W.BASILWORSFOLD UC-NRLF tory of the Emir THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESENTED BY PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID THE STORY OF SOUTH AFRICA. Edited by Howard Angus Kennedy. The Story of the Empire Series. THE RISE OF THE EMPIRE. By SIR WALTER BESANT. THE STORY OF INDIA. By DEMETRIUS C. BOULGER. THE STORY OF AUSTRALIA. By FLORA L. SHAW. THE STORY OF CANADA. By HOWARD A. KENNEDY. THE STORY OF SOUTH AFRICA. By W. BASIL WORSFOLD, M.A. THE STORY OF NEW ZEALAND. By the Hon. W. P. REEVES. THE STORY OF THE WEST INDIES. By ARNOLD KENNEDY, M.A. THE STORY OF WEST AFRICA. By MARY H. KINGSLEY. ice^ Eighttenpence per Volume. HORACE MARSHALL & SON. THE STORY OF SOUTH AFRICA. BY W. BASIL WORSFOLD. Second Edition. London : HORACE MARSHALL & SON, Temple House, E.C. CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE. I. DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION (14861557) i II. THE DUTCH AND THE HOTTENTOTS 10 III. THE HUGUENOT IMMIGRATION (16881690) 19 IV. THE DECLINE OF THE DUTCH EAST INDIA COMPANY ;. 27 V. THE COMMENCEMENT OF BRITISH RULE (18061820) 35 VI. Tni: MISSIONARIES ... 47 VII. THE ALBANY SETTLEMENT 55 VIII. THE IMMIGRATION OF THE DUTCH FARMERS (THE BOERS) 64 IX. THE KAFIR WARS (18331853) ... 72 X. THE EOEK EMIGRANTS 81 XI. THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY (.18541871) 91 XII. THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS AT KlMBERLEY lofi XIII. THE ATTEMPT TO RE-UNITE THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES BY FEDERATION (1874 1879) 115 XIV. THE ZULU WAR 124 XV. THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS 136 XVI. THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE 144 XVII. THE HRA OF GOLD DISCOVERY ... 154 CHAPTER I. DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION (1486 1557). ON a September day in the closing year of the fifteenth century there was wonderful news in Lisbon. In the river lay a ship, full of silken stuffs, spices, pearls, and gold, taken on board in the far-off Indies, and brought direct to Europe. Vasco da Gama, the commander of the expedition of which this ship formed part, had discovered an ocean highway from Europe to Hindostan, and shown how the merchants of Lisbon could trade direct with India and China without the intervention of the Moors. It was a welcome victory for Europe in the long struggle between the Cross and the Crescent. In the middle of this century the Turks had established themselves in the south- east of Europe; while the Moors, occupying the eastern and southern coasts of the Mediterranean, B 2 DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION. threatened to exclude the Christian vessels from the Levantine ports. The Turks and the Moors had thus become the middle-men through whose hands the trade of Europe with the East must pass. From the time of Prince Henry of Portugal a prince who was cousin to our Henry V., the conqueror of Agincourt, and who was surnamed "The Navigator," from his devo- tion to the cause of maritime exploration a succession of Portuguese seamen had steadily pursued the work of exploring the western coast of Africa. Steadily, but slowly; for their ships were small and they dare not venture far from land. They did not reach the Equator until 1471, and then the African coast stretched, as it seemed, endlessly to the southward, ever barring their advance to India and the East. At length, in 1486, in the reign of John II., one of these navigators, Bartholomew Diaz, succeeded in passing Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point of Africa, and proceeding eastwards planted a cross on the little island in Algoa Bay, which has since been called "Santa Cruz." Six years later, Columbus anchored off the Bahamas with the vessels provided for him by Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. A common purpose led Columbus to discover America and Diaz to discover the Cape of Good Hope. It was to bring the nations of Western Europe into direct trading communication with the East, by opening up a sea route to India. Columbus proceeded DISCOVERY AND COLONIZATION. 3 to the East westwards, not knowing that a continent lay across his path, stretching almost from pole to pole. Diaz intended to go to the same goal eastwards^ but the great tropical continent of Africa obtruded so far to the south that he would scarcely have reached its southern extremity had he not been driven by a storm for thirteen days to the southward. The rocky headland off which he encountered this terrible \ Ly STEiier/aoW *3 ( S^ZP&Tf/i* ff. : tel OF GOOD H L:., that of a chief Government controlling lesser Govern- ments. 92 THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. left to organize their Governments on their own lines; British interference between them and the natives was reduced to a minimum ; the task of controlling the native population outside the limits of the three British possessionsthe Cape Colony, Natal, and British Kaffraria was abandoned ; and, at the same time, the Cape Colonists were encouraged to take a more active part in the settlement of the difficulties with the Kafirs on their eastern frontier. Looking back now, with the subsequent course of South African history before us, we see that this policy of non-intervention was a mistake. Read by the "fierce light" of Isandlhwana and Majuba Hill, it shows only as an attempt to evade the responsibilities which properly belonged to England, as the Sovereign Power in South Africa the Power whose duty it was, both to guide the development of European colonization and to control the disintegration and subsequent re-organization of the native tribes. If we endeavour to apportion the blame, to determine who is rightly to be charged with the fault, we are compelled to adopt the conclusion that neither ' the nation, nor the Imperial Government as a whole, can be blamed, but that the fault lies with the officials of the Colonial Office, who persistently disregarded the advice of their local representative, and studiously minimized, THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. 93 and even suppressed, information without which it was impossible for the nation to form correct opinions. In so far as any one cause can be assigned for the disasters to the British arms and the administrative failures which have characterized our rule in South Africa, it is this : the refusal of the " man in Downing Street" the Secretary of State for the tyrant L ' 32 3ft South Africa in 1854. Colonies to listen to the " man on the spot," Governor, High Commissioner, or Special Commissioner, as the case may be. From an Imperial point of view, the worst feature of the whole miserable story of perpetual conflict revealed by the Blue Books is the fact that more than once the credit of a Colonial Secretary, or of a Cabinet, has been 94 THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. saved at the expense of the reputation perhaps, even the life of the local adminis- trator who has been most faithful to his trust. At this time, the " man on the spot " Sir George Grey (1854 1862) was both a strong man and a far-seeing man. He foresaw that the military Bantu, if left to themselves, would wax powerful, and one day unite to contest the supremacy of race with the Europeans. He foresaw, too, that the stubborn Boer would, if occasion arose, defy the Imperial Government, and appeal to his kinsmen in the Cape Colony on the score of blood ; and that the nationality difficulty/instead of being overcome, would be increased by the process which he called the " dismemberment " of European South Africa. But Sir George Grey's warnings and proposals were alike disregarded. For the steps which he took to re-unite the Boer Republics with the Cape Colony by means of a federal tie, he was charged with " disobedience," and recalled. And, although he was subsequently re- appointed, he was strictly enjoined to keep within the Non-intervention programme. His proposals for establishing British Residents among the Zulus were rejected ; and even the measures which he took for securing the eastern frontier of the Cape Colony, and for introducing civilization among the Kafirs, were regarded with suspicion. These measures THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. 95 included the establishment of a body of German settlers in British Kaffraria. As many of the men were soldiers of the German Legion who had served in the Crimea, this settlement formed a valuable contribution to the resources available for the defence of the frontier and the maintenance of British rule in Kaffraria. Nevertheless, both in this matter and in his plans for establishing European officials and educational and industrial institutions among the Kafirs, he was thwarted and censured. On the 8th of September, 1858, he wrote : " I would now only urge upon H.M. Govern- ment that they should not distress me more than is absolutely necessary regarding the few thousand pounds which may be necessary for the government and control of the people of the country which lies beyond the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Stripping the country, as I am, of troops, some great disaster will take place if necessary funds are at the same time cut off from me. I am sure that, if the enormous reductions I have effected in military expenditure are considered, the most rigid economists will feel that the money paid by Great Britain for the control of the country has been advantageously laid out. I may, with so weak a force at disposal, be compelled to incur some expenditure for the control of ihe native populations ; but you 96 THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. may depend that not the slightest unnecessary expense shall be incurred." The event to which allusion is made herethe despatch of troops to India from the Cape is remarkable as an instance of a daring and justifiable assumption of authority, and at the same time it serves to remind us that communication between England and India was at this time maintained by the long sea route which passes the Cape of Good Hope. In August, 1857, after the news of the Indian Mutiny had reached the Cape, Sir George Grey on his own responsibility ordered some transports, which were returning with troops on board from China, to sail to India. At the same time, he despatched as many men as could be spared from the Cape garrison. The troops which thus arrived were the first reinforcements received by the Indian Government, and their arrival enabled Sir Colin Campbell to relieve Lucknow. By this action, Sir George Grey, in the words of Lord Malmesbury, " probably saved India." In thus " stripping the country p of British soldiers Sir George Grey made an appeal to the Kafir chiefs which shows how great an influence he had obtained over them. Before sending the troops off, he visited the chiefs and, telling them that the Queen required the services of her soldiers in India, asked them THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. 97 to pledge themselves not to cause any trouble. The Kafir chiefs on the frontier gave the required pledges, and kept their word. There was, however, a limit to Sir George Grey's authority with these people. When on one occasion he had remonstrated on the subject of their women wearing anklets, one of the chiefs replied : "Rest content, O Great Chief, with what you have accomplished. You have made us pay taxes. You have made our people work. These things, we thought, could never be. But think not that you can stop women wearing ornaments. If you try to do this, O Governor, you will most surely fail." But Sir George Grey's usefulness, even in respect of the more humane and effective treatment of the Kafirs, was checked by the interference of the Colonial Office. On July 2Oth, 1859, he writes, in reply to the despatch which re-called* frm : " With regard to any necessity which might exist for my removal on the ground of not holding the same views upon essential points of policy as H.M. Government hold, I can only make the general remark that, during the five years which have elapsed since I was appointed to my present office, there have been at least seven Secretaries of State for the Colonial Department, each of whom held different views upon some * He was subsequently re-appointed (as before staled). H 98 THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. important points of policy connected with this country." The most disastrous of these interferences was the refusal to allow him to *' federate the several provinces" of South Africa, and to adopt the Orange River Free State into this federation. As it was, the emigrant Boers, the Cape Colony, and Natal, each proceeded to develop upon different lines, and to acquire separate interests. In particular the original divergences between the Dutch and English colonists were perpetuated and exaggerated. The constitutions which the Boer States adopted are not merely republican in form that in itself would make them differ but slightly from the constitutions of the British Colonies but they combine with their republicanism certain principles peculiar to the Boers, and suitable only for very primitive societies. These principles, which underlie the Boer economy, are (i) the refusal to recognize any equality between the natives and the Europeans, and (2) the close connec- tion of citizen rights with military service, or the " commando" system. Under the former, the coloured people in the Boer states are only partially admitted to civil rights, and entirely excluded from political rights; under the latter, all adult males among the "burghers," or citizens, are liable for military service in THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. 99 time of war, while in time of peace they are compelled to undergo a burdensome routine of constant drills. To make the acquisition of political rights thus dependent upon submission to an onerous system of military service is, in itself, sufficient to exclude a purely industrial population from participation in the work of government. But in the South African Republic at the present time even this original barrier has been built higher by legislation which practically prevents the Outlander, or non-burgher, from acquiring the franchise under any circum- stances whatever. The constitutions of the Boer Republics are thus really oligarchical ; chat is to say, the right of taking part in the government is closely confined to one class, the burghers or native-born citizens. These alone elect the President, the Executive Council, and the members of the Volksraad, or Representative Assembly, and to these three authorities the work of administration and of legislation is entrusted. It is scarcely necessary to point out that, for a country like the Transvaal, which afterwards became the scene of a great industrial development due mainly to immigration no conceivable form of government could be more unsuitable. Since a new relationship between the Boers and the Imperial Government was created by the establishment of these Republics, it will be 100 THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. convenient to state briefly the nature of any subsequent interferences which have taken place. The principle which has guided the Imperial Government in these interferences with the independence of the Boers is stated in a despatch* of Sir Michael Hicks-Beach. In it he writes : " Neither by the Sand River Convention of 1852, nor at any other time, did H.M. Government surrender the right and duty of requiring that the Transvaal should be governed with a view to the common safety of the various European communities." These interferences, therefore, have been undertaken only when the common interests, or the common safety, of the Europeans in South Africa seemed to be at stake. Thus, in 1868, the Imperial Government interfered between the Basutos and the Free State Government. The latter, having with difficulty reduced Moshesh, the Basuto chief, to submission, proposed to confiscate the most valuable portion of his territory. This punishment would have had the effect of causing the Basutos to disperse in search of fresh territory a proceeding eminently dangerous to the peace of South Africa. Under these circumstances the prayer of Moshesh, "Let me and my people rest and live under the large folds of the flag of England ere I am no more," was heard. The Basutos *To Lord (then Sir Garnet) Wolseley, Nov. 2oth, 1879. THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. IO1 were taken under British protection, and an equitable boundary was fixed between them and the Free State by the Convention of Aliwal North (1869). By an application of the same principle we shall find the Imperial Government assuming the administration of the Diamond Fields in 1871, annexing the Transvaal in 1877, establishing a British protectorate in Bechuanaland in 1884-5, and to-day endeavouring to obtain political and economic reforms from the Government of the South African Republic. Meanwhile that is to say, while the Boer emigrants were organizing themselves in their primitive republics the population and commerce of the Cape Colony was expanding ; and this expansion was accompanied by gradual constitutional changes which ter- minated in the full political freedom of self-government. The wool industry, which was founded under circumstances which have been previously mentioned, developed especially in the eastern provinces with the expansion of the English population. Here, too, in the Albany district, the ostrich industry was permanently established in 1869 by Mr. Arthur Douglass's discovery of an artificial incubator, by means of which the farmer was enabled to domesticate these naturally savage birds. In 1856, Mr. Adolph Mosenthal succeeded in introducing Angora 102 THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. goats from Asia Minor, and thus another source of wealth was provided in the mohair industry. Copper mining, the first of the mineral industries of South Africa, was commenced in the north-west corner of the Cape Colony in 1852. At the same time, an admirable system of roads had been designed and executed under Mr. John Montagu, the then Colonial Secretary, in 1844; while in 1859, Sir George Grey had turned the first sod of the Capetown and Wellington railway. Here were signs of progress slow, perhaps, but real enough to justify Sir George Grey's statement " that, in point of fact, H.M. possessions in South Africa were of great, and yearly increasing, value to the trade and commerce of Great Britain ; that the people did not desire Kafir wars ; that they were fully aware of the much greater advantages they derived from the peaceful pursuits of industry, and from cultivating their valuable exports." Industrial expansion was accompanied by constitutional development. From the com- mencement of the century up to the appointment of Sir George Grey, the colony had been governed on the lines of a military administration. The power of the Governor, who was more or less despotic, was limited by a Council which consisted mainly of officials who, like himself, were accountable to the Home authorities. In 1853, however, a THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. 103 Legislative Council and a House of Assembly, composed of members elected by the colonists, were created. The chief effect of the new constitution was to give the colonists an opportunity of expressing their views as to the management of their affairs. Under this system the executive power still remained with the Governor and the chief officials of the Colonial Government ; and all financial measures had to be introduced into the Parliament by a member of the Executive. Moreover, the members of the Executive were appointed by the Governor, instead of being selected by the Parliamentary representatives themselves. Twenty years later, in 1872-3, "responsible" government was introduced. Under this system the system which has now been applied to all the great colonies the members of the Executive, or the " Govern- ment " for the time being, are chosen from among the ranks of the party which commands a majority in the House of Assembly, and they are accountable not to the Imperial Government but to the people of the colony.* It is necessary, before concluding this chapter a chapter in which an endeavour has been made to indicate the lines of development * Technically they are servants of the Crown ; but the Crown, of course, represents the interests of the people of that part of the Queen's dominions in which they serve. 104 THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. of the three divisions into which the non- intervention policy divided the Europeans of South Africa to say a word about the Colony of Natal. The circumstance which makes Natal differ most from the Cape Colony is the great numerical superiority of the native over the white population. In the Cape Colony it has been found possible not only to give the natives some education and industrial training, but to admit them (under certain just reserva- tions) to full and equal political rights. In Natal, however, where the Kafirs are twelve times as numerous as the Europeans, the task of educating the natives for a partnership with the white man has been infinitely more difficult. And here, instead of breaking down the power of the chiefs, as was done under Sir George Grey's policy with the Kafirs in the Cape Colony and in Kaffraria, it has been found necessary to retain the tribal organiza- tion, and with it the authority of the chiefs, and, also, to keep the natives in general under separate and special laws.* In addition to this, the products of Natal are semi-tropical, and the sugar and tea plantations are worked by coolies imported from India for a term of years. These two circumstances make this colony resemble India * For example, at nine o'clock the u curfew " bell rings at Durban and Maritzburg, and it is an offence for a Kafir to be abroad in the streets after this hour. THE NON-INTERVENTION POLICY. 105 in its conditions ; but in other respects the European community, which is composed of persons of Dutch and English origin in equal proportions, has developed upon the ordinary industrial lines of a British colony. CHAPTER XII. THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS AT KIMBERLEY. UP to the year 1870, the progress of the Cape Colony was slow. Indeed, it was the sort of progress which is typified by the ox-waggon, the national vehicle of South Africa. But at that date an event occurred which caused the non-intervention policy to be abandoned, and gave a sudden impetus to the development of British colonization in South Africa. This was the discovery of a rich deposit of diamonds, packed away in four volcanic craters and pipes in the desert region northward of the colonial boundary, which has since become famous as the site of the town of Kimberley. The district in which this unique discovery was made was outside the boundary of the Cape Colony ; and when, therefore, in the following year, British authority was estab- lished there, and a new territory called Griqualand West was created, the proceedings THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS. loy involved a departure from the policy of non- intervention outside the limits of British territory. The Imperial Government secured the Diamond Fields in the first instance by cession, or voluntary surrender, from a Griqua chief. This chief, Waterboer, alleged that the country belonged to him ; but the Free State Government claimed it as part of their territory ; as being, in fact, included in the boundary of the Orange River sovereignty as defined by Sir Harry Smith. It was after- wards proved that the Free State was right ; and the Colonial Office subsequently recog- nized the mistake by paying, as compensation, a sum of ^90,000, together with a further sum of ^"15,000 for railway construction. The district itself was not, however, restored ; for it was thought that the Free State Govern- ment would not be strong enough to maintain order over the miscellaneous mining popula- tion which had quickly gathered at Kimberley. Here was another instance of an interference with the Boer Republics which, while it involved a technical injustice, was undertaken on the ground that it was required by the common interests of South Africa. For the development of the diamond mines was felt to be and afterwards proved to be a matter of supreme importance to the Europeans as a whole. Although this remarkable discovery occurred 108 THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS. so recently, the circumstances which led up to it are not perfectly known. It appears, however, that, in the year 1867, a trader named O'Reilly was shown a stone in a farm- house in the Hopetown district of the Cape Colony. This stone turned out to be a diamond worth ^"500. Two years later the farmer, Van Niekerk, obtained a similar stone from a Griqua Hottentot ; and this stone also turned out to be a diamond, which was appropriately called a The Star of South Africa." After passing through various hands, it was eventually sold to the Countess of Dudley for ^"25,000. The news of these " finds " soon spread ; and numbers of persons came to look for other stones like them. As these stones had been river pebbles, the searchers turned their attention to the rivers, and at first they worked their way up the Vaal. In 1870 there were 10,000 men at work at these "wet diggings," as they were called. But at the end of this year diamonds were found on two farms, Dutoitspan and Bulfontein, which were about twenty miles to the west of the u wet diggings." Next year more discoveries were made ; and diamonds were found at Old De Beers, and at the Colesberg Kopje, as the Kimberley mine was originally named. After this the " wet diggings " were de- serted, and the searchers for diamonds THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS. 1 09 hastened to these "dry diggings." Their encampments, which gradually grew into the present town of Kimberley, were pitched in the midst of a barren country, 4,000 feet above sea level. At first there were no roads, no regular food supply could be established, and the dust-storms were terribly noxious. Nevertheless, with the near prospect of finding the dull stones that turned into brilliants, they pegged out their claims, and cheerfully settled down in tents, and wooden huts with corrugated iron roofs. No one imagined in these early days that there was anything more than a haphazard collection of stones on the surface ; and everyone was prepared, therefore, to move away from so dismal a place directly the supply gave out. As a matter of fact, they were only scratching the surface of the actual deposits of diamond- bearing earth, for these four Kimberley mines were absolutely unique. They were after- wards found to be the craters and pipes of four extinct volcanoes ; and the "blue ground," or diamond-bearing earth, was a stream of volcanic mud, which had been forced up long ago by subterranean energy through the pipes, and which had thus filled, first them, and finally the cup-like openings to the level of the surface of the surrounding country. For fifteen years the mines were worked by surface digging. The "blue ground" was 110 THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMOND?. first dug out, and afterwards as the level of the workings sank lower hauled out by iron buckets running on wire cables. Then, when it had been thus carried to the edges of the mines, it was broken up, and the stones were washed out of it and picked over and sorted. In this way the " diggings" became great pits, which gradually grew deeper and deeper. This method of raising the " blue ground " was attended by two evils. The claims in the centre were flooded with water, and the claims near the edge were covered by falls of the encasing rocks, or " reef/' as the miners called it. In 1883, the joint effect of these two evils had become so disastrous in the Kimberley mine, that the work had to be abandoned. The Mining Board had spent half a million of money in trying to keep the workings clear, but all to no purpose. It was recognized now that some other method must be adopted that, in short, the "blue ground " must be won by underground workings. Accordingly, shafts were sunk outside the rims of the craters or pits, and horizontal tunnels were driven which struck the pipes which held the "blue ground." And from this time onwards the Kimberley Diamond Mines have been worked in much the same way as coal mines are worked in England. The result of the introduction of the new system was remarkable. The De Beers mine, THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS. T I I where it was first introduced, doubled its out- put of diamonds in a single year. And the other mines were subsequently affected in the same manner. So many diamonds were now put on the market, that the price per carat fell from 275. 3d. in 1882, to i8s. 5^d. in 1887. In fact, the industry was threatened with the danger of over-production. From this danger of excessive competition, the diamond industry was rescued by the gradual amalgamation of the conflicting interests of the various proprietors. In the course of this process, the industry came to be practically controlled by one Company the De Beers Consolidated Mines. This amalgamation was a process which naturally resulted from the changes in the conditions under which the industry was from time to time carried on. At the beginning, the surfaces of the respective mines were divided into claims of 31 ft. square; and the more valuable of these claims were sub-divided, so that at one time a single patch of ground, 3 1 ft. square, in Kimberley mine, belonged to i, 600 owners. As the difficulty and expense of raising the "blue ground" increased with the process of excavation, the private owners gave place to limited liability companies. But even these companies were not able to raise the "blue ground" economically. What was required for economic working was that 112 THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS. each mine should be under the control of one authority. In the case of the Kimberley and De Beers mines this object was practically achieved ; and then, in order to avoid a disastrous struggle, these two mines were combined, and the company thus formed subsequently acquired controlling interests in the other two. This work of amalgamating the numerous and conflicting interests con- cerned in the diamond industry, was a difficult and delicate task. It required financial capa- city of the highest order. Such a capacity was ready there in the person of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, who, having left England as a delicate youth, had pegged out his claim among the earliest miners. This achievement was the first evidence which Mr. Rhodes gave of the remarkable powers which have caused his personality to dominate the conduct of affairs in South Africa for the last ten years. To-day the De Beers Consolidated Mines practically represent the diamond industry at Kimberley. A few figures will indicate the extent and method of the industry which they control. The open works of the four mines extend over 1 1 1 1 acres. The area of the De Beers mine at the hard rock level is ten acres, and that of the Kimberley mine is 4^ acres. The works and the mines are lighted throughout by electric light, and in the year 1890, 1,261 THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS. 113 Europeans and 5,250 natives were employed. The former live in the village of Kenilworth ; the latter are rigorously confined in "com- pounds," or walled enclosures, built within the Company's boundaries. In the financial year 1892-3, 3,000,000 loads of "blue ground " were raised, and from this mass of diamond- bearing earth, diamonds to the value of ^"3,500,000 were extracted. The cost of the various processes involved raising the "blue ground," pulverizing it, washing it, grading the stones so obtained by machinery, and finally sorting them by hand was calculated to be about ^1,500,000. It is part of the policy of the De Beers Mines to limit the Kimberley output of diamonds. They endeavour to regulate the supply so that, while the demand is met, the market is not over-stocked. As a result of this policy, the Kimberley output has been reduced in recent years. The diamonds won in Kimberley, from the commencement of the industry to the present time, have probably been sold for some ^70,000,000. It is interesting to consider what this money has done for South Africa. In the first place, the establishment 01 so unique and valuable an industry made Englishmen take a greater interest in South Africa. The diamond discoveries were much more pleasant subjects to dwell upon than the i 114 THE DISCOVERY OF DIAMONDS. Kafir wars. In the next, it caused an energetic and strenuous English population to grow up in the northern deserts. The increase of trade which grew out of the needs of this population raised the revenues of the Cape Colony, and enabled the Cape Govern- ment to unite Capetown and Port Elizabeth by railway, and to extend the general system northwards towards Kimberley itself. All these are direct results. If we look at events less directly connected, we must recognize that Kimberley enterprize and Kimberley wealth have contributed largely both to the development of the gold industry at Johannes- burg and to the acquisition of the great northern territories of the Chartered Com- pany. CHAPTER XIII. THE ATTEMPT TO RE-UNITE THE EUROPEAN MMUNITIES BY FEDERATION (1874 1879). NOW that the interest of England in South Africa had been again awakened, and the Cape Colony had entered upon a period of rapid industrial development, the Imperial Government became suddenly aware of the abnormal political situation which had resulted from the separation of the Europeans. The evil effects of the non-intervention policy were only too apparent. lit the first place, the Imperial Government had awkwardly tied its hands by the conventions which recog- nized the independence of the Boer Republics. The extension of British authority in Griqua- land West brought the Colonial Office into conflict with the Governments of both the Transvaal and the Free State. The dispute with the Free State has been already related. The Transvaal Government maintained that this extension of British authority was a breach of the Sand River Il6 THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION. Convention, under which the British Govern- ment had " disclaimed all alliances " with the coloured tribes northward of the Vaal River. They even advanced on more than one occasion the unwarrantable claim that the effect of this clause was to place the whole interior northward of the line of the Orange and Vaal Rivers under their jurisdiction. \Here was one evil which threatened to seriously hamper the future development of British colonization in South Africa. Another evil, no less grave, was the unsatisfactory, and even dangerous, character of the relation- ships which had grown up between the Europeans and the natives. The chief object of the non-intervention policy was to relieve the British Government of the responsibility of controlling the Bantu population outside of the British possessions. Accordingly, at this period, while a part of that population was subjected to the control of the several Colonies and Republics, the more strenuous military tribes were independent in their own territories. The interests of the Europeans, as a whole, obviously required that a common policy should be pursued towards the inde- pendent tribes, and that common methods should be adopted for the treatment of the native populations under the control of the several Governments. As it was, the natives were treated differently in Natal, in the THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION. 1 17 Republics, and in the Cape Colony ; and when differences arose between any one of these Governments and the independent tribes on its borders, the Colonial Govern- ments and the Boer Republics settled their differences independently, and without re- ference to the interests of their European neighbours.* An example of the necessity for a common system in the treatment of the natives who were living under European government arose out of the development of the diamond industry at Kimberley. The rough work of extracting the diamonds was done by native labour. The Kafirs, attracted by the prospect of what seemed to them to be ample wages, came from all parts of South Africa. They generally stayed at the mines for short periods only, and then returned to their homes, where they bought both wives and cows the Kafirs' two most valuable possessions with the proceeds of their labour. Among these Kafir labourers were some Hlubis, who came from the western districts of Natal. Under the administration of Griqualand West, the natives were allowed to purchase firearms. The Hlubis availed themselves of this permission, and carried * When, however, as in the case of the Basuto War, an imminent danger was created by their isolated action, the Imperial Government stepped in. IlS THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION. back their guns with them to Natal. Now, in Natal, where a very small body of Europeans were living among dense masses of Bantu, the possession of firearms by the natives was necessarily limited by stringent regulations. Eventually the Hlubis were induced to surren- der or register their arms, but the attainment of this object caused a collision bet ween the tribe and the Natal Government, and gave rise to a grave feeling of alarm among the colonists. The general effect produced upon the natives by the isolated action of the separate European communities was precisely that which Sir George Grey anticipated. The military Bantu, seeing that the Europeans were separated, and, as they thought, weaker than before, while they themselves had grown stronger and more numerous, were emboldened, and resolved to combine and dispute the control of the country with them. Of these military tribes, the Zulus were the most powerful, and the growth of their power was perhaps the most fatal result of the non- intervention policy. It was a result which Sir George Grey had foreseen, and proposed to remedy. He advised that their development should be controlled by placing European Residents among them. As it was, Ketshwayo was allowed to turn the whole energies ol this people into one channel military train- ing and in this way he had converted the THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION. IIQ tribe into a vast man-slaying machine. His original quarrel was with the Transvaal Government. He asserted that the Boers had encroached upon his western border ; and, under the existing system of separate states, the development of the Zulu power was a matter for the Transvaal Government only. Consequently the British Government did not concern themselves in the matter until the menace to the Transvaal had become a menace to Natal, and through Natal to the Europeans in general. When affairs had reached this stage, the task of breaking-up Ketshwayo's formidable military system was performed solely by the Imperial Government, without any assistance from the Republics. The remedy for these evils which Lord Carnarvon (who became Secretary for the Colonies in 1874) proposed, was Sir G. Grey's remedy of twenty years before federation. The essence of this system of political union is the division of the work of administration and legislation into two parts that which concerns the union as a whole, and that which solely concerns one or other of the several states. The former, the common interests, are entrusted to a federal or central legislature ; the latter, the individual interests, are left under the control of the local legis- latures of the separate states. There can be no question that this system was, and is, the 120 THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION. best method for uniting the colonies and states of South Africa. Moreover, the federal system had recently been applied (1867) with marked success to the colonies of British North America, where political union was also complicated by the division of the Europeans into two nationalities. But the difficulties of introducing the system were far greater now than they would have been at the time when Sir George Grey was Governor. As we have seen, Natal, the Boer Republics, and the Cape Colony, had each developed on separate lines for twenty years ; and the divergences which they originally exhibited, whether due to differences in the character of the people, or to differences of political or physical conditions, had been intensified and confirmed. The first step which Lord Carnarvon took was to suggest that the Government of the Cape Colony the first " responsible " Govern- ment, of which Mr. (afterwards Sir John) Molteno was premier should invite repre- sentatives from Natal, and the two Republics, to take part in a Federation Conference. At the same time he nominated Mr. J. A. Froude as his own representative, and despatched him on a special mission to South Africa. Mr. Molteno's Government did not, however, see their way to carry out this proposal, and the matter fell into abeyance. After this THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION 121 failure to secure the federal union of the colonies and states by local initiative, a second South Africa bill was passed by the Imperial Parliament in 1877, and at the same time Sir Bartle Frere was appointed Governor of the Cape Colony, and High Commissioner in South Africa. The proposals embodied in the bill for '* enabling the union of South African colonies and states " were eminently just and reason- able. Sir Bartle Frere was instructed to send copies of the bill to the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, to the Presidents of the two Republics, and to lay it before the Cape Legislature. It was again proposed that the representatives of the Governments who desired to avail themselves of the provisions of the bill should meet in a conference ; and that the details of the federal union should then be arranged. But the preliminary steps necessary for holding the conference were delayed by circumstances ; and when ultimately (in June, 1880) the proposal was brought in a definite form before the Cape Legislature, it was virtually rejected. The fact was that the danger, so long foreseen, had at length come ; and a general movement of revolt which had set in among the military Bantu claimed the first energies of the new administrator. But, before relating these circumstances, it 122 THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION. is necessary to refer to an event which occurred immediately after the arrival of Sir Bartle Frere. This event was the annexation of the Transvaal. Frere reached the Cape on March 3ist, 1877. The British flag was raised in Pretoria on the following I2th of April, by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who acted independently, and under instructions pre- viously received directly from the Imperial Government. Frere himself was opposed to the annexation. In his opinion, the Transvaal was like a ripe pear, which the Imperial Government should not pluck, but catch when it fell into their hands. Sir Theophilus Shepstone, however, thought that the " emer- gency " contemplated by his instructions had arisen ; and the annexation was accomplished. This interference with the independence of the Boers was again based upon the principle to which reference has already been made. The Imperial Government claimed " the right and duty of requiring that the Transvaal should be governed with a view to the common safety of the various European communities in South Africa." At this time, the Transvaal administration was so weak that it was held to constitute a general danger. The facts upon which this opinion was based, were these. In the first place, the Boers were practically bankrupt ; in the next, they were unable to reduce Sikukuni, a Kafir THE ATTEMPT AT FEDERATION. 123 chief, whose stronghold was in the mountain- ous country to the north-east of the Transvaal, and who was said to be Ketshwayo's " dog." Lastly, they were involved in a quarrel with Ketshwayo, and it was believed by the persons who were most competent to form an opinion on the subject, that Ketshwayo would " eat up " the Boers ; and it was known that, if this took place, the triumph of the Zulus would rouse the whole Bantu population to open defiance of the Europeans. Under these circumstances, it was obvious that the consideration of the Federation question, important though it was, must be postponed until the security of the European communities had been assured. CHAPTER XIV. THE ZULU WAR. WHETHER the annexation oi the Transvaal at this precise moment was, or was not, a mistake, the events which followed showed that the danger upon which the action of the Imperial Government was based had not been exaggerated. The disaffection of the native population was not confined to the Zulus. Ketshwayo was the head of the move- ment, but he had secured the co-operation of other military tribes. On December i2th, 1878, just before the war broke out, Sir Bartle Frere wrote to Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, the Secretary for the Colonies : u Wherever there has been disturbance and resistance to authority of Government between the Limpopo and the westernmost limits of Kafir population, there we have found unmis- takable evidence" of a "common purpose and a general understanding " to contest the THE ZULU WAR. 125 supremacy of the Europeans. And the first resistance came from the Kafirs on the eastern border of the Cape Colony. This, the last Kafir war, broke out in August* 1877 that is, four months after Frere had reached the Cape. Both the Gaikas, under Sandilli, and the Galekas, under Kreli, re- volted ; and although the safety of the colonists was secured from the first by prompt military measures, yet the Kafir tribes were not completely subdued until May in the following year. The nature of the fighting on the frontier, and the difficulties experienced by the Colonial troops in reducing the tribes involved in this disturbance, were such that Ketshwayo was rather encouraged than dis- mayed. The force over which he exercised an absolute command was infinitely superior to the untrained levies of Kreli. The Zulus were the flower of the military Bantu, and their military efficiency had at this moment been raised to the highest pitch by years of training. The methods by which Ketshwayo had produced this result, and the nature of the u man-slay ing machine " itself, will appear from the following extract, taken from a despatch in which Frere justified his instruc- tions to Lord Chelmsford to advance into Zululand (January, 1879) : "Whether his [Ketshwayo's] young men were trained into celibate gladiators as parts 126 THE ZULU WAR. of a most efficient military machine, or allowed to become peaceable cattle herds ; whether his young women were to be allowed to marry the young men, or to be assegaied by hundreds for disobeying the king's orders to marry effete veterans, might possibly be Zulu questions of political economy with which the British Government were not concerned to meddle ; but they were part of the great recruiting system of a military organization which enabled the king to form, out of his comparatively small population, an army, at the very lowest estimate, of 25,000 perfectly trained and perfectly obedient soldiers, able to march three times as fast as we could, to dispense with commissariat of every kind and transport of every kind, and to fall upon this [Natal] or any part of the neighbouring colony in such numbers and with such determination that nothing but a fortified post could resist them, making no prisoners and sparing neither age nor sex." The character of Ketshwayo himself is sufficiently indicated by the reply which he made, in 1876, to the remonstrances addressed to him by the Governor of Natal in respect of the murder of some Zulu women. On that occasion he was reminded of the promises of good government which he had made to Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the British Repre- sentative, who was present at his coronation. THE ZULU WAR. 127 " Did I ever tell Shepstone ? Did he tell the white people I made such an arrangement ? Because, if he did, he has deceived them. I do kill, but do not consider yet I have done anything in the way of killing. Why do the white people start at nothing ? I have not yet begun. I have yet to kill. It is the custom of our nation, and I shall not depart from it. Do I go to Natal and dictate to him about his laws ? I shall not agree to any laws or rules from Natal, and by so doing throw the great kraal which I govern into the water. My people will not listen unless they are killed. Have I not asked the English Government to allow me to wash my spears, since the death of my father Umpandi, and they have kept playing with me all this time, and treated me like a child ? Go back and tell the English that I shall act on my own account, and if they wish me to agree to their laws, I shall leave and become a wanderer ; but before I go it will be as I shall not go without having acted." The position at the end of the year 1878 was summed up in Frere's statement, that " no one could really sleep in peace and security within a day's run of the Zulu border, save by sufferance of the Zulu chief." And within a day's run of the Zulu border was the small European community of Natal, con- sisting of some 30,000 white men. surrounded by 300,000 Kafirs. 128 THE ZULU WAR. The immediate object of Lord Chelmsford's advance was to secure the lives and property of these Natal colonists ; its ultimate object was to maintain the supremacy of the Europeans in South Africa. Within the limits of these pages it is not possible to give any detailed account of the campaign which was commenced by Lord Chelmsford's advance across the Tugela in January, 1879. ^ * s sufficient to note that before the Zulu man-slaying machine was broken-up at Ulundi, on July 4th, Ketshwayo had sufficiently demonstrated its power by destroying almost the entire 24th Regiment with its native supports, not by ambuscade but in the open plain by the hill of Isandlhwana. At this moment the colony of Natal was placed in extreme peril. The main body of the British force, under Lord Chelms- ford, had been skilfully evaded. Between the victorious Zulu army and the colony lay Rorke's Drift, the ford by which the Buffalo River had been crossed. About 4,000 of the finest warriors were ordered to advance and secure this position. Fortunately a small force, consisting of rather more than a hundred men of the 24th, under Lieutenants Bromhead and Chard, had been left here to keep open communication with Natal. The news of the defeat of the British and of the advance of the Zulus reached them in time to allow them THK ZULU WAR. I2Q to make some preparations for holding the drift. They occupied a disused mission- house, and strengthened its walls with mealy bags and biscuit tins the actual stores, in fact, which had been left under their charge. At four in the same afternoon (January 22nd) the Zulu advance-guard, led by Ketshwayo's brother, Dabulamanzi, commenced the attack. From that time till four o'clock in the following morning they hurled themselves against the walls of the mission-house. Behind these walls the English soldiers fought with such resolution and effect, that at length the Zulu general withdrew in despair, leaving the dead bodies of three hundred of his men lying in heaps upon the ground outside. Of the English within, -seventeen were dead and ten wounded. This strenuous defence, offered by a handful of brave men, with two gallant lads at their head this, and nothing else saved Natal. Had not Ketshwayo's triumphant advance been arrested, the Zulu impis would have scoured Natal. And then the Kafir population would have risen ; the whole colony, except Maritzburg and Durban, with their British garrisons, would have been devastated, and the Europeans in the scattered villages and homesteads would have been at the mercy of Ketshwayo. Beside the main column, which was led by Lord Chelmsford in person, two other K 130 THE ZULU WAR. columns, respectively commanded by Colonel Pearson and Colonel (now Sir Evelyn) Wood, had entered Zululand. According to the plan of campaign, all three columns were to advance by different routes upon Ulundi, the Zulu capital, and then concentrate. As Lord Chelrnsford had lost his supplies by the destruction of the camp at Isandlhwana, he was compelled to retire upon his base in Natal. The other two columns, however, remained in Zululand. Colonel Wood fortified a post at Kambula, and Colonel Pearson occupied the mission station at Etshowe. In April, Lord Chelrnsford again advanced with the main column. Both Colonel Pearson and Colonel Wood had beaten back the attacks made upon them, and by this time a large number of Ketshwayo's warriors had been killed,* and many of the survivors had become cowed and disheartened. Nevertheless, Ketsh- wayo was able to gather from 15,000 to 20,000 men, and with this force, on July 4th, he opposed Lord Chelmsford's advance upon Ulundi. The British force consisted of about 4,000 Europeans and 1,000 native troops. It was drawn up in a hollow rectangular form- ation, with the infantry supported by guns, enclosing the cavalry and stores. Against this square, Ketshwayo's warriors rushed with * It was estimated that from 1,000 to 1,500 were killed before the 24th were destroyed at Isandlhwana. THE ZULU WAR. 131 splendid discipline and courage. As the Zulus approached, leaping and shrieking, it seemed as though the black wave must flow over the slender lines of red and grey. But as it drew nearer and the crack of the rifles rang out, the wave grew less dense ; and then, when it had come quite close, it bent before the hissing discharge of the gatlings, and fell broken at the very feet of the British line. But even so, before this withering fire, here and there a Zulu warrior would reach the line, and, animated by the desperate courage of his race, grasp the bayonets, and thus, by fixing their points in his breast, try to open a path for his comrades. When at length the Zulus had broken and taken to flight, the lines opened and the cavalry rode out to complete the work. Meanwhile, upon the news of the di?aster of Isandlhwana, Lord Chelmsford had been superseded by Sir Garnet Wolseley, who did not, however, assume command of the British forces in Zululand until Ulundi had been won. By the end of August, the whole country was practically reduced. Ketshw.iyo himself was subsequently captured, and sent as a prisoner to Capetown ; and on November 28th, Colonel Baker Russell took Sikukuni's strong- hold on the Drakensbcrg. By some strange process of reasoning, Sir Bartle Frere was held responsible for the 132 THE ZULU AR. loss of the British troops in the Zulu war. Like Grey, he was accused of "disobedience," because he did not wait to communicate with the Imperial Government before he com- menced the war. He was also charged with " rashness" in ordering Lord Chelmsford to advance into Zululand with the force at his disposal in January, 1879. His reply* was very simple. In answer to the first charge he advanced the fact " that, in the judgment of all military authorities, both before the war and since, it was absolutely impossible for Lord Chelmsford's force, acting on the de- fensive within the Natal boundary, to prevent a Zulu impi from entering Natal, and repeating the same indiscriminate slaughter of all ages and sexes which they boast of having effected in Natal, at Blaauw-Krantz and Weenen, in Dingaan's other massacres of forty years ago, and in the inroads into the Transvaal territory made by Umbellini, with Ketshwayo's con- nivance, within the last two years." In answer to the second charge he wrote : " An un- expected disaster, caused in Lord Chelmsford's absence ,by disregard of his orders, entailed a delay of five months and serious discourage- ment to us, and added enormously to the * In memorandum contained in Cape of Good Hope Despatch, No. 9 (Jan. isth, 1880), which contained a reply to Mr. Gladstone's speech at Glasgow, reported in The Times of December 6th, 1879. THE ZULU WAR. 133 military prestige of the enemy. Nevertheless, as soon as he was enabled to resume the offensive, Lord Chelmsford, moving on the same line as that he first adopted, in eight marches from the scene of the former disaster, with a column of about 6,000 Europeans, completely defeated the Zulu army and annihi- lated their military system. Will anyone, with this unquestionable fact before him, say I was rash in what I asked Lord Chelmsford to attempt in January with about 6,600 English soldiers, commanded by officers like Wood and Redvers Buller, Pearson and Glyn ? In spite of this complete defence, Sir Bartle Frere was partially superseded by Lord Wolseley (who, in taking command of the troops, was also appointed High Commissioner for South East Africa), and was henceforth deprived of the confidence and support of his official superiors. Moreover, in April, 1880, the Conservative Ministry was defeated, and a Liberal Government, with Mr. Gladstone at its head, came into office. Even so, discredited and betrayed, Frere set himself resolutely to carry out his allotted task, the creation of a federal union of South African colonies and states. In this attempt he was loyally supported by the Cape Ministry of which Sir Gordon Sprigg was premier, but the question was now com- plicated by the agitation which had been 134 THE ZULU WAR< commenced both in England and South Africa by the Boers for the restoration of their in- dependence. Mr. Kruger and other Boer leaders induced the Africander members of the Cape Parliament to oppose the proposal for a federation conference, on the ground that the independence of the Transvaal ought to be restored before the question of federation was discussed. On the 29th June, 1880, the Cape Ministry withdrew their proposals, and on August ist Sir Bartle Frere was recalled. Truly, South Africa was destined to be " the grave of reputations." Here was a man furnished with every quality necessary for a great Imperial administrator, checked, dis- credited, and finally recalled. Sir Bartle Frere went to South Africa with the prestige and experience of a brilliant Indian administration. His private and public acts were governed by the highest ideals of conduct ; he had the statesman's gift of placing events in their true relationship and perspec- tive, and thus he constructed a clear vision of the future out of the materials afforded by the present and the past ; he was endowed with a personal charm that won even the good will of the rugged farmers on the veldt ; he had mastered the conditions of South Africa as no other man had done before. Though he left the Cape without realizing his design of a South African Dominion THE ZULU WAR. 135 stretching from the Limpopo to Capetown, in which British energy and British justice could work unhindered and secure, he had saved a whole British colony from the direst peril, and vindicated the supremacy of the Europeans. Among the expressions of public opinion which the news of Frere's recall evoked in the Cape Colony, none is more just than the address presented to him by the people of Albany : u It was unfortunate for your personal convenience, temporarily unfortunate for your reputation, but it was extremely fortunate for Natal, and for the honour of the British name, that you were on the spot ready to sacrifice every personal consideration, and to undertake one of the heaviest and most tremendous respon- sibilities ever undertaken by a servant of the Crown.*' CHAPTER XV. THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. agitation of the Transvaal Boers for JL the restoration of their independence has already been mentioned as the immediate cause of the rejection of the federation pro- posals of the Sprigg ministry by the Cape Parliament in June, 1880. Lord Wolseley, who, after he had completed the subjugation of the Zulus, administered the Transvaal in 1879-80, was aware of the disaffection of the Boer population, and proposed indeed, put in force certain measures which he deemed necessary. But in these measures he was not supported by the Imperial Government. Before these events a deputation had pro- ceeded to England (in 1879) to petition the Colonial Office to restore the independent Transvaal Government. This the Colonial Office had refused to do. But at the end of the same year (1879), tne question was further complicated by Mr. Gladstone's adoption of THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. 137 the independence of the Boers as part of the electoral programme of the Liberal party. In February of the next year (1880), an address was forwarded to him from the Africander population of the Cape Colony, praying him to use his influence on behalf of their Boer kinsmen. When, in April, Mr. Gladstone came into power, Mr. Kruger and two other delegates from the Boers visited England, and again petitioned the Imperial Government for the same object. Mr. Gladstone, however, replied that he was unable to advise the Queen to grant their request. It was on their return from England on this occasion that the Trans- vaal delegates procured the rejection of the federation proposals by the Cape Parliament. The new Governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner in South Africa, appointed to succeed Sir Bartle Frere, was Lord Rosmead (then Sir Hercules Robinson). Lord Rosmead did not reach the Cape until the following January (1881); and before he had reached the Cape, the Boers had resolved to appeal from diplomacy to force. The Transvaal flag was raised on the Witwaters- randt uplands on "Dingan's Day," December 1 6th, 1880. The English garrisons were invested and cut oil. The advance of reinforcements from Natal was barred at Laing's Nek ; and on February 26th, 1881, a most discreditable and disastrous defeat, in 138 THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. which Sir George Colley fell, was inflicted on the British arms by the Boers at Majuba Hill. It was curious how the situation exactly realized Sir George Grey's forecast of 1858. In that year he wrote that he thought "that many questions might arise in which, if the Government on the south side of the Orange River took a different view from that on the north side, it might be very doubtful which of the two Governments the great mass of the [Dutch population] would obey. 1 ' After the revolt had broken out, but before Lord Rosmead had arrived, the inhabitants of the Paarl district people living within fifty miles of Capetown sent a deputation to the Acting- Governor to support the cause of the Boers. They were apparently quite unconscious of the fact that such a deputation could not be received by the Queen's representative, since the Boers were at that moment bearing arms against the Queen's Government. The artificial separation of the Dutch inhabitants, which was the main ground on which the dismemberment of European South Africa thirty years ago had been justified, proved absolutely useless. The Dutch in the Transvaal were in actual conflict with the British forces; the Dutch in the Free State were in arms, and were only prevented from joining them by the strenuous exertions of President Brand. The Dutch in the Cape THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. 139 Colony were in full sympathy with their kins- men north of the Orange River, and it was doubtful whether they would restrain their sympathy within the limits of constitutional agitation, It was in view of this very grave situation that the Imperial Government resolved to restore the independence of the Transvaal Boers. Whether Mr. Gladstone's Government was right in this decision, we are not called upon to decide. On the one hand is the fact that, if they had decided to retain the Transvaal, they would have been confronted by a struggle with the whole Dutch population in South Africa ; on the other hand, it is equally certain that if the future development of that country had been foreseen, the thought of retrocession would never have been enter- tained. The discovery of gold in 1886, the immediate cause of the industrial develop, ment of the Transvaal, was at this date entirely unforeseen, and could not, therefore, enter into the calculations of Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues. But the fact that the known existence of any such material prospects of development would have weighed down the balance on the side of retaining the country at all costs, is sufficient in itself to make us feel that the question was decided on grounds not of principle, but of policy. And, from this point of view, the sole 140 THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. consideration which could justify the retro- cession was the belief that it was best in the interests of South Africa as a whole. On this point grave doubts exist. For, in the first place, both the uneconomic and unpro- gressive character of the Boer administration and the agricultural capacity of the vast country which they claimed, were well known ; and, in the next, to surrender the country in the face of the menacing attitude assumed by the entire Dutch population must inevitably produce a serious loss of prestige. The Imperial Government were bound to take into consideration not only the aspirations of the Dutch colonists, but also the conditions of the British population both in the Transvaal and throughout South Africa. And it must be remembered that this loss of prestige affected the Englishman in South Africa and the Englishman at home in very different degrees. The Englishman at home, surrounded on all sides by the evidences of his country's greatness, could afford to regard the question as purely academic. To him it mattered little or nothing whether the Boers believed that they owed their independence to the fact that they had defeated the English soldiers. But to the Englishman in South Africa, this belief, which the Boers undoubtedly entertained, brought a sense of bitter humiliation, and in some cases involved him in very grave discomforts and annoyances. THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. 141 The Imperial Government, however, did their utmost to prove that it was a regard for the general interests of South Africa, and not the victory of the Burgher forces, that had determined them to restore the independent Transvaal Government. They had at once sent out ample reinforcements from England, and when the decision was actually formed, Sir Evelyn Wood, who had succeeded General Colley, could say with truth that he " held the Boers in the hollow of his hand." He had at his disposal 10,000 troops massed on the slopes of the Drakensberg; he had from his first assumption of command laid his plans with consummate ability, and he had ascertained the length of time which each English garrison could hold out, and was prepared to relieve each in turn before its supplies were exhausted. Moreover, 10,000 additional troops were on their way from England to the Cape. This was the military position when, in pursuance of the deter- mination of the Imperial Government, Sir Evelyn Wood arranged with the Boer leaders a cessation of hostilities on March 22nd, 1881. The terms of this arrangement subsequently formed the basis of the Convention of Pretoria, under which the retrocession was, on the following 3rd of August, actually effected. Under the terms of this Convention, full 142 THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. internal freedom was restored to the Transvaal Boers. At the same time, clauses were inserted which were intended to secure the rights both of the native population, and of the British residents, in the Transvaal. The natives were protected from slavery, and were guaranteed certain elementary civil rights. It was intended by the clauses which had reference to the British residents to secure for them, and for any subsequent British immigrants, the enjoyment of precisely the same civil and political rights as the Burghers, or Boer-citizens, enjoyed. Unfortunately, however, these clauses were so loosely drafted that the Transvaal Government were after- wards enabled to introduce legislation which, maintaining the letter but evading the spirit of the Convention, has practically deprived all resident aliens, or Outlanders, of any right to participate in the government of the country; and to this circumstance is due the present strange and abnormal spectacle of a British population, living in a country over which the Imperial Government still exercises the rights and duties of paramount power, forming the majority of the population of that country, constituting its whole commer- cial development, and yet deprived of all political rights. At the same time, while internal freedom was granted by the Pretoria Convention, the THE REVOLT OF THE BOERS. 143 external relationships of the Transvaal were wholly reserved to the Imperial Government, who were to be represented at Pretoria by a British Resident. CHAPTER XVI. THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. FROM the date of the Convention of Pretoria the destinies of the Transvaal Boers have been closely connected with the strong and interesting personality of Mr. Ste- phanus Johannes Paulus Kruger. President Kruger, or "Oom Paul" (Uncle Paul), as he is called by his own people, is a characteristic product of the Franco-Dutch stock as it has grown under the very remarkable conditions of South African life. His early conflicts with man and nature in their most elementary forms, and the experience of a lifetime devoted to the sole object of preserving his primitive community from subjection to England and English ideas, have rendered him, within his own narrow sphere, the equal of the European diplomatist. His native shrewdness, aided by the opportuni- ties afforded by the exigencies of English party government, has enabled him to emerge victorious from his long-protracted struggle with THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. 145 British statesmanship. With his racy phrases, his dogged determination, his superstition, and his patriarchal simplicity of life, this nineteenth- century Cromwell stands on the page of South African history a figure at once pathetic and sublime, It was through Mr. Kruger's diplomacy that the Transvaal obtained an enlarged freedom, and was finally placed in its present relationship to the Imperial Government. Towards the end of 1883, a delegation, consisting of Mr. Kruger and two others, visited England for the purpose of obtaining certain modifications in the Convention of Pretoria. The negotiations were conducted at the Colonial Office, between the Transvaal delegates on the one hand, and Lord Derby, then Secretary for the Colonies, and Lord Rosmead, the High Commissioner, who had returned from South Africa to advise the Colonial Office in the matter, on the other. They resulted in arrangements based upon mutual concessions. Lord Derby consented to modify certain clauses of the Convention, and Mr. Kruger agreed to the establishment of a British protectorate over the Bechuana tribes on his western border. The matters embraced in this arrangement were very important. The present relations of the Imperial Government to the Transvaal hence- forward officially styled "The South African Republic*' were fixed by the Convention of L 146 THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. London, which was signed on February 27th, 1884. The line of the western frontier was at last definitely marked out, beacon by beacon, and recorded in the Convention. And at the same time the Imperial Government virtually under- took the responsibility of controlling the whole of the native population which remained outside the limits of the various European Governments. The chief modifications introduced into the Pretoria Convention were these. In the first place, the new Convention was bi-lateral. That is to say, whereas the Convention of Pretoria, like the preceding Sand River Convention, was uni-lateral, and a mere delegation of powers conferred by a Sovereign upon an authority then and there created, the Convention of London was an agreement between two parties the Queen of the United Kingdom and the South African Republic. In the next, the "conduct and control of diplomatic intercourse" was conceded to the Executive of the Republic, with the limitation (contained in Clause IV.) that the Queen's approval must be obtained before treaties concluded with any Power other than the Free State became valid. In return for these concessions, the delegates undertook to co-operate with the Imperial Government in the establishment of British authority in Bechuanaland. This part of the arrangement was important in itself, and led to important results. THE BEGHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. 147 Bechuanaland was the district lying immedi- ately to the north of the Cape Colony, and to the west of the South African Republic. It was inhabited by peaceable tribes, and had long been the scene of missionary enterprize. The Boers had claimed sovereignty over the whole of this country after the Sand River Convention, in virtue of the defeat which Hendrik Potgieter inflicted upon the usurper Moselekatze and his Matabele Zulus in 1838. This contention was bad, because (as we have already noticed) the Boers were, at the time of their victory, actually fighting in alliance with the Barolongs, the rightful owners of part of the country, who were then governed by Taoane, the father of Montsioa. The agreement of the delegates, that their Government should co-operate with the British Commissioner, Mr. John Mackenzie, in estab- lishing the Queen's authority, was an important matter, because some Boer emigrants had founded settlements within the borders of the Protectorate as now defined. At the same time as the Bechuanaland Protectorate was established, the Imperial Government issued a new commission to Lord Rosmead, which conferred upon him the new powers necessary to give effect to their deter- mination to extend their control over the independent native population. For this purpose the High Commissioner was required and empowered by the Queen "to take all such 148 THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. measures and to do all such things in relation to the native tribes in South Africa with which it is expedient that we should have relations; and which are not included within the territory of either of the Republics, or of any foreign Power, as are lawful and appear to you to be advisable for maintaining our possessions in peace and safety, and for promoting the peace, order, and good government of the tribes aforesaid, and for preserving friendly relations with them." And so England at this moment undertook for the first time the whole of the responsibilities which belonged to her position as paramount Power, and in so doing she assumed one of the most pressing of the duties of the federal authority which she had failed to create in South Africa. In pursuance of these arrangements, Mr. John Mackenzie arrived in Bechuanaland, as Deputy- Commissioner, in the following May. The Executive of the Republic, however, failed to give him the promised co-operation; and the Imperial Government, relying upon the prospect of an amicable settlement, had not thought it necessary to support him with any military, or, indeed, any sufficient civil, force. The Boer settlers refused to acknowledge the Queen's authority, and continued to attack the loyal chief, Montsioa. For some months, Bechuana- land remained in a state of anarchy. On THE BECHUAN ALAND PROTECTORATE. 140 September loth, President Kruger issued a proclamation in which, "in the interests of humanity," he declared the disturbed country to be under the jurisdiction of the Republic. Now, this proclamation, which was issued subject to the Queen's approval under Article IV. of the London Convention, meant a great deal more than the mere establishment of Boer authority over the Bechuana natives and the Boer settlements. The country which President Kruger proposed in this daring manner to add to the Transvaal constituted the trade route to Central Africa. It was the "door" which Livingstone had prerented the Boers from closing thirty years ago ; the door through which British colonization has, under the guidance of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, found a path to the fertile uplands of Matabeleiand and Mashonaland. In this high-handed action of the Republican Government the Cape Colonists saw a menace to their own commercial interests. Touched in their pockets, the enlightened colonists of both nationalities appealed to the Imperial Government not to allow the Protectorate to be- come a dead letter, nor the Colony to be robbed of its sole prospect of northward expansion. Under these circumstances, the Imperial Government placed a sufficient military force at the disposal of Sir Charles Warren, and the Queen's authority was effectively established over the Protectorate in the early months of 1885. 15O THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. Apart from the immediate objects secured, the Bechuan aland Expedition produced another useful result it restored the military prestige of England in South Africa. Although the Boer emigrants retired before Sir Charles Warren's forces, every possible precaution had been taken in view of the contingency of a collision with them or with the forces of the Republic, and an effective display of military power was made. Moreover, part of the troops employed were recruited in the Cape Colony, and this circumstance served to remind the Republican Government that, in the case of a conflict with the Imperial Government, their own citizen forces would be opposed by Colonial volunteers. From the establishment of the Bechuanaland Protectorate there has been no material variation in England's South African policy. The main objects at which any British administration must aim are definitely recognised. They are nowhere more clearly expressed than in the words which Lord Rosmead used at a public banquet before his return to the Cape in 1884. These objects are : "To bring about between the variously governed European communities something approaching to uniformity of system and action upon matters of common concern; to allay and eventually extinguish race animosities between the two European sections ; to provide for the protection and gradual elevation in THE BECHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. 151 the scale of civilization of the natives, while arranging for that expansion of the white race which is inevitable, and which, if properly regulated, will prove of great advantage to all concerned." These are objects which showed that the Imperial Government was at last prepared to frankly fulfil the duties of a paramount Power that it had at last learnt to look out upon South Africa as a whole. It will be convenient, there- fore, for us to consider for a moment the various parts of which this whole the very complicated political system of South Africa is to-day* composed. In the first place, there are two British colonies the Cape Colony and Natal both possessing the full political freedom of " responsible " government. The Cape Colony now includes the southern portion of Bechuanaland and the whole of the native territories (with the exception of Basutoland) which once separated its eastern border from Natal. In the second place, there are the two Republics the South African Republic and the Free State possessing full internal freedom, but subject to the control of the Imperial Government in their relations with Foreign * I say to-day > because it would be scarcely possible within the limits of this account to indicate the various small accessions of territory, and changes, which have taken place since 1885. The history of the one great accession Rhodesia will be given in a subsequent chapter. 152 THK BKCHUANALAND PROTECTORATE. Powers. In the third place, there are certain native territories which still remain under the direct administration of the Imperial Govern- ment. These are Basutoland, a mountainous district which lies between the Free State and the British Colonies; and Khama's Country, to the north of the Cape Colony. And, lastly, there is the enormous region stretching from the colonial border northward, between German territory on the west and Portuguese territory on the east, to Lake Tanganyika, which is under the civil administration of the British South Africa Company and the military control of Imperial officers. Thus, by the successive steps which we have traced, European colonization has gradually been extended from the Cape to the confines of Central Africa. There is one aspect of the Bechuanaland Settlement which is too significant to be overlooked. The immediate object of the Protectorate was to secure the natives in the possession of their lands. Sir Charles Warren's instructions were: "To remove the filibusters from Bechuanaland, to pacificate the country, to reinstate the natives in their land, and to take such measures as were necessary to prevent further depredations." It is this persistent, and often wholly disinterested, interference on behalf of the native peoples that constitutes England's moral right to exercise supreme power in South THK BECHITANALAND PROTKCTORATK. 153 Africa. On this subject I may, perhaps, be allowed to quote some words of mine elsewhere* published : "To the honour of England it stands written on the page of history that, from the first assumption of the government of the Cape of Good Hope, she has resolutely set herself the task of meting out justice between the conflicting claims of the Colonists and the Natives; that by assuming this attitude she rendered her government unacceptable to the mass of the original European inhabitants; but that, in the face of the difficulties and the bitter opposition thus created, she again and again compelled the most stubborn of these European offenders to do justice to the coloured races whose champion and protector she was." '"Contemporary Review," 1896. CHAPTER XVII. THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. THE year which followed the settlement of Bechuanaland (the year 1886) was marked by the active introduction of the factor which has made South Africa what it is to-day gold discovery. Little more than a bare narrative of the startling events of this epoch is required, for the sequence of cause and effect is so close that they carry their interpretation with them. In brief, the effects directly due to this factor are these. A British population has been planted in the heart of the Boer dominion which promises, by process of natural development, to recover the losses incurred through an in- different or mistaken diplomacy. Two thousand miles of railway have been laid down ; British rule has been carried from the Motopo to Lake Tan- ganyika, and a British colony has been founded northward of the South African Republic which will balance the numerical superiority of the Dutch colonists in the older districts ; and, THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 155 lastly, the trade of South Africa has been raised from ;i 6,000,000 in 1886, to ^40,000,000 in 1896. 9, 9 ft " l ^. hj "-"-'Y. v ^J ci r? ; - , South Africa in 1897, showing railway lines now opened. After lesser discoveries in the mountainous regions on the eastern border of the Transvaal, the fact of the existence of gold deposits of 156 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. unusual extent and permanency on the slope of the high veldt which falls southward into the valley of the Vaal was in this year established by the persistent energy of Mr. H. W. and Mr. F. Struben. In September, the Witwatersrandt (white-water-slope), or " the Randt," as this famous district has thenceforward been known, was declared a public gold-field. The consider- able mining population already collected on the eastern fields flocked to the Randt ; and in an incredibly short space of time, Johannesburg, the city of the golden reefs, had been founded on the crown of the ridge where, nearly 6,000 feet above sea level, was the richest outcrop of the conglomerate beds. In 1887, the output of gold from the Randt amounted to 34,897 oz., valued at ^125,000; in 1895, it had risen to 2,277,635 oz., valued at little less than ^8,000,000. Meanwhile, an ancillary industry coal-mining had been established; and the town of Johannesburg, with the district of which it is the centre, had been provided with the material equipment necessary for a great indus- try and a progressive and permanent population. In particular, the necessary arrangements for supplying the requirements of this population, and for connecting Johannesburg by railway with other South African centres, were quickly carried out. Between the years 1889 and 1892, the Government of the Cape Colony extended their central system, and carried a line through the THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 157 Free State (under an arrangement with the Free State Government), which placed Johannesburg in direct communication with Capetown and Port Elizabeth. In 1894, the railway from Delagoa Bay to Pretoria (and thence to the Randt) was opened. Before the end of 1895, Natal had extended its main line to the northern limit of its frontier, and, in connection with auxiliary lines within the Transvaal, had united Johannesburg with Durban. As to the growth of Johannesburg itself, the Sanitary Board's census of October, 1896, showed a population of 102,078 persons residing within a three-mile radius of the Market Square ; and of this total, 50,907 were Europeans. Other results even more remarkable followed the establishment of the gold industry on this large scale. When the output of 1887 confirmed the estimate of the value of the gold deposits of the Randt, men's minds turned to the older scenes of gold discovery, the regions northward of the Limpopo. It was here that the early gold-explorers had searched Hartley, Baines, and Karl Mauch. Here, too, were the remains of the temple-fortresses which attested the extent of Phoenician or Sabaean mining enter- prize, and pointed to this region as a probable source of the supply of gold which enriched alike King Solomon and Imperial Rome. This region, which was marked "Imperium Monomo- tapse" on the Portuguese and "Ophir"on the 158 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. Dutch maps, lay under the dominion of Lobengula, king of the Matabele tribe. In 1840, Umziligazi, Lobengula's father, and the son of Moselekatze who had been driven northward of the Limpopo by Hendrik Potgieter in 1838 invaded the country with his Matabele warriors. It was then occupied by a tribe of industrial Bantu, the Mashonas. Umziligazi, adopting the customary procedure of the military Bantu, exterminated the inhabi- tants of the district which he had chosen for the residence of his Matabele followers, and made the remainder his slaves and vassals. In 1887, it was rumoured that the Boers, baffled in their attempts to colonize Bechuanaland, intended to establish settlements in this country. In order to prevent this extension of the South African Republic, a treaty was made early in 1888, under which Lobengula bound himself not to enter into any negotiations with a foreign Power without the knowledge and consent of the High Commissioner. In October of the same year, a party of adventurous Englishmen visited Lobengula's court, and obtained from him a " concession*' of the sole right to search for, and work, the minerals within his territory. This concession the Rudd concession was the germ of the Chartered Company. In 1889, an association, of which Mr. Cecil Rhodes was the leading spirit, was formed for the purpose of giving effect to the Rudd concession. The THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 159 association was afterwards recognized by the Imperial Government, and on October 29th a charter was conferred upon it, under the title of the British South Africa Company. In applying for their charter, the members of the association stated their objects to be these : To extend northwards the railway and tele- graph systems in the direction of the Zambesi ; To encourage emigration and colonization ; To promote trade and commerce ; To develop and work mineral and other concessions securing to the native chiefs and their subjects the rights reserved to them under the several concessions. As the British sphere of influence had been extended northwards to the Zambesi shortly after the establishment of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, Lord Knutsford, the Colonial Secre- tary, was of opinion that such a company would be useful in developing the country, and would, at the same time, "relieve H.M. Government from diplomatic difficulties and heavy expenditure." Immediately upon the grant of the charter, Mr. Rhodes, the managing director in South Africa, made an arrangement with the Govern- ment of the Cape Colony under which the first section of the northern extension of the railway from Kimberley to Vryburg was at once commenced. At the same time a police force was enlisted, and in course of time moved up to the Macloutsie River. From this point l6o THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. the Pioneer Expedition started on June 28th, 1890. On September i2th, they reached Fort Salisbury. They had made a road four hundred miles in length, through forest, swamp, and river ; and had established forts, with lines of communication, at Tuli, Victoria, and Charter. On the 29th, the pioneers disbanded and pro- ceeded to prospect for gold, and to take up farms, under the protection of the police force. The settlers, who were placed under the authority of Mr. A. R. Colquhoun, experienced great difficulties. Owing to the opposition of the Portuguese an opposition which was extin- guished by the Anglo-Portuguese Convention of June nth, 1891 it was impossible to open up communication with the east coast at Beira. The thousand Europeans were driven to draw their supplies of food and other necessaries from the Cape Colony ; that is, they were, in effect, 1,700 miles from the sea, and the cost of carriage was ^70 a ton. At the end of 1891 Mr. Colquhoun was succeeded by Dr. Jameson. The new administrator cut down the cost of the administration by reducing the police, and by organizing a volunteer force which practically included all the able-bodied men in the country. It was not supposed at this time that the services of these men would be required, for Lobengula had appeared well satisfied with the stipend or subsidy of ^100 a month which was regularly paid to him by the Chartered Company. THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. l6l But in July, 1893, when some considerable progress had been made under Dr. Jameson's skilful administration, and it became evident that a permanent settlement of the country would be effected, Lobengula's attitude suddenly changed, and a conflict broke out which resulted in the capture of Buluwayo, the death of Lobengula, and the destruction of the Matabele rule. It was Lobengula's habit to maintain his authority by sending his impis once a year to visit the Mashona villages, for the purposes of indiscriminate murder and pillage. In the course of this annual duty, the Matabele soldiers attacked some Mashonas who were living under the protection of the Chartered Company in the neighbourhood of Fort Victoria. When remon- strances were made, the king offered no redress, but defied both Dr. Jameson and the High Commissioner. Under these circumstances, it was plain that either the white settlers must leave the country, or Lobengula's system must be destroyed. Dr. Jameson, having obtained the necessary authority from Lord Rosmead, then organized the military resources at his disposal, and prepared to invade the king's territory. On November 4th, Buluwayo, the Matabele capital, was occupied ; and shortly afterwards the king himself perished in flight. In these operations only forty-six Europeans were killed, a^d, of this total, thirty-six perished M 1 62 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. in a single disaster. This disaster, the death of Major Allan Wilson and thirty-five others on the Shangani River, is at once the most pathetic and the most splendid incident in the Matabele War. After the capture of Buluwayo, a patrol, some three hundred strong, under Major Forbes, was sent forward to pursue and capture Lobengula. On December 3rd, Major Allan Wilson and eighteen men were detached from this patrol and sent across the Shangani river to reconnoitre. At night Wilson sent back three men to say that the king was only six miles ahead, but that there were more natives than he expected, and that it would be well for the whole force to be moved forward as quickly as possible. It was impossible, however, for Major Forbes to advance before the next morning, and he therefore sent twenty men under Captain Brown with supplies and ammunition to support Major Wilson, at the same time leaving him (Wilson) to decide whether he would fall back or not. At daybreak Major Forbes prepared to advance, and soon afterwards heavy firing was heard from across the Shangani. In ad- vancing, the main force was itself attacked by the Matabele, and this caused a delay of one hour. At eight o'clock three men came back from Wilson's party, and reported that they had ridden up to the king's scherm ; that they had been attacked and had retired, and were again attacked and in urgent need of support. THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 163 Unfortunately, owing to the fact that the river had risen, Major Forbes was unable to advance to their assistance, and could only wait in the hope that they would be able to fight their way back. The story of their death was learnt subse- quently from the Matabele. The party beat off the original attack from the waggons, but in retreating they rode into the impi sent, on December 2nd, to attack the patrol in ambush. The surrounded troopers dismounted and formed a ring with their horses outwards ; as the horses fell they used their bodies for a barricade. Thus protected, they fought for several hours, and twice repulsed the enemy. Indeed, had not their ammunition been ex- hausted, they would have finally beaten the Matabele back. The troopers fought with singular determination and coolness. One man would calmly take off his shirt, tear it into strips and bind up his comrade's wounds, and the wounded men fought on with the rest. In the centre of the recumbent group, Major Allan Wilson stood upright and gave his orders. When the ring was broken through, and the few that lay alive among the bodies of the horses had been despatched by assegai stabs, the Matabele stripped the bodies ; but for a long time they left Major Allan Wilson's body untouched. He had stood so long, fearless, and unscathed by their furious attacks, that they thought he bore a charmed life. 164 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. Such was the death of Wilson's party. It needs no memorial though one has since been raised to their memory to keep the story fresh in the minds of Englishmen. For it is by such men that the Empire has been made. A year later, a European town of brick houses, ' with churches, clubs, and newspapers, was growing up within a mile of the site of Lobengula's chief kraal. In the closing months of 1895, everything seemed to promise a period of rapid and peaceful development to the settlers of Rhodesia, as the new colony had come to be called in honour of its founder. Prospecting for gold and general mining operations were going on briskly, the value of land in Buluwayo and at Salisbury had quickly risen, and farms and pastoral properties were being taken up by immigrants, both Dutch and English. These prospects were suddenly interrupted by the " Jameson raid," as the intervention of the Administrator in the affairs of the South African Republic is commonly termed. As we have already seen, the Imperial Government intended, under the Convention of Pretoria, to secure equal political and civil rights for the British population then residing in the Transvaal, and for any future British immigrants; but, through careless drafting, the clauses intended to give effect to this purpose were either wholly omitted or insufficiently exact. THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 165 The British immigrants were, by a series of enactments, practically deprived of all prospect of obtaining the franchise that is, of taking part in the administration of the country in which they lived. The injustice of this attitude on the part of the Executive was emphasized by the fact that, owing to the presence of the " Outlanders," the Republic had been raised to a position of great financial prosperity, and, indeed, it was calculated that the " Outlanders " at this time owned half the land and paid seven-eighths of the taxes. After more than one unsuccessful appeal to the High Com- missioner and the Colonial Office, the British residents organized a -Reform Committee, and finally resolved to take up arms. On December 26th, 1895, tn i s committee issued a manifesto ; and on the 29th, Dr. Jameson crossed the border with a force of about five hundred of the Chartered Company's mounted police, which he had assembled at Mafeking and Pitsani Pitlogo, with the intention of supporting the reformers at Johannesburg. Owing to a delay at Krugersdorp, occasioned by a mis- understanding between the reform leaders and Dr. Jameson, the force was surrounded by the burgher levies of the Republic, and on January 2nd, 1896, it surrendered to the Boers. By the strenuous efforts of Lord Rosmead and Mr. Chamberlain, President Kruger was pre- vailed upon to hand over his prisoners to the 1 66 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. Imperial Government. The members of the Reform Committee were tried by the Republican Government, and on April 28th, at Pretoria, sentence of death was passed upon the four leaders, and sentences of imprisonment for various terms were passed upon the rest. These sentences were, however, afterwards commuted/ and, in the end, all with four exceptions* were set at liberty, upon payment of fines and upon giving a pledge not to interfere in the politics of the state in future. Dr. Jameson and five of the officers who served under him were brought to trial at the Royal Courts of Justice in London ; and on July 2Qth they were convicted of an offence under the Foreign Enlistment Act, viz. :. the offence of fitting-out an expedition against a friendly state, to wit, the South African Republic. They were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment ; and, in addition to this punishment, the officers lost their com- missions. Certain changes in the personnel of the Chartered Company followed the raid. According to the finding of the South Africa * These exceptions are significant. One man died in gaol at Pretoria ; two refused to submit to any sentence on the ground that, when Johannesburg laid down its arms, the Imperial Government had given a guarantee that the reformers should be unmolested, These twa men have been since released. The fourth, Colonel Rhodes, refused to give the pledge of non-interference, and was therefore outlawed. THE ERA Oy GOLD DISCOVERY. 167 Committee,* which sat during the first six months of 1897 to enquire into the circum- stances of the "Jameson raid," Mr. Rhodes was responsible for the arrangements which had been made for supporting the Johannesburg reformers, although he had not given his direct approval of the precise step which constituted the offence of which Dr. Jameson was convicted. This finding no doubt embodied the truth ; and, at any rate, Mr. Rhodes retired from the Premiership of the Cape Colony on January 6th, 1896 that is, four days after Dr. Jameson's surrender to the Boers and he was sub- sequently removed from his position of managing director of the Company in South Africa. Dr. Jameson was succeeded by Lord Grey as Administrator. Moreover, in response to the urgent representations of the Republican Government, the military forces of the Company in Rhodesia had been at once placed under the direct control of an Imperial officer ; and shortly afterwards Sir Richard Martin was appointed, and sent out, as Commandant- General of the local forces, and Deputy- Commissioner. But a more important and far-reaching result of the raid was the deadly struggle in which the Rhodesian settlers were involved with the Matabele. *Appointed by order of the House of Commons, dated July 26th, 1896. 1 68 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. While Lord Grey and Sir Richard Martin were still on their way to Rhodesia, and the civil administration had been temporarily placed in the hands of Judge Vintcent at Salisbury and Mr. Duncan at Buluwayo, the news came to the latter that on the night of March zoth a native policeman had been murdered. This was followed on the 24th by the still more disquieting intelligence of the murder of a Government official, Mr. Bentley, and of other Europeans. It was soon plain that the whole native population was in revolt, and, on the 26th, Buluwayo went into laager. On April ist the Buluwayo field force was organized, and on the 5th a census was taken which showed that there were 1,547 persons in the town, of whom 632 were women and children and 915 were men. Among these latter, 800 were effective ; and of these, 400 were required to garrison the town, 130 were despatched to the Mangwe road to keep open the line of communication with Cape Colony, and 300, aided by a force of 150 Cape Boys, were available for the work of bringing in the inhabitants of the outlying farm - steads and mining camps. The little community was 600 miles from the railway terminus at Mafeking, and from civil- ization. Fortunately the telegraph enabled them to convey the news of their desperate situation to the High Commissioner at Cape- town, and to the Imperial Government in THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 169 London. Lord Rosmead at once instructed Colonel Plumer to raise a body of colonial troopers. This force (which eventually num- bered 720 men) was recruited mainly from Kimberley, and its ranks were joined by a number of the disbanded troopers who had served with Dr. Jameson. It was assembled and organized at Mafeking, and by April i2th about a fortnight after Lord Rosmead's orders had been given the first detachment had started for Buluwayo. On April i5th, Lord Grey, who was now in the colony, accepted the Imperial Government's offer of 300 men of the 7th Hussars and 150 mounted infantry from Natal. These men were sent by sea to East London, and were then forwarded by rail through the Cape Colony to Mafeking. On the 1 8th, a relief column, accompanied by Mr. Rhodes, left Salisbury. On the i7th, the Imperial Government determined to send out a general officer to take command of the entire forces, imperial and local, and General Sir Frederick Carrington the late commandant of the Bechuanaland Border Police was summoned from Gibraltar for this service. On the 25th, he sailed for South Africa. On the 28th, Lord Grey got through to Buluwayo with a welcome supply of arms and ammunition. His disposition was worthy of the difficult and responsible task which he had assumed. On May 3rd, he declared that when 170 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY, the rebellion broke out the administration had only 379 rifles at its disposal, but that now Buluwayo was "as safe as London." As safe as London ! Outside the town, in a semi-circle from the west to the north-east, 10,000 Matabele warriors were hidden in the bush ; while, further to the south-east, the great mass of the native population of the country had assembled in arms among the mountain fastnesses of the Matoppo range. But Lord Grey was right. Thanks to the determined bravery of the settlers themselves, and thanks to the rapidity with which these various measures of relief were executed, the little community was " as safe as London." On May i5th, Colonel Plumer and Sir Richard Martin reached Buluwayo; on the 3oth, the Salisbury column had got through; and on June 2nd, General Carrington arrived to assume command of the entire military opera- tions. From this time forward, the work of subjugation went on rapidly. In order to hasten the conclusion of the war, and to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, the High Commissioner issued a proclamation promising a free pardon to all the Matabele who should surrender their arms by August loth. Natives, however, who might be convicted in the Courts of the murder of unprotected Europeans, were excepted from its benefits. For this and other reasons the insurgent chiefs showed no readiness THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 171 to surrender, and the date of the expiration of the proclamation was subsequently extended. While the chiefs were still hesitating, and the Matoppos remained crowded with armed Matabele, Mr. Rhodes determined to try the effect of friendly persuasion. For this purpose, he and a party of civilians, including Mr Colenbrander, encamped at the base of the hills. The party were without any military protection, and the risk which Mr. Rhodes incurred by such a proceeding can only be understood by bearing in mind the treacherous character of the methods of warfare too frequently adopted by the Bantu. Indeed, it is only just to state that during the whole of the war Mr. Rhodes displayed an entire disregard of his personal safety. When the Salisbury column was in action, he exposed himself with an almost contemptuous indifference to the guns and assegais of the rebels. But the enter- prize upon which he was now engaged was infinitely more dangerous. After some delay, information was brought that the chiefs, who had been consulting among themselves, were willing to receive Mr. Colen- brander and the great white chief, Rhodes, at an indaba or council, which was to be held at a place in the mountains about four miles from the camp. Accordingly, on August 23rd, Mr. Rhodes, Mr. Colenbrander, and four others, one of whom was a representative of the press, 172 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. proceeded into the heart of the rebel position. All the members of the party except Mr. Rhodes carried revolvers, but these were their only arms. Although they saw no sign of human beings, they knew that the whole mountain-side was filled with armed Matabele ; and though this bold experiment proved entirely successful, we may be sure that there was not one of these six brave men that did not think of the fate that befell Pieter Retief and his comrades sixty years before in Dingan's town. When the chosen place had been reached, Mr. Rhodes sat down, and one of the party went forward to a round hill or kopje close by to inform Secombo and his brother chiefs that the white men had come. Soon afterwards, the Matabele chiefs rose mysteriously from the middle of the kopje, and advancing in a solemn procession, headed by a white flag, gravely seated themselves in a semi- circle before Mr. Rhodes. The indaba lasted for five hours, and during this long consultation the grievances of the chiefs were carefully discussed, and the present and future plans of the Chartered Company were explained. In the end, each chief threw two pieces of stick at the feet of Mr. Rhodes ; the first indicated that the thrower would surrender his gun, and the second, that he would surrender his assegai. In return, Mr. Rhodes promised on behalf of the Government that the abolition of the native police the great grievance of which the chiefs THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 173 complained should be seriously considered. Then the chiefs disappeared again into the kopje, and Mr. Rhodes and his party descended safely to their camp. Of Mr. Rhodes's services during the six weeks that he remained at the base of the Matoppos, in a camp " unprotected by a single bayonet, which could have been perfectly well rushed any night," Lord Grey wrote : * "It was entirely due to the confidence which this action on his part inspired in the minds of the rebels, who were very suspicious and alarmed as to the treatment they would receive if they surrendered, that they were at length induced to go out from the hills into the flats." Nevertheless, the fires of the rebellion smoul dered for the Mashonas in the neighbourhood of Salisbury also took up arms until the beginning of the next year, and then gradually the settlers returned from the shelter of the towns to the blackened ruins of their farmsteads and mining-camps. Since then all necessary measures have been taken, both by the Imperial Government and the Chartered Company, to render the property and the persons of the colonists secure. At the same time the foundations of the industrial pro- gress of Rhodesia have been well and truly laid The telegraph was carried through the country as * Letter of October nth, to Secretary of the Chartered Company. 174 THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. arly as 1892 ; and to-day the wires run north- ward from Salisbury to Blantyre, the capital of British Nyassaland, eastward to Beira on the east coast, and southward to Capetown and Europe. The east coast railway has been built from Beira to the Portuguese boundary, a distance of one hundred and seventy miles, in the direction of Salisbury and Umtali. The railway system of the Cape Colony has been carried northwards for eight hundred miles in the direction of the Zambesi. The first section, from Kimberley to Vryburg, was completed on December 3rd, 1890; the second section, from Vryburg to Mafeking, on October 3rd, 1894 ; and the third section, which to-day unites Buluwayo with Capetown a distance in all of 1,350 miles was opened on November 4th, 1897, the fourth anniversary of the occupation of Lobengula's capital by the forces of the Chartered Company. The opening of the Buluwayo railway affords a fitting conclusion to "the story of South Africa " as we can tell it now. It is the last and most significant sign of those advances in material prosperity which, primarily arising out of the search for gold, together constitute a great development in the direction of South African unity. For these advances are alike the cause and effect of ever-widening manifesta- tions of British enterprize; and they contain a promise that the administrative genius of the Anglo-Saxon race, aided by those two mighty THE ERA OF GOLD DISCOVERY. 175 assessors, the printing-press and the railway, which it has now summoned to its side, will at no distant date unite the diverse European elements, and enable Capetown to realize its dream Of Empire to the northward. Ay, one land From Lion's head to Line. R. O. HEAKSOK, LTD., PRINTERS, 15 AND 17, CREECiWRCH LANE, LONDON', E.G. -r< 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. JAN 29 '63 1 'AN 251963 VA 04265 M310439