about ;^I5 a-piece. I have at this moment a
tenant, Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal,
now a well-to-do man, who was for many years — about
twenty, if I remember right — a Boer slave. During
those years, he told me, he worked from morning till
night, and the only reward he received was two calvea.
He finally escaped into Natal,
40 THE TRANSVAAL.
If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find,
so I will quote a little. On the 2 2d August 1876 we
find Khama, king of the Bamangwato, one of the most
worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a message to
" Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in
these words : —
" I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen
may preserve for me my country, it being in her hands.
The Eoers are coming into it, and I do not like them.
Their actions are cruel among us black people. We
are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask
Her Majesty to pity me, and to hear that which I write
quickly. I wish to hear upon what conditions Her
Majesty will receive me, and my country and my people,
under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do
not like war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace.
I am very much distressed that my people are being
destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain peace. I
ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her
people. There are three things which distress me very
much — war, selling people, and drink. All these things
I shall find in the Boers, and it is these things which
destroy people to make an end of them in the country.
The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people
to he sold, and to-day they are still selling people. Last
year I saw them pass with two waggons full of people
whom they had bought at the river at Tanane " (Lake
Ngate).
The Special Correspondent of the Cape Argus, a
highly respectable journal, writes thus on the 28th
November 1876: — ^''The Boer from whom this infor-
mation was gleaned has furnished besides some facts
which may not be uninteresting, as a commentary on
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 41
the repeated denials by Mr. Burgers of the existence
of slavery. During the last week slaves have been
offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been
taken from Secocceni's country by Mapoch's people,
and are being exchanged at the rate of a child for a
heifer. He also assures us that the whole of the High-
veld is being replenished with Kafir children, whom
the Boers have been lately purchasing from the Swazis
at the rate of a horse for a child. I should like to see
this man and his father as witnesses before an Imperial
Commission. He let fall one or two incidents of the
past which were brought to mind by the occurrences of
the present. In 1864, he says, 'The Swazis accom-
panied the Boers against Males. The Boers did nothing
but stand by and witness the fearful massacre. The
men and women were also murdered. One poor woman
sat clutching her baby of eight days old. The Swazis
stabbed her through the body, and when she found that
she could not live, she wrung the baby's neck with her
own hands to save it from future misery. On the return
of that commando the children who became too weary
to continue the journey were killed on the road. The
survivors were sold as slaves to the farmers.* "
The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th
December as follows: — "The whole world may know
it, for it is true, and investigation will only bring out
the horrible details, that through the whole course of
this Republic's existence it has acted in contravention
of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred
not only here and there in isolated cases, but as an
unbroken practice, and has been one of the peculiar
institutions of the country, mixed up with all its social
and political life. It has been at the root of most of
42 THE TRANSVAAL.
its wars. It has been carried on regularly even m
times of peace. It has been characterised by all those
circumstances which have so often roused the British
nation to an indignant protest, and to repeated efforts
to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers
have not only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply
for the purpose of obtaining the women and children
and cattle, but they have carried on a traffic through
natives who have kidnapped the children of their
weaker neighbours, and sold them to the white man.
Again, the Boers have sold and exchanged their victims
among themselves. Waggon-loads of slaves have been
conveyed from one end of the country to the other for
sale, and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct
advantage of, the highest officials of the land. The
writer has himself seen in a town, situated in the south
of the Eepublic, the children who had been brought
down from a remote northern district. One fine morn-
ing, in walking through the streets, he was struck with
the number of little black strangers standing about
certain houses, and wondered where they could have
come from. He learnt a few hours later that they were
part of loads which were disposed of on the outskirts
of the town the day before. The circumstances con-
nected with some of these kidnapping excursions are
appalling, and the barbarities practised by cruel masters
upon some of these defenceless creatures during the
course of their servitude are scarcely less horrible than
those reported from Turkey. It is no disgrace in this
country for an official to ride a fine horse which was
got for two Kafir children, to procure whom the father
and mother were shot No reproach is inherited by
the mistress who, day after day, tied up her female
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 43
servant in an agonising posture, and had her beaten
until there was no sound part in her body, securing
her in the stocks during the intervals of torture. That
man did not lose caste who tied up another woman and
had her thrashed until she brought forth at the whip-
ping-post. These are merely examples of thousands of
cases which could be proved were an Imperial Commis-
sion to sit, and could the wretched victims of a prolonged
oppression recover sufficiently from the dread of their
old tyrants to give a truthful report."
To come to some evidence more recently adduced.
On the 9tli May 1881, an affidavit was sworn to by the
Eev. John Thorne, curate of St. John the Evangelist,
Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal Com-
mission appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which
he states : — " That I was appointed to the charge of a
congregation in Potchefstroom, about thirteen years
ago, when the Republic was under the presidency of
Mr. Pretorius.^ I remember noticing one morning
as I walked through the streets, a number of young
natives, whom I knew to be strangers. I inquired where
they came from. I was told that they had just been
brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality from
which slaves were chiefly brought at that time, and
were traded for under the name of * Black Ivory.' One
of these natives belonged to Mr. Munich, the State
Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at that
time that the President of the Republic was himself
one of the greatest dealers in slaves." In the fourth
paragraph of the same affidavit Mr. Thorne says, " That
the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the Berlin Missionary
Society, was the interpreter for Shatane's people in the
^ One of the famous Triumvirate.
44 THE TRANSVAAL.
private office of Mr. Eoth, and, at the close of the in-
terview, told me what had occurred. On my expressing
surprise, he went on to relate that he had information
on native matters which would surprise me more. He
then produced the copy of a register, kept in the Land-
drost's office, of men, women, and children, to the num-
ber of four hundred and eighty (480), who had been
disposed of by one Boer to another for a consideration.
In one case an ox was given in exchange, in another
goats, in a third a blanket, and so forth. Many of these
natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The copy
was certified as true and correct by an official of the
Eepublic, and I would mention his name now, only
that I am persuaded that it would cost the man his
life if his act became known to the Boers."
On the i6th May 188 1, a native, named Frederick
Molepo, was examined by the Eoyal Commission. The
following are extracts from his examination : —
" (Sir E. Wood.) Are you a Christian ? — ^Yes.
" {Sir H. de Villiers.) How long were you a slave ?—
Half a year.
" How do you know that you were a slave ? Might
you not have been an apprentice ? — No, I was not
apprenticed.
" How do you know? — They got me from my parents,
and ill-treated me.
" {Sir E. Wood) How many times did you get the
stick ? — Every day.
" [Sir H. de Villiers) What did the Boers do with
you when they caught you ? — They sold me.
" How much did they sell you for ? — One cow and a
big pot."
On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 45
landed in for the consideration of the Royal Commission,
the statement of a headman, whose name it has been
msidered advisable to omit in the blue-book for fear
bhe Boers should take vengeance on him. He says,
** I say, that if the English government dies I shall die
)o ; I would rather die than be under the Boer Govern-
lent. I am the man who helped to make bricks for
^the church you see now standing in the square here
(Pretoria), as a slave without payment. As a represen-
tative of my people I am still obedient to the English
Government, and willing to obey all commands from
them, even to die for their cause in this country, rathei
than submit to the Boers.
"I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the
Boers formerly, but he left us, and we were put up to
aud,ion and sold among the Boers. I want to state
this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I
was bought by Eritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha,
who was then veld cornet (justice of the peace) of the
Boers."!
It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-
trading practices of the Boers, but as the above are fair
samples it will not be necessary to do so. My readers
will be able from them to form some opinion as to
whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the
^ I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts exactly as they
•tand in the original, instead of weaving their substance into my nar-
rative, in order that I may not be accused, as so often happens to
authors who write upon this subject, of having pre.sented a garbled
version of the truth. The original of every extract is to be found in
blue-books presented to Parliament. I have thought it best to confine
myself to these, and avoid repeating stories of cruelties and slavery,
however well authenticated, that have come to my knowledge privately
inch atorien beint; always mor« or less open to suspiciou.
46 THE TRAKSVAAL.
Transvaal. If they come to the conclusion that it did,
it must be borne in mind that what existed in the past
will certainly exist again in the future. Natives are
not now any fonder of working for Boers than they
were a few years back, and Boers must get labour some-
how. If, on the other hand, it did not exist, then the
Boers are a grossly slandered people, and all writers on
the subject, from Livingstone down, have combined to
take away their character.
Leaving native questions for the present, we must
now return to the general affairs of the country. When
President Burgers opened the special sitting of the
Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed, it will
be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to
liquidate the expenses of the war. This apj^eal was
responded to by the passing of a war tax, under which
every owner of a farm was to pay ;f 10, the owner of
half a farm £^^ and so on. The tax was not a very
just one, since it fell with equal weight on the rich
man who held twenty farms and the poor man who
held but one. Its justice or injustice was, however, to
a great extent immaterial, since the free and indepen-
dent burghers, including some of the members of the
Volksraad who had imposed it, promptly refused to pay
it, or indeed, whilst they were about it, any other tax.
As the Treasury was already empty, and creditors were
pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things
began to look very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addi-
tion to the ordinary expenditure, and the interest pay-
able on debts, money had to be found to pay Von
Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in
the country, this was done by issuing Government
promissory notes, known as * goodfors," or vulgarly as
I
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 47
" good for nothings," and by promising them all booty,
and to each man a farm of two thousand acres, lying
east and north-east of the Loolu mountains^in other
words, in Secocceni's territory, which did not belong to
the Government to give away. The officials were the
next to suffer, and for six months before the Annexation
these unfortunate individuals lived as best they could,
for they certainly got no salary, except in the case of a
postmaster, who was told to help himself to his pay in
stamps. The Government issued large numbers of bills,
but the banks refused to discount them, and in some
cases the neighbouring colonies had to advance money
to the Transvaal post-cart contractors who were carry-
ing the mails, as a matter of charity. The Government
even mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the
paltry sum of ;f 400, whilst the leading officials of the
Government were driven to pledging their own private
credit in order to obtain the smallest article necessary
to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass did things
come that when the country was annexed a single
threepenny bit (which had doubtless been overlooked)
was found in the Treasury chest, together with acknow-
ledgments of debts to the extent of nearly ;£'300,ooo.
Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were
powerless to enforce, the only difficulty with which the
Government had to contend. Want of money is as bad
and painful a thing to a State as to an individual, but
there are perhaps worse things than want of money,
one of which is to be deserted by your own friends and
household. This was the position of the Government
of the Eepublic; no sooner was it involved in over-
whelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced
to bait It, more especially the English portion of ita
48 THE TRANSVAAL.
subjects. They complained to the English authoritiea
about the commandeering of members of their family
or goods; they petitioned the British Government to
interfere, and generally made themselves as unpleasant
as possible to the local authorities. Such a course of
action was perhaps natural, but it can hardly be said
to be either quite logical or just. The Transvaal
Government bad never asked them to come and live
in the country, and if they did so, it was presumably
at their own risk. On the other hand, it must be
remembered that many of the agitators had accumu-
lated property, to leave which would mean ruin; and
they saw that, unless something was done, its value
would be destroyed.
Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers
themselves split up into factions, as they are always
ready to do. The Dopper party declared that they
had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely
conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time
having nearly expired. Paul Kruger accepted the
candidature, although he had previously promised his
support to Burgers, and distrust of each other was
added to the other diJGficulties of the Executive, the
Transvaal becoming a house very much divided against
itself. Natives, Doppers, Progressionists, Officials, Eng-
lish, were all pulling different ways, and each striving
for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than
the position of the country on the ist January 1877 ^*
is impossible to conceive. Enemies surrounded it ; on
every border there was the prospect of a serious war.
In the exchequer there was nothing but piles of over-
due bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful
of his officers, and the officers were caballing against
EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION. 49
the President. All the ordinary functions of Govern-
ment had ceased, and trade was paralysed. Now and
then wild proposals were made to relieve the State of
its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of
repudiation, but these were the exception ; the majority
of the inhabitants, who would neither fight nor pay
taxes, sat still and awaited the catastrophe, utterly
careless of all consequences.
CHAPTEE IIL
THE ANNEXATION,
The state of affairs described in the previous chapter
was one that filled the Secretary of State for the
Colonies with alarm. During his tenure of office
Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare
of South Africa much at heart, and he saw with
apprehension that the troubles that were brewing in
the Transvaal were of a nature likely to involve the
Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a
broad line of demarcation between Dutch and English,
it is not so broad but that a victorious nation like the
Zulus might cross it, and beginning by fighting the
Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective
of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would
be the consequences of a combination of native tribes
against the Whites, and how easily such a combination
might at that time have been brought about in the
first flush of native successes, he will understand the
anxiety with which all thinking men watched the
course of events in the Transvaal in 1876.
At last they took such a serious turn that the Home
Government saw that some action must be taken if
the catastrophe was to be averted, and determined to
despatch Srr Theophilus Shepstone as Special Comnjis-
5V
THE ANNEXATION. 51
sioner to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be neces-
sary, to annex the country to Her Majesty's dominions,
** in order to secure the peace and safety of Our said
colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere."
The terms of his Commission were unusually large,
leaving a great deal to his discretionary power. In
choosing that officer for the execution of a most
difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubt-
less, made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus
Shepstone is a man of remarkable tact and ability,
combined with great openness and simplicity of mind,
and one whose name will always have a leading place
in South African history. During a long official life-
time he has had to do with most of the native races
in South Africa, and certainly knows them and their
ways better than any living man ; whilst he is by
them all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate
reverence. He is far excellence their great white chief
and " father," and a word from him, even now that he
has retired from active life, still carries more weight
than the formal remonstrances of any governor in
South Africa.
With the Boers he is almost equally well ac-
quainted, having known many of them personally for
years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power of
winning the regard and affection, as well as the
respect, of those about him in such a marked degree
that those who have served him once would go far
to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has
enemies like other people, and is commonly reported
among them to be a disciple of Machiavelli, and to
have his mind steeped in all the darker wiles of Kafir
policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by them
52 THE TRANSVAAL.
attributed to a successful and vigorous use of those arts
that distinguished the diplomacy of two centuries ago.
Falsehood and bribery are supposed to have been the
great levers used to effect the change, together with
threats of extinction at the hands of a savage and
unfriendly nation.
That the Annexation was a triumph of mind ove?
matter is quite true, but whether or no that triumph
was unworthily obtained, I will leave those who read
this short chronicle of the events connected with it to
judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a
newspaper the other day that the history of the
Annexation had evidently yet to be written; and I
fear that the remark represents the feeling of most
people about that event, implying as it did that it
was carried out by means certainly mysteriously and
presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those who
think thus will be disappointed in what I have to
say about the matter, since I know that the means
employed to bring the Boers —
" Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi " —
under Her Majesty's authority were throughout afa
fair and honest as the Annexation itself was, in
my opinion, right and necessary.
To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly
had faults as a ruler, one of the most prominent of
which was that his natural mildness of character
would never allow him to act with severity even
when severity was necessary. The very criminals
condemned to death ran a good chance of reprieve
when he had to sign their death-warrants. He has
also that worst of faults (so-called), in one fitted by
THE ANNEXATION. 53
nature to become great — want of ambition, a failing
that in such a man marks him the possessor of an
even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of
his own that raised him out of obscurity, and when
his work was done to comparative obscurity he elected
to return, though whether a man of his ability and
experience in South African affairs should, at the
present crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another
question.
On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone
wrote to President Burgers, informing him of his ap^
preaching visit to the Transvaal, to secure, if possible,
the adjustment of existing troubles, and the adoption
of such measures as might be best calculated to pre-
vent their recurrence in the future.
On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a
hearty welcome from the Boer as well as the English
inhabitants of the country. One of these addresses to
him says : " Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we
burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most
friendly feeling towards your Government, and that
we shall agree with anything you may do in conjunc-
tion with our Government for the progress of our
State, the strengthening against our native enemies,
and for the general welfare of all the inhabitants of
the whole of South Africa. Welcome in Heidelberg,
and welcome in the Transvaal."
At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commis-
sioner was positively enthusiastic ; the whole town
came out to meet him, and the horses having been
taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph
through the streets. In his reply to the address
presented to him, Sir Theophilus shadowed iorth the
$4 THE TRANSVAAL.
objects of his mission in these words : '* Eecent events
in this country have shown to all thinking men the
absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness
of purpose among the Christian Governments of the
southern portion of this continent : the best interests
of the native races, no less than the peace and pro-
sperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I
rely upon you and upon your Government to co-
operate with me in endeavouring to achieve the great
and glorious end of inscribing on a general South
African banner the appropriate motto — "Eendragt
maakt magt" (Unity makes strength).
A few days after his arrival a commission was
appointed, consisting of Messrs. Henderson and Osborn,
on behalf of the Special Commissioner, and Messrs.
Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal
Government, to discuss the state of the country.
This commission came to nothing, and was on both
sides nothing more than a bit of by-play.
The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded
with mixed feelings by the inhabitants of the Trans-
vaal. By one party it was eagerly greeted, viz., the
English section of the population, who devoutly hoped
that it had come to annex the country. With the
exception of the Hollander element, the officials also
were glad of its arrival, and secretly hoped that the
country would be taken over, when there would be
more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The
better educated Boers also were for the most part
satisfied that there was no hope for the country unless
England helped it in some way, though they did not
like having to accept the help. But the more bigoted
and narrow-minded among them were undoubtedly
THE ANNEXATION. 55
opposed to English interference, and under their leader,
Paul Kruger, who was at the time running for the
President's chair, did their best to be rid of it. They
found ready allies in the Hollander clientelle, with
which Mr. Burgers had surrounded himself, headed
by the famous Dr. Jorissen, who was, like most of
the rulers of this singular State, an ex-clergyman,
but now an Attorney-general, not learned in the law.
These men were for the most part entirely unfit for
the positions they held, and feared that in the event
of the country changing hands they might be ejected
from them; and also, they did all Englishmen the
favour to regard them with that peculiarly virulent
and general hatred which is a part of the secret creed
of many foreigners, more especially of such as are
under our protection. As may easily be imagined,
what between all these different parties and the pre-
sence of the Special Commissioner, there were certainly
plenty of intrigues going on in Pretoria during the first
few months of 1877, and the political excitement was
very great. Nobody knew how far Sir T. Shepstone
was prepared to go, and everybody was afraid of
putting out his hand further than he could pull it
back, and trying to make himself comfortable on two
stools at once. Members of the Volksraad and other
prominent individuals in the country who had during
the day been denouncing the Commissioner in no
measured terms, and even proposing that he and his
staff should be shot as a warning to the English
Government, might be seen arriving at his house
under cover of the shades of evening, to have a little
talk with him, and express the earnest hope that it
was his intention to annex the country as soon as
56 THE TRANSVAAL.
possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable
annexation to learn the depth of meanness human
nature is capable of.
In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great
service to the cause of the mission, since they were
nearly all in favour of a change of government, and,
that being the case, they naturally soon brought their
husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from
the same point of view. It was a wise man who
said that in any matter where it is necessary to obtain
the goodwill of a population you should win over the
women; that done, you need not trouble yourself
about the men.
Though the country was thus overflowing with
political intrigues, nothing of the kind went on in the
Commissioner's camp. It was not he who made the
plots to catch the Transvaalers ; on the contrary, they
made the plots to catch him. For several months all
that he did was to sit still and let the rival passions
work their way, fighting what the Zulus afterwards
called the " fight of sit down." When anybody came
to see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed
out the desperate condition of the country, and asked
them if they could suggest a remedy. And that was
about all he did do, beyond informing himself very
carefully as to all that was going on in the country,
and the movements of the natives within and outside
its borders. There was no money spent in bribery,
as has been stated, though it is impossible to imagine
a state of affairs in which it would have been more
easy to bribe, or in which it could have been done
with greater effect; unless indeed the promise that
some pension should be paid to President Burgers can
THE ANNEXATION.
57
be called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended
to be, but simply a guarantee that after having spent
all his private means on behalf of the State he should
not be left destitute. The statement that the Annexa-
tion was effected under a threat that if the Government
did not give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let
loose the Zulus on the country is also a wicked and
malicious invention, but with this I shall deal more
at length further on.
It must not, however, be understood that the An-
nexation was a foregone conclusion, or that Sir T,
Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the fixed
intention of annexing the country without reference
to its position, merely with a view of extending British
influence, or, as has been absurdly stated, in order to
benefit Natal. He had no fixed purpose, whether it
were necessary or no, of exercising the full powers
given to him by his commission ; on the contrary, he
was all along most anxious to find some internal
resources within the State by means of which Annexa-
tion could be averted, and of this fact his various
letters and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his
letter to President Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, i^
which he announces his intention of annexing the
country, he says: "I have more than once assured
your Honour .that if I could think of any plan by
which the independence of the State could be main-
tained by its own internal resources I would most
certainly not conceal that plan from you." It is also
incidentally remarkably confirmed by a passage in
Mr. Burgers* posthumous defence, in which he says :
"Hence I met Shepstone alone in my house, and
opened up the subject of his mission. With a candouj
Sh THE TRANSTAAL.
that astonished me, he avowed that his purpose was
to annex the country, as he had sufficient grounds for
it, unless I could so alter as to satisfy his Government.
My plan of a new constitution, modelled after that of
America, of a standing police force of two hundred
mounted men, was then proposed. He promised to
give me time to call the Volksraad together, and to
ahandon his design if the Volksraad would adopt these
measures, and the country be willing to submit to
them, and to carry them out." Further on he says :
" In justice to Shepstone I must say that I would not
consider an officer of my Government to have acted
faithfully if he had not done what Shepstone did."
It has also been frequently alleged in England, and
always seems to be taken as the groundwork of argu-
ment in the matter of the Annexation, that the
Special Commissioner represented that the majority
of the inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and
that it was sanctioned on that ground. This statement
shows the great ignorance that exists in this country
of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this
case has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's
Government for party purposes, they having found it
necessary to assume, in order to make their position
in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other
officers had been guilty of misrepresentation. Un-
fortunately, the Government and its supporters have
been more intent upon making out their case than
upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If
they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shep-
Btone's despatches, they would have found that the
ground on which the Transvaal was annexed was, not
because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it
THE ANNEXATION. 55
but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was
bankrupt, and was about to be destroyed by native
tribes. They would further have found that Sir T.
Shepstone never represented that the majority of
the Boers were in favour of Annexation. What he
did say was that most thinking men in the country
saw no other way out of the difficulty ; but what pro-
portion of the Boers can be called " thinking men ? '
He also said, in the fifteenth paragraph of his des-
patch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March 1877, that
petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every
class of the community, out of a total adult male
population of 8000, had been presented to the Govern-
ment of the Kepublic, setting forth its difficulties and
dangers, and praying it " to treat with me for their
amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with
perfect truth, that many more would have signed had
it not been for the terrorism that was exercised, and
that all the towns and villages in the country desired
the change, which was a patent fact.
This is the foundation on which the charge of
misrepresentation is built — a charge which has been
manipulated so skilfully, and with such a charming
disregard for the truth, that the British public has
been duped into believing it. When it is examined
into, it vanishes into thin air.
But a darker charge has been brought against the
Special Commissioner — a charge affecting his honour
as a gentleman and his character as a Christian ; and,
strange to say, has gained a considerable credence,
especially amongst a certain party in England. I
allude to the statement that he called up the Zulu
army with the intention of sweeping the Transvaal
6o THE TKANSVAAL.
if the Annexation was objected to. I may state,
from my own personal knowledge, that the report is
a complete falsehood, and that no such threat was
ever made, either by Sir T. Shepstone or by anybody
connected with him, and I will briefly prove what
I say.
When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a
message came from Cetywayo to the effect that he
had heard that the Boers had fired at " Sompseu "
(Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of
attacking the Transvaal if " his father " was touched.
About the middle of March alarming rumours began
to spread as to the intended action of Cetywayo with
reference to the Transvaal ; but as Sir T. Shepstone
did not think that the king would be likely to make
any hostile movement whilst he was in the country,
he took no steps in the matter. Neither did the
Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance.
Indeed, a remarkable trait in the Boers is their
supreme self-conceit, which makes them believe that
they are capable of subduing all the natives in Africa,
and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary.
Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended
to confirm them in their opinion as regards their
white enemies. To return : towards the second week
in April, or the week before the proclamation of
Annexation was issued, things began to look very
serious ; indeed, rumours that could hardly be dis-
credited reached the Special Commissioner that the
whole Zulu army was collected in a chain of Impis
or battalions, with the intention of bursting into the
Transvaal and sweeping the country. Knowing how
terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to
THE ANNEXATION. 61
happen, Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed about
the matter, and at a meeting with the Executive
Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out
to them the great danger in which the country was
placed. This was done in the presence of several
officers of his staff, and it was on this friendly exposi-
tion of the state of affairs that the charge that he had
threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus
was based. On the nth April, or the day before the
Annexation, a message was despatched to Cetywayo,
telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria,
and stating that if they were true he must forthwith
give up all such intentions, as the Transvaal would at
once be placed under the sovereignty of Her Majesty,
and that if he had assembled any armies for purposes
of aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T.
Shepstone's message reached Zululand not a day too
soon. Had the Annexation of the Transvaal been
delayed by a few weeks even — and this is a point
which I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in con-
nection with that act — Cetywayo*s armies would have
entered the Transvaal, carrying death before them, and
leaving a wilderness behind them.
Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's
message will sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus'
own words in his despatch on the subject, "the pin-
nacle of peril which the Republic and South Africa
generally had reached at the moment when the
Annexation took place." He says, " I thank my
Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his message.
I am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have
tired me out, and I intended to fight them once and
once only, and to drive them ov'er the Vaal. Kabana
62 THE TRANSVAAL.
(name of messenger), you see my Impis (armies) are
gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them
together; now I will send them back to their homes.
Is it well that two men (* amadoda-amabili *) should
be made * iziula ' (fools) ? In the reign of my father
Umpanda the Boers were constantly moving their
boundary further into my country. Since his death
the same thing has been done. I had therefore deter-
mined to end it once for all ! *' The message then
goes on to other matters, and ends with a request to
be allowed to fight the .Amaswazi, because " they
fight together and kill one another. This," says Cety-
wayo naively, " is wrong, and I want to chastise them
for it."
This quotation will suffice to convince all reason-
able men, putting aside all other matters, from what
imminent danger the Transvaal was delivered by the
much-abused Annexation.
Some months after that event, however, it occurred
to the ingenious mind of some malicious individual in
Natal that, properly used, much political capital might
be made out of this Zulu incident, and the story that
Cety wayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus
himself to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the
Transvaal, was accordingly invented and industriously
circulated. Although Sir T. Shepstone at once caused
it to be authoritatively contradicted, such an astonish-
ing slander naturally took firm root, and on the 1 2 th
April 1879 we have Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the
Boer leaders, publicly stating at a meeting of the
farmers that " previous to the Ajinexation Sir T.
Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack
from the Zulus as an argument for advancing the
THE ANNEXATION. 63
Annexation." Under such an imputation the Govern-
ment could no longer keep silence, and accordingly
Sir Owen Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the
Transvaal, caused the matter to be ofi&cially investi-
gated, with these results, which are summed up by
him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius, dated ist May
1879:—
1. The records of the Eepublican Executive Council
contained no allusion to any such statement.
2. Two members of that Council filed statements in
which they unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone
used the words or threats imputed to him.
3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were
always present with him at interviews with the Exe-
cutive Council, filed statements to the same effect.
" I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, " that
the report has been originated and circulated by some
evil-disposed person."
In addition to this evidence we have a letter written
to the Colonial Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated Lon-
don, August 12, 1879, in which he points out that
Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the
interviews with the Executive Council on which occa-
sion he accuses him of having made use of the threats.
He further shows that the use of such a threat on his
part would hav§ been the depth of folly, and " know-
ingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of
my mission," because the Boers were so persuaded of
their own prowess that they could not be convinced
that they stood in any danger from native sources, and
also because " such play with such keen-edged tools
as the excited passions of savages are, and especially
such savages as I kuew the Zulus to be, is not what
64 THE TRANSVAAL.
an experience of forty-two years in managing them
inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this accu-
mulated evidence, this report continues to be believed,
that is, by those who wished to believe it.
Such are the accusations that have been brought
against the manner of the Annexation and the officer
who carried it out, and never were accusations more
groundless. Indeed, both for party purposes, and from
personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been
used to discredit it and all connected with it. To take
a single instance, one author (Miss Colenso, p. 134,
" History of the Zulu War ") actually goes the length
of putting a portion of a speech made by President
Burgers into the mouth* of Sir T. Shepstone, and then
abusing him for his incredible profanity. Surely this
exceeds the limits of fair criticism.
Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexa-
tion there is one point I wish to submit to my reader.
In England the change of Government has always
been talked of as though it only affected the forty
thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst
everybody seems to forget that this same land had
about a million human beings living on it, its original
owners, and only, unfortunately for themselves, pos-
sessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little
consideration, — even at the hands of the most philan-
thropic Government in the world. It never seems to
have occurred to those who have raised so much out-
cry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire
what was thought of the matter by the million natives.
If they were to be allowed a voice in their own dis-
posal, the country was certainly annexed by the wish
of a very large majority of the inhabitants. It is true
THE ANNEXATION. 65
that Secocceni, instigated thereto by the Boers, after-
wards continued the war against us, but, with the
exception of this one chief, the advent of our rule was
hailed with joy by every native in the Transvaal, and
even he was glad of it at the time. During our period
of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they
foresaw, more peace than at any time since the white
man set foot in the land. They have paid their taxes
gladly, and there has been no fighting among them-
selves ; but since we have given up the country we
hear a very different tale. It is this million of men,
women, and children who, notwithstanding their black
skins, live and feel, and have intelligence as much as
ourselves, who are the principal, because the most
numerous sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring
tricks, that can turn a Sovereign into a Suzerain as
airily as the professor of magic brings a litter of
guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our falsehood and
treachery to them whom we took over " for ever," as
we told them, and whom we have now handed back
to their natural enemies to be paid off for their loyalty
to the Englishman, that is the blackest stain in all
this black business, and that has destroyed our prestige,
and caused us to be looked on amongst them, for they
do not hide their opinion, as " cowards and liars."
But very little attention, however, seems to have
been paid to native views or claims at any time in
the Transvaal ; indeed they have all along been treated
as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if necessary, to
a new master. It is true that the Government, acting
under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society,
made, on the occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort
to secure the independence of some of the native
66 THE TRANSVAAL.
tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them shortly
that they would have nothing of the sort, and that,
if they were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's
Nek, the proposal was at once dropped, with many
assurances that no offence was intended. The worst
of the matter is that this treatment of our native
subjects and allies will assuredly recoil on the heads
of future innocent Governments.
Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Com-
mission alluded to at the beginning of this chapter..
President Burgers, who was now in possession of the
Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be unable
to carry out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the
English Government, thought it best to call together
the Volksraad. In the meantime, it had been an-
nounced that the "rebel" Secocceni had sued for
peace and signed a treaty declaring himself a subject
of the Republic. I shall have to enter into the
question of this treaty a little further on, so I will at
present only say that it was the first business laid before
the Eaad, and, after some discussion, ratified. Next
in order to the Secocceni peace came the question of
Confederation, as laid down in Lord Carnarvon's Per-
missive Bill. This proposal was laid before them in
an earnest and eloquent speech by their President,
who entreated them to consider the dangerous position
of the Eepublic, and to face their difficulties like men.
The question was referred to a committee, and an
adverse report being brought up, was rejected without
further consideration. It is just possible that intimi-
dation had something to do with the summary treat-
ment of so important a matter, seeing that whilst it
was being argued a large mob of Boers, looking very
THE ANNEXATION. 67
formidable with their sea-cow hide whips, watched every
move of their representatives through the windows of
the Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. Chamberlain's caucus
system in practical and visible operation.
A few days after the rejection of the Confederation
Bill, President Burgers, who had frequently alluded
to the desperate condition of the Eepublic, and stated
that either some radical reform must be effected or
the country must come under the British flag, laid
before the Kaad a bran new constitution of a very
remarkable nature, asserting that they must either
accept it or lose their independence.
The first part of this strange document dealt with
the people and their rights, which remained much as
they were before, with the exception that the secrecy
of all letters entrusted to the post was to be inviolable.
The recognition of this right is an amusing incident
in the history of a free Eepublic. Under following
articles the Volksraad was entrusted with the charge
of the native inhabitants of the State, the provision
for the administration of justice, the conduct of
education, the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is
in the fourth chapter, however, that we come to the
real gist of the Bill, which was the endowment of the
State President with the authority of a dictator. Mr,
Burgers thought to save the State by making himself
an absolute monarch. He was to be elected for a
period of seven instead of five years, and to be eligible
for re-election. In him was vested the power of
making all appointments without reference to the
Legislature. All laws were to be drawn up by him,
and he was to have the right of veto on Volksraad
resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve
68 THE TRANSVAAL.
at will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist
of heads of departments appointed by himself, and of
one member of the Volksraad. The Volksraad treated
this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt
with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual
consideration, and threw it out.
The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to
convince the Eaad of the danger of the country ; that
the treasury was empty, whilst duns were pressing,
that enemies were threatening on every side, and, finally,
that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped
within a thousand yards of them, watching their
deliberations with some interest. He showed them
that it was impossible at once to scorn reform and
reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything
could save them, but that if they took no steps they
were certainly lost as a nation. The " Fathers of the
land," however, declined to dance to the President'?
piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told them
that a guilty nation never can evade the judgment
that follows its steps. He asked them " conscientiously
to advise the people not obstinately to refuse a union
with a powerful Government. He could not advise
them to refuse such a union. , . . He did not believe
that a new constitution would save them ; for as little
as the old constitution had brought them to ruin, so
little would a new constitution bring salvation. . . ,
If the citizens of England had behaved towards the
Crown as the burghers of this State had behaved to
their Government, England would never have stood
so long as she had." He pointed out to them their
hopeless financial position. " To-day," he said, " a bill
for ;fiioo was laid before me for signature; but I
THE ANNEXATION. 59
would sooner have cut off my right hand than sign
that paper — (cheers) — for I have not the slightest
ground to expect that, when that bill becomes due,
there will be a penny to pay it with." And finally,
he exhorted them thus : " Let them make the best of
the situation, and get the best terms they possibly
could ; let them agree to join their hands to those of
their brethren in the south, and then from the Cape
to the Zambesi there would be one great people.
Yes, there was something grand in that, grander even
than their idea of a Eepublic, something which minis-
tered to their national feeling — (cheers) — and would
this be so miserable ? Yes, this would be miserable
for those who would not be under the law, for the
rebel and the revolutionist, but welfare and prosperity
for the men of law and order."
These powerful words form a strong indictment
against the Eepublic, and from them there can be little
doubt that President Burgers was thoroughly convinced
of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It
is interesting to compare them, and many other utter-
ances of his made at this period, with the opinions he
expresses in the posthumous document recently pub-
lished, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of the
lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such
" an inherently weak people as the Boers," and points
to them as striking instances of retribution. In this
document he attributes the Annexation to the desire
to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to
lay hold of the way to Central South Africa. It is,
however, noticeable that he does not in any way indi-
cate how it could have been averted, and the State
continue to exist ; and he seems all along to feel that
70 THE TRANSVAAL.
his case is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting
to explain, why he had never defended himself from
the charges brought against him in connection with
the Annexation, he says : " Had I not endured in
silence, had I not borne patiently all the accusations,
but out of selfishness or fear told the plain truth of
the case, the Transvaal would never have had the con-
sideration it has now received from Great Britain. How-
ever unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification
would have exposed the Boers to stock an extent, and the
state of the country in such a way, that it would have
deprived them both of the sympathy of the world and
the consideration of the English politicians." In other
words, "If I had told the truth about things as I
should have been obliged to do to justify myself, there
would have been no more outcry about the Annexa-
tion, because the whole world, even the English
Eadicals, would have recognised how necessary it was.
and what a fearful state the country was in."
But to let that pass, it is evident that President
Burgers did not take the same view of the Annexation
in 1877 as he did in 188 1, and indeed his speeches
to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed in
parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The
reader would be forced to one of two conclusions,
either on one of the two occasions he is saying what
he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind.
As I believe him to have been an honest man, I
incline to the latter supposition ; nor do I consider it
so very hard to account for, taking into consideration
his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is
the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin,
if not to actual extinction, when the strong hand of
THE ANNEXATION.
71
the English Government is held out to him. What
wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of his
country, which is by its help brought into a state of
greater prosperity than it has ever before known ? In
1 88 1 the wheel has gone round, and great events
have come about whilst he lies dying. The enemies
of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the
Zulus and Secocoeni are no more; the country has
prospered under a healthy rule, and its finances have
been restored. More, — glad tidings have come from
Mid-Lothian to the " rebel and the revolutionist,"
whose hopes were flagging, and eloquent words have
been spoken by the new English Dictator that have
aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all, English
troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats,
and England sues for peace from the South African
peasant, heedless of honour or her broken word, so
that the prayer be granted. "With such events before
him, that dying man may well have found cause to
change his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was
wrong, since England disowns her acts ; and may not
that dream about the great South African Kepublic
come true after all ? Has not the pre-eminence of the
Englishman received a blow from which it can never
recover, and is not his control over Boers and natives
irredeemably weakened ? And must he, — Burgers, —
go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to for-
ward the interests of the English party ? No, doubt-
less the Annexation was wrong ; but it has done good,
for it has brought about the downfall of the English :
and we will end the argument in the very words of
his last public utterance, with which he ends his
statement : " South Africa gained more from this, and
72 THE TRANSVAAL.
has made a larger step forward in the march of freedom
than most people can conceive."
Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of
dying men are sometimes prophetic I South Africa
has made a great advance towards the " freedom ** of
a Dutch Eepublic.
This has been a digression, but I hope not an un-
interesting one. To return — on the ist March, Sir
T. Shepstone met the Executive Council, and told
them that in his opinion there was now but one
remedy to be adopted, and that was that the Trans-
vaal should be united with the English colonies of
South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, say-
ing at the same time that the only thing now left to
the Eepublic was to make the best arrangements it
could for the future benefit of its inhabitants, and to
submit to that which he saw to be, and every thinking
man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information
was officially communicated to the Eaad, for a good
proportion of its members were already acquainted with
it unofficially, it flew from a state of listless indifference
into vigorous and hasty action. The President was
censured, and a committee was appointed to consider
and report upon the situation, which reported in favour
of the adoption of Burgers' new constitution. Accord-
ingly, the greatest part of this measure, which had
been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was
adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger
was appointed Vice-President. On the following day,
a very drastic treason law was passed, borrowed from
the statute-book of the Orange Free State, which
made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the
Government, or in any way supporting the Annexa-
THE ANNEXATION. 73
tion party, high treason. This done, the Assembly
prorogued itself until — October 1881
During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours
arose that the chief Secocoeni's signature to the treaty
of peace, ratified by that body, had been obtained by
misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty consisted
of three articles, according to which Secocoeni con-
sented, first, to become a subject of the Republic, and
obey the laws of the country ; secondly, to agree to a
certain restricted boundary line ; and, thirdly, to pay
2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had cap-
tured quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant.
Towards the end of February a written message
was received from Secocoeni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated
efter the signing of the supposed treaty. The original,
which was written in Sisutu, was a great curiosity.
The following is a correct translation : —
Ftbruary 16, 1877.
" For Myn Heer Sheepstone, — I beg you, Chief,
come help me, the Boers are killing me, and I don't
know the reasons why they should be angry with me ;
Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer Merensky. —
I am SiKUKUNi."
This message was accompanied by a letter from
Mr. Merensky, a well-known and successful mis-
sionary, who had been for many years resident in
Secocoeni*s country, in which he stated that he heard
on very good authority that Secocoeni had distinctly
refused to agree to that article of the treaty by which
he became a subject of the State. He adds that he
cannot remain " silent while such tricks are played."
74 THE TRANSVAAL.
Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to
President Burgers, stating that " if the officer in whom
you have placed confidence has withheld any portion
of the truth from you, especially so serious a portion
of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally,
as well as towards the Government, because he has
caused you to assume an untenable position," and
suggesting that a joint-commission should be despatched
to Secocceni, to thoroughly sift the question in the
interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after
some delay agreed to, and a commission was appointed,
consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a Hollander, and Mr.
Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on
behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn,
R.M., and Captain Clarke, K.A.,^ on behalf of the
Commissioner, whom I accompanied as Secretary.
At Middleburg the native Gideon who acted as
interpreter between Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G.
(the officer who negotiated the treaty on behalf of the
Boer Government), and Secocceni was examined, and
also two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with
him, but did not actually interpret. All these men
persisted that Secocceni had positively refused to be-
come a subject of the Republic, and only consented to
sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant
Ferreira that it would only be binding as regards to the
two articles about the cattle and the boundary line.
The Commission then proceeded to Secocoeni's town,
accompanied by a fresh set of interpreters, and had
a long interview with Secocceni The chiefs Prime
Minister or " mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his
^ Now Sir Maraball Olarke, Special Cornxnissioner for Basutoland.
THE ANNEXATION. 75
presence and on his behalf, and making use of the
pronoun " I " before all the assembled headmen of the
tribe, gave an account of the interview between Com-
mandant Ferreira in the presence of that gentleman,
who accompanied the Commission, and Secocceni, in
almost the same words as had been used by the in-
terpreters at Middleburg. He distinctly denied having
consented to become a subject of the Eepublic or to
stand under the law, and added that he feared he
" had touched the feather to " (signed) things that he
did not know of in the treaty. Commandant Ferreira
then put some questions, but entirely failed to shake
the evidence ; on the contrary, he admitted by his
questions that Secocceni had not consented to become
a subject of the Eepublic. Secocceni had evidently
signed the piece of paper under the impression that
he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head
of cattle, and fixing a certain portion of his boundary
line, and on the distinct understanding that he was
not to become a subject of the State.
Now it was the Secocceni war that had brought
the English Mission into the country, and if it could
be shown that the Secocceni war had come to a
successful termination, it would go far towards help-
ing the Mission out again. To this end, it was
necessary that^ the chief should declare himself a
subject of the State, and thereby, by implication,
acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit
his defeat. All that was required was a signature,
and that once obtained the treaty was published and
submitted to the Eaad for confirmation, without a
whisper being heard of the conditions under which
this ignorant Baauto was induced to sign. Had no
76 THE TRANSVAAL.
Commission visited Secocoeni, this treaty would after-
wards have been produced against him in its entirety.
Altogether, the history of the Secocoeni Peace Treaty
does not reassure one as to the genuineness of the
treaties which the Boers are continually producing,
purporting to have been signed by native chiefs, and,
as a general rule, presenting the State with great
tracts of country in exchange for a horse or a few
oxen. However fond the natives may be of their
Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely be genuine.
On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to
sign a paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross
for him, and once made, as we all know, litera scripta
manety and becomes title to the lands.
During the Secocoeni investigation, affairs in the
Transvaal were steadily drifting towards anarchy.
The air was filled with rumours ; now it was reported
that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English
population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten
Von Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should
be " subdued ; " now it was said that Cety wayo had
crossed the border, and might shortly be expected at
Pretoria ; now that a large body of Boers were on their
road to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five
policemen, and Englishmen generally, and so on.
Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not
letting the grass grow under their feet, but worked
public feeling with great vigour, with the double
object of getting Paul made President and ridding
themselves of the English. Articles in his support
were printed in the well-known Dutch pa^er IHe
Patriot, published in. the Cape Colony, which are so
typical of the Boers and of the only literature that
THE ANNEXATION. 77
has the slightest influence over them, that I will quote
a few extracts from one of them.
After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched
condition of the country as compared to what it was
when the Kafirs had " a proper respect " for the
Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article
proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs.
"God's word," it says, "gives us the solution. Look
at Israel, while the people have a godly king, every-
thing is prosperous, but under a godless prince the
land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must
suffer. Kead Leviticus, chapter xxvi., with attention,
&c. In the day of the Voortrekkers (pioneers), a
handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and made
them run; so also in the Free State war (Deut.
xxxii. 30; Joe. xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark,
now, when Burgers became President, he knows no
Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town
on Sunday, he knows not the church and God's
service (Lev. xxvi. 2, 3), to the scandal of pious
people. And he formerly was a priest too. And
what is the consequence ? No harvest (Lev. xxvi.
16), an army of 6000 men runs because one man
falls (Lev. xxvi 1 7, &c.). What is now the remedy ? "
The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, " because there
is no other candidate. Because our Lord clearly
points him out to be the man, for why is there no
other candidate ? Who arranged it this way ? " Then
follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's
election. " Because he himself (Paul Kruger) acknow-
ledges in his own reply that he is incompeterU, but
that all his ability is from our Lord. Because he
is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul
78 THE TRANSVAAL.
Kruger, the warrior and the Boer, is compared to
Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came from
behind the sheep." The burghers of the Transvaal
are exhorted to acknowledge the hand of the Lord,
and elect Paul Kruger, or to look for still heavier
punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 1 8 et seq.) Next the
Patriot proceeds to give a bit of advice to " our
candidate, Paul Kruger." He is to deliver the land
from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given you the
heart of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of
advice quite suited to his well-known character. But
this chosen vessel was not to get all the loaves and
fishes ; on the contrary, as soon as he had fulfilled his
jiiission of " driving " the Kafirs, he was to hand over
his office to a "good" President. The article ends
thus : " If the Lord wills to use you now to deliver
this land from its enemiea, and a day of peace and
prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not
exactly the statesman to further govern the Eepublic,
then it will be your greatest honour to say, * Citizens,
I have delivered you from the enemy, I am no states-
man, but now you have peace and time to choose and
elect a good President.* "
An article such as the above, is instructive reading,
as showing the low calibre of the minds that are
influenced by it. Yet such writings and sermons
have more power among the Boers than any other
arguments, appealing as they do to the fanaticism
and vanity of their nature, which causes them to
believe that the Divinity is continually interfering on
their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be
noticed that the references given are all to the Old
Testament, and nearly all refer to acts of blood.
THE ANNEXATION. 79
These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable
to Burgers' party, or the more enlightened members
of the community, and so bitter did the struggle of
rival opinions become that there is very little doubt
that had the country not been annexed, civil war
would have been added to its other calamities. Mean-
while the natives were from day to day becoming
more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving
at the Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their
tribe might be put under the Queen, and stating that
they would fight rather than submit any longer to the
Boers.
At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone in-
formed the Government of the Eepublic that he was
about to declare the Transvaal British territory. He
told them that he had considered and reconsidered
his determination, but that he could see no possible
means within the State by which it could free itself
from the burdens that were sinking it to destruction,
adding that if he could have found such means he
would certainly not have hidden them from the
Government. This intimation was received in silence,
though all the later proceedings with reference to the
Annexation were in reality carried out in concert with
the authorities of the Eepublic. Thus on the 13 th
March the Government submitted a paper of ten
questions to Sir T. Shepstone as regards the future
condition of the Transvaal under English rule, whether
the debts of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To
these questions replies were given which were on the
whole satisfactory to the Government. As these re-
plies formed the basis of the proclamation eruarantees,
it is not necessary to enter into them.
8o THE TRANSVAAL.
It was further arranged by the Republican Govern*
ment that a formal protest should be entered against
the Annexation, which was accordingly prepared and
privately shown to the Special Commissioner. The
Annexation proclamation was also shown to President
Burgers, and a paragraph eliminated at his sugges-
tion. In fact, the Special Commissioner and the
President, together with most of his Executive, were
quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclama-
tion being issued, their joint endeavours being directed
to the prevention of any disturbance, and to secure a
good reception for the change.
At length, after three months of inquiry and nego-
tiation, the proclamation of annexation was on the
1 2th of April 1877 read by Mr. Osborn, accompanied
by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's staff.
It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use
the words of the Special Commissioner in his despatch
home on the subject, "Every effort had been made
during the previous fortnight by, it is said, educated
Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the
country, to rouse the fanaticism of the Boers, and to
induce them to offer * bloody' resistance to what it
was known I intended to do. The Boers were
appealed to in the most inHammatory language by
printed manifestoes and memorials; .... it was
urged that I had but a small escort, which could
easily be overpowered." In a country so full of
desperadoes and fanatical haters of anything English,
it was more than possible that, though such an act
would have been condemned by the general sense of
the country, a number of men could easily be found
who would think they were doing a righteous act in
THE ANNEXATION. 8i
greeting the " annexationists " with an ovation of
bullets. I do not mean that the anxiety was personal,
because I do not think the members of that small
party set any higher value on their lives than other
people, but it was absolutely necessary for the success
of the act itself, and for the safety of the country,
that not a single shot should be fired. Had that
happened it is probable that the whole country would
have been involved in confusion and bloodshed, the
Zulus would have broken in, and the Kafirs would
have risen ; in fact, to use Cety wayo's words, " the
land would have burned with fire."
It will therefore be easily understood what an
anxious hour that was both for the Special Commis-
sioner sitting up at Government House, and for his
staff down on the Market Square^ and how thankful
they were when the proclamation was received with
hearty cheers by the crowd. Mr. Burgers' protest,
which was read immediately afterwards, was received
in respectful silence.
And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a
while into the great family of the English Colonies.
I believe that the greatest political opponent of the
act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability
with which it was carried out. When the variety
and number of the various interests that had to be
conciliated, the obstinate nature of the individuals who
had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred of
the English name and ways which had to be overcome
to carry out this act successfully, are taken into con-
sideration, together with a thousand other matters,
the neglect of any one of which would have sufficed
to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and
82 THE TRANSVAAL.
skill and knowledge of human nature was required
to execute so difl&cult a task. It must be remem-
bered that no force was used, and that there never
was any threat of force. The few troops that were
to enter the Transvaal were four weeks* march from
Pretoria at the time. There was nothing whatso-
ever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop
to the proceedings of the Commissioner if they had
thought fit.
That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous
game nobody will deny, but, like most players who
combine boldness with coolness of head and justice of
cause, he won ; and, without shedding a single drop
of blood, or even confiscating an acre of land, and at
no cost, annexed a great country, and averted a very
serious war. That same country four years later cost
us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand
men killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more
confiding thousands, to surrender. It is true, however,
that nobody can accuse the retrocession of having
been conducted with judgment or ability — very much
the contrary.
There can be no more ample justification of the
issue of the Annexation proclamation than the pro-
clamation itself.
First, it touches on the Sand Eiver Convention of
1852, by which independence was granted to the
State, and shows that the " evident objects and in-
citing motives " in granting such guarantee were to
promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse, in
the hope and belief that the Eepublic " would become
a flourishing and self-sustaining State, a source of
strength and security to neighbouring European com-
THE ANNEXATION. 83
munities, and a point from which Christianity and
civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central
Africa." It goes on to show how these hopes have
been disappointed, and how that " increasing weakness
in the State itself on the one side, and more than
corresponding growth of real strength and confidence
among the native tribes on the other, have produced
their natural and inevitable consequence . . . that
after more or less of irritating conflict with aboriginal
tribes to the north, there commenced about the year
1867 gradual abandonment to the natives in that
direction of territory settled by burghers of the Trans-
vaal "in well-built towns and villages and on granted
farms."
It goes on to show that " this decay of power and
^bb of authority in the north is being followed by
similar processes in the south under yet more dan-
gerous circumstances. People of this State residing
in that direction have been compelled within the last
three months, at the bidding of native chiefs, and at a
moment's notice, to leave their farms and homes, their
standing crops ... all to be taken possession of by
natives, but that the Government is more powerless
than ever to vindicate its assumed rights or to resist
the declension that is threatening its existence." It
then recitea^ how all the other colonies and communi-
ties of South Africa have lost confidence in the State,
how it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and
its commerce annihilated, whilst the inhabitants are
divided into factions, and the Government has fallen
into "helpless paralysis." How also the prospect of
the election of a new President, instead of being
looked forward to with hope, would in the opinion of
84 THE TRANSVAAL.
all parties be the signal for civil war, anarchy, and
bloodshed. How that this state of things affords the
very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring
native powers to attack the country, a temptation
that they were only too ready and anxious to yield
to, and that the State was in far too feeble a condi-
tion to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto
only been saved by the repeated representations of
the Government of Natal. The next paragraphs I
will quote as they stand, for they sum up the reasons
for the Annexation.
"That the Secocceni war, which would have pro-
duced but little effect on a healthy constitution, has
not only proved suddenly fatal to the resources and
reputation of the Kepublic, but has shown itself to be
a culminating point in the history of South Africa, in
that a Makatee or Basuto tribe, unwarlike and of no
account in Zulu estimation, successfully withstood the
strength of the State, and disclosed for the first time
to the native powers outside the Republic, from the
Zambesi to the Cape, the great change that had taken
place in the relative strength of the white and black
races, that this disclosure at once shook the prestige
of the white man in South Africa, and placed every
European community in peril, that this common danger
has caused universal anxiety, has given to all con-
cerned the right to investigate its cause, and to protect
themselves from its consequences, and has imposed
the duty upon those who have the power to shield
enfeebled civilisation from the encroachments of bar-
barism and inhumanity." It proceeds to point out
that the Transvaal will be the first to suffer from the
results of its own policy, and that it is for every
THE ANNEXATION. 85
reason perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Govern-
ment to stand by and see a friendly white State
ravaged, knowing that its own possessions will be the
next to suffer. That Her Majesty's Government,
being persuaded that the only means to prevent
such a catastrophe would be by the annexation of the
country, and, knowing that this was the wish of a
large proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal,
the step must be taken. Next follows the formal
annexation.
Together with the proclamation, an address was
issued by Sir T. Shepstone to the burghers of the
State, laying the facts before them in a friendly
manner, more suited to their mode of thought than
it was possible to do in a formal proclamation.
This document, the issue of which was one of those
touches that insured the success of the Annexation,
was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of
the arguments used in the proclamation, strengthened
by quotations from the speeches of the President. It
ends with these words : " It remains only for me to
beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said
calmly and without undue prejudice. Let not mere
feeling or sentiment prevail over your judgment.
Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall
be, and what you will soon find from experience, is a
blessing not only to you and your children, but to
the whole of South Africa through you, and believe
that I speak these words to you as a friend from my
heart."
Two other proclamations were also issued, one
notifying the assumption of the office of Administrator
of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone, and the other
86 THE TRANSVAAL.
repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal
and oppressive impost.
I have in the preceding pages stated all the prin-
cipal grounds of the Annexation and briefly sketched
the history of that event In the next chapter I
propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal, under
British Kule.
CHAPTEE IV.
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE.
The news of the Annexation was received all over the
country with a sigh of relief, and in many parts of it
with great rejoicings. At the Gold Fields, for instance,
special thanksgiving services were held, and " God save
the Queen " was sung in church. Nowhere was there
the slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses
of congratulation and thanks literally poured in by
every mail, many of them signed by Boers who have
since been conspicuous for their bitter opposition to
English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to
what would be the course taken under the circum-
stances by the volunteers enlisted by the late Eepublic.
Major Clarke, E.A., was sent to convey the news, and
to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his
Kafir servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at
once ordered the Eepublican flag to be hauled down
and the UAion Jack run up, and his orders were
promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some mem-
bers of the force thought better of it, and having made
up their minds to kill him, came to the tent where he
was sitting to carry out their purpose. On learning
their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass
in his eye, and after steadily glaring at them through
87
88 THE TRANSVAAL.
it for some time, said, " You are all drunk, go back to
your tents." The volunteers, quite overcome by his
coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once slipped off,
and there was no further trouble. About three weeks
after the Annexation, the i-i3th Regiment arrived at
Pretoria, having been very well received all along the
road by the Boers, who came from miles round to hear
the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a
sight ; the whole population turned out to meet it ;
indeed the feeling of rejoicing and relief was so pro-
found that when the band began to play " God save the
Queen " some of the women burst into tears.
Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the
country was perfectly magical. Credit and commerce
were at once restored; the railway bonds that were
down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to
par, and the value of landed property nearly doubled.
Indeed it would have been possible for any one, know-
ing what was going to happen, to have realised large
sums of money by buying land in the beginning of
1877, and selling it shortly after the Annexation.
On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all
the native chiefs who were anywhere within reach
were summoned to attend the first formal hoisting of
the English flag. The day was a general festival, and
the ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers
and natives in addition to all the English. At mid-
day, amidst the cheers of the crowd, the salute of
artillery, and the strains of " God save the Queen," the
Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Trans-
vaal was formally announced to be British soil. The
flag was hoisted by Colonel Brooke, RE., and the
present writer. Speaking for myself, I may say that
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 89
it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could
I have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag,
then hoisted with so much joyous ceremony, within a
few years shamefully and dishonourably hauled down
and buried,* I think it would have been the most
miserable.
The Annexation was as well received in England as
it was in the Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir
T. Shepstone to convey "the Queen's entire approval
of your conduct since you received Her Majesty's com-
mission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf
of the Government for the admirable prudence and
discretion with which you have discharged a great
and unwonted responsibility." It was also accepted
by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since
it was not till afterwards, when the subject became
useful as an electioneering howl, that the Liberal party,
headed by our " powerful popular minister," discovered
the deep iniquity that had been perpetrated in South
Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers with the
change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who
formed the deputation to proceed to England and
present President Burgers' formal protest against the
Annexation, found great difficulty in raising one-half
of the necessary expenses — something under one thou-
sand pounds — towards the cost of the undertaking.
The thirst for independence cannot have been very great
when all the wealthy burghers in the Transvaal put
together would not subscribe a thousand pounds towards
retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the
deputation themselves seem to have looked upon their
^ The English flag was during the signing of the Convention at Pre
toria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen and loyal nativM.
90 THE TKANSVAAL.
undertaking as being both doubtful and undesirable,
since they informed Sir T. Shepstone that they were
going to Europe to discharge an obligation which had
been imposed upon them, and if the mission failed,
they would have done their duty. Mr. Kruger said
that if they did fail, he would be found to be as faith-
ful a subject under the new form of government as he
had been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted
with equal frankness that " the change was inevitable,
and expressed his belief that the cancellation of it
would be calamitous."
Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in
the country immediately interested, a lively agitation
was commenced in the Western Province of the Cape
Colony, a thousand miles away, with a view of inducing
the Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's
act. The reason of this movement was that the Cape
Dutch party, caring little or nothing for the real interests
of the Transvaal, did care a great deal about their scheme
to turn all the white communities of South Africa into
a great Dutch Kepublic, to which they thought the
Annexation would be a deathblow. As I have said
elsewhere, it must be borne in mind that the strings
of the anti- annexation agitation have all along been
pulled in the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal
Boers have played the parts of puppets. The instru-
ments used by the leaders of the movement in the
Cape were, for the most part, the discontented and
unprincipled Hollander element, a newspaper of an
extremely abusive nature called the Volkstem, and
another in Natal known as the HatcU Witiiess, lately
edited by the notorious Aylward, which has an almost
equally unenviable reputation.
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 91
On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in
England, they were received with great civility by
Lord Carnarvon, who was, however, careful to explain
to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In this
decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lord-
ship of their determination to do all they could to in-
duce the Boers to accept the new state of things, and
expressing their desire to be allowed to serve under
the new Government.
Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily ar-
ranging matters with Lord Carnarvon, Sir. T. Shepstone
was making a tour round the country which resembled
a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was
everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of
the community, Boers, English, and natives, and numer-
ous addresses were presented to him couched in the
warmest language, not only by Englishmen, but also
by Boers.
It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a
great number of the inhabitants of the Transvaal for
English rule, and the quiet acquiescence of the remain-
der, at this time, with the decidedly antagonistic atti-
tude assumed later on. It appears to me, however, that
there are several reasons that go far towards accounting
for it. The Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the
position of a man with a knife at his throat, who is
suddenly rescued by some one stronger than he, on cer-
tain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but
afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repu-
diate. In the same way the inhabitants of the South
African Kepublic were in the time of need very thank-
ful for our aid, but after a while, when the recollection
of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts
92 THE TRANSVAAL.
had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began
to think that they would like to get rid of us again, and
start fresh on their own account with a clean sheet.
What fostered agitation more than anything else, how-
ever, was the perfect impunity with which it was allowed
to be carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision
been shown in the first instance there would have been
no further trouble. We might have been obliged to
confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and perhaps imprison as
many free burghers for a few months, and there it
would have ended. Neither Boers or natives under-
stand our namby-pamby way of playing at government;
they put it down to fear. What they want, and what
they expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm
hand. Thus when the Boers found that they could agi-
tate with impunity, they naturally enough continued to
agitate. Anybody who knows them will understand
that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves in
possession of that delightful thing, a grievance, and, in-
stead of stopping quietly at home on their farms, to feel
obliged to proceed, full of importance and long words,
to a distant meeting, there to spout and listen to the
spouting of others. It is so much easier to talk politics
than to sow mealies. Some attribute the discontent
among the Boers to the postponement of the carrying
out of the Annexation proclamation promises with re-
ference to the free institutions to be granted to the
country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to
do with it. The Boers never understood the question
of responsible government, and never wanted that in-
stitution; what they did want was to be free of all
English control, and this they said twenty times in the
most outspoken language. I think there is little doubt
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 93
the causes I have indicated are the real sources of the
agitation, though there must be added to them their
detestation of our mode of dealing with natives, and of
being forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the cease-
less agitation of the Cape wire-pullers, through their
agents the Hollanders, and their organs in the press.
On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the
Transvaal, the latter gentleman resumed his duties as
Attorney- General, on which occasion, if I remember
aright, I myself had the honour of administering to
him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he
afterwards kept so well. The former reported the pro-
ceedings of the deputation to a Boer meeting, when he
took a very different tone to that in which he addressee'
Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there existed a
majority of the people in favour of independence, b"
still was Vice-President of the country.
Both these gentlemen remained for some time in
the pay of the British Government, Mr. Jorissen as
Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member of the
Executive Council. The Government, however, at
length found it desirable to dispense with their services,
though on different grounds. Mr. Jorissen had, like
several other members of the Eepublican Government,
been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold the post
of Attorney-General in an important colony like the
Transvaal, where legal questions were constantly arising
requiring all the attention of a trained mind ; and after
he had on several occasions been publicly admonished
from the bench, the Government retired him on liberal
terms. Needless to say, his opposition to English rule
then became very bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment
expired by law in November 1877, and the Government
94 THE TRANSVAAL.
did not think it advisable to re-employ him. The
terms of his letter of dismissal can be found on page
135 of Blue-book (c. 144), and involving as they do a
serious charge of misrepresentation in money matters,
are not very creditable to him. After this event he
also pursued the cause of independence with increased
vigour.
During the last months of 1877 and the first part of
1878 agitation against British rule went on unchecked,
and at last grew to alarming proportions, so much so
that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the Zulu
border in March 1878, where he had been for some
months discussing the vexed and dangerous question
of the boundary line with the Zulus, found it necessary
to issue a stringent proclamation warning the agitators
that their proceedings and meetings were illegal, and
would be punished according to law. This document,
which was at the time vulgarly known as the " Hold-
your-jaw " proclamation, not being followed by action,
produced but little effect.
On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was
convened, at which it was decided to send a second
deputation to England, to consist this time of Messrs.
Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This
deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir, M. Hicks
Beach assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878,
that it is " impossible, for many reasons, . . . that the
Queen's sovereignty should now be withdrawn."
Whilst the Government was thus hampered by in-
ternal disaffection, it had also many other difficulties
on its hands. First, there was the Zulu boundary
question, which was constantly developing new dangers
to the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE.
95
might happen in that direction from one week to another,
Nor were its relations with SecoccEni satisfactory. It
will be remembered that just before the Annexation
this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become
a British subject, and even paid over part of the fine
demanded from him by the Boer Government to the
Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In March 1878,
however, his conduct towards the Government under-
went a sudden change, and he practically declared war.
It afterwards appeared, from Secocoeni's own statement,
that he was instigated to this step by a Boer, Abel
Erasmus by name — the same man who was concerned
in the atrocities in the first Secocceni war — who con-
stantly encouraged him to continue the struggle. I do
not propose to minutely follow the course of this long
war, which, commencing in the beginning of 1878, did
not come to an end till after the Zulu war : when Sir
Garnet Wolseley attacked SecoccBni's stronghold with
a large force of troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and
took it with great slaughter. The losses on our side
were not very heavy, so far as white men were con-
cerned, but the Swazis are reported to have lost 400
killed and 500 wounded.
The struggle was, during the long period preceding
the final attack, carried on with great courage and
ability by Majpr Clarke, E.A., C.M.G., whose force, at
the best of times, only consisted of 200 volunteers and
100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived,
however, to keep Secocceni in check, and to take some
important strongholds. It was marked also by some
striking acts of individual bravery, of which one, per-
formed by Major Clarke himself, whose reputation for
cool courage and presence of mind in danger is unsur-
96 THE TRANSVAAL.
passed in South Africa, is worthy of notice ; and which,
had public attention been more concentrated on the Seco-
coeni war, would doubtless have won him the Victoria
Cross. On one occasion, on visiting one of the outlying
forts, he found that a party of hostile natives, who were
coming down to the fort on the previous day with a flag
of truce, had been accidentally fired on, and had at once
retreated. As his system in native warfare was always
to try and inspire his enemy with perfect faith in the
honour of Englishmen, and their contempt of all tricks
and treachery even towards a foe, he was very angry
at this occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unat-
tended save by his native servant, rode up into the
mountains to the kraal from which the white flag party
had come on the previous day, and apologised to the
chief for what had happened. When I consider how
very anxious Secocceni's natives were to kill or capture
Clarke, whom they held in great dread, and how terrible
the end of so great a captain would in all probability
have been had he been taken alive by these masters of
reflned torture, I confess that I think this act of gentle-
manly courage is one of the most astonishing things I
ever heard of. When he rode up those hills he must
have known that he was probably going to meet his
death at the hands of justly incensed savages. When
Secocoeni heard of what Major Clarke had done he was
so pleased that he shortly afterwards released a volun-
teer whom he had taken prisoner, and who would other-
wise, in all probability, have been tortured to death. I
must add that Major Clarke himself never reported or
alluded to this incident, but an account of it can be
found in a despatch written by Sir 0. Lanyon to the
Secretary of State, dated 2d February 1880,
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 97
Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the
political agitation that was being carried on among the
Boers having for object the restoration of independence,
a private agitation was set on foot by a few disaffected
persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view of ob-
taining his removal from office in favour of a certain
Colonel Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot
are so interesting, and the plot itself so typical of the
state of affairs with which Sir T. Shepstone had to deal,
that I will give a short account of it
After the Annexation had taken place, there were
naturally enough a good many individuals who found
themselves disappointed in the results so far as they
personally were concerned ; I mean that they did not
get so much out of it as they expected. Among these
was a gentleman called Colonel Weatherley, who had
come to the Transvaal as manager of a gold-mining
company, but getting tired of that had taken a pro-
minent part in the Annexation, and who, being subse-
quently disappointed about an appointment, became a
bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say at once
that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been
throughout the dupe of the other conspirators.
The next personage was a good-looking desperado,
who called himself Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who
was locally sopewhat irreverently known as the very
Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former
career had been of a most remarkable order, was, on
the annexation of the country, found in the public
prison charged with having committed various offences,
but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself strongly
on his behalf, he was eventually released without trial.
On his release, he requested the Administrator to pub-
98 THE TKANSVAAL.
lish a Government notice declaring him innocent of the
charges brought against him. This Sir. T. Shepstone
declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a des-
patch to the High Commissioner on the subject, Captain
Gunn of Gunn at once became " what in this country is
called a patriot."
The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had
got into trouble on the Diamond Fields, and who felt
himself injured because the rules of the High Court
did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The
quartette was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the
patriotic organ, the VolJcstem, who, since he had lost the
Government printing contract, found that no language
could be too strong to apply to the ^personnel of the
Government, more especially its head. Of course, there
was a lady in it ; what plot would be complete without?
She was Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of
Gunn. These gentlemen began operations by drawing
up a long petition to Sir Bartle Frere as High Com-
missioner, setting forth a string of supposed grievances,
and winding up with a request that the Administrator
might be " promoted to some other sphere of political
usefulness." This memorial was forwarded by the
"committee," as they called themselves, to various
parts of the country for signature, but without the
slightest success, the fact of the matter being that it
was not the Annexor but the Annexation that the Boers
objected to.
At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley
went to try and forward the good cause with Sir Bartle
Frere at the Cape. His letters to Mrs. Weatherley
from thence, afterwards put into Court in the celebrated
divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 99
his attempts in that direction. I do not think, however,
that he was cognisant of what was being concocted by
his allies in Pretoria, but being a very vain, weak man,
was easily deceived by them. With all his faults he
was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second
petition was drawn up by the " committee," showing
"the advisability of immediately suspending our present
Administrator, and temporarily appointing and recom-
mending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable con-
sideration an English gentleman of high integrity and
honour, in whom the country at large has respect and
confidence."
The English gentleman of high integrity and honour
of course proves to be Colonel Weatherley, whose
appointment is, further on, " respectfully but earnestly
requested," since he had " thoroughly gained the affec-
tions, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and
other Europeans in this country." But whilst it is
comparatively easy to write petitions, there is some-
times a difficulty in getting people to sign them, as
proved to be the case with reference to the documents
under consideration. "When the " committee " and the
employes in the office of the Volkstem had affixed
their valuable signatures it was found to be impossible
to induce anybody else to follow their example. Now,
a petition witlk some half dozen signatures attached
would not, it was obvious, carry much weight with the
Imperial Government, and no more could be obtained.
But really great minds rise superior to such difficul-
ties, and so did the " committee," or some of them, or
one of them. If they could not get genuine signatures
to their petitions, they could at any rate manufacture
fchem. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was
loo THE TRANSVAAL.
it prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of
them, produced in a very little while no less than 3883
signatures, of which sixteen were proved to be genuine,
five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious. But the
gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working part-
ner in the scheme — and I may state, by way of paren-
thesis, that when Gunn of Gunn was subsequently
arrested, petitions in process of signature were found
under the mattress of his bed — calculated without his
host He either did not know, or had forgotten, that
on receipt of such documents by a superior oflBcer, they
are at once sent to the officer accused to report upon.
This course was followed in the present case, and the
petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The
ingenuity exercised by their author or authors was really
very remarkable, for it must be remembered that not
one of the signatures was forged; they were all invented,
and had, of course, to be written in a great variety of
hands. The plan generally pursued was to put down
the names of people living in the country, with slight
variations. Thus " De F"illiers " became " De IFilliers,**
and " Van Zy\ " " Van Zu\" I remember that my own
name appeared on one of the petitions with some slight
alteration. Some of the names were evidently meant
to be facetious. Thus there was a *' Jan Verneuker,"
which means " John the Cheat."
Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this
rascally plot, the unfortunate Colonel Weatherley sub-
sequently apologised to Sir T. Shepstone for his share
in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died fighting
bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and
Mrs. Weatherley, after having given rise to the most
remarkable divorce case I ever heard — it took fourteen
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRitlSn <IULE. loi
days to try — were, on the death of Colonel Weatherley,
united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I
believe, still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know
not where, whilst Mr. Celliers still continues to edit
that admirably conducted journal the Volkstem; nor,
if I may judge from the report of a speech made by
him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way,
was graced by the presence of our representative, Mr.
Hudson, the British Kesident, has his right hand for-
gotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the use
of those peculiar and rechercJU epithets that used to
adorn the columns of the Volkstem. I see that he,
on this occasion, denounced the English element as
being " poisonous and dangerous " to a State, and
stated, amidst loud cheers, that " he despised " it. Mr.
Cellier's lines have fallen in pleasant places; in any
other country he would long ago have fallen a victim
to the stern laws of libel. I recommend him to the
notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is the
freshness and vigour of his style that I am confident
he would make the fortune of any Hibernian journal.
Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very
sad incident happened in connection with the govern-
ment of the Transvaal. Shortly after the Annexation,
the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt, C.M.G.,
one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on
the financial Condition of the country. He was accom-
panied, in an unofficial capacity, amongst other gentle-
men, by Captain Patterson and his son, Mr. J. Sergeaunt;
and when he returned to England, these two gentlemen
remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About
this time Sir Bartle Erere was anxious to send a friendly
mission to Lo Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of
I02 THE TRANSVAAL.
the Zulu tribe, living up towards the Zambesi, This
chief had been making himself unpleasant by causing
traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to
establish friendly relations with him, so it was suggested
to Captain Patterson and Mr. Sergeaunt that they
should combine business with pleasure, and go on a
mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they accepted,
and shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with
an interpreter and a few servants. They reached their
destination in safety ; and having concluded their busi-
ness with the king, started on a visit to the Zambesi
Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the waggon.
The falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's
kraal, and they were accompanied thither by young
Mr. Thomas, the son of the local missionary, two Kafir
servants, and twenty native bearers supplied by Lo
Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was
that they had all died through drinking poisoned water,
full details of the manner of their deaths being sent
down by Lo Bengula.
In the first shock and confusion of such news it was
not very closely examined, at any rate by the friends
of the dead men, but, on reflection, there were several
things about it that appeared strange. For instance, it
was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit,
for which, indeed, we had often laughed at him, of,
however thirsty he might be, always having his water
boiled when he was travelling, in order to destroy
impurities, and it seemed odd that he should on this
one occasion ha^e neglected the precaution. Also, it
was curious that the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers
appeared to have escaped, whereas all the others were,
without exception, killed ; nor even in that district is
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 103
It usual to find water so bad that it will kill with
the rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case,
unless indeed it had been designedly poisoned. These
doubts of the poisoning-by-bad-water-story resolved
themselves into certainty when the waggon returned
in charge of the interpreter, when, by putting two and
two together, we were able to piece out the real history
of the diabolical murder of our poor friends with con-
siderable accuracy, a story which shows what blood-
thirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he
fancies his interests are threatened.
It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first inter-
viewed Lo Bengula, he was not at all well received by
him. I must, by way of explanation, state that there
exists a pretender to his throne, Kruman by name,
who, as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the
kingdom. This man had, for some cause or other, fled
the country, and for a time acted as gardener to Sir T.
Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs. Patterson
and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living,
I believe, in the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on
finding himself so ill received by the king, and not
being sufficiently acquainted with the character of
savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident or
design, dropped some hint in the course of conversation
about this Kruman. From that moment Lo Bengula'a
conduct towards the mission entirely changed, and,
dropping his former tone, he became profusely civil;
and from that moment, too, he doubtless determined
to km them, probably fearing that they might forward
some scheme to oust him and place Kruman, on whose
claim a large portion of his people looked favourably,
on the throne.
I04 THE TRANSVAAL.
When their business was done, and Captain Patter-
son told the king that they were anxious, before
returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he readily fell
in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused
permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary,
to accompany them, only allowing him to do so on the
!irgent representations of Captain Patterson. The reason
of this was, no doubt, that he had kindly feelings
towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in
the slaughter.
Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical
habits, and, amongst other things, was in the habit of
making notes of all that he did. His note-book had
been taken off his body, and sent down to Pretoria
with the other things. In it we found entries of his
preparations for the trip, including the number and
names of the bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We
also found the chronicle of the first three days* journey,
and that of the morning of the fourth day, but there
the record stopped. The last entry was probably made
a few minutes before he was killed; and it is to be
observed that there was no entry of the party having
been for several days without water, as stated by the
messengers, and then finding the poisoned water.
This evidence by itself would not have amounted to
much, but now comes the curious part of the story,
showing the truth of the old adage, " Murder will out."
It appears that when the waggon was coming down to
Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned
one day outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country,
when some Kafirs — Bechuanas, I think — came up,
asked for some tobacco, and fell into conversation with
the driver, remarking that he had come up with a full
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 105
waggon, and now he went down with an empty one.
The driver replied by lamenting the death by poisoned
water of his masters, whereupon one of the Kafirs told
him the following story : — He said that a brother of his
was out hunting, a little while back, in the desert for
ostriches, with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing
shots fired some way off, they made for the spot,
thinking that white men were out shooting, and that
they would be able to beg meat. On reaching the
spot, which was by a pool of water, they saw the bodies
of three white men lying on the ground, and also those
of a Hottentot and a Kafir, surrounded by an armed
party of Kafirs. They at once asked the Kafirs what
they had been doing killing the white men, and were
told to be still, for it was by " order of the king." They
then learned the whole story. It appeared that the
white men had made a mid-day halt by the water, when
one of the bearers, who had gone to the edge of the
pool, suddenly shouted to them to come and look at a
great snake in the water. Captain Patterson ran up,
and, as he leaned over the edge, was instantly killed by
a blow with an axe; the others were then shot and
assegaied. The Kafir further described the clothes
that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also some
articles that had been given to his party by the mur-
derers, that .left little doubt as to the veracity of his
story. And so ended the mission to Matabeleland.
No public notice was taken of the matter, for the
obvious reason that it was impossible to get at Lo Ben-
gula to punish him ; nor would it have been easy to
come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious story
of the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach
the spot of the massacre would probably fall a victim
io6 THE TRANSVAAL.
to some similar accident before he got back again. It
is devoutly to be hoped that the punishment he deserves
will sooner or later overtake the author of this devilish
and wholesale murder.
The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the com-
mencement of operations in Zululand and by the news
of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana, which fell on
Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, 0^7
surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics
and with the plan of attack adopted by the English
commanders. In fact, I know that one solemn warning
of what would certainly happen to him if he persisted
in his plan of advance was addressed to Lord Chelms-
ford, through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a
gentleman whose position and long experience of the
Zulus and their mode of attack should have carried
some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to the
best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever.
But though some such disaster was daily expected by
a few, the majority both of soldiers and civilians never
dreamed of anything of the sort, the general idea being
that the conquest of Cetywayo was a very easy under-
taking ; and the shock produced by the news of Isandhl-
wana was proportionately great, especially as it reached
Pretoria in a much exaggerated form. I shall never
forget the appearance of the town that morning ; busi-
ness was entirely suspended, and the streets were filled
with knots of men talking, with scared faces, as well
they might : for there was scarcely anybody but had
lost a friend, and many thought that their sons or
brothers were among the dead on that bloody field.
Among others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one son, and
thought for some time that he had lost threa
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 107
Shortly after this event Sir Theophilus went to Eng-
land to confer with the Secretary of State on various
matters connected with the Transvaal, carrying with
him the affection and respect of aU who knew him, not
excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He
was succeeded by Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who
was appointed to administer the G-overnment during
the absence of Sir T. Shepstone.
By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster
was received with great and unconcealed rejoicing, or
at least by the irreconcilable portion of that people.
England's necessity was their opportunity, and one
of which they certainly meant to avail themselves.
Accordingly, notices were sent out summoning the
burghers of the Transvaal to attend a mass meeting
on the 1 8th March, at a place about thirty miles from
Pretoria. Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs,
to excite them to follow Cetywayo's example, and
massacre all the English within reach, of whom a man
called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most active
The natives, however, notwithstanding the threats used
towards them, one and all declined the invitation.
It must not be supposed that all the Boers who
attended these meetings did so of their own free will ;
on the contrary, a very large number came under com-
pulsion, since th^y found that the English authorities
were powerless to give them protection. The recal-
citrants were threatened with all sorts of pains and
penalties if they did not attend, a favourite menace
being that they should be made "biltong" of when
the country was given back (i.e., be cut into strips
and hung in the sun to dry). Few, luckily for them-
selves, were brave enough to tempt fortune by refusing
io8 THE TRANSVAAL.
to come, but those who did have had to leave the
country since the war. Whatever were the means
employed, the result was an armed meeting of about
3000 Boers, who evidently meant mischief.
Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pre-
toria, composed, for the most part, of gentlemen, and
known as the Pretoria Horse, for the purpose of pro-
ceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry, especially
cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly
needed. In the emergency of the times officials were
allowed to join this corps, a permission of which I
availed myself, and was elected one of the lieutenants.^
The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to Zululand
on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the
Boers, against whom it was retained for service. In
my capacity as an officer of the corps I was sent out
with a small body of picked men, all good riders and
light weights, to keep up a constant communication
between the Boer camp and the Administrator, and
found the work both interesting and exciting. My
headquarters were at an inn about twenty-five miles
from Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting used
to come every evening and report how matters were
proceeding, whereupon, if the road was clear, I des-
patched a letter to headquarters ; or, if I feared that
the messengers would be caught en route by Boer patrols
and searched, I substituted different coloured ribbons
according to what I wished to convey. There was a
relief hidden in the trees or rocks every six miles, all
* It is customary in South African volunteer forces to allow the
members to elect their own officers, provided the men elected are such
as the Government approves. This is done, so that the corps may not
afterwards be able to declare that they have no confidence in their
offioen in action, or to grumble at their treatment by them.
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 109
day and most of the night, whose business it was to
take the despatch or ribbon and gallop on with it to the
next station, in which way we used to get the despatches
into town in about an hour and a quarter.
On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn
and threatened to shoot us, but as our orders were to do
nothing unless our lives were actually in danger, we
took no notice. The officer who came out to relieve
me had not, however, been there more than a day or
two before he and all his troopers were hunted back
into Pretoria by a large mob of armed Boers whom they
only escaped by very hard riding.
Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer
and nearer to the town, till at last they pitched their
laagers within six miles, and practically besieged it.
All business was stopped, the houses were loopholed
and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied
by the military and the various volunteer corps. The
building, normally in the occupation of the Government
mules, fell to the lot of the Pretoria Horse, and, though
it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I honestly declare
that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a
mule stable that has not been cleaned out for several
years. However, by sinking a well, and erecting bas-
tions and a staging for sharpshooters, we converted it
into an excellent fortress, though it would not have
been of much use against artillery. Our patrols used
to be out all night, since we chiefly feared a night
attack, and generally every preparation was made to
resist the onset that was hourly expected, and I believe
that it was that state of preparedness that alone pre-
vented it.
Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters
no THE TRANSVAAL.
had come to a point that seemed to render war inevi-
table, Sir Bartle Frere arrived at Pretoria and had several
interviews with the Boer leaders, at which they persisted
in demanding their independence, and nothing short of
it. After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke
up without any actual appeal to arms, though it had,
during its continuance, assumed many of the rights of
government, such as stopping post-carts and individuals,
and sending armed patrols about the country. The
principal reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war
was now drawing to a close, and the leaders saw that
there would soon be plenty of troops available to sup-
press any attempt at revolt, but they also saw to what
lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a
period of nearly two months been allowed to throw the
whole country into confusion, to openly violate the
laws, and to intimidate and threaten Her Majesty's
loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not
lost on them ; but they postponed action till a more
favourable opportunity offered.
Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an oppor-
tunity at a public dinner given him at Potchefstroom
of assuring the loyal inhabitants of the country that
the Transvaal would never be given back.
Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in
the shape of Sir Garnet Wolseley, and on the 29th
June 1879 we find him communicating the fact to Sir
0. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he
disapproved of his course of action with regard to
Secocceni, and that "in future you will please take
orders only from me."
As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrange-
ments for the pacification of Zuluiand, he proceeded
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. m
to Pretoria, and having caused himself to be sworn in
as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say that
in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great
judgment and a keen appreciation of what the country
needed, namely, strong government; the fact of the
matter being, I suppose, that being very popular with
the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less
command their support in what he did, a satisfaction
not given to most governors, who never know but that
they may be thrown overboard in emergency to lighten
the ship.
One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation,
Btating that, "Whereas it appears that, notwithstand-
ing repeated assurances of contrary effect given by Her
Majesty's representatives in this territory, uncertainty or
misapprehension exists amongst some of Her Majesty's
subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Govern-
ment regardinor the maintenance of British rule and
sovereignty over the territory of the Transvaal; and
whereas it is expedient that all grounds for such uncer-
tainty or misapprehension should be removed once and
for all beyond doubt or question ; now therefore I do
hereby proclaim and make known, in the name and on
behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, that it is the will
and determination of Her Majesty's Government that
this Transvaal territory shall be, and shall continue to he
for ever, an integral portion of Her Majesty's dominions
in South Africa."
Alas ! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a
solemn pledge thus made in the name of Her Majesty,
whose word has hitherto been held to be sacred, differed
greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his Government.
Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocceni
n/T. THE TRANSVAAL.
proved eminently successful, and were the best arranged
bit of native warfare that I have yet heard of in South
Africa. One blow was struck, and only one, but that
was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay
in the fact that he had an abundance of force ; but it
was not ensured by that alone, good management being
very requisite in an affair of the sort, especially where
native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the
expedition, not counting other Secocoeni war expendi-
ture, amounted to over ;t300,0CX), all of which is now
lost to this country.
Another step in the right direction undertaken by
Sir Garnet was the establishment of an Executive
Council and also of a Legislative Council, for the
establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from
Downing Street in November 1880.
Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the
latter proclamation, for they guessed that it, like other
proclamations in the Transvaal, would be a mere hru-
tum fulmen, had assembled for another mass meeting,
at which they went forward a step, and declared a
Government which was to treat with the English
authorities. They had now learnt that they could
do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided
they did not take the extreme course of massacring
the English. They had yet to learn that they might
even do that. At the termination of this meeting, a
vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney
of London, and other members of the British Parlia-
ment." It was wise of the Boer leaders to cultivate
Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of this meeting,
Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the
secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and
.THE TKANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 113
anderwent a preliminary examination; but as the
Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks Beach, looked rather
timidly on the proceeding, and the local authorities
were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution
was abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than
good, being looked upon as another proof of the im-
potence of the Government.
Shortly afterwards. Sir G. Wolseley changed his
tactics, and, instead of attempting to imprison Pre-
torius, offered him a seat on the Executive Council,
with a salary attached. This was a much more
sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once
rose to the bait, stating his willingness to join the
Government after a while, but that he could not
publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his
influence with those who were to be brought round
through him. It does not, however, appear that Mr.
Pretorius ever did actually join the Executive, probably
because he found public opinion too strong to allow
him to do so.
In December 1879 a new light broke upon the Boers,
for in the previous month Mr. Gladstone had been
delivering his noted attack on the policy of the Con-
servative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches
did harm, it is said, in many parts of the world ; but
I venture to think that they have proved more mis-
chievous in South Africa than anywhere else; at any
rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to be
supposed that Mr. Gladstone really cared anything
about the Transvaal or its independence when he was
denouncing the hideous outrage that had been perpe-
trated by the Conservative Government in annexing
it. On the contrary, as he acquiesced in the Annexa-
114 THE TRANSVAAL.
tion at the time (when Lord Kimberley stated that
it was evidently unavoidable), and declined to rescind
it when he came into power, it is to be supposed that
he really approved of it, or at the least looked on it as
a necessary eviL However this may be, any stick will
do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a con-
venient point on which to attack the Government. He
probably neither knew nor cared what effect his reckless
words might have on ignorant Boers thousands of miles
away ; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would
have been alive and strong to-day whose bones now
whiten the African Veldt had those words never been
spoken. Then, for the first time, the Boers learnt that,
if they played their cards properly and put on sufficient
pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party
coming to office, have little difficulty in coercing it as
they wished.
There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance
of the Mid-Lothian speeches that the agitation would,
by degrees, die away ; Sir G. Wolseley had succeeded
in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in general
were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was
addressed to Sir. G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in
the Potchefstroom district, protesting against the main-
tenance of the movement against Her Majesty's rule,
which, considering the great amount of intimidation
exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as
a favourable sign.
But when it slowly came to be understood among
the Boers that a great English Minister had openly
espoused their cause, and that he would perhaps soon
be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incal-
culable. They could now go to the doubting ones and
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 115
Bay, — we must be right about the matter, because,
putting our own feelings out of the question, the great
Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of the
Boer malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880,
reading a letter to Mr. Gladstone, "in which he was
thanked for the great sympathy shown in their fate,"
and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in getting
power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming
unanimity prevailed between our great Minister and
the Boer rebels, for their interests were the same, the
overthrow of the Conservative Government. If, how-
ever, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue
or countenance intrigues with those who are seeking
to undermine the authority of Her Majesty, whether
they be Boers or Irishmen, in order to help himself to
power, the country might suffer in the long run.
But whatever feelings may have prompted Her
Majesty's Opposition, the Home Government, and their
agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no uncertain blast, if
we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we
find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given
in his honour at Pretoria : —
"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to
keep on agitating in this way, for a change of Govern-
ment in England may give them again the old order
of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of
English politics than such an idea; I tell you that
there is no Government, Whig or Tory, Liberal, Con-
servative, or Kadical, who would dare under any drcumr
stances to give hack this country. They would not dare,
because the English people would not allow them. To
give back the country, what would it mean ? To give
it back to external danger, to the danger of attack bj
ii6 THE TBANSVAAL.
hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if the English
Government were removed for one day, would make
themselves felt the next. Not an official of Government
paid for months ; it would mean national bankruptcy.
JSTo taxes being paid, the same thing recurring again
which had existed before would mean danger without,
anarchy and civil war within, every possible misery;
the strangulation of trade, and the destruction of
property."
It is very amusing to read this passage by the
light of after events. On other occasions Sir Garnet
Wolseley will probably not be quite so confident as
to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical
Government.
This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir
Garnet's produced a great effect on the loyal inhabitants
of the Transvaal, which was heightened by the publica-
tion of the following telegram from the Secretary of
State: — "You may fully confirm explicit statements
made from time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's
Government to entertain any proposal for withdrawal
of the Queen's sovereignty."
On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen
migrated to the Transvaal and settled there, whilst
those who were in the country now invested all their
means, being confident that they would not lose their
property through its being returned to the Boers, The
excitement produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began
to quiet down and be forgotten for the time, arrear
taxes were paid up by the malcontents, and generally
the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's
opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to
the Secretary of State expressing his belief that the
THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE. 117
agitation was dying out^ Indeed, so sanguine was he
on that point that he is reported to have advised the
withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the
territory, a piece of economy that was one of the
immediate causes of the revolt.
The reader will remember the financial condition of
the country at the time of the Annexation, which was
one of utter bankruptcy. After three years of British
rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant
agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue
receipts for the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted
to ;^ 22,773 ^^^ ;^47»9S2 respectively. That is to say,
that, during the last year of British rule, the revenue of
the country more than doubled itself, and amounted to
* In Blue-Book No. (0. 2866) of September 1881, which is descrip-
tive of various events connected with the Boer rising, is published, as
an appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet Wolseley, dated October 1879.
This despatch declares the writer's opinion that the Boer discontent ia
on the increase. Its publication thus — apropos des holUs — nearly two
years after it was written, is rather an amusing incident. It certainly
gives one the idea that Sir Garnet Wolseley, fearing that his reputation
for infallibility might be attacked by scoffers for not having foreseen
the Boer rebellion, and perhaps uneasily conscious of other despatches
very different in tenor and subsequent in date : and, mindful of the
withdrawal of the cavalry regiment by his advice, had caused it to be
tacked on to the Blue-Book as a documentary "I told you so," and a
proof that, whoever else was blinded, he foresaw. It contains, how-
ever, the following remarkably true passage : — " Even were it not im-
possible, for many other reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal of our
authority from the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in which we
should leave this loyal and important section of the community (the
English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain retaliation of
the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an insuperable obstacle to
retrocession. Subjected to the same danger, moreover, would be those
of the Boers, whose superior intelligence and courageous character has
rendered them loyal to our Government."
As the Government took the trouble to republish the despatch, it ii
a pity that they did not think fit to pay more attention to it* content*.
Ii8 THE TRANSVAAL.
about jf 1 60,000 a-year, taking the quarterly returns at
the low average of ^g" 40,000. It must, however, be re-
membered that this sum would have been very largely
increased in subsequent years, most probably doubled.
At any rate the revenue would have been amply suffi-
cient to make the province one of the most prosperous
in South Africa, and to have enabled it to shortly repay
all debts due to the British Government, and further to
provide for its own defence. Trade also, which, in April
1877, W3.S completely paralysed, had increased enor-
mously. So early as the middle of 1879, the Com-
mittee of the Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed
out, in a resolution adopted by them, that the trade of
the country had in two years risen from almost nothing
to the considerable sum of two millions sterling per
annum, and that it was entirely in the hands of those
favourable to British rule. They also pointed out that
more than half the land-tax was paid by Englishmen,
or other Europeans adverse to Boer Government. Land,
too, had risen greatly in value, of which I can give the
following instance. About a year after the Annexation
I, together with a friend, bought a little property on the
outskirts of Pretoria, which, with a cottage we put up
on it, cost some ^^300. Just before the rebellion we
fortunately determined to sell it, and had no difficulty
in getting ^^ 6 50 for it. I do not believe that it would
now fetch a fifty-pound note.
I cannot conclude this chapter better than by draw-
ing attention to a charming specimen of the correspond-
ence between the Boer leaders and their friend Mr.
Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th
June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kjuger and
Joubert, but it is obvious that it owes its origin to some
THE TRA.NSVAAL UNDEB BRITISH RULE. 119
member or members of the Dutch party at the Cape,
from whence, indeed, it is written. This is rendered
evident both by its general style, and also by the use of
such terms as " Satrap,** and by references to Napoleon
III. and Cayenne, about whom Messrs. Kruger and
Joubert know no more than they do of Peru and the
Incas.
After alluding to former letters, the writers bbw a
blast of triumph over the downfall of the Conservative
Government, and then make a savage attack on the
reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The " stubborn Satrap **
is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive
imputed to him. Eeally, the fact that Mr, Courtney
should encourage such epistles as this is enough to give
colour to the boast made by some of the leading Boers,
after the war, that they had been encouraged to rebel
by a member of the British Government.
At the end of this letter, and on the same page of
the Blue- Book, is printed the telegram recalling Sir
Bartle Frere, dated ist August 1880. It really reads
as though the second document was consequent on the
first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her
Majesty's new Government towards Sir Bartle Frere
differed only in the method of their expression from
those set forth by the Boer leaders in their letter to
Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid
of him, was undoubtedly identical with that of the
Dutch party in South Africa.
CHAPTER y.
THE BOER REBELLION.
When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished
fact instead of a happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did
not find it convenient to adopt the line of policy with
reference to the Transvaal that might have been ex-
pected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposi-
tion. On the contrary, he declared in Parliament that the
Annexation could not be cancelled, and on the 8th June
1880 we find him, in answer to a Boer petition, written
with the object of inducing him to act up to the spirit
of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus :
— " Looking to all the circumstances, both of the Trans-
vaal and the rest of South Africa, and to the necessity
of preventing a renewal of disorders which might lead
to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal,
but to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that
the Qtceen cannot he advised to relinquish her sovereignty
over the Transvaal ; but, consistently with the mainten-
ance of that sovereignty, we desire that the white in-
habitants of the Transvaal should, without prejudice to
the rest of the population, enjoy the fullest liberty to
manage their local affairs. We believe that this liberty
may be most easily and promptly conceded to the Trans-
vaal as a member of a South African confederation."
THE BOER REBELLION. ,21
Unless words have lost their signification, this pas-
sage certainly means that the Transvaal must remain a
British colony, but that England will be prepared to
grant it responsible government, more especially if it
will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr. Gladstone,
however, in a communication dated ist June 1881, and
addressed to the unfortunate Transvaal loyals, for whom
he expresses "respect and sympathy," interprets his
meaning thus: **It is stated, as I observe, that a promise
was given by me that the Transvaal never should be
given back. There is no mention of the terms or date
of this promise. If the reference be to my letter, of
8th June 1880, to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, I do
not think the language of that letter justifies the de-
scription given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to
what degree the fullest liberty to manage their local
affairs, which I then said Her Majesty's Government
desired to confer on the white population of the Trans-
vaal, differs from the settlement now about being made
in its bearing on the interests of those whom your
Committee represents."
Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a
private person, be called dishonest. It will also occur
to most people that Mr. Gladstone might have spared
the deeply \vronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty
whom he was addressing the taunt he levels at them
in the second paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he
would no doubt say that he had not the slightest inten-
tion of laughing at them; but when he deliberately
tells them that it makes no difference to their interests
whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a
responsible Government, or become the servants of men
who were but lately in arms against them and Hex
122 THE TRANSVAAL.
Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them, or offer-
ing an insult to their understandings.
By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that
he had, in a letter replying to a petition from these
same loyal inhabitants, addressed to him in May 1880,
informed them that he had already told the Boer repre-
sentatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded.
Although Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest
living master of the art of getting two distinct and
opposite sets of meanings out of one set of words, it
would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the satis-
faction of an impartial mind, that he never gave any
pledge about the retention of the Transvaal
Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he
had no intention of giving up the country to the Boers,
whose cause he appears to have taken up solely for
electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he
would have carried out his intention on succeeding
to office, and, indeed, as things have turned out, it is
deeply to be regretted that he did not ; for, bad as such
a step would have been, it would at any rate have had
a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after
three defeats. It would also have then been possible
to secure the repayment of some of the money owing to
this country, and to provide for the proper treatment of
the natives, and the compensation of the loyal inhabi-
tants who could no longer live there: since it must
naturally have been easier to make terms with the
Boers before they had defeated our troops.
On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest
and most soul-stirring display of radical theories, prac-
tically applied, that has as yet lightened the darkness
of this country. But although Mr. Gladstone gave his
THE BOER REBELLION. 123
official decision against returning the country, there
seems to be little doubt that communications on the
subject were kept up with the Boer leaders through
some prominent members of the Eadical party, who,
it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to take
up arms against us. When Mr. White came to this
country on behalf of the loyalists, after the surrender,
he stated that this was so at a public meeting, and said
further that he had in his possession proofs of his state-
ments. He even went so far as to name the gentleman
he accused, and to challenge him to deny it I have
not been able to gather that Mr. White's statements
were contradicted.
However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the
Transvaal suddenly recommenced with redoubled vigour.
It began through a man named Bezeidenhout, who re-
fused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon was seized
in execution under the authority of the court and put
up to auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of
rebel Boers, who kicked the auctioneer off the waggon
and dragged the vehicle away. This was on the nth
November 1880. When this intelligence reached Pre-
toria, Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of
the 2 1st Eegiment, under the command of Major Thorn-
hill, to support the Landdrost in arresting the rioters,
and appointed Captain Eaaf, C.M.G., to act as special
messenger to the Landdrost's Court at Potchefstroom,
with authority to enrol special constables to assist him
to carry out the arrests. On arrival at Potchefstroom
Captain Eaaf found that, without an armed force, it
was quite impossible to effect any arrest. On the 26th
November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the gravity of
the situation, telegraphed to Sir George CoUey, asking
124 THE TRANSVAAL.
that the 58th Regiment should be sent back to the
TransvaaL Sir George replied that he could ill spare
it on account of " daily expected outbreak of Pondos
and possible appeal for help from Cape Colony," and
that the Government must be supported by the loyal
inhabitants.
It will be seen that the Boers had, with some
astuteness, chosen a very favourable time to com-
mence operations. The hands of the Cape Government
were full with the Basuto war, so no help could be
expected from it ; Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the
only cavalry regiment that remained in the country,
and lastly. Sir Owen Lanyon had quite recently
allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if
not altogether, drawn from among the loyalists, to be
raised for service in the Basuto war, a serious drain
upon the resources of a country so sparsely populated
as the Transvaal.
Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by
the Boers for the 8th January to consider Mr. Glad-
stone's letter, but the Bezeidenhout incident had the
effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a
month, and it was announced that it would be held
on the 8 th December. Subsequently the date was
shifted to the 15 th, and then back again to the 8 th.
Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance,
to secure the presence of as many burghers as pos-
sible ; attempts were also made to persuade the native
chiefs to send representatives, and to promise to join
in an attack on the English. These entirely failed.
The meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal,
and resulted in the sudden declaration of the Repub-
lic and the appointment of the famous triumvirate
THE BOER REBELLION. 125
Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into
Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pre-
toria, and on the i6th December the Eepublic was
formally proclaimed in a long proclamation, contain-
ing a summary of the events of the few preceding
years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents
were willing to make with the English authorities.
The terms offered in this document are almost iden-
tical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's
Government, with the exception that in the procla-
mation of the 1 6th December the Boer leaders declare
their willingness to enter into confederation, and to
guide their native policy by general rules adopted in
concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South
Africa." This was a more liberal offer than that which
we ultimately agreed to, but then the circumstances
had changed.
This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen
Lanyon with a covering letter, in which the follow-
ing words occur : — " We declare in the most solemn
manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and
that from our side we do not wish war. It lies in your
hands to force us to appeal to arms in self-defence.
. . . We expect your answer within twice twenty-
four hours."
I beg to direct particular attention to these para-
graphs, as they have a considerable interest in view
of what followed.
The letter and proclamation reached Government
House, Pretoria, at ID. 30 on the evening of Friday
the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's proclama-
tion, written in reply, was handed to the messenger
ai noon on Sunday, 19th December, or within about
126 THE TRANSVAAL.
thirty-six hours of his arrival, and could hardly have
reached the rebel camp, sixty miles off, before dawn
the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at
about one o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was
ambushed and destroyed on the road between Middle-
burg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off, by a force
despatched from Heidelberg for that purpose some
days before. On the 1 6th December, or the same day
on which the Triumvirate had despatched the pro-
clamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and ex-
pressing in the most solemn manner that they had no
desire to shed blood, a large Boer force was attacking
Potchefstroom.
So much then for the sincerity of the professions
of their desire to avoid bloodshed.
The proclamation sent by Sir 0. Lanyon in reply
recited in its preamble the various acts of which the
rebels had been guilty, including that of having
" wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native
inhabitants throughout the province to take up arms
against Her Majesty's Government," announced that
matters had now been put into the hands of the
officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and pro-
mised pardon to all who would disperse to their
homes.
It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along
been the nursery of the rebellion, that actual hostili-
ties first broke out Potchefstroom as a town is much
more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is,
or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen
Lanyon had, as stated before, sent a small body of
soldiers thither to support the civil authorities, and
had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officet
THE BOER REBELLION. 127
of noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Com-
missioner for the district.
Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction
with Captain Eaaf, to raise a corps of volunteers, in
which he totally failed. Those of the townsfolk who
were not Boers at heart had too many business
relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps
too little faith in the stability of English rule after
Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to allow them to indulge
in patriotisuL At the time of the outbreak, between
seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to
firms in Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum
amply sufiScient to account for their lukewarmness in
the English cause. Subsequent events have shown
that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their
generation.
On the 15 th December a large number of Boers
came into the town and took possession of the print-
ing-office in order to print the proclamation already
alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to enter
the office and see the leaders, but without success.
On the 1 6th a Boer patrol fired on some of the
mounted infantry, and the fire was returned. These
were the first shots fired during the war, and they
were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled
to Clarke by Lieutenant- Colonel Winsloe, 21st Eegi-
ment, now commanding at the fort which he afterwards
defended so gallantly, that he was to commence firing.
Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market
Square with a force of about twenty soldiers under
Captain Falls and twenty civilians under Captain
Eaaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited for defensive
purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened,
'28 THE TRANSVAAL.
the Boers taking up positions in the surrounding
houses commanding the office. Shortly after the com-
mencement of the fighting, Captain Falls was shot
dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having
a narrow escape, a bullet grazing his head just above
the ear. The fighting continued during the 17th and
till the morning of the i8th, when the Boers suc-
ceeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by
throwing fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then ad-
dressed the men, telling them that, though personally
he did not care about his own life, he did not see that
they could serve any useful purpose by being burned
alive, so he should surrender, which he did, with a loss
of about six killed and wounded. The camp meanwhile
had repulsed with loss the attack made on it, and was
never again directly attacked.
Whilst these events were in progress at Potchef-
stroom, a much more awful tragedy was in preparation
on the road between Middleburg and Pretoria.
On the 23d November, Colonel Bellairs, at the
request of Sir Owen Lanyon, directed a concentration
on Pretoria of most of the few soldiers that there were
in the territory, in view of the disturbed condition of
the country. In accordance with these orders. Colonel
Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about
180 miles from Pretoria, on the 5th December, with
the headquarters and two companies of the 94th
Eegiment, being a total of 264 men, three women,
and two children, and the disproportionately large
train of thirty-four ox-waggons, or an ox-waggon
capable of carrying five thousand pounds' weight to
every eight persons. And here I may remark that it
is this enormous amount of baggage, without which it
THE BOER REBELLION. 129
appears to be impossible to move the smallest body
of men, that renders infantry regiments almost useless
for service in South Africa except for garrisoning pur-
poses. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground
at thrice the pace possible to the unfortunate soldier,
and both races despise them accordingly. The Zulus
call our infantry " pack oxen." In this particular in-
stance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather, annihila-
tion, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous
baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not
lost valuable days in collecting more waggons, he
would have been safe in Pretoria before danger arose.
It must also be acknowledged that his arrangements
on the line of march were somewhat reckless, though
it can hardly be said that he was ignorant of his
danger. Thus we find that Colonel Bellairs wrote to
Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the probability of
an attack, and impressing on him the necessity of
keeping a good look-out, the letter being received and
acknowledged by the latter on the 17th December
To this warning was added a still more impreasive
one that came to my knowledge privately. A gentle-
man well known to me received, on the morning after
the troops had passed through the town of Middleburg
on their way Jo Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer
with whom he was on friendly terms, who had pur-
posely come to tell him that a large patrol was out
to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My in-
formant having convinced himself of the truth of the
statement, at once rode after the soldiers, and catching
them up some distance from Middleburg, told Colonel
Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he
Haid, with all the energy he could command, to take
130 THE TRANSVAAL.
better precautions against surprisa The Colonel, how-
ever, laughed at his fears, and told him that if the
Boers came " he would frighten them away with the
big drum."
At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the
column was marching along about a mile and a half
from a place known as Bronker's Splint, and thirty-
eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large num-
ber of mounted Boers were seen in loose formation
on the left side of the road. The band was playing
at the time, and the column was extended over more
than half a mile, the rearguard being about a hundred
yards behind the last waggon. The band stopped
playing on seeing the Boers, and the troops halted,
when a man was seen advancing with a white flag,
whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accom-
panied by Conductor Egerton, a civilian. They met
about one hundred and fifty yards from the column,
and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter, which
announced the establishment of the South African
Kepublic, stated that until they heard Lanyon's reply
to their proclamation they did not know if they were
at war or not; that, consequently, they could not
allow any movements of troops, which would be taken
as a declaration of war. This letter was signed by
Joubert, one of the Triumvirate. Colonel Anstruther
replied that he was ordered to Pretoria, and to Pretoria
he must go.
Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of
whom there were quite five hundred, had gradually
closed round the column, and took up positions behind
rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover,
whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before
THE BOER REBELLION. j^j
Ck^onel Anstruther reached his men a murderous fire
was poured in upon them from all sides. The fire
was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the
officers were struck down by the first volley, having,
no doubt, been picked out by the marksmen. The
firing lasted about fifteen minutes, and at the end of
that time seven out of the nine officers were down
killed and wounded ; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one
of the two who escaped, untouched, being reserved
for an even more awful fate. The majority of the
men were also down, and had the hail of lead con-
tinued much longer it is clear that nobody would have
been left. Colonel Anstruther, who was lying badly
wounded in five places, seeing what a hopeless state
afi'airs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease
firing, and surrendered. One of the three officers who
were not much hurt was, most providentially, Dr.
Ward, who had but a slight wound in the thigh ; all
the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant,
were either killed or died from the effects of their
wounds. There were altogether 56 killed and 10 1
wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox. Twenty
more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss
appears to have been very small.
After the fi^t Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant,
was allowed to walk into Pretoria to obtain medical
assistance, the Boers refusing to give him a horse, or
even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader
also left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores
for the wounded, with which he made shift as best
he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's report
without being much impressed with the way ki which,
though wounded himself, he got through his terrible
132 THE TRANSVAAL,
task of, without assistance, attending to the wants of
loi sufiferers. Beginning the task at 2 p.m., it took
him till six the next morning before he had seen the
last man. It is to be hoped that his services have
met with some recognition. Dr. Ward remained near
the scene of the massacre with his wounded men till
the declaration of peace, when he brought them down
to Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in
obtaining food for them during so many weeks.
This is a short account of what I must, with reluct-
ance, call a most cruel and carefully planned massacre.
I may mention that a Zulu driver, who was with the
rearguard, and escaped into Natal, stated that the
Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that
body. His statement was to a certain extent borne
out by the evidence of one of the survivors, who
stated that all the bodies found in that part of the
field (nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the
head of the column), had a bullet hole through the
head or breast in addition to their other wounds.
The Administrator of the Transvaal in council thus
comments on the occurrence in an official minute : —
"The surrounding and gradual hemming in under a
flag of truce of a force, and the selection of spots from
which to direct their fire, as in the case of the unpro-
voked attack by the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's
force, is a proceeding of which very few like incidents
can be mentioned in the annals of civilised warfara"
The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at
their success, and celebrated it in a proclamation of
which the following is an extract : — " Inexpressible is
the gratitude of the burghers for this blessing con-
ferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F.
THE BOER REBELLION. 133
Joubert and his men who have upheld the honour of
the Kepublic on the battlefield. Bowed down in the
dust before Almighty God, who had thus stood by
them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy,
only allowed two of ours to be killed.'*
In view of the circumstances of the treacherous
hemming in and destruction of this small body of un-
prepared men, most people would think this language
rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous.
On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria,
Sir Owen Lanyon issued a proclamation placing the
country under martial law. As the town was large,
straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants,
amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered
up to camp, where the best arrangements possible were
made for their convenience. In these quarters they
remained for three months, driven from their comfort-
able homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships,
want, and discomforts consequent on their position,
whilst they waited in patience for the appearance of
that relieving column that never came. People in
England hardly understand what these men and women
went through because they chose to remain loyal.
Let them suppose that all the inhabitants of an
ordinary English town, with the exception of the class
known as poor people, which can hardly be said to
exist in a colony, were at an hour's notice ordered —
all, the aged and the sick, delicate women, and tiny
children — to leave their homes to the mercy of the
enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter
of a fort, with nothing but canvas tents or sheds to
cover them from the fierce summer suns and rains,
and the coarsest rations to feed them ; whilst the
134 THE TRANSVAAL.
husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cun-
ning and dangerous enemy, and sometimes brought
home wounded or dead. They will then have some
idea of what was gone through by the loyal people of
Pretoria, in their weak confidence in the good faith of
the English Government.
The arrangements made for the defence of the town
were so ably and energetically carried out by Sir
Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military ofl&cers, that
no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to
me that the organisation that could provide for the
penning up of four thousand people for months, and
carry it out without the occurrence of a single un-
pleasantness or expression of discontent, must have
had something remarkable ' about it Of course, it
would have been impossible without the most loyal
co-operation on the part of those concerned. Indeed
everybody in the town lent a helping hand ; judges
served out rations, members of the Executive inspected
nuisances, and so fortL There was only one instance
of " striking ; " and then, of all .people in the world,
it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a favour-
able opportunity to fleece the Government, combined
to demand five guineas a-day each for their services.
I am glad to say that they did not succeed in their
attempt at extortion.
On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a
second proclamation in reply to that of Sir 0. Lanyon
of the 1 8th, which is characterised by an utter absence
of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but a
tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir 0. Lanyon
of having bombarded women and children, of arming
natives against the Boers^ and of firing on the Boers
THE BOER REBELLION.
135
without declaring war. Not one of these accusations
has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew ;
but they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in
Pretoria, was not in a position to rebut their charges,
which they hoped might, to some extent, be believed,
and create sympathy for them in other parts of the
world. This was the reason of the issue of the pro-
clamation, which well portrays the character of its
framers.
Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties
against the Boer laagers, situated at different points
in the neighbourhood, generally about six or eight
miles from the town. These expeditions were carried
out with considerable success, though with some loss,
the heaviest incurred being when the Boers, having
treacherously hoisted the white flag, opened a heavy
fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they, beguiled
into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the
course of the war, one in every four of the Pretoria
mounted volunteers was killed or wounded.
But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties
the Government had to meet was that of keeping the
natives in check. As has before been stated, they
were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the
three years of its continuance, had undergone what
was to them a strange experience, they had neither
been murdered, beaten, or enslaved. Naturally they
were in no hurry to return to the old order of things,
in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of
everyday occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the
Boers on the outbreak of the war tend to reconcile
them to any such idea. Thus we find that the farmers
had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg into
136 THE TRANSVAAL.
one of their laagers (Zwart Koppies) ; two of them
tried to run away, a Boer saw them and shot them
both. Again, on the 7 th January, a native reported to
the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others were
returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep.
A Boer came and asked them to sell the sheep. They
refused, whereupon he went away, but returning with
some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs, killing one.
On the 2d January information reached Pretoria
that on the 26th December some Boers fired on some
natives who were resting outside Potchefstroom and
killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers took
the cattle they had with them.
On the nth January some men, who had been
sent from Pretoria with despatches for Standerton,
were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they saw ten
men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers
and ordered to come to the laager. They refused
and ran away, were fired on, five being killed and
one getting his arm broken.
These are a few instances of the treatment meted
out to the unfortunate natives, taken at haphazard
from the official reports. There are plenty more of
the same nature if anybody cares to read them.
As soon as the news of the rising reached them,
every chief of any importance sent in to ofifer aid to
Government, and many of them, especially Montsioa,
our old ally in the Keate Award district, took the
loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection.
Several took charge of Government property and cattle
during the disturbances, and one had four or five
thousand pounds in gold, the product of a recently
collected tax, given him to take care of by the Com-
THE BOER REBELLION. 137
missioner of his district, who was afraid that the
money would be seized by the Boers. In every
instance the property entrusted to their charge was
returned intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs
under very trying circumstances (for the Boers were
constantly attempting to cajole or frighten them into
joining them) is a remarkable proof of the great affec-
tion of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basuto
tribes, who love peace better than war, for the Queen's
rule. The Government of Pretoria need only have
spoken one word to set an enormous number of armed
men in motion against the Boers, with the most serious
results to the latter. Any other Government in the
world would, in its extremity, have spoken that word,
but, fortunately for the Boers, it is against English
principles to set black against white under any cir-
cumstances.
Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were
forts defended by soldiery and loyals at the following
places: — Potchefstroom, Eustenburg, Lydenburg, Mara-
bastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which were taken
by the Boers.^
One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to
despatch a large force from Heidelberg with orders to
advance into Natal Territory, and seize the pass over
the Drakenfiberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute
the advance of any relieving column. This movement
was promptly executed, and strong Boer troops patrolled
N'atal country almost up to Newcastle.
The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by
* Colonel Wiualoe, however, beiug short of pruvisioua, wtM beguiled
by the fratidnlent representations and acts of the Boer commander into
•urrendering the fort at Potchefstroom daring the armifitioe.
138 THE TRANSVAAL.
that of the Bronker's Spruit massacre, and Captain
Elliot's murder, created a great excitement in Natal,
All available soldiers were at once despatched up
country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival
at Newcastle, brought up the strength of the Imperial
troops of all arms to about a thousand men. On the
loth January Sir George CoUey left Maritzburg to
join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody
dreamt that he meant to attack the Nek with such an
insignificant column. It was known that the loyals
and troops who were shut up in the various towns
in the Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for
some months, and that there was therefore nothing to
necessitate a forlorn hope. Indeed the possibility of
Sir George Colley attempting to enter the Transvaal
was not even speculated upon until just before his
advance, it being generally considered as out of the
question.
The best illustration I can give of the feeling that
existed about the matter is to quote my own case. I
had been so unfortunate as to land in Natal with my
wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles began,
my intention being to proceed to a place I had near
Newcastle. For some weeks I remained in Maritz-
burg, but finding that the troops were to concentrate
on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied of
the great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that
town, I determined to go on up country, looking on
it as being as safe as any place in the colony. Of
course the possibility of Sir George attacking the Nek
before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter
into my calculations, as I thought it a venture that
no sensible man would undertake. On the day of
THE BOER REBELLION. 139
my start, however, there was a rumour about the
town that the General was going to attack the Boer
position. Though I did not believe it, I thought it
as well to go and ask the Colonial Secretary, Colonel
Mitchell, privately, if there was any truth in it, adding
that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate knowledge
of the Boers and their shooting powers, and what the
inevitable result of such a move would be, I should
certainly prefer, as I had ladies with me, to remain
where I was. Colonel Mitchell told me frankly that
he knew no more about Sir George's plans than I
did ; but he added I might be sure that so able and
prudent a soldier would not do anything rash. His
remark concurred with my own opinion ; so I started,
and on arrival at Newcastle a week later was met
by the intelligence that Sir George had advanced that
morning to attack the Nek. To return was almost
impossible, since both horses and travellers were pretty
nearly knocked up. Also, anybody who has travelled
with his family in summer-time over the awful track
of alternate slough and boulders between Maritzburg
and Newcastle, known in the colony as a road, will
understand that at the time the adventurous voyagers
would far rather risk being shot than face a return
journey.
The only thing to do under the circumstances was
to await the course of events, which were now about
to develop themselves with startling rapidity. The
little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight,
and remained so all through the war. The hotels
were crowded to overflowing with refugees, and on
every spare patch of land were erected tents, mud
huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering that
I40 THE TRANSVAAL.
could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to
house the many homeless families who had succeeded
in effecting their escape from the Transvaal, many of
whom were reduced to great straits.
On the morning of the 28th January, anybody
listening attentively in the neighbourhood of Newcastle
could hear the distant boom of heavy guns. We were
not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news
arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and
failed with heavy loss. The excitement in the town
was intense, for, in addition to other considerations,
the 58 th Kegiment, which had suffered most, had
been quartered there for some time, and both the
officers and men were personally known to the in-
habitants.
The story of the fight is well known, and needs
little repetition, and a very sad story it is. The Boers,
who at that time were some 2000 strong, were posted
and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir
George CoUey hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was
a forlorn hope, but so gallant was the charge, espe-
cially that of the mounted squadron led by Major
Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But
nothincf could stand under the witherincr fire from the
O O
Boer schanses, and as regards the foot soldiers, they
never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried to take
them up the hill with a rush, with the result that
by the time they reached the top, some of the men
were actually sick from exhaustion, and none could
hold a rifle steady. There on. the bare hill-top they
crouched and lay, whilst the pitiless fire from redoubt
and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human
nature could bear it no longer, and what was left of
THE BOER REBELUON. 141
them retired slowly down the slope. But for many
that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As
they charged they fell, and where they fell they were
afterwards buried. The casualties, killed and wounded,
amounted to 195, which, considering the small number
of troops engaged in the actual attack, is enormously
heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell
the desperate nature of the undertaking. Amongst
the killed were Colonel Deane, Major Poole, Major
Hinges ton, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex was
the only staff officer engaged who escaped, the same
officer who was one of the fortunate four who lived
through Isandhlwana. On this occasion his usual
good fortune attended him, for though his horse was
killed and his helmet knocked off, he was not touched.
The Boer loss was very trivial.
Sir George CoUey, in his admirably lucid despatch
about this occurrence addressed to the Secretary of
State for War, does not enter much into the question
as to the motives that prompted him to attack, simply
stating that his object was to relieve the besieged
towns. He does not appear to have taken into con-
sideration, what was obvious to anybody who knew
the country and the Boers, that even if he had suc-
ceeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossi-
bility, he could never have operated with any success
in the Transvaal with so small a column, without
cavalry, and with an enormous train of waggons. He
would have been harassed day and night by the Boer
skirmishers, his supplies cut off, and his advance made
practically impossible. Also the Nek would have
been re-occupied behind him, since he could not have
detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all proba-
142 THE TRANSVAAL.
bility Newcastle, his base of supplies, would have fallen
into the hands of the enemy.
The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was
very great. Up to this time there had been many
secret doubts amongst a large section of them as to
what the upshot of an encounter with the troops
might be ; and with this party, in the same way that
defeat, or even the anxiety of waiting to be attacked,
would have turned the scale one way, victory turned
it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in
their own superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion
and mutual reliance into their ranks which had before
been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer, but gave
a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was
still more acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,
— whatever President Brand may say to the contrary,
— poured in from the Orange Free State.
What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so
rash a move is, of course,- quite inexplicable to the
outside observer. It was said at the time in Natal
that he was a man with a theory : namely, that small
bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as
likely to obtain the object in view as a large force.
Whether or no this was so, I am not prepared to say ;
but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever men
have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that
he was a striking instance in point.
For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs
were quiet, and it was hoped that they would remain
so till the arrival of the reinforcements, which were
on their way out. The hope proved a vain one.
On the 7 th February it was reported that the escort
proceeding from Newcastle to the General's camp with
THE BOER REBELLION.
M3
the post, a distance of about eighteen miles, had been
fired on and forced to return.
On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by
the sound of fighting, proceeding apparently from a
hill known as Scheins Hoogte, about ten miles from
Newcastle. It was not known that the General con-
templated any move, and everybody was entirely at a
loss to know what was going on, the general idea
being, however, that the camp near Lang's Nek had
been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on
Newcastle.
The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was
perfectly continuous, the cannon evidently being dis-
charged as quickly as they could be loaded, whilst
their dull booming was accompanied by the unceas-
ing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three
o'clock the firing slackened, and we thought it was all
over, one way or the other, but about five o'clock it
broke out again with increased vigour. At dusk it
finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came
to my house and told us that an English force was
hemmed in on a hill this side of the Ingogo River,
that they were fighting bravely, but that " their arms
were tired," adding that they thought they would be
all killed at night.
Needless to say we spent that night with heavy
hearts, expecting every minute to hear the firing begin
again, and ignorant of what fate had befallen our poor
soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our
suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered
what, under the circumstances, amounted to a crush-
ing defeat It appears that Sir George had moved out
with a force of five companies of the 6otb Regiment,
144 THE TRANSVAAL.
two guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own
words, " patrol the road, and meet and escort some
waggons expected from Newcastle." As soon as he
passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a body of
Boers sent after him from Lang's Nek, on a small
triangular plateau, and sharply assailed on all sides.
With a break of about two hours, from three to five,
the assault was kept up till nightfall, with very bad
results so far as we were concerned, seeing that out of
a body of about 500 men, over 150 were killed and
wounded. The reinforcements sent for from the camp
apparently did not come into action. For some un-
explained reason the Boers did not follow up their
attack that night, perhaps because they did not think
it possible that our troops could effect their escape
back to the camp, and considered that the next morn-
ing would be soon enough to return and finish the
business. The General, however, determined to get
back, and scratch teams oj such mules, riding-horses,
and oxen as had lived through the day being harnessed
tq the guns, the dispirited and exhausted survivors of
the force managed to ford the Ingogo, now swollen by
rain which had fallen in the afternoon, poor Lieutenant
Wilkinson, the adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in
the operation, and to struggle through the dense dark-
ness back to camp.
On the hill-top they had lately held the dead lay
thick. There, too, exposed to the driving rain and
bitter wind, lay the wounded, many of whom would be
dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must
indeed have been a sight never to be forgotten by
those who saw it. The night — I remember well —
was cold and rainy, the great expanses of hill and
THE BOER REBELLION. ,45
plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an
uncertain moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest
darkness by the passing of a heavy cloud. Xow and
again flashes of lightning threw every crag and outline
into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of distant
thunder made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a
gust of icy wind would come tearing down the valleys
to be followed by a pelting thunder shower — and thus
the night wore away.
When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger,
an ordinary healthy person would sufier if left after a
hard day's work to lie all night in the rain and wind
on the top of a stony mountain, without food, or even
water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree
possible to realise what the sufferings of our wounded
after the battle of Ingogo must have been. Those
who survived were next day taken to the hospital at
Newcastle
What Sir George Colley's real object was in expos-
ing himself to the attack has never transpired. It
can hardly have been to clear the road, as he says in
his despatch, because the road was not held by the
enemy, but only visited occasionally by their patrols.
The result of the battle was to make the Boers, whose
losses were trifling, more confident than ever, and to
greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George had now lost
between three and four hundred men out of his
column of little over a thousand, which was tliereby
entirely crippled. Of his staff officers Major Essex
now alone survived, his usual good fortune having
carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What
makes his repeated escapes the more remarkable is
that he was generally to be found in the heaviest
146 THE TRANSVAAL.
firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought to
be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason,
though, if reports are true, there would be no need to
fall back on that to find grounds on which to advance
a soldier who has always borne himself so well.
Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the
Boers, knowing that we had no force to cut them off,
and always secure of a retreat into the Free State,
passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and
descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong
into Natal for the purpose of destroying the reinforce-
ments which were now on their way up under General
Wood. This was on the nth of February, and from
that date till the i8th the upper districts of Natal
were in the hands of the enemy, who cut the telegraph
wires, looted waggons, stole herds of cattle and horses,
and otherwise amused themselves at the expense of
Her Majesty's subjects in Natal.
It was a very anxious time for those who knew what
Boers are capable of, and had women and children to
protect, and who were never sure if their houses would
be left standing over their heads from one day to
another.
Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as
scouts to give us timely warning of the approach of
marauding parties, and to sleep with loaded rifles close
to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked very
black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the
stable. Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a
patrol of some five hundred Boers encamped on the
next place, which by the way belonged to a Dutchman,
and stole all the stock on it, the property of an
Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons,
THE BOER REBELLION. 147
destroyed the contents, and burnt them. Numerous
were the false alarms it was our evil fortune to experi-
ence. For instance, one night I was sitting in the
drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door
leading on to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night
was warm, when suddenly I heard myself called by
name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place was in
the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door
I saw a full-cocked revolver coming round the corner,
and on opening it in some alarm, I could indistinctly
discern a line of armed figures in a crouching attitude
stretching along the verandah into the garden beyond.
It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who
had received information that a large number of Boers
had seized the place and had come to ascertain the
truth of the report. As we gathered from them that
the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very
comfortable night.
Meanwhile we were daily expecting to hear that the
troops had been attacked along the line of march, and
knowing the nature of the country and the many
opportunities it affords for ambuscading and destroying
one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumer-
able waggons, we had the worst fears for the result.
At length a report reached us to the effect that the
reinforcements were expected on the morrow, and that
they were not going to' cross the Ingagaan at the
ordinary drift, which was much commanded by hills,
but at a lower drift on our own place, about three
miles from Newcastle, which is only slightly com-
manded. We also heard that it was the intention of
the Boers to attack them at this point and to fall back
on my house and the hills behind. Accordingly, we
148 THE TRANSVAAL.
thought it about time to retreat, and securing a few
valuables, such as plate, we made our way into the
town, leaving the house and its contents to take their
chance. At Newcastle an attack was daily expected,
if for no other reason, to obtain possession of the stores
collected there.
The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched
condition, no proper outlook was kept, and there was
an utter want of effective organisation. The military
element at the camp had enough to do to look after
itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the
town; and the mounted police — a colonial force paid
by the colony — had been withdrawn from the little
forts round Newcastle, as the General wanted them for
other purposes, and a message sent that the town must
defend its own forts. There were, it is true, a large
number of able-bodied men in the place who were
willing to fight, but they had no organisation. The
very laager was not finished until the danger was
past.
Then there was a large party who were for surrender-
ing the town to the Boers, because if they fought it
might afterwards injure their trade. With this section
of the population the feeling of patriotism was strong,
no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am con-
vinced that the Boers would have found the capture of
Newcastle an easy task, and I confess that what I then
saw did not inspire me with great hopes of the safety
of the colony when it gets responsible government,
and has to depend for protection on burgher forces.
Colonial volunteer forces are, I think, as good troops as
any in the world; but an unorganised colonial mob,
pulled this way and that by different sentiments and
THE BOER REBELLION. 149
interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the
difference that it is more impatient of controL
For some unknown reason the Boer leaders provi-
dentially changed their minds about attacking the rein-
forcements, and their men were withdrawn to the ITek
as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and
on the 17th February the reinforcements marched into
Newcastle, to the very great relief of the inhabitants,
who had been equally anxious for their own safety and
that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my life
more pleased to see Her Majesty'? uniform ; and we were
equally rejoiced on returnincr home to find that nothing
had been injured. After this we had quiet for a while.
On the 2ist February, we heard that two fresh regi-
m-ents had been sent up to the camp at Lang's Nek,
and that General Wood had been ordered down country
by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements.
This item of news caused much surprise, as nobody
could understand why, now that the road was clear,
and that there was little chance of its being again
blocked, a General should be sent down to do work
which could, to all appearance, have been equally well
done by the officers in command of the reinforcing
regiments, with the assistance of their transport riders.
It was, however, understood that an agreement had been
entered into between the two Generals that no offensive
operations should be undertaken till Wood returned.
With the exception of occasional scares, there was
no further excitement till Sunday the 27th February,
when, whilst sitting on the verandah after lunch, I
thought I heard the sound of distant artillery. Others
present differed with me, thinking the sound was caused
by thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we deter-
ISO THE TRANSVAAL.
mined to ride into town and see. On arrival there
we found the place full of rumours, from which we
gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred; and
that messages were pouring down the wires from
Mount Prospect camp. We then went on to camp,
thinking that we should learn more there, but they
knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what
new "shave" we had got hold of. A considerable
number of troops had been marched from Newcastle
that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but when it
was realised that something had occurred, they were
stopped, and marched back again. Bit by bit we
managed to gather the truth. At first we heard that
our men had made a most gallant resistance on the
hill, mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds,
till at last, their ammunition failing, they fought with
their bayonets, using stones and meat tins as missiles.
I wish that our subsequent information had been to
the same effect.
It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Si?
George CoUey, after mess, suddenly gave orders for a
force of a little over six hundred men, consisting of
detachments from no less than three different regi-
ments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to
be got ready for an expedition, without revealing his
plans to anybody until late in the afternoon; and
then without more ado, marched them up to the top
of Majuba — a great square-topped mountain to the
right of, and commanding the Boer position at Lang's
Nek. The troops reached the top about three in the
morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and were
stationed at different points of the plateau in a scientific
way. Whilst the darkness lasted, they could, by the
THE BOER REBELLION. 151
glittering of the watch-fires, trace from this point of
vantage the position of the Boer laagers that lay 2000
yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day revealed
every detail of the defensive works, and showed the
country lying at their feet like a map.
On arrival at the top, it was represented to the
General that a rough entrenchment should be thrown
up, but he would not allow it to be done on account of
the men being wearied with their marching up. This
was a fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however
slight, one would think that 600 English soldiers might
have defied the whole Boer army, and much more the
200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down
Majuba. It appears that about 10.15 -^-M., Colonel
Stewart and Major Eraser again went to General CoUey
" to arrange to start the sailors on an entrenchment." . . .
" Einding the ground so exposed, the General did not
give orders to entrench."
As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in
the occupation of the English, their first idea was to
leave the Nek, and they began to inspan with that
object, but discovering that there were no guns com-
manding them, they changed their mind, and set to
work to storm the hill instead. As far as I have been
able to gather, the number of Boers who took the
mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not
think there were more than that The Boers them-
selves declare solemnly that they were only 100 strong,
but this I do not believe. They slowly advanced up
the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began,
the Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently,
and shooting with ever-increasing accuracy, as they
found our fire quite ineffective.
1 52 THE TRANSVAAL.
About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the
last ridge, and General CoUey was shot through the
head. After this, the retreat became a rout, and the
soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous sides of
the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as
they went, till they were out of range. A few were
also, 1 heard, killed by the shells from the guns that
were advanced from the camp to cover the retreat, but
as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not
true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded,
including Sir George Colley, Drs. Landon and Comish,
and Commander Romilly, who was shot with an
explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering.
When the wounded Commander was being carried to
a more sheltered spot, it was with great difficulty that
the Boers were prevented from massacring him as he
lay, they being under the impression that he was Sir
Garnet Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the
wounded were left on the battlefield all night in very
inclement weather, to which some of them succumbed.
It is worthy of note that after the fight was over
they were treated with considerable kindness by the
Boers.
Not being a soldier, of course, I cannot venture to
give any military reasons as to how it was that what
was after all a considerable force was so easily driven
from a position of great natural strength ; but I think
I may, without presumption, state my opinion as to
the real cause, which was the villainous shooting of the
British soldier. Though the troops did not, as was
said at the time, run short of ammunition, it is clear
that they fired away a great many rounds at men who,
in storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed
THE BOER REBELLION. 153
themselves more or less, of whom they managed to hit
— certainly not more than six or seven — which was
the outside of the Boer casualties. From this it is
clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a
moving object, nor did they probably know that when
shooting down hill it is necessary to aim low. Such
shooting as the English soldier is capable of may be
very well when he has an army to aim at, but it is
useless in guerilla warfare against a foe skilled in the
use of the rifle and the art of taking shelter.
A couple of months after the storming of Majuba,
I, together with a friend, had a conversation with a
Boer, a volunteer from the Free State in the late war,
and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba, who
gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with
the greatest willingness. He said that when it was
discovered that the English had possession of the
mountain, they thought that the game was up, but
after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volun-
teers were called for to storm the hill. Only seventy
men could be found to perform the duty, of whom
he was one. They started up the mountain in fear
and trembling, but soon found that every shot passed
over their heads, and went on with greater boldness.
Only three men, he declared, were hit on the Boer
side ; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he
himself was the third, getting his face grazed by a
bullet, of which he showed us the scar. He stated
that the first to reach the top ridge was a boy of
twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they
fled, when, he said, he paid them out for having nearly
killed him, knocking them over one after another " like
bucks " as they ran down the hill, adding that it was
154 THE TRANSVAAL.
" alter lecker " (very nice). He asked us how many
men we had lost during the war, and when we told
him ahout seven hundred killed and wounded, laughed
in our faces, saying he knew that our dead amounted
to several thousands. On our assuring him that this
was not the case, he replied, "Well, don't let's talk
of it any more, because we are good friends now, and
if we go on you will lie, and I shall lie, and then we
shall get angry. The war is over now, and I don't
want to quarrel with the English ; if one of them takes
off his hat to me I always acknowledge it." He did
not mean any harm in talking thus ; it is what Eng-
lishmen have to put up with now in South Africa;
the Boers have beaten us, and act accordingly.
This man also told us that the majority of the rifles
they picked up were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the
latter part of the fighting had been carried on within
200.
Sir George CoUey's death was much lamented in the
colony, where he was deservedly popular ; indeed, any-
body who had the honour of knowing that kind-hearted
English gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply
regret his untimely end. What his motive was in oc-
cupying Majuba in the way he did has never, so far
as I am aware, transpired. The move, in itself, would
have been an excellent one, had it been made in force,
or accompanied by a direct attack on the IsTek, but,
as undertaken, seems to have been objectless. There
were, of course, many rumours as to the motives that
prompted his action, of which the most probable seems
to be that, being aware of what the Home Government
intended to do with reference to the Transvaal, he de-
termined to strike a blow to try and establish British
THE BOER REBELLION. 155
supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any ap-
parent surrender would be. Whatever his faults may
have been as a General, he was a brave man, and had
the honour of his country much at heart.
It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night
the troops marched up Majuba, that the General was
" not himself," and it was hinted that continual anxiety
and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind. As
against this, however, must be set the fact that his
telegrams to the Secretary of State for War, the last
of which he must have despatched only about half
an hour before he was shot, are cool and collected,
and written in the same unconcerned tone — as though
he were a critical spectator of an interesting scene —
that characterises all his communications, more espe-
cially his despatches. They at any rate give no evi-
dence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor
can I see that any action of his with reference to the
occupation of Majuba is out of keeping with the
details of his generalship upon other occasions. He
was always confident to rashness, and possessed by
the idea that every man in the ranks was full of as
high a spirit, and as brave as he was himself. In-
deed, most people will think, that so far from its
being a rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad
generalship as it seems, was a wiser move than either
the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo fiasco.
But at the best, all his movements are difficult to
be understood by a civilian, though they may, for
ought we know, have been part of an elaborate plan,
perfected in accordance with the rules of military
science, of which, it is said, he was a great student.
CHAPTER VI.
THE KETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL.
When Parliament met in January 1881, the Govern
ment announced, through the mediumship of the
Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to • vin-
dicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I
have already briefly described the somewhat unfor-
tunate attempts to gain this end by force of arms;
and I now propose to follow the course of the diplo-
matic negotiations entered into by the ministry with
the same object
As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a
positive form, causing great dismay among the Home
authorities, whose paths, as we all know, are the
paths of peace — at any price ; and whilst, in the
first confusion of calamity, they knew not where to
turn, President Brand stepped upon the scene in the
character of *' Our Mutual Friend," and, by the Govern-
ment at any rate, was rapturously welcomed.
This gentleman has for many years been at the head
of the Government of the Orange Free State, whose
fortunes he had directed with considerable ability.
He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted dis-
position, and has the advancement of the Boer cause
in South Africa much at heart The rising in the
IS*
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 157
Transvaal was an event that gave him a great and
threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the
genuinely benevolent object of checking bloodshed;
secondly, of advancing the Dutch cause throughout
South Africa under the cloak of amiable neutrality,
and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy
over the Dutch and British prestige with the natives ;
and, thirdly, of putting the English Government
under a lasting obligation to him. Of this oppor-
tunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each
particular.
So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand
put himself into active telegraphic communication with
the various British authorities with the view of pre-
venting bloodshed by inducing the English Govern-
ment to accede to the Boer demands. He was also
earnest in his declarations that the Free State was
not supporting the Transvaal ; which, considering that
it was practically the insurgent base of supplies, where
they had retired their women, children, and cattle, and
that it furnished them with a large number of volun-
teers, was perhaps straining the truth.
About this time also we find Lord Kimberley tele-
graphing to Mr. Brand that "if only the Transvaal
Boers will desist from armed opposition to the Queen's
authority ,** he thinks some arrangement might be made.
This is the first indication made public of what was
passing in the minds of Her Majesty's Government,
on whom its Kadical supporters were now beginning
to put the screw, to induce or threaten them into sub-
mitting to the Boer demands.
Again, on the nth January, the President tele-
graphed to Lord Kimberley through the Orange Free
158 THE TRANSVAAL.
State Consul in London, suggesting that Sir H. de
Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be ap-
pointed a Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle
matters. Oddly enough, about the same time the same
proposition emanated from the Dutch party in the Cape
Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a coincidence that
inclines one to the opinion that these friends of the
Boers had some further reason for thus urging Sir
Henry de Villiers' appointment as Commissioner beyond
his apparent fitness for the post, of which his high
reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity was
a sufficient guarantee.
The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being
that, rightly or wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is
himself of Dutch descent, is noted throughout South
Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause, and
both President Brand and the Dutch party in the
Cape shrewdly suspected that, if the settling of dif-
ferences were left to his discretion, the Boers and
their interests would receive very gentle handling.
The course of action adopted by him, when he be-
came a member of the Eoyal Commission, went far
to support this view, for it will be noticed in the
Eeport of the Commissioners that in every single
point he appears to have taken the Boer side of the
contention. Indeed so blind was he to their faults,
that he would not even admit that the horrible
Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are con-
demned both by Sir H. Kobinson and Sir Evelyn
Wood in language as strong as the formal terms of
a report will allow, were acts contrary to the rules
of civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpe-
trated by Englishmen on Boers, or even on natives,
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. I59
I venture to think Sir Henry de Villiers would have
looked at them in a very different light.
In the same telegram in which President Brand
recommends the appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers,
he states that the allegations made by the Triumvirate
in the proclamation in which they accused Sir Owen
Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be
investigated, as they maintain that the collision was
commenced by the authorities. Nobody knew better
than Mr. Brand that any English official would be
quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen
Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been com-
menced by the authorities, which as it happened it
was not, they would under the circumstances have
been amply justified in so commencing it This re-
mark by President Brand in his telegram was merely
an attempt to throw an air of probability over a series
of slanderous falsehoods.
. Messages of this nature continued to pour along
the wires from day to day, but the tone of those from
the Colonial Office grew gradually humbler. Thus we
find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8 th February,
that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition
all reasonable guarantees would be given as to their
treatment after submission, and that a scheme would
be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement of
difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had
already begun to water the meaning of their declara-
tion that they would vindicate Her Majesty's autho-
rity. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr. Courtney, and
their followers had given another turn to the Radical
screw.
It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of
i6o THE TRANSVAAL.
the real aims of the Government had entered into
the mind of Sir George CoUey, since on the 7th Feb-
ruary he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed
to adopt on entering the Transvaal, which included a
suggestion that he should grant a complete amnesty
only to those Boers who would sign a declaration of
loyalty.
In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of
the sort, but to promise protection to everybody and
refer everything home.
Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for
the time the flow of telegrams, or rather varied their
nature, for those despatched during the next few days
deal with the question of reinforcements. On the
13th February, however, negotiations were reopened
by Paul Kruger, one of the Triumvirate, who offered,
if all the troops were ordered to withdraw from the
Transvaal, to give them a free passage through the
Nek, to disperse the Boers, and to consent to thQ
appointment of a Commission.
The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who,
without making reference to the question of with-
drawing the soldiers, offered, if only the Boers would
disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive
powers to develop the "permanent friendly settle-
ment " scheme. The telegram ends thus : " Add, that
if this proposal is accepted, you now are authorised
to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part."
This message was sent to General Wood, because
the Boers had stopped the communications with
Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies in
these words, which show his astonishment at the
policy adopted by the Home Government, and which.
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL, i6i
in the opinion of most people, redound to his
credit —
" Latter part of your telegram to Wood not under-
stood. There can be no hostilities if no resistance is
made, but am I to leave Lang's N'ek in Natal territory
in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and short
of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?"
Lord Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons
must be left free to provision themselves, "but we
do not mean that you should march to the relief of
garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek if an arrangement
proceeds."
It will be seen that the definition of what vindica-
tion of Her Majesty's authority consisted grew broader
and broader; it now included the right of the Boers
to continue to occupy their positions in the colony
of Natal.
Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages
was being kept up between President Brand and Lord
Kimberley, who alternately gave " sincere thanks to
Lord Kimberley " and ** fully appreciated the friendly
spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February
the latter telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amic-
able settlement by negotiation, but this will* be greatly
facilitated if somebody on spot and friendly disposed
to both couM by personal communication with both
endeavour to smooth difficulties. Ofiers his services
to Her ^lajesty's Government, and Kruger and Pre-
torius and Joubert are willing." Needless to say his
services were accepted.
Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George
Colley made his last move, and took possession of
Majuba. His defeat and death had the effect of causing
i6a THE TRANSVAAL.
another temporary check in the peace negotiations,
whilst Sir Frederick Eoberts with ample reinforcements
was despatched to Natal. It had the further effect
of increasing the haughtiness of the Boer leaders, and
infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or gene-
rosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Govern-
ment.
Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President
Brand and Sir Evelyn Wood, inform the Secretary of
State for the Colonies that they are willing to negotiate,
but decline to submit or cease opposition. Sir Evelyn
Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of
policy adopted by the Government, telegraphed that
he thought the best thing to do would be for him to
engage the Boers, and disperse them vi et armis, with-
out any guarantees, '* considering the disasters we have
sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely neces-
sary," be empowered to promise life and property to
the leaders, but that they should be banished from the
country. In answer to this telegram, Lord Kimberley
informs him that Her Majesty's Government will am-
nesty everybody except those who have committed acts
contrary to the rules of civilised warfare, and that they
will agree to anything, and appoint a Commission to
carry out the details, and " be ready for friendly com-
munications with any persons appointed by the Boers."
Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-estab-
lished in the Transvaal.
It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of
arrangement to which Englishmen are accustomed, but
perhaps, considering the circumstances, and the well-
known predilections of those who made the settlement^
it was as much as could be expected.
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 163
The action of the Government must not be considered
as though they were unfettered in their judgment ; ib
can never be supposed that they acted as they did
because they thought such action right or even wise,
for that would be to set them down as men of a
very low order of intelligence, which they certainly
are not.
It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after
much consideration given their decision that under all
the circumstances the Transvaal must remain British
territory, and who, on a revolt subsequently breaking
out in that territory, had declared that Her Majesty's
rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all
other circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves
by almost unconditionally, and of their own free will,
abandoning the country, and all Her Majesty's subjects
living in it. That would be to pay a poor tribute to
their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons
existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as
they were satisfied there did, those reasons would exist
with still greater force after a war had been under-
taken and three crushing defeats sustained, which if left
unavenged must, as they knew, have a most disastrous
effect on our prestige throughout the South African
continent
I prefer to* believe that the Government was coerced
into acting as it did by Eadical pressure, both from
outside and from its immediate supporters in the
House, and that it had to choose between making an
unconditional surrender in the Transvaal and losing
the support of a very powerful party. Under these
circumstances it, being Liberal in politics, naturally
followed its instincts, and chose surrender.
i64 THE TRANSVAAL.
If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily
mischievous in its consequences, so much the worse
for those who suffered by it; it was clear that the
Government could not be expected to lose votes in
order to forward the true interests of countries so far
off as the South African Colonies, which had had the
misfortune to be made a party question of, and must
take the consequences.
There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear
on the Government was very considerable, for not only
had they to deal with their own supporters, and with
the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash of
its displeasure descend even on the august person of
Mr. Gladstone, should he show signs of letting slip
so rich an opportunity for the vindication of the holiest
principles of advanced Eadicalism, but also with the
hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional
sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who
are always ready to take up any cause, from that of
Jumbo or of a murderer to that of oppressed peoples,
such as the Bulgarians or the Transvaal Boers.
These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with
that confidence which proverbially results from the
hasty assimilation of imperfect and erroneous informa-
tion, found in the Transvaal question a great oppor-
tunity of making a noise; and — ^as in a disturbed
farmyard the bray of the domestic donkey, ringing
loud and clear among the utterances of more intelli-
gent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes them — so,
and with like effect, amongst the confused sound of
various English opinions about the Boer rising, rose
the trumpet-note of the Transvaal Independence Com-
mittee and its supporters.
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 165
As we have seen, they did not sound in vain.
On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers
had been entered into by Sir Evelyn Wood, which
was several times prolonged up to the 21st March,
when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace
with the Boer leaders, which, under certain conditions,
guaranteed the restoration of the country within six
months, and left all other points to be decided by a
Koyal Commission.
The news of this peace was at first received in the
colony in the silence of astonishment. Personally, I
remember, I would not believe that it was true. It
seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had
passed, and knew what it all meant, something so
utterly incredible that we thought there must be a
mistake.
If there had been any one redeeming circumstance
about it, if the English arms had gained a single
decisive victory, it might have been so, but it was
hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that
not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance
wrested from them by force of arms, but that they
were henceforth to be subject, as they well knew
would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious
Boers, and the sarcasms of keener- witted Kafirs.
People ifi England seem to fancy that when men go
to the colonies they lose all sense of pride in their
country, and think of nothing but their own advantage.
I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I believe
that, individual for individual, there exists a greater
sense of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality,
and in the proud name of England, among colonists,
than among Englishmen proper. Certainly the humili-
166 THE TRANSVAAL.
ation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly felt
in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps,
the impossibility of imposing upon people in that
country with the farrago of nonsense about blood-
guiltiness and national morality, which was made
such adroit use of at home, may have made the dif-
ference.
I know that personally I would not have believed
it possible that I could feel any public event so
keenly as I did this ; indeed, I quickly made up my
mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbour-
hood of the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable
residence for an Englishman, and that I would,
at any cost, leave the country, — which I accordingly
did.
Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the
peace was declared. Every hotel and bar was crowded
with refugees, who were trying to relieve their feel-
ings by cursing the name of Gladstone with a vigour,
originality, and earnestness that I have never heard
equalled; and declaring in ironical terms how proud
they were to be citizens of England — a country that
always kept its word. Then they set to work with
many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy
of the Eight Honourable Gentleman at the head of
Her Majesty's Government, an example, by the way,
that was followed throughout South Africa.
Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the
colony, was hissed as he walked through the town,
and great surprise was expressed that a soldier who
came out expressly to fight the Boers should consent
to become the medium of communication in such a
iirty business. And, indeed, there was some excuse
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 167
for all this bitterness, for the news meant ruin to very
many.
But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the
news with astonishment, how shall I describe its effect
upon the unfortunate loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal,
on whom it burst like a thunderbolt ?
They did not say much, however, and indeed there
was nothing to be said. They simply began to pack up
such things as they could carry with them, and to leave
the country, which they well knew would henceforth
be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English sym-
pathisers. In a few weeks they come pouring down
through Newcastle by hundreds ; it was the most
melancholy exodus that can be imagined. There were
people of all classes, ojfficials, gentlefolk, work-people,
and loyal Boers, but they had a connecting link ; they
had all been loyal, and they were all ruined.
Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since
it became a British colony, and invested all they had
in it, and now their capital was lost and their labour
rendered abortive ; indeed, many of them whom one
had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down
to Natal hardly knowing how they would feed their
families next week.
It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's
sovereignty* was withdrawn the value of landed and
house property in the Transvaal went down to nothing,
and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized
house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten
to twenty pounds a month during British occupation,
out after the declaration of peace, owners of houses
were glad to get people to live in them to keep them
from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had
i68 THE TRANSVAAL.
invested money in businesses suffered in the same way ;
their property remains neither profitable or s^eable,
and they themselves are precluded by their nationality
from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being
peculiar to Ireland.
Nor were they the only sufferers. The officials, many
of whom had taken to the Government service as a
permanent profession, in which they expected to pass
their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly with a
small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their
debts, and told to find their living as best they could.
It was indeed a case of vac victis, — woe to the conquered
loyalists.^
The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Govern-
ment consisted of Sir Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de
Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood, President Brand being
also present in his capacity of friend of both parties,
and to their discretion were left the settlement of all
outstanding questions. Amougst these, were the mode
of trial of those persons who had been guilty of acts
contrary to the rules of civilised warfare, the question
^ The following extract is clipped from a recent issue of the Trans-
vaal Advertiser. It describes the present condition of Pretoria : —
" The streets grown over with rank vegetation ; the water-furrows
uncleaned and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches ;
the houses showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay ; the side
paths, in many places, dangerous to pedestrians — in fact, everything
the eye can rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken this
once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded, betake him-
self to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive the same sad
evidences of neglect, public grounds unattended, roads uncared for, mills
and other public works crumbling into ruin. These palpable signs of
decay most strongly impress him. A blight seems to have come over
this lately fair and prosperous town. Rapidly it is becoming a 'deserted
Tillage,' a 'city of the dead.' "
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 169
of severance of territory from the Transvaal on the
eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in
the Keate- Award districts, the compensation for losses
sustained during the war, the functions of the British
Kesident, and other matters. Their place of meeting
was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they pro-
ceeded to Pretoria.
The first question of importance that came before
the Commission was the mode of trial to be adopted
in the cases of those persons accused of acts contrary
to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder.
The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly ad-
vised that a special tribunal should be constituted to
try these cases, principally because " after a civil war
in which all the inhabitants of a country, with very
few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and
impartial men, truly unbiassed, will be very difficult
to get together." It is satisfactory to know that the
Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious fact " their
grave consideration," which, according to their Eeport,
resulted in their determining to let the cases go before
the ordinary court, and be tried by a jury, because in
referring them to a specially constituted court which
would have done equal justice without fear or favour,
" the British Government would have made for itself,
among the Dutch population of South Africa, a name
for vindictive oppression, which no generosity in other
affairs could efface."
There is more in this determination of the Commis-
sioners, or rather of the majority of them — for Sir E.
Wood, to his credit be it said, refused to agree in their
decision — than meets the eye, the fact of the matter
being that it was privately well known to them, that
I70 THE TRANSVAAL.
though the Boer leaders might be willing to allow a
few of the murderers to undergo the form of a trial,
neither they nor the Boers themselves meant to permit
the farce to go any further. Had the men been tried
by a special tribunal they would in all probability
have been condemned to death, and then would have
come the awkward question of carrying out the sentence
on individuals whose deeds were looked on, if not with
general approval, at any rate without aversion by the
great mass of their countrymen. In short, it would
probably have become necessary either to reprieve them
or to fight the Boers again, since it was very certain
that they would not have allowed them to be hung.
Therefore the majority of the Commissioners, finding
themselves face to face with a dead wall, determined to
slip round it instead of boldly climbing it, by referring
the cases to the Transvaal High Court, cheerfully con-
fident of what the result must be.
After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool,
for of all the crimes committed by the Boers — a list of
some of which will be found in the Appendix to this
book — ^in only three cases were a proportion of the
perpetrators produced and put through the form of
trial Those three were — the dastardly murder of Cap-
tain Elliot, who was shot by his Boer escort whilst
crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of a
man named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his
own house by Boers, who afterwards put a bullet
through his head to make the job " look better ; " and
the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot
by his escort on the border of the Free State. A few
of the men concerned in the first two of these crimes
were tried in Pretoria; and it was currently reported
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 171
at that time, that in order to make their acquittal
certain our Attorney-General received instructions not
to exercise his right of challenging jurors on behalf
of the Crown. Whether or not this is true I am not
prepared to say, but I believe it is a fact that he did
not exercise that right, though the counsel for the
prisoners availed themselves of it freely, with the
result that in Elliot's case, the jury was composed of
eight Boers and one German, nine being the full South
African jury. The necessary result followed ; in both
cases the prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the
evidence. Barber's murderers were tried in the Free
State, and were, as might be expected, acquitted.
Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of
murder and other crimes during the course of the war
not one was brought to justice.
The offence for which their victims died was, in
nearly every case, that they had served, were serving,
or were loyal to Her Majesty the Queen. In no single
case has England exacted retribution for the murder
of her servants and citizens ; but nobody can read
through the long list of these dastardly slaughters
without feeling that they will not go unavenged. The
innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of this
country, and the tears of children and widows, now
appeal to a higher tribunal than that of Mr. Glad-
stone's Government, and assuredly they will not appeal
in vain.
The next point of importance dealt with by the
Commission was the question whether or no any
territory should be severed from the Transvaal, and
kept under English rule for the benefit of the native
inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure
173 THE TRANSVAAL.
put upon him by members of the Aborigines l*rotection
Society, instructed the Commission to consider the
advisability of severing the districts of Lydenburg and
Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering
on Zululand and Swaziland, from the Transvaal, so
as to place the inhabitants of the first two districts
out of danger of maltreatment by the Boers, and to
interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazis, and Boer
aggression, and vice versd.
The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, ac-
quiesced in the principle of such a separation in the
preliminary peace signed by Sir Evelyn "W004 and
themselves. The majority of the Commission, however
(Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against
the retention of either of these districts, a decision
which, I think, was a wise one, though I arrive at that
conclusion on very different grounds to those adopted
by the majority of the Commission.
Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of
England to play policeman to the whole world. To
have retained these native districts would have been
to make ourselves responsible for their good govern-
ment, and to have guaranteed them against Boer
encroachment, which I do not think that we were
called upon to do. It is surely not incumbent upon
us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to
undertake the management of the most troublesome
part of it, the Zulu border. Besides, bad as the
abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think that if
it was to be done at all, it was best to do it
thoroughly, since to have kept some natives under
our protection, and to have handed over the rest to
the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be to
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 173
render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening
the power of the natives themselves to combine in
self-defence, since those under our protection would
naturally have little sympathy with their more un-
fortunate brethren — ^their interests and circumstances
being different.
The Commission do not seem to have considered the
question from these points of view ; but putting them
on one side, there are many other considerations con-
nected with it which are ably summed up in their
Keport. Amongst these is the danger of disturb-
ances commenced between Zulus or Swazis and Boers
spreading into Natal, and the probability of the
fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by
Boers. The great argument for the retention of
some territory, if only as a symbol that the English
had not been driven out of the country, is, however,
set forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Keport,
which runs as follows : — " The moral considerations
that determine the actions of civilised governments
are not easily understood by barbarians, in whose
eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority,
and it appeared possible that the surrender by the
British Crown of one of its possessions to those who
had been in %rms against it, might be looked upon
by the natives in no other way than as a token of
the defeat and decay of the British power, and that
thus a serious shock might be given to British
authority in South Africa, and the capacity of Great
Britain to govern and direct the vast native popula-
tion within and without her South African dominions
*— a capacity resting largely on the renown of her name
—might be dangerously impaired."
174 THE TRANSVAAL.
These words, coming from so unexpected a source,
do not, though couched in such mild language, hide
the startling importance of the question discussed.
On the contrary, they accurately and with double
weight convey the sense and gist of the most damning
argument against the policy of the retrocession of the
Transvaal in its entirety; and proceeding from their
own carefully chosen Commissioners, can hardly have
been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his col-
leagues.
The majority of the Commission then proceeds to
set forth the arguments advanced by the Boers against
the retention of any territory, which appear to have
been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are
informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would
not have valued the restoration of a mutilated country.
Sentiment in a great measure had led them to insur-
rection, and the force of such it was impossible to dis-
regard." Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, states that he
cannot even agree with the premises of his colleagues*
argument, since he is convinced that it was not senti-
ment that had led to the outbreak, but a " general and
rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and
a hatred not only of English rule, but of all rule, he
would have stated the complete cause of the Transvaal
rebellion. In the next paragraph of the Eeport, how-
ever, we find the real cause of the pliability of the
Commission in the matter, which is the same that
influenced them in their decision about the mode of
trial of the murderers and other questions — they feared
that the people would appeal to arms if they decided
against their wishes.
Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 175
can read this Eeport without plainly seeing that the
Commissioners were, in treating with the Boers on
these points, in the position of ambassadors from a
beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of
course, they well knew that this was not the case
but whatever the Boer leaders may have said, the
Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend
to look at the matter in any other light When we
asked for the country back, said they, we did not get
it ; after we had three times defeated the English we
did get it ; the logical conclusion from the facts being
that we got it because we defeated the English. This
was their tone, and it is not therefore surprising that
whenever the Commission threatened to decide any-
thing against them, they, with a smile, let it know that-
if it did, they would be under the painful necessity
of re-occupying Lang*s Nek. It was never necessary
to repeat the threat, since the majority of the Com-
mission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet
the views of the Boer representatives.
Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly
sums up the matter: — "To contend that the Koyal
Commission ought not to decide contrary to the wishes-
of the Boers, because such decision might not be
accepted, is to deny to the Commission the very power
of decision that it was agreed should be left in its
hands." Exactly so. But it is evident that the Com-
mission knew its place, and so far from attempting to
exercise any " power of decision," it was quite content
with such concessions as it could obtain by means of
bargaining. Thus, as an additional reason against
the retention of any territory, it is urged that if this
territory was retained ** the majority of your Commia-
176 THE TRANSVAAL.
sioners . . . would have found themselves in no favour-
able position for obtaining the concurrence of the Boer
leaders as to other matters." In fact, Her Majesty's
Commission, appointed, or supposed to be appointed,
to do Her Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its
shoes before men who had lately been rebels in arms
against her authority, and humbly submitted itself to
their dicta.
The majority of the Commission went on to express
their opinion, that by giving way about the retention
of territory they would be able to obtain better terms
for the natives generally, and larger powers for the
British Eesident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points
out in his Report, they did nothing of the sort, the
terms of the agreement about the Resident and other
native matters being all consequent on and included
in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem
to have overlooked the fact that such concessions as
they did obtain are only on paper, and practically
worthless, whilst all hond fide advantages remained
with the Boers.
The decision of the Commissioners in the question
of the Keate Award, which next came under their
consideration, appears to have been a judicious one,
being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel
Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collect-
ing information on the spot. The Keate Award Terri-
tory is a region lying to the south-west of the Transvaal,
and was, like many other districts in that country,
originally in the possession of natives of the Baralong
and Batlapin tribes. Individual Boers having, however,
more suo taken possession of tracts of land in the dis-
trict, difficulties speedily arose between their Govern-
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAU \\^^
ment and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr. Keate,
Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent
called in to arbitrate on the matter. His decision was
entirely in favour of the natives, and was accordingly
promptly and characteristically repudiated by the Boer
Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion the ques-
tion remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny
one to deal with. The Commission, acting on the prin-
ciple in medio tutissimvs ibis, drew a line through the
midst of the disputed territory, or, in other words, set
aside Mr. Keate's award, and interpreted the dispute in
favour of the Boers.
This decision was accepted by all parties at the
time, but it has not resulted in the maintenance of
peace. The principal chief, Montsioa, is an old ally
and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the
Boers are not able to forget or forgive, and they
appear to have stirred up rival chiefs to attack him,
and to have allowed volunteers from the Transvaal
to assist them. Montsioa has also enlisted some
white volunteers, and several fights have taken place,
in which the loss of life has been considerable.
Whether or no the Transvaal Government is directly
concerned it is impossible to say, but from the fact
that cannon are said to have been used against
Montsioa it would appear that it is, since private in-
dividuals do not, as a rule, own Armstrong guns.*
Amongst the questions remaining for the consider-
ation of the Commissioners was that of what com-
pensation should be given for losses during the war.
* I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to the letter
of " Transvaal " to the Standard^ whi«h I have republished in the
A.DDendix to this book.
If
lyB THE TRANSVAAL.
Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were
of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary
and enormous depreciation in the value of land and
other property, consequent on the retrocession. Into
this matter the Home Government declined to enter,
thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour,
since it was upon English guarantees that the country
would remain a British possession that the majority
of the unfortunate loyals invested their money in it.
It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H.
de Villiers dissenting) that the Boers should be
liable for compensation in cases where loss had been
sustained through commandeering seizure, confisca-
tion, destruction, or damage of property. The sums
awarded under these heads have already amounted
to about £i 10,000, which sum has been defrayed by
the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities stating
that they were not in a position to pay it.
In connection with this matter I will pass to the
financial clauses of the Keport. When the country
was annexed, the public debt amounted to ;f 30 1,727.
Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the
extent of jfi 50,000, but the total was brought up
by a Parliamentary grant, a loan from the Standard
Bank, and sundries to ;g' 390,404, which represented
the public debt of the Transvaal on the 31st December
1880. This was further increased by moneys advanced
by the Standard Bank and English Exchequer during
the war, and till the 8th August 1881, during which
time the country yielded no revenue, to ;f 457,393.
To this must be added an estimated sum of ;6^200,ooo
for compensation charges, pension allowances, &c., and
a further sum of ;£'383,ooo, the cost of the successful
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 179
expedition against Secocoeni, that of the unsuccessful
one being left out of account, bringing up the total
public debt to over a million, of which about ;f 800,000
is owing to this country.
This sum, with the characteristic liberality that
distinguished them in their dealings with the Boers,
but which was not so marked where loyals were con-
cerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissent-
ing) reduced by a stroke of the pen to ^^ 265,000, thus
entirely remitting an approximate sum of ;f 500,000,
or ;f 600,000. To the sum of ;f 265,000 still owing
must be added say another ;fi 50,000 for sums lately
advanced to pay the compensation claims, bringing
up the actual amount now owing to England to
something under half a million, of which I say with
confidence she will never see a single ;^ 10,000. As
this contingency was not contemplated, or if contem-
plated, not alluded to by the Koyal Commission, pro-
vision was made for a Sinking Fund, by means of which
the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues
of the States, is to be extinguished in twenty-five
years.
It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of
fate, that whilst the representatives of the Imperial
Government ^^ere thus showering gifts of hundreds
of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned
the benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon
her forces, and murdered her subjects, no such con-
sideration was extended to those who had remained
loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation
were passed by unheeded ; and looking from the win-
dows of the room in which they sat in Newcastle,
the members of the Commission might have seen
180 THE TRANSVAAL.
them flocking down from a country that could no
longer be their home ; those that were rich among
tliem made poor, and those that were poor reduced
to destitution.
The only other point which it will be necessary
for me to touch on in connection with this Report
is the duties of the British Resident and his rela-
tions to the natives. He was to be invested as repre-
sentative of the Suzerain with functions for securing
the execution of the terms of peace as regards — (i)
the control of the foreign relations of the State; (2)
the control of the frontier affairs of the State; and
(3) the protection of the interests of the natives in
the State.
As regards the first of these points, it was arranged
that the interests of subjects of the Transvaal should
be left in the hands of Her Majesty's representatives
abroad. Since Boers are, of all people in the worlds
the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls
are not likely to be troubled much on their account
With reference to the second point, the Commission
made stipulations that would be admirable if there
were any probability of their being acted up to. The
Resident is to report any encroachment on native
territory by Boers to the High Commissioner, and
when the Resident and the Boer Government differ,
the decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is
a charming way of settling difficulties, but the Com-
mission forgets to specify how the Suzerain's decision
is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can
hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to
bring about the desired obedience !
But besides thus using his beneficent authority to
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. i8i
prevent subjects of the Transvaal from trespassing on
their neighbour's land, the Eesident is to exercise a
general supervision over the interests of all the natives
in the country. Considering that they number about
a million, and are scattered over a territory larger than
France, one would think that this duty alone would
have taken up the time of any ordinary man ; and,
indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appoint-
ment of sub-residents to assist him. The majority of
the Commission refused, however, to listen to any
Buch suggestion — believing, they said, " that the least
possible interference with the independent Government
of the State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I sup-
pose it never occurred to them to ask the natives what
their views of the matter were ! The Eesident was
also to be a member of a Native Location Commission,
which was at some future time to provide land for the
natives to live on.
In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with
more or less accuracy the individual bent of its
framers. Sir Hercules Robinson figures throughout
as a man who has got a disagreeable business to
carry out, in obedience to instructions that admit of
no trifling with, and who has set himself to do the
best he can for his country, and those who suffer
through his* country's policy, whilst obeying those
instructions. He has evidently choked down his
feelings and opinions as an individual, and turned
himself into an official machine, merely registering
in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With Sir
Henry de Villiers the case is very different. One
feels throughout that the task is to him a congenial
one« and that the Boer cause has in him an excellent
182 THE TKANSVAAL.
friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their
cause instead of a member of the Commission, he
could not have espoused their side on every occa-
sion with greater zeaL According to him they were
always in the right, and in them he could find no
guile. Mr. Hofmeyer and President Brand exercised
a wise discretion from their own point of view
when they urged his appointment as Special Com-
missioner. I now come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who
was in the position of an independent Englishman,
neither prejudiced in favour of the Boers, or the
reverse, and on whom, as a military man. Lord
Kimberley would find it difficult to put the official
screw. The results of his happy position are obvious
in the paper attached to the end of the Eeport, and
signed by him, in which he totally and entirely
differs from the majority of the Commission on
every point of any importance. Most people will
think that this very outspoken and forcible dissent
deducts somewhat from the value of the Eeport, and
throws a shadow of doubt on the wisdom of its pro-
visions.
The formal document of agreement between Her
Majesty's Government and the Boer leaders, com-
monly known as the Convention, was signed by both
parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August
1 88 1, in the same room in which, nearly four years
before, the Annexation Proclamation was signed by
Sir T. Shepstone.
Whilst this business was being transacted in Govern-
ment House, a curious ceremony was going on just
outside, and within sight of the windows. This was
the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 183
followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists
and native chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was
written the word " Kesurgam," and an eloquent oration
was delivered over the grave. Such demonstrations
are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not entirely
without political significance.
But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commis-
sioners than that of attaching their signatures to a
document, — consisting of the necessity of conveying
Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession to about
a hundred native chiefs, until now Her Majesty's sub-
jects, who had been gathered together to hear it. It
must be borne in mind that the natives had not been
consulted as to the disposal of the country, although
they outnumber the white people in the proportion
of twenty to one, and that, beyond some worthless
paper stipulations, nothing had been done for their
interests.
Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is
by many, especially by those who are attached to
the Boer cause, considered as folly, if not worse,
namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and
sympathy with their sufferings, to bring me to the
conclusion that in acting thus we have inflicted a
cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me, that as
they were tlie original owners of the soil, they were
entitled to some consideration in the question of ita
disposal, and consequently and incidentally, of their
own. I am aware that it is generally considered
that the white man has a right to the black man's
possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy
mission to exterminate the wretched native and take
his place. But with this conclusion I venture to
i84 THE TRANSVAAL.
differ. So far as my own experience of natives has
gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities
of mind and body they very much resemble white
men, with the exception that they are, as a race,
quicker-witted, more honest, and braver than the
ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly
quoted the speech Shakespeare puts into Shylock's
mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew
hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, pas-
sions ? " In the same way I ask. Has a native no
feelings or affections ? does he not suffer when his
parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he
is driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not
know fear, feel pain, affection, hate, and gratitude?
Most certainly he does; and this being so, I cannot
believe that the Almighty, who made both white
nnd black, gave to the one race the right or mission
of exterminating or even of robbing or maltreating
the other, and calling the process the advance of
civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one con-
dition, if at all, have we the right to take the black
men's land; and that is, that we provide them with
an equal and a just Government, and allow no mal-
treatment of them, either as individuals or tribes,
but, on the contrary, do our best to elevate them,
and wean them from savage customs. Otherwise, the
practice is surely undefensible.
I am aware, however, that with the exception of a
small class, these are sentiments which are not shared
by the great majority of the public, either at home
or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how little
sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty
remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAU 185
to our native subjects in the Transvaal, when they
were, to the number of nearly a million, handed over
from the peace, justice, and security that on the whole
characterise our rule, to a state of things and possi-
bilities of wrong and suffering which I will not try
to describa
To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson,
as President of the Royal Commission, read a state-
ment, and then retired, refusing to allow them to speak
in answer. The statement informed the natives that
" Her Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice
which befits a great and powerful nation," had returned
the country to the Boers, " whose representatives,
Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I now," said
Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to
you." If reports are true, the native chiefs had,
many of them personally, and all of them by reputa-
tion, already the advantage of a very intimate acquaint-
ance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an
introduction was somewhat superfluous.
Sir Hercules then went on to explain to them that
locations would be allotted to them at some future
time ; that a British Resident would be appointed,
whose especial charge they would be, but that they
must bear ifi mind that he was not ruler of the
country, but the Government, " subject to Her Majesty's
suzerain rights." Natives were, no doubt, expected to
know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The state-
ment then goes on to give them good advice as to the
advantages of indulging in manual labour when asked
to do so by the Boers, and generally to show them how
bright and happy is the future that lies before them.
Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings,
i86 THE TRANSVAAL.
they are, however, reminded that it will be necessary
to retain the law relating to passes, which is, in the
hands of a people like the Boers, about as unjust a
regulation as a dominant race can invent for the
oppression of a subject people, and had, in the old
days of the Republic, been productive of much hard-
ship. The statement winds up by assuring them that
their "interests will never be forgotten or neglected
by Her Majesty's Government." Having read the
document the Commission hastily withdrew, and after
their withdrawal the chiefs were "allowed" to state
their opinions to the Secretary for Native Affairs.
In availing themselves of this permission, it is notice-
able that no allusion was made to all the advantages
they were to reap under the Convention, nor did they
seem to attach much importance to the appointment
of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their
attention was given to the great fact that the country
had been ceded to the Boers, and that they were no
longer the Queen's subjects. We are told, in Mr.
Shepstone's Report, that they " got very excited," and
" asked whether it was thought that they had no
feelings or hearts, that they were thus treated as a
stick or piece of tobacco, which could be passed from
hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a
Zoutpansberg chief, said : " I am Umgombarie. I have
fought with the Boers, and have many wounds, and
they know that what I say is true. ... I will never
consent to place myself under their rule. I belong
to the English Government I am not a man who
eats with both sides of his jaw at once; I only use
one side. I am English, I have said." Silamba said :
" I belong to the English. I will never return under
THE KETROCESSION OP THE TRANSVAAL. 187
the Boers. You see me, a man of my rank and posi-
tion ; is it right that such as I should be seized and
laid on the ground and flogged, as has been done to
lae and other chiefs ? "
Sinkanhla said : " We hear and yet do not hear,
we cannot understand. We are troubling you, Chief,
by talking in this way ; we hear the chiefs say that
the Queen took the country because the people of the
country wished it, and again that the majority of the
owners of the country did not wish their rule, and
that therefore the country was given back. We should
like to have the man pointed out from among us black
people who objects to the rule of the Queen. We are
the real owners of the country ; we were here when
the Boers came, and without asking leave, settled
down and treated us in every way badly. The English
Government then came and took the country ; we
have now had four years of rest and peaceful and just
rule. We have been called here to-day, and are told
that the country, our country, has been given to the
Boers by the Queen. This is a thing which surprises
us. Did the country, then, belong to the Boers ? Did
it not belong to our fathers and forefathers before us,
long before the Boers came here ? We have heard
that the Boera' country is at the Cape. If the Queen
wishes to give them their land, why does she not give
them back the Cape ? "
I have quoted this speech at length, because, although
made by a despised native, it sets forth their case more
powerfully and in happier language than I can do.
Umyethile said : " We have no heart for talking.
I have returned to the country from Sechelis, where
I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our hearts are
i»8 THE TRANSVAAL.
black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told
us, we are in agony, our intestines are twisting and
writhing inside of us, just as you see a snake do when
it is struck on the head. . . . We do not know what
has become of us, but we feel dead ; it may be that
the Lord may change the nature of the Boers, and that
we will not be treated like dogs and beasts of burden
as formerly, but we have no hope of such a change,
and we leave you with heavy hearts and great appre-
hension as to the future." In his Eeport, Mr. Shep-
stone (the Secretary for Native Affairs) says: "One
chief, Jan Sibilo, who has been, he informed me,
personally threatened with death by the Boers after
the English leave, could not restrain his feelings, but
cried like a child."
I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are
taken from many such statements. They are the very
words of the persons most concerned, and will speak
for themselves.
The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881,
and was to be formally ratified by a Volksraad or
Parliament of the Burghers within three months of
that date, in default of which it was to fall to the
ground and become null and void.
Anybody who has followed the course of afifairs
with reference to the retrocession of the Transvaal,
or who has even taken the trouble to read through
this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion
that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got
more than they could reasonably expect. Not so,
however, the Boers themselves. On the 28th Sep-
tember the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Con-
vention to a General Committee to report on, and on
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL, 189
the 30th September the Keport was presented. On
the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the
British Eesident to " His Excellency W. E. Gladstone,**
in which the Volksraad states that the Convention
is not acceptable —
(i.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand Kiver
Treaty of 1852.
(2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered
into with Sir Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the
Boers laid down their arms.
The Volksraad consequently declared that modifica-
tions were desirable, and that certain articles must be
altered.
To begin with, they declare that the " conduct of
foreign relations does not appertain to the Suzerain,
only supervision," and that the articles bearing on
these points must consequently be modified. They
next attack the native question, stating that "the
Suzerain has not the right to interfere with our
Legislature," and state that they cannot agree to
Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto
on Legislation connected with the natives ; to Article
1 3, by virtue of which natives are to be allowed to
acquire land; and to the last part of Article 26, by
which it is provided that whites of alien race living
in the Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the
taxes imposed on Transvaal citizens.
They further declare that it is infra dignitatem
for the President of the Transvaal to be a member
of a Commission. This refers to the Native Location
Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the Con-
vention, to sit, together with the British Resident, and
a third person jointly appointed.
190 THE TRANSVAAL.
They next declare that the amount of the debt foi
which the Commission has made them liable should
be modified. Considering that England had already
made them a present of from ;f 600,000 to ;^8oo,ooo,
this a most barefaced demand. Finally, they state
that "Articles 15, 16, 26, and 27 are superfluous,
and only calculated to wound our sense of honour "
(stc).
Article 1 5 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship
shall be tolerated.
Article 16 provides for religious toleration.
Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading,
and residence of all persons, other than natives, con-
forming themselves to the laws of the Transvaal.
Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the
Courts of Justice.
Putting the " sense of honour " of the Transvaal
Volksraad out of the question, past experience has
but too plainly proved that these Articles are by no
means superfluous.
In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Kobinson
telegraphs to the British Eesident on the 21st October
in the following words : —
"Having forwarded Volksraad Kesolution of 15th
to Earl of Kimberley, I am desired to instruct you in
reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that Her Majesty's
Government cannot entertain any proposals for a modi-
fication of the Convention untU after it has been rati-
fied, and the necessity for further concession proved
by experience."
I wish to draw particular attention to the last part
of this message, which is extremely typical of the
line of policy adopted throughout in the Transvaal
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 191
business. The English Government dared not make
any further concession to the Boers, because they felt
that they had already strained the temper of the country
almost to breaking in the matter. On the other hand,
they were afraid that if they did not do something, the
Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find
themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under
these circumstances, they have fallen back upon their
temporising and un-English policy, which leaves them
a back-door to escape through, whatever turn things
take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round and
declare, which is extremely probable, that they re-
pudiate their debt to us, or that they are sick of the
presence of a British Kesident, the Government will
be able to announce that "the necessity for further
concession" has now been "proved by experience,"
and thus escape the difficulty. In short, this tele-
gram has deprived the Convention of whatever final-
ity it may have possessed, and made it, as a document,
as worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That
this is the view taken of it by the Boers themselves,
is proved by the text of the Eatification which followed
on the receipt of this telegram.
The tone of this document throughout is, in my
opinion, considering from whom it came, and against
whom it is directed, very insolent. And it amply
confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers
looked upon themselves as a victorious people making
terms with those they have conquered. The Ratifica-
tion leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not satisfied
with this Convention, and considers that the members
of the Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for
the Fatherland when they upon their own responsibility
193 THE TRANSVAAL.
signed such an unsatisfactory state document." This
is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on
to recite the various points of objection, stating chat
the answers from the English Government proved that
they were well founded. " The English Government,"
it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer (the
telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the
difficulties raised by the Volksraad are neither fictitious
nor unfounded, inasmuch as it desires from its the con-
cession that we, the Volksraad, shall submit it to a
practical test." It will be observed that England is
here represented as begging the favour of a trial of her
conditions from the Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers.
The Eatification is in these words: "Therefore is it
that the Eaad here unanimously resolves not to go into
further discussion of the Convention, and maintaining
all objections to the Convention as made before the Eoyal
Commission or stated in the Eaad, and for the purpose
of showing to everybody that the love of peace and
unity inspires it, for the time and provisionally sub-
mitting the articles of the Convention to a practical
test, hereby complying with the request of the English
Government contained in the telegram of the 13 th
October 1881, proceeds to ratify the Convention."
It would have been interesting to have seen how
such a Eatification as this, which is no Eatification but
an insult, would have been accepted by Lord Beacons-
field. I think that within twenty-four hours of its
arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would
have received a startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield
is dead, and by his successor it was received with all
due thankfulness and humility. His words, however,
on this subject still remain to us, and even his great
THE RETROCESSION OP THE TRANSVAAL. 193
rival might have done well to listen to them. It was
in the course of what was, I believe, the last speech
he made in the House of Lords, that speaking about
the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that
it was a very dangerous thing to make peace with
rebellious subjects in arms against the authority of the
Queen. The warning passed unheeded, and the peace
was made in the way I have described.
As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious
to the reader that the Boers have not any intention of
acting up to its provisions, mild as they are, if they
can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the other hand,
there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or
breach. It is all very well to create a Eesident with
extensive powers ; but how is he to enforce his deci-
sions ? What is he to do if his awards are laughed at
and made a mockery of, as they are and will be ? The
position of Mr. Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than
that of Mr. Osborn in Zululand. For instance, the
Convention specifies in the first article that the Trans-
vaal is to be known as the Transvaal State. The
Boer Government have, however, thought fit to adopt
the name of " South African Eepublic " in all public
documents. Mr. Hudson was accordingly directed to
remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way ; his remon-
strance was politely acknowledged, but the country is
still officially called the South African Eepublic, the
Convention and Mr. Hudson's remonstrance notwith-
standing. Mr. Hudson, however, appears to be better
suited to the position than would have been the case
had an Englishman, pure and simple, been appointed,
since it is evident that things that would have struck
tK'A latter as insults to the Queen he represented,
N
194 THE TRANSVAAL.
and his country generally, are not so understood by
him. In fact, he admirably represents his ofi&cial
superiors in his capacity of swallowing rebuffs, and
when smitten on one cheek delightedly offering the
other.
Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanks-
giving for the success that had waited on their arms
and the recognition of their independence, where most
people will consider he was out of place. To this
meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was
presented by a branch of the Africander Bond, a
powerful institution, having for its object the total
uprootal of English rule and English customs in South
Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure.
In it he, in common with other members of the meeting,
is informed that "you took up the sword and struck
the Briton with such force " that " the Britons through
fear revived that sense of justice to which they could not
be brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon
come that we shall enter with you on one arena for
the entire independence of South Africa," t.«., independ-
ence from English rule.
On the following day the Gk)vemment gave a dinner,
to which all those who had done good service during
the late hostilities were invited, the British Eesident
being apparently the only Englishman asked. Amongst
the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes.
This man, who is an educated Hollander, was the
moving spirit of the Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed,
so dark is his reputation that the Eoyal Commission
refused to transact business with him, or to admit him
to their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular.
And now comes the most extraordinary part of the
THE KETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 195
episode. At the dinner it was necessary that the
health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be proposed,
ind with studied insolence this was done last of all
the leading political toasts, and immediately after that
of the Triumvirate. Notwithstanding this fact, and
that the toast was couched by Mr. Joubert, who stated
that " he would not attempt to explain what a Suzerain
was," in what appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find
that Mr. Hudson " begged to tender his thanks to the
Honourable Mr. Joubert for the kind way in which he
proposed the toast."
It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the
Queen thus metaphorically dragged in triumph at the
chariot wheels of the Triumvirate, but it is satisfac-
Jbry to know that the spectacle is not appreciated in
England : since, on a question in the House of Lords,
by the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a
deliberate insult. Lord Kimberley replied that the
British Eesident had been instructed that in future he
was not to attend public demonstrations unless he had
previously informed himself that the name of Her
Majesty would be treated with proper respect Let us
hope that this official reprimand will have its effect,
and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that there
is such a thing as trop de zSle — even in a good cause^
The Convention is now a thing of the past, the
appropriate rewards have been lavishly distributed to
its framers, and President Brand has at last prevailed
upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow
him to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael
and Saint Greorge, — the same prize looked forward to
by our most distinguished public servants at the close
of the devotion of their life to the service of their
196 THE TRANSVAAL.
country. But its results are yet to come— though it
would be difficult to forecast the details of their
development. One thing, however, is clear : the signing
of that document signalised an entirely new departure
in South African affairs, and brought us within a
measurable distance of the abandonment, for the pre-
sent at any rate, of the supremacy of English rule in
South Africa.
This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is
already bearing fruit. Emboldened by their success
in the Transvaal, the Dutch party at the Cape are
demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that
the Dutch tongue be SLdmitted pari passu with English,
as the official language in the Law Courts and the
House of Assembly. When a country thus consents
to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a
sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power.
But *' tiie Party " looks higher than this, and openly
aims at throwing off English rule altogether, and
declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The
course of events is favourable to their aspiration.
Responsible (Government is to be granted to Natal,
which country, not being strong enough to stand alone
in the face of the many dangers that surround her,
will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to
save herself from destruction. It will be useless for
her to look for' help from England, and any feelings
of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will soon be
choked by necessity, and a mutual interest It is,
however, possible that some unforeseen event, such
as the advent to power of a strong Conservative
Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so strongly
in favour of Dutch supremacy.
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 197
It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy
of the consideration of those who at present direct
the destinies of the Empire, whether it would not
be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further
and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of
South Africa, retaining only Table Bay. If they do
not, it is now quite within the bounds of sober possi-
bility that they may one day have to face a fresh
Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale,
and might find it difl&cult to retain even Table Bay.
If, on the other hand, they do, I believe that all the
White States in South Africa would confederate of
their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity
for common action, and the Dutch element being pre-
ponderant, at once set to work to exterminate the
natives on general principles, in much the same way,
and from much the same motives that a cook exter-
minates black beetles, because she thinks them ugly,
and to clear the kitchen.
I need hardly say that such a policy is not one
that commands my sympathy, but Her Majesty's
Government having put their hand to the plough,
it is worth their while to consider it. It would at
any rate be in perfect accordance with their declared
sentiments, and command an enthusiastic support from
their followers.
As regards the smaller and more immediate issue
of the retrocession, namely, its effect on the Transvaal
itself, it cannot be other than evil. The act is, I
believe, quite without precedent in our history, and
it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high
grounds of national morality assumed by the Govern-
ment, what greater arguments can be advanced in its
198 THE TRANSVAAL.
favotur, than could be found to support the abandon-
ment of, — let us say, — Ireland. Indeed a certain
parallel undoubtedly exists between the circumstances
of the two countries. Ireland was, like the Transvaal,
annexed, though a long time ago, and has continually
agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did
the Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot,
and England is running the awful risk of blood-
guiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal. In Ireland,
smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by
Mr. Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the
Transvaal. In Ireland, as in the Transvaal, there
exists a strong loyal class that receives insults instead
of support from the Government, and whose property,
as was the case there, is taken from them without
compensation, to be flung as a sop to stop the mouths
of the Queen's enemies. And so I might go on, finding
many such similarities of circumstances, but my parallel,
like most parallels, must break down at last Thus —
it mattered little to England whether or no she let the
Transvaal go, but to let Ireland go would be more than
even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt.
Somehow, if you follow these things far enough,
you always come to vulgar first principles. The dif-
ference between the case of the Transvaal and that
of Ireland is a difference not of justice of cause, for
both causes are equally unjust or just according as
they are viewed, but of mere common expediency.
Judging from the elevated standpoint of the national
morality theory, however, which, as we know, soars
above such truisms as the foolish statement that force
is a remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige
you must not allow defeats to pass unavenged, I can>
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL. 199
not see why, if it was righteous to abandon the Trans-
vaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon
Ireland I
As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be
congratulated on its success, for it has destroyed all
its hopes of permanent peace, has ruined its trade
and credit, and has driven away the most useful and
productive class in the community. The Boers, elated
by their success in arms, will be little likely to settle
down to peaceable occupations, and still less likely
to pay their taxes, which, indeed, I hear they are
already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily
even a powerful Government can be upset, and the
lesson is not likely to be forgotten, for want of repeti-
tion to their own weak one.
Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows
which way to turn for funds, and .3, perhaps fortu-
nately for itself, quite unable to borrow, through want
of credit.
As regards the native question, I agree with Mr.
H. Shepstone, who, in his Eeport on this subject,
says that he does not believe that the natives will
inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as
the latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise
interfere with them. But if the Boer Government is
to continue to exist, it will be bound to raise taxes
from the natives, since it cannot collect much from
its white subjects. The first general attempt of the
sort will be the signal for active resistance on the
part of the natives, whom, if they act without concert,
the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though with
considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should
have happened, during the last few years, to have learnt
200 THE TRANSVAAL.
the advantages of combination, as is quite possible,
perhaps they will crush the Boers.
The only thing that is at present certain about the
matter is that there will be bloodshed, and that before
long. For instance, the Montsioa difficulty in the Keate
Award has in it the possibilities of a serious war, and
there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring into
life within and without the Transvaal.
In all human probability it will take but a small
lapse of time for the Transvaal to find itself in the
identical position from which we relieved it by the
Annexation.
What course events will then take it Is impossible
to say. It may be found desirable to re-annex the
country, though, in my opinion, that would be, after
all that has passed, an unfortunate step ; its inhabi-
tants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined move-
ment of native tribes, as they would have been, had
they not been rescued by the English Government in
1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free State
may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing:
who can say ? There is only one thing that our re-
cently abandoned possession can count on for certain,
and that is trouble, both from its white subjects, and
the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a
well-earned hatred.
The whole question can, so far as its moral aspect
is concerned, be summed up in a few words.
Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the
moment of its execution — which I certainly maintain
it was — ^it received the unreserved sanction of the
Home authorities, and the relations of Sovereign and
subject, with all the many and mutual obligations
THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAk 201
involved in that connection, were established between
the Queen of England and every individual of the
motley population of the Transvaal. Nor was this
change an empty form, for, to the largest proportion
of that population, this transfer of allegiance brought
with it a priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant
freedom and justice — for where, on any portion of
this globe over which the British ensign floats, does
the law even wink at cruelty or wrong ?
A few years passed away, and a small number of
the Queen's subjects in the Transvaal rose in rebellion
against her authority, and inflicted some reverses
on her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated
pledges given to the contrary — partly under stress of
defeat, and partly in obedience to the pressure of
•* advanced views " — the country was abandoned, and
the vast majority who had remained faithful to the
Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the
minority who had rebelled against it.
Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were
bound with double chains — by the strong ties of a
common citizenship, and by those claims to England's
protection I'rom violence and wrong which have hitherto
been wont to command it, even where there was no
duty to fulfil,' and no authority to vindicate — stands,
I believe, without parallel on our recora&, and marks
a new departure in our history.
I cannot end these pages without expressing my
admiration of the extremely able way in which the
Boers managed their revolt, when once they felt that,
having undertaken the thing, it was a question of
life and death with them. It shows that they have
(3[Ood stuff in them somewhere, which, under the
202 THE TRANSVAAL.
firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might have been
much developed, and it makes it the more sad that
they should have been led to throw off that rule, and
have been allowed to do so by an English Government.
In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch
on, and that is the effect of the retrocession on the
native mind, which I can only describe as most
disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Keport of
the Eoyal Commission has been most amply realised,
and the prevailing belief in the steadfastness of our
policy, and the inviolability of our plighted word,
which has hitherto been the great secret of our hold
on the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives
that influenced, or are said to have influenced, the
Government in their act, are naturally quite unin-
telligible to savages, however clever, who do believe
that force is a remedy, and who. have seen the in-
habitants of a country ruled by England defeat English
soldiers and take possession of it, whilst those who
remained loyal to England were driven out of it. It will
not be wonderful if some of them, say the natives of
Natal, deduce therefrom conclusions unfavourable to
loyalty, and evince a desire to try the same experiment.
It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future,
which must be left to unfold itself.
The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned,
down for the moment on the South African stage ;
when it rises again, there is but too much reason to
fear that it will reveal a state of confusion, which,
unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in
the future than it has been in the past, may develop
into chaos.
CHAPTER VII.
The following pages, extracted from an intro-
duction to a new edition to " Cetywayo and His
White Neighbours," written in 1888, are reprinted
here, because they contain matter of interest con-
cerning the more recent history of the Transvaal
Boers.
Extract from Introdwtion to New Edition
0/1888.
The recent history of the Transvaal, now once
more a republic, will fortunately admit of brief
treatment. It is, so far as England is concerned,
very much a history of concession. Eor an
account of the first Convention I must refer
my readers to the remarks which I have made
204 THE TRANSVAAL.
in the chapter of this book headed " The Retroces-
sion of the Transvaal." It will there be seen that the
Transvaal Volksraad only ratified the first convention,
which was wrung from us (Sir Evelyn Wood, to his
honour be it said, dissenting) after our defeats at
Lang's Nek, Ingogo, and Majuba, as a favour to the
British Government, which in its turn virtually pro-
mised to reconsider the convention, if only the Volks-
raad would be so good as to ratify it. This conven-
tion was ratified in October 1881. In June 1883
the Transvaal Government ^ telegraphs briefly to Lord
Derby through the High Commissioner thai the
Volksraad has " resolved that time has come to re-
consider convention." Lord Derby quickly telegraphs
back that " Her Majesty's Government consent to
inquire into the working of convention." Human
nature is frail, and it is impossible to help wishing
that Lord Palmerston or Disraeli had been appointed
by the Fates to answer that telegram. But we have
fallen upon different days, and new men have arisen
who appear to be suited to them ; and so the conven-
tion was reconsidered, and on the 27 th of February
1884 a new one was signed, which is known as the
convention of London. It begins by defining bound-
aries to which the " Government of the South African
Republic will strictly adhere, . , , and will do its
utmost to prevent any of its inhabitants from making
any encroachments upon the said boundaries." The
^ [0. 3659J. 1883.
THE TRANSVAAL. 205
existence of the New Republic in Zululand is a strik-
ing and practical comment on this article. Article ii.
also provides for the security of the amended south-
west boundary. The proclamation of i6th September
1884 (afterwards disallowed by the English Govern-
ment), by which the South African Eepublic practically
annexed the territories of Montsioa and Moshette,
already for the most part in the possession of its free-
booters, very clearly illustrates its anxiety to be bound
by this provision. Art xii. provides for the indepen-
dence of the Swazis ; and by way of illustrating the
fidelity with which it has been observed, we shall pre-
sently have occasion to remark upon the determined
attempts that have continually been made by Boer free-
booters to obtain possession of Swaziland — and so on.
In order to make these severe restrictions palatable
to the burghers of a free and haughty Eepublic, Lord
Derby recommends Her Majesty's Government to re-
mit a trifling sum of ;f 127,000 of their debt due to
the Imperial Treasury, which was accordingly done. On
the whole, the Transvaal had no reason to be dissatisfied
with this new treaty, though really the whole afifair
is scarcely worth discussing. Convention No. 2 is
almost as much a farce and a dead letter as was
Convention No. i . It is, however, impossible to avoid
being impressed with the really remarkable tone, not
merely of equality, but of superiority, adopted by the
South African Republic and its officials towards this
country. To take an instance. The Republic had
2o6 THE TRANSVAAL.
found it convenient to wage a war of extermination
upon some Kafir chiefs. Two of these, Mampoer and
Njahel, fell into its hands. Her Majesty's Government
was, rightly or wrongly, so impressed with the injus-
tice of the sentence of death passed upon these un-
fortunates, that, acting through Mr. Hudson, the British
Eesident at Pretoria, it strained every nerve to save
them. This was the upshot of it In a tone of
studied sarcasm. His Honour the State President
" observes with great satisfaction the great interest in
these cases which has been manifested by your Honour
and Her Majesty's Government." He then goes on
to say that, notwithstanding this interest, Mampoer
will be duly and effectually hung, giving the exact
time and place of the event, and Njabel imprisoned
for life, with hard labour. Finally, he once more con-
veys " the hearty thanks of the Government and the
members of the Executive Council for the interest
manifested in these cases," ^ and remains, &c.
The independence of Swaziland was guaranteed by
the convention of 1884. Yet the Blue-books are full
of accounts of various attempts made by Boers to obtain
a footing in Swaziland. Thus in November 1885
Umbandine, the king of Swaziland, sends messengers
to the Governor of Natal through Sir T. Shepstone,
in which he states that in the winter Piet Joubert,
accompanied by two other Boers and an interpreter,
came to his kraal and asked him to sign a paper ** to
' [0. 3841], 1884* p 148-
THE TRANSVAAU 207
say that "he and all the Swazis agreed to go over and
recognise the authority of the Boer Government, and
have nothing more to do with the English." ^ Um-
bandine refused, saying that he looked to and recog-
nised the English Government Thereon the Boers,
growing angry, answered, " Those fathers of yours, the
English, act very slowly ; and if you look to them for
help, and refuse to sign this paper, we shall have
scattered you and your people, and taken possession
of the land before they arrive. Why do you refuse to
sign the paper ? You know we defeated the English
at Majuba." Umbandine's message then goes on to
say that he recognises the English Government only,
and does not wish to have dealings with the Boers.
Also, in the following month, we find him making a
direct application to the Colonial Office through Mr.
David Forbes,' praying that his country may be taken
under the protection of Her Majesty's Government.
More than one such attempt to secure informal rights
of occupation in Swaziland appears to have been made
by the Transvaal Boers. Mr. T. Shepstone, C.M G., is
at present acting as Kesident to Umbandine, though
he has not, it would seem, any regular commission
from the Home Government authorising him to do so,
probably because it does not consider that its rights
in Swaziland are such as to justify such an assumption
of formal authority over the Swazis. However this
may be, Umbandine could not have found a better
' 10. 4645]. »8S6. js 64. ' Ibid. p. 7a
2o8 THE TRANSVAAL.
man to protect his interests. Of course, when acts
like that of Piet Joubert are reported to the Govern-
ment of the South African Eepublic and made the
subject of a remonstrance by this country, all know-
ledge of them is repudiated, as it was repudiated in
the case of the invasion of Zululand.
It is part of the policy of the Transvaal only to
become an accessory after the fact. Its subjects gc
forth and stir up trouble among the natives, and then
probably the Boer Government intervenes ** in the in-
terests of humanity," and takes, or tries to take, the
country. This process is always going on, and, unless
the British Government puts a stop to it, always will
go on. We shall probably soon hear that it is de-
veloping itself in the direction of Matabeleland. ^ A
country the size of France, which could without diffi-
culty accommodate a population of from eight to ten
millions of industrious folk, is not large enough for
the wants of a Boer people, numbering something
under fifty thousand souls. Every young Boer must
have his six or more thousand acres of land on which
to lord it. It is his birthright, and if it is not forth-
coming he goes and takes it by force from the nearest
native tribe. Hence these continual complaints. Of
course, there are two ways of looking at the matter.
There is a party that does not hesitate to say that the
true policy of this country is to let the Boers work
their will upon the natives, and then, as they in turn
fly from civilisation towards the far interior, to follow
THE TRANSVAAL. »o9
on their path and occupy the lands that they have
, Bwept. This plan is supported by arguments about the
superiority of the white races and their obvious destiny
of rule. It is, I confess, one that I look upon as little
short of wicked. I could never discern a superiority
so great in ourselves as to authorise us, by right divine
as it were, to destroy the coloured man and take his
lands. It is difficult to see why a Zulu, for instance,
has not as much right to live in his own way as a
Boer or an Englishman. Of course, there is another
extreme. Nothing is more ridiculous than the length
to which the black brother theory is sometimes driven
by enthusiasts. A savage is one thing, and a civilised
man is another ; and though civilised men may and do
become savages, I personally doubt if the converse is
even possible. But whether the civilised man, with
his gin, his greed, and his dynamite, is really so very
superior to the savage is another question, and one
which would bear argument, although this is not the
place to argue it. My point is, that his superiority
is not at any rate so absolutely overwhelming as to
justify him in .the wholesale destruction of the savage
and the occupation of his lands, or even in allow-
ing others to do the work for him if he can prevent
it. The principle might conceivably be pushed to in-
convenient and indecent lengths. Savagery is only a
question of degree. When all true savages have been
wiped out, the most civilised and self-righteous among
the nations may begin to give the term to those whom
2IO THE TRANSVAAU
they consider to be on a lower scale than themselves,
and apply the argument also. Thus there are ** cul-
tured " people in another land who do not hesitate to
say that the humble writers of these islands are rank
and rude barbarians not to be endured. Supposing
that, being the stronger, they also applied the argtimerU,
it would be inconvenient for some of us, and perhaps
the world would not gain so very much after alL
But this is a digression, only excusable, if excusable at
all, in one who has endured a three weeks' course of
unmitigated Blue-book. To return.
The process of absorption attempted in Swaziland,
and brought to a successful issue in Zululand, also
went forward merrily in Bechuanaland, till recently,
under the rule of Mankorane, chief of the Batlapins,
and Montsioa, chief of the Baralongs. These two
chiefs have always been devoted friends and adhe-
rents of the English Government, and consequently are
not regarded with favour by the Boers. Shortly after
the retrocession of the Transvaal, a rival to Mankorane
rose up in the person of a certain Massou, and a
rival to Montsioa named Moshette. Both Massou
and Moshette were supported by Boer fillibusters, and
what happened to Usibepu in Zululand happened to
these unfortunate chiefs in Bechuanaland. They were
defeated after a gallant struggle, and two Kepublics
called Stellaland and Goschen were carved out of
their territories and occupied by the fillibusters.
Fortunately for them, however, they had a friend in
THE TRANSVAAJU. an
the person of the Eev. John Mackenzie, to whose
valuable work, " Austral Africa," I beg to refer the
reader for a fuller account of these events. Mr.
Mackenzie, who had for many years lived as a mis-
sionary among the Bechuana8,had also mastered the fact
that it is very difficult to do anything for South Africa
in this country unless you can msJce it a question of
votes, or, in other words, unless you can bring pressure
to bear upon the Government. Accordingly he com-
menced an agitation on behalf of Mankorane and Mont-
sioa, in which he was supported by various religious
bodies, and also by the late Mr. Forster and the
Aborigines Protection Society. As a result of this
agitation he was appointed Deputy to the High Com-
missioner for Bechuanaland, whither he proceeded
early in 1884 to establish a British protectorate. He
was gladly welcomed by the unfortunate chiefs, who
were now almost at their last gasp, and who both of
them ceded their rights of government to the Queen,
Hostilities did not, however, cease, for on the 31st
July 1884 the fiUibusters again attacked Montsoia,
routed him, and cruelly murdered Mr. Bethell, his
English adviser. Meanwhile Mr. Mackenzie's success
was viewed with very mixed feelings at the Cape. To
the English party it was most acceptable, but the
Dutch,^ and more numerous party, looked on it with
^ By the Dutch party I mean the anti-Imperial and retrogressirfl
party. It must be remembered that many of the now educated aad
proenessiye Boers do not belong to this.
3IJ THE TRANSVAAL.
alarm and disgust. They did not at all wish to see
the Imperial power established in Bechuanaland ; so
pressure was put upon Sir Hercules Kobinson, and
through him on Mr. Mackenzie, to such an extent indeed
as to necessitate the resignation of the latter. Thereon
the High Commissioner despatched a Cape politician,
Mr. Cecil Khodes, and his own private secretary,
Captain Bower, E.N., to Bechuanaland. These gentle-
men at once set to work to undo most of what Mr.
Mackenzie had done, and, generally speaking, did not
advance either British or native interests in Bechuana-
land. At this point, taking advantage of the general
confusion, the Government of the South African Ee-
public issued a proclamation placing both Montsioa
and Moshette under its protection, as usual " in the
interests of humanity."
But the agitation in England had, fortunately for
what remained of the Bechuana people, not been
allowed to drop. Her Majesty's Government dis-
allowed the Boer proclamation, under Article iv. of
the convention of London, and despatched an armed
force to Bechuanaland, commanded by Sir Charles
Warren. This good act, I believe I am right in
saying, we owe entirely to the firmness of Sir Charles
Dilke and Mr. Chamberlain, who insisted upon its being
done. Meanwhile Messrs. Upington and Sprigg, mem-
bers of the Cape Government, hastened to Bechuanaland
to effect a settlement before the arrival of Sir Charles
Warren's force. This settlement, though it might
THE TRANSVAAL. 213
haye been agreeable to the fillibusters and the anti-
Imperialists generally, was disallowed by Her Majesty's
Government as unsatisfactory, and Sir Charles Warren
was ordered to occupy Bechuanaland, This he accord-
ingly did, taking Mr. Mackenzie with him, very much
against the will of the anti-English party, and, be it
added, of Sir Hercules Eobinson. Indeed, if we may
accept Mr. Mackenzie's version of these occurrences,
which seems to be a fair one, and adequately supported
by documentary evidence, the conduct of Sir Hercules
Robinson towards Mr. Mackenzie would really admit
of explanation. As soon as the freebooters saw that
the Imperial Government was really in earnest, of
course there was no more trouble. They went away,
and Sir Charles Warren took possession of Bechuana-
land without striking a single blow. He remained in
the country for nearly a year arranging for its per-
manent pacification and government, and as a result
of his occupation, on the 30th September 1885, all
the territory south of the Molopo River was declared to
be British territory, and made into a quasi crown colony,
the entire extent of land, including the districts ruled
over by Khama, Sechele, and Gasitsive, being about
1 60,000 square miles in area. I believe that the new
colony of British Bechuanaland is proving a very con-
siderable success. Every provision has been made for
native wants, and its settlement goes on apace. There
IB no reason why, with its remarkable natural advan-
tages» it should not one day become a great country,
214 THE TRANSVAAL.
with a prosperous white, and a loyal and contented
native population. When this comes about it is to be
hoped that it will remember that it owes its existence to
the energy and firmness of Mr. Mackenzie, Sir Charles
Dilke, Mr. Chamberlain, and Sir Charles Warren.
It is probably by now dawning upon the mind of
the British public that when we gave up the Trans-
vaal we not only did a cowardly thing and sowed a
plentiful crop of future troubles, we also abandoned
one of the richest, if not the richest, country in the
world. The great gold-fields which exist all over
the surface of the land are being opened up and
pouring out their treasures so fast that it is said that
the Transvaal Government, hitherto remarkable for
its impecuniosity, does not know what to do with its
superfluous cash. To what extent this will continue
it is impossible to say, but I for one shall not be sur-
prised if the output should prove to be absolutely
unprecedented. And with gold in vast quantities,
with iron in mountains, and coal-beds to be measured
by the scores of square miles, with lead and copper
and cobalt, a fertile soil, water, and one of the most
lovely climates in the world, what more is required
to make a country rich and great ? Only one thing,
an Anglo-Saxon Government, and that we have taken
away from the Transvaal. Whether the English flag
has vanished for ever from its borders is, however,
still an open question. The discovery of gold in such
quantities is destined to exercise a very remarkable
THE TRANSVAAL. 215
influence upon the future of the Transvaal. Where
gold is to be found, there the hardy, enterprising,
EngKsh-speaking diggers flock together, and before
them and their energy the Boer retreats, as the native
retreats and vanishes before the rifle of the Boer.
Already there are many thousands of diggers in the
Transvaal ; if the discoveries "of gold go on and prove
as remunerative as they promise to be, in a few more
years their number will be vastly increased. Sup-
posing that another five years sees sixty or seventy
thousand English diggers at work in the Transvaal,
is it to be believed that these men will in that event
allow themselves to be ruled by eight or nine thousand
hostile-hearted Boers ? Is it to be believed, too, that
the Boers will stop to try and rule them ? From such
knowledge as I have of their character I should say
certainly not. They will trek^ anywhere out of the
way of the Englishman and his English ways, and
those who do not trek will be absorbed.^ Should this
happen, it is, of course, possible, and even probable,
that for some time the diggers, fearing the vacillations
of Imperial' policy, would prefer to remain independent
with a Eepublican form of Government. But the
Englishman is a law-abiding and patriotic creature,
and as society settled itself in the new community,
it would almost certainly desire to be united to the
Empire and acknowledge the sovereignty of the Queen.
So far as a judgment can be formed, if only the gold
' The occupation of Rhodesia has now made it impossible for the
T^o*>r» to f.rpV nnt of r^ach of thp Engrlith and their flag. — TT. TL IT
2i6 THE TRANSVAAL.
holds out the Transvaal will as certainly fall into the
lap of the Empire as a green apple will one day drop
from the tree — that is, if it is not gathered.
Now it is quite possible that the Germans, or some
other power, may try to gather the Transvaal apple.
The Boers are not blind to the march of events, and
they dislike us and our rule. Perhaps they might
think it worth their while to seek German protection,
and unless we are prepared to say " no " very firmly
indeed — and who knows, in the present condition of
Home politics, what we are prepared to do from one
day to another ? — Germany would in such a case almost
certainly think it worth her while to give it. Very
likely the protection, when granted, would in some ways
resemble that which the Boer himself, his breast aglow
with love of peace and the " interests of humanity,'*
is so anxious to extend to the misguided native pos-
sessor of desirable and well- watered lands. Very likely,
in the end, the Boer would be sorry that he did not
accept the ills he knew of. But that is neither here
nor there. So far as we are concerned, the mischief
would be done. In short, should the position arise,
everything will depend upon our capacity of saying
** no," and the tone in which we say it It will not
do to rely upon our London convention, by which
the Transvaal is forbidden to conclude treaties with
outside powers without the consent of this Govern-
ment. The convention has been broken before now,
and will be broken again, if the Boers find it con-
venient to break it. and kpow that they can do so
THE TRANSVAAL. 117
with impunity. Meanwhile we must rest on our oars
and watch events. One thing, however, might and
should be done. Some person having weight and real
authority — if he were quite new to South Africa so
much the better — should be appointed as our Consul
to watch over the welfare of Englishmen and our
Imperial interests at Pretoria, and properly paid for
doing so. It is difficult to find a suitable man unless
he is adequately salaried and supported.
But quite recently this country has awakened to
the knowledge that Delagoa Bay is important to its
South African interests, though how important it per-
haps does not altogether realise. For years and years
the colony of Natal has been employed in the inter-
mittent construction of a railway with a very narrow
gauge, which is now open as far as Ladysmith, or
to within a hundred miles of the Transvaal border.
Natal is very poor, and in common with the rest of
South Africa, and indeed of the world, has lately been
passing through a period of great commercial depres-
sion. The Home Government has refused to help it
to construct its railways (if it had done so, how many
hundreds of thousand pounds would have been saved
to the British taxpayer during the Zulu and Boer
wars !), and has equally refused to aUow it to borrow
sufficient money to get them constructed, with the
result that a large amount of the interior trade has
already been deflected into other channela And now
a fresh and very real danger, not only to Natal, but to
2i8 THE TRANSVAAL.
all Imperial interests in South Africa, has sprung into
sudden prominence, that is, in this country, for in Africa
it has been foreseen for many years. Above Zululand
is situated Amatongaland, which reaches to the southern
shore of one of the finest harbours in the world,
Delagoa Bay. This great bight, in which half a dozen
navies could ride at anchor, the only really good haven
on the coasts of South Africa, is fifty-five miles in
width and twenty in depth, that is, from east to west
It is separated from the Transvaal, of which it is the
natural port, by about ninety miles of wild and sparsely
inhabited country.
The ownership of this splendid port was for many
years in dispute between this country and the Portu-
guese, with whose dominions of Mozambique it is con-
nected by a strip of coast, and who have a smali
fort upon it. This dispute was finally referred by
Lord Granville in 1872 to the decision of Marshal
MacMahon, and on this occasion, as on every other
in which this country has been weak enough to go to
arbitration, that decision was given against us. Into
the merits of the case it is not necessary to enter,
further than to say, as has already been recently
pointed out by a very able and well-informed corre-
spondent of the Morning Post, that it is by no means
clear by what right the matter was referred to arbitra-
tion at all. The Amatongas are in possession of the
southern shore of the bay, including, I believe, the
Inyack Peninsula and Inyack Island, and they are
THE TRANSVAAu 119
an independent people. The Swazis also abut on it,
and they are independent. What warrant had we
to refer their rights to the arbitration of Marshal
MacMahon? The evidence of the exercise of any
Portuguese sovereignty over these countries is so
shadowy that it may be said never to have existed ;
certainly it does not exist now. This is a point, but
it is nothing more. We must take things as we find
them, and we find that the Portuguese have been for-
mally declared and admitted by us to be the owners
of Delagoa Bay.
Now, so long as we held the Transvaal it did
not so much matter who had the sovereignty of the
Bay, since a railway constructed from there could
only run to British territory. But we gave up the
Transvaal, which is now virtually a hostile state,
and the contingency which has been so long foreseen
in South Africa, and so blindly overlooked at home,
has come to pass — the railway is in course of rapid
completion. What does this mean to us? At the
best, it means that we lose the greater part of the trade
of South-easfiern Africa; at the worst, that we lose
it all. In other words, it means, putting aside the
question of our Imperial needs and status in Africa, a
great many millions a year in hard cash out of the
national pocket Let us suppose that the worst hap-
pens, and that the Germans get a footing either in
the Transvaal or Delagoa Bay. Obviously they will
stop our trade in favour of their own. Or let ui
220 THE TRANSVAAL.
Buppose that the Transvaal takes advantage of one of
our spasms of Imperial paralysis, such as afflicted us
during the r^ime of Lord Derby, and defies the pro-
vision in the convention which forbids them to put a
heavier tax upon our goods than upon those of any
other nation. In either event our case would be a
bad one, for our road from the eastern co£ist to the
vast interior is blocked. But it is of little use crying
over spilt milk, or anticipating evils which it is our
duty to try to avert, and which in all probability
still could be averted by a sound and consistent
policy.
To begin with, both Swaziland and Amatongaland
can be annexed to the Empire. It is true that the in-
dependence of the first of these countries is guaranteed
by Article xii. of the convention of London of 1884.
Here is the exact wording : — " The independence of
the Swazis within the boundary-line of Swaziland, as
indicated in the first article of this convention, will
be fully recognised." But England has for years
exercised a kind of protective right over Swaziland —
a right, as I have already shown, fully acknowledged
and frequently appealed to by the Swazis themselves.
And for the rest, what is the obvious meaning of this
provision ? It means that the independence of Swazi-
land is guaranteed against Boer encroachments; its
object was to protect the Swazis from extermination
at the hands of the Boers. Further, the Boers have
Again and again broken this article of the convention
THE TRANSVAAL. a2i
in their repeated attempts to get a foothold in Swazi-
land. It has now become necessary to our interests
that the Swazis should come under our rule, as indeed
they are most anxious to do, and a way should be
found by which this end can be accomplished.
Then as to Amatongaland, or Maputaland, as it is
sometimes called, only a month or two ago an
embassy from the Queen of that country waited on
the Colonial Ofi&ce, praying for British protection. It
is not known what answer they received ; let us trust
that it was a favourable one.^ The protection that
should be accorded to the Amatongas, both in their
interests and our own, is annexation to the British
Empire upon such terms as might be satisfactory to
them. The management of their country might be
left to them, subject to the advice of a Kesident, and
the enforcement of the ordinary laws respecting life
and property common to civilised states. Drink and
white men might be strictly excluded from it, unless
the Amatongas should wish to welcome the latter. But
the country, with its valuable but undefined rights over
Delagoa Bay, -should belong to England, for whoever
owns Swaziland and Amatongaland will in course of
time be almost certain to own the Bay also. It must
^ I nnderatand that the treaty which we hAve concluded with
Amatongaland (where, by the way, it is said a new harbour has been
discovered) binds the authorities of that country not to cede territory
to any other Power. But there is nothing in such a treaty to prevent,
say Portugal or the Boers, from taking possession of the land by force
of arms. Were the country annexed to th« Crown, or a British Pro-
tectorate established, they would not dare to do this.
Note. — This has since been done. — H. R. H.
222 THE TKANSVAAIi.
further be remembered that circumstances have already
given us certain rights over the Amatongas. They
regarded Cetywayo as their suzerain, and it was, I
believe, at his instance that Zambila was appointed
regent during the minority of her son. As we have
annexed what remains of Zululand, Cetywayo's suze-
rainty has consequently passed to us.
Meanwhile, can nothing be done by direct treaty
with the Portuguese ? A little while ago the Bay
could no doubt have been acquired for a very mode-
rate consideration, but those golden opportunities have
been allowed to slip from hands busy weaving the web
of party politics. Now it is a different affair. Delagoa
Bay is of no direct value to Portugal except for the
honour and glory of the thing. Portugal has never
done anything with it, any more than she has with
her other African possessions, and never will do any-
thing with it. But it has become very valuable,
indeed, so far as its South African interests are con-
cerned, almost vital, to this country, and of that fact
Portugal is perfectly well aware. Consequently, if
we want the Bay we must pay for it, if not in cash,
at the offer of which the Portuguese national pride
might be revolted, then in some other equivalent
Surely a power like England could find a way of
obliging one like Portugal in return for this small
concession. Or an exchange of territory might be
effected. Perhaps Portugal might be inclined to
accept of some of our possessions on the West Coast
THE TRANSVAAL 223
or an island or two in the West Indies. It is hard
to suppose that there is no way out of the trouble ;
but if indeed there is none, why, then, one must be
found, or we must be content to lose a great part of
our African trade.
The reader who has followed me through this brief
and imperfect summary of recent events in South
Africa will see how varied are its interests, how
enormous its areas, and how vast its wealth. In that
great country England is still the paramount power.
Her prestige has, indeed, been greatly shaken, and she is
sadly fallen from her estate of eight or nine years gone.
But she is still paramount ; and if she has to face the
animosity of a section of the Boers, she can, notwith-
standing her many crimes against them, set against it
the love and respect of every native in the land, with the
exception, perhaps, of a few self-seekers and intriguers.
The history of the next twenty years, and perhaps of
the next ten, will decide whether this country is to
remain paramount or whether South Africa is to be-
come a great Dutch, English-hating Eepublic. There
are some who call themselves Englishmen, and who,
possessed by that strange itch which prompts them to
desire any evil that can humble their country in the
face of her enemies, or can bring about the advantage
of the rebel to the injury of the loyal subject, to whom
this last event would be most welcome, and who have
not hesitated to say that it would be welcome. To
such there is nothing to be said. Let them follow
224 THE TRANSVAAL.
their false lights and earn the wonder of true-hearted
men and the maledictions of posterity.
But, addressing those of other and older doctrines,
I would ask what such an event would mean ? It
would mean nothing less than a great national cala-
mity; it would mean the utter ruin of the native
tribes ; and, to come to a reason which has a wider
popularity, for as I think Mr. S. Little says in his
work on South Africa, " the argument to the pocket is
the best argument to the man," it would mean the loss
of a vast trade, which, if properly protected, will be
growing while we are sleeping And this calamity can
yet be averted ; the mistakes and cowardice of the past
can still be remedied, at any rate to a great extent ;
the door is yet open. We have many difficulties to
face, among the chief of which are the Transvaal, the
question of Delagoa Bay, and last, but not least, the
question of the Dutch party at the Cape, which may be
numerically the strongest party. When, in our mania
for representative institutions, we thrust responsible
government upon the Cape, we placed ourselves
practically at the mercy of any chance anti-English
majority. It is possible that in the future we may
find some such majority urging upon an English
Ministry the desirability of the separation of the Cape
Colony from the Empire, and may find also that the
prayer meets with favourable attention from those to
whom there is but one thing sacred, the rights of a
majority, and especially of an agitating majority.
THE TRANSVAAL. 325
But let not the country be deceived by any such
representations. The natives too have a right to a
voice in the disposal of their fortunes and their lands.
They are the majority in the proportion of three to
one, and let any doubter go and ask of them, any-
where from the Zambesi to Cape Agulhas, whether
they would rather be ruled by the Queen or by a
Boer Eepublic, and hear the answer. When it was
a question of surrendering the Transvaal we heard a
great deal of the rights of some thirty thousand Boers,
and very little, or rather nothing, of the rights of the
million natives who lived in the country with them,
and to whom that country originally belonged. And
yet, if the reader will turn to that part of this book
which deals with the question, he will find that they
had an opinion, and a strong one. No settlement of
South African questions that does not receive adequate
consideration from a native point of view can be a
just settlement, or one which the Home Government
should sanction. Moreover, the Cape is not by any
means entirely anti-English at heart, as was shown
clearly enough by the number and enthusiasm of the
loyalist meetings when its Ministry was attempting
to undo Mr. Mackenzie's work in Bechuanaland in
the interests of the Patriot-party.
Still, it is possible that movements may arise under
the fostering care of the Africander Bond and its sym-
pathisers, having for object the separation of the colony
from the Empire, or other ends fatal to Imperial in-
236 THE TRANSVAAL.
terests ; and in this case the Home Government should
be prepared to disallow and put a final stop to them.
We cannot afford to lose our alternative route to India
and to throw these great territories into the hands of
enemies, from which they would very probably pass into
those of commercial rivals. In such an event all that
would be required is a show of firmness. If once it
was known that an English Ministry really meant what
it said, and that its promises made in the Queen's name
were not liable to be given the lie by a succeeding
set of politicians elected on another platform, there
would be an end to disloyalty and agitation in South
Africa. As it is, loyalists, remembering the experiences
of the last few years, are faint-hearted, never knowing
if they will meet with support at home, while agitators
and enemies wax exceeding bold.
Our system of party government, whatever may be its
merits, if any, as applied to Home politics, is a great enemy
to the welfare and progress of our Colonies, the affairs
of which are, especially of late years, frequently used as
stalking-horses to cover an attack upon the other side.
Could not the two great parties agree to rule Colonial
affairs, and especially South African affairs, out of the
party game ? Could not the policy of the Colonial Office
be guided by a Commission composed of members of
different political opinions, and responsible not to party,
but to Parliament and the country, instead of by a
succession of Ministers as variable and as transitory
as shadows? Lord Eosebery and Mr. Chamberlain,
THE TRANSVAAL. 227
for instance, are Radicals ; but, putting aside party
tactics and exigencies, are their views upon Colonial
matters so widely different from those of, let us say,
Sir Michael Hicks Beach and Lord Carnarvon that it
would be impossible for these four gentlemen to act
together on such a Commission ? Surely they are not ;
and perhaps a day may come when the common-sense
of the country will lead it to adopt some such system
which would give to the Colonies a fixed and intelli-
gent control aiming at the furtherance of the joint
interests of the Empire and its dependencies. If it ever
does, that day will be a happy one for all concerned.
Meanwhile, there is jso far as South Africa is con-
cerned, a step that might be taken to the great benefit
of that country, and also of our Imperial aims, and
that is the appointment of a High Commissioner who
would have charge of all Imperial as distinguished
from the various Colonial interests. This appointment
has already been advocated with ability by Mr.
Mackenzie in the last chapter of his book, " Austral
Africa," and it is undoubtedly one that should receive
the consideration of the Government Such an officer
would not supersede the Governors of the various
colonies or the administrators of the native territories,
although, so far as Imperial interests were concerned,
they would be primarily responsible to him. At present
there is no central authority except the Colonial Office,
and Downing Street is a long way off and somewhat
overworked. Each Governor must necessarily look at
228 THE TRANSVAAL.
South African affairs from his own standpoint and
through local glasses. What is wanted ia a man of
the first ability, whose name would command respect
abroad and support at home; and several such men could
be found, who would study South African politics as a
whole as an engineer studies a map, and who would set
himself to conciliate and reconcile all interests for the
common welfare and the welfare of the mother-country.
Such a man, or rather a succession of such men, might,
if properly supported, succeed in bringing about a
very different state of affairs from that which has been
briefly reviewed and considered in these pages. They
might, little by little, build up a South African Con-
federation, strong in itself and loyal to England, that
shall in time become a great empire. For my part,
notwithstanding the difficulties and dangers which we
have brought upon ourselves, and upon the various
South African territories and their inhabitants, I be-
lieve that such an empire is destined to arise, and that
it will not take the form of a Dutch Eepublic.
APPENDIX.
APPENDIX.
L
THE POTOHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, Ac
Thebb were more murders and acts of cruelty committed
during the war at Potchef stroom, where the behaviour of the
Boers was throughout both deceitful and savage, than at any
other place.
When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and
children, the wives and children of English residents, took
refuge in the fort. Shortly after it had been invested they
applied to be allowed to return to their homes in the town
till the war was over. The request was refused by the Boer
commander, who said that as they had gone there, they
might stop and " perish " there. One poor lady, the wife of
a gentleman well known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded
by having the point of a stake, which had been cut in two by
a bullet, driven into her side. She was at the time in a state
of pregnancy,* and died some days afterwards in great agony.
Her little sister was shot through the throat, and several other
women and children suffered from bullet wounds, and fever
Arising from their being obliged to live tor months exposed
to rain and heat, with insufficient food.
The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities wa«
a cruel wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man,
who, as an advocate of the High Court, had taken the oath
of allegiance to the Queen.
331
232 APPENDIX.
One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing
Captain Fall's diamond ring, which he had taken from
Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was handed to be sent to
England, and also that he had possessed himself of the
carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by
the Boers. ^ Another deponent (whose name is omitted in
the Blue Book for precautionary reasons) swears, " That on
the next night the patrol again came to my house accom-
panied by one Buskes, who was secretary of the Boer Com-
mittee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were.
I replied, in bed ; and Buskes then said, * I must see for
myself.' I refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a
loaded gun held to my breast, to open the curtains of the
bed, when he pulled the bedclothes half off my wife, and
altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I had a gun
I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast,
when my wife sprang out of bed and got between us."
I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is
a good musician) took one of his victims, who was on the
way to execution, into the chapel and played the " Dead
March in Saul," or some such piece, over him on the organ.
After the capture of the Court House a good many English-
men fell into the hands of the Boers. Most of these were
sentenced to hard labour and deprivation of " civil rights."
The sentence was enforced by making them work in the
trenches under a heavy fire from the fort One poor fellow,
F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from
his own friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered
the same fate. After these events the remaining prisoners
refused to return to the trenches till they had been " tamed "
by being thrashed with the butt end of guns, and by threats
of receiving twenty-five lashes each.
But their fate, bad as it was, was not bo awful as that
suffered by Dr. Woite and J. Van der Linden.
* Bubkes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring.
•rHE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, ETC. 233
Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held
before the outbreak, and written a letter from thence to
Major Clarke, in which he had described the talk of the Boers
as silly bluster. He was not a paid spy. This letter was,
unfortunately for him, found in Major Clarke's pocket-book,
and because of it he was put through a form of trial, taken
out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife and
large family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a
destitute condition.
The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was
one of Raaf's Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath
of allegiance to the Queen. In the execution of his duty
he made a report to his commanding officer about the Boer
meeting, and which afterwards fell into the hands of the
Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and,
though in the service of the Queen, was found guilty of
treason and condemned to death. One of his judges, a little
less stony-hearted than the rest, pointed out that " when the
prisoner committed the crime martial law had not yet been
proclaimed, nor the State," but it availed him nothing. He
was taken out and shot.
A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of
trial and shot, for no crime at all that I can discover.
Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from
the fort, were shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers.
Several witnesses depose to having seen their remains lying
together close by Potchefstroom.
Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators
of these crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Com-
mission comments on these acts as follows : —
" In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, and
Carolus, the Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men
had been executed, but sought to justify it. The majority of
your Commissioners felt bound to record their opinion that
the taking of the lives of these men was an act contrary to
i34 APPENDED.
the rales of civilised warfare. Sir H. de Yilliers was of
opinion that the executions in these cases, having been
ordered by properly constituted court martial of the Boers'
forces after due trial, did not fall under the cognisance of
your Commissioners.
" Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your
Commissioners felt bound to record the opinion that the
sacrifice of Finlay's life, through forced labour under fire
in the trenches, was an act contrary to the rules of civilised
warfare. Sir H. de Villiera did not fed justified by the fact*
of the case in joining in this expression of opinion (sic). As
to the case of the Kafir Andries, your Commissioners decided
that, although the shooting of this man appeared to them,
from the information laid before them, to be not in accord-
ance with the rules of civilised warfare, under all the cir-
cumstances of the case, it was not desirable to insist upon a
prosecution."
"The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling
it a duty to record emphatically their disapproval of the
acts that resulted iu the deaths of Woite, Van der Linden,
Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it impossible to bring to justice
the persons guilty of these acts."
It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express
any disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked
murders.
But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder.
In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor
from the Bronker Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart,
who had been taken prisoner by the Boers whilst bringing
remounts from the Free State, were released from Heidel-
berg on parol on condition that they left the country. An
escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Yaal river,
where they refused to cross, because they could not get their
cart through, the river being in flood. The escort then
returned to Heidelberg and reported that the officers would
THE POTCHEFSTKOOM ATROCITIES, ETC. 235
not cross. A civil note was then sent back to Captain
Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joabert, telling them
" to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will
be shown to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent
with this letter has never transpired ; but I decline to be-
lieve that, either in this or in Barber's case, the Boer escort
took upon themselves the responsibility of murdering their
prisoners, without authority of some kind for the deed.
The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found
Lambart and Elliot wandering about and trying to find the
way to Standerton. They presented the letter, and took
them towards a drift in the Vaal. Shortly before they got
there the prisoners noticed that their escort had been rein-
forced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra men
were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they
turned up as they did and joined themselves to the escort.
The prisoners were taken to an old and disused drift of the
Vaal river and told to cross. It was now dark, and the
river was much swollen with rain ; in fact, impassable for
the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged to
be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told
that they must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do.
A few yards from the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and
whilst in this position the Boer escort poured a volley into
it. Poor Elliot was instantly killed, one bullet fracturing
his skull, another passing through the back, a third shatter-
ing the rigHt thigh, and a fourth breaking the left wrist.
The cart was also riddled, but strange to say. Captain
Lambart was untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the
further bank, the Boers firing at him whenever the flashes
of lightning revealed his whereabouts. After sticking some
time in the mud of the bank he managed to effect his escape,
and next day reached the house of an Englishman called
Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence made his
way to Natal
*36 APPENDIX.
Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial,
after the conclusion of peace, and acquitted.
The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat
similar character to that of Elliot, except that there is in
this case a curious piece of indirect evidence that seems to
connect the murder directly with Piet Joubert, one of thf
Triumvirate.
In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came
to the Boer laager at Lang's Nek to offer their services as
doctors. Their names were Dr. Barber, who was well known
to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter Dyas, and they
came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On
arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but
after a little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to
a disselboom (pole of a waggon). Next morning they were
told to mount their horses, and started from the camp
escorted by two men who were to take them over the Free
State line.
When they reached the Free State line the Boers told
them to get off their horses, which they were ordered to
bring back to the camp. They did so, bade good-day to
their escort, and started to walk on towards their destina-
tion. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard
the report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I
am shot ! " and fell dead.
Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of
the escort deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up,
and ran dodging from right to left, trying to avoid the bullet.
Presently the man fired, and he felt himself struck through
the thigh. He fell with his face to the men, and saw his
would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his rifle and aim
at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his
death, but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw
the men take the horses and go away, thinking they had
finished him. After waiting a while he managed to get u^
THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, ETa 237
and struggled to a house not far ofl^ where he was kindly
treated and remained till he recovered.
Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan
Smith, made a statement at Newcastle, f ron\ which it appears
that he had been taken prisoner by the Boers and made to
work for them. One night he saw Barber and Dyas tied to
the disselboom, and overheard the following, which I will
give in his own words : —
" I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting ; among
them was a low-sized man, moderately stout, with a dark
brown full beard, apparently about thirty-five years of age
I do not know his name. He was telling Ms comrades that
he had brought an order from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, to
take the two prisoners to the Free State line and shoot them
there. He said, in the course of conversation, * Piet Joubert
het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet dood geschiet
toen hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het. ' (* Piet Joubert
asked why were the men not shot when they came to the
first laager.') They then saw me at the fire, and one of them
said, * You must not talk before that f 9II0W ; he understands
what you say, and will tell everybody
" Next morning Viljoen told me to ^ away, and gave me
a pass into the Free State. He said (in Dutch), * You must
not drive for any Englishman again. If we catch you doing
80 we will shoot you, and if you do not go away quick, and
we catch you hanging about when we bring the two men to
the line, we will shoot you too.' "
Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to
this statement in which he says, '' I have read the foregoing
affidavit of Allan Smith, and I say that the person described
in the third paragraph thereof as bringing orders from Piet
Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of the Boers who
took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the
best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber."
The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Fr«e
238 A.PPENDIX,
State, and, of course, acquitted. In his examination at the
trial, Allan Smith says, " It was a young man who said that
Joubert had given orders that Barber had to be shot. . . .
It was not at night, but in the morning early, when the
young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order."
Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that
there exists a certain connection between the dastardly
murder of Dr. Barber (and the attempted murder of Mr.
Dyas) and Piet Joubert, one of that ** able " Triumvirate of
which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly.
I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are
reported to have occurred, amongst them that of Mr. Mal-
colm, who was kicked to death by Boers, — and that is Mr.
Green'a
Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling
along the main road to his home at Spitzcop. The road
passed close by the military camp at Lydenburg, into which
he was called. On coming out he went to a Boer patrol with
a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them waa shot dead.
The Rev. J. Thome, the English clergyman at Lydenburg,
describes this mui!der in an affidavit in the following
words : —
" That I was the clergyman who got together a party of
Englishmen and brought down the body of Mr. Green who
was murdered by the Boers and buried it. I have ascertained
the circumstances of the murder, which were as follows : —
Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he was
passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out
again with a message to the Boer commandant Immediately
on leaving the camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite
with a flag of truce in his hand ; while parleying with the
Boers, who proposed to make a prisoner of him, he was shot
through the head."
No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green
left a wife and children in a destitute condition.
IL
PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR GLADSTONE'S GOVERN-
MENT AS TO THE RETENTION OF THE
TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY.
The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and
telegrams of members of the present Government, with refer-
ence to the proposed retrocession of the Transvaal, are not
without interest : —
During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley des-
patched a telegram to Sir Bartle Frere, in which the follow-
ing words occur : " Undar no circumstances can the QvserikB
authority in the Transvaal he relinquished^*
In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle
Frere, Lord Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the
Queen in the Transvaal could not be relinquished."
In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880,
Lord Kimberley said : —
** There was a still stronger reason than that for not reced-
ing ; it was impossible to say what calamities such a step as
receding might not cause. We had, at the cost of much
blood and treasure, restored peace, and the effect of our now
reversing our policy would be to leave the province in a state
of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine war. For
such a risk, he could not make himself responsible. The
number of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at
about 800,000, and that of the whites less than 50,000. Diffi-
339
240 APPENDIX.
culties with the Zulus and frontier tribes would again arise,
and, looking as they must to South Africa as a whole, the
Government, after a careful consideration of the question,
came to the conclusion that we could not relinquish the
Transvaal. Nothing could be more unfortunate than un-
certainty in respect to such a matter."
On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer
memorial, wrote as follows : —
"It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it shoi^^d,
since the Annexation, have appeared that so large a number
of the population of Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed
to the annexation of that territory, but it is impossible now
to consider that question as if it were presented for the first
time. We have to do with a state of things which haf
existed for a considerable period, during which ohligatioru
have been contracted, especially, though not exclusively, towards
the native population, which cannot be set aside. Looking to
all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of
South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of
disorders, which might lead to disastrous consequences, not
only to the Transvaal but to the whole of South Africa, our
Judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relinquish the
Transvaal."
Her Majesty's Speecli, delivered in Parliament on the 6th
January 1881, contains the following words: **A rising
in the Transvaal has recently imposed upon me the duty of
vindicating my authority."
These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the
policy adopted by the Government, after our troops had been
defeated.
( 241 )
111.
A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS.
I REPRINT here a letter published in The Times of
14th October 1899, together with a prefatory note
added by the editor of that journal. This epistle seems
to me worthy of the study of thinking men. Much of
it, most of it indeed, is mere brutal vapouring, false in
its facts, false in its deductions; remarkable only for the
livid hues of hate with which it is coloured. Yet in this
vile concoction, the work evidently of a half-educated
member of the Cape Dutch party, or perhaps of an
Afrikander Irishman of the stamp of the late notorious
Fenian Aylward, appear statements built upon a basis
of truth which we should do well to lay to heart. I allude
principally to the question of our food supply and to the
possible behaviour of the electorate in the event of a
great war under pressure of want and high prices. (See
paragraph 3 of the letter of "P. S.") In a very different
work, "A Farmer's Year," pages 179 and 380, I have
attempted to treat of this great matter which elsewhere
has been dealt with also by others more able and perhaps
better qualified. Until it is reasonably certain that
under any circumstances which we can conceive the price
of food stuffs will not be raised to a prohibitive point,
it can never be said that the future of Great Britain is
assured beyond all probable doubt. When will this prob-
lem receive the attention it deserves at the hands of our
Governments and of those over whom they rule ?
We have received the following letter, appropriately
headed " Boer Ignorance." The writer bears a well-known
Dutch name, and gives as his late address the name of a
well-known town in a Dutch district of Cape Colony : —
Q
242 APPENDIX.
To the Editor of the ''Times:'
.Sir, — In your paper you have often commented on what
you are pleased to call the ignorance of my countrymen,
the Boers. We are not so ignorant as the British states-
men and newspaper writers, nor are we such fools as you
British are. We know our policy, and we do not change
it. We have no opposition party to fear nor to truckle to.
Your boasted Conservative majority has been the obedient
tool of the Radical minority, and the Radical minorit}'
has been the blind tool of our farseeing and intelligent;
President. We have desired delay, and we have had it,
and we are now practically masters of Africa from the
Zambezi to the Cape. All the Afrikanders in Cape Colony
have been working for years for this end, for they and we
know the facts.
1. The actual value of gold in the Transvaal is at least
200,000 millions of pounds, and this fact is as well known
to the Emperors of Germany and Russia as it is to us.
You estimate the value of the gold at only 700 millions of
pounds, or, at least, that is what you pretend to estimate
it at. But Germany, Russia, and France do not desire
you to get possession of this vast mass of gold, and so,
after encouraging you to believe that they will not inter-
fere in South Africa they will certainly do so, and very
easily find a casus hellij and they will assist us directly
and indirectly to drive you out of Africa,
2. We know that you dare not take any precautions in
advance to prevent the onslaught of the Great Powers, as
the Opposition, the great peace party, will raise the ques-
tion of expense, and this will win over your lazy, dirty,
drunken working classes, who will never again permit
themselves to be taxed to support your Empire, or even
to preserve your existence as a nation.
3. We know from all the military authorities of the
European and American continents that you exist as an
independent Power merely on sufferance, and that at any
moment the great Emperor William can arrange with
France or Russia to wipe you off the face of the ftarth.
A BOER ON BOER DESIGNS. 243
They can at any time starve you into surrender. You
must yield in all things to the United States also, or your
supply of corn will be so reduced by the Americans that
your working classes would be compelled to pay high prices
for their food, and rather than do that they would have
civil war, and invite any foreign Power to assist them by
invasion, for there is no patriotism in the working classes
of England, Wales, or Ireland.
4. We know that your country has been more pros-
perous than any other country during the last fifty years
(you have had no civil war like the Americans and French
to tone up your nerves and strengthen your manliness),
and consequently your able-bodied men will not enlist in
your so-called voluntary army. Therefore you have to hire
the dregs of your population to do your fighting, and they
are deficient in physique, in moral and mental ability, and
in all the qualities that make good fighting men.
5. Your military ofiicers we know to be merely
pedantic scholars or frivolous society men, without any
capacity for practical warfare with white men. The
Afridis were more than a match for you, and your victory
over the Sudanese was achieved because those poor people
had not a rifle amongst them.
6. We know that your men, being the dregs of your people,
are naturally feeble, and that they are also saturated with the
most horrible sexual diseases, as all your Government returns
plainly show, and that they cannot endure the hardships of
war.
7. We know that the entire British race is rapidly
decaying, your birth-rate is rapidly falling, your children
are born weak, diseased, and deformed, and that the major
part of your population consists of females, cripples, epi-
leptics, consumptives, cancerous people, invalids, and lunatics
of all kinds whom you carefully nourish and preserve.
8. We know that nine-tenths of your statesmen and
higher officials, military and naval, are suffering from
kidney diseases, which weaken their courage and will-
power and makes them shirk all responsibility as far as
possible.
9. We know that your Navy is big, but we know that it
244 APPENDIX.
is not powerful, and that it is honeycombed with dis-
loyalty — as witness the theft of the signal-books, the
assaults on officers, the desertions, and the wilful injury of
the boilers and machinery, which all the vigilance of the
officers is powerless to prevent.
10. We know that the Conservative Government is a
mere sham, and that it largely reduced the strength of the
British artillery in 1888-89. ^^^ "^® know that it does
nor dare now to call out the Militia for training, nor
to mobilise the Fleet, nor to give sufficient grants to
the Line and Volunteers for ammunition to enable them
to become good marksmen and efficient soldiers. We
know that British soldiers and sailors are immensely
inferior as marksmen, not only to Germans, French, and
Americans, but also to Japanese, Afridis, Chilians,
Peruvians, Belgians, and Russians.
11. We know that no British Government dares to pro-
pose any form of compulsory military or naval training,
for the British people would rather be invaded, conquered,
and governed by Germans, Russians, or Frenchmen than
be compelled to serve their own Government.
12. We Boers know that we will not be governed by a
set of British curs, but that we will drive you out of Africa
altogether, and the other manly nations which have com-
pulsory military service — the armed manhood of Europe —
will very quickly divide all your other possessions between
them.
Talk no more of the ignorance of the Boers or Cape
Dutch ; a few days more will prove your ignorance of the
British position, and in a short space of time you and your
Queen will be imploring the good offices of the great
German Emperor to deliver you from your disasters, for
your humiliations are not yet complete.
For thirty years the Cape Dutch have been waiting their
chance, and now their day has come ; they will throw o£P
their mask and your yoke at the same instant, and 300,000
Dutch heroes will trample you under foot.
We can afford to tell you the truth now, and in this
letter you have got it. — Yours, &c., P. S.
2-
October 12.
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