THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 S., 
 
 GIFT OF 
 
 Royal Empire 
 Society Library
 
 ,#
 
 SKETCHES AND STUDIES 
 
 IN 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA
 
 First Edition, June 1899 
 Second Edition, J%dy 1899
 
 SKETCHES AND STUDIES 
 
 IN 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 BY 
 
 W. J. KNOX LITTLE M.A 
 
 CANON RESIDENTIARY OF WORCESTER 
 VICAR OF HOAR CROSS 
 
 LONDON 
 ISBISTER AND COMPANY Limited 
 
 15 & 16 TAVISTOCK STREET COVENT GARDEN 
 1899
 
 Printed by Ballantynk, Hanson &= Co. 
 London &" Edinburgh
 
 DT 
 
 L72.S 
 
 I DEDICATE THIS VOLUME 
 
 BY PERMISSION 
 TO 
 
 THE RIGHT HON. CECIL J. RHODES 
 
 A FAR-SEEING STATESMAN 
 
 AND 
 
 A FAITHFUL FRIEND 
 
 775020
 
 PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION 
 
 Some whose judgment I value are of opinion that thejbllowing 
 ^'^ Sketches and Studies'''' may be of general interest. If so, 
 it zaill be chiefly because the views and opinions expressed in 
 them have been formed, not by reading books — although I have 
 read everything on the subject which has come in my wayjor 
 many years — but because I have had opportunities of con- 
 versing Ji-eely with men who know, on all sides of the questions 
 involved. 
 
 South Africa is, Jor many reasons, one of the most inte- 
 resting parts of the Empire ; and it has before it — orw cannot 
 doubt — a great future. It affords examples of some of our 
 gravest mistakes, and gives us, therefore, lessons Jor the time 
 to come. It is encouraging, as being the theatre of some of the 
 most energetic efforts of Englishmen. I am unable to recount 
 any str'iking or sensational journeys in waggons, or any hair- 
 breadth escapes in pursuit of " big game "" ,• bid to many it may 
 be interesting to realise what rapid strides civilisation has made 
 in a land scarcely known until recent years, and what a wealth 
 of interest and beauty belongs to a region still — as apart of the 
 Empire — young. 
 
 W. J. KNOX LITTLE.
 
 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION 
 
 / HA VE every reason to be grateful for the reception accorded 
 to this book. Written as it was, at first, for occupation 
 and amusement and without any settled thought of ptib- 
 lication, it was the dispassionate expression of conclusions, 
 qfler careful examination, on some South African problems. 
 It was written, not — like some other xvorks on the same 
 subject — ^^with a purpose.'''' Had such been the case it 
 would have been prudent, perhaps, to alter it in some 
 respects. It was intended simply to state what I believe 
 to be the truth. 
 
 It is by a curious accident that it has appeared just at 
 the time of " the Transvaal Crisis."" I am glad to find 
 all I have written on that subject borne out completely by 
 high authorities — by the last Blue Book, by the Colonial 
 Secretary s great speech on June S6, by Mr. Rider 
 Haggard's remarkable letter to the Times, and by the 
 weighty article in the Nineteenth Century ^o?- Jtily by no 
 less an authority than Sir Sidney Shippard. Umlcr such 
 circumstances I am gratefd for some kindly and intelli- 
 gent criticisms, and bear with equanimity some strictures 
 from quarters where political partisanship has stifled 
 patriotism. 
 
 Studying South Africa as it is, I could not but feel that 
 there had been a steady fall for some years in our moral
 
 10 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION 
 
 temperature as to our duty there ; that toe had lost clear- 
 ness of vision hy allowing the habit to grow of " making 
 the worse appear the better cause^'' and forgetting our 
 grave responsibility in jirst founding and tlien tolerating 
 a corrupt and disturbing oligarchy under the misleading 
 title of Republic. Now is an opportunity for correcting, 
 in some measure, a terrible mistake which entailed untold 
 sufferhig both on our own countrymen and the natives 
 whom we professed to protect. /, Jbr one, hope with all 
 my heart that we shall not let it slip. For saying this, 
 I have been accused of being an enemy to peace. I am 
 an enemy to dishonourable peace — to peace purchased by 
 the neglect of duty — / am not ashamed to accept things 
 in the Prophefs order, " Love the Tridh and Peace.'''' 
 
 I shall be thankfid if any words of mine — though not 
 written '■'■Jor a purpose "" — may be of use, in the very smallest 
 degree, towards hindering my country from another in- 
 glorious betrayal. 
 
 ' W. J. KNOX LITTLE. 
 
 Jidy 10, 1899
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PART I. NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE 
 
 CHAP. PAGE 
 
 I. Capetown and its Neighbourhood ... 15 
 
 II. Capetown to Johannesburg by Natal ... 30 
 
 III Johannesburg, Pretoria, Boksburg, to Mafeking 51 
 
 IV. Mafeking to Buluwayo, the Matoppos, Kimberley 80 
 
 PART IL HISTORICAL 
 
 I. Cape Colony ....... 107 
 
 II. The Orange Free State . . . . .147 
 
 III. The Transvaal Annexation and Afterwards . 171 
 
 IV. The Transvaal — The Surrender . . . 201 
 V. The Transvaal — The Raid and Afterwards . 244 
 
 PART III. GENERAL 
 
 I. Confederation — The Bartle Frere Polk y . . 277 
 
 II. South Africa Now ...... 290 
 
 III. Homeward Bound ...... 310 
 
 Index 323
 
 PART I 
 
 NARRATIVE AND DESCRIPTIVE
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 
 
 We left England, driven out in search of health, in 
 the late summer of 1898. Our voyage to the Cape, 
 like many other voyages, was uneventful and pleasant. 
 Not many hours before reaching our destination, we 
 first sighted land. The Table Mountain and the wild 
 rocky ridge of its attendant peaks rose more and 
 more above the horizon. We passed Bobbin Island, 
 entered the beautiful harbour, saw the beetling crags 
 towering above us, and the city lying outspread below, 
 and so, just eighteen days from London, found ourselves 
 one glorious evening of a southern spring safe, after a 
 prosperous voyage, on the long looked for shores of 
 South Africa. 
 
 Capetown and its neighbourhood are of immense 
 interest. The town itself is in no way striking, but 
 it is an improving town and compares very favourably 
 with the new towns of America. There are some fine 
 streets, and, gradually, the low houses are being re- 
 placed by more lofty ones. The Houses of Assembly, 
 the General Post Office, and the Standard Bank are 
 really fine buildings ; " the Avenue," as it is called, is 
 a pleasant promenade, and affords refreshing shade on a 
 burning day. The buildings of the South African 
 College and the Good Hope Hall are well adapted for
 
 16 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 their respective purposes. The Cathedral, an ugly- 
 erection of the Georgian stamp, built in imitation of 
 St. Pancras Church, is spacious and well suited for 
 congregational purposes ; the harbour is one of the 
 finest in the world ; and in the Docks there is the 
 usual scene of bustle and seafaring energy which 
 speaks of commercial vigour. Adderley Street is a 
 busy and lively street and contains excellent shops ; 
 and the whole city, though possessing no buildings of 
 any special interest or beauty, is a town of respectable 
 proportions and capacities. 
 
 What is really striking in Capetown is its situation, 
 the actual view from its thoroughfares, and its sur- 
 rounding neighbourhood. 
 
 When the traveller walks in the streets of Inns- 
 briick, he has indeed the venerable houses and the 
 quaint and picturesque alleys of the ancient town ; 
 but these are set off by the ring of majestic moun- 
 tains rising around in the Bavarian highlands and 
 the Tyrol. In Capetown, indeed, there are no quaint 
 streets nor picturesque monuments of the past, but 
 there is a view of majestic mountains. Raising one's 
 eyes when walking in some of the streets, they rest on 
 the rugged cliffs above the town. Directly above it 
 rise to the height of three to four thousand feet the 
 bold and beetling crags of Table Mountain. First there 
 is a slope, in parts clothed with green underbrush 
 and mountain grass, and above this are rugged and 
 threatening precipices. The top, though really broken 
 into gullies and depressions, appears flat, and hence it 
 has its name — a name perhaps too bourgeois and 
 domestic for the 'dignified mountain it denotes. At 
 either end are separate and bold pinnacles of crag.
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD IT 
 
 and onward, one after another, continue what may 
 be called the lines of the related mountains, while 
 away before it stretch the beautiful blue waters of the 
 Bay. 
 
 To the north-west of Capetown the scenery is very 
 striking. Here is the pretty suburb of Sea Point, a 
 favourite resort of many of the inhabitants of the 
 town. Bay after bay cuts into the coast-land with 
 wild boulders of rock and mountain landward, and 
 seaward the constant heavy swell and fierce breakers 
 of the Atlantic. There is a fine drive here, " the 
 Victoria Boad," round the peninsula, which reminds 
 one of the roads winding along the coast to the North 
 and North-west of Ireland, and which commands en- 
 trancing views towards mountain, valley, and sea. 
 
 Eastward and south-eastward the environs appeared 
 to us even more beautiful. A series of pretty villages 
 or towns are scattered along the bays which on either 
 side open out into the Atlantic or the Indian Oceans, 
 or stud the line across the peninsula — Woodstock, 
 Mowbray, Bondebosch, Newlands, Wynberg, Muizen- 
 berg, St. James, and so on. All of these, and — away 
 from Wynberg — Constantia, are of indescribable 
 beauty. Woodstock, a station on the Capetown- Wyn- 
 berg Bailway, is in itself no way remarkable ; but 
 behind it up the slopes of its mountain — an ofishoot of 
 the Table Mountain range — the views are of wonderful 
 loveliness. Between the railway and the mountain runs 
 the main road for tramcars and general trafiic between 
 Capetown and Wynberg. At Woodstock this road is 
 not striking — pretty enough with its fine fringes of 
 eucalyptus-trees tossing their soft sad leaves in the 
 wind, but certainly the least pretty part of the route ;
 
 18 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 but above this, on the rough slope of the mountain, 
 there stands a large Anglo-Catholic establishment for 
 mission work, under the care of the All Saints' Sisters, 
 and a little lower down to the left a small hospital 
 under the charge of an excellent English Sister and 
 some good nurses. To this admirable little hospital 
 we owe a debt of gratitude for the good nursins: 
 which, with the kind and skilful medical treatment of 
 Dr. Fuller — an eminent physician in Capetown — • 
 restored to health, after severe illness, one in whom we 
 had the deepest interest. It Is, however, the beauty 
 of the scene from and around Woodstock Hospital with 
 which we are now concerned. Immediately behind are 
 dotted solemn woods of stone pines, and above them 
 rises the jagged mountain peak. Standing on the 
 hospital stoep (or verandah), the eye ranges across 
 the blue waters of the Bay. To the left is seen the 
 shipping about the harbour of Capetown, to the right 
 a part of the flats of the peninsula, until the eye rests 
 on the rugged line of giant mountains which guard it 
 towards the north-east. 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the beauty of form 
 and outline of this bold range, the outlying sentinels 
 of the Quathlamba. Seen in the evening from Wood- 
 stock, and still better a little farther on in the direction 
 of Mowbray, they " gather lights of opal," and recall 
 to one's mind, in the exquisite effect of atmosphere 
 upon them, the beauty of the mountains of Attica. 
 There, the rugged ranges are, like these, greatly de- 
 nuded of wood, but, like these also, they never suggest 
 to the eye that they are bare, being clothed with an 
 exquisite garment of atmospheric colour. Here, and 
 indeed throughout South Africa, the marvellous hues-
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 19 
 
 of the mountains and the tender clearness of the 
 opalescent air often reminded us of similar effects in 
 Attica and the Peloponnese, where the Ancient Greeks 
 were 
 
 " Ever delicately marching 
 Through most pellucid air — " * 
 
 Farther to the east on the same line of road is Mow- 
 bray. The little town has less of the "ragged" 
 appearance of small houses, squatted about anyhow, 
 which belongs to the nearer environs of Capetown. It 
 is the entrance into the well-wooded neiofhbourhood 
 near Wynberg and Constantia. It has, too, a charac- 
 ter of its own, and suggests something of the " home " 
 feeling of an English village, with still the fine solemn 
 mountain peaks above it, and the brilliant colouring 
 of South African flora everywhere. 
 
 It is here that one is first struck with the splendid 
 avenues of pine which form such a feature in the 
 peninsula. Leading up from Mowbray village to Mr. 
 T. E. Fuller's pretty place — Bollihope — is one of these 
 fine avenues. The pines are of vast height, and on a 
 breezy night there is something weird and ghastly in 
 the sound these giant trees make in striking against 
 one another — where they seem to ache and groan 
 under the lashes of the wind. From this, eastward, 
 the road becomes more and more beautiful. There are 
 dense woods and overhanging mountains. Fine old 
 places are to be found embedded in these woods, and 
 of these the most interesting and striking is Groote 
 Schuur, the seat of the Et. Hon. Cecil J. Rhodes. 
 
 This remarkable man was the younger son of a 
 
 * ail 5ia "Kajj-irporaTov 
 ^aivovTis d,Spws aWipos. — Eurip. Med. 829, 30.
 
 20 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 clergyman in Hertfordshire. He first came to South 
 Africa in 1871 on account of the then delicate state of 
 his health. He entered at Oriel College, Oxford, in 
 1874 ; but, having suffered from a chill caught in 
 rowing, returned to South Africa owing to the conse- 
 quently injured condition of his lungs. His fortune, 
 as is well known, was made by persevering effort and 
 ability in the diamond fields of Colesberg Kopje 
 in Griqualand, now known as Kimberley. Men soon 
 discovered that, unlike the ordinary run of money- 
 getters and speculators — of whom South Africa has 
 had more than its share — Mr. Rhodes cared nothing 
 for money in itself, but only for what he deemed the 
 patriotic and unselfish uses to which it could be put. 
 The passion of his life became the expansion of 
 England's influence over the unappropriated regions 
 of Africa, and thereby the enlargement of that civilisa- 
 tion and liberty which Englishmen have some reason 
 to believe can be hoped for only — at least in their 
 completeness — under the English flag. No man has 
 suffered more from false friendship and bitter enmity. 
 No man has been more subjected to calumny and de- 
 traction from the heated partisanship of political 
 opponents. 
 
 His successes have aroused bitter envy in jealous 
 rivals ; his one grave mistake has been condemned 
 with unsparing violence by detractors who have 
 seemed willing enough to compass, if possible, the ruin 
 of his patriotic schemes and the paralysis of his poli- 
 tical life ; but he still remains, one is forced to confess, 
 the greatest of Imperial statesmen, and carries on, in 
 spite of all difficulties and hindrances, the work which 
 he had undertaken as an Englishman convinced of
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 21 
 
 England's mission to advance enlightenment and pro- 
 gress and as an unflagging friend to South Africa. 
 This by the way, as the details of the interesting 
 events connected with his name fall rather under 
 the head of history. We are concerned at present 
 with the beautiful estate and house at Groote Schuur, 
 which is to a great extent, in its present form, a 
 characteristic creation of its owner. 
 
 The estate itself is formed from several farms which 
 were purchased and thrown together. It includes a con- 
 siderable part of the mountain range behind. Off the 
 main road at Rondebosch the house is approached by 
 one of those avenues of pine and oak so frequent in this 
 neighbourhood. A short, straight, wide drive turning 
 to the right out of the first avenue leads to the front 
 of the house. The present house, though with all the 
 appearance of antiqviity, is really, in great part, quite 
 modern. The old house was gutted by fire almost 
 entirely in 1896. There is a characteristic story told 
 of the owner at that time. He was absent in Khodesia 
 when the fire occurred ; his old friend Dr. Jameson 
 was laid up with severe illness. His friends felt that 
 to tell Mr. Bhodes of the destruction of Groote Schuur 
 was a thankless task, as the place was his home, and 
 he loved it with a genuine afiection. " I am sorry, I 
 have very bad news for you, Rhodes/' said one of them 
 at last. " What ? " he asked, with a look of horror. 
 ** Groote Schuur is burnt," was the answer. " Oh, 
 thank God ! " was the reply in a tone of relief " I 
 thought you were going to say that Jameson was 
 dead. We can build up Groote Schuur again ; we 
 could not have built up Jameson." 
 
 The house is in the best old Dutch style. At the
 
 22 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 head of the flight of steps by which it is entered is a 
 stoep, and within, two spacious entrance-halls. The 
 drawing-room, dining-room, library, and billiard-room 
 are all lofty and striking, as is the main staircase. 
 At the back is a long deep verandah (or stoep), where 
 it is pleasant to rest in the heat of the day, or from 
 which it is restful to gaze in the quiet evening at the 
 changing lights and deepening shadows on the moun- 
 tains above. The long front is terminated at either 
 end by quaint gables, and the chimneys are extremely 
 picturesque, with a twist like the chimneys of ancient 
 manor houses in England, especially, for instance, 
 Compton Winyates, of the date of Henry VIL 
 
 The house has one main characteristic. It is 
 distinguished and unusual ; the mark of distinction 
 is unmistakably upon it, and, like its owner's character, 
 it is the distinction of what has been called " massive 
 simplicity." There is nothing about it gaudy or vulgar 
 or petty. There is no display of wealth, but everything 
 in it is beautiful, real, and in good taste. The furni- 
 ture is well chosen and mostly antique. The spacious 
 bedrooms and wide airy passages and staircases have a 
 simple dignity about them which is almost monastic in 
 its severity, and yet in no house in the world, probably, 
 are guests made more thoroughly comfortable and " at 
 home." It is difficult to compare it with any other 
 house of its dimensions : like its owner, it falls into no 
 common category. It is unusual ; it is distinct. 
 
 The grounds around the house are as striking and as 
 remarkable as the house itself Passing out under 
 the broad beautiful colonnaded stoep at the back, the 
 eye rests first on low walls or balustrades marking 
 off the gravelled court from the rising ground above.
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 23 
 
 On these low walls cluster bougalnvilleas, of which the 
 deep hues contrast strikingly with the clear white of 
 the low balustrade and the rich brown of the gravel. 
 Beyond the balustrades rise terraces with steps of old 
 brickwork, and, on either side, flower beds rising up — 
 height above height — to the green turf beyond. But 
 there are no tiny flower beds cut out in trim arrange- 
 ments, but huge masses of flowers — fuchsias, tall many- 
 coloured kannas or Ceylon lilies. To the right, and 
 stretching down past the right-hand gable of the 
 house, are fascinating rose gardens. These are on a 
 large, almost wild scale, and yet of the choicest and 
 most exquisite roses. It is impossible to imagine any- 
 where in a comparatively small compass a greater 
 profusion of magnificent flowers. Farther down, 
 towards the avenue leading to the house, is a 
 further extent of garden mixed and herbaceous with 
 sweet-smxclling herbs and flowers. But the feature of 
 the flower gardens is higher up beyond the rose 
 garden. Here is a wide far-reaching cavity in the 
 stretch of turf which slopes towards the heights above. 
 This has been treated in a masterly way. Anything 
 small or pre-Raphaelite — so to speak — in detail, would 
 be out of harmony with the stately background of 
 the giant mountain. Instead of attempting to treat 
 this perplexing reach of ground in the ordinary way 
 by laying it out in garden beds, it has been made an 
 extensive acreage of the most magnificent blue hy- 
 drangeas, so that there is a wide extent of glorious 
 colour contrasting with the green forest scenery and 
 rugged mountains close above. For when the eye is 
 raised and rests upon the turf in the upper terrace, it 
 meets long lines — like the aisles of a great cathedral —
 
 24 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of gigantic pines. Beyond these are the wilder planta- 
 tions of oak and pine and silver-trees, and, as a back- 
 ground, the stately mountains. 
 
 The forms of the mountains here are singularly bold 
 and picturesque. Nothing of its kind can be imagined 
 more beautiful than the view from the stoep towards 
 these gardens, forests, and hills. The exquisite atmo- 
 sphere, the ever-varying lights and shadows in the 
 crannies of the mountain precipices, the bold colours of 
 the gardens, the deep green of the lofty pines with 
 their gigantic blue-brown shafts, the wide wash of the 
 soft violet-coloured hydrangeas, in every light — in the 
 gold of an African morning, or the opal of the African 
 sunset, or the dreamy wealth of basking colour of the 
 South African afternoon, or the warmer clearer brilliance 
 of the African moon and stars — create a scene which is a 
 constant dream of beauty. As in and about the house 
 itself, so in these grounds everything is on a large 
 scale. There is nothing petty or finikin. Nature and 
 art combine to make it all wide, generous, inspiring of 
 great thoughts, like the character of its owner, as that 
 character was sketched to us, not by mere flatterers, but 
 by good men who know him well — a character whose 
 wonderful width of sympathy and breadth of mental 
 grasp and imagination the whole place reflects. 
 
 To the right of the spectator as he gazes from the 
 stoep or the drawing-room or dining-room windows 
 towards the mountains, stretches a long straight 
 walk, rising up some quaint steps to " the Glen." 
 Here in a cleft of the hillside, deep down, is a 
 wealth of flowers — above all, more of the many 
 coloured and magnificent hydrangeas ; while above, 
 under the deep shelter of the forest trees, are walks
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 25 
 
 winding about, and rustic seats from which the eye 
 can range through vistas of trees and flowers over a 
 wide stretch of country to the glorious mountains 
 terminating the peninsula towards the north-east, and 
 where the grateful shelter protects the loiterer from 
 the burning sun. 
 
 In England we have a wealth of noble parks and 
 mansions, and some of them are made available from 
 time to time for the amusement of the people ; but 
 we are by nature an exclusive and retiring and re- 
 served, if not selfish, race, and among us great land- 
 owners, as well as small, are too often addicted — 
 though perhaps not now so much as formerly — to 
 locking and barring and fencing themselves up from 
 all intruders, and to considering themselves aggrieved 
 if others enjoy their beautiful grounds or gardens, 
 unless under the strictest limitations, and in some 
 cases not even then. What strikes an Englishman 
 and a stranger is the large generosity with which Mr. 
 Rhodes shares the delights of his beautiful place with 
 his humblest neighbours. There is scarcely a gate of 
 any kind in the place, and never a lock and key, 
 except in the enclosures up the mountain- side where 
 native birds and animals of Africa wander freely in a 
 kind of wild and beautiful " Zoo," or in the large 
 building appropriated, also higher up on the mountain 
 slope, for some African lions. The whole place 
 literally serves as a great " People's Park." There is 
 never a Sunday afternoon, scarcely any week day, 
 when ** all sorts and conditions of men " are not to 
 be found with their wives and children enjoying the 
 beauty of the place after the heat and dust of the 
 town. On great holidays such as Christmas and New
 
 26 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Year's Day — which of course occur in the African 
 midsummer — it is a sight to see half Capetown and 
 its neighbourhood trooping about the grounds of 
 Groote Schuur, picnicking, having games of all sorts, 
 and carrying away armfuls and even cartloads of 
 splendid flowers from " the Glen," and not seldom 
 some of them invading the verandah and peeping 
 into or entering the house itself! When some have 
 ventured to suggest that he was " too kind," and that 
 occasionally the people were over-greedy about his 
 flowers, he only smiled and answered, " Well they 
 enjoy it : why should I keep it all to myself? " What- 
 ever real faults may be his, or whatever invented 
 faults enemies may have placed to his account, one 
 thing cannot but strike a dispassionate onlooker — 
 there is nothing narrow, self-seeking, or small about 
 this remarkable man. Having visited the place, one 
 can well understand the saying of a London news- 
 paper at the time Groote Schuur was partly burned, 
 when it remarked, with perhaps a considerable but 
 pardonable exaggeration, that " the feeling in South 
 Africa on hearing of this lamentable event has been 
 much what the feeling in England would be were 
 Windsor Castle destroyed by fire." The kindness 
 shown in regard to the grounds and gardens is only 
 matched — such is the universal testimony — by the 
 generous hospitality indoors. The welcome given is 
 the simplest and most sincere. The house is a posi- 
 tive home for all who may need it, or who may be 
 convenienced by such a welcome. There is not a 
 touch of the disj^lay of wealth too common among 
 those who have " made their money," but there is 
 open-hearted kindness. All is simple, generous, and
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 27 
 
 interesting. A lady of some social distinction in 
 South Africa observed to the present writer, " To 
 stay at Groote Schuur is to be reminded of 'ships 
 that pass in the night ' — you meet and know all sorts 
 of interesting people, and then they are gone." It is 
 a central place, and with a world-wide hospitality. 
 
 Farther along the road which goes eastward the 
 traveller reaches Claremont and Wynberg — pretty 
 little towns nestling among the perpetual avenues of 
 stately trees. Farther on, also, is Bishop's Court, the 
 residence of the Archbishop. Among these glorious 
 avenues also are the celebrated fruit farms and vine- 
 yards of Constantia. Groot Constantia is an inter- 
 esting old Dutch farmhouse, and here there is the 
 same striking combination of soft and bold scenery — 
 fine vineyards, lofty mountains, and, towards False 
 Bay, the exquisite colouring of the outstretched sea. 
 
 Vitteboomen, the fruit farm of an excellent Dutch 
 gentleman, Mr. Van der Byl, is excessively picturesque. 
 Not far from the house, in a corner of the woods, is 
 the weird old burying-ground of the family, after 
 the fashion of the early Dutch settlers. Behind the 
 house and across some of the fruit s:ardens rises a 
 precipitous and rocky crag, clothed below with the 
 pine and the silver-trees and shooting up above into 
 jagged cliffs — a glimpse of Devon or Cornish scenery 
 with South African foliage, and bright with a South 
 African sun. The Van der Byl family came from the 
 better class of farmer settlers, and is said to have been 
 connected with the great House of Orange. Many 
 of these old Dutch families on the peninsula preserve 
 much of the rugged force and character of their 
 ancestors, and would appear to be amt)ng the most
 
 28 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 staunch subjects of the British Crown, carrying on the 
 better traditions of the past and being superior to a 
 large number of the rude and untrustworthy Trans- 
 vaal Boers, who are sprung from a much lower class 
 of the first immigrants. 
 
 It is impossible to exaggerate the beauty and the 
 unusual character of the scenery in this neighbour- 
 hood. Nowhere probably is there anything of the 
 kind so fine. The pine woods compare well in their 
 height and dignity, although not perhaps in extent and 
 density, with the pinetas of Viareggio and Bavenna. 
 The red earth is as red as that of Devon, and 
 the underbrush as green as our English greensward. 
 The mountains are more jagged and picturesque in 
 form, if possible, than those of the Abruzzi, and 
 here and there are glimpses or perfect views of a 
 blue and beautiful sea. " There is a thorn in every 
 rose," however. Here, too, as everywhere apparently 
 in South Africa, clouds of dust abate the pleasure 
 of living, if any excuse for flying dust is given by 
 a rising breeze. Much in the scenery and climate 
 recalls the charm of Italy, although one misses the 
 profusion of grey -green olive with its " shimmer of 
 silver " and " twinkling lights," notwithstanding the 
 fact that in many parts of the mountains the silver- 
 trees which are really more beautiful, if not so weird 
 and sad, take the place of the olive with a more 
 brilliant effect. 
 
 The railway from Capetown by Mowbray and 
 Bondebosch leads to Muizenberg, St. James's, and 
 Simon's Bay. These are favourite places of resort, for 
 sea air and sea bathing, not only to the inhabitants of 
 Capetown, but also to many from the hotter climate
 
 CAPETOWN AND ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD 29 
 
 of the north. Here there is always a splendid sea, in 
 some places a pleasant and extensive stretch of sand, 
 and always fine mountain views. The air is ever 
 strong and bracing, and the difference between this 
 vigorous atmosphere and that of Capetown and thf 
 more wooded parts of the peninsula is very marked. 
 
 Simon's Bay forms a fine roadstead in which large 
 ships can lie with excellent shelter, and here is 
 the appointed anchorage for any of the British fleet 
 serving on the South African station. In the summer 
 months these sea-coast places are full, and in the hot 
 afternoons of Saturdays, or other days when work in 
 Capetown makes less demand, busy men and their 
 families often seek the pleasant change of this invigo- 
 rating coast. 
 
 On the whole, it is impossible to exaggerate the 
 charm of the country near Capetown. Few busy 
 places have such easy access to some of the fairest and 
 most delightful natural haunts in any part of the world. 
 The most striking effects of light and shade over 
 mountains and sea are, perhaps, in the early morning 
 or late evening. The brilliance and delicacy of colour- 
 ing then must give constant delight to an eye used to 
 the less clear atmosphere of our own latitudes. The 
 loss of twilight and the absence of the gradual coming 
 of the spring are indeed felt to leave the peninsula 
 widowed of some of the most characteristic delights of 
 home ; but there are compensations in colour, lights, 
 and woods and flowers, which endow the homes of the 
 Cape with a fascination all their own.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 
 
 We decided to go "up country" in the first instance by 
 the coast route in one of the liners. The sea on 
 leaving the Cape and turning towards the Indian 
 Ocean was at first rougher than anything we had 
 experienced in our voyage from home. This, we were 
 told, was not uncommonly the case. At the same 
 time, as far as our experience goes, we had always less 
 troubled seas in these latitudes than are very common 
 in crossing the North Atlantic from Liverpool to New 
 York. 
 
 There is nothing striking, so far as we could see, 
 in the eastern coast. It is, for the most part, low- 
 lying. The land gradually rises inland until it attains 
 the heights of the rugged mountains — the Quathlamba 
 (or Katlamba) range — the backbone of South Africa. 
 
 It is not more than seventy or eighty years ago since 
 the first European settlers fixed their abodes in this 
 part of Cape Colony. In 1820 a British settlement 
 was formed at Albany. In the April of that year a 
 body of British immigrants arrived. The Government 
 had voted £50,000 for purposes of colonisation, and 
 those who came out showed astonishing perseverance 
 and daring in the face of almost insuperable difficulties. 
 Natural hindrances were in the way of their crops ;
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 31 
 
 Kaffir raids had always to be resisted ; but still they 
 struggled on. In that year, 1820, in the interior, at 
 the sources of the Kowie, there were but few small 
 houses where now Grahamstown is a flourishing and 
 picturesque city. Other places sprang up, Queenstown, 
 King William's Town, and East London. We stayed 
 some hours at East London. It is a flourishing and 
 energetic port, and the coast here begins to be pretty, 
 with undulating land, and woods in some places 
 coming down near the sea. 
 
 The boldest scenery near the coast is at the mouth 
 of St. John's Kiver (called by the natives the Umzim- 
 voobu). The mouth of the river is plainly seen from 
 the sea. The mountain here is cleft asunder and 
 through the gorge flows the river. The height of the 
 clifis at a short distance up the stream is about 1 200 
 feet. In parts they are clothed with forests, and are 
 always bold and precipitous. The boldest part, where 
 the opening narrows in, as it makes seaward, has the 
 name of the Gates of Umzimvoobu, or the Gates of 
 St. John. 
 
 We stopped for two days at Port Elizabeth, which is 
 a very interesting town. It was by the settlers of 1820 
 that the foundations of this thriving port were laid. 
 The policy of the British Government at that time, as 
 so often sincOj was to avoid expansion in South Africa. 
 The object of the efibrt to settle a large number of 
 colonists on Algoa Bay was to place a shield of white 
 inhabitants between Cape Colony and the Kaffir tribes. 
 The plan adopted, however, did not, and indeed could 
 not, forward the object of the home authorities. It 
 was soon found that these colonists needed protection 
 and assistance, and so step by step our colonies
 
 32 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 advanced in South Africa in spite of the opposition of 
 the Government at home. The country must have 
 seemed sufficiently forbidding to the original settlers. 
 In front are sloping hills, far behind is seen the range 
 of the Quathlamba. Strong winds from the sea swept 
 across the dreary hills, and the sea itself did not seem 
 to supply the best possible roadstead. Energy and 
 persistence, however, as usual, achieved wonders. 
 When the immigrants came they had to land by 
 means of boats hauled through the surf Only a very 
 few inhabitants were there already, and a mere small 
 knot of insignificant dwellings. The first encampment 
 of the new comers was behind some sandhills, the site 
 of which is now marked by the principal street of 
 Port Elizabeth. They numbered over looo men, 
 about lOOO children, and about 600 women. The 
 town gradually grew, so that in 1846 the number of 
 inhabitants had mounted to about 4000. Sir Rufane 
 Shaw Donkin had been Acting Governor. The name 
 of his late wife — to whom he was tenderly attached, 
 and whose virtues are recorded on an obelisk which 
 stands near the lighthouse — was given to the town, 
 which has been known ever since as Port Elizabeth. 
 
 It is a bright busy place with all the appearance of 
 activity and stir about it. There is a fine town-hall, 
 drill-hall, Athenseum, opera-house, custom-house, and 
 railway station. The electric tramway carries pas- 
 sengers up some very heavy gradients, and from the 
 hilltop above are views of the sea, and, inland, of the 
 mountain range. Immediately beyond the town, too, 
 is a large and interesting collection of kraals of the 
 native settlement. There are also pretty public 
 gardens. There is a fine church, St. Mary's, lately 
 
 I
 
 CAPETOA\^' TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 83 
 
 destroyed in great part by fire, but handsomely 
 restored under the auspices of Dr. Wirgman, the 
 learned Vice-Provost (for St. Mary's is a collegiate 
 church), and a nice Roman Catholic Church, named 
 under the invocation of St. Augustine. There is 
 nothing specially beautiful or striking, as far as we 
 could see, in the neighbourhood, but Port Elizabeth 
 has all the appearance of a busy, thriving, active 
 place, and gives a visitor the impression of brightness 
 and viofour. It carries on a brisk trade. 
 
 In visiting some of these South African towns, it 
 struck one that the artisan class is the most likely to 
 furnish successful colonists. At present, at least in the 
 more recently settled parts of the country, there is 
 abundance of land for agricultural purposes, and no 
 doubt, as time goes on, there will probably be vast 
 agricultural and grazing farms. But the clearing of 
 the land is expensive, much capital is needed, and 
 though the kindly soil does a great deal of itself to 
 repay man's efforts, there are terrible enemies with 
 which to contend — rinderpest, locusts, storms. But 
 the carpenter and bricklayer and builder and black- 
 smith and saddler — these are always needed, and, like 
 the prudent and able storekeeper, are sure to find 
 return for their skill. However, in this part of the 
 colony and in the neighbouring Natal, there is plenty 
 of successful farming, and exports as well as imports 
 make the port a busy one. The roadstead is a fine one, 
 sheltered on all sides except the south-east, and much 
 has been done, and further extensive works are pro- 
 jected, for the perfecting of an excellent harbour. 
 
 Our steamer then carried us northward along the 
 coast of Natal. There is nothing striking in this
 
 34 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 coast, but it is pretty and sometimes homelike. It is 
 an undulating country, sometimes grassy, sometimes 
 wooded, especially with low underbrush, often bright 
 with flowers. Every now and again, after a stretch 
 of what appears untroubled solitude, are pretty 
 houses — always with the stoep or verandah as a shelter 
 from the heat — and homesteads and gardens, and in 
 the cultivated parts are groves of pines or mangoes 
 or bananas, and fields of coffee or tea or sugar- 
 cane. Gradually from this coast the land ascends. 
 There are higher terraces and consequent changes in 
 vegetation ; and so with deep valleys, and then still 
 higher terraces, the land mounts towards the great 
 central range. 
 
 The highest point of this part of the Quathlamba 
 is close to the junction of the boundaries of Natal, 
 of the Orange Free State, and of Basutoland. From 
 Natal these peaks are very splendid. They rise 
 in crenelated lines of rock — a threatening rampart 
 defending, apparently, the land beyond. Those known 
 as the Giant and Champagne Castle attain the height 
 of ii,ooo and 12,000 feet. Beyond the crest, how- 
 ever, there is no great fall. Central South Africa 
 is really a vast plateau : though there are parallel 
 lines of peaks, the country in fact only gradually 
 subsides by depressions widely extended towards the 
 westward. The Quathlamba is really the gigantic 
 rocky wall of a wide-reaching plateau. 
 
 From Port Elizabeth our liner made her way to 
 Durban. No town in South Africa made a more 
 pleasant impression upon us than this. For some 
 miles it stretches along the coast-land round the Bay, 
 and then climbs the heights and spreads along the
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 35 
 
 quarter known as the Berea. The situation is beau- 
 tiful ; but also from a commercial point of view the 
 port is of considerable importance. A promontory 
 called the Bluff runs out to the north-east, and this is 
 almost met by the Point, as it is called — a stretch 
 of land running out from the north. Thus there is an 
 almost landlocked harbour. The Bluff Channel forms 
 an entrance to this from the open roadstead. Unfor- 
 tunately the force of the ocean, when the wind is in 
 certain quarters, has created a sandy bar at the mouth 
 of this channel. Every effort has been made, and 
 works are still in progress, to prevent this bar from 
 interfering with the coming and going of large vessels. 
 These efforts have been crowned with considerable 
 success. The great mail boats still lie beyond the bar, 
 but large numbers of vessels of no small draught cross 
 to the inner harbour. The consequences to ourselves, 
 as to other visitors here, were amusing. It is necessary 
 to land by means of a small tug boat. To be tran- 
 shipped to this from the mail boat is not always an 
 easy matter. A very heavy swell sometimes rolls 
 in from the Indian Ocean, and it has been found 
 necessary to lower passengers by means of baskets, 
 worked by a crane or windlass, from the larger to the 
 smaller craft. These baskets are large round crates 
 of the height of a tall man, with a door in the side, 
 and capable of accommodating, if we may use such a 
 word, some four or five or six persons as a tight fit. 
 We were fortunate in coming among the last to land, 
 and were committed to the crate only our two selves 
 together. The basket had the door bolted upon us, 
 and was then swung off and lowered to the deck of the 
 attendant tug. As the little vessel rises and falls on
 
 S6 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the waves, the crate when lowered, sometimes, In spite 
 of the great care that is taken, touches the deck with 
 a bump, more amusing to onlookers than to the caged 
 prisoners. 
 
 We landed in Durban on a lovely summer, or perhaps 
 we should say spring, afternoon towards the end of 
 October. The work of getting through the Custom- 
 house was not rapid, but the officials were most polite 
 and obliging. Never have we been struck with the 
 appearance of contentment and brightness anywhere 
 more than in Durban. There are, of course, well-to-do 
 persons and even rich men among the citizens, but the 
 general impression is of the absence of overwhelming 
 wealth and the total absence of poverty. There is a 
 brightness, happiness, and general contentment about 
 the air of the whole place, both amongst the coloured 
 men and the white men, which is extremely striking. 
 Doubtless, as in other assemblies of human beings, 
 there are here sin and immorality to be found when 
 men penetrate beneath the crust, but there is a free, 
 bright look about the place and the people which leads 
 one to hope that these sad attendants on the life of 
 fallen man are less powerful than elsewhere. The 
 consciousness of the presence of these is more thrust 
 upon the visitor — so one felt — in the Transvaal ; it is 
 strikingly withdrawn in Durban. The stranger cannot 
 but feel the healthy atmosphere of a free, diligent, 
 contented people enjoying the blessing of a good 
 government and unshackled public opinion — in vivid 
 contrast with the feeling of which it is impossible to 
 rid himself in the neighbouring State, where liberty, 
 both for white man and coloured man, is under narrow 
 restrictions.
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 37 
 
 In Durban there are a large number of rickshaws 
 drawn by Zulus. These strange little vehicles — 
 new to us — were imported from Japan. There are 
 some in use in Maritzburg, but they seem to have 
 " taken root " in Durban. They are singularly j^ic- 
 turesque. From the verandah of our hotel we were 
 amused by watching a " stand " of them. The Zulus 
 who draw the little vehicles are fine-looking men. 
 They have not learnt to vulgarise their appearance by 
 tawdry European dress as " Cape Boys " do, and they 
 delight in wearing the most characteristic and 
 startling headgear. It is amusing to see their little 
 antics, pawing and curvetting in imitation of restive 
 horses, and trying by various fascinating arts to induce 
 foot-passengers to drive in their rickshaws. They are 
 men splendidly built, and seem to draw the light 
 carriage with the greatest ease. It is curious to notice 
 how very often, as far as physique is concerned, the 
 passenger looks a very inferior specimen of humanity 
 as contrasted with the man in the shafts. They go 
 with a quiet swinging trot. For the most part they 
 are used on the level roads and streets. To climb 
 hills with passengers, or even a single passenger, or 
 certainly to climb hills of any steepness, would evi- 
 dently entail a degree of fatigue that could not but be 
 detrimental to health. They gave one the idea of a 
 light-hearted, merry, contented set of fellows. Their 
 leisure time when waiting to be engaged was spent in 
 all sorts of harmless fun and chaff and frolic. Nothing 
 could be more amusing than the way in which these 
 fine-looking fellows scrambled with energy, dexterity, 
 and good-humour for stray coins thrown to them, — 
 like a pack of schoolboys.
 
 S8 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 We received, as everywhere in South Africa, great 
 kindness in Durban. Hospitahty and kindness, indeed, 
 seem prominent marks of colonial life. There Is much 
 kindness in the world, with all its sorrow, if we open our 
 hearts to it ; but, In our older civilisation, and in the more 
 reserved ways of England, perhaps it is less fully realised 
 than in newer and fresher lands. Certain it is that in 
 the colonies hearts seem to open with wonderful warmth 
 and readiness — as, I must say, they also do in America 
 — to kin from across the sea. Kind thoughts, kind 
 words, kind deeds, are often heaven-sent messengers, 
 more able and eloquent than many more formally 
 accredited ; and it is a happiness to Englishmen to- 
 know and feel that the harshness or mistakes of diplo- 
 macy are often rubbed off by the kindness felt in 
 human contact, and that the ties between the colonies 
 and the mother country, and. Indeed, between our 
 great Empire and the great Republic founded across 
 the ocean by our own kin, are drawn constantly 
 closer, not only by common interests, but by kindly 
 intercourse. 
 
 The lower town, as we have seen, is chiefly made up 
 of handsome streets, with shops and public buildings. 
 There are all the usual accompaniments of a busy 
 modern place, — churches, clubs, shops, warehouses, 
 banks. The streets are broad and good ; the town- 
 hall is a very fine building. The population is some- 
 where about thirty thousand. There are a consider- 
 able number of native servants, and now a great 
 number of coolies. These make excellent servants, 
 but the influx from India for one reason or another is 
 at present, I believe, causing some uneasiness in the 
 colony. Natal has, as we know, gone through its
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 39 
 
 anxieties, like other places in South Africa, from native 
 wars and especially from the Zulus, but the natives 
 now seem wisely and kindly managed. They are, of 
 course, not allowed to possess arms or ammunition, and 
 they are wisely, and indeed necessarily, forbidden the 
 use of intoxicatinof drinks. 
 
 The Berea is a beautiful district. It rises above the 
 lower town, and is the quarter in which the more well- 
 to-do reside. It presents the appearance of a hand- 
 some park, running along the crests of the hills, thickly 
 interspersed with pretty houses. The whole place has 
 a healthy English air about it, and the views from 
 some of the homes in the Berea are of singular beauty. 
 Around the houses are the usual shrubs and flowers of 
 South Africa, and green carpets of grass like English 
 lawns, and from the stoeps and the windows are 
 glorious views across the harbour and away to the 
 Indian Ocean. In an evening drive, and then again 
 during a drive on a sunny afternoon for which we were 
 indebted to the kindness of one of the leading citizens 
 in the place, we had opportunities of enjoying the 
 beautiful Berea and the exquisite views towards the 
 sea, and certainly among some of our most pleasant 
 and sunn}'- recollections of South Africa are our 
 memories of Durban. 
 
 From Durban we went on by rail to Maritzburg. 
 After leaving the comparatively low-lying lands along 
 the coast, the country gradually ascends in almost 
 regular terraces. These are marked by climate and 
 produce. At first everything is semi-tropical. Here 
 will grow fruits — pineapple, banana and mango, lemons 
 and oranges, and such produce as arrowroot, tea, coffee, 
 sugar, and abundance of Indian corn. Then comes a
 
 40 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 rougher, wilder country of rock and pine wood, and as we 
 near Maritzburg, a terrace of lands good for growing, 
 and rich in, ordinary crops — potatoes, corn, and vege- 
 tables. The railway gradually rises by sharp gradients 
 until an altitude of, 1 suppose, 3000 to 4000 feet is 
 reached. Through the greater part of Natal up to the 
 border of the Transvaal the whole line is singularly 
 beautiful. Except in the Alps or the Alleghanies, there 
 can be few railways which pass through wilder and more 
 striking country — bold hills up which the engine strains 
 and struggles, rapid descents down which the train 
 rushes, gorges passed by bridges at giddy heights, 
 sharp curves and even zigzags in ascending the hills, 
 and all the while the most glorious views of distant 
 mountains, with peeps of opening plains between the 
 traveller and the great ranges. 
 
 Between fifty and sixty miles from Durban we 
 reach Maritzburg. It takes its name from two Dutch 
 farmer emigrants, Peter Retief and Gert Maritz, just 
 as Durban takes its names from Sir Benjamin D' Urban, 
 one of those able governors at the Cape who have 
 had, in proportion to their knowledge, wisdom, and 
 statesmanship, to struggle against the mistakes of the 
 Colonial Office. Maritzburg dates from 1839. It is a 
 pretty town and prettily situated, but we did not 
 find it so pleasant as Durban. The climate, when we 
 were there, seemed to be more oppressive and relax- 
 ing, although it stands at a much higher elevation ; 
 but then Durban has the advantage of the breezes 
 from the sea, and altogether gives the impression 
 of greater movement and life. At the same time 
 Maritzburg is finely situated. Towards the east is 
 seen a noble mountain, with the flat or " table " top
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 41 
 
 not unusual in South Africa, and in the same direction 
 stretches the valley where flows the river Umsindusi, 
 and round the city northwards are protecting hills. 
 The streets are broad and have a bright boulevard 
 appearance from the rows of trees planted on either 
 sides. The park is exceedingly pretty, both from the 
 undulating character of the ground, and the vivid 
 green of the grass and underwood, and the fine trees. 
 Never anywhere can one see such abundance of weep- 
 ing willows as in South Africa. This is especially 
 true in Natal, and in the neighbourhood of Pretoria 
 in the Transvaal. Wherever there is water — and in 
 this respect Natal is not badly off — these willows 
 grow to an amazing size, and with a wealth of rich 
 and graceful foliage quite surpassing anything of the 
 kind elsewhere. Maritzburg, like Durban, is essen- 
 tially English, and is bright and clean, and has an 
 air of prosperity and civilisation. It has a population, 
 I believe, of about 18,000 or 19,000, and far the 
 larger moiety of this is composed of Europeans. It 
 is a pretty, bright place, and has some excellent shops 
 — especially a strikingly good bookshop — and some 
 handsome buildings, though it has not the feature 
 which, in Durban, is so attractive — the glorious views 
 of the sea. 
 
 We travelled on again by train to Estcourt. It 
 was still the same wonderful ascent, and the train 
 climbed through a country wild and picturesque. 
 High as it was the heat was very great during the 
 day, but, as ever in Southern countries, there was the 
 sudden chill at sunset, against which the traveller in 
 South Africa has to be on his guard just as he has in 
 Middle and Southern Italy. Indeed in South Africa,
 
 42 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 though in many respects the climate Is most delightful, 
 it is, quite apart from the malarious districts, exceed- 
 ingly treacherous. It is impossible, with safety, to 
 put definitely aside winter clothing. For though the 
 heat Is often, of course, excessive, the changes are 
 sudden, and the quickness of the sunset chills after a 
 burning day is not without danger, as the traveller 
 sometimes learns to his cost. The day's journey from 
 Maritzburg had been very hot, but walking up at night, 
 in the beautiful moonllg-ht, a short distance from the 
 station at Estcourt to the home of our friends, it was in 
 no way oppressive to wear even fur coats or cloaks. 
 
 Estcourt was very Interesting. The situation is fine. 
 It is a mere villaofe — if villap'e it can be called — and 
 gives one more idea of the country life of the colony 
 as distinct from what we had hitherto seen of the life 
 of the towns. The vicarage was very pretty, and, mutatis 
 mutandis, with all allowance for the difference between 
 South Africa and England, gave us a good idea of the 
 life of home. The garden around the house where we 
 stayed was nicely cared for and there were beautiful 
 flowers. There was the usual stoej) with its clustering 
 creeping plants and refreshing shade in the burning 
 heat of the day. There were one or two well-groomed 
 horses In the little stables, an absolutely necessary 
 adjunct to clerical life in such a place, where the parishes 
 extend some ninety miles in one du-ectlon by eighty in 
 another. The servants were, of course, natives, with all 
 their faults and all their virtues, needing, and in this 
 case having, a strong hand but a kind hand over them. 
 There was in the household a boy — the inevitable 
 " Tony " — who interested us much. He was an able 
 little servant, but requiring, as most native servants
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 43 
 
 do, constant supervision and guidance. He seemed to 
 me to live in a chronic state of inquiring wonder at all 
 things. He preferred to sleep, I think, for the most 
 part on the mat outside our bedroom door, but 
 appeared to be moved by no more than his normal 
 condition of curiosity and wonder, when I tumbled over 
 him unexpectedly to both of us one morning. A 
 mistress of a house in South Africa appeared to me to 
 have no light task. Though native servants, pleasant 
 in many ways, can do the work well, they require help 
 or guidance, and the fact that they have done anything 
 neatly and exactly as they have been taught one day, 
 is no sort of guarantee that they will do so the next ! 
 
 The neighbourhood round Estcourt is very striking. 
 A walk up the rugged pathway or track towards the 
 rising ground of the rocky hills gave us opportunities 
 for views down below towards the farms and cultivated 
 country and beyond to the great range of the Quath- 
 lamba (or Drakenberg, or Berg as the Dutch called it), 
 where the evening lights and shadows show examples 
 of that unspeakable beauty of atmospheric effect and 
 colour which constitute the main part of the loveliness 
 of a South African landscape. There are many central 
 spots now in the colony, like Estcourt, round which 
 clusters population. There is, in such places, sheep- 
 farming, I believe, for the most part, and the export of 
 wool is a staple commodity In South African trade with 
 the home markets. The vessel in which we made our 
 voyage back to England carried a large cargo of wool 
 from the eastern ports. Stock-farming, too, has been a 
 chief resource on these farms ; but farmers have suffered 
 heavily, especially in recent years, from rinderpest and 
 horse-sickness. Indeed, the farmers in South Africa, if
 
 44 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 they have much to help them in a rich and responsive 
 soil, and, in many ways, delightful climate, have also 
 to be prepared to face heartbreaking hindrances. 
 
 In this colony the rainy season is in the summer, 
 exactly the reverse of what obtains in the Cape Colony; 
 and when we were at Estcourt, though the summer 
 was advancing the rains had not come, the consequence 
 of which was much anxiety among the farmers. One 
 of the most terrible scourges are the hailstorms. 
 These are frequent in this neighbourhood and the 
 other upland districts of Natal. They come with such 
 irregularity that, so far, no way of foretelling their 
 approach or in any way guarding against them — even 
 if that were possible — has been discovered. They 
 often pass over a narrow area, but wherever they pass 
 they destroy. Flourishing crops, fruit, flowers, which 
 have seemed to be promising good returns, will perish 
 utterly in an incredibly short time under this scourge. 
 The size of the hailstones is enormous, sometimes three 
 or four inches in diameter, and of very considerable 
 weight. Unless windows are protected by wire defences 
 they will sometimes break every pane of glass in a 
 house ; and though in some places there may be a 
 respite from them for years, they may, none the less, 
 appear several times in a single season. 
 
 Of course there is also the scourge of locusts, which is 
 common to all regions of South Africa, and not specially, 
 or perhaps in so great a degree as elsewhere, limited to 
 Natal. Another drawback, not to agriculture but to life 
 in Natal, is the abundance of snakes. These are, of 
 course, also common to all South Africa, as well as poi- 
 sonous spiders and suchlike creatures, but they are less 
 common in Cape Colony than here. A few days before
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 45 
 
 our arrival at Estcourt a gloom had been cast over the 
 community by the death of a prosperous young farmer 
 from a wound received from a black mambra. There 
 are cases in which life is saved and wounds are healed 
 both among animals and men if taken properly and in 
 time, and further scientific discoveries may make cures 
 more common, but at present there is probability of 
 their proving fatal. We noticed that all natives 
 carried in their hands pliable sticks, which are useful 
 for killing snakes with a blow. However common 
 they may be, and certainly are, these venomous 
 creatures are seen much less frequently than might be 
 imagined. Ordinarily they are more afraid of man 
 than man of them, and, usually speaking, will rather 
 try to hide or fly than to attack. When suddenly 
 startled or exasperated, they will, however — especially 
 the puff adder and mambra — "go for" their enemy 
 with dangerous swiftness and vigour. 
 
 At Estcourt there appeared to be a united and 
 happy community. Certainly they had an excellent 
 clergyman, and all his efforts for the good of his flock 
 were well seconded by his wife, who, though not really 
 strong in health, was untiring in work. Near the 
 vicarage was a very nice church with well-ordered and 
 hearty services. Not far from this was a clubroom 
 with an excellent and increasing library. While we 
 were there we witnessed the vigorous play of a cricket 
 club, in which the parson took an energetic interest. 
 On a Sunday he had, after his two morning services, a 
 ride of fifty miles to conduct another service in a distant 
 part of his parish, and we were, at Estcourt, strongly 
 impressed with the healthy English vigour of the place 
 both in Church and State.
 
 46 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 We left Estcourt — with warm feelings of gratitude 
 towards our hospitable friends, and the pleasantest 
 possible impressions of the place — on a beautiful early 
 afternoon of late October. The railway journey to Ladi- 
 smith was exceedingly interesting. Natal has been no 
 way backward in making necessary railways. It was 
 the first colony to lay down rails at all, and about 1880 
 the line from Durban to Maritzburg was opened. Since 
 then it has been carried on to the frontier of the 
 Transvaal. The Natal coal fields, which are very 
 valuable for the colony, have now railways to them, 
 and the engineering of all the railway system in the 
 colony has been a work showing very high ability. 
 The gradual rise in elevation of the country from 
 Durban is, as we have seen, very great. We were in- 
 formed that every train from Durban, before it reaches 
 Charlestown on the Transvaal border, has risen a 
 height equivalent to a vertical rise of two and a half or 
 three miles. The railway over which we travelled to 
 Charlestown was completed in 1891, and is a wonder- 
 ful piece of engineering : sharp curves, very great 
 rises, gradients of i in 30, and what may be called 
 zigzags over a broken and wild country, are salient 
 features in the character of the line. Close to Durban 
 is the beautiful Manda Valley, and all the way, there 
 is the wildest and most striking scenery right on at 
 either side of the tunnel at Laing's Nek, up to the 
 Majuba heights in the Quathlamba — two names, alas ! 
 associated with England's defeat and, still worse — as it 
 seemed to many in South Africa — disgraceful surrender. 
 
 We reached Ladismith in the evening. Not far 
 from the railway station we stayed at a very comfort- 
 able hotel. It was not very large, and was in some
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 47 
 
 respects primitive. "VYe found the place clean, the food 
 good if plain, and the mistress of the establishment 
 and her servants kindly and attentive. After our 
 evening meal I went out to inspect the town. It 
 appeared, like all such places, straggling and growing, 
 and scarcely yet fully formed. In coming back to the 
 hotel I had to traverse some very " unfinished " roads, 
 and, endeavouring to follow the directions of some of 
 our soldiers whom I met in the street, I completely lost 
 my way. Above, the heavens were bright with stars, 
 but below there was impenetrable gloom. My director, 
 by his tongue, had revealed himself an Irishman, and 
 had characteristically endeavoured to ease my mind as 
 to the absence of all difficulty in my return journey, 
 rather than to give me accurate information as to my 
 route. Before long I found that the track was begin- 
 ning to climb the wild hills above the town and to 
 say good-bye to the habitations of man. Tumbling 
 and tripping over broken ground, w^ith cheering visions 
 of wild beasts and venomous snakes, I began to retrace 
 my steps. At length a glimmer of hope came as I 
 made out through the growing gloom a native making 
 his way home. I paused to ask him the way. He 
 stopped for an instant, and then rushed past me with a 
 piercing shriek. The sudden emergence of a black 
 figure like myself, blacker than the surrounding gloom, 
 and in such a desolate spot, was too much for his nerves. 
 I must have presented to his excited imagination the 
 figure of the ghost of some departed ancestor travelling 
 from the mountains to work him ill. However, I was 
 fortunate soon afterwards in meeting some wayfarers 
 "who were less nervously superstitious, and who directed 
 me to my hotel, which, if late, I reached at last in safety.
 
 48 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 We left Ladismlth very early in the morning for the 
 Transvaal. The character of the line and the scenery 
 was the same — strange and beautiful. We stopped 
 for a considerable time at Charlestown. Here we 
 were struck by the immense number of natives flying 
 from the Transvaal. There were numbers of open trucks 
 on the incoming train perfectly crammed with them. 
 We had some conversation with a very bright, pleasant 
 fellow — an officer in the Natal police force — who told 
 us that there was a perfect rush of these natives into 
 the colony of Natal. They are at all times treated 
 with roughness, and even brutality, by the Boers, and 
 are chiefly led to the Transvaal by the good wages on 
 the mines. The Pretoria Government, amidst its 
 many liberal pieces of legislation, compels them to 
 work for a year on a farm before they are allowed to 
 go to the mines. Just then, however, the Boers were 
 engaged in their great campaign to subdue the Magato 
 tribe under the unfortunate Mpefu, of the success of 
 which they have been since so amusingly proud, and 
 the natives seem, many of them, to have been seized 
 with a panic lest they should be commandeered for 
 service against men of their own race, and so they 
 made their way to Natal. 
 
 We first realised fully that we had reached the 
 Transvaal at Heidelberg. Everything marked the 
 fact that this country, which our Government had, in 
 misguided benevolence, presented to a people as unfit 
 to govern anything or anybody as the Boers are 
 by nature, was different in many ways from the 
 colony we had left. Hollander officials were every- 
 where on the railways. Mr. Krtiger — who is said to 
 hate Enoflishmen with a hatred of the sort said to be
 
 CAPETOWN TO JOHANNESBURG BY NATAL 49 
 
 felt by those who, it is said, when they owe gratitude to 
 others cannot endure the persons who have placed them 
 under an obligation — and who is too acute a person 
 to trust his own Boers — has placed Hollander officials 
 in every possible post of importance. The Boers, 
 it is affirmed, greatly dislike them, and are jealous 
 of their advance ; but they suit the policy of the 
 President and are his docile creatures, and against 
 the word of the autocrat of Pretoria even the law- 
 hating Boer is practically powerless. At Heidelberg, 
 too, we became conscious of the sway of a paternal 
 Government. Everything was doubled in price. The 
 idea of a penny for a newspaper was absurd ! Three- 
 pence in silver was the lowest coin accepted in 
 exchange. As for copper, " it was nothing accounted 
 of" in those parts ! 
 
 As the line approaches Johannesburg the traveller 
 becomes more and more conscious of the proximity 
 of "the Golden City." The railway runs along the 
 outside edge of the Main Beef From the first sight 
 of the Band there are all the marks of the usual 
 transformation of nature into an industrial mining 
 district. 
 
 " The Black Country " itself cannot be more dreary 
 by day, and more Dantesque and picturesque in its 
 fiery display by night, than the Witwatersrand. There 
 are the great chimneys of the engine works, the huge 
 sheds for the batteries where the crushing, cleaning, 
 amalgamating works go on day and night. There are 
 the cyanide works and reservoirs, and machinery at 
 the top of the mine-shafts — for miles and miles — a 
 strange, weird scene! What was once the wild, 
 dreamy, open veldt has become the place of man's
 
 50 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 fierce emulation and unflagging activity in extracting 
 the precious metal from the earth. 
 
 The train at length nears the town and soon we 
 find ourselves in the Park Station, and a carriage 
 ready to carry us to our destination in Johannesburg.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 
 TO MAFEKING 
 
 JoHANNESBUHG wore the brightest and most fascinating 
 appearance to us as we entered it. There are few 
 pleasanter sensations than the arrival, after a hot and 
 dusty journey, at a place long thought of and long 
 looked for. Who ever forgets his first arrival in 
 Florence, his first entry into Rome ? Who can fail 
 to remember the first view of Monte Pellegrino and the 
 spires and towers of Palermo ? Or the first glimpse of 
 the Acropolis across the waves of the -^gean ? And 
 though it is a sad falling in poetry from such land- 
 marks of history and centres of art and beauty to the 
 more commonplace and new-born Johannesburg, yet 
 we were conscious of something akin to those feelings 
 of a nobler past when we entered for the first time 
 " the Golden City." 
 
 The night was beautiful. The heavens were a mass 
 of brilliant stars ; there was little wind, and the air, 
 though balmy, was bright and exhilarating, as it always 
 is in the capital of the Band, and we were looking 
 forward, after long parting, to meet one dear to us 
 again. 
 
 The kindly hospitality of South Africa has prevented 
 us from being authorities, to any gi^eat extent, on
 
 52 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 South African hotels, but we are able to speak of one of 
 them. Nothing in the way of a hotel could have been 
 more inviting than " Heath's Hotel " on the evening 
 when we arrived. In was well lighted and clean and 
 welcoming. From the pleasant verandah on which 
 our bedroom window opened, the streets with the cabs 
 and carriages and passers-by looked bright and lively. 
 We enjoyed thoroughly the sensation of a new place, 
 a bright, lively city, a brisk, healthy air, and the 
 interest and wonder attached to a town so handsome 
 and so young, which had sprung up chiefly from English 
 energy, notwithstanding the hindrances placed in the 
 way of all improvement and advance by obstinate and 
 stupid misgovernment. 
 
 The drawback to Johannesburg is unquestionably 
 the plethora of dust ! Dust is always a trouble in 
 South Africa, but dust in Johannesburg becomes a 
 striking phenomenon. The slightest breeze sends the 
 dust everywhere, searching into the crannies of the 
 houses and making the very food gritty, and when a 
 gale is blowing the dust-storms in the streets of " the 
 Golden City " are a spectacle indeed ! 
 
 On the other hand, the climate of Johannesburg has 
 much in it that is delightful. It stands very high — 
 some seven thousand feet or so — and the air is conse- 
 quently light and exhilarating. It seemed to us to 
 have all the reviving power of the climate of the Ober 
 Engadine, though, of course, with none of the beauty 
 of its scenery. But for actual sensation of vitality and 
 lightness I have felt nothing like it except in St. 
 Moritz or Pontresina. 
 
 It is one of those climates in which one feels that 
 vigour and activity are necessities. One must be doing.
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 53 
 
 The consequence is probably, as it is often said by 
 residents there, that people are likely to be worked 
 out and worn out sooner than elsewhere ; and women, 
 so it is said, suffer from the over-stimulation of the 
 climate more than men. In the summer months — 
 January and February — the heat is said to be exces- 
 sively trying ; but when we were there, although the 
 weather was undoubtedly hot, and the middle hours of 
 the day very hot indeed, yet the brisk, exhilarating air 
 and the pleasant fresh nights made up for any extra 
 excess of heat. In winter it is said to be at times very 
 cold ; and ice, and even snow, are not unknown on the 
 Rand. 
 
 The town itself is a fine town and well laid out. It 
 is full of all the life and bustle of a great commercial 
 place. There are fine buildings — Eckstein's Chambers, 
 Farrar's Buildings, the Standard Bank, and so on. By 
 the kindness of a gentleman who called upon us, 
 and took pains to show us much of the place, I went 
 carefully over the post and telegraph ofiice. The 
 telegraph office is one of the best arranged and most 
 interesting places of the kind I have ever seen. The 
 managers and clerks are, of course, for the most part 
 Hollanders. The printing office of the Star newspaper 
 is also extremely interesting, and I have to thank the 
 officials there for the kindness with which they laboured 
 to show me the marvellous newly invented printing 
 machines, which were of extraordinary interest. The 
 ingenious inventions for making, arranging, and setting 
 up the types by machinery with the least possible 
 human intervention are truly astonishing. The Band 
 Club is a fine building, and there are grounds for races 
 and " the Wanderers' " ground for athletic exercises, as
 
 54 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 well as two fine theatres. There are churches of the 
 various Christian bodies usually found in South Africa, 
 besides the Anglo-Catholic church (St. Mary's) and 
 the Roman Catholic church. There is also a Jewish 
 synagogue. 
 
 Many parts of the neighbourhood of Johannesburg 
 are extremely pretty. The drive round Hospital Hill 
 is quite beautiful. Trees have been planted in large 
 numbers and have flourished well. The views away 
 far over the country, especially about sunset, are 
 exquisite ; and the pretty villa residences which have 
 grown up give life to the scene. 
 
 The most interesting if not the most beautiful part 
 of the neighbourhood of Johannesburg is, of course, 
 the Witwatersrand. Other gold has been discovered 
 in South Africa — some beds in the Transvaal itself, 
 some in Rhodesia; but these are "reef" beds. The 
 gold of the Rand is in banket beds, so called (it is 
 said) from their resemblance to a Dutch sweetmeat, 
 and these are supposed to be much more productive. 
 Experts are of opinion that the output of these mines 
 will continue for many years to come ; some say even 
 into the middle of next century. For there are not only 
 *' outcrop " properties which are said to be capable of 
 lasting for another thirty years, but the "deep level" 
 beds, which can be worked at great depths, are only 
 beginning to be worked, and will probably yield an 
 immense harvest in the future. From the Rand have 
 come gigantic fortunes to individual capitalists. Com- 
 panies, too, bring in handsome fortunes to many in- 
 dividuals. For at least eleven miles along the Main 
 Reef of the Rand some thirty-six companies have claims 
 pegged out of " deep level " workings some 1 200 feet
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 55 
 
 wide. Beyond the companies now at work, there are 
 some three thousand claims here, which are believed to 
 be certain to give a large "deep level" yield in the 
 future. 
 
 The appearance of the Rand is dreary in the 
 extreme, and it is impossible not to feel a certain 
 sadness on reflecting on the life of Johannesburg. 
 There are good people everywhere, but the sudden 
 acquisition of great wealth is not conducive to good- 
 ness. The city — if one may be pardoned the expres- 
 sion — ''stinks' of money ! Here men have made vast 
 fortunes ; others have hoped and failed. The tendency 
 has probably been, as in South Africa generally, to 
 make men feverishly anxious to grow rich quickly, and 
 to diminish the healthy sense of the duty and dignity 
 of labour and of receiving honest wage for honest work. 
 The madness of speculation has had its fever heat, and 
 fortunes have been made which have proved a curse to 
 those who have made them. 
 
 Things would be infinitely better under a good admi- 
 nistration, but the tendency is to subsidise and help the 
 lazy and " stationary " Boers, in whose hands England 
 has placed the country, at the expense of Englishmen, 
 Americans, Germans, and of " Uitlanders " generally. 
 Wise and steady and diligent men employed by the 
 leading companies will make their way in a modest 
 and honest fashion — as character, honesty, and perse- 
 verance always tell ; but it is impossible for any, under 
 the present wretched Government, to take an interest 
 in the country, as intelligent and good men should. 
 To be " hewers of wood and drawers of water " for a 
 less advancing race is not a condition which English- 
 men can view with permanent satisfaction, and it is,
 
 56 SIvETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 therefore, not to be wondered at if either great capital- 
 ists, or far less moneyed men, should make what they 
 can and then leave the country. This they have been 
 blamed for. It is, however, the inevitable consequence 
 of a corrupt and unjust Government. This temper has 
 to some extent, no doubt, had an influence throughout 
 South Africa. Mr. Cecil Rhodes, indeed, is one of the 
 brilliant exceptions. In him — as, of course, in some 
 few others — you find a man in whom an effort to 
 accumulate wealth is subordinated to an enthusiasm 
 for the advancement of the country where the wealth 
 has been won, to a loyal desire to assist the best 
 interests of his native land, and to an unflagging 
 efibrt to promote the welfare of his fellow men. 
 Mere money-getting has always its seamy side, and 
 the history of later South Africa has supplied the 
 world with some ghastly instances. The desire for 
 gain anyhow, especially by the gambling of specula- 
 tion, the love of gain for its own sake, and for the 
 power of self- gratification which it gives to its owner, 
 these create that superheated steam which drives men 
 on in the race for wealth. But religion, refinement, 
 culture, tend to check and restrain much that is 
 dangerous and degrading in all this. The circum- 
 stances in which so many men in Johannesburg are 
 placed tend to reduce these checks to a minimum. 
 There are good men and true in Johannesburg. There 
 are cultivated and cultured men. But no one can fail 
 to feel in the place, with especial acuteness, that 
 religion, refinement, culture, are very far from being 
 the motive powers and governing forces. How things 
 may work out in the end, to what the place may settle 
 down in time, who can tell ? Meantime the city and
 
 JOHANNESBURG, TRETORIA, BOKSBURG 57 
 
 Its surroundings, so young and yet so full of vigour, 
 Is a marvellous testimony to the energy of Englishmen 
 and of Uitlanders generally, notwithstanding the diffi- 
 culties with which they have had to contend. 
 
 Although the climate of Johannesburg and Its 
 neighbourhood is bright and bracing, the sanitary 
 conditions are not good. The Transvaal Boer is by 
 nature opposed to all progress and all Improvement ; 
 and the city, notwithstanding Its extent and wealth, 
 Is not permitted by the enlightened authorities to 
 have a municipal government of Its own. Sanitation 
 and water supply are In a wretched condition, and the 
 place Is therefore a locus classicus of typhoid fever. 
 No one there, who can avoid It, drinks water, unless 
 boiled or very carefully filtered. Many, of course, are 
 unable to take these precautions. Most people have 
 made considerable use of mineral waters hitherto, but 
 one of the last efforts In finance made by the Yolksraad 
 has been to tax these heavily, so that their use must 
 be necessarily more restricted for the large number 
 who are not wealthy. Heavy tarifis, monopolies, and 
 concessions, together with high taxes upon food stuffs, 
 have been hitherto the Government plan of finance. 
 Concessions are now, It Is said, less In vogue, and 
 taxation on the Rand Industry, which will, there Is 
 little doubt, steadily increase, is more likely In the 
 future to be the means found for supporting an oppres- 
 sive Government, and freeing the burgher Boers from 
 all financial burdens, to which they have a decided 
 objection. 
 
 We visited Pretoria. It Is a pretty little place. It 
 lies lower than Johannesburg, and Is less fresh and 
 breezy ; In fact, it was extremely hot. Before the
 
 58 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 annexation, the square was overgrown with grass, 
 and things looked in a poor condition from the 
 Hepubhc being somewhat " out at elbows ; " but since 
 then the money spent by England on the country 
 while it governed it, and the improved condition of 
 finances now that the Uitlanders can be utilised as 
 wealth-producers, have caused things to " look up." 
 There are now some fine buildings. Of these the most 
 pretentious is the Raadzaal or Government buildings. 
 Here are the Government offices and the chambers for 
 the Volksraad. There are some other important build- 
 ings about the square, and in the centre a hideous 
 Dutch Reformed church. This, I think I was informed, 
 was to be removed. 
 
 The town itself is rather a pretty town. It is 
 surrounded by hills. It has about it, and in it, 
 abundant rose gardens and splendid weeping willows, 
 like those we saw at Maritzburg, and lines and groves 
 of eucalyptus. 
 
 A kindly aquaintance, who was intimate with the 
 Government circles, insisted on introducing us to the 
 President. I had no wdsh for it, as the study of 
 the history of South Africa and many independent 
 witnesses, as well as observation, for long, of the course 
 of events, had not awakened in me any admiration for 
 his actions or character. However, at last I consented 
 and we went. The house in which he lives is a 
 pretty Dutch house, with the usual stoep in front, 
 and the railing or bulustrade covered with creeping 
 plants. Two somewhat primitive guards, dressed like 
 policemen, were lounging at the gate. A word from 
 our afuide moved them to admit us. In another 
 moment we were shown into a drawing-room furnished
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 59 
 
 In an ordinary modern manner. On entering we found 
 ourselves in " the presence." Mr, Kriiger was seated 
 in an armchair on our left as we entered. 
 
 He cannot be described by his greatest admirers 
 as a prepossessing old man. He was dressed in a 
 seedy, somewhat badly fitting suit of black. He 
 wore his beard after the fashion usually known as a 
 " Newgate fringe." His brow is rather low and his 
 forehead narrow. The expression seemed heavy, and 
 did not give the idea of any great intellectual capacity. 
 His eyes are rather small, his eyelids thick and 
 wrinkled, but these may have been specially so as the 
 poor man was suffering from some affection there ; 
 the face is heavy and large, and the mouth wide when 
 opened. His mode of receiving a visitor is not perhaps 
 meant to be unkindly, but certainly seemed gruff and 
 somewhat self-asserting. One was not struck certainly 
 with that " noble simplicity " with which he is credited 
 by his admirers in this country. He looks as if he 
 possessed a temper (although perhaps that is not a 
 defect, when it is well under control), and now that he 
 has succeeded in establishing his autocracy, it is said 
 that the Volksraad, as well as the judicial bench, have 
 learnt to their cost that he will brook no opposition. 
 There is a look of shrewdness, not to say cunning, 
 about the face. The face, however, is less unpleasing 
 when in repose. On the whole one cannot pretend 
 at first sight to be impressed with anything exception- 
 ally heroic. 
 
 Doubtless any man in such a position is liable to be 
 surrounded by flatterers, who may be impelled from 
 various motives to present a highly coloured portrait. 
 John Bull is a kindly and credulous person, and the
 
 60 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " Oom Paul" who has been for long and sedulously 
 presented to him has, not improbably, been somewhat 
 idealised. He has been represented to us all ad 
 nauseam, as a man of simple habits and deep piety, 
 one fond of homely ways, who has dragged himself, 
 Cmcinnatus-like, from the plough to save his afflicted 
 country ; one whose indomitable courage and perse- 
 verence have succeeded against fearful odds in restoring 
 liberty to an injured pastoral people ; one who has 
 upset the calculations of statesmen by a simple faith in 
 God and love of rectitude, and who wrung not once, 
 but twice, from unwilling opponents, conventions so 
 framed as to place the fellow subjects of the statesmen 
 who gave them at the feet of his faithful, simple, and 
 injured burghers. This glorious character of homely 
 virtue and unpretending uprightness, of courage and 
 wisdom, and love of fair play, has done duty for long 
 enough, thanks to the unfaiHng efforts of the President's 
 admirers and the credulous, kindly English mind.* 
 
 To study Mr. Krliger's career and to see him face to 
 face is to read the secret of his success. He is rough, 
 astute, and gifted with immovable determination, not 
 
 * I had not the advantage of studying Mr. Bryce's delightful book on South 
 Africa before writing, but my attention has just now been directed to a passage 
 in it which somewhat astonishes me. It is this : " He is one of the most 
 interesting figures of our time, this old President— shrewd, cool, dogged, wary, 
 courageous, typifying the qualities of his people, and strong because he is in 
 sympathy with them ; adding to his trust in Providence no small measure of 
 worldly craft ; uneducated, hut able to foil the /statesmen of Europe at their own 
 weapons; and perhaps all the more capable because his training has been 
 wholly that of an eventful life, and not of books." Much of this is more or 
 less true. The words which I have italicised, however, are rather, I think, 
 wide of the mark. I cannot think of a single statesman whom Mr. Kriiger has 
 " been able to foil at their own weapons." It is true that he may have deluded 
 Mr. Gladstone into a higher estimate of himself and his associates, at the 
 time of the rebellion, than was just, but the action of the Liberal Govern- 
 ment, unfortunate as it was, in 1881, was based upon mistaken notions of their 
 own, and upon their political needs at home. Mr. Kriiger has certainly had
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 61 
 
 to say doggedness. He is in fact the incarnation of 
 Boerdom at its best. He therefore well represents the 
 people over whom he has asserted his sway, chiefly, 
 perhaps, because he thoroughly understands them. 
 
 They are a people, as those who know them best 
 testify, who have some rugged virtues — the virtue of 
 physical courage, and of easy good -nature if not 
 aroused. There is, however, a dark side to them, and 
 the rank and file are not attractive. They detest pro- 
 gress of any kind ; are frequently regardless of truth, 
 and unfaithful to promises when falsehood or betrayal 
 of engagement will suit their purpose. They are 
 subject to alternations of lethargic idleness and fierce- 
 ness of courage which characterise many wild animals. 
 Some of them are, of course, not bad fellows to get on 
 with, if there is no reason for crossing them. They 
 delight in isolation, detest work, dislike paying taxes, 
 hate all progressive ways, cling to the most wretched 
 stationary stage of semi-civilisation with unparalleled 
 tenacity, and love what is called " independence " — that 
 is, selfish self-seeking up to the verge and over the 
 verge of licence. They are utterly uncultured — indeed 
 have no conception of what culture means ; their very 
 language is incapable of expressing high philosophical 
 ideas ; and the pastoral home life so much insisted upon 
 by their panegyrists thinly veils in many cases — such is 
 
 to do with one great statesman — Mr. Cecil Rhodes — and, fortunately, we may 
 fairly say, for South Africa, was completely foiled by him in his efforts to 
 extend Transvaal rule and all its consequences over other parts of the 
 continent. The fact is Mr. Kriiger has been a very fortunate man and 
 has had suflScient craft to profit by the blunders of Englishmen. The 
 unhappy mistakes of others have lifted him into a position for which it is by 
 DO means certain that he is eminently fitted, and which he retains probably 
 more by astuteness than any profound statesmanship, and certainly in part 
 owing to the long-suffering toleration of England.
 
 62 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the testimony of the many credible witnesses who have 
 lived among them — the most odious vices. To this — 
 as in any large body of people — there are, of course 
 brilliant exceptions, but the main characteristics of the 
 Transvaal Boer seem to be these. The Dutch of the Cape 
 Colony are, for the most part, vastly superior. Many 
 of them are of a much better stamp and sprung from 
 a much higher class of the original immigrants from 
 Holland, and they have learnt some progress from their 
 intercourse with the British, and have intermarried much 
 more with the English, the Germans, and Huguenot 
 French. 
 
 One secret of Mr. Kriiger's success Is, as I have said, 
 to be found in his thorough knowledge of the Trans- 
 vaal Boers, and his being himself a concentrated repre- 
 sentation of their character on its tougher and its 
 better side. 
 
 None the less the most ridiculous notions of his 
 capacity and his simple rectitude have been palmed 
 off by his interested supporters upon the ready good- 
 nature and generosity of the English people. The 
 simple method of the encomium-writers of the Trans- 
 vaal Government is to deny flatly all adverse criticism. 
 It Is a simple Boer plan, and has its advantages. None 
 the less, it is not, one need hardly say, consistent with 
 facts. 
 
 That Government seems to have a consistent hatred 
 of the British race, to whom the Boers owe everything. 
 It has, when now in power, oppressed them and refused 
 them their just rights. It — as they believe — plunders 
 them for the sake of the Boers. The President himself 
 has repeated ad nauseam his desire for the prosperity 
 and peace of all over whom he rules. There have been
 
 JOHANxNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG G3 
 
 the same canting phrases repeated again and again, and 
 the same — let us call it — diplomacy and what look like 
 broken pledges. But admirers still sing the praises of 
 a simple government and of this " great " and humble- 
 minded man. Cunning and faithlessness are, after all, 
 often great forces. 
 
 Other things have helped the President. If he is aj 
 not really intellectual man, he is a singularly lucky 
 man, and he has had sufficient astuteness to take 
 advantage of his luck. He has had the good fortune 
 to have had opportunities without end given him by 
 the weakness, vacillation, and generosities of statesmen 
 infinitely superior to himself in actual ability, and he 
 has most certainly had the acuteness to make the most 
 of those opportunities. There is something saddening 
 in the notion that English statesmen should waste the 
 courtesies of diplomacy on the Transvaal Government. 
 These are misconstrued and, indeed, thrown away. It 
 is to be regretted that outraged Uitlanders should 
 continue to make appeals — hitherto certainly in vain 
 — to a supposed respect for right where that respect is 
 scarcely to be found. It is only necessary to consider 
 the present state of things in order to feel that 
 Transvaal Boers can hardly be blamed for their open 
 contempt of the British, when it is remembered that 
 the tactics of our politicians, or their mistaken though 
 lofty sentiments, have made such a state of things 
 possible. Englishmen will for ever waste their cour- 
 tesies, appeals, diplomacies and sentiments on such 
 people. An ultimatum with force behind it is the only 
 thing that ever has or probably ever will move men of 
 this sort to keeping pledges or making jnst reforms. 
 
 It has been the habit of Mr. Kriigfer's admirers in
 
 64 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 literature and the press in England to dwell upon 
 the respect felt by him and the Boers generally for 
 Mr. Gladstone as contrasted with the opposite feeUng 
 among the British in South Africa. This I believe to 
 be a thorough misrepresentation dressed up for the 
 home consumption of the English people. It is 
 unhappily true that generally throughout South 
 Africa the name of the great statesman is received in 
 a way painful to those who admired and loved him. 
 This, however, is not unnatural, as South Africans 
 consider that his serious though well-intended mistake 
 as to the Transvaal was the source of all their sorrows. 
 But the Boers seemed to me wholly indifferent or 
 worse. On the occasion of our visit to Mr. Kriiger I 
 was entreated not to allude to certain persons or topics 
 which, so it appeared, were likely to hurt his fine 
 sensibilities, or, in other words, make him very angry. 
 Accordingly, I turned the conversation to the subject 
 of Mr. Gladstone, which I fully believed would be a 
 pleasing topic. The way in which his name was 
 received did not strike me as indicating admiration. 
 After all, the Boers who have succeeded in great 
 measure by craft are not likely to be capable of 
 gratitude. They only feel contempt for nobler men 
 whom they think they have succeeded in outwitting, 
 and who have credited them with natures as high as 
 their own. It is only fair to say that there is every 
 reason to believe in the sincerity of Mr. Kriiger's 
 religious vie^vs. He would seem to be guided by his 
 view of Old Testament teaching ; and indeed it is not 
 improbable that many of the Transvaal Boers consider 
 coloured men and Uitlanders alike as Canaanites to be 
 exterminated or kept under by the Elect People.
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 65 
 
 Mrs. Kriiger appeared to be a homely hausfrau, 
 kindly and human — particularly human at the time, as 
 she was crooning over her youngest grandchild. She 
 had had sixteen children, she told us, and her grand- 
 children she could not count. I am not sure whether to 
 be glad that we saw the President. It was probably 
 difficult to be fair to him and exactly balanced in one's 
 judgments. I had been terribly dosed with his " great- 
 ness," his Bible reading, his piety, and so on, and 
 human nature will revolt against " Ar is tides the 
 Just " ; but, perhaps, had one not seen him one might 
 have had more belief in simple homely simplicity. I 
 suppose the sort of liking which Englishmen have for 
 the ideal " Oom Paul " is a covert admiration for one 
 who has never betrayed his own people as we have 
 ours, and who has succeeded by dogged determination 
 in having his own way. 
 
 Thus in some ways I am not sorry to have seen him 
 and spoken to him. Otherwise one might have gone 
 on imagining him to be a " great " though not a 
 cultivated man. When one visits prominent people of 
 whose views or actions one cannot approve the poet 
 Gray's advice to Nicholls sometimes comes over one's 
 mind. It is thus described : 
 
 "When his young friend Nicholls was going abroad in 177 1, just 
 before Gray's death, he said to him : ' I have one thing to beg of you 
 which you must not refuse.' Nicholls answered : * You know you 
 have only to command : What is it ? ' ' Do not go to see Voltaii^e,' 
 said Gray, and then added : ' No one knows the mischief that man 
 will do.' Nicholls promised compliance with Gray's injunction. 
 * But what,' he asked, * could a visit from me signify ? ' ' Every 
 tribute to such a mem signifies,^ Gray answered."* 
 
 • Arnold's Essays on Criticism, vol. ii. p. 83.
 
 63 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Perhaps " every tribute to such a man " as we cannot 
 really approve of — even from the most insignificant 
 person — "signifies,'* even if he have none of Voltaire's 
 brilliant faculties for mischief. However, it is better, 
 perhaps, in such cases to judge for oneself, and cer- 
 tainly the main interest in our visit to South Africa 
 was seeinof and hearino^ men on all sides of the burninof 
 questions there. Certainly we were impressed with 
 the fact that the acts of the Transvaal Government 
 are singularly out of harmony with their constant 
 assurances. 
 
 The contrast between the condition of the Dutch in 
 Cape Colony and the English in the Transvaal brings 
 into prominence the iniquity of the Pretoria Govern- 
 ment. Indeed, it speaks for itself, and we found that 
 it was acknowledged both by friends and foes. At 
 the Cape the two races are treated as one. Both 
 languages can be used in the Legislature, and in both 
 the official documents are printed, and the members on. 
 entering the Legislative Assembly take the oath in 
 either language according to preference. To quote 
 what has been truly said on the subject : 
 
 I " The equality of the two languages is carried out through all the 
 branches of the Civil Service, and it is a sine qu& non that magistrates 
 and all high officials should be as conversant with the one language 
 as with the other. All Government Gazette notices, even in the 
 smallest village or mimicipality, are published side by side in. the 
 English and Dutch languages. Educational grants are liberally 
 made to schools, whether Dutch or English ; in fact, in the minutest 
 particulars England has placed her Dutch subjects on an absolute 
 equality with her own." 
 
 Why should all this be reversed in the Transvaal ? 
 It is surely in the highest degree inequitable that
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 67 
 
 England should, by a large generosity — whether mis- 
 taken or not — create an Oligarchy which seizes every 
 opportunity to treat the English inhabitants in a 
 manner the very reverse of that accorded to the 
 Dutch in Cape Colony. 
 
 " In the Transvaal " — to quote again — " the Government use every ' 
 possible pretext to taboo and veto the use of the English language. 
 Not a single legal document can be registered or deemed valid unless 
 printed in Dutch, although both the contracting parties may not 
 know a word of that language. Every official document and notice 
 issued by the Government, even in Johannesburg itself, is printed 
 solely in Dutch. British suitors in the Courts are forbidden the use 
 of their own language, and are compelled to plead and defend their 
 cases in the Dutch language through means of interpreters — a costly 
 and dangerous method of procedure. In the Transvaal in actual 
 practice no Government grants are made to schools where English 
 is used as the medium of instruction ; and this, too, although nine- 
 tenths of the revenue of the country is contributed by the British 
 population. The English language, written or spoken, is as severely 
 checked and discouraged as are English goods and English manu- 
 factures." * \ 
 
 This is a state of things which, surely, on any 
 principles of equity, ought not to be tolerated in a 
 State of which our Queen is Suzerain, and which owes 
 its existence to our clemency. 
 
 A visit to the Volksraad was interesting. The 
 chamber in which the Assembly sits is a handsome 
 chamber. Two large armchairs are placed on a raised 
 platform side by side for the Chairman and the 
 President, and round in front are a ring of semi- 
 circular benches and desks. It gives to one more the 
 feeling of an English court of justice than of a legisla- 
 tive chamber. We visited the English Residency, 
 
 * Pavers of the imperial South African Association.
 
 68 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 were very kindly treated by Mr. Keith Frazer in the 
 absence in England of Mr. Cunningham Green, felt 
 better at having had our feet on the one spot in the 
 Transvaal over which still floats the British flag, and 
 finally returned to Johannesburg, feeling " sadder but 
 wiser " after a very interesting day. 
 
 From Johannesburg, after a very pleasant visit, in 
 which great kindness was shown to us by many 
 hospitable and kind acquaintances and friends, circum- 
 stances led us to pay a short visit to Boksburg. 
 
 Boksburg is really on the Band, and not far, there- 
 fore, from the mines. The little inn where we stayed 
 for a night or two was of the most primitive descrip- 
 tion. The people, however, were very civil and 
 attentive, and our sympathies were much touched by 
 an Italian lady, fallen in fortunes, who was filling the 
 post of housekeeper. It was strange to hear in that 
 odd, somewhat desolate place, the sweet tongue of 
 Tuscany, and to have talks with her of Florence and 
 Bome. She had had sorrow after sorrow, as she had 
 lost her husband and her daughter, and the little 
 treasures which were mementos of both had been, I 
 think, lost at sea. She spoke with a despairing self- 
 restraint and resolution which were very touching. 
 She was a religious woman, but so placed that to attend 
 one of her churches (the nearest Boman Catholic church 
 was in Johannesburg) was almost always impossible. 
 Her hopes and thoughts were centred on her only son, 
 who was partly crippled, but had employment in 
 Johannesburg. She was full of a mother's anxiety 
 as to the dangerous eflects of the great wicked city on 
 her child. She wrote to him daily and he to her, and 
 fondly hoped that this bond would not be slackened
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 69 
 
 as time went on. Her one hope (against hope) was to 
 save enough to return with her son to her own people 
 and her own land ; but doctor's bills and payment for 
 his lodgings in a place so terribly expensive as 
 Johannesburg had made a large hole in their united 
 slender earnings. She did not complain. There was 
 a quiet, settled sorrow about her which moved our 
 hearts. Her surroundings were evidently uncongenial, 
 and she was as evidently superior to some who had 
 been her employers, and her heart was yearning and 
 " watching through the stars for Italy." How we 
 longed for the means to help her adequately ! How 
 often, in this way, one is tempted in so sad a world to 
 wish for wealth ! Perhaps if we had it we should be 
 selfish ! There are many who have it and who are 
 thoughtful and generous. Alas ! how many also who 
 seem to have no idea of the needs of others, and of 
 how little would ease off burdens and make others 
 happy, and who have no idea of the supreme joy of 
 giving ! Tlie thing is, after all, to be faithful in such 
 opportunities as one has, not to judge or criticise 
 others as to the difficult question of charities, but 
 oneself to do one's best. In this case an effort was 
 made by a friend to help to a more lucrative em- 
 ployment, but from circumstances the arrangement 
 unavoidably fell through. 
 
 Boksburg in itself seemed sufficiently dreary 
 Thanks to kind friends we had some interesting 
 drives, which gave us an idea of the E-and and of the 
 open Veldt beyond, showing us by its strange loneli- 
 ness what the Kand had once been. We recall also a 
 walk one late afternoon, and the weird desolation of 
 the track along which we went; but in spite of the
 
 70 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 unfinished and squalid appearance of things, again the 
 marvellous atmosphere and gorgeous sunset lent to the 
 desolation a mysterious beauty. 
 
 One Sunday afternoon, while staying with the 
 manager of the East Band, a drive was taken with 
 his wife to see a native dance in one of the compounds. 
 We drove straight into the compound and stayed in 
 the carriage for some little time, until the horses began 
 to get frightened with the sticks that were flourished 
 so near them, when we promptly got out, and remained 
 for about an hour and a half watching the dance, which 
 fascinated us in its strangeness. There seemed to be 
 several ways of beginning it, but the usual one is for 
 one native to come out, or rather spring out with a 
 huge leap and a jump from among the rest, and begin 
 prancing up and down before them all, stamping his 
 foot with such force on the ground that all his muscles 
 fairly quiver, and chanting all the time something 
 quite unintelligible of course to us, but which we were 
 told was a story of a fight and of their chiefs brave 
 deeds and what they did to their prisoners. At regular 
 intervals came the deep-toned chorus from all the 
 others, and out came at the same time sixty or seventy 
 black legs all stamping like the reciter. The way they 
 keep time is perfectly marvellous, and their voices are 
 strangely pathetic and almost musical. Then abandon- 
 ing the prancing motion, the reciter grows more and 
 more excited, and jumps and flings himself wildly about, 
 stirring himself and his friends up to such a degree 
 that they appear hardly to know what they are doing. 
 Luckily they are not allowed arms of any kind, only 
 sticks, and with one wild fling up, that reciter retires 
 and another comes out. There were eighteen hundred
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 71 
 
 of them in that compound, and all looking very 
 contented and happy, otherwise we should probably 
 have felt nervous, especially as, when they work them- 
 selves up into such states of excitement, the reciters do 
 not seem to mind where they jump. Some of them 
 were got up in regular war costume, others with any 
 old uniforms they could find. Many were playing 
 audience and applauding. But what they applauded 
 most w^as one of the dancers suddenly bursting into 
 the ring and doing the wheel trick on hands and 
 feet like the London street boys, which to them 
 seemed amazing and masterly, though to us, of course, 
 it was anything but novel. 
 
 In the month of November I left Boksburg for 
 E-hodesia. There was a certain sorrow and also a 
 certain relief in preparing to leave the Transvaal. It 
 is quite impossible for any healthy-minded Englishman 
 not to feel a sense of depression in a country handed 
 over by the faults or follies, or even virtues, of his own 
 Government to a people behindhand in civilisation and 
 devoid, apparently, of any idea of justice. On the 
 other hand, many of the English and Americans in the 
 Transvaal had been exceedingly kind to us, and a great 
 deal that one had heard and seen was full of interest. 
 One must have always a kindly feeling for this district 
 of country, and wish it a happier future than at 
 present seems probable. 
 
 I went by train to Krligersdorp. This place seemed 
 to be a quiet commonplace Transvaal town, with 
 nothing remarkable about it. There was a fairly good 
 hotel and a few good shops. The day was windy, and 
 the dust, as usual in South Africa, and especially in 
 the Transvaal, was blinding, and the weather very hot.
 
 72 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 It had been stated at the office in Johannesburg that 
 the coach ran in connection with the train, and that it 
 would start immediately on the train's arrival. Such, 
 however, was not the case. There had been some con- 
 fusion in a distant telegraph office, and the authorities 
 in Pretoria had been obliged to send an official to take 
 up the work in that place. A message was, therefore, 
 telegraphed to KrLigersdorp that the coach was to wait 
 until the arrival of the official in question. All the 
 passengers who had arrived by the special train, as 
 well as the mails, had, therefore, to spend the day in 
 the heat, dust, and dulness of Krligersdorp until the 
 young man of the telegraph, accompanied by two 
 detectives in disguise who were being sent to 
 Mafeking, appeared in the evening. Such are the 
 blessings attendant upon the j)aternal government of 
 "OomPaul"! 
 
 We left Krligersdorp about 6 p.m. It was a glorious 
 evening. The coach inside was packed like a sardine- 
 box, chiefly with Government officials and children. 
 How they endured that night it is hard to imagine, 
 but whenever they did emerge at any station in the 
 course of the night they seemed kindly, genial, and 
 good-tempered, if a little cramped in the limbs ! On 
 the roof of the coach was a fat, comfortable old Boer, 
 who snored contentedly in sunshine or storm under 
 shelter of a huge tarpaulin. I was on a seat behind 
 the coachman, with a coloured " boy " who acted as a 
 kmd of guard. The coachman was a very fat, 
 contented, and good-tempered-looking Boer, who 
 wielded a mighty whip with astonishing dexterity; 
 and, beside him, a " boy " who held the reins, and was 
 one of the best drivers I have ever seen. We had a
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 73 
 
 team of twelve horses, and very fine and well-kept 
 horses they were. South Africa is a land of team- 
 driving, whether in waggons, coaches, or large long 
 carts. One constantly sees from eight to twelve horses 
 or mules, and sometimes more. 
 
 It was a glorious evening as we left Kriigersdorp. 
 The sun was setting with a pageantry of splendour, 
 but far away on the horizon were ominous banks of 
 piled-up clouds. 
 
 The road for a time was a fairly good road, but it 
 soon became little more than a track over the open 
 Veldt, and at times was little else than a watercourse. 
 Above, the sky was brilliant with stars, but below it 
 appeared to me to be in complete shadow. We went 
 through rolling country, down considerable hills and 
 up equally steep rises, and all around right up to the 
 horizon the mysterious distances of the open Veldt. We 
 went at a swinging pace. The old coach, which sounded 
 sufficiently creaky but was sound and strong, I was 
 told, groaned and heaved and swung from side to side. 
 At times we just grazed a mighty rock, at times 
 travelled over a huge boulder, with every probability 
 of an upset ; but the horses seldom slackened, the 
 driving seemed to me quite miraculously excellent, and 
 we righted quickly after what at first appeared imminent 
 peril, and on we went. Now and again the man with the 
 whip played a rousing tune on his horn to warn those 
 whom he descried in the distance. How he could see 
 anything was a mystery to me, for on the road or track 
 everything appeared of equal darkness. However, he 
 did detect dangers ahead, for, soon after the blow- 
 ing of the horn, we were sure to find some cart or 
 waggon with a long team of donkeys, or more frequently
 
 T4 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 mules or horses, drawn aside as far as possible from 
 our course to avoid collision. Often we saw in the dim 
 starlight waggons of wandering Boers drawn up for the 
 night on the Veldt, or the fires burning at some KaflBr 
 kraals, or stray watch-fires of some wanderers — like 
 many a young Englishman after the Matabele rising 
 was over, tramping it from Rhodesia to Johannesburg 
 to seek his fortune. 
 
 Like the pampas in South, and the prairies in North, 
 America, the wide open Veldt has a mysterious senti- 
 ment of its own. These vast spaces of apparently 
 boundless rolling country, stretching away to the 
 distant horizon of the starry heavens, with no sound 
 but the sighing of the breeze for miles and miles, 
 awaken those undefined longings and strange dreams 
 which come so mysteriously to man when brought in 
 contact, so to speak, with Silence, Solitude, Immensity. 
 Men are given to smiling — almost sneering — at them- 
 selves for allowing such dreams ; but there are few, except 
 perhaps the coarsest and most blunted, to whom they 
 do not come : the immortal spirit is conscious in such 
 scenes and at such times of its kinship to infinity ; and 
 the human heart pressed upon then, more than ever, 
 by silence and distance, wakens to the tenderest touches 
 of affection and sadness, and is most alive to the 
 pathetic memories of Home, and " the sorrow's crown 
 of sorrow " in " remembering happier things." In the 
 wide weird sweep of the Veldt, even the creaking, 
 swaying coach is forgotten, and is not powerful enough 
 to hinder the play of dreams. 
 
 As we travelled on, however, dreams were disturbed 
 by the low rumbling of thunder along the horizon, and 
 soon began, in the distance, the pageantry of a splendid
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 75 
 
 storm. For a roar of thunder, for vivid, varied, many- 
 coloured, and scarcely intermitting forks and zigzags 
 and streams of lightning, commend me to a South 
 African storm ! Nothing so magnificent have I ever 
 seen before, either in the Alps or in America or on the 
 open sea. We were still spectators without being 
 sufferers. All round the horizon in front of us were 
 ramparts of tremendous clouds, and the play of Nature's 
 artillery, the splendid spectacle of Veldt, and cloud, 
 and sky, as seen under the illumination of the lightning 
 and the density of darkness between the frequent 
 flashes contrasted with the dazzling brilliance, formed 
 one of the most awful and glorious spectacles which 
 it is possible to imagine. We were evidently driving 
 at a rapid rate into the storm. A few heavy drops 
 of rain had begun to fall just as we neared the 
 first post-house. The horses were changed and on we 
 went. We had not gone far, however, when we were 
 aroused from any possible dreams by the stopping of 
 the coach and the announcement of the coachman that 
 we must camp out where we were, as it was perfectly 
 impossible to see the track from the fierceness of the 
 lightning, and the depth of the darkness which followed 
 every flash, and that our journey could not, with 
 safety, be pursued. How he had succeeded in distin- 
 guishing the track so far was to me perfectly marvellous, 
 and in spite of the delay and discomfort, I think every 
 one in or on the coach drew a sigh of relief on learning 
 the decision of the driver ; and afterwards when in the 
 early dawn I saw something of the track we had to 
 pursue, I felt surer than ever that that decision was 
 wise. 
 
 Those inside the coach were safe enough. My Boer
 
 76 SIO^TCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 friend under his tarpaulin seemed to be disturbed by 
 nothing, the driver and the " boys " took to waterproofs 
 and covers ; various rugs were thrown over the horses. 
 One of the travellers and myself preferred to descend 
 and look for shelter elsewhere, for as for me, as I was 
 travelling " in light marching order," no sort of protec- 
 tion could be had, unless I sheltered under the snoring 
 Boer on the top of the coach ! We accordingly elected 
 to go, and having had a promise from the coachman 
 that his horn should be sounded when ready to make a 
 move, we ran for it. The rain had been comino; and 
 now it came. We were fortunate in finding refuge, 
 almost immediately, in a little track-side store. Yes ! 
 the rain had been coming and now it came ! Every 
 one who has been in South Africa or in the tropics 
 knows what rain is. Here one hardly knew which 
 were the more incessant and indeed continuous, the 
 sheets of water or the sheets of fire, and one could not 
 resist a wondering fancy. Would the fire dry up the 
 water, or the water extinguish the fire ? 
 
 Fortunately for us, we were smig and safe in the 
 kindly shelter of the store, and from that vantage 
 ground we watched the splendid fury of the storm. 
 How many hours we sheltered there I cannot tell. It 
 seemed a long time. At last came the sound of the 
 warning blast, and through what now was mud and 
 slush and water we struggled back to our coach. The 
 hollow where the coach stood was little else than a 
 rushing stream, and when we started we soon became 
 aware that our track lay through what seemed to be 
 little else than a raving torrent, or over huge stones 
 tumbled here and there by the rush of the rain. On 
 we dashed in the dimmest grey light of morning.
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 77 
 
 swinging and swaying and bouncing and rolling and 
 splashing, over rough rocks, through deep mud, and 
 across fierce spruits where water dashed along up to 
 the wheel-axles ; and so we descended and ascended until 
 by a more or less steady rise we reached the highest and 
 most open plateau of the Veldt. As daylight crept up, 
 gradually objects became clearer. We made two stops 
 and two changes of horses or (now rather of) mules, 
 before we reached the highest watershed. The night 
 sky was beautiful : there were splendid stars, and, after 
 the tempest, fine, feathered, ragged clouds flung about 
 the heavens, torn from the wings of the storm ; then 
 the grey light came creeping up, then gradually there 
 was a glorious sunrise ; but all that night and morning 
 the cold on top of the coach was bitter. Never have I 
 felt greater extremes of heat and cold than on my 
 perch on that Kriigersdorp coach. The night was 
 almost icy, the following day grilling ! We paused at 
 a little upland store at early sundawn. Then all the 
 inhabitants of the coach assisted the " boys " at the 
 store in lighting a fire and brewing some cofiee. Never 
 to a poor frozen mortal, with chattering teeth and 
 aching bones, was coffee better than what we had that 
 morning ! 
 
 Along the Veldt we soon began to meet waggons, 
 where the horses were being inspanned, and lines of 
 Kaffirs marching out from their kraals to their w^ork. 
 Gradually the track descended, and we swept by many 
 a rapid curve and down many a steep "brow" off the 
 open Veldt into one of the prettiest " dips " of country 
 possible to be imagined. 
 
 The name of the lovely little place at which we 
 halted was not attractive. For some reason, not
 
 78 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 apparent, it called itself " Lead Mines " — if I remember 
 rightly — but anything less like " Lead Mines " it is 
 difficult to imagine. 
 
 The road descending an abrupt hill — reminding one 
 of a Cornish or Devonshire lane — swept round a curve 
 as abrupt. On the one side appeared to be hayfields, 
 and by the road a deep and shadowy copse. On the 
 other, a sparkling, rushing stream, bordered with 
 willow, arum lilies, grass, and flowers ; and before us, 
 nestling in roses, bougainvilleas, and trailing shrubs 
 bright with blossom, a cosy little wayside inn. It was 
 all in striking contrast, in its bright and homelike 
 beauty, to the bare and storm-swept Veldt. 
 
 Here we had the tidiest arrangements made for a 
 refreshing wash and a comfortable breakfast, and — 
 strange to say within the borders of this expensive 
 Republic — at very reasonable charges. 
 
 The rest of the journey, all that day and into the 
 late evening or early night, was through country most 
 of which was extremely pretty. A part of the track 
 ran for miles through wild but attractive and parklike 
 scenery, so that, but for a difference in the hind of 
 flowering shrubs, and some of the trees, and but for a 
 greater wildness, a more tropical flora, an African sun 
 of no gentle degree of warmth, and the absence of 
 anything (except rarely) like a human habitation, 
 much less like an English home, we might have been 
 almost tramping through such places as Yoxall Lodge 
 or Byrkley Lodge in Staff^ordshire. The day was 
 splendid, the heat intense, the pace at which we 
 travelled rapid, and the handling of the long team, 
 either of mules or horses, masterly. The " boy " with 
 the reins showed wonderful promptitude and dexterity,
 
 JOHANNESBURG, PRETORIA, BOKSBURG 79 
 
 and we had, so it appeared to the uninitiated, thanks 
 to that dexterity, many a hairbreadth escape from 
 upset. He seemed to be prepared for all possible and 
 impossible emergencies. The man with the whip used 
 it seldom, but, when he did, with astonishing deftness ; 
 usually, however, he spoke to the individuals of the 
 team, especially when we had horses, addressing them 
 by name. 
 
 The last stage was done with a team of horses, and 
 over a broad and excellent road, and that last fourteen 
 or fifteen miles we travelled at a rattling pace. We 
 had journeyed the route of the Kaid, but this T tried 
 to forget all night and all day, as an Englishman does 
 not care to dwell upon that ill-starred expedition ! 
 Our drive in more peaceful times had been interesting, 
 and through scenery often beautiful ; but we were not 
 sorry when, very late in the evening, and surrounded 
 by a wondering crowd astonished at our delay, we 
 stopped at last at Mafeking.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO, THE MATOPPOS, 
 KIMBERLEY 
 
 Mafeking seemed a quiet little place with not very- 
 much going on. There were rows of trees to give 
 shade in the heat round the principal open space or 
 square, and some very fair shops. The hotel, for a 
 place of that size, though in some respects primitive 
 as many hotels in South Africa, was clean and com- 
 fortable, and my sleeping -room opened on to a 
 verandah, or rather a sort of courtyard, which was cool 
 and shaded, and grown over with creeping plants. In 
 all the few hotels in which I happened to stay there 
 was the comfort of excellent bathrooms. This was a 
 real comfort, as the weather was very hot. 
 
 Talking of heat, I observed generally in South Africa 
 — indeed, I had too much reason to observe it on the 
 top of the Mafeking coach ! — that however great the 
 heat was during the day, the nights were fairly cool. 
 If this is so, it seems to be a great improvement upon 
 India, where one hears so many groans over the heat 
 of the nights following the heat of the burning day. 
 
 I left Mafeking by train for Buluwayo. The journey 
 was interesting if only for this, that it was over the 
 new line which has been carried through with such 
 astonishing energy and vigour. Few things bring
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO 81 
 
 home to one's mind the marvellous force and perse- 
 verance of our countrymen more than the fact that 
 Buluwayo was, about four years ago, the seat of 
 government — we should rather say, of massacre — of a 
 bloodthirsty savage, and that now travellers can take 
 return tickets by steamboat and railway from London 
 to Buluwayo ! 
 
 The railway carriages are well built and exceed- 
 ingly comfortable. At present there is only a single 
 line of rails, but land is reserved at either side for a 
 second line when needed. The gauge is slightly 
 narrower than that usually employed in England, but 
 there is no sense of being cramped in the carriages. 
 These are " corridor " carriages and very well ordered. 
 The rate of travelling is, of course, very moderate, as 
 some of the gradients are considerable, and the trains 
 are very commonly composite — acting as passenger and 
 goods trains in one ; and in some parts of the line 
 where water is not plentiful, tanks of water have to 
 be carried with the train. The travelling is astonish- 
 ingly smooth, and the Jinish of the line, considering its 
 great extent and the rapidity of its construction, is 
 very remarkable. The journey from Mafeking lasted 
 for about — very nearly — two nights and two days. 
 At many places where the train stopped there were 
 opportunities for getting excellent coffee or milk or 
 mineral waters, and at some places there were longer 
 stoppages for regular meals. These, considering the 
 remote part of the country, were fairly good, and 
 fairly inexpensive — very inexpensive as contrasted with 
 the exorbitant prices of the Transvaal. Here, however, 
 the traveller finds himself no longer under an unen- 
 lightened and despotic but under a free Government.
 
 82 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The line passes through Bechuanaland from Vry- 
 burg, some short distance south of Mafeking, to the 
 Shashi River, where it crosses into the Matabele- 
 land part of Rhodesia. Bechuanaland, like Rhodesia, 
 is British territory. A part of it — that which borders 
 on the Cape Colony — is called British Bechuanaland, 
 and the part north of this, which includes " Khama's 
 Country," is known as " the British Protectorate." 
 Through this British territory, and that north of it, 
 pass the line and the telegraph — at present to 
 Buluwayo, and before so very long, it is hoped, to 
 Tanganyika by Salisbury, and so on to join our 
 railway at Khartoum and our Egyptian possessions. 
 Bechuanaland is interesting in its history as an 
 example of English vigour and adventure, and the 
 disasters only just averted thereby, which might well 
 have happened through the hesitation of the English 
 Government. 
 
 The inhabitants of Bechuanaland have been, ever 
 since our explorers have first known them, a gentle 
 and reasonable race as compared with some of the 
 other native races with whom Europeans have had to 
 do. Among these were the various tribes of the 
 Bangwaketse, Bakmena, Baralong, Battaros, and 
 Bataplin. The Bechuanas had stations for hunting in 
 the Kalahari desert, which lies to the west of them 
 and on the border, and here the natives subject to 
 them, the Bakalahari and the Bushmen, acted as slaves 
 to them or paid tribute. Missionary efforts have been 
 made with steadiness and self-devotion among some of 
 these for a long stretch of years. Dr. Livingstone, 
 before he began his pioneering explorations, had 
 worked among some of them. But the most important
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO 83 
 
 name among the missionary labourers in this part of 
 Africa is, without question, that of Dr. Moffat. He and 
 others worked here with abihty and self-devotion for 
 many years, and they have been followed by others in 
 the same field of labour, and Dr. Moffat's son is one of 
 the most energetic and excellent missionaries in more 
 recent times. 
 
 The great achievement of these missionaries has 
 been the conversion and education of Khama, the chief 
 of the Bamargwato, which is the most important of 
 the Bechuanas, and who is nominal King of this region. 
 As of the missionaries' works, so of their chief converts 
 in these parts, there are, of course, very conflicting 
 opinions. Missionaries in South Africa have un- 
 doubtedly done a great deal of good as well as a great 
 deal of harm. The extreme statements on both sides 
 of the question have — as such statements usually have 
 — to be discounted a good deal. There is probably 
 truth and exaggeration on both sides. Khama is a case 
 in point. Those who do not hold him in high esteem 
 represent him as an ambitious and headstrong boy, 
 making Christianity an excuse for rebellion against his 
 father, and then acting in the most arbitrary way 
 towards his own people, and governing by a system of 
 espionage which destroys all confidence between man 
 and man. They represent him as having behaved with 
 gross ingratitude and high-handed injustice to his 
 adviser and friend, the Rev. Mr. Hepburn. He had 
 asked for our protection, and it is thought that, since 
 it was extended to him, he has behaved like a spoilt 
 child. It is probable that, with a touch of our kindly, 
 sentimental folly, his being taken to London and 
 " made a great man of" turned his head. Spasms of
 
 84. SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 this kind of false philanthropy come over us at times, 
 and usually do harm. Savages — even the best — are 
 not, and probably cannot be until generations have 
 passed, in a condition to understand or appreciate such 
 treatment. Like the semi -civilised Dutch Boer, they 
 think that kindness means fear. 
 
 Such is one view. There is another according to 
 which Khama is represented as "the wisest and most 
 enlightened of African chiefs," and one "to whose 
 splendid character traders, hunters, travellers, and the 
 highest officials unite in bearing testimony." * This is 
 a high encomium, but one cannot but suspect that it 
 is somewhat over-coloured and to be received with 
 reserves. 
 
 The history of our relation to Bechuanaland is also 
 interesting. 
 
 The Boers of the Transvaal, after they had first 
 obtained the recognition of their territory as an inde- 
 pendent Bepublic, began to extend their borders. 
 E-aids have always been familiar to them, and they 
 raided the natives, destroyed a part of the Zulu power, 
 having beaten Mozilekatze. But President Pretorius 
 determined to go further. He boldly issued a pro- 
 clamation declaring the boundary of the South African 
 Bepublic to extend to Lake Ngami. This would 
 have absorbed the Hinterland and crossed the path 
 of all British — i.e., of all civilising advance to the 
 north. At the same time, pretensions were put 
 forward to the possession of Delagoa Bay. This was 
 intolerable. " Consideration," as it has been well said, 
 " both of native rights and of Imperial responsibilities 
 
 * CJ. The Illustrated Official Handbook, chap. xxii. ; cf.,per contra, Decle's 
 Three Years in Savage Africa, pp. 36-38.
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO 85 
 
 barred the way to the admission of such claims."* 
 The British Government at last woke up, and Pretorius, 
 through the firmness of Sir P. Wodehouse, then 
 Governor at the Cape, was obliged to withdraw the 
 proclamation. This is interesting as one of the first 
 clear indications of the schemes of the Pretoria 
 Government. This Government, at the time, was 
 indeed little else than confusion and anarchy, but the 
 spirit of licence and freebooting, of disregard for the 
 rights of others, and hatred and scorn for the native 
 races, was there. And the struggle was then, has been 
 ever since, and is now, whether a low state of civilisa- 
 tion, reactionary doctrines, stagnation, and tyranny 
 shall be paramount in South Africa under the guidance 
 of a Boer regime, or enlightened freedom and progress 
 under British rule. 
 
 As time went on there were troubles on the frontier 
 between Boer raiders and the Bataplin tribes. In 
 1882-83 a new and powerful figure in the political 
 life of South Africa had appeared in Mr. Cecil Rhodes. 
 "When on the Commission for delimitation of frontier 
 in Griqualand, he found that, however filibustering 
 had been the attacks from the Transvaal, farms had 
 been taken up, and could not without some injustice 
 be reclaimed. For the protection of Mankaroane and 
 the resisting of Transvaal encroachments, a cession of 
 this part of Bechuanaland was by his instrumentality 
 obtained from Mankaroane. The Cape Colony, how- 
 ever, refused the cession. The Home Government 
 were then urged to accept it. This they decided to do 
 on condition that the Cape Government would be 
 responsible for half the cost of the administration. 
 
 * Egerton's British Colonial Policy, p. 412.
 
 86 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 This, however, was again refused, but matters were 
 brought to a head by the attitude of the Transvaal 
 Government in 1884. 
 
 Mr. Mackenzie, a missionary stationed at Kureinam, 
 was a man of force and character. The Transvaal 
 delegates in London, under the inspiration of Mr. 
 Kriiger, were engaged in wringing from Lord Derby 
 the unfortunate Convention of London. They had 
 their eye on further expansion. Mr. Mackenzie, how- 
 ever, was too much for them. For once they were 
 outwitted and "hoist with their own petard." They 
 had gained their ends in 1881 by working upon the 
 political bias and the mistaken philanthropic feelings 
 of Mr. Gladstone and the men of " the Nonconformist 
 Conscience." Mr. Mackenzie, however, was connected 
 with the " Free Church Missionaries' Societies," and 
 had himself, so to speak, the entree to " the Noncon- 
 formist Conscience." Crowded public meetings were 
 held throughout the country, the foremost Radicals 
 urged upon the Government the need and duty of a 
 forward policy, and, above all, the movement found 
 support from Mr. Forster, whose influence, ability, and 
 simple sincerity of purpose were of enormous value. The 
 Transvaal tactics were made clear, and once and for all 
 their "pretentions to unlimited expansion" were denied. 
 Mr. Kriiger's objects and methods were practically un- 
 masked to those who had before been deluded on the 
 subject, and it is probable that since then the Radical 
 party have been too honest not to feel some unpleasant 
 misgivings as to the " righteousness " of the course pur- 
 sued, under, as is generally thought in South Africa, a 
 considerable misapprehension in 1881. 
 
 Mr. Cecil Rhodes succeeded Mackenzie shortly
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO 87 
 
 afterwards as Deputy-Commissioner in Bechuanaland. 
 Sir Hercules Robinson and Mr. Ehodes have been 
 blamed for their attitude towards Mackenzie as to the 
 difficulties on the frontier; but, rightly or wrongly, they 
 seemed to believe that they were acting with fairness to 
 the Dutch who had acquired land, whilst at the same 
 time being firm towards the Transvaal Government. 
 Offers made were refused by General Joubert, who 
 tried to annex the territory, and was not content 
 with the Dutch holding property under English rule. 
 Kriiger's enterprise, as conducted by Joubert, was of 
 the usual Boer character. The Boers did not hesitate 
 to slaughter numbers of natives under British protec- 
 tion and to seize their property. Commander Bethell 
 was murdered by the Transvaal men, nor was any 
 compensation ever paid by the Transvaal — a fact to be 
 remembered in conjunction with the recollection of the 
 way in which the Pretoria Government enriched itself, 
 without any remonstrance from the English Govern- 
 ment, at the time of Dr. Jameson's expedition. 
 
 Then came Sir Charles Warren's expedition. It was 
 a conspicuous success. Mr. Kriiger's effort to seize this 
 central region — the key to South Africa — was defeated. 
 In 1885 the proclamation was issued extending the 
 Queen's sovereignty, up to the Malopo River, over 
 British Bechuanaland, and shortly afterwards the 
 Protectorate was declared. It was through this 
 country that we travelled. 
 
 The country itself is undulating. In the distance, 
 indeed, are lines of far-off mountains. It was hot 
 when I travelled throug-h it, but the views of the 
 mountains were most beautiful, and the sunset clouds 
 and frequent thunderstorms were often very grand
 
 38 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 It appeared well wooded, and at times so thick are 
 the woods that they often reach the dimensions of 
 forests. There seemed to be plenty of pasturage, and 
 it is said that the country if opened up would be 
 excellent for ranching, and peculiarly suitable for 
 cattle, but just now it had not recovered from the 
 rinderpest. There are large and excellent native 
 reserves. As far as one could judge from what appeared 
 along the line and at the stations, the natives were 
 poorly off from want of rain and from the results of the 
 rinderpest. The country, however, was so fresh and 
 green that it seemed evident that some day proper 
 irrigation would be possible. 
 
 This district will probably be slowly developed. It 
 seems a fine country, and is believed — as I have said — 
 to afford splendid tracts for ranching purposes — finer 
 than anything in America. What is needed for it, as 
 well as for Rhodesia, is capital. To clear and to irrigate 
 appear to be necessary, and these operations need money. 
 It is to be hoped that, with our frightfully congested 
 condition in England, every encouragement will be 
 given to large immigration. What the mineral wealth 
 may be of this region no man knows. Even in Rhodesia, 
 — though something is known of the mineral resources of 
 Matabeleland — Mashonaland has been very imperfectly 
 if at all examined. Mines and mineral wealth are of 
 enormous importance in helping to start a new country. 
 In the Transvaal the mines and the energies and 
 enterprise of the oppressed Uitlanders have been, as 
 we know, invaluable for the support of a helpless 
 government and lazy unprogressive farmers. Still the 
 development of this fine region now open to British 
 enterprise will be effected, probably, more gradually
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO 89 
 
 and in a healthy way by vigorous EngHshmen, not all 
 expecting to grow rich with feverish rapidity, but to 
 earn the fruits of honest labour in regions which Nature 
 has made to repay the efforts of energetic and patient 
 workers. More colonists and more capital are needed 
 for Khodesia, and also for Bechuanaland. These, one 
 can have little doubt, will come. Bechuanaland is 
 invaluable as a road to the north, ao the way which 
 enables British enterprise to extend northward from 
 the Cape, under the British flag ; its fuller develop- 
 ment, so it seemed to me, will probably follow upon 
 that of Rhodesia. 
 
 But be it remembered that what is wanted here, to 
 make this Bechuanaland as fine a country for ranching 
 or for corn crops as some of the most flourishing parts 
 of the American continent, is capital and labour, and 
 not so very much capital either, I imagine. Nature 
 is bountiful here, and readily takes a hint ; what is 
 needed is water, and no one in his senses can look at 
 the abundant greenery without feeling pretty certain 
 that water is not far to seek. The deep furrows of 
 torrents show what vast volumes of water must go to 
 waste every year. With such natural river-beds ready 
 to hand, there would be no great difficulty in forming 
 numberless reservoirs and keeping abundant streams. 
 Wherever there is water to be had in such a region, ' 
 there is sure to be plenty of yield. The more I looked 
 at Bechuanaland and afterwards at Bhodesia, the more 
 I felt that the labour of English colonists, showing just 
 the same knowledge and energy here as elsewhere, would 
 be richly rewarded. The money spent in North-West * 
 Canada, and the labour and the patience, would, I 
 imagine, give a much larger return under a more
 
 90 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 genial climate. Mineral wealth may probably be in 
 abundance under the soil, but many a colonist will make 
 sure and lasting revenue by toil upon the land. 
 
 I thought the railway journey very interesting. The 
 glorious climate — even though the heat was considerable 
 — the lovely views, the mysterious far-stretching lands, 
 where occasionally it looked almost like an endless 
 English park — sometimes with wide sweeps of open 
 country, sometimes with woods and thickets almost 
 like forests close by the side of the line — the quaint 
 little stations with their stores and refreshment-rooms 
 and native locations ; the extraordinary idea of steam- 
 ing up in a comfortable railway carriage through what 
 was not so long ago savage Africa ; — all affected one's 
 imagination and set one dreaming. It is enough to 
 stir many musings to think of this fair region in so 
 comparatively short a time placed under the sway of 
 our Queen. One could not but be struck with the 
 indomitable energy of our race, one could not forget the 
 astonishing genius, devotion and activity, especially of 
 one Englishman. One could not but wonder and think 
 of what may be the happy future of such a region if 
 Englishmen continue to show the higher qualities 
 
 which belong to their race. to ri/Mav tov Travrog v o.pyj\. 
 
 " The beginning is the half of the whole." The begin- 
 ning, one may say, has just been made, only just. 
 Plenty of tough work has still to be done ere the work 
 of development and civilisation is well begun, but with 
 the telegraph already being made from the regions of 
 the Nile down towards Rhodesia, with the railway ere 
 long to follow, with our own people " far too thick 
 upon the ground " at home, and with such opportunities 
 for patient labour and enterprise in our new young
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO 91 
 
 colony, one cannot but hope that there lies in the 
 womb of the Future a hopeful and happy prospect for 
 South Africa under the guidance of those principles of 
 fair play, honesty, honour to hard work, and freedom 
 which are represented by the British flag. 
 
 We reached Buluwayo on the evening of the second 
 day after leaving Mafeking. 
 
 It was dark — too dark to see anything of the town 
 — when we arrived. That night I stayed at the 
 Palace Hotel. Considering the age of the town — 
 about four years old — the Palace Hotel (the name 
 seems unnecessarily magnificent) is wonderfully good. 
 The salle a manger is as fine a room as any hotel 
 need care to have, the food was excellent, and the 
 attendance good. In the evening after dinner I had 
 a walk through the town. The streets are broad, and 
 promise to be handsome when the buildings are 
 finished. The lighting was wonderfully good. I went 
 into several stores and talked to the storekeepers, 
 and into a chemist's shop which would not have done 
 discredit to Belgravia, and here enjoyed an evening in 
 listening to a performance of Strauss's band, given 
 through the phonograph ! Strange experience ! a 
 witness to the advance of civilisation in the heart 
 of Africa ! I learnt from every one that Buluwayo 
 was in a state of expectancy. Some men had got 
 on well, others were struggling. It was a beginning 
 time, and as yet, of course, there was not much 
 money in the place. StiU, that Buluwayo would 
 progress in the future no one doubted. Every 
 place must have struggles and beginnings, but if 
 English energy is induced to act here in increasing 
 degree, as it has already acted, there ought to be a
 
 92 SIvETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 flourishing future for Rhodesia, and especially for 
 Buluwayo. In minerals, there are gold, lead, copper, 
 iron. So far the gold is reef gold, and, of course, it 
 cannot be so productive, or so quickly productive, as 
 the banket beds on the Witwatersrand ; but by- 
 and-by, with capital and English energy, all this will 
 mean much, and there will be no steady pressure of 
 hindrance, such as the Rand must suffer from more 
 and more under the wretched government of the 
 Transvaal, in case civilisation permits the continuance 
 of that blighting and corrupt oligarchy. There are 
 within reach sandstone, granite, trachyte, quantities of 
 wood, and soon railways will place within easy reach 
 extensive coalfields. The country, of course, affords 
 immense agricultural tracts. The railways before long 
 will transform this country as they have transformed 
 others. It is startling to think that in this so 
 lately distant and savage place people already can 
 feel that they are in touch with Capetown — 1360 
 miles away. Soon the railway from Beira to Salisbury 
 will go on to Buluwayo. About thirteen hundred 
 miles of travelling will before many years be managed 
 by railway, and then by the great lakes, so as to bring 
 the place in touch with Egypt. It cannot be very 
 long before Buluwayo will be within thirteen or four- 
 teen days of London. 
 
 Whether the necessary energy will be forthcoming 
 remains to be seen. Many signs point to the conclu- 
 sion that the Dutch Afrikander is wanting in this 
 quality. The English Afrikander too suffers — possibly 
 from the enervating tendency of so warm a climate. 
 Cape Colonists have laughingly observed to me : " The 
 English immigrant has backbone. His children have
 
 MAFEKING TO BULUWAYO 93 
 
 less backbone. His grandchildren are intermittently 
 invertebrate ! " The Boer of the Transvaal is certainly 
 a poorer creature — degenerate in every way as com- 
 pared with the rough old Vortrekker. He is " gone 
 to seed," and his race is terribly debased. Still, 
 although climatic conditions must affect any race, 
 there is no reason to think that they will seriously 
 impair British energy. There is plenty of vigour in 
 the English in India, and the conditions of climate 
 there are much more trying for the white man than 
 those in Africa. For, though the heat may be great, 
 much of the country lies high and has a fresh bracing 
 air, and even the fever and the tetze-fly must retire 
 before civilisation and the efforts of science. Let us 
 hope also rinderpest, horse-sickness, and the locusts 
 will yet be conquered. " You are by nature colonists," 
 said a distinguished German to me not long ago at the 
 Cape ; " your Government has made many mistakes, 
 but nothing can stop you, you can't be kept back." 
 As far as a layman in such things can judge, there 
 is a great future for Rhodesia. What is needed is 
 more immigrants, and with our overcrowded island, 
 and this vast and splendid possession with the great 
 stock-raising stretches and territories suitable for 
 agriculture in Rhodesia and in Bechuanaland, which 
 invite occupation, this is, Englishmen being English- 
 men, only a question of time. What is further 
 wanted is capital, and confidence will grow. The 
 English Government has, we may hope, learnt at 
 last from a bitter experience. The folly of granting 
 that foolish and mischievous Convention to the 
 Boers in 1884 was the last dying sigh of the old, 
 backward, pusillanimous and laisser-aller policy.
 
 94 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 With ever - growing confidence capital will come. 
 Englishmen will learn to use their great heritage 
 in a way to be a blessing to the native races and the 
 progressive colonists. The feverish hurry for money- 
 getting — born of sudden opportunities like the Rand 
 goldfields and lucky speculation — with its reaction of 
 disappointment and demoralisation, in many cases, 
 will give way to the healthier spirit of seeking success 
 from honest labour. Before very long, especially if 
 the life of South Africa's great genius and statesman 
 is spared, railways and telegraphs and intimate inter- 
 course with Europe will have done their work, and 
 South Africa, under the beneficent influence of English 
 force of character, sense of duty, respect for justice 
 and fair play, strong common sense, and reverence for 
 high and pure aflection, will, we have every reason to 
 hope, be one of the noblest parts of our Emph'e and 
 a blessing to mankind. 
 
 Buluwayo lies, as I have said, on a plain. There are 
 no very high hills near it, but the gTound rises to some 
 extent towards the spot where once stood Lobengula's 
 kraal. Leavinaf the town to walk thither one had to 
 travel over a long and broad avenue, which goes for 
 two or three miles in a perfectly straight direction. 
 At either side of the broad avenue are plantations 
 which, with the rapid growth in this favouring soil 
 and climate, will, in not so many years, give grateful 
 shade. At the end of the avenue the drive sweeps 
 up to Government House. Only a little more than 
 four years ago here was the kraal. A tree close to the 
 house marks the spot which has gruesome association 
 with Lobengula's inhuman tortures and butcheries. 
 Under this tree the monster sat while he ordered to
 
 THE MATOPPOS 95 
 
 death or suffering innumerable helpless wretches at his 
 mere whim. The place was once filthy with all the 
 loathsome surroundings of savage life. All this is 
 almost incredible to the visitor to Government House. 
 The house itself is built in the old-fashioned African- 
 Dutch style, with the rooms opening out into a broad 
 stoep or verandah — a pleasant resting-place, as usual, 
 in the shade when the sun is hot and in the early night 
 hours. By day there is an extensive view over the 
 surrounding country, by night the wide heaven with 
 the glorious African moon or brilliant stars. Near 
 the house are exceedingly picturesque " huts," which 
 are bedrooms, dressing-rooms, or offices of one kind 
 or another. The whole place is the creation of Mr. 
 Cecil Rhodes's taste and liberality. It is a home of 
 brightness, comfort, elegance, and hospitable kindness, 
 and the present Administrator — the Hon. Arthur 
 Lawley, supported in all things as he is by his 
 delightful wife — is not the least of the hopeful 
 influences in action for the future of Buluwayo. 
 To remember that this home of grace and kindness, 
 with natives around it in peaceful occupations, and 
 hospitahty shown ungrudgingly to numbers of young 
 Englishmen busy at their callings in the town, is 
 only so lately the substitute for the headquarters of 
 savage cruelty is to open one's eyes to the vigour 
 of the English race, and the genius and indomitable 
 strength of purpose of their great leader in South 
 Africa. At Government House one rubbed one's eyes 
 and wondered if one were looking at actual realities or 
 only listening to a story in the Arabian Nights. 
 
 From Buluwayo, by the kindness of friends there, 
 I spent some days in the Matoppos. The drive of some
 
 96 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 twenty miles to the outlying farm where we were hos- 
 pitably received was sometimes very pretty, sometimes 
 very wild. Before leaving the town I had lunched 
 with officers of the police force in their extremely nice 
 barracks. In the mess-room for the first time I saw a 
 punkah at work in Africa. Buluwayo and the country 
 around it stands high, and, even when the weather is 
 hot, there is a delightful air. The weather, indeed, 
 was very hot during my visit, and on that day in 
 particular it was grilling. Every one was wishing 
 for rain, and no one was sorry to see heavy clouds 
 rising above the horizon. While we were at luncheon 
 the storm broke. There was rolling thunder, vivid 
 lightning, and then real African torrents of rain. 
 There was comfort in the earthy smell, and in the sight 
 of the baked earth and the thirsty eucalyptus-trees 
 drinking in the refreshing rain. One of the officers 
 kindly drove me in a Cape cart with four horses to the 
 farm above the Matoppos. As we crossed the spruit 
 below the town, the place which had been a dry bed a 
 few hours before was a rushing torrent. Indeed, but 
 for the excellent driving we should not have passed it 
 in safety. However, we did get through it with no 
 greater mishap than a splashing and bumping, and 
 after a pleasant drive in the now cooler air we reached 
 the farm. 
 
 The buildings stand on a plateau of some elevation, 
 and look across the valley towards the Matoppos. 
 There are a number of very nicely-built huts, one or 
 two as bedrooms, one for a kitchen, one a sitting-room, 
 and, across a sort of courtyard, others for the native 
 servants. The garden and farm stretched away down 
 the slopes to the bottom, and farm buildings were not
 
 THE MATOPPOS 9T 
 
 far off across the little valley on one side, while beyond 
 the valley bottom at the other side was a neat farm- 
 house and farm worked by an industrious German. 
 Mr. Cecil Rhodes was, as usual, the inspiring genius of 
 these undertakings, and indeed it is one of the most 
 striking facts in English colonial history that Africa 
 possesses a great Englishman, who, in startling con- 
 trast with most men who have made their money 
 and accumulated large fortunes by labour or good 
 luck on this continent, spends vast sums in helping 
 on the country of his adoption and developing the vast 
 district which bears his name. Two young English- 
 men — cousins — work the farm where I stayed, and 
 the sister of one of them, a bright young girl, has 
 devoted herself to them, and lives as mistress and 
 guiding spirit of this picturesque assemblage of 
 English kraals. I have to thank them for great hospi- 
 tality and kindness during my visit to the Matoppos. 
 
 On the following morning my wandering among the 
 hills began. The Matoppos are interesting for more 
 reasons than one. 
 
 The Matabele War of 1893 ^^^ been eminently 
 successful. The Matabele tribe, a vigorous and warlike 
 division of the Zulu race, had given no peace to their 
 neighbours. Their cruel incursions into Mashonaland 
 had brought misery and ruin again and again to the 
 unfortunate and less warlike natives there. At length 
 their continued attacks upon the white settlers made 
 it necessary to break Lobengula's power. With a 
 curious perversity the attempt to do so was viewed with 
 great disfavour by " the Exeter Hall people" at home, 
 but it was absolutely necessary that the thing should 
 be done. Dr. Jameson and a small body of troops,
 
 98 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 after two severe engagements, completely defeated 
 and dislodged Lobengula, and, to the great relief of 
 many of the Matabele themselves, as well as to the 
 great advantage of South Africa, the Matabele power 
 was completely broken. 
 
 Some of the more warlike spirits, however, among 
 the members of the tribe could not view with 
 equanimity the end of their savage habits and customs, 
 and the passing of their power into the hands of the 
 white man. There were other grounds of disaflPec- 
 tion. The Chartered Company seem to have been 
 entirely free from blame, but the acts of individual 
 settlers were, very probably, in some measure blame- 
 worthy, and there were cases of forced labour which 
 were exceedingly distasteful to the idle and lazy 
 Matabele, who altogether objected to work and 
 delighted only in rapine and murder. The exercise 
 and training to habits of diligence were probably very 
 good indeed for the undeveloped savage, but probably 
 there may have been some harsh acts, which were, of 
 course, magnified by the sentimental philanthropists, 
 ever ready to find fault with their own countrymen. 
 In addition to this the police had been withdrawn to 
 Pitsani in view of eventualities in the Transvaal, and 
 there was great calamity brought upon the Matabele 
 by the widely-spreading scourge of the rinderpest. 
 
 These various reasons for discontent placed weapons 
 in the hands of the Matabele agitators, and the rebellion 
 began. We all remember the sad story of atrocities 
 and murders committed on the helpless and trusting 
 white population in the scattered farms in Matabele- 
 land. Of the vigorous and courageous efforts of young 
 Englishmen who flocked to the front to assist the Mata-
 
 THE MATOPPOS 99 
 
 beleland police force ; of their successful struggle ; of 
 the difficult character of the war in the Matoppo Hills, 
 where the well-armed Matabele warriors under the 
 cover of that rocky and bush-sheltered district carried 
 on their guerilla warfare with serious consequences 
 to many an Englishman ; of the manner in which 
 what appears to be a permanent settlement and peace 
 were effected by the splendid courage and address of 
 Mr. Cecil Khodes, who visited unarmed the Matabele 
 indahas in the heart of these hills ; — all know it was 
 his extraordinary personal influence with the natives 
 which, better than battles, settled the question. 
 
 The district is exceedingly beautiful, and unlike any 
 district I have ever been in before. A great tract of 
 country is covered for miles and miles with koj^jes of 
 the most fantastic forms. These are wrecked remnants 
 of some great geological convulsion. They are made 
 up of huge round or oblong boulders piled or poised on 
 one another and making up weird rocky hills. Some of 
 them rise to considerable height ; in some places, indeed, 
 there are wild scarped rocks and sheer precipices. 
 They are for the most part clothed with luxuriant 
 herbage, and gnarled low-growing trees, and beautiful 
 tropical flowers. The highest peak to which we climbed 
 has been called " The World's View." It does command 
 a wonderful prospect. As far as Jthe eye can reach in 
 every direction, peak above peak, precipice after pre- 
 cipice, boulder above boulder, with the waving boughs 
 of the trees, and the rich green crests of the large 
 tropical plants and ferns — this strange land stretches 
 away to the horizon. Every here and there are deep 
 valleys, and through these wind the roads or tracks. 
 It seemed a smiling and beautiful land under the
 
 100 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 brilliance of the African sun. Here and there was a 
 Matabele kraal perched on some of the rocky ledges 
 or sheltered under the groves of oak or mahogany trees 
 or bamboo or eucalyptus, with a patch of mealies close 
 by ; but except three Matabele with whom we con- 
 versed (my companion understood their language) we 
 saw no sign of living man. Down in the hollows and 
 among the rocks by the track-side was a perfect wealth 
 of arum lilies and splendid ferns. I lay down for a 
 time to rest on a huge rock fringed with waving grasses 
 and delicate flowers, and just over a cool, rushing, 
 sparkling little mountain stream. I dared not sleep, 
 for imagination haunted me, supplying plentiful un- 
 seen horrors in the shape of black mambras and puff 
 adders. At last came a movement in the grasses on 
 the edge of the stream, and up my rock advanced, calm 
 and observant, that faithful defender of man against 
 snakes, an intelligent little mongoose. I thought 
 affectionately and admiringly of Rikki-tikki-tavi, and 
 was delighted to see his little relative. He seemed 
 equally delighted to see me. The mongoose is the 
 most curious of little beings. His curiosity quite out- 
 distances any fear. I sat up and looked at him, and 
 inquired of him whether he knew my friend Rikki- 
 tikki-tavi personally, and whether he had lately seen 
 him. He did not answer, but came up closer and closer, 
 sat up on his hind legs, and then went round me and 
 examined me with the greatest care ; and not until he 
 had thoroughly inspected me did he say good-morning 
 and trot off home. 
 
 Here and there in the Matoppos we came on some 
 other deep mountain culs-de-sac which must have been 
 terrible places in the rebellion, when the hills at either
 
 THE MATOPPOS 101 
 
 side had Matabele armed with rifles lying behind the 
 stones. Fortunately, the Matabele — though splendid 
 fellows and with a courage which awakened the ad- 
 miration of the Englishmen who had to fight them — 
 were not such good shots with rifles as they had been 
 with assegais. To look across that wide and varied 
 scene was to feel in an extraordinary degree the 
 grandeur and loneliness of Nature. Beyond, and far 
 away, our imagination pictured some great city, with 
 stately domes and spires and towers, where in future 
 centuries Englishmen would carry on their peaceful 
 pursuits, and the then members of the Matabele family 
 would take their place in assisting and adorning the arts 
 of peace ; where there would be no more possibilities 
 of violence between the white and the coloured man, 
 no more excuse for the injurious intervention of the 
 ignorant or sentimental mischief-maker, where art and 
 culture would adorn the happy homes of noble children 
 of one mighty Empire championing the cause of human 
 progress in the faith and fear of God, and men would 
 look back with a sigh over the mistakes, and with 
 thoughts of gratitude and admiration to worthy an- 
 cestors who had striven in the travail of the Past ! 
 
 Dreams ! all dreams ! from which that gracious and 
 weird Nature awoke one to feel what great things, after 
 all. Englishman had done and were doing for the 
 service of man, in spite of all mistakes, and to remember 
 that future dreams of blessedness for others can only 
 hope to be realised by our own faithfulness to truth 
 and duty noiv ; to feel, even for others' benefit, Goethe's 
 advice is the best : 
 
 " Wouldst fashion for thyself a seemly life ? 
 Then fret not over what is past and gone ;
 
 102 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 And spite of all thou mayest have lost behind, 
 Yet act as if this life were just begun. 
 What each day wills, enough for thee to know ; 
 What each day wills, the day itself will tell. 
 Do thine own task and be therewith content ; 
 What others do, that shalt thou fairly judge ; 
 Be sure that thou no brother-mortal hate. 
 Then all besides leave to the Master Power." * 
 
 The Matoppos ivill compel to dreaming — so strange, 
 so unique ! So full of Nature ! So lonely of man ! 
 The Matoppos, and many another dream they created, 
 haunt one still. 
 
 Buluwayo may take some time to develop. As it 
 is, it is a perfect miracle of energy, considering its 
 youth and its vicissitudes — streets, houses, stores, 
 churches, a fine post office, a club where one saw drop 
 in for luncheon or dinner as fine a set of young 
 Englishmen as I ever saw. There is something mar- 
 vellously thrilling in a new place grown by work and 
 perseverance in a few short years from savagery to 
 civilisation. There is something stirring to see the 
 young pioneers of a new world. The dear old world 
 has much to oifer — a great inheritance. Still, there is 
 a sentiment — stirring, unspeakable — in the beginnings 
 of a new world looking forward to the future, and all 
 through the energy of the English race. After being 
 in the Transvaal, too — gold or no gold — there was 
 the sense of escape from a land which reminds us of 
 our national mistakes and disgraces, and a sense of 
 freedom after the stifling moral atmosphere of a land 
 whose government is founded on debasement and 
 corruption. 
 
 From Buluwayo I went to Kimberley. The town is 
 
 * Goethe. Sprilche, quoted in Morley's Studies in Literature, p. 87.
 
 KIMBERLEY 103 
 
 bright and clean and pretty. The Sanatorium — which 
 is, in fact, an extremely healthy and roomy hotel — is 
 excellently managed, and has been of great benefit to 
 many who have needed the strong fine air of Griqua- 
 land. The interest of Kimberley is, of course, the 
 diamond mines. The Weselton Mine, where the whole 
 process is plainly to be seen, is the most interesting 
 of all. For those who understand and are interested 
 in precious stones, the numberless beautiful diamonds 
 which one was permitted to see must be full of 
 interest. I was specially struck by the neatness and 
 even beauty of the workmen's houses, with their 
 pretty stoeps and flowers, built by De Beers, and the 
 fine fruit-gardens, where the workpeople can buy fruit 
 at the lowest possible prices. The " compounds " for 
 the native workmen are also excellently managed, 
 and the whole town gives an idea of prosperity and 
 neatness. There appears to be no neighbourhood 
 around Kimberley, however, of any beauty. It lies 
 close to the border of the Orange State, and the 
 surrounding country is tame. 
 
 The journey from Kimberley occupied three nights 
 and two days. The scenery became bold and wild 
 as we drew south. I cannot agree with those who 
 see no beauty in the Karroo. It seemed to me 
 bold and grand. About Beaufort West the air is 
 specially bracing and exhilarating, and the effects of 
 atmosphere and especially of the sundawns and sunsets 
 in the wild weird mountains and strange desolate 
 stretches one can never forget. The sense of extent, 
 of silence, of solitude, and the gracious atmosphere 
 and splendid colour — these will always dwell with 
 one as a weird — yes, and a happy — memory when
 
 104 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 one thinks of South Africa. And here again is 
 Capetown and its "scimitar of shining sea"! Few 
 things anywhere in this continent, or, indeed, any- 
 where, can, after all, rival the beauty of this match- 
 less peninsula.
 
 PART II 
 
 HISTORICAL
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CAPE COLONY 
 
 It is often felt that only within recent years has Africa 
 been "discovered." Within the easy memory of men 
 who cannot be called old, the greater part of this 
 immense continent was believed to be uninhabitable 
 desert, and those vast tracts of country which are 
 now in great measure explored and even settled and 
 utilised, were for centuries, and until quite recently, 
 literally unknown. 
 
 Even that part of South Africa which has been 
 explored and inhabited more or less by Europeans for 
 about a couple of centuries, or rather more, excited but 
 a languid interest in the European mind until these 
 later years. 
 
 Cape Colony has the distinction of being the centre 
 from which civilisation and political advance have 
 spread towards the North, just as Egypt is that from 
 which they spread towards the central and Western 
 regions. 
 
 The first visitors, however, to whom is due the dis- 
 covery of this important part of Africa, did not, from 
 it, extend such power as they have retained on this 
 continent. 
 
 It was towards the end of the fifteenth century, in 
 the year i486, that Bartolommeo Diaz, a Portuguese
 
 108 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 navigator, discovered what he named ** the Cape of 
 Storms." Those who are acquainted with the strength 
 and strangeness of the winds on the promontory 
 cannot wonder at the name. This title was afterwards 
 exchanged by John II. of Portugal for the more 
 attractive one of "the Cape of Good Hope." Diaz 
 seems to have explored the coast for some little 
 distance, but, beyond the honour of being the first to 
 discover South Africa, he made no lasting impression 
 on the country. 
 
 Vasco da Gama, whose name is most usually asso- 
 ciated with the discovery of this region, making his 
 voyage to India, explored a considerable part of the 
 coast from the Cape eastward ; and on a later occasion, 
 in 1502, he visited Delagoa Bay and Sofala. Like the 
 Spaniards in America, and others at that time, the 
 Portuguese were bent on prosecuting a search for gold. 
 It is now known that far into the interior some pioneer 
 in very remote antiquity had penetrated and worked 
 some gold mines. It was probably from these mines 
 that Solomon's "gold of Ophir" came. The Sabi 
 River is believed to derive its name, which is not a 
 native word, from the Queen of Sheba ; and even in 
 the later times of the kingdom of Judah the fleets of 
 Uzziah, in the days of his great prosperity and able 
 administration, sailed from a harbour on the Red Sea 
 down the eastern coast of Africa, rounded the Cape, 
 and returned by way of the Straits of Gibraltar and 
 the Mediterranean — touching at the Spanish coast — 
 to the shores of Palestine. When the Portuguese 
 explorers visited Sofala in the early days of the six- 
 teenth century, Arabs were found in possession as 
 traders in ivory and gold. The Portuguese reduced
 
 CAPE COLONY 109 
 
 them to obedience and used them for the purposes of 
 trade, and for quite a century remained in undisputed 
 possession of the eastern shores of Africa. 
 
 It was in 1510 that D' Almeida, the Portuguese 
 Viceroy, perished in a fight with the Hottentots at 
 a point not far from where Capetown now stands, and 
 henceforth, fearing the power of the natives, which 
 was greatly overrated in that part of the country, the 
 Portuguese restricted their enterprises to the eastern 
 coast. They seem to have penetrated for some dis- 
 tance into the interior from Sofala, and their mission- 
 aries worked with diligence and, as it appeared, with 
 considerable success among the natives ; but they, in 
 the long run, retained small hold upon the country, 
 and have but slightly influenced its history. The 
 constant intermarriage of the Portuguese with Kaffir 
 tribes, the unhealthy nature of the coast- land where 
 they had their headquarters, the successful attacks 
 of the natives upon them, and even — for a time in the 
 early days of the seventeenth century — the attacks of 
 the Dutch, the indifference of their home Government, 
 who were more interested in their East Indian enter- 
 prises, all combined to take strength and enterprise^ 
 out of the Portuguese settlers, and to lead them, as a 
 race, to sit loosely by such possessions as they had 
 acquired in South Africa. It is only within recent 
 years that the possession of Delagoa Bay, and its- 
 strategic value to the nations holding the interior, 
 have revived a languid interest in their East African 
 possessions in the minds of the Government at Lisbon. 
 
 While the name of the great Portuguese navigators, 
 therefore, must be for ever connected with the Cape 
 of Storms, or Cape of Good Hope, that Cape and its
 
 110 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 surroundings, so far as it concerns Portugal, can only- 
 act as a memorial of lost opportunities and departed 
 glory. 
 
 Very different is the history of the nations which 
 followed the Portuguese in the settlement of South 
 Africa. These nations were the English and the 
 Dutch. It would be difficult to say which came first 
 to have some connection with the Cape. Both these 
 nations very early in the seventeenth century were in 
 the habit of pausing in Table Bay for shelter on their 
 voyages round the Cape. The English were the first 
 to assert, in some informal way, English possession in 
 the name of the King, James I., as early as 1620. It 
 was in 1648, however, that the Dutch took the first 
 step towards a formal occupation. 
 
 In that year some Dutchmen were shipwrecked in 
 Table Bay. They succeeded, in some measure, for 
 several months in cultivation of the soil. On return- 
 ing to Holland they gave a favourable report of the 
 country, and in 1652 the Dutch East India Company 
 sent three vessels carrying a considerable number of 
 emigrants under the leadership of Jan Van Biebeek. 
 These came really to make arrangements for the needs 
 of ships passing to and from India or other places in 
 the East. 
 
 The Cape was looked upon by the Dutch as only a 
 resting-place on their way to India. When Van 
 Biebeek landed there, he had no idea of founding a 
 permanent colony. A port of call for the Dutch 
 fleets on their way to the North from the land of 
 wealth in India was a luxury, indeed a necessity. 
 The stormy headlands of the Cape might be filled 
 with the terrors of the sea, and made interesting by
 
 CAPE COLONY 111 
 
 the superstitious legends of the Flying Dutchman in 
 vain and impious efforts to navigate his phantom 
 ship, but above all the Dutch East India Company 
 found it useful as a place for fresh meat for the crews 
 of their vessels, sick with the weary struggle with an 
 illimitable sea, and as a useful ground for the growth 
 of vegetables needed by those crews. 
 
 Dutch colonisation — like the Dutch people — is 
 singularly devoid of romance. The Portuguese were 
 the great discoverers. The Dutch followed them and 
 wrenched their possessions from them. Then they 
 worked them on the narrowest principle, as a big com- 
 mercial concern. Twice the British in turn deprived 
 them of their empire ; twice with Quixotic generosity 
 gave it back, receiving in return about as much grati- 
 tude as they have received from their degenerate 
 descendants for the retrocession of the Transvaal. 
 
 In the early days and, indeed, for several centuries, 
 the Dutch settlement extended no farther than the 
 peninsula. Stellenbosch, not far from Capetown, was 
 the extreme point of settlement during the greater part 
 of the seventeenth century. And only quite at the 
 end of that century did the colonists advance beyond 
 the vast range of mountains which hems in the 
 peninsula, and separates it in a measure from the 
 interior. 
 
 About this time (i.e., the latter part of the seven- 
 teenth century) the population of the small but 
 increasing colony was composed of the following 
 parts. There were, in largest numbers, the Dutch 
 who had come from Holland. They were for the most 
 part drawn from the lower and more uncultivated 
 classes ; and having, on the whole, a very slight con-
 
 112 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 nection with their mother country, which was too far 
 distant in those days to be often revisited, they soon 
 lost any feehng for Holland and any contact with such 
 culture as Holland might be supposed to have. Then 
 again there came, but in only a small number, a body 
 of French Huguenots who had fled for refuge to 
 Holland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. 
 An attempt was made by them at first to separate 
 themselves into a distinct community. This, however, 
 was impossible. The age was an age of religious 
 intolerance. All sects and sections of religious 
 bodies everywhere were inclined to be intolerant of 
 any diversity of religious opinion, and none more 
 narrow or conservative in all things — now, so far as 
 possible, as then — as the lower class of Dutchmen. 
 The Huguenots were forbidden the use of their lan- 
 guage — just as the Transvaal Government of these 
 days endeavours, so far as may be, to be intolerant of 
 the use of English ; they were forbidden the exercise 
 of their own form of Protestanism which was inclined 
 to Lutheranism, and forced into the Dutch Reformed 
 body, which represented the narrowest form of Gal- 
 vanism. Gradually these Huguenots became inter- 
 mixed with the older colonists. Their language and 
 their form of religion disappeared, but — being very 
 superior in intelligence and culture — from them have 
 sprung some of the most enlightened, and able, and 
 large-minded of the modern community of Dutch in 
 and about Capetown. Unfortunately, the number of 
 Huguenot settlers was comparatively small : had it been 
 otherwise the modern Boers might have been a superior 
 race, with a culture and intelligence of a much higher 
 stamp than anything that can now be hoped for.
 
 CAPE COLONY 113 
 
 Further, there were the native races. These were 
 the Hottentots, the Bushmen, and the Bantu tribes 
 of Kaffirs. These all, of course, play a conspicuous 
 part in the history of South Africa. Besides these 
 were the slaves. Begular slavery was introduced in 
 the middle of the seventeenth century. West Africa 
 contributed her quota of unhappy negroes for this 
 purpose ; and then again, a little later, the Dutch 
 East India Company — which was still the ruling power 
 — began to introduce convicts from Asia, of whom the 
 greater part were Malays holding the Mohammedan 
 faith. Such were the races who met together in South 
 Africa in the seventeenth century. 
 
 History repeats itself, but with many variations. 
 In the history of all countries there recurs the story 
 of races in occupation conquered or held in check by 
 intrusive invaders. Then the habits and character of 
 these latter are considerably modified by circumstances, 
 by climate, by their relations with the other races with 
 whom they come in contact. This happened in South 
 Africa as elsewhere. 
 
 (i) As to the immigrant Dutch, naturally after a 
 little time they began to expand. Increase of their 
 numbers and the narrowness of the strip of fertile 
 land on the peninsula drove them farther afield. 
 Those who gradually spread northward became more 
 and more, from the scanty opportunities for agricul- 
 tural farming, a pastoral people. Like the mountaineer 
 Italians from the Abruzzi, descending for some months 
 of the year to the Campagna, they drove their flocks, 
 at certain seasons when the rain had given vitality to 
 the vegetation, up to the far-stretching and wild 
 regions of the Karroo. They moved from place to
 
 114 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 place with their waggons, and lived a lonely and 
 wandering life. They became more and more rude, 
 coarse, and uncultivated, and formed habits — some 
 good, some bad — of sturdy hardihood, readiness for 
 danger and difficulty, and, on the other hand, of 
 selfish isolation, and a staunch and dogged conserva- 
 tism in maintaining their own customs and looking 
 with suspicion on any changes and any improvements. 
 Slave labour freed them and their women from the 
 necessity of hard work, and in their wandering life 
 they learnt to be slatternly and untidy to a degree 
 which even now astonishes the traveller, especially in 
 the Transvaal, when he thinks of the neat and cleanly 
 habits of the Dutch in Europe. The Boer farmer 
 became — and the large mass of the more ignorant 
 remain to this day — as remarkable for slovenly and 
 uncleanly ways as the Dutch in Holland are for 
 neatness, cleanliness, and tidiness almost to a fault. 
 Probably this and their dense and suspicious conserva- 
 tism and want of enterprise and progressive intelligence 
 make them more jealous of the Hollander of to-day, 
 with his brisk, businesslike, and tidy ways, even than 
 they are of the vigour of the British. Their children 
 also grew up in deeper and ever deepening ignorance 
 from the very circumstances of their life, while their 
 constant war, for a time with the Hottentots, and for 
 a lengthened period with the Bushmen, as well as the 
 habit of hunting big game, made them hardy and 
 physically courageous and good shots. There is one 
 important factor in human life which the historian can 
 never forget, as it exercises so vast an influence upon 
 men, — that is religion. They had brought with them 
 a grave and serious character. The form of their 
 
 m
 
 CAPE COLONY 115 
 
 religion was Calvinistic. That gloomy heresy has 
 ever tended to develop a certain strength of fibre 
 and to contract character by its narrow and repul- 
 sively selfish views of human life and destiny, and 
 of the character and actions of God. The result on 
 these men was more and more to give dogged deter- 
 mination, a self-centred selfishness, an absence of all 
 "sweetness and light," a severance between religion, 
 in any searching sense, and morality, and in fact that 
 self-reliant fanaticism and narrow superstition so 
 marked among the least cultured of them still, and 
 of which a conspicuous example is to be found in 
 Mr. Krliger, the President at the present time of the 
 Transvaal Republic. Thus their form of superstition 
 — so common in the various developments of Pro- 
 testantism — became a slavish devotion to the letter of 
 Scripture, and especially that of the Old Testament. 
 
 This form of superstition has before now produced 
 in history characters, which, though of extreme 
 narrowness and of reactionary tendencies, have shown 
 doggedness and sturdiness and determination, and 
 it accounts for the merciless contempt for the coloured 
 race — mere Canaanites, as they consider them — the 
 absence of a sense of justice and fair play towards 
 others, the unscrupulous cunning brought to play 
 in compassing ends opposed to other nations not 
 looked upon as " chosen people " — so conspicuous in the 
 Transvaal Government, and the more isolated and 
 ignorant Boer farmers ; for, such as it is, with all its 
 narrow and unlovely deformities, their religion is a 
 real power, not in exalting but in narrowing their 
 lives. 
 
 (2) As to the native races — The Hottentot tribes 
 
 ih
 
 116 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 soon practically disappeared from the scene. A 
 terrible outbreak of small-pox in 1755 swept them 
 away. They were a race with some tribal organisa- 
 tion, and of a light-hearted, cheerful, merry tempera 
 ment. They were more or less civilised and were 
 used as domestic servants by the early Dutch settlers. 
 They are now gone as a separate people. Remnants 
 of their wandering tribes are said to be still found in 
 Great Namaqualand on the borders of the Orange 
 Elver, but for the most part they have been absorbed 
 into other races. The Dutch have sometimes mingled 
 with them. Those whom they call the Bastards, whom 
 English call Griquas, are sprung from unions of Dutch 
 and Hottentots, and that numerous mixed nondescript 
 race in and about Capetown has carried on some 
 Hottentot blood as well as that of Malays and West 
 African slaves. Then there were the Bushmen, who 
 constantly harrassed the Dutch settlers by secret and 
 danererous attacks. Continual war went on with 
 them. The settlers showed them no mercy nor did 
 they give any quarter to the settlers. They had no 
 tribal organisation and were untameably fierce. Their 
 chief power seems to have been in their unmatched 
 dexterity in killing game, on which for the most part 
 they lived. They were very small in stature, very 
 fierce. They have left some traces in the races with 
 which their blood was intermingled. Some, though 
 not of pure Bushman blood, are still found in the 
 colony. The few true Bushmen still surviving under 
 the advance of civilisation are in the Kalahari desert or 
 some outlying districts in the Interior, but as a separate 
 people they are now a quantite negligeable. As to the 
 Malays, they are distinctly represented in the colony.
 
 CAPE COLONY 117 
 
 In many cases they formed connections with the negro 
 slaves brought from West Africa, and the descendants 
 of such unions form a fair proportion of the mixed 
 population of the Cape. There are a considerable 
 number of Malays well-to-do traders, fruit-sellers, and 
 middle-class merchants in the colony, and their 
 picturesque costumes, especially at their gorgeous 
 wedding ceremonies, and the beauty of their horses in 
 which they take a great pride, form a striking feature 
 among the variegated sights and populations of Cape- 
 town. 
 
 (3) As to the slaves — The sin of the importation of 
 these unhappy beings recoiled on the heads of those 
 who traded in them, as iniquity is sure, in the long 
 run, to work out into evil consequences. The first 
 effect of the introduction of slave labour was to give to 
 the white population the habit of avoiding all manual 
 labour themselves, a habit which has fairly estab- 
 lished itself now throughout South Africa. The early 
 Dutch settlers who went far afield became wandering 
 in their ways, often living in their ox waggons, and 
 even when more or less settled in distant farms, 
 became gradually less and less used to toil themselves. 
 xTheir national characteristics were very greatly modi- 
 fied. Cattle farming became the order of the day, for 
 pasture could be had over wide reaches of country, 
 where tillage was difficult from the nature of the soil. 
 The consequence was not only a nomad life, but habits 
 of slatternliness, untidiness, and dirt and laziness — for 
 they compelled first slaves, and then natives prac- 
 tically enslaved, to do their work — habits far removed 
 from the ways then and now prevalent in their mother 
 country. The lower Transvaal Boer has become espe-
 
 118 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 dally remarkable for all these things ; the Dutch 
 people in Holland have been remarkable for their 
 exact opposites. They still, however, resemble each 
 other in love of money, which in the Holland Dutch 
 shows itself in real diligence and thrift, in their 
 colonial kinsmen of this class, in a spirit of jealous 
 isolation, in graspingness and cunning. Perhaps 
 because of these early tendencies, and of ways of life 
 which made education impossible, and fostered selfish- 
 ness and suspiciousness — they have remained possessed 
 of physical courage, ready in the use of weapons of 
 precision, dogged and determined, slow to admit habits 
 of progress, specially harsh in their treatment of the 
 coloured races, with very crude notions of morality, 
 and, as we have seen, fanatical and narrow views in 
 religion. But we are anticipating. 
 
 The year 1779 was one to be noted in the history of 
 the colony. In that year the colonists first came into 
 collision with the Kaffirs — as they are usually called 
 from an Arabic word meaning unbeliever — in fact, with 
 the Bantu tribes. 
 
 Some of these crossed the Great Fish River and 
 raided the cattle of the settlers. This led to the 
 first Kaffir War, in which the assaulted settlers, with 
 some difficulty, succeeded at last in driving off the 
 enemy. 
 
 This year, however, was still more remarkable for 
 showing the first overt acts of disaffection towards 
 the mother country, which now in some measure paved 
 the way for the British ascendency. The colony had 
 been governed by the Dutch East India Company. A 
 Governor and Council, responsible to the heads of the 
 Company in Amsterdam, conducted the government.
 
 CAPE COLONY 119 
 
 This Government became unpopular, and not unna- 
 turally. It is instructive, in view of the present state 
 of things in the Transvaal, to remember that one chief 
 cause of discontent was the exclusion of the settlers 
 from any share in the administration. Another cause 
 was the fact — so common among all tyrannies, whether 
 personal or oligarchical — that the colony was governed 
 — like all Dutch colonies — for the benefit of the rulers 
 and not the ruled. Trade monopoly was the order 
 of the day. The settlers were not considered^ so 
 long as the Dutch merchants in Holland filled their 
 pockets. 
 
 The connection with the mother country thus became 
 more or less unpopular, although the disaffected settlers 
 declared the Company, not the home Government, to 
 be the rock of offence. 
 
 Events followed one another now with considerable 
 rapidity, and the relations of the nations of Europe 
 with one another led to the change which took place 
 in South Africa. The deputation sent to Holland in 
 1789 led to a Commission of Inquiry sent out in 1792. 
 The reforms recommended were considered inadequate 
 by the Cape Dutch, and thus they were all the more 
 ready for a change. Owing to the advance of 
 British sovereignty in India, the necessity of protecting 
 the growing Indian Empire, and of resisting the 
 French, had a new effect on the views of Great 
 Britain. It was now felt that the Cape was an 
 important military and naval possession. An abortive 
 attempt had accordingly been made in 1781, which the 
 Dutch, with the aid of France, were able to resist. 
 The French and the Dutch, however, had since become 
 enemies in Europe. The French army had overrun
 
 120 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Holland. The Stadtholder was a refugee in England, 
 and residing at Hampton Court. War with France 
 was everywhere. The Cape, which was an outpost 
 of the Netherlands — hardly a colony — had to be 
 protected, and the Stadtholder sent orders that it 
 should be handed over to England as the protecting 
 ally of Holland. Admiral Elphinstone, with a fleet of 
 eight ships of war, accompanied by General Craig with 
 a force of 4000 men, anchored off Simon's Town in 
 June 1795. The Dutch East India Company had made 
 themselves, by their oppression, most unpopular with 
 the Dutch burghers. 
 
 The Governor, with the assistance of a Dutch 
 Reform minister — a kind of ofiicial ecclesiastic called 
 the "Sick Comforter " — was guilty of genuine tyranny. 
 The arrival of the English was a real blessing to 
 the burghers, but the death-knell to the exactions 
 of the officers of the Company. Commissary Huysken 
 and his staff determined accordingly to disobey their 
 Stadtholder and resist the British. The British 
 Admiral landed his forces at Muizenberg, and soon 
 overcame the resistance ; the Dutch population were 
 freed from the tyranny of the Company, and the 
 officials left the Cape in November 1795, and the British 
 took over the government of the country. 
 
 Two things are worthy of note — (i) That the tie 
 between the Dutch settlement at the Cape and the 
 mother country was of the loosest. The modern 
 attempt at rapprochement by Mr. Krtiger with 
 Holland is, and is felt to be, curiously absurd. The 
 liberators of the Cape Dutch, the only people to 
 whom any debt of gratitude was due, when they 
 were groaning under the oppressions of the Company, 

 
 CAPE COLONY 121 
 
 were the English. The land to which, from first to 
 last, they have owed their freedom is England. How 
 many of them have shown their gratitude to her we 
 know too well ! 
 
 But England behaved with chivalrous loyalty to the 
 Dutch and to Holland with regard to the Cape and 
 the other Dutch colonial possessions. 
 
 General Craig became English Governor, and set 
 about real and practical reforms to meet the needs of 
 the Cape burghers who had suffered from Dutch 
 oppression. Then came the Peace of Amiens in 1803, 
 and England faithfully restored her empire to Holland, 
 and, among other possessions, the Cape of Good Hope. 
 
 The settlement of Amiens, however, did not last 
 long. England and France were again at war. One 
 or other must hold the Cape. Holland was as help- 
 less as the Dutch colonists themselves. In 1806, 
 accordingly, General Sir David Baird anchored off 
 Table Bay, landed his forces, and after one or two 
 skirmishes inaugurated the final occupation of the 
 British. It is almost accurate to say that it was 
 taken from the French rather than from the Dutch. 
 If England had not taken possession of it, France 
 would have done so ; and considering its strategical 
 value in view of our Indian Empire, it was impossible, 
 it would have been criminal, to run such a risk. 
 
 England had behaved with almost Quixotic gene- 
 rosity before in restoring the Dutch empire to Holland. 
 It was perhaps Quixotic, for the Dutch had taken it 
 from the Portuguese for no other reason than that 
 they desired to have it ! However, England did 
 restore it. 
 
 (2) Now, again, it was intended only to occupy the 
 
 *
 
 122 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 country for a time. The greater part of the Dutch 
 possessions, as a matter of fact, were restored ; but in 
 1 8 14 the Cape was ceded to Great Britain by the 
 Dutch Government, and England paid a large sum — 
 some six millions — for the possession. Never did 
 one nation behave to another with such complete 
 generosity. Men easily forget ; and when in modern 
 times it has been sometimes said by the Transvaal 
 Government and their supporters among politicians 
 at home that we " took their country from the 
 Dutch," it is well to recall the facts in order to 
 gauge the falseness of the statement. No Euro- 
 pean nation has such a right to a colony as 
 the Enoflish have to South Africa. It is true that 
 the Dutch took the country from its real inhabi- 
 tants — the Bushmen — and without payment ! 
 The Dutch settlement England protected when it 
 was unable to protect itself, and restored it to 
 Dutchmen when — had they acted as the Dutch had 
 everywhere done to the Portuguese — they need not 
 have done so. Then the English again protected it 
 against the French, and at last, when it was ceded to 
 them by Holland, jpaid for it a heavy price in hard 
 cash. It is to England the colony owes just adminis- 
 tration of law, advancing education, material prosperity, 
 progress of every kind. England has, as we shall see, 
 committed in the past grave faults in her administra- 
 tion in South Africa, but faults not to be compared 
 with the faults of Dutch government there, faults 
 often springing from foolish generosity. If any nation 
 has a just title to colonial possessions, England has 
 that title to South Africa. 
 
 Besides, it should be remembered that the settlement
 
 CAPE COLONY 123 
 
 of the colony by the Dutch had not been of great anti- 
 quity. The colonists were comparatively few in number, 
 and among them were Germans and French Hugue- 
 nots. Englishmen in 1620 had, as we have seen, in an 
 informal manner, asserted a right to the Cape. The 
 settlers had, as we have seen also, been asserting 
 their rights against the Dutch Company, and had no 
 enthusiasm for their home Government, and no other 
 government had they, so that the settlement under 
 British rule has by no means the character of hard- 
 ship which would be natural in an old and established 
 country taken from its possessors by conquest. 
 
 At the first blush it would have seemed that things 
 would go smoothly. The two races had affinities in 
 race, in language, in the general tendencies of their 
 religious feelings and their love of liberty and indepen- 
 dence. But deeper down were causes which were soon 
 to be fruitful in friction. In the early days of English 
 rule things seemed to promise well. The Government 
 was fair and just. Reforms which had been held back 
 by the Company in the past were at once carried out, 
 and in many respects things went well. Among the 
 more cultivated and better educated, social fusion 
 began. Intermarriages took place, and from these are 
 descended some of the most intelligent and important 
 of the colonial families. It was fated, however, that, 
 in the long run, things would not go so smoothly as 
 might have been reasonably hoped. In spite of all 
 the friendly social and private relations which have, 
 on the whole, prevailed, there appeared, and have ever 
 since been more or less evident, powerful stimuli to 
 political disagreement. 
 
 There were other Dutch besides the more advanced
 
 124 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 members of the community in or near Capetown. 
 There were the pastoral and stock-farming Boers of 
 the more remote districts. They loved a liberty which 
 was really a licence, for they were constantly inclined, 
 as we find both then and afterwards, to form small 
 rival Eepublics. They were wanting in education, 
 disliked mixing with others, and were obstinately set 
 upon selfish isolation, and a desire to have their own 
 way which rendered their law-abiding character more 
 than doubtful. This has often been a fruitful cause of 
 difficulties. The incapacity of the uneducated Boer 
 for the conduct of civil government on lines leading to 
 a true system of colonisation is as marked as that 
 capacity is striking in the English race. The English 
 have naturally^with many demerits — certainly one 
 great gift, the gift of colonising and governing. A 
 home Government may — as in British policy towards 
 the American colonies — act with stupidity and injus- 
 tice ; but the people, the nation itself, has the right 
 instinct for law-protected freedom, as the English in 
 America who revolted against the home Government 
 show. It was the mistakes of a home Government — 
 acting contrary to the opinion of men who knew 
 matters on the spot and understood their bearings — 
 which, in dealing with people so narrow-minded, 
 ignorant, and conservative of the most undesirable 
 customs as the early Dutch Boers, led to incalculable 
 mischief 
 
 It has been often said that what is called " the 
 Slagter's Nek incident " went far to separate the Boers 
 from the Enoflish. This is to attribute to a mere 
 surface matter the power of causes lying much deeper. 
 It is, in fact, to " put the cart before the horse," and
 
 CAPE COLONY 125 
 
 the story of that incident, as often stated, is a mis- 
 representation and an exaggeration. 
 
 The following was the story. There was a rising in 
 the Eastern Province of no great extent in which the 
 two races came into conflict. A charore was made 
 against a farmer of cruel treatment of a native. The 
 authorities attempted to arrest him, but the Boers 
 rose in his behalf Of these, as the rising was soon 
 suppressed, six were condemned to death, and of them 
 five were hanged. No doubt this incident has, from 
 time to time, been furbished up for political purposes, 
 and especially has been employed more than once 
 on the hustings * for the purpose of arousing ani- 
 mosity against their English fellow-subjects among 
 the less instructed Boers. But in itself it was a slight 
 matter. When honestly and fully told, indeed, the 
 story redounds to the credit of the Cape Government. 
 The convicted men did certainly deserve punishment in 
 the interests of public order, but the Governor rightly 
 deemed the execution of the extreme sentence unjustly 
 harsh. He reprieved the criminals. The Field Cornet, 
 on whom the duty of carrying out the execution 
 devolved, for some reason of his own played the part 
 of a Martin Relph t not from exactly the same motive, 
 but probably from some motive of private spite. He 
 had in his possession at the time of the execution the 
 Governor's order for the pardon of the incriminated 
 prisoners, and he suppressed it. But so sure was he 
 that he himself would be punished for his iniquity that 
 he committed suicide. Will it be believed that the 
 latter part of the story has been often omitted for 
 party purposes ? Yet such is the case. It is probable 
 
 * 1898. E.g., in the course of one of the recent electioneering campaigns. 
 f Browning. Lrumutic Idi/lh; First Series, No. I.
 
 126 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 that it had never been known, or had ceased to be 
 remembered, by such men as the angry and clamorous 
 Boer mob who so bitterly referred to it at the time of 
 the Raid and Reform excitement in Johannesburg and 
 Pretoria. This intermittent and recurring remem- 
 brance of an unfortunate incident, long past, is a revela- 
 tion of Boer character. The cause of the unhappy 
 misunderstandings between the Boers and the English 
 Government in the early days of the colony lay much 
 deeper. It was not any mere incident like Slagter's 
 Nek, nor the alterations in local administration, nor 
 the use of English in law matters, in all which English 
 Governments have been much more liberal — as we can 
 judge by the action of the present Transvaal authorities 
 — than Boers left to themselves have ever been. The 
 causes of friction came from that which forms and will 
 form the problem of South Africa. The relation of the 
 conquering to the coloured races, and the opposing 
 views on that subject taken by the Boers and by the 
 home Government, lay at the root of it all. Both 
 were in the right ; both were in the wrong ; and 
 some form of this difference of view has been the 
 fruitful cause of similar difficulties in South Africa 
 ever since. 
 
 The case for the Boers is this : In their outlying 
 farms those who had gone to the farthest limits of 
 the colony had to face terrible difficulties from Hot- 
 tentots, Bushmen, and Kaffirs. In 1 809 strict arrange- 
 ments had been made as to the natives. It was 
 found to be absurd in the interests of civilisation to 
 regard the Hottentot as belonging to a free and inde- 
 pendent people. It was required that he should have 
 a fixed dwelling-place, that he should be registered,
 
 CAPE COLONY 127 
 
 and must have a *'pass" or certificate when moving 
 from place to place, and should be fined or punished 
 as a vagrant if unable, when required, to produce this 
 pass. In 1828 this was all swept away, and coloured 
 persons were freed from the " pass " law, and so made 
 on a complete equality with Europeans. This was 
 probably imprudent. It was scarcely possible to treat 
 these savage races wisely without some such restric- 
 tions, and in fact at this moment these are in use, to 
 the benefit of the coloured man himself no less than 
 of the white man. Such restrictions are evidently, 
 indeed, open to grave abuses, and they are, in fact, at 
 present abused very grossly in the Transvaal. The 
 Boers, however, of those early days felt that they — 
 a small community — could not be safe from savages 
 without some regulations of the kind. 
 
 As to the Kaffirs, the Boers felt the policy of the 
 home Government still more galling. The Kaffirs, they 
 knew, were, as much as they themselves, intruders, 
 and that is true. They were savages, and dangerous 
 savages. There had been many Kaffir wars, but the 
 inroad in 1834 was of the most alarming character. 
 Men who have to defend their lives and property are 
 not likely to be influenced too much by sentiment, or 
 to take an idyllic view of the " gentle savages " who 
 carry off" their cattle, and murder men, women, and 
 children with impartial barbarity. The frontier 
 farmers, when these terrible irruptions came, were wont 
 to have commandos of settlers, and punish their 
 enemies in battle. This was changed, by what we 
 must call the folly of the home Government, acting 
 under what the Boer considered sinister influences. 
 Soon it was required that Kaffirs should be protected
 
 128 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 by treaty, though it had to be acknowledged that 
 barbarous tribes could not be trusted to observe 
 treaties, or indeed to possess the right sentiments and 
 sense of honour upon which the observance of treaties 
 must depend. To the Boers, in fact, it appeared that 
 they were not allowed to protect their property them- 
 selves, and that the Government did not protect it ; 
 that it was folly to deem that a white man if he was 
 in Kaffirland should be subject to Kaffir " law " — 
 i.e., the victim of savage custom and hate; and that 
 the home Government took no account of the reports 
 of the properly constituted authorities, but always 
 attended to the false reports of " missionaries." 
 
 The earliest instance in 1 8 1 1 turned out, indeed, to 
 be only a sample of many afterwards. Then it was 
 stated that the settlers were guilty of inhuman cruelty 
 to the coloured people, and that in the neighbourhood 
 of Uitenhage alone they had murdered more than one 
 hundred. This turned out, when really looked into, 
 to be the grossest exaggeration ; but thus it was that, 
 one way or another, the Colonial Office mistrusted 
 the Boer settlers, and the Boers mistrusted the 
 Colonial Office. What fault there was on the side of 
 the English was not the fault of those on the spot and 
 of »the English fellow-subjects of the Dutch settlers, 
 but the fault of a distant Government not careful 
 enough to investigate and master facts on the scene of 
 action. The Boer farmers then had certainly a real 
 grievance. 
 
 On the other hand, there was something to be 
 said for the home Government. There is always a 
 tendency — human nature being what it is — for a 
 superior race to bear heavily upon an inferior, and
 
 CAPE COLONY 12& 
 
 all the more when the latter far outnumber the 
 former. Their hard life, their narrow fanaticism as 
 well as the necessity of self-defence laid upon them, 
 made the Boers inclined to be, as they still are, harsh 
 and even cruel masters to the coloured people. The 
 home Government was much pressed by home opinion ; 
 and home opinion began to be, and for some time 
 was, intensely influenced by the reports of the mis- 
 sionaries ; and the missionaries had something to be 
 said for them, for they were in fact the only friends the 
 natives had. 
 
 The fact is, however, that in the days when the 
 Colonial Office came into conflict with Boer opinion 
 in Cape Colony the philanthropists and missionaries 
 made great, perhaps inevitable, mistakes. That the 
 Boers have always been in an attitude of special 
 hostility to the native races cannot be doubted, nor can 
 it be doubted that their treatment of them had been 
 exceedingly harsh ; but the missionaries who took the 
 part of the natives were, to say the least, imprudent, 
 and for a long time they were the inspirers of the action 
 and of the policy of the home Government. As early 
 as the beginning of the seventeenth century colonial 
 and missionary opinion came into contact. The Boers 
 were wrong. They acted as if a coloured man could 
 not be considered as possessing rights as a human 
 being, as if he were a mere animal and only born to 
 labour. This the missionaries naturally and rightly 
 resented. The Moravian missionaries, in the early 
 days of the century, found themselves in an unenvi- 
 able position, and for attempting to treat natives as 
 worthy of receiving baptism one of them at least had 
 to leave the country. As early as 1658 slaves had 
 
 I
 
 180 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 been Imported from West Africa, and with slavery- 
 came its usual consequences — degradation and misery 
 to the slave, to the white man a worse degradation 
 still. 
 
 The contest raged for quite a century. From 1828 
 and onwards the missionary party showed unflagging 
 activity. Circumstances at home favoured them. 
 They gained the ear of the Colonial OflSce, and the 
 efforts of many governors were fruitless in trying to 
 dispel prejudices and to encourage dispassionate judg- 
 ments. It is curious to observe how a wave of philan- 
 thropic sentiment, in great measure false or exagge- 
 rated, swept over England from 1828, or earlier, which 
 was unreasonably hostile to the colonists and especially 
 to the Boers; just as a similar wave swept over the 
 country from about 1880 until recently which has been 
 as unreasonably favourable to them. The whole thing 
 speaks better for the heart than for the head of the 
 British people. There was in both cases much real 
 generosity and indignation against supposed wrong- 
 doing ; there was much blind prejudice and a refusal 
 to oppose prepossession by calm judgment based on 
 real inquiry ; there was a good deal of the kind of 
 unhealthy, semi-religious sentiment which may be 
 described in some such recently often- used phrases, 
 coming from friends or foes, as " Exeter Hall senti- 
 ment," or " demands of the Nonconformist conscience," 
 or "unctuous righteousness." There were mixed 
 feelings and various degrees of moral rectitude. One 
 way or another the nation was moved by a genuine 
 and generous, if sometimes blundering, enthusiasm, and 
 colonial secretaries and prime ministers and cabinets 
 were often swept off their feet by the torrent.
 
 CAPE COLONY 131 
 
 The fault of the home Government as regards the 
 South African question was allowing itself a bias from 
 which came its action, without examining actual facts 
 or being guided by those who knew ; and in important 
 instances the Colonial OflSce seems to have had a fatal 
 tendency to fall foul of any strong and wise governor, 
 and to have been only amenable to the guidance of 
 the weak and inefficient. It cannot be wondered at 
 that the originally fair promise of complete union of 
 mind and loyalty of the colonists, and especially the 
 Dutch, was nipped in the bud by the Colonial Office, 
 and that they learnt, until quite recently, not unnatu- 
 rally to consider Downing Street their worst enemy. 
 
 In 1830 Lord Goderich (afterwards Lord Kipon) 
 forbade the settlement of Boer farmers on the new 
 frontier districts. In 1833, when Mr. E. Stanley 
 (afterwards Lord Derby) was Secretary of State, and 
 in 1834, when the office was held by Mr. T. Spring- 
 Kice and then by Lord Aberdeen, the same course of 
 conduct was pursued ; but the most marked supporter 
 of the missionary party and opponent of the colonists 
 was the Secretary of State from 1 835-1 839, Mr. 
 C. Grant, afterwards Lord Glenelg. 
 
 He seems, as far as one can judge, to have been a 
 man of a narrow and pedantic mind, and of over- 
 weening confidence in his own supposed perfect know- 
 ledge. The Colonial Office, in fact, at the time, was 
 in the hands of a weak politician. The philanthropic 
 or missionary party, at the same time, had immense 
 forces on their side in two remarkable men who 
 greatly influenced the action of the home Government. 
 
 Mr. Fowell Buxton, a man of great zeal and generous 
 nature, exercised a vast influence both in his endea-
 
 132 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 vours to ameliorate the condition of the native races, 
 and especially for the extinction of slavery. In both 
 he seems to have been carried away by generous 
 sentiment, and to have been, as regards South Africa 
 at any rate, very much in the hands of the mis- 
 sionaries. Dr. John Philips was also a remarkable 
 person. He was secretary to the London Missionary 
 Society ; he seems to have had zeal and determination, 
 but on examining the evidence he brought forward, it 
 is impossible to acquit him of gross exaggeration and 
 even what look very like unscrupulous misstatements.* 
 Much of the action taken by the Government was 
 based on his book of "Researches," which is proved 
 to be in great measure unworthy of credit. In 1827 
 new reforms for the administration of justice which 
 were framed had every appearance of hostility to the 
 Boer colonists. In 1828 Mr. Fowell Buxton moved in 
 the House of Commons for instructions to be sent to 
 the colony to give rights to the natives which had 
 not been thought of before and were alarming to the 
 Dutch mind. These were passed with general approval 
 and forwarded with his imprimatur by Sir George 
 Murray, then Secretary of State. These, as a matter 
 of fact, were based upon Dr. Philips' statements — 
 many now known to be false or at least inaccurate. 
 Sir Lowry Cole, the Governor, urged strongly the 
 dangerous trend of English opinion as unfair to the 
 colonists, t but all in vain. 
 
 Sir Benjamin D' Urban became Governor in 1834, 
 
 • Cf. " Results of the Publication of the Cape Records," by Donald Moodie, 
 1841, passim; also "Correspondence between Donald Moodie, Esq., and Rev. 
 John Philips, D.D. " especially Appendix, passim. 
 
 t Theal. History, p. 377.
 
 CAPE COLONY 183 
 
 and was sent to carry out the policy of the home 
 Government. He had beheved entirely in that policy, 
 and was deeply prejudiced against the colonists. 
 When he became acquainted with facts on the spot 
 he saw reason — as has so often been the case — 
 to reverse his judgment. The Kaffir War of 1834 
 was serious. It was found necessary to extend British 
 sovereignty as far as the Kei River. This was done 
 by treaty on December 6, 1835, ^^^ the treaty was 
 especially advantageous to the unfortunate Fingoes 
 enslaved by the Kaffirs. Lord Glenelg, however, was 
 unmoved by any knowledge of those on the spot. He 
 answered Sir Benjamin D'Urban in his usual doctri- 
 naire fashion, and the treaty was disavowed.* Sir 
 Benjamin D'Urban pointed out that this conduct 
 towards the colonists was wrong, that the action of the 
 home Government was unjust and calculated to lower 
 British prestige and diminish British authority. In 
 vain often does history seem to teach ; it only repeats 
 itself The sole consequence of this wise remonstrance 
 was the recall of Sir Benjamin D'Urban, just as in late 
 years Sir Bartle Frere was silenced and his policy 
 thwarted when it might perhaps have saved Africa. 
 The policy of vacillation and seesaw, the policy of treat- 
 ing the colony in conformity with the sentlmentalism of 
 certain parties at home, went merrily on then, as it 
 has done since more than once, with the consequences 
 which are well known. 
 
 Then came the abolition of the slave trade. 
 
 No one can hesitate to approve of this ; but it can- 
 not but be regretted that it was done in the way in 
 which it actually was. The mother country had, in 
 
 * Kaffir Wars, Descriptive Handbook, p. 23. Noble.
 
 134 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the eighteenth century, encouraged the slave trade to 
 the uttermost. As late as 1775 the Board of Trade 
 disallowed a Jamaica Act by which additional duty 
 was placed on imported slaves. They could not 
 " allow the colonies to check or discourage in any 
 degree a traffic so beneficial to the nation." * The 
 tide of opinion opposed to this odious traffic rose 
 higher and higher, but unhappily with it there did not 
 rise a sense of responsibility towards the unfortunate 
 slave- owners. The slave trade was unquestionably an 
 abominable and odious thing, still it had been not 
 merely tolerated, but encouraged and extended, by the 
 Government of Great Britain. Any nation surely is 
 guilty of a moral iniquity which does not give due com- 
 pensation for injuries or loss inflicted on individuals by 
 the abolition of practices or forfeiture of possessions 
 which have been theirs under the approval or en- 
 couragement of that nation. Philanthropic enthusiasts 
 or faddists are not unfrequently blinded, however, as to 
 " moral considerations with regard to opponents. They 
 are too much given to the gratification of pleasing and 
 even excellent sentiments, costing themselves nothing, 
 and others much. In late years some of the advanced 
 Temperance leaders have, as we know, advocated im- 
 provement in liquor laws which would ruin a large 
 number of persons, without giving compensation, and 
 have seemed to fancy that, in such cases, the demands 
 of justice may be put aside, and that, in so doing, 
 they are acting on high moral principles. Others 
 have demanded the robbery and spoliation of a 
 venerable religious society — the Church of England — 
 
 * From. Bridge's Annals of Jamaica, quoted in Egerton's British Colonial 
 Policy, p. 274.
 
 CAPE COLONY 135 
 
 without compensation, and have talked as if to do so 
 was to do good service. Such was, in great measure, 
 the state of feeling in some quarters with regard 
 to the slave trade. In 1823 resolutions were passeTt"^^^ 
 in Parliament intended to mitigate the hardships of 
 slaves. As far as the colony was concerned, these 
 were strictly enforced, but their chief effect was to 
 add to the discontent of the Boer farmers, without 
 doing much good to any one. In 1833 ^^^ f^l^ 
 measure of abolition passed both Houses. The value 
 of the slaves was, in round numbers, ;^ 50,000,000. 
 Parliament voted ;^20, 000,000, and of this about 
 ;^3,ooo,ooo — far below the value required — fell to 
 the share of the Cape Colony. This, moreover, was 
 made payable in London. Most slave-owners, there- 
 fore, were practically obliged to sell their claims far 
 below their value. And so it has been truly said : ^ 
 " Amidst loud self-laudation and congratulations the 
 nation paid up conscience money to the extent of 
 something less than ten shillings in the pound." * In 
 fact, a fate seemed to dog the steps of the Colonial 
 Office, so that either mistakes were made and wrong 
 things were done, or if right things were done they 
 were done in a wrong and irritating way. 
 
 Thus it was that from this and many causes, with 
 some of which we may have to deal afterwards, " the 
 Great Trek " began in 1836. This was that emigratiorTf 
 on a large scale of the Boer farmers, seeking, as they 
 seem to have viewed it, to be free from the restless 
 and dominating English Government, so as to go on 
 in their own way ; seeking, as their opponents felt 
 with considerable truth, to work their cruelties un- 
 
 * See Egerton's British Colonial Policy, p. 278.
 
 136 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 molested on the native races, and to be undisturbed 
 in isolated quietude in their own unprogressive stag- 
 ^ nation. This remarkable movement, however, led to 
 far-reaching consequences, which must be considered 
 in a future chapter. 
 
 To turn back to Cape Colony. The colony had 
 steadily grown, especially between the years 1817 and 
 J 1820, by the then large influx of energetic and able 
 emigrants, who spread out in the Eastern Province. 
 These became the nucleus of one of the most vigorous 
 of the provincial communities, and their vigour and 
 value had much to do, as we shall see, with future 
 events. 
 
 While the home Government, at this time and onwards 
 for many years, was affected by a spirit of indifference 
 or disgust with its South African possessions — which 
 took form, as we shall see, in various acts of what now 
 seems fo have been incredible folly — the Cape Colony, 
 always the centre from which matters radiate, and the 
 largest and most important of the English divisions, 
 increased in importance and material prosperity. After 
 the Boer emigration there was greater contentment. 
 Indeed, afterwards, and more especially for the twelve 
 or thirteen years following the year 1845, immigrants 
 came in considerable numbers, both British, assisted by 
 the Government, and some from the German Legion who 
 had taken service with England in the Crimean War. 
 Some thousands of Germans also came and settled in 
 the South, seeking the freedom more and more to be 
 found under the British flag, and these have been 
 merged in the British element, and have added to 
 the strength and prosperity of the colony. Ostrich- 
 farming, sheep-farming, and cattle- farming, later also
 
 CAPE COLONY 137 
 
 fruit-farming, developed. The usual consequence of 
 more peaceful days followed. Churches and schools 
 were built, roads were made. In 1859 the first railway 
 was opened — a beginning of that system of railways 
 now more and more spreading, and likely to spread, 
 over the country. About 1869 began the development 
 of mineral wealth, by the discovery of diamonds, which 
 went further by the discovery of the gold mines, and 
 has, in the last twenty years, so much affected the 
 history of South Africa. 
 
 We have seen how the short-sighted policy of the'Tj 
 home Government led to many of the sorrows of the 
 colony and of South Africa generally. The misguided 
 zeal of the missionaries, especially of the London 
 Missionary Society — roused, probably enough, by harsh 
 acts of colonists, especially of the Boers, towards the 
 native races — was always brought to bear on the 
 Colonial OflSce. The governors sent out, Who had 
 greater opportunities of knowing the truth, were con- 
 stantly on the side of the colonists, and therefore as 
 constantly removed from office by the authorities at 
 home. On the whole, these governors, notwithstand- 
 ing the arbitrary power which, if they pleased, they 
 could wield, acted wisely and commanded respect, but 4 
 this state of things led on to two evil consequences. 
 
 The first was a long series of Kaffir wars. These took 
 place chiefly in the regions near Algoa Bay. Had the 
 matter been dealt with boldly and strongly and con- 
 sistently, it could easily have been settled once for all ; 
 but everything was done grudgingly and on a small 
 scale, and instead of one vigorous war securing peace, 
 there were endless petty wars causing constant discom- 
 fort. The home Government were apparently governed
 
 138 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 by party considerations, not by thoughts as to the 
 welfare of the colony. They were ever fearing the 
 wrath of the taxpayer in England, and consequently 
 in the end squandered much more of his money than 
 need have been the case. Strength and determination 
 always tell. At last, after the series of wars extending 
 more or less from 1846 to 1853, British Kaffraria was 
 formed into a province and administered by British 
 officials and had in it garrisons of British troops. This 
 worked fairly well. 
 
 A strange calamity, however, befell the Kaffirs which 
 helped the future peace of the colony. Under the 
 fanatical inspiration of their wizards, those of British 
 Kaffiraria destroyed their cattle and their grain 
 stores, with the idea that the ghosts of departed 
 ancestors — to whom the South African savage attri- 
 butes extensive powers — would come to their aid with 
 renewed resources, and assist them in the destruction 
 of the white men. The consequence was that in 
 spite of every effi^rt made by the colony to assist 
 them, multitudes of them were swept off by famine. 
 The Kaffirs of the Kasa tribe were so reduced that 
 henceforth there were none of the usual wars, merely 
 slight risings readily suppressed, and at last, in 1894, 
 Kaffraria became part of the colony, the Pando territory 
 was incorporated into it, and it extended henceforth to 
 the frontier of Natal. 
 
 Another unfortunate consequence of the relations of 
 the colony with the home Government, since 1820 at 
 any rate, was the growing inclination at Downing 
 Street to look askance at our South African territories 
 as possessions of which England might well be rid. 
 The whole history of our colonial policy in that period.
 
 CAPE COLONY 139 
 
 especially as applied to South Africa, is an illustration 
 of the marvellous manner in which the energy and 
 courage and persistence of Englishmen have succeeded 
 in spite of the paralyzing efforts and narrow doctrinaire 
 ways of Downing Street as it then was. 
 
 No doubt much greater allowance is to be made for 
 the home Government in those days than could, if 
 they go wrong, be made for them now. Communication 
 was much more difficult. South Africa was very much 
 farther from London than it is to-day. Still, there was 
 a good deal of pettiness and pedantic cant in the air. 
 Men were losing the vigour and breadth of mind which 
 comes with the Imperial idea. They were full of petty 
 party exigencies. They were bored by the demands of 
 distant possessions. It was a sad time for England, for 
 nations as well as men are on the high road to decay 
 when they are too cowardly or too lazy to accept their 
 responsibilities. 
 
 And this was very much the case. Had the then 
 policy continued. South Africa would have been lost to 
 the Empire. The peculiarity of our action at the Cape 
 was this — we found the station a necessary one for 
 our Indian route before the opening of the Suez Canal, 
 but, fearing expense and trouble, one Colonial Secre- 
 tary after another opposed any expansion. This was 
 absurd as well as suicidal. A great colonising people 
 must, by the law of their being, expand, and had we 
 not expanded in South Africa we should have entirely 
 lost the large opportunities given us there, as — through 
 vacillation and a petty struggle against expansion — 
 we have partly lost them. There are opportunities 
 given to nations as to individuals, which they can 
 neglect only at their peril ; and to England have come
 
 140 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 opportunities of using for an ever-increasing and ever- 
 enterprising people one of the richest and fairest 
 regions of the globe, and opportunities of carrying 
 to these regions that freedom in action and life and 
 trade which can be had fully only under the English 
 flag. 
 
 The effort to resist expansion was therefore, and 
 happily, a vain one, but it caused many evils, created 
 much irritation, and crippled to some extent our 
 prosperity and usefulness. There was no consistent 
 policy. It was all vacillation ; and vacillation will never 
 found, nor preserve in prosperity, a great empire. 
 Had the men of 1795 and 1806 been the petty, change- 
 ful, fidgetty doctrinaires that those who followed 
 them have been until lately, we should have had no 
 South Africa at all. Had our advance depended upon 
 our Governments instead of upon Englishmen them- 
 selves, we should have no command of such South 
 Africa as we have ; and indeed in later times the 
 opening of the trade route upon which depends, to 
 a large extent. South African prosperity, and the 
 paramount influence of England, we owe not so 
 much to our Colonial Ofiice, as to the energy and 
 self-denial of one great Englishman — Cecil Rhodes. 
 
 The fault, however, was not merely smallness of 
 spirit and " shortened thought " resisting the natural 
 laws of expansion of a great people, like a man with a 
 shovel resisting a rising tide ; it was the tendency to 
 try to govern in all details from a distance, to govern 
 too under the influence of " every wind of doctrine " 
 instead of by the advice of men who knew and who 
 were on the spot. The consequence has been that in 
 South Africa there has been a waste of statesmen.
 
 CAPE COLONY 141 
 
 We have sent out many able governors, and then 
 failed to use them, and worse than failed. Until 
 quite recently no governor could long work on under 
 the home Government unless he proved himself a 
 mere figurehead, a helpless cypher, and contentedly 
 and without remonstrance allowed the officials at 
 Downing Street to perpetrate abundant and ever- 
 varying blunders. When strong and capable men 
 came to represent Great Britain they were not 
 trusted, they were sure to be thwarted and then 
 withdrawn. South African Blue-Books are a con- 
 stant record of the endeavours of governors to per- 
 suade the Colonial Office to act with common sense, 
 and to consider the interests of South Africa, rather 
 than the exigencies of party in English elections. 
 Among many distinguished men, three really great 
 statesmen have been among the governors at the 
 Cape. First, there was Sir Benjamin D' Urban — 
 already mentioned. He had been sent out in 1834 to 
 carry out a new policy — the policy of treating the Kaffir 
 tribes as if they were independent civilised nations, 
 the policy which went on the assumption that the 
 colonists were wholly in the wrong, and the English 
 philanthropists of " the Exeter Hall " stamp, whom 
 the Government then delighted to honour, wholly in 
 the right. On the spot and facing facts, D' Urban, 
 who was a man of ability and judgment, saw the case 
 as it was. He found it necessary to annex the country 
 between the Keiskamma and the Kei. The answer 
 to him was a pedagogic despatch from Lord Glenelg 
 giving a sketch of the history of the Kaffirs and their 
 relation to the colonists drawn from his lordship's 
 omniscient imagination, countermanding, of course, the
 
 142 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 step that had been taken. D'Urban's answer was a plea 
 for the colonists, and an urgent request for compensa- 
 tion for " faithful subjects who had been visited with 
 calamities rarely paralleled, undeserved by any act of 
 the sufferers." Needless to say Sir Benjamin D'Urban 
 was dismissed, his work undone, and all had to be 
 done again at a heavy cost of blood and money, and at 
 the cost, worse than that, of disaffection and irrita- 
 tion among the colonists and evils from which we 
 suffer still. England and South Africa have paid 
 dearly for the ignorance and false economy of ineffi- 
 cient Colonial Secretaries. 
 
 Another great statesman who, had he been allowed, 
 would have saved us endless trouble in South Africa 
 was Sir George Grey. His far-seeing policy of con- 
 federation, which would have neutralised, at least, the 
 folly of our Government as to the Orange Free State, 
 was, of course, refused in 1858, when it could well 
 have been carried out, and soon after he was insult- 
 ingly dismissed. He had, however, to be again placed 
 at the head of affairs. By his wisdom he carried out 
 to the full Sir Benjamin D'Urban's policy, so cavalierly 
 put aside by Lord Glenelg some twenty years before, 
 and in fact " Sir George Grey, while as an interlude 
 helping to save India, did more to consolidate Cape 
 Colony than had been done since the time of the first 
 occupation." * Years after, in a native address pre- 
 sented to Sir Bartle Frere, Sir George Grey is spoken 
 of as "a good Governor, good to tie up the hands of 
 bad men, good to plant schools, good to feed the 
 hungry, good to have mercy." And it has been truly 
 said, "not again until the time of Sir Bartle Frere 
 
 * EgertoD. British Colonial Policy, p. 355.
 
 CAPE COLONY 143 
 
 was Cape Colony to have a really great Governor." * 
 The time came when Sir George Grey's services, from 
 misunderstanding with the home Government in 
 another colony, were lost to the Empire. 
 
 He also went the way of all good governors. Then 
 we remember Sir Bartle Frere. Of him we shall have 
 to speak again — he, the greatest of all our " great pro- 
 consuls," hindered, thwarted, misunderstood, misrepre- 
 sented, had his really great policy checked, and, with 
 the blessings of South Africa following him, had to 
 withdraw into retirement and (so far as his opponents 
 could manage it) disgrace, to die at last of a broken heart 
 as a reward from a helpless and ungrateful Government 
 for long years of devoted service. 
 
 The history of these three brilliant statesmen reminds 
 us of the folly, for many years, of our South African 
 policy. All that Sir Benjamin D' Urban urged has 
 had to be done. All that Sir George Grey and Sir 
 Bartle Frere would have easily achieved, had they not 
 been thwarted and opposed, has now to be aimed at 
 by any able and useful Colonial Secretary. Much of 
 it has had to be carried out with great difficulty since 
 they were sacrificed ; much, with still greater diffi- 
 culty, will have to be attempted. 
 
 The history of our South African policy, or want of 
 policy, is a long record of mistakes. I quote a short 
 summary in the words of an able writer : " First there 
 were the methods adopted to carry through slave 
 emancipation; then there was Lord Glenelg's policy, 
 with its attendant Boer exodus ; then there was the 
 treatment of the exiles, the hesitation between a 
 policy of expansion and the frank recognition of in- 
 
 * Egerton. British Colonial Policy, p. 355.
 
 144 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 dependent Dutch communities. Even then, however, 
 the fates were forgiving, and, with the assumption of 
 the Orange Kiver Sovereignty, England had the oppor- 
 tunity to wipe out past mistakes. That Sovereignty, 
 however, was only assumed to be promptly abandoned. 
 Even then Sir George Grey's policy of confederation 
 offered yet another opportunity, which was at once 
 refused. Henceforth the problem became tenfold 
 more difficult, the time being given to the Dutch 
 republics to cultivate an independent patriotism. In 
 spite, however, of sentimental considerations, the 
 material and economic forces making for the union 
 of South Africa were so strong that it seemed, at the 
 beginning of the seventies, that that consummation 
 might soon come to pass. But then the annexation 
 and the subsequent retrocession of the Transvaal inter- 
 vened to make peaceful confederation more distant 
 than ever." * 
 
 No mistakes have been wanting. Our fatuous 
 policy of vacillation, betrayal, friction, irritation, post- 
 poning, changing, doing and undoing has been such, 
 that it is the loyalty and effort of individual English- 
 men, in the very teeth of wrongheaded administration, 
 which have saved South Africa. 
 
 Mistakes, alas ! are more easily made than corrected, 
 but to look our mistakes full in the face is going half- 
 way to correct them. Even if many of them have 
 arisen from ignorance and laisser-aller, many have 
 arisen from an exaggerated generosity ; and, after all 
 is said and done, South Africa has had, and yet will 
 have, her best opportunities under the British flag. 
 
 As to Cape Colony, the Committee for Trade and 
 
 * Egerton. British Colonial Policy p. 472.
 
 CAPE COLONY 145 
 
 Plantations sent in a report on a constitution. This 
 was adopted in 1850. It advised that only the main 
 provisions of the constitution should be laid down, 
 that the then existing Legislative Council should have 
 power to pass Ordinances, subject to the Sovereign's 
 approval, " for regulating all subordinate arrangements, 
 of which," said the report, "we are of opinion that 
 as large a share as possible should be thus left to be 
 determined on the spot." This was sensible and con- 
 ciliatory, and a new constitution came into action in 
 July 1854. The colony obtained fully responsible 
 government in 1872. 
 
 The constitution is modelled on that of Great Britain 
 and works well. With the exception perhaps of Mr. 
 Cecil Rhodes, there would not appear to have been 
 as yet any statesmen of first-rate rank. There are, 
 however, some politicians of respectable ability. There 
 are a considerable number of able men at present on 
 the Opposition side, and on the Government side 
 (chiefly made up of Dutch members, from country 
 places) there are certainly three important politicians 
 who practically take the lead. Parties are very evenly 
 balanced, the Government at present having only a 
 small majority. The debates are, on the whole, ably 
 conducted and animated, and political matters, perhaps 
 more than any other, seem to stir into activity the 
 otherwise somewhat lethargic and easy-going temper 
 of the people. 
 
 There is a good prospect before the colony now. 
 The rapid and ever-improving communication with the 
 mother country brings Capetown closely into touch 
 with London ; South Africa has made forward strides 
 in later years, and with increasing knowledge of its
 
 146 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 problems and needs, and deepening sympathy on both 
 sides, and constant communication, there is good hope 
 that the English people and a wise and energetic 
 Colonial Office will have learnt by experience, and be 
 henceforth in no danger of repeating the mistakes of 
 the past.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 
 
 We have seen something: of the misdirected zeal and 
 general wrongheadedness of the Colonial Office, and the 
 restiveness under any restraint of the Boer colonists 
 which paved the way to the Boer emigration which 
 began in 1836, and is known by the name of "the 
 Great Trek." 
 
 The causes of the emigration have supplied food for 
 controversy among writers on South Africa. Some 
 have believed that it was entirely due to the abolition 
 of the Slave Trade, and this, of course, had a good deal 
 to do with it. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the rude and less 
 educated Boers have always been more harsh and 
 cruel to the natives than the English settlers have 
 ever been. That these latter have also been guilty 
 of unkindness and even cruelty to the coloured races 
 is, of course, probable ; but the attitude of the Boer 
 has been and is very different from that of the English 
 Government or the English colonist to the unfor- 
 tunate native. The best excuse to be made for the 
 Boers, even by writers of the extreme Badical or 
 "Little England" type, who have seemed to find 
 delight in taking sides against their own countrymen, is 
 that New Testament morality cannot be expected from
 
 148 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 those who are chiefly students of the Old Testament. 
 We have seen that the early missionaries (and especially 
 the celebrated Dr. Philips) had given exaggerated 
 and inaccurate accounts of the ill-treatment of natives 
 at the hand of Boer farmers ; still there were plenty of 
 unpleasant matters of that kind to report which were 
 certainly true. No one can seriously doubt, for in- 
 stance, in later times, the very general testimony to 
 the fact of the practice among the Transvaal Boers, 
 when not interfered with by the British, of kidnap- 
 ping native children and really selling them into 
 slavery, though it has not been called by that name, 
 but designated by the less invidious title of " appren- 
 ticeship." Boer public opinion would never condemn 
 this. Advocates of the Boers have unblushingly con- 
 tended that the children in question were fortunate 
 in being placed under Boer care and training, rather 
 than being left with their own people ; that there 
 were large numbers of orphan and destitute children 
 whose parents had perished in war ; that these required 
 care, and so on. This has been the Boer pretence. It 
 is, of course, a mere invention. The British in their 
 wars with natives found nothing of the kind, for the 
 simple reason that there was nothing of the kind to 
 find. In native wars children were killed or carried 
 off to slavery, and the invention that Boers always- 
 found (while the British never did) numerous chil- 
 dren, abandoned and destitute, is a pretence so clumsy 
 that it shows how strong the Boer belief is in the 
 " gullibility " of the English people. The Transvaal 
 Government denied that such trade was in any way 
 tolerated by them — according to their simple method 
 of denying everything that is to their discredit — and
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 149 
 
 it was difficult to bring the charge home ; and those who 
 know most of the Transvaal Government appear to be 
 thoroughly convinced that they are past masters in the 
 art of managing wrongdoing in such a way as to make 
 it difficult to trace it by legal evidence to its authors, 
 and that denials of anything that may prove incon- 
 venient are not difficult to offer. It is acknowledged 
 on all hands that the Boers have ever looked upon 
 themselves as the Elect People of God, and upon the 
 native races as mere Canaanites to be exterminated or 
 enslaved.* There can be little doubt then that the" I 
 abolition of slavery was one cause of the discontent in 
 1836, whilst the really inadequate compensation given 
 for the property in slaves was (not unnaturally) 
 another. 
 
 Then, of course, another cause, akin to the first, is 
 doubtless to be found in a desire for larger freedom 
 in attacking or destroying native races than the 
 British Government would sometimes allow. So that, 
 generally, the movement came from a strong inclina- 
 tion in the people to be free from any restraints. 
 Their independent characters and dogged perseverance 
 cannot but be admired ; but corruptio optimi pessima, 
 and in this case some fine qualities degenerated into 
 great vices. They longed for selfish isolation. They 
 were resolved every man to be " a law unto himself." 
 They fretted against any government. Not to be 
 law-abiding, but to disobey all law was their delight ; 
 
 * Not long ago (December 1898) Mr. Kruger is reported to have preached, as 
 his custom is, to congregations of three United Dutch Churches on Dingaan's 
 Day (December i6), and to have given his version of " the Great Trek," pointing 
 out " that the Lord was always with the nation even in this last campaign 
 against Magato." Mr. Kruger is always in the habit of assuming that he has 
 special information as to the counsels of " the Lord."
 
 150 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and they were people who would not always, indeed 
 would very seldom, tolerate even the Governments 
 set up by themselves. They did not like the trouble 
 of working. In labour they had become indolent and 
 lazy, and so all the more did they hate the Govern- 
 ment which had deprived them of the slaves whom 
 they could force to toil. 
 
 They enjoyed the excitement of hunting and of war. 
 Indeed it was only war which ever led them to act 
 together. If they had physical courage they were also 
 wanting in any steady cohesiveness, as well as in any 
 shade of refinement or culture. In real civilisation they 
 were, as they are, a century or more behind most other 
 European races. Their ideal was, as it is, to disregard or 
 crush others, and — with alternating fits of indolence and 
 activity such as characterise wild animals — to do what 
 they pleased themselves. To think of them as a great 
 and simple people with a passionate love for freedom is 
 to amuse the mind with an unsubstantial romance. The 
 Transvaal Boer desires licence, and has neither wish nor 
 understanding as to liberty in its true sense. At this 
 moment he tolerates, and on the whole approves, a 
 tyranny so long as it presses hardly upon others and 
 not upon himself ; and if our Colonial Ofiice before and 
 about 1836 acted with a folly that aroused the worst 
 side of their natures, at least all who have love of just 
 dealing between man and man must rejoice that, if 
 they could not hinder them from robbing and raiding 
 among the native tribes, they then and always have 
 prevented them from the open practice of slavery. 
 
 Once away from the colony the emigrants made for 
 the wilderness in different bands and from time to 
 time. However impossible it may be to sympathise
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 151 
 
 with their ideals or with many of their doings, we 
 must admire their determination and courage. They 
 travelled, as now, in covered waggons with their wives 
 and families, and driving their herds of cattle. The 
 country across the mountains had many wild beasts 
 and a thin population, and beyond it were the far- 
 stretching solitudes inhabited by the Zulu tribes. 
 
 Tshaka had been the great Zulu king. Cruel and 
 fierce as he was, he had conquered and enslaved or 
 murdered all around him. He himself had fallen by 
 the hand of an assassin some years before the Trek, 
 and had been succeeded by his brother Dingaan, who 
 ruled the Zulus in the tract of country to the north- 
 east of Natal. 
 
 The Government did not hinder the trekkers from 
 going, though it in no way renounced a claim to their 
 allegiance ; but while in some quarters it was thought 
 a thing not to be regretted that many such disaffected 
 persons should leave the colony in peace, it was also 
 felt that in any case it was not possible to hinder them 
 going if they pleased. The British, however, had 
 always been the protectors of the native races, and 
 it was known well enough that these were not likely 
 to fare well at the hands of the emigrants, so not with 
 unmixed feelings these latter were allowed to go. 
 
 The first party who left the colony fared ill. They 
 suffered severely from the attacks of the natives and 
 from fever. Their cattle died in great numbers, and 
 so a miserable remnant only succeeded in reaching 
 Delagoa Bay. This party had included names not 
 unknown in colonial history. It was led by Louis 
 Triechard, who had been specially violent in speech 
 against the British rule. J. Pretorius was with it, and
 
 152 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 it was joined by a contingent under Van Rensburg, 
 with whom were De Wet, Van Wyk, Prins, and 
 others. This contingent afterwards separated from 
 Triechard's party, and perished, it is supposed, at the 
 hands of natives. Triechard himself died at Delagoa 
 Ifeay. Others, made up of scattered bands meeting 
 together at Thaba Ntchu in what is now the Orange 
 Free State, made their way to the north. The head 
 of this movement was Andries Hendrik Potgieter, and 
 in the band were famihes of the Liebenbergs and 
 Kriigers. Among the latter was Paul Kriiger, now 
 Transvaal President, then about ten years of age. A 
 part under Potgieter went on to inspect the country, 
 and returned to find that some of those left behind had 
 been roughly handled by the Matabele. Accordingly 
 they raided the territory of Mozilekatze. He had fallen 
 into disgrace with Tshaka mary years before, and had 
 fled to Mosega, between wha^ is now Johannesburg 
 and Mafeking. There he ruled over the Matabele, and 
 carried on the usual predatory wars with any other 
 tribes, such as the Bechuanas, who were weaker than 
 himself. 
 
 The emigrants succeeded in defeating him and 
 driving him across the Limpopo. Mozilekatze, in his 
 turn, attacked the tribes between the Limpopo and 
 the Zambesi, and finally established himself in Bulu- 
 wayo, for long the headquarters kraal of the Matabele 
 kings, until it became of late the capital of Rhodesia. 
 It was in this wide region between the Orange Biver 
 and the Limpopo that the various wandering parties 
 of Boers settled in a loose fashion, so far as these 
 nomad groups of stock farmers could be said to settle. 
 And then there was a further settlement, for the
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 153 
 
 fact was — as became more evident in later years — 
 that the Boer wanderers were continually dispersed 
 owing to dissensions among themselves. The further 
 migration was that led by Piet Retief, but the 
 details of these adventures belong to a later part of 
 our history. ' 
 
 Leaving for a moment the affairs relating to 
 what became the colony of Natal, the results of the 
 emigration of Boers from the Cape Colony are important 
 in two directions. The first touches matters in con- 
 nection with the territory between the Orange Biver 
 j^nd the Vaal. There were bodies of Boers scattered 
 over the district north of Cape Colony, from its then 
 frontier about Colesberg. There were, including these, 
 three sets of inhabitants near that frontier continually 
 coming into collision : ( i ) The Griquas (called also 
 the Bastards), who we^m half-breeds, and were sprung 
 from unions of DutOihmen and Hottentot women. 
 These unions were very numerous, as the Dutch, 
 with coarser natures and less refinement of character, 
 have been much more intermingled with the native 
 races than the English. (2) Then there were the 
 Basutos. These were made up of remnants of tribes 
 driven from the north by the fierce Zulus. They 
 became a hardy race, and under the wise rule of 
 Moshesh, their celebrated king, grew into a sort of 
 native nation which still flourishes under British pro- 
 tection in the mountain district tv^est of Natal and 
 south of the Free State — " the Switzerland of South 
 Africa," as it is usually called. (3) And then there 
 were the wandering Boers. 
 
 Among these opposing forces there were continual 
 quarrels. The state of uneasiness which then existed
 
 154 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 was a source of anxiety both at Downing Street and 
 Capetown. 
 
 The question was, what could be done to avoid the 
 constant unsettlement caused by the friction, and the 
 consequent danger of fresh native wars? This exer- 
 cised all minds given to think on the subject. Had 
 a consistent policy been pursued all might have turned 
 out well, and many of the after troubles in South 
 Africa would have been avoided. But such was not 
 the case. The policy of shilly-shally, which had before, 
 and has since, done such infinite mischief, set in and 
 became an epidemic at the Colonial Office, followed in 
 this instance, as in others afterwards, by confusion all 
 round, by greater irritation among the Boer emigrants, 
 and a practical betrayal of the English colonists. 
 
 The first idea — which emanated from the missionaries, 
 and especially from Dr. Philips — was to protect the 
 colony from Boer disturbance by a line of native 
 states. This would further have the advantage of 
 keeping the natives in touch with the British, who 
 looked upon themselves as their natural protectors. 
 As might have been expected, however, this arrange- 
 ment would not work. A treaty had already existed 
 for a few years with Waterboer (as he was called), a 
 Griqua captain. Another was now made with Adam 
 Kok, another Griqua leader, and with Moshesh, the 
 Basuto king. Still the quarrels with the natives went 
 on. The whites would not, as might have been expected, 
 obey Griquas ; some new arrangement was necessary. 
 From 1843 to 1846 these abortive efforts had had 
 their trial and had failed. In 1 846 Bloemfontein was 
 made a centre for a British Resident and a small 
 British force, and this was followed up by further
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 155 
 
 sensible steps, which would have worked well for the 
 future of South Africa had they been consistently 
 carried out ; but again there was vacillation at home. 
 
 It is, of course, proverbially easy to be wise after 
 the fact. The home Government, doubtless, had diffi- 
 culties — especially from want of more rapid communi- 
 cation — ^which would not be encountered now. Still, 
 in great colonial, as in foreign, questions, it is not 
 unfair to demand from British rulers careful accumu- 
 lation of evidence, wisdom in following the advice of 
 responsible Governors on the spot, and, indeed, at any 
 rate, a steady instead of a tentative and uncertain 
 policy. This demand, however, has not, until quite 
 recently, been satisfied. What may be called Lord 
 Glenelg's policy alienated Dutch subjects, as we have 
 seen, and now the policy of those in power at home 
 further stereotyped such alienation, and led up to 
 the first of those shortsighted betrayals of people 
 who depended upon our Government, of which there 
 have been later and even more miserable exam- 
 ples. All along it is melancholy to see the constant 
 shortsightedness and vacillation which has led to so 
 many unhappy consequences in the history of South 
 Africa. 
 
 The fact is, the English Government had got into 
 the habit of looking upon our South African possessions 
 as a troublesome heritage which, above all things, 
 should not be allowed to expand, on which as little 
 money as possible should be spent, and which — unless, 
 perhaps, Table Bay and Capetown — should be got 
 rid of, if that were found possible. Governor after 
 Governor was sent to the colony to carry out a policy 
 of this kind. Governor after Governor learnt facts on
 
 156 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the spot, took a truer and more statesmanlike view, 
 pressed it upon the home Government, and was each 
 in turn consequently recalled. The only safety of a 
 Governor became at last a servile imitation of a 
 vacillating Government. The treatment accorded 
 afterv^^ards to Sir Bartle Frere, as a reward for his 
 energy and farsightedness, may have warned Sir 
 Hercules Robinson of the need of weakness or at least 
 of a shrinking from responsibility. It is always more 
 and more evident that, so far as the situation has 
 been saved in South Africa in later times, it has been 
 saved by the energy and dash of Englishmen, in the 
 teeth, for the most part, of the home Government. 
 For many years — at least as regards this immense 
 territory which offered itself for British enterprise — the 
 home Government of both parties was in toto as much 
 made up of *' Little Englanders " as the small groups of 
 curiosities w^ho have been subjects of quiet toleration, 
 or have exercised a passing influence over Englishmen 
 of our own day. 
 
 In 1847 Sir Harry Smith became Governor of the 
 colony. He seems to have been a man of statesman- 
 like views and considerable capacity. He saw clearly 
 enough the defects in the Boer character, but he had 
 also a clear view of their strong points, and he had a 
 real liking for the Dutch people. He had known 
 South Africa ; he believed that the misunderstandings 
 with the Boer farmers could be dispelled, and that the 
 true solution of the difficult problem, arising out of 
 the disturbed relations between Boers, Griquas, and 
 Basutos, was the formation of a self-governing colony 
 north of the Orange, while the British had a control- 
 ling protectorate over the natives. Accordingly he
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 157 
 
 went to Bloemfontein and thence to Natal. He suc- 
 ceeded in checking any further exodus (for an exodus 
 after the formation of that colony had begun) of the 
 Dutch settled there, and on February 3, 1848, the 
 " Orange River Sovereignty," as it was called, was 
 proclaimed. 
 
 The British Government, as was usual then, were 
 thoroughly annoyed at African troubles — albeit in 
 great measure induced by themselves — and only grudg- 
 ingly assented to Sir Harry Smith's arrangements. 
 Some of the details required correcting, and the British 
 Resident, Major Warden, does not seem to have acted 
 with prudence as to these. Many of the colonists were 
 thankful enough for the restoration of some sort of 
 order and good government, but the more turbulent 
 and anarchical of the Boer farmers, as usual, stirred 
 up opposition. Others from beyond the Vaal — where 
 every man was "a law unto himself" — -joined them; 
 the Besident was besieged in Bloemfontein, and almost 
 driven to capitulate. Sir Harry Smith, however, acted 
 with promptitude, and with a small force with which 
 he advanced from Capetown defeated the Boers under 
 Andries Pretorius at Boomplatz on August 29, 1848, 
 and, while leaving the Transvaal Dutch to themselves, 
 re-established the Orange Biver Sovereignty on what 
 would appear to have been a solid foundation. The 
 Boers who were opposed to British rule moved across 
 the Vaal ; those who were more in favour of it 
 remained, and a considerable number of colonists from 
 Cape Colony crossed into the Sovereignty and settled 
 there instead of those who had left. 
 
 There seemed some hope now that things would go 
 right, but the vacillation and wrongheadedness of the
 
 158 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 home authorities, as usual, extinguished such hope. 
 The Secretary now at the Colonial Office was no 
 friend to expansion, and, like the rest, had little know- 
 ledofe of South Africa and little care for it. There were 
 still some difficulties with Pretorius and his party 
 across the Vaal, and when they showed signs of 
 willingness to come to some settled terms with Great 
 Britain the Government seized upon the opportunity. 
 Assistant Commissioners were appointed by Lord Grey. 
 They held that a treaty made with Pretorius would 
 detach the disaffected in the Orange Sovereignty from 
 the Transvaal Boers. This was the pretext for signing 
 what was called the Sand Biver Convention, and it 
 was accordingly signed in 1852. 
 
 This guaranteed the independence of the Boers 
 beyond the Vaal, and definitely distinguished between 
 them and those in the Sovereignty. What is now called 
 the South African Bepublic is in the habit of con- 
 sidering that its independence dates from that time. 
 The Convention, however, was a serious blunder, to say 
 the least of it. Had the Government acted firmly and 
 sincerely towards South Africa, the after difficulties 
 which came from it would have been avoided : (i) 
 There was then no South African Bepublic. Pretorius 
 was merely one leader among many, and the Boers 
 across the Vaal were in a state of utter anarchy, and 
 divided into mutually hostile " republics." If the 
 British Government had shown them once and for all 
 that they meant to be masters, and then treated them 
 with justice, the Transvaal would have been a pros- 
 perous self-governing colony long ago ; the natives 
 would have been protected from the excessive harshness 
 of the Dutch, and the causes of friction, which are still
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 159 
 
 at work In South Africa, would have been removed. 
 Then (2) even if the Convention was to be made with 
 Pretorius and his detachment, at any rate the treat- 
 ment of the Orange River Sovereignty should have 
 been consistent and sincere. Colonists had settled in 
 that Sovereignty trusting in the good faith of the 
 British Government ; the arrangements made by Sir 
 Harry Smith were beginning to work well, any details 
 which required correction could have been corrected. 
 The Transvaal Boers were now at least pledged, and 
 indeed seemed determined, not to settle south of the 
 Vaal. Their hands were quite full enough with their 
 own intestine disputes. The statesmanship of Sir 
 Harry Smith was just beginning to bear good fruits, 
 when everything was wrecked by the folly of Downing 
 Street. The "Little England" spirit, with all its 
 selfishness and huckstering pettiness, and fear of 
 responsibility, was abroad, sheltering itself, as usual, 
 under vague ideas of inopportune generosity and cheap 
 philanthropy. The consequence was that betrayal of 
 the colonists for whom Great Britain was responsible — 
 the first of our unhappy betrayals in South Africa — 
 which must be looked back upon by every Englishman 
 with a deep sense of shame. 
 
 There is something really pathetic in the determined 
 loyalty towards the Empire of the colonies again and 
 again, when the object of the home Government — 
 ruled by this contemptible temper — seemed only to be a 
 desire to be rid of them. Never has that loyalty been 
 more conspicuous than in the case of the Orange Biver 
 Sovereignty ; never has a betrayal of responsibility been 
 more flagrant than in the deliberate ejection of these 
 loyal colonists from the unity of the Empire, at a time
 
 160 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 when they were too young and too unformed to resist 
 such selfish disregard of their loyal desires. 
 
 A statement had been drawn up by them in 1851 in 
 these words : 
 
 "No sooner had your Excellency extended the authority of the 
 Queen than order and subordination were established, the confidence 
 of the peaceful and well-disposed revived . . . flourishing villages 
 suddenly sprang up, and the apparently waste land of a year or two 
 previous became studded with substantial homesteads."* 
 
 This, however, was altogether disregarded. Even 
 in the February of 1852 Lord Grey had shown his 
 bias. " The ultimate abandonment," he wrote, " of 
 the Orange River Sovereignty should be a settled 
 point in our policy " ; and in that same spring Sir 
 Harry Smith, having succeeded in settling that 
 Sovereignty on a satisfactory basis, was, in accordance 
 with the usual methods towards South Africa, recalled. 
 His habit of judging of facts as they were, and his 
 statesmanlike arrangements for the Orange River diffi- 
 culty, had naturally given umbrage at Downing Street. 
 
 Matters now moved rapidly in favour of the policy 
 of the Colonial Office. Sir John Pakington was Secre- 
 tary for a short time, and during his tenure of office 
 the matter was left undecided. General Cathcart, 
 however, had been sent out as Governor, instead of 
 Sir Harry Smith, in 1852, to see with the eyes of the 
 Government. The Duke of Newcastle, who was now 
 at the Colonial Office (1852-54), was inclined in the 
 same direction as Lord Grey had been. A small 
 Basuto war which broke out at the time helped 
 matters on. Sir George Clerk was sent out as Special 
 Commissioner in 1853, instructed, indeed, to consider 
 
 * Parliamentary Papers, 1854, quoted by Egerton ; also British Colonial 
 Policy, p. 346.
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 161 
 
 that the decision at home might be modified, but 
 informed by the Duke of Newcastle of the Govern- 
 ment's intention to carry out what in later days is 
 known as "the policy of scuttle." The minds of 
 statesmen and politicians were fixed upon European 
 affairs in the East just before the Crimean War. 
 South African matters were practically voted a 
 nuisance. Eesponsibility to our colonists was not 
 recognised. The Orange Kiver Sovereignty was in 
 fact doomed. 
 
 The immediate occasion for this act of folly and, 
 indeed, of treachery, as I have said, was the outbreak 
 of the Basuto war. Moshesh was attacked by, as 
 usual, an apparently insufficient force under General 
 Cathcart. The Basuto country was difficult, the force 
 sufiered a reverse from an ambush. It would have 
 been necessary to return to the attack with increased 
 forces or surrender (as indeed happened on a later and 
 more serious occasion), but that Moshesh, fortunately, 
 seemed inclined to peace. This war was unpopular in 
 England. It was of great advantage to the Dutch 
 settlers, and was believed to have been undertaken 
 in their behalf Had it been so, there is no reason 
 to think that it was wrong to protect our own colonists, 
 but it was thought that the Dutch should have showed 
 their energy in defending themselves. As a matter of 
 fact the war seems to have been due to the Governor, 
 and carried on in opposition to the wishes of the 
 colonists, whether Dutch or English. Some excuse 
 may, perhaps, be made for the Colonial Office. It 
 was probably in command of insufficient information 
 and was now fairly out of heart with colonial wars, 
 and when the intelligence reached England the Duke 
 
 V
 
 162 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of Newcastle determined on abandoning the Orange 
 River Sovereignty. 
 
 It is always — we cannot blind ourselves to the 
 fact — a mark of pitiable weakness, whether in a man 
 or in a nation, to succumb to the first pressure of 
 difficulties. For a strong man or a strong nation 
 difficulties are things to be overcome. Petulance may 
 be excused in a very weak woman or a child, scarcely in 
 the responsible government of a Great people. The cry, 
 " I can't be bothered any more ; let things go ; I don't 
 care," is an unworthy cry from the lips of an Imperial 
 Government, but the cowardly and impatient temper 
 which finds vent in such a cry has twice at least led 
 to a betrayal of our trust in South Africa. On the 
 later occasion it found some semblance of excuse in 
 the plea put forward — and by some truly put forward 
 — of generosity and justice ; on this occasion there 
 was not even that. 
 
 It was a fatal step, and far from being to the honour 
 of England. Delegates were sent home to pray that 
 the State might remain subject to the British crown. 
 It was a moment when the Basuto power appeared 
 most dangerous ; it was certainly not the time to 
 abandon the colonists. They refused to be thrust 
 away. They expressed their intention of draping the 
 English flag with crape, hanging it half-mast high, 
 and relying upon the British Parliament to come to 
 their aid. Alas ! they leant on a broken reed. " Little ' 
 Englandism * — that spirit of cowardly selfishness — was 
 in possession ; men's minds were full of other things. 
 They would not take the trouble to attend to the 
 agonised prayers of their distant kinsfolk and fellow- 
 subjects and to their just demands. Alas ! if it was
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 163 
 
 the first time it was not the last that South Africa 
 was destined to learn that England could betray her 
 children. 
 
 Mr. Adderley made a gallant attempt in the House 
 of Commons to obtain a reconsideration of the sentence 
 of dismissal for the Orange River Sovereignty, but in 
 vain. Parliament did do something : it voted forty- 
 eight thousand pounds to be rid of a large and loyal 
 dependency ! It is a sad and disgraceful story, and it 
 has never been forgotten in South Africa. General 
 Cathcart's words to a meeting of delegates praying 
 to be retained as a self-governing colony under the 
 British crown show how well he fulfilled the wishes of 
 Downing Street : 
 
 "The expression,"* he said, "of the wants and wishes of the 
 delegates are so decidedly in favour of uncompromising self-govern- 
 ment that it would be gracious in her Majesty to grant them even 
 more than they ask — viz., independence." 
 
 The comment reads like a grim joke. 
 
 "I have reason to think," adds the Governor, "in that event 
 Mr. Pretorius would become President of a United Republic, and 
 its natural independence might then be recognised. As you justly 
 observe, the principle is the same, whether the Vaal or the Orange 
 River be the named boundary." 
 
 General Cathcart's " reason to think " was as base- 
 less as his remarks were cynical ; though the fault 
 did not lie at the door of that gallant officer, but at 
 that of those whom he loyally served. Our fellow- 
 subjects — whether Dutch or English — although they 
 were cast off by the mother country, when longing 
 to be one with her, felt no inclination to put them- 
 selves under the heel of " Mr. Pretorius " ! 
 
 * Parliamentary Papers, 1854.
 
 164 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Sir George Clerk, the Special Commissioner in 1853, 
 was an even more thoroughgoing instrument, if pos- 
 sible, in carrying out the cynical policy of the Colonial 
 Secretary. Delegates were sent again by the colonists 
 — ^Dutchmen and Englishmen alike — to petition for 
 the continual maintenance of British supremacy, but Sir 
 George Clerk was primed with a ready-made theory. 
 The desire was due, he said — as if he understood their 
 feelings better than their elected representatives could 
 — " to delusions practised on the inactive Dutch by 
 greedy English land speculators." It was in vain 
 that the chairman of the delegates declared that there 
 had been " hitherto no separation of interests between 
 the Dutch and English inhabitants." The Commis- 
 sioner, who professed to read their true thoughts, 
 seemed to feel sure that they were longing to be 
 combined in one State with those who had gone north- 
 ward, and who were " living contentedly and peaceably 
 across the Vaal." Sir George Clerk had strange 
 notions of peace and contentment. The Transvaal 
 Boers were in a state of utter anarchy, and rival 
 factions were flying at each other's throats. However, 
 the cause was pre-judged, and no efibrt was spared, in 
 spite of prayers and entreaties to the contrary, to cut 
 the Orange Biver Sovereignty adrift. 
 
 The Commissioner had no name for the loyal 
 majority but " obstructionists." Those — the minority 
 — opposed to the British connection were the " well- 
 disposed." They fought to the last, but the Commis- 
 sioner's mind was made up — or rather the minds of those 
 who sent him — and the loyal had to be browbeaten and 
 wearied out, and then tranquillised by "compensation."* 
 
 * Egerton's British Colonial Policy, pp. 349-352.
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 165 
 
 The terms of Convention were laid before the 
 Assembly on February 17, 1854, although the Pro- 
 clamation withdrawing the Sovereignty had been 
 signed — though the fact was concealed from those 
 in South Africa — on the January 30 preceding. 
 There was deception all round. Moshesh and his 
 Basutos were led to believe one thing as to the 
 dividing-line and the Dutch farmers another. Any- 
 thing, it would seem, to get rid of valuable territory 
 and loyal subjects ! It was a bad business. On 
 March 11, 1854, the English flag was "hoisted for 
 the last time over the Queen's fort." It was saluted 
 and then lowered. The flag of the new Republic — 
 a Republic forced into existence against its will by 
 the Downing Street blunderers — was hoisted, and the 
 Special Commissioner, having finished this miserable 
 work, started to leave Bloemfontein with the troops 
 and Government ofiicials. As if to close the dreary 
 performance in a fitting manner, just as they were 
 departing one of the soldiers dropped down dead. 
 They had to pause for his burial. Then, accompanied 
 by Moshesh and the other chiefs and the members of 
 the new-made Government, they left the abandoned 
 territory. They journeyed together to the end of the 
 first stage towards Capetown. " Then, in apparent 
 friendship, the Commissioner, the chiefs, and the mem- 
 bers of the new Government bade each other farewell, 
 and the farmers and Basuto " — each of them deceived 
 — "were left to settle as they could the relation in 
 which they were to stand to each other." * 
 
 The Commissioner on his way had an interview 
 with Adam Kok, the Griqua leader. Here he failed 
 
 • Theal's History, 1834- 1854, chap. xlvi. p. 547.
 
 166 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 in his proposals and then departed, leaving the com- 
 plicated and difficult question — created by this 
 wretched policy — as a heritage of difficulty for the 
 new Government. The delegates to England had 
 gone, as we have seen, some time before. It was not 
 until March i6 that they were admitted to an inter- 
 view with the Duke of Newcastle, and not until 
 May 9 that Mr. Adderley was able to make his 
 honest but abortive effort, which has been men- 
 tioned, in the House of Commons. 
 
 So closed one of the most discreditable chapters in 
 the history of English government. So was effected 
 a betrayal of duty and responsibility towards loyal 
 colonists. Scarcely if ever equalled, even in the 
 annals of the long series of blundering at Downing 
 Street in the treatment of South Africa, it is a 
 chapter in history calculated to bring a blush to the 
 cheek of any Englishman, and it illustrates the 
 strange fact — to which we have already drawn 
 attention — that our Empire has so often done her 
 duty towards her colonies and dependent races by 
 the efforts and energies of Englishmen in spite of 
 officials at home. That the Colonial Office had great 
 difficulties to encounter in the affairs of South Africa, 
 no one, I repeat, can doubt. This, indeed, must be 
 frankly acknowledged. But what ought " difficulties " 
 to be to a powerful, high-spirited, and justice-loving 
 people ? No difficulties can justify any Govern- 
 ment in constant vacillation followed by final betrayal. 
 
 But though " The Orange Free State," as it is 
 called, was now forcibly cut adrift from Great Britain, 
 the Colonial Office had not yet filled to the full the 
 cup of its blunderings.
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE ]67 
 
 The state of things some few years after in the 
 new Republic was what might have been expected. 
 The various Transvaal "Republics'* were in conflict 
 with one another. Things in the Orange Free State 
 were in confusion. The party of the younger Pre- 
 torius threatened to absorb it. If it had been thrust 
 away against its will from British connection, at least 
 it now appealed for alliance with England to protect 
 it against the encroachment of the Transvaal Boers. 
 
 When this occurred a real statesman was in power. 
 Sir George Grey — whose death, in an honoured old 
 age, was not long ago * the occasion for expressions of 
 respect and sympathy all over South Africa — saw the 
 real causes of all the vacillations and mistakes — viz., 
 the want of trust in the future of South Africa felt by 
 the home Government. He boldly stated that the 
 "independence" of the Orange Free State had been 
 forced upon it against the wishes of " nearly all the 
 wealthy and influential inhabitants." He explained 
 fully, at the request of Sir E. Bulwer Lytton, his 
 view that Federation among the South African Colonies 
 and States was the only true policy. He criticised 
 freely the cynical policy which had been pursued, pro- 
 ducing as it had done alienation and dissatisfaction 
 and pressed upon the Government the need of Federa- 
 tion. 
 
 The moment was propitious. The Orange Free 
 State desired it. In time the Transvaal Boers — if 
 only in self-defence — would have been sure to fall in 
 with it, and the calamities which have since come upon 
 South Africa would have been avoided. The usual 
 blundering at the Colonial Office again ruined all.
 
 168 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Sir George Grey had spoken of the matter in the Cape 
 ParHament. The blunderers at home were annoyed 
 that he had done so without a direct decision from 
 Downing Street, and at his unconcealed contempt for 
 their folly ; and — as usual — Sir George Grey was re- 
 called in January 1859. It was indeed found neces- 
 sary to reinstate him soon after, when the Duke of 
 Newcastle became again Colonial Secretary, but the 
 mischief was done. What was in vain attempted 
 later might have been easily accomplished then. 
 Strong and capable governors, such as D 'Urban had 
 been in the past, such as Sir Bartle Frere was to be in 
 the future, were not to the mind of the Colonial 
 Secretaries in those days ; and even when Sir George 
 Grey returned as Governor of the Cape, the lion's 
 claws were cut. He was under engagement to leave 
 untouched for the future the question of Federation. 
 
 What he could do, however, as a good Governor he 
 did. The Orange Free State has gone on in peaceful 
 relations to Great Britain, and has been in many ways 
 in advance of its fellow Repuhwic in the Transvaal. 
 With the Transvaal too there was considerable hos- 
 tility. When Pretorius, anxious to gain strength 
 against his various enemies, tried to arrange a union 
 with the Free State he completely failed. The Free 
 State would have none of it. Thereupon the Trans- 
 vaal party, led by Pretorius and numbering among its 
 officers Commandant Paul Kriiger, organised a raid 
 into the Free State. The forces arrayed against them, 
 however, were too strong, and after the two armies 
 had lain opposite each other for several days, Kriiger 
 was sent to pray for a pacific settlement, and an 
 understanding was arrived at. After some punish-
 
 THE ORANGE FREE STATE 169 
 
 ment of a light character to a few Free State rebels, 
 and the departure of others into the Transvaal, things 
 settled down, and, amid various disturbances in the 
 Transvaal, the Free State has held its own and main- 
 tained its independence. 
 
 Probably owing to a closer connection with the 
 British, the people of the Free State have shown 
 much greater enlightenment than those of the Trans- 
 vaal. They are less ignorant, and less jealous and 
 narrow-minded, and less selfish and retrogressive. 
 The English and Dutch elements are closely united. 
 There are more enlightened views on education and 
 religion. There are now no troubles with the natives. 
 On the Boundary Reserve large numbers of them live 
 keeping their cattle and holding land. Elsewhere 
 they must not hold land, nor have they the franchise. 
 They appear, however, to be treated tolerably well. 
 Nowhere, where the Dutch are in the majority, can 
 they expect so much freedom as in an English colony. 
 But then nowhere is freedom understood fully as it is 
 under the British flag. The community appear now a 
 happy and contented one. They have had wise and 
 statesmanlike Presidents for the most part who have 
 guided their destinies well. They welcome immigrants, 
 and have none of the narrowness of the Pretoria 
 Government, and are free from the corruption and 
 blackmailing which so largely take the place of honest 
 and just dealing among the rulers of their Northern 
 neighbours. They are now on perfectly good terms 
 with the English Government, though the way in 
 which they were cast adrift is not forgotten, and they 
 have shown their (not unnatural) contempt for 
 England by drawing closer to the Transvaal Republic.
 
 170 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The only question of importance which has arisen 
 between them and England has been the question as 
 to the possession of the diamond fields. By a strange 
 irony of fate, the country which had been forcibly 
 alienated from the most selfish motives, as not worth 
 having, seemed likely to be the possessor of vast 
 resources in diamonds. When the diamonds were 
 discovered in and about Kimberley, the Free State 
 claimed that they were within their territory, and 
 there was a counterclaim put in on the part of various 
 owners, including the Transvaal Republic. The 
 troubles over these diamond fields between the various 
 claimants are too long to dwell upon here in detail. 
 SuflSce it to say a compromise was efiected. In 1876 
 the offer for compensation to the Free State, through 
 the intervention of Sir Donald Currie, was accepted. 
 This long and only dispute between the British and 
 Free State Government was brought to an end at 
 last, and a part of the territory, once thrown away 
 as valueless, was finally recovered by Great Britain, 
 and incorporated into Cape Colony, by a payment of 
 ;^90,ooo. Happy is the people that has no history ! 
 Since then the Orange Free State has practically had 
 none. It has appeared contented, united, and happy. 
 It has, indeed, been drawn nearer to the Bepublic 
 across the Vaal since 1895, but — in spite of any feeling 
 for past treatment — it remains, owing to its sensible 
 government and union between English and Dutch 
 elements, on terms of now undisturbed amity with 
 Great Britain.
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION AND AFTERWARDS 
 
 The state of things in the Transvaal evidently pointed 
 to some great change, and the years from 1 877-1881 
 became some of the most interesting in the history of 
 South Africa. It is not always possible to reconcile 
 the various assertions which have been made on dif- 
 ferent sides. Still, putting them together, we may, 
 on the whole, reach a resultant (to use the language 
 of mathematics) which fairly represents the course of 
 things. The history is sad enough reading for English- 
 men. At the same time the miserable blunders of 
 those years will not have been in vain if the British 
 Government has learnt from them more firmness and 
 consistency. We have before us in this period ex- 
 amples of all the characteristic faults in British action 
 in South Africa — the effort to govern from a distance, 
 the neglect of the guidance given by able and respon- 
 sible persons, the substitution of political exigencies 
 and party needs in the guidance of a great colonial 
 empire for the consideration of its best interests, the 
 sway on the minds of home statesmen of the senti- 
 mental and humanitarian gossips as against the ripe 
 opinion of great and trusty and responsible servants of 
 the Crown on the spot, the influence of the prepos- 
 sessions, and even the generous prepossessions, of good
 
 172 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 men on their action as rulers, instead of the study of 
 facts, — all this, which had already done so much 
 mischief in our colonial policy, rose to high-water 
 mark in these fateful years in South Africa, when 
 weakness, vacillation, unsound judgment, and short- 
 sightedness shook the great reputation of England to 
 its very foundations. 
 
 In 1858-9 there had been, as we have seen, a grand 
 opportunity for Confederation which, owing to " the 
 shortness of thought" of the English Government, 
 was thrown away. It was seen now in 1877 that 
 Confederation was the true policy. It is to be lamented 
 that this had not been sooner seen. For years there 
 had been a continual seesaw between expansion and 
 limitation, or even disintegration, between extension 
 or restraint of Imperial authority. This vacillation 
 has been the source of endless difficulties. Whatever 
 views may be held as to the advisability of one course 
 or the other, even a "Little Englander" himself can- 
 not doubt that want of continuity in our policy, that 
 continual change owing to the change of the temper 
 of parties at home, that first doing one thing and then 
 doing another, is utterly bad. 
 
 Governments had not always the wit to see that 
 Englishmen are, in the long run, stronger than their 
 passing Governments — that an Imperial people can 
 never be really turned into a " parochial " clique unless 
 decay has set in at the heart of the race itself, and 
 that it is better to guide, not to attempt to thwart, 
 the sense of advance and readiness to accept responsi- 
 bility, natural to a great people. 
 
 Vacillation, however, unfortunately continued then 
 to be the keynote of the policy of Downing Street.
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 173 
 
 When the Great Trek had taken place it was held 
 that the Boers who had moved to the north-east of 
 the colony were still British subjects, and that it was 
 right to send troops under orders from the Governor * 
 to put an end to the war between Zulus and Boers, t 
 Again Sir Harry Smith fought at Boomplatz J to up- 
 hold British sovereignty over the Boers. Lord Grey, 
 however, soon after pronounced in favour of a directly 
 opposite policy. § Everything that had been done was 
 undone as far as possible, and it was declared that her 
 Majesty's dominions should in no degree, however 
 slight, be extended in South Africa, and that no wars 
 between natives and natives or natives and Boers 
 would be interfered with.|| 
 
 Accordingly Sir Harry Smith was recalled, and Sir 
 George Cathcart replaced him. Then followed " the 
 Sand Biver Convention" with the Boers, and the 
 unhappy action, already described, as to " the Orange 
 Biver Sovereignty." Here was a startling chauge. 
 The native interests had been so strongly espoused 
 that England had, thereby, turned the Trek Boers 
 from loyal subjects into sullen opponents. Now the 
 natives were to be thrown overboard ! This, however, 
 was not so easy. In fact, it was impossible. And 
 great Governors like Sir Harry Smith and Sir George 
 Grey had seen that the only chance for peace and 
 progress was the steady assertion and enforcement of 
 the sway of England as paramount Power, that so 
 
 * Sir George Napier. t In 1838. J In 1848. § In 1851. 
 
 II "You will distinctly understand that any wars, however sanguinary, 
 which may afterwards occur between different tribes and communities, which 
 will be left in a state of independence . . . are to be considered as affording 
 no ground for your interference." — Lord Grey to Sir Harry Smith. Parlia- 
 mentary Papers, 1854.
 
 174 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 only could there be a continuous application of wise 
 principles In dealing with natives and others. All 
 golden opportunities were lost, however, and the 
 statesmanlike efforts of such men were thwarted by 
 the distant Colonial Office ; and hence the troubles 
 coming on us in South Africa in later times. 
 
 But now there seemed more hope for a consistent 
 policy. Lord Carnarvon became Colonial Secretary in 
 1874. He saw the need of Confederation such as has 
 made the Dominion of Canada a prosperous Power. 
 The man for the work, too, was not wanting. Sir Bartle 
 Frere had returned with well-earned laurels from 
 India. With difficulty he was persuaded to undertake 
 the office of Governor of the Cape Colony and High 
 Commissioner. He had been a capable and successful 
 administrator. He had large and statesmanlike views. 
 He had a winning presence, and was a man of fearless 
 strength and fascinating gentleness. No one was 
 possessed of a larger sympathy joined with a wise 
 judgment and clear common sense. He was loved and 
 respected by the native races, though he had to 
 manage the Zulu War. He won the respect and 
 affection of the Transvaal Boers, although he had to 
 deal with them when disaffection was growing.* Such 
 a man might have been trusted to work another 
 problem of Confederation, even under the now more 
 difficult conditions, had he been wisely and loyally 
 supported from home. He had one fault. He could 
 not be the mere puppet of Downing Street, the mere 
 creature to carry out varying ignorant official whims. 
 Lord Carnarvon followed the usual mistake of sending 
 out the scheme for Confederation cut and dried. When 
 
 • Cf. Martineau's Life of Sir Bartle Frere, vol. ii. p. 308.
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 175 
 
 this came before the Cape Parliament, it was curtly put 
 aside, on the plea that it should proceed from South 
 Africa. In this the Cape Parliament was not apparently- 
 right. The matter touched the whole of South Africa, 
 and it was right that suggestions should come from 
 the Imperial Government. Still, the colony had just 
 begun to try its hand at self-government, and a young 
 colony in that position was naturally sensitive of its 
 authority. The matter might have been managed 
 with greater tact, and it would so have been managed 
 had the home Government left the High Commissioner 
 to see to details, with no further interference, for the 
 present, from home. This diflSculty would have been 
 easily overcome, but there were far greater risks ahead, 
 which made able steering a necessity. To the com- 
 plicated causes which threw the ship of Government 
 upon these rocks we must now look back. 
 
 The Sand River Convention— an act of extraordinary 
 folly on the part of the English Government — had been 
 signed in 1852. The Transvaal Republic was not more 
 than about twelve years old when it showed unmistak- 
 able signs of " the inability of the Boer, when left to 
 his own devices, to carry on civil government." * 
 
 For what had happened? Immediately on the 
 acquisition of independence in 1852, confusion of 
 every kind began its reign in the Transvaal Republic. 
 The Government could scarcely be called a Govern- 
 ment at all. It was hopelessly weak. It had no 
 revenue except that arising from a tax on the farms, 
 which was only paid when the farmers chose to pay. 
 There was no police. Men followed the Boer ideal and 
 did what they pleased. Legal tribunals were used to 
 
 * Egerton. British Colonial Folia/, p. 343.
 
 176 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 register the decrees of party feeling, and were as un- 
 unjust, though probably not more corrupt, than at 
 present. A Mr. Smettekamp, a friend of Potgieter's 
 party, was fined and exiled quite unjustly, it would 
 appear, by the influence of Pretorius' party. The rela- 
 tions with the natives were, as usual, unsatisfactory. 
 Hermanns Potgieter, a man of violent temper, while 
 on an illegal trading expedition managed to arouse 
 the animosity of Makapan's people. He and his party 
 were then barbarously murdered. Commandant P. 
 Potgieter, having placed the women and children of 
 the Potcheflstroom and Pustenberg disticts in safety, 
 attacked the natives, and slaughtering some and block- 
 ading others in caves until they died of thirst, practi- 
 cally exterminated the clan. Mr. Paul Kriiger served 
 in this expedition. Mr. P. Potgieter shortly after 
 this died, and there were then three commandants, 
 M. W. Pretorius, W. F. Joubert, and S. Schoeman, each 
 with a party, and all quarrelling with one another. 
 Ecclesiastical strife followed. There was fierce dissen- 
 sion as to whether there should be any union with the 
 Cape Synod of the Dutch Reformed Church or not. 
 This dissension raged for several years. Political 
 quarrels went hand in hand with it. There were 
 practically several little Pepublics. One of the con- 
 tending parties wished for a single Government, sub- 
 ordinate courts of control in different districts, and a 
 Church with no connection with any other Church 
 outside the Pepublic. The other clung to separate 
 legislatures only allied for purposes of defence, and 
 also, in ecclesiastical matters, connection with the Cape 
 Synod. 
 
 A representative assembly was called at Potcheff-
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 177 
 
 stroom by the Influence of Pretorius and his party, and 
 a constitution for Church and State was drafted, and 
 under it officers were elected in 1857 ; but this and all 
 connected with it was immediately disowned by the 
 Zoutpansberg and Lydenburg communities. Schoeman 
 who had been elected Commandant-General by the 
 Pretorius party refused to act with them. He was 
 therefore deposed, but their acts of this kind were 
 answered by a re-proclamation of the independence of 
 the Republic of Lydenburg ; while by the Zoutpans- 
 berg party their newly-elected President, Pretorius, 
 was sent on a mission to the Orange Free State to 
 invite it to union with them. The Volksraad of 
 the Free State were friendly and even courteous. 
 Pretorius behaved in a hectoring manner, and the end 
 was a threat of war and the advance of a commando 
 against the Free State. War, however, was averted. 
 An agreement was drawn up, and with the timely 
 retreat of the Transvaal Republic from its hostile posi- 
 tion, and various punishments to some of the Free 
 Staters who had joined them, this episode closed. 
 Shortly afterwards the quarrel with Zoutpansberg 
 also came to an end by the incorporation of that 
 Republic with the Republic of Pretorius' party, and so 
 also ended the year 1857, and the first few weeks of 
 1858. 
 
 It was in 1858 that the Orange Free State was in 
 terrible troubles with Moshesh and the Basutos, and 
 that Sir George Grey so ably came to their assistance. 
 It was then that — as we have seen — the English 
 Government threw away, so unfortunately, the golden 
 opportunity for confederation, and so " put the clock 
 back " in South Africa. 
 
 M
 
 178 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 There were fierce wars again with the natives — the 
 Batlapin — in which Commandant Kriiger now begins 
 to figure. It is a sickening story. The usual raiding 
 of cattle and murder of white settlers on the one side ; 
 on the other, the usual breach of faith and massacre. 
 The Free State was out of heart with Basuto diffi- 
 culties. The Transvaal Government took the oppor- 
 tunity of proposing a union with them. Fortunately 
 for the Free State this was averted, and so it has 
 escaped the danger of being mixed up with the dis- 
 order and corruption of the Transvaal. Sir George 
 Grey, when the proposal was made, reminded both 
 States that, if so, then the conventions between them 
 and the British Government of 1852 and 1854 came to 
 an end. 
 
 In 1858 to 1865 there were the usual quarrels with 
 natives, and a serious state of things in relation to 
 Cetewayo and the Zulus. There were disturbances as 
 to whether there were slaves or not, under the title of 
 *' Apprentices ; " the thing being asserted confidently 
 by Europeans not Boers, and as confidently denied by 
 the Boers. Too much trust cannot be placed in such 
 denials. It is not the habit of the Boer mind — so 
 persons of experience aver — to have an over-scrupulous 
 respect for truth. To be " schlimm," i.e. acute in 
 deceiving and outwitting those opposed to you in any 
 way, is — so it is said — to them the highest proof of 
 virtue. To trust the word of a Boer absolutely is now 
 believed by experienced Englishmen to be an act of 
 
 folly. 
 
 There were also fierce ecclesiastical disputes during 
 these years which were concerned with " the infinitely 
 little." Out of these arose the establishment of a
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 179 
 
 new sect in the general Calvinistic body, known com- 
 monly as " the Dopper Church." It seems to be as 
 entirely faithful to the Calvinistic heresies as the other 
 religious bodies in the Transvaal. The important crux 
 was whether it was or was not right to sing hymns, or 
 only rhymed paraphrases of Scripture. The " Dutch 
 Reform" held to the former view, the " Doppers" have 
 always supported the latter. An intermittent civil 
 war was going on during part of this period, in which 
 Pretorius, Kriiger, Vilgoen, and Schoeman, were the 
 chief figures. After the usual ups and downs of 
 turbulence and disorder this came to an end, at 
 least for a time, leaving an empty treasury, taxes 
 outstanding, and of course irrecoverable, salaries in 
 arrear, and all confidence in this lawless and noisy 
 crew beyond the Vaal gone, not only in Natal and the 
 colony and Europe, but also in the Orange Free State. 
 And so things went merrily on in the path of con- 
 cision. The Government of the Republic was little 
 else than intestine quarrels, mismanagement, and law- 
 lessness and interference with, and provocation to, those 
 without. Wild, restless, and lawless as they were, 
 they had aggressive ideas. Pretorius had proclaimed 
 the boundaries of the Republic to be Lake Ngami. 
 This, of course, was going a little too far. Dr. Living- 
 stone had objected to the Boers' constant interference 
 with the native tribes beyond their borders ; and the 
 English Government had seen that the trade route to 
 the north must not be stopped by these turbulent 
 burghers. Pretorius was obliged to withdraw his 
 proclamation. As to Livingstone, his noble spirit, 
 his pioneering enterprise, his influence with the 
 natives, made him odious to the Boers. They de-
 
 180 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 stroyed his station at Kolsberg, the chief town of 
 Secheli's tribe of Bakwains, and burnt all his posses- 
 sions. He behaved with his usual splendid good 
 temper in face of this atrocity, only remarking : " The 
 Boers resolved to shut up the interior, and I deter- 
 mined to open up the country ; and we shall see who 
 have been most successful in resolution — they or I." 
 We have seen. The same effort was made by the 
 Boers later. The Englishmen were roused by a still 
 greater atrocity — viz., the murder in cold blood of 
 Commander Bethel — and at this later time Sir 
 Charles Warren settled the question. British good 
 sense at last came to the rescue. Our action in 
 Bechuanaland, followed by Mr. Cecil Rhodes' energy 
 in Rhodesia, at last confined these marauders within 
 proper limits. But we are anticipating. 
 
 In the year 1872 race feeling was aroused by " the 
 Keate award." There had been a dispute as to 
 boundary between the Transvaal Boers and the Free 
 State. It had been referred for arbitration to Lieute- 
 nant-Governor Keate of Natal as an impartial judge. 
 He adjudicated in favour of the Transvaalers, and the 
 Free State honourably accepted the decision. 
 
 Very different was the action of the Transvaal soon 
 after. A dispute had arisen as to their frontier in 
 another direction. There was a long investigation in 
 court, and again Lieutenant-Governor Keate was 
 appointed arbitrator. His decision was against the 
 Transvaal. At once there was a storm. President 
 Pretorius was forced to resign, and with him many 
 others, and the Keate award was repudiated. It has 
 been argued that the award was, in fact, mistaken ; but 
 (whether or not this be so) every one acknowledges
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 181 
 
 that it was given impartially and in accordance with 
 the evidence. Any people pretending to be civilised '-■ 
 and maintaining their self-respect would abide by the i 
 result of an arbitration arranged by themselves. It is y 
 impossible to expect such conduct, however, from a S 
 community such as the Transvaal Boers, to whom 
 "sense of honour" is an unmeaning phrase, and who, -■. 
 amidst abundant professions of piety and religion, do not 
 appear to have the faintest respect for justice or truth. 
 Such a people, however, should not be permitted to 
 attempt to govern either themselves or others, as they 
 are incapable of understanding the first elements of 
 good government. 
 
 And now, in 1872, they proceeded to elect a Dutch 
 Beformed minister, Rev. Thomas Francis Burgers, as 
 President. It was felt in the Transvaal that things 
 were in a bad way. Mr. Burgers was a clever man, 
 and a man of education. It was hoped that he would 
 put things right. There were a party of agitators and 
 genuine Doppers, with Krliger as their moving spirit, 
 who were probably never friendly to him, if for nothing 
 else, at any rate because of his religious opinions. He 
 had been charged with "heresy" (^.e., some divergence 
 from the beliefs of the larger body of Calvinists 
 — of some of the chief religious divisions). He had 
 been condemned, and then suspended in 1864. He 
 brought his case before the courts of the Cape Colony, 
 and his opponents appealed to the Privy Council, and 
 on both occasions he was successful. He belonged to an 
 old family, and had thorough Dutch sympathies, but 
 his religious views stood in his way. Now, indeed, 
 they were overborne by a sense of need, but when 
 he failed in the war with Secocoeni five years later,
 
 182 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 many Boers feared to follow his lead, and Mr. Kriiger, 
 with his accustomed unctuous pietism, declared " that 
 the President, Mr. Burgers, confessed that he went to 
 war without the blessing of Heaven, but that he had 
 since then" (so it suited Mr. Kriiger to say) "sought 
 the Lord." Mr. Burgers did his best, but his difficulties 
 were great. The Treasury, as usual, was empty, resort 
 had to be had to a paper currency. Law, education, 
 land boundaries — all were in a hopeless condition. 
 The President negotiated loans, but who would trust 
 the Transvaal ? It was impossible to obtain the sum 
 of money desired. 
 
 Then came a native war with Secocoeni. The Boers 
 were unsuccessful — a fact, it is needless to say, they 
 afterwards, in the face of facts, denied. The Zulus 
 were threatening seriously on the south-eastern border. 
 It needed the power of England, after serious reverses, 
 to deliver them from this peril. 
 
 Burgers seems to have been opposed to annexation, 
 but he urged upon the Volksraad that to accept con- 
 federation under the British flag was the only way to 
 safety. Sir Theophilus Shepstone had been sent as 
 Special Commissioner to the Transvaal. He found 
 everything in confusion. On crossing the frontier an 
 address was at once presented to him to this effect : 
 " In our present Government we have no confidence ; 
 with danger surrounding us, and with division and 
 anarchy threatening us, we pray you to take prompt 
 measures to unite us to the colonies of South 
 Africa." 
 
 The Volksraad refused annexation at the time, but 
 there is now no doubt that far the majority of the 
 people desired it. " If the Press is an indication of
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 18^ 
 
 the public mind," it has been well said, *' in England, 
 in the Transvaal, in Natal, the annexation was accepted 
 by the public as a fair and just act."* It was all very 
 well for persons in England, for political purposes, to 
 characterise the annexation as a " high-handed " act. 
 England has suffered terribly by the argument so 
 common among unscrupulous opponents which consists 
 in nothing but question-begging words. Where par- 
 tisans have no better resource, such words as " High- 
 handed," " Imperialism," " Militarism," " Jingoism," 
 " Clericalism," " Sacerdotalism," and so on, come to 
 their rescue. These, and such as these, opportunely 
 used are of vast influence with the thoughtless crowd. 
 It was all very well afterwards for the English people 
 and the Government to pretend that they had been 
 misinformed. As we shall see, this was not the case. 
 The annexation was widely approved, and that too in 
 the Transvaal. 
 
 The state of the country, indeed, was such that the act 
 was inevitable, but doubtless Sir Theophilus Shepstone 
 made mistakes in his way of doing it, though they 
 were the mistakes of an honest, generous, and humane 
 man. This is evident from a moment's consideration. 
 Indeed, it is evident that there were mistakes, so to 
 speak, all along the line. ( i ) Sir Theophilus Shepstone 
 would have strategically acted more wisely had he 
 waited. Things were so bad that, had he allowed 
 them quietly to go worse, had he allowed the Boers to 
 try conclusions, unaided, with Cetewayo, and to 
 manage their own affairs with an empty treasury and 
 a discontented people, he would have done well for 
 final success. The whole country to a man would, 
 
 * Carter. . Boar War, p. 32.
 
 184 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 before long, have been praying for annexation, as far 
 the majority already desired It. It was found Im- 
 possible to keep the commandos together when 
 Secocoeni successfully resisted them. The Boer 
 farmers quickly abandoned their position and went 
 home, as their manner is when success Is deferred. 
 Had he waited for the misery and reverses that were 
 sure to come and then taken Sb plebiscite he would have 
 had them to a man in favour of coming under English 
 rule. But then, Sir Theophilus felt, no doubt, that 
 this would have been a Machiavellian policy, and so 
 It would. It would have cost much blood and misery, 
 but there would have been no room for the inventions 
 and pretences which did duty afterwards against his 
 action. 
 
 (2) And again. It would have been wisdom to have 
 been much more suspicious of the Boer leaders. 
 Englishmen are, broadly sjDcaklng, naturally frank 
 and straightforward. They are Inclined to trust those 
 who profess reciprocal frankness. Even now, after 
 long and bitter experience, many of them are duped 
 by their *' schlimm " antagonists. They forget that 
 { for a Transvaal Boer truth, frankness, straightfor- 
 wardness only implies folly. Sir Theophilus Shepstone 
 acted openly with the leaders — with Burgers and 
 Krliger and Joubert and the rest. They saw the 
 Proclamation of Annexation before It was published, 
 and suggested some slight alterations, which were 
 made. They also allowed him to see their protest, 
 which they represented as being merely pro formd to 
 appease the discontented. He, in turn, objected to 
 expressions which seemed to Imply that they were 
 merely biding their time. This they explained as
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 185 
 
 being only intended to satisfy a few more fiery 
 spirits. Sir Theophilus Shepstone suffered from an 
 undue trust in Boer integrity. 
 
 These were undoubtedly two mistakes, but they 
 were mistakes on the side of generosity. Anyhow, 
 the Proclamation was issued, and the British flag was 
 hoisted in Pretoria on April 12, 1877. 
 
 At first things looked well. Finance was taken in 
 hand, and a large sum of money spent by England 
 relieved the necessities of the State. Almost all the 
 officials who had held office retained appointments by 
 the invitation of the Commissioner. Krtiger is said to 
 have asked for and received an increased salary for his 
 services. Jorrisen retained his position as Attorney- 
 General. Koetze " was offered the position of first 
 Puisne Judge." There seems to have been jealousy 
 between Judge Koetze and the Attorney- General 
 (who, though an able man, had been really a minister 
 of religion), and, owing to this, Jorrisen was un- 
 fortunately removed, a^^d henceforth showed himself as 
 bitter and implacable an enemy of the British supre- 
 macy as Kriiger himself However, they were well 
 treated by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, and the money 
 and position they held from the English enabled them 
 to plot and agitate against the British connection. 
 Indeed, we can hardly blame them for this, considering 
 the mistakes we made, and in many respects they were 
 more temperate in word and action than some of the 
 more violent spirits.^ 
 
 For now a long series of mistakes and confusions 
 and doings and undoings began. One great fault in 
 our colonial policy — as has been already noted — had 
 
 * Carter. JBoer War, p. 44.
 
 186 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 been the constant change of governors. At the best 
 of times, if a governor remained for his full term of 
 office, he had only got a thorough grip of all things, 
 felt the pulse of various classes and races of men, and 
 taken the bearings of different interests and influences, 
 when he had to go elsewhere and begin the process all 
 over again. But there was a further and injurious 
 practice of recalling governors as soon as they differed 
 in opinion from the Colonial Secretary, having, 
 unluckily for themselves, gained a clearer view of 
 things than Downing Street. Sir Theophilus Shep- 
 stone had been sent to the Transvaal with an indepen- 
 dent commission. Sir Bartle Frere was sent out to 
 forward the policy of Confederation. Any action of 
 the former was sure greatly to influence the task of 
 the latter, but the High Commissioner had no power 
 to interfere. As a matter of fact, the action of Sir 
 Theophilus Shepstone, followed by the volte face of 
 the Liberal Government when it came into power, 
 wrecked all hope of Confederation for many a day to 
 come. Mr. Gladstone, evidently from a misapprehen- 
 sion, in one of his speeches in Midlothian accused Sir 
 Bartle Frere of what he considered the guilt of annexa- 
 tion. This was not the case. Sir Bartle Frere did 
 not know of it. He reached the Cape on March 31. 
 The annexation took place on April 12. The High 
 Commissioner only heard of it, and that in an informal 
 manner and by chance, from the sub-editor of a Cape 
 paper on April 16. He thought it premature, disliked 
 the word " annexation," and believed if we held the 
 Transvaal at all it should have been by cession. This 
 does not prove that annexation was wi-ong. Sir Theo- 
 philus Shepstone seems to have acted wisely and well.
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 187 
 
 He was liked by the Boers ; he was conciliatory. If 
 he made any mistake it was the mistake of acting 
 prematurely. Had he waited, annexation would cer- 
 tainly have been asked for, but — as we have seen — 
 his (possibly premature) action was prompted by 
 humane motives. What is clear, however, is that Sir 
 Bartle Frere was in no way to blame for what In fact 
 he knew not of Sir Theophilus Shepstone was in a 
 position to act without reference to Sir Bartle Frere. 
 
 Here was divided authority with a vengeance ! Such 
 is the way in which our rulers managed our South 
 African affairs ! This, of course, led to incredible con- 
 fusion. How could the affairs of the Transvaal go 
 well when we consider that no fewer than five represen- 
 tatives of her Majesty of one kind or another had a 
 hand in the management of matters within less than 
 four years, from 1876 to 1880? 
 
 Another terrible mistake was the delay in giving to 
 the Transvaal the representative government promised. 
 In the Proclamation of Annexation Sir Theophilus 
 Shepstone had said : 
 
 " And I further proclaim and make known that the Transvaal will 
 remain a separate Government, with its own Laws and Legislature, 
 and that it is the wish of her Most Gracious Majesty that it shall 
 enjoy the fullest legislative privileges compatible with the circum- 
 stances of the country and the intelligence of the people. That 
 arrangement will be made by which the Dutch language will 
 practically be as much the official language as the English. All laws, 
 proclamations, and Government notices will be published in the Dutch 
 language ; in the Legislative Assembly Members may, as they do 
 now, use their language ; and in the Courts of Law the same may be 
 done at the option of suitors to a cause. The laws so in force in the 
 State will be retained until altered by competent legislative 
 authority." 
 
 This promise was given in good faith, and in good
 
 188 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 faith received. Sir Theophilus Shepstone tried to 
 fulfil it. He at once submitted to the Colonial Office 
 his views as to the necessary legislative arrangements. 
 No action whatever was taken on it, either by Con- 
 servatives or Liberals, and his despatch is probably 
 lying uncared for in the Colonial Office now ! * 
 
 The scheme for government was no doubt a difficult 
 one to draw. The Boers did not seem to care very 
 much what government they voted for, so long as they 
 had a vote for some. The Volksraad had been, if 
 possible, a more absurd Assembly than it is at present. 
 It had voted a measure one day, and voted the contrary 
 the next. It was, as it is, perfectly unfit to govern a 
 country. Nor indeed does it govern now. Circum- 
 stances have led to this that practically, in the majority 
 of cases, the President's will is law. Still, a representa- 
 tive Assembly ought to have been given, and speedily. 
 It is said that Sir Theophilus Shepstone had recom- 
 mended two Chambers, one (of Government nominees) 
 to control the other. Possibly for the state of things 
 at the time this might have been temporarily a neces- 
 sity, but whatever details may have been suggested in 
 the form of government, some representative govern- 
 ment should have been promptly given. Sir Theophilus 
 Shepstone has been blamed for this. No blame, it 
 would seem, attaches to him. He had done his best. 
 He was liked by the Boers. He understood them, 
 liked them, and had lived with them long. Had he 
 been allowed to remain, to arrange for a representative 
 Assembly at once, all would, probably, have gone well. 
 The dawdling in the fulfilment of the promise given — a 
 dawdling, first of the Conservative, then of the Liberal 
 
 * See Carter, Narrative of t?ie Boer War, p. 45.
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 189 
 
 Government — roused suspicion of bad faith in many- 
 Boers who had trusted us, helped to turn friends into 
 enemies, and assisted in hurrying on revolt which ended 
 in our disgrace. Sir Theophilus Shepstone was retired 
 just when he was needed, and as yet no representative 
 government given. 
 
 But mistakes went further and deeper. If Great 
 Britain chose to take the responsibility for putting the 
 Transvaal disorders to rights, it was bound to expect 
 expenditure of money. The expenditure of Sir Theo- 
 philus Shepstone was looked upon as excessive. He 
 was withdrawn, and Sir Owen (then Colonel) Lanyon 
 was placed in the Transvaal. 
 
 This has always been considered in South Africa as a 
 very imprudent step. Shepstone had united the Boers. 
 He knew them well, understood them thoroughly, and 
 was entirely a persona grata to them. Sir Bartle 
 Frere, when he came among them, was exceedingly 
 liked, and his influence was excellent ; but Colonel 
 Lanyon — so South Africans seem to agree — was — 
 whatever were his merits — not the man for the Trans- 
 vaal. The Boers abhor the British soldier, and 
 Lanyon's stifi" and somewhat imperious military ways 
 were said to have been exceedingly distasteful to 
 them. 
 
 But more than that. It was necessary, especially in 
 view of an approaching general election, to justify 
 money expenditure to the British taxpayer. A high 
 sense of the honour and glory of our country, of her 
 duties and responsibilities, had long — it is to be feared 
 — been dying out. Money was really, to a great 
 extent, at the root of the matter. Even on that 
 score, low as it was, politicians calculated badly.
 
 190 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Mr. Gladstone at Midlothian had spoken of repu- 
 diating annexation, even if the Transvaal were 
 " as valuable as it was valueless." The usual 
 ignorance of South African affairs befogged the minds 
 of English politicians of both parties, and even of the 
 great statesman himself They might — on this low- 
 calculation system alone — have known better. Gold 
 had been discovered in the country, but not yet in 
 great quantities. Fortunately for Mr. Krliger and his 
 party, the great discoveries on the Witwatersrand 
 came several years later. However, money must be 
 had for the expenses of the country, and it was Colonel 
 Lanyon's insisting on the payment of taxes, and even 
 of arrears from the farmers, and the somewhat harsh 
 measures taken in consequence, which, more than 
 anything else, probably began to dispose the Boers, 
 who had welcomed the advent of the English as a 
 delivery from confusion and ruin, to listen to the 
 voices of the agitators who had known how to benefit 
 themselves out of English money, and to bide their 
 time. 
 
 Meantime the hopes of these that they would peace- 
 ably recover their ascendency were greatly raised by 
 some utterances of Mr. Gladstone in Midlothian and 
 other matters. England was soon in diiB&culties with 
 the Zulus. As usual, insufficient forces were sent 
 against them, and these were, it is probable, badly 
 handled. The consequence was the tragedy of 
 Isandhlwana. This was a terrible blow to the Con- 
 servative party at home. Had the Zulu difficulty 
 been thoroughly settled, had Sir Bartle Frere's masterly 
 and statesmanlike policy been carried out by victor- 
 ious generals, and Isandhlwana been a success instead
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 191 
 
 of a disaster, Sir Bartle Frere's great capacity would 
 have been recognised, and the Conservative policy in 
 South Africa would have been applauded. As it was, 
 to point out that Isandhlwana was merely an incident 
 — an unfortunate incident — in a true line of states- 
 manship did not suit party politics at home : what did 
 it matter about the interests of a colony compared 
 with the advancement of a party ? 
 
 The Liberals, on the eve of a general election, greedily 
 fastened on the mistakes and misadventures of their 
 opponents. Those opponents had to find a scapegoat, 
 and he could only be found in the great statesman who, 
 had he been supported, would have saved South Airica. 
 Sir Bartle Frere had attended the mass meeting called 
 by the Boer agitators. He had on his way thither 
 and afterwards, by private communications with the 
 Boers, become well aware that the agitation and the 
 Boer " Jingoes " had obtained a following by means 
 of terrorism. He saw plainly that England had the 
 saving of the Transvaal in her hands if she kept her 
 promises and gave them the government which she 
 had undertaken to give. In 1874 he had drawn up 
 the outlines of a constitution. For this he had the 
 assistance of such eminent men as Mr. Brand, the 
 President of the Free State, of Sir Henry de Villiers, 
 the Chief Justice of the Cape Colony, of the Prime 
 Minister, Mr. (afterwards Sir Gordon) Sprigg, and of 
 the Attorney -General, Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) 
 Uppington. This was placed at the disposal of the 
 home Government ; but it was necessary for the 
 Conservatives to "throw" Sir Bartle Frere "to the 
 wolves," and this recommendation was never attended 
 to, and indeed before anything more was done in the
 
 192 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 matter he had been superseded as regards all autho- 
 rity in the Transvaal. 
 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley came into power there as his 
 successor. He had come too late. The Zulu power 
 had been broken by the victory of Ulundi. With that 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley had nothing to do. That success 
 was achieved by Lord Chelmsford on July 5, before 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley had time — after his arrival in 
 Capetown on June 28 — to reach Zululand, and take 
 command of the army in the field. He had then to 
 make arrangements for the future of Zululand, and 
 these were on quite other lines than those of Sir Bartle 
 Frere. Those arrangements, indeed, did not stand very 
 lono", and in after time the more statesmanlike settle- 
 ment had to be resorted to. However, for the time 
 Cetewayo had been beaten, and (on August 28) taken 
 prisoner, and the Boers were free from all fear of 
 Secocoeni and of the Zulus ; we had pulled their chest- 
 nuts out of the fire, and now, with the "gratitude" 
 for which they have been so conspicuous ever since, 
 they had time to turn their attention to win from the 
 English Government freedom from any distasteful 
 necessity of paying taxes or obeying the law. Some- 
 times by terror, sometimes by persuasion, the agitation 
 went merrily on. 
 
 Messrs. Krliger and Joubert had been twice to 
 England as a deputation, but the same answer had 
 always been firmly returned. Sir Garnet Wolesley, 
 finding that the agitation was continuing, made a wise 
 disposition of his troops throughout the country. He 
 stationed six companies of the 80th and one troop of 
 the ist Dragoon Guards at Pretoria. Other troops 
 were brought to Heidelberg and others to Standerton,
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 193 
 
 others to Wakkerstroom, and others to other centres. 
 This had the desired effect of keeping the country- 
 quiet for the time, all the more as large numbers of 
 the Boers were anxious enough to escape from the 
 agitators, and the towns were thoroughly loyal. 
 
 Some have thought that Sir Garnet Wolseley scarcely 
 allowed for the dogged persistence of the Boers, and was 
 perhaps in some manner deceived by their previous 
 conduct. He had himself known that the war with 
 Secocoeni was supposed to be a Boer war, in which 
 Boers were "conspicuous by their absence," and he did 
 not perhaps allow for the fact that, now that the fear of 
 extermination by Cetewayo and his fine forces had 
 been removed by the victory of Ulundi, they were free 
 to try their peculiar tactics upon our troops. Had Sir 
 Garnet Wolseley been left in the Transvaal, he would 
 probably, notwithstanding the constant instructions to 
 him of the duty of "economy," have given the Boer 
 agitators and those whom, by conversion or terror, they 
 were moving to rebellion, the thorough beating which 
 they needed, and (as some think) it may be added, still 
 need if the Transvaal is ever to prosper. Needless to 
 say, however. Sir Garnet Wolseley was withdrawn. He 
 had succeeded in holding down rebellion, but he had — 
 so it has been thought — further exasperated the Boers, 
 and so, unintentionally, helped on the schemes of the 
 agitators, while his immediate successor had not his 
 military ability to deal with the situation. Things, 
 however, still looked safe for the peaceable citizens 
 of the towns and the poor farmers in the outlying 
 districts, who would have been glad enough to be let 
 alone, had the English Government stood firm. 
 
 There had been two assurances from the Secretary
 
 194 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 of State that the annexation could never be reversed. 
 These were reiterated, by the authority of the Crown. 
 Sir Garnet Wolseley had said, in answer to Pretorius : 
 " Whereas it is expedient that all grounds for uncer- 
 tainty or misapprehension should be removed once and 
 for all, beyond doubt or question : Now therefore I do 
 hereby proclaim and make known, in the name and on 
 behalf of her Majesty the Queen, that it is the will and 
 determination of her Majesty's Government, that this 
 Transvaal territory shall be and shall continue to be 
 for ever an integral portion of her Majesty's dominions 
 in South Africa." He had spoken in the same sense 
 on several occasions and with emphasis, and he clearly 
 saw that it was not the main body of the people who 
 were disaffected, but that they were incited to dis- 
 content and rebellion by ambitious agitators. Colonel 
 Lanyon again proclaimed the same determination of 
 English statesmen on opening the Legislative Council ; 
 and on March 9, 1880, Sir Garnet Wolseley received a 
 telegram from Sir Michael Hicks-Beach, with a firmer 
 assurance than ever of the same. Then there was the 
 Speech from the Throne at the dissolution of Parlia- 
 ment. "My anticipations," said the Queen, "as to 
 the early establishment of peace in South Africa have 
 been fulfilled," and then it went on to say that, owing 
 to the conquest of the Zulus, "my possessions in that 
 part of the world" had been " relieved from danger," 
 and that it was hoped that Confederation would 
 advance, and that such "powers of self-government 
 as had been " enjoyed by the inhabitants of Cape 
 Colony "would be extended to my subjects in other 
 parts of South Africa." 
 
 England, therefore, if the words of those in authority
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 195 
 
 were to be trusted, seemed, indeed, to stand firm, and 
 the hopes of the agitators seemed to be doomed to 
 disappointment. 
 
 However, some of the agitators, with considerable 
 acuteness, had taken a different view of the situation. 
 
 Deputations had been sent to England, and of these 
 Mr. Kriiger was a member. He is not, perhaps, a states- 
 man in the ordinary sense of the word, much less a very 
 great man in any sense ; but he is a representative 
 Boer in the sense that he thoroughly understands the 
 people over whom he now rules. The Transvaal Boer, 
 speaking broadly, is extremely ignorant, extremely 
 prejudiced, profoundly fanatical, hates government 
 cordially, and consequently dislikes the law-abiding 
 Englishman. The love of money, the love of being 
 **a law unto himself," scorn of refinement or culture, 
 are to him second nature. All this Mr. Kriiger seems 
 clearly to understand. He has himself, however, in 
 an eminent degree, two powerful characteristics — 
 dogged determination and extraordinary acuteness. 
 He had, no doubt, taken the measure of Englishmen, 
 of English parties, of the methods of forcing and 
 swaying English (so-called) "Public Opinion." 
 
 Some wise man speaks somewhere to this effect, 
 that Stupidity is not a want of understanding, but a 
 resolute refusal to allow understanding to act fully 
 by reason of some fault which hinders it. In this 
 sense we are among the most stupid of nations. 
 Englishmen have plenty of understanding, abundance 
 of common sense, but they frequently do not permit their 
 understanding to act freely owing to their prejudices 
 and prepossessions. They often allow opinions to drift 
 into their minds from all sorts of quarters, instead of
 
 196 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 forming them by reason acting on knowledge, and then 
 they have, it is truly said, a zeal for their opinions, not 
 because they are true, but because they are their 
 own. 
 
 Krliger seems to have been sufficiently acute to 
 know this. He was ingenious enough to perceive 
 how things swayed to and fro in England according 
 to party exigencies. He was quick enough to notice 
 that a large part of the great middle class whose 
 energies were absorbed in trade, whose religion was 
 largely a religion — like the Boer religion — of respectable 
 phrases and fixed formulae, were likely to be caught 
 with catchwords of "liberty," "independence," "pious 
 lovers of the Bible," and so on, and sure to oppose the 
 views of Imperial statesmen. Krliger and the other 
 agitators werefelices opportunitate. They, if not able 
 or cultured, were very acute men. They had watched 
 the English free the Boers from fear of the natives on 
 each side. They had seen them make mistake after 
 mistake, and they knew how to utilise their mistakes 
 for their own ends. They were probably aware of the 
 temper of the English and Scottish Nonconformists 
 and Presbyterians. They saw that things must go, 
 not from a consideration of the good of South Africa, 
 but for the benefit of an English party. They had 
 discovered that English Governments were sure to 
 vacillate, to oppose each other, and, if political diffi- 
 culties threatened, not to back up their own people. 
 They saw that their business was steadily to push 
 agitation by rousing prejudice and race feeling, by 
 ; appealing to Boer love of lawlessness and hatred of 
 ' the English, and when necessary by intimidation ; 
 then doggedly to bide their time, and to make the
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 197 
 
 most of English blunders, English stupidity, and 
 English generosity and frank and kindly feeling and 
 love of justice, and they did make the most of it, 
 and their longheadedness was crowned with success. 
 It matters not that their success has proved deeply 
 injurious to civilisation, and especially to South African 
 civilisation, and to the advancement of what is right ; 
 it matters not that it has proved a grievous injury to 
 the native races, and has set back progress indefinitely : 
 they deserve the credit due to men who were suffi- 
 ciently acute to make the most of our unnumbered 
 mistakes, and to watch and wait, and then stir up 
 rebellion so as to lead us to spend some seven millions 
 of money in putting the Zulu under the heel of the 
 Boer, in making the Boers all-powerful, and raising one 
 of their number to the position of practical Dictator of 
 one of the finest regions of the African continent, and 
 in setting up one of the most corrupt and injurious 
 of all earthly Governments, as viewed from the stand- 
 point of civilisation and progress. 
 
 Matters came to a head in this way. Mr. Gladstone 
 and Lord Hartington spoke strongly against annexa- 
 tion in their electioneering speeches : spoke in a manner 
 to imply that if they came into power the work of the 
 previous Government would be undone. The hopes of 
 the agitators rose. The Liberals did come into power. 
 Then they seemed to repudiate their electioneering 
 words. In the Queen's Speech at the opening of 
 the new Parliament, and in answer after answer 
 from responsible Ministers, it was asserted that the 
 Transvaal would not be relinquished, and that 
 representative government under the British Crown 
 would be established there. No steps, however, were
 
 198 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 taken for its establishment. Sir Bartle Frere, the 
 one man able — if supported — to deal with the whole 
 question, was recalled in disgrace. The Boers saw 
 their opportunity. The agitators understood the state 
 of things in England. There must be an appeal to 
 arms. 
 
 On December i6 certain Boers determined formally 
 to proclaim their independence. They determined that 
 their proclamation should be printed at Potchefstroom. 
 They carried out their determination in spite of a small 
 force of English soldiers. On a small party of these, 
 some Boers who lay in ambush fired. These were the 
 first shots fired in the war. 
 
 On December 20 Colonel Anstruther was moving 
 the 94th from Middleburg. On the 26th at Bronkhurst 
 Spruit a large party of Boers lay in ambush. They 
 sent a message to Colonel Anstruther, and, while he 
 and his men were waiting for an answer to their return 
 message, with the grossest treachery shot down a great 
 part of the regiment, including the colonel and most of 
 the officers. 
 
 Sir George Pomeroy Colley was at the time in Natal. 
 He had succeeded Sir Garnet Wolseley in command. 
 Colonel Lanyon apprised him of the dangerous condi- 
 tion of things. By orders of the triumvirate — Kriiger, 
 Jorrissen, Joubert — the Boer commandos invaded 
 Natal. It is a striking instance of the cloudy 
 information at the disposal of the British Government 
 that the Boers were described as men " only standing 
 on the defensive," when in fact they were invading a 
 British Colony. 
 
 The Boers are apparently not good soldiers to fight in 
 the open ; they are, however, excellent marksmen. They
 
 THE TRANSVAAL ANNEXATION 199 
 
 are used to hunting wild game or " shooting down 
 niggers," and they know well how to manage " soldier- 
 stalking" quite as well as "deer-stalking." They can 
 lie in ambush and shelter themselves behind rocks, and 
 " pick off" with unerring precision any object at which 
 they fire. 
 
 " Economy " was, as we have seen, the order of the 
 day with the British Governments. It is needless to 
 say that there were, in consequence, insufficient forces 
 in Natal. What could be got together were used, in- 
 cluding Natal mounted police and various volunteers. 
 Sir George Colley marched for Pretoria. Then followed 
 disaster after disaster. He received a severe check at 
 Ingogo Heights, and then a worse at Laing's Nek. Our 
 troops, it appears, were not sufficiently numerous, and 
 were — so some think — badly handled (although there 
 are very contradictory opinions on this point), and the 
 country lent itself to the tactics of the Boers. 
 
 Sir Evelyn Wood was then hurrying up with rein- 
 forcements. It has been said, with what truth I know 
 not, that Sir George Colley was privately urged to 
 retrieve the first partial disasters and to act decisively 
 before Sir Evelyn Wood arrived with fresh forces. 
 Whether that be so or not, he resolved upon the ill- 
 fated expedition to Majuba Hill. 
 
 On the nights of February 26 and 27 a small force 
 was led to the top of this rocky hill. The Boers 
 lay below. Our men were tired. Time was wasted. 
 No entrenchments were thrown up. When a charge 
 at the point of the bayonet would have saved the 
 situation, and the men expected the order, no 
 order was given. The Boers climbed the hill, and 
 from behind the rocks shot our men down. These
 
 200 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 for a time stood their ground, but they were not 
 led on. They turned and fled, and were killed 
 almost to a man in their flight. Sir George Colley 
 was a brave soldier. Whatever mistakes he had 
 made — if he had made mistakes — he paid the forfeit 
 with his life. Sir Evelyn Wood was in time, not to 
 retrieve our damaged honour, but to carry out orders 
 from home for our surrender. Weak and vacillating 
 councils at home, insufiicient forces and mistakes in 
 generalship abroad, liad brought about their natural 
 consequence. Other counsels and other methods might 
 have averted a deep disaster to South Africa and an 
 indelible disgrace to Great Britain.
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 
 
 The story of the retrocession of the Transvaal is 
 generally looked upon in South Africa as one of the 
 blackest and most damaging in the sufficiently melan- 
 choly history of our colonial policy there. Never, 
 probably, we are almost forced to confess, was there 
 a clearer instance of folly and vacillation, of subordi- 
 nating the interests of a great dependency to the 
 exigencies of party strife at home, and — with some, it 
 is to be feared — sheltering a selfish abandonment of 
 duty under a veil of supposed high moral principles. 
 It was not that some who were concerned in it had not 
 often really high motives acting upon their determina- 
 tions, but that, on the whole, party and party exigen- 
 cies blinded their eyes ; and that they were guilty of 
 what — the most friendly towards them are driven to 
 confess — appears to have been, at best, culpable igno- 
 rance ; and that they were led on through want of 
 care and statesmanlike judgment into the perpetration 
 of a grave injustice, and to a mistake "which was 
 worse than a crime," and to the dealing of a blow to 
 the honour, integrity, and trustworthiness of Great 
 Britain in the eyes of South Africa, from which they 
 are reeling still. 
 
 It has so often been taken for granted by those on
 
 202 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 that side in politics that England, guided by the 
 Liberal Government of 1881, performed a noble and 
 self-denying act in the retrocession ; that she fear- 
 lessly performed an act of justice, however opposed to 
 her own interests ; that she thus set an example of 
 high and disinterested morality, — that it is necessary 
 to examine these contentions in the light of facts. 
 And here it is well to summarise the reasons put 
 forward by the British Government for the serious 
 step of retrocession. They were the following : 
 
 ( 1 ) That there had been misapprehension at home 
 as to the state of things at the time of annexation, 
 and later, when refusals to reconsider matters were 
 advanced. 
 
 (2) That there was an inadequate sense of the 
 strength, among the Boers, of a passionate desire for 
 their own rule. 
 
 (3) That there was clear injustice, as well as impolitic 
 folly, in retaining by force troublesome and unwilling 
 subjects. 
 
 (4) That Great Britain was so strong and so fear- 
 less of misunderstanding that she could well afford to 
 be magnanimous. 
 
 {5) That, therefore, the principle of desiring always 
 to advance the cause of freedom ought to be carried 
 out, even when detrimental to self-interest. 
 
 These, indeed — if true — seemed to be reasons enough 
 to satisfy any noble-minded nation ; and they did pre- 
 vail. But were they true ? There was something more 
 to be said. The circumstances of the moment in 
 England, it is to be feared, gave to a sentimental 
 pseudo-morality a great power, and to what was un- 
 sound an appearance of truth.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 203 
 
 The general policy of Lord Beaconsfield had (and in 
 many respects most justly) been condemned by Mr. 
 Gladstone. The Liberal party had, after the efforts of 
 their great chief in " the Midlothian campaign," re- 
 turned to power flushed with victory. The two great 
 leaders of the day — Mr. Gladstone and Lord Beacons- 
 field — were fundamentally opposed to each other — an 
 opposition in policy which almost, if not altogether, 
 took the form of personal dislike. The Liberal party 
 at the moment found their chief supporters among 
 English Nonconformists, Scottish Presbyterians, and 
 Liberal Churchmen. They were nothing if they were 
 not broad-minded, large of view, indiflerent to conven- 
 tional precedents, and the professed champions of a 
 fearless morality. The English Nonconformists and 
 the Scottish Presbyterians, together with many of the 
 rank and file of the working classes, had, in some 
 respects, a natural sympathy with what they imagined 
 to be the character of the Boers. They were pre- 
 sented to their minds as a simple, guileless people 
 struggling bravely for freedom, as devout and pious 
 Bible -reading Christians, as men nobly opposed to 
 autocratic insolence and assertions of the superiority of 
 any man over his fellows, and, above all, as those whom 
 Lord Beacon sfield's greedy policy had enslaved ! 
 
 Thus some of the best, noblest, and most generous 
 feelings of Englishmen, together with some of the 
 meanest and most bigoted, were aroused to set up 
 under the idea of " Bepublicanism " one of the nar- 
 rowest and most corrupt oligarchies — nay, perhaps 
 one may say, one of the most tyrannical autocracies — 
 that the world has ever seen. 
 
 The reasons summarised above were constantly
 
 204 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 put before the English people at the time. Political 
 passion was running high, and in such cases, it is to 
 be feared, men are sometimes tempted to mistake 
 their political desires for noble moral principles ; the 
 consequence, at any rate in this case, was what we 
 have to confess looked very like faithlessness to solemn 
 engagements, and certainly that fatal vacillation and 
 submission to party exigencies at home which, as we 
 have seen already, had been the bane of British 
 action in South Africa. Again was to happen, in a 
 most aggravated form, what had, alas ! happened 
 before : statesmen at home ignorant of the real 
 situation, refusing to be guided by those who knew, 
 confused by their own party necessities into an in- 
 sufl&cient care for the interests of the colonies for 
 which they acted, forming hasty conclusions, then 
 falling into other and contradictory conclusions 
 equally hasty, indulging generous impulses at the 
 expense of others, failing in promises made, and 
 pleasing themselves or their followers at the cost of 
 shirking responsibilities, allowing their party to enjoy 
 the pleasures of a cheap philanthropy, throwing 
 dust in their own eyes and the eyes of the people by 
 advancing a favourite policy of economy under the 
 name of a high self-denial, and creating situations 
 of lasting menace to the welfare of the Empire they 
 were set to rule on the foundation of fallacious argu- 
 ments. This certainly seems to be the view generally 
 taken in South Africa, and we cannot but see much 
 justice in it — however noble may have been the 
 motives of some, at least, of the Government — by 
 consideration of their utterances and the details of 
 the case.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 206 
 
 In the first place it is a damaging fact that the deep 
 sense of duty and the moral rectitude which were said 
 to be the moving power to retrocession seemed not to 
 awake until British troops had received three serious 
 checks — at Ingogo Heights, at Laing's Nek, and above 
 all at Majuba Hill. And following from this, it is no way- 
 unnatural that the Boers have steadily and contemptu- 
 ously disbelieved the moral professions put forward by 
 our Government, as that Government did not seem 
 troubled about " blood-guiltiness " until after disasters 
 to British arms. That in itself went far to discredit 
 the step taken. No Government has any right to 
 yield — so long as it has strength to withstand — to mere 
 force and the force of rebels that which it will not 
 yield to representation and petition ; and no one can 
 deny that had the Boers not defeated the insufficient 
 forces of the British, the Transvaal would now be 
 enjoying freedom under the British flag instead of 
 groaning under the yoke of a reactionary Oligarchy. 
 
 This is what the British Government did, and in so 
 doing we find it difficult to deny that they seem to 
 have been guilty of wrongdoing. We see more clearly, 
 however, their mistakes by examining some of their 
 utterances at the time. 
 
 After the fatal morning of February 27 at Majuba 
 Hill, Sir Evelyn Wood took the command. Downcast 
 as the forces were at their unexpected reverse, they 
 would have been glad to be led at once against 
 the Boers to retrieve the dishonour to British arms.* 
 On March 6 there was a meeting of leading men 
 to arrange an armistice, and, indeed. Sir Evelyn 
 Wood has been blamed in South Africa for thus giving 
 
 * See Carter, Narrative of the Boer War, p. 303.
 
 206 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 time for the volte face of the British Government. 
 This is scarcely fair, as of that volte face neither he 
 nor any one else could then have dreamed. Prepara- 
 tions were, notwithstanding the armistice, going on 
 rapidly for military operations. Sir Frederick Roberts 
 was on his way to the Cape to take the command, and 
 it was hoped and expected that before his arrival 
 Sir Evelyn Wood would have settled matters with 
 the Boers. British subjects were impatient as to the 
 armistice. Military men were, of course, exceedingly 
 annoyed ; there were anxieties, doubtless, in the minds 
 of some, but no one doubted, ujd to that time, the good 
 faith of the English Government, for indeed all that 
 was said supplied grounds of confidence. 
 
 The Times wrote — wrote, indeed, with great un- 
 wisdom and want of foresight as we now know — but 
 wrote, as was natural then, and as representing the 
 supposed mind of the Government : 
 
 "We are now fairly committed to a struggle which we cannot 
 choose but carry through. The resistance of the Boers must be over- 
 come, and the insurrection must be put down, at whatever cost. There 
 can be no two opinions thus far. As for any notion that we shall 
 be dispirited at the somewhat unexpected difficulty of the task before 
 us, and that we shall turn back from it at the first check, we need 
 not waste words in talking about it. The danger rather is that the 
 combative spirit of the country will be unduly roused, and that we 
 shall fling ourselves into the miserable war with an eagerness and 
 determination out of all proportion to the possible value of the 
 result. The end is the great matter, and the country is thoroughly 
 determined what the end of the Transvaal War shall be." 
 
 Again the Times wrote : 
 
 " The time will come when all that the Boers will have to urge will 
 be listened to, and will have due weight attached to it. But it is 
 idle for the present to talk of terms. There can be no terms until
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 207 
 
 our military disasters have been retrieved, and until the British 
 authority has been restored over the Transvaal. It is to this task 
 that the country has now committed itself. We shall show by deeds 
 as well as by words that we know what we are engaged upon, and 
 that we are fully determined to carry it through. If the regiments 
 already on their way to the front are not sufficient to ensure military 
 success, more will be sent." 
 
 The Times had counted without its host. It had 
 not realised the plastic character of ministerial convic- 
 tions, nor yet the shrewdness of Messrs. Kriiger and 
 Joubert, who seem to have known the sort of men 
 they were dealing with, and to have taken their 
 measures accordingly. And yet the confidence of the 
 Times was justified by the utterances of Ministers 
 themselves. Lord Kimberley has not, perhaps, shown 
 himself a strong man or an exceptionally great 
 statesman, but he has been careful and prudent. He 
 was by no means a man to speak incautiously or 
 without the approval of his party. He was an autho- 
 rity, for he had become Colonial Secretary in 1880. 
 Now, shortly after this in a speech in Manchester he 
 says as follows, in touching on the Boer rebellion : 
 
 " As far as South Africa is concerned, the Liberal Government had 
 forced upon them the conduct of a war which they deeply regretted, 
 but for which they were not primarily responsible, but which was 
 necessary in order to vindicate the authority of the Crown. Much 
 as they deplored the necessity, they would not flinch from the duty 
 which had been forced upon them by the policy of their predecessors 
 in office, but, at the same time, they would, as soon as the authority 
 of the Crown had been vindicated, take such steps as would, he hoped, 
 lead to the creation of free institutions in Africa, and institutions 
 of which it could not be said that they had been forced on an un- 
 willing people." 
 
 Here, indeed, is revealed the cloven foot of party 
 feeling — ^''forced upon them hy the policy of their
 
 208 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 predecessors.'* * Here the great colony has not its own 
 interests considered, but is made a subject whereby 
 to score a party advantage. Here, doubtless, the 
 Government is " sitting on a rail," and listening how 
 the wind blows in the English constituencies, but not 
 a syllable or apparently a thought of the unhappy 
 betrayal that was to follow ! As usual, what was 
 uppermost in the minds of the incoming Ministry was 
 not the thoughts and feelings of Englishmen in South 
 Africa ; the important thing at the moment was popu- 
 larity with English voters who had placed them in 
 power. 
 
 However, there were distinct promises given, 
 (i) They "would not shrink from the policy of their 
 predecessors." (2) They would "vindicate the autho- 
 rity of the Crown." (3) They would then grant "free 
 institutions." 
 
 Was it any wonder that the loyal part of the 
 Transvaal trusted the Government ? Alas for them ! 
 Every promise was broken on the ground of high 
 morality and high policy. ( i ) They did flinch " from 
 the policy of their predecessors." (2) They did not 
 " vindicate the authority of the Crown." (3) They 
 did not grant " free institutions." They might have 
 formed a self-governing colony for all men. As a 
 matter of fact they acted so as to create a tyrannical 
 Oligarchy out of a section of the people, and that 
 section the rebels. Instead of a noble, loyal policy, 
 instead of the fulfilment of promises given — there 
 followed — what ? What has been felt in South Africa 
 to have been a discreditable and humiliating sur- 
 render. 
 
 * Cf . Times. The italics are mine.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 209 
 
 The loyal English, however, and the loyal Boers 
 had even better reason for trusting the English 
 Government ; for, telegraphing to the High Commis- 
 sioner in May 1880, the Colonial Secretary had said, 
 " under no circumstances can the Queen's authority in 
 the Transvaal be relinquished." And this telegram 
 was confirmed at a later time. Mr. Gladstone himself 
 had said, " Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be 
 advised to relinquish the Transvaal," * and he had 
 said other strong things in the same direction. It 
 was afterwards pleaded that the Government had so 
 intended, but had changed their minds as they felt they 
 had been deceived concerning: the real feelinofs of the 
 people ; to this we may allude presently, but meantime 
 it cannot be denied that this wore every appearance 
 of an afterthought which it was scarcely ingenuous to 
 put forward. For there is no concealing the fact that 
 they did know of discontent among the Boers, and 
 also of their grievances, before they announced their 
 unalterable decision to hold the Transvaal, for Boer 
 deputations had waited upon them in London and 
 pressed their case, and Mr. Gladstone himself had 
 already said during " the Midlothian campaign " that 
 the annexation was " the invasion of a free people," 
 and had denounced it accordingly. And Lord Wolseley 
 had written as early as October 1879 • 
 
 " I regret to have to inform you that the attitude of the Boers ia 
 the Transvaal appears to mo to have assumed a serious aspect. . . 
 I am compelled most reluctantly to recognise the continuance of 
 grave discontent. . . . The grievance has been largely a sentimental 
 one, and it turns on the delicate and sensitive points of national 
 dignity and injured honour. ... I do not myself wish to imply that 
 
 * Letter to Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, June 8, 1880. 
 
 O
 
 210 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 I myself apprehend the serious outbreak that is said to be 
 threatened, but I have felt it my duty to state that there is good 
 reason for the conclusion which is now, I think, accepted even more 
 completely by Colonel Lanyon than by me, that the main body of 
 Boers have a rooted dislike to English Government."* 
 
 The British Cabinet were well aware, therefore, of 
 the state of feeling of the Transvaal Boers long before 
 they came to their decision to undo the policy of 
 annexation, and after being made aware of this state 
 of feeling they authorised the effort to suppress the 
 rebellion, and only altered their line of policy after 
 defeat. 
 
 The case, however — and this is the damaging charge 
 against the then Government — was not one merely of 
 the discontented Boers, but of the whole community, 
 including large numbers of loyal Boers, of loyal English, 
 and of natives. For these England was also responsible. 
 In the interests of a professedly high sense of morality 
 that responsibility was, we are reluctantly driven to 
 acknowledge, contemptuously thrown aside. Nothing, 
 it is to be feared, can fully excuse the conduct of the 
 Government. They knew well, as we have seen, the 
 state of the case. They said decidedly again and 
 again that annexation they would not undo. They 
 led the loyal to trust to their promises, to their own 
 undoing. They marched up troops to oppose the rebels 
 who had advanced into Natal, and to assist the loyal 
 towns which they had besieged. When some of those , 
 troops suffered reverses they made a volte face ; took 
 completely the side of the rebels, and abandoned all 
 who had placed trust in their promises. They had 
 said " Vestigia nulla retrorsum," and then turned and 
 
 * Despatch, October 29, 1879. Quoted in Egerton, Coloniai Policy, p. 433, n.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 211 
 
 fled. Is it to be wondered at if men did not attach 
 much importance to subtle arguments advanced in 
 defence of such conduct ? Is it to be wondered at that 
 the Boers looked upon them with contempt as men 
 moved by fear, and the loyal with indignation as 
 traitors to their best friends ? Is it not true, as has 
 been said, that, however subtle arguments might be 
 used, " to plain men it seemed as though the motto 
 of England had become Dehellare suhjectos, parcere 
 superhis." * 
 
 The wrongs done to loyal subjects and the soreness 
 caused by those wrongs may best be judged by a glance 
 at some passages in a correspondence between Mr. 
 Gladstone and Mr. White at the time. Mr. C. K. 
 White was President of the Committee of Loyal In- 
 habitants of the Transvaal. Among other things are 
 the following : 
 
 " The Committee desire to express the hope that you will be able 
 to support the prayer of the petition, and thus endeavour to see 
 justice and right done to the loyal subjects of the British Crown, 
 who have lost friends and property in defence of the honour of their 
 country, apparently without hope of redress or consideration."! 
 
 Along with this letter went a petition to the House 
 of Commons which stated lucidly the whole case. It 
 was, however, hopeless. The Government had resolved 
 upon their change of front, the Prime Minister had 
 certainly convinced himself that this was right, and the 
 Liberal majority in the Commons were his submissive 
 followers. 
 
 To the above letter Mr. Gladstone had answered, 
 among other things : 
 
 * Egerton. Colonial Policy. 
 
 t Letter of May i, 1881. Quoted by Carter, Boer War, p. 494.
 
 2ia SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 " I desire to state with respect and sympathy as much as appears 
 to be material. 
 
 " It is stated, as I observe, that a promise was given by me that 
 the Transvaal never should be given back. ... If the reference 
 be to my letter of June 8th, 1880, to Messrs. Kriiger and Joubert, I 
 do not think the language of that letter justifies the description 
 given. . . . The insurrection in the Transvaal proved in the 
 most unequivocal manner that the majority of the white settlers 
 were strongly opposed to British rule. It was thus shown that the 
 original ground upon which the Transvaal was annexed — viz., that the 
 white settlers were prepared, if not to welcome, at all events to 
 acquiesce in British rule — was entirely devoid of foundation." 
 
 It will be observed that the Government after having 
 this " proved in the most unequivocal manner," had 
 still prosecuted warlike operations, had still remained 
 firm to their judgment that annexation could not be 
 reversed. Indeed, it must be remembered that when 
 things were getting bad in the Transvaal, the Cape 
 Government telegraphed to know if England was pre- 
 pared to continue to hold the Transvaal ; and the 
 answer from the home Ministers was " Certainly." 
 
 However, the sophistries by which the British 
 Cabinet tried to justify what has been felt in South 
 Africa to be a shuffling policy are best exposed in Mr. 
 White's answer to the Prime Minister from which the 
 following remarks are extracted : 
 
 " If I should, under the influence of strong feeling, occasionally 
 use language which may be distasteful to Her Majesty's Govern- 
 ment, you will believe that I do not intend any disrespect either to 
 yovu" colleagues, or to yourself as the foremost statesman of the age ; 
 but rather that I deeply regret you should have allowed yourselves 
 unconsciously to be led away by the combined effects of panic, half 
 information, and false sentimentaHsm into acts of wrong-doing and 
 injustice which, if completed, will leave a stain upon the reputation 
 of those who have been parties to them, and which will be fraught 
 with disastrous consequences to the British race in South Africa
 
 TRANSVAAI^THE SURRENDER 213 
 
 generally. . . . The first subject of importance with which your 
 letter deals is the promise given by you that the Transvaal 
 should never be given back, and which, as you conjecture, is con- 
 tained in your lettter of the 8th June, 1880, to Messrs. Kriiger and 
 Joubert. You will perhaps remember that you referred the Chair- 
 man of a meeting of loyal inhabitants at Pretoria, who wrote to you 
 for an assurance which should quieten all apprehensions of the 
 loyalists, to the same letter as the final expression of your opinion 
 with reference to the retrocession of the Transvaal. The letter 
 consequently became, not only a conclusive reply to the Boer 
 agitators, but also a guarantee and a promise to the loyal inhabitants, 
 and a continuation of the series of guarantees which had been 
 frequently given on previous occasions by authorised representatives 
 of the English nation. . . . The actual words of the letter are : — 
 • . . . Our judgment is that the Queen cannot be advised to relin- 
 quish the Transvaal. . . .' But your letter of the 8th of June not 
 only contained this final and absolute announcement of the policy of 
 England, but it gave the reason for arriving at it, in words which so 
 aptly express the case of the loyalists that I quote in exienso : they 
 are as follows : — * It is undoubtedly matter for much regret 
 that it should, since the annexation, have appeared that so 
 large a number of the population of Dutch origin are opposed to 
 the annexation of that territory, but it is impossible now to consider 
 that question as if it were presented for the first time. We have to 
 do with a state of things which has existed for a considerable 
 period, during which obligations have been contracted, especially, 
 though not exclusively, towards the native population, which cannot 
 be set aside.' 
 
 " In your speech in the House of Commons . . . you used words 
 of similar import. You are reported in the Times of January 22 as 
 saying : 
 
 " ' To disapprove the annexation of a country is one thing, to 
 abandon that annexation is another. Whatever we do, we must 
 not blind ourselves to the legitimate consequences of facts. By the 
 annexation of the Transvaal we contracted new obligations. . . . 
 I must look at the obligations entailed by the annexation, and if in 
 my opinion, and in the opinion of many on this side of the House, 
 wrong was done by the annexation itself, that would not warrant 
 us in doing fresh, distinct, and separate wrong, by a disixgard of 
 the obligation which that annexation entcciled.^ "
 
 214 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 After adverting to a statement in the letter, to the 
 effect that hy the Boer insurrection it was shown that 
 annexation was wrong, Mr. White goes on as follows : 
 
 " I am at a loss to understand this statement, because in your 
 letter of June 1 880 you state that it appeared that a large number 
 of the population of Dutch origin in the Transvaal were opposed to the 
 annexation of that country, but, nevertheless, and in spite of the 
 recognition of this fact then, you did not then consider it advisable 
 to relinquish the Queen's sovereignty. If words are to have any 
 value attached to them, is it not evident that Her Majesty's 
 Government were fully conscious previously to, and independently 
 of, the war, that the majority of the Dutch population of the 
 Transvaal were opposed to the annexation, but that obligations since 
 contracted did not warrant the reversal of the annexation ? And I 
 would respectfully ask whether the obligations to the English and 
 other settlers, and to the natives, on which you laid stress then, and 
 which you then considered so paramount, and so binding on the 
 Government that you could not advise Her Majesty to relinquish 
 the Transvaal, are less binding now, when so many faithful subjects 
 of the Crown in the Transvaal have laid down their lives, and 
 80 many more have lost their property and suffered in body and in 
 mind in consequence of their loyalty, and their dependence on the 
 word of yourself and other representatives of the English people ? 
 Are not the obligations to European and other settlers intensified 
 rather than lessened ? And are not the obligations to the 
 natives also intensified ? If you will ask the S. N. A. of the 
 Transvaal whether the natives were loyal during the war, he will tell 
 you that the natives were not only loyal, but desirous, nay, even 
 eager, of testifying their loyalty, by being allowed to fight the Boers, 
 and the most strenuous exertions were required to make them 
 remain quiet. If ' the wrong done by the annexation [which I do 
 not admit] would not then warrant you in doing fresh, distinct, and 
 separate wrong, by a disregard of those obHgations,' will it warrant 
 you now ? I would ask you. Sir, to remember that I am not citing 
 the loose ramblings of some local politician, but the chosen and 
 deliberately expressed opinions of the leading statesman of the 
 country, then, as now, the Prime Minister of England, which were 
 read at the time according to their plainly grammatical meaning, 
 and which were acted upon accordingly. ... I presume Her
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 215 
 
 Majesty's Government is not prepared to repudiate the official 
 utterances of Lord Kimberley, Her Majesty's Secretary of State for 
 the Colonies. I find his lordship telegraphing to the High Com- 
 missioner of South Africa, in May 1880 : 'Under no circumstances 
 can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be relinquished.' 
 
 " And, further, in a despatch dated the 20th of May, Lord Klim- 
 berley confirmed his telegram and said that the sovereignty of the 
 Queen in the Transvaal could not be relinquished. 
 
 " On the 24th of May, his lordship stated in the House of Lords 
 that the Government would not abandon the Transvaal, and in the 
 course of his speech he used the following expressions : 
 
 *' ' There was still a stronger reason than that for not receding : it 
 was impossible to say what calamities such a step as receding 
 might not cause : we had, at the cost of much blood and treasure, 
 restored peace, and the efiect of our now reversing our policy would 
 be to leave the province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause 
 an internecine war. For such a risk he could not make himself re- 
 sponsible — the number of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated 
 at about 800,000, that of the whites less than 50,000. Difficulties 
 with the Zulus and frontier tribes would again arise ; and, looking 
 as they must to South Africa as a whole, the Government, after a 
 careful consideration of the position, came to the conclusion that we 
 could not relinquish the Transvaal. Nothing could have been more 
 unfortunate than uncertainty in respect to such a matter.' "* 
 
 After further careful and unanswerable reasoning, 
 the writer adds : 
 
 " Some of us were deeply opposed to the autocratic system of imperial 
 rule which prevailed in the Transvaal, and which helped, in the 
 judgment of some of us, towards the war. I, for one, opposed the 
 Government strenuously, though unsuccessfully, on one occasion at 
 least, because they would not grant to the country the representative 
 institutions which I believe necessary to ensure its proper development, 
 and to allay the opposition of the Dutch element. But when the 
 sword was drawn and it came to being an enemy or being loyal, we, 
 all of us, came to the front and strove to do our duty in full depen- 
 dence on the pledged and, as we hoped, the inviolate word of 
 England ; and now it is very bitter for us to find we trusted in vain ; 
 
 * Hansard, ccliii. p. 208.
 
 216 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 that, notwithstanding our sufferings and privations, in which our 
 wives and children had to bear their share, and that notwithstanding 
 our losses, including for many of us the irreparable loss of valuable 
 lives, we are dealt with at arm's length as clamorous claimants, and 
 told, as I was told by a member of the Government, we are * too 
 pronounced ' in our views. If, Sir, you had seen, as I have seen, 
 promising young citizens of Pretoria dying of wounds received for 
 their country, and if you had the painful duty, as I have h^d, of 
 bringing to their dear friends at home the last mementos of the de- 
 parted ; if you had seen the privations and discomforts which delicate 
 women and children bore without murmuring for upwards of three 
 months ; if you had seen strong men crying like children at the cruel 
 and undeserved desertion of England ; if you had seen the long strings 
 of half-desperate loyalists shaking the dust off their feet as they left 
 the country, which I saw on my way to Newcastle ; and if you your- 
 self had invested your all on the strength of the word of England, 
 and now saw yourself in a fair way of being beggared by the acts of 
 the country in which you trusted, you would. Sir, I think, be ' pro- 
 nounced,' and England would ring with eloquent entreaties and 
 threats which would compel a hearing. We, Sir, are humble subjects 
 of England, from the other side of the equator it is true, but none 
 the less subjects, and perhaps the more entitled to consideration for 
 that reason. We have no eloquence but the eloquence of our sufferings, 
 of our losses, and our cruel desertion ; but we urge our claims upon 
 you as a matter of justice, of right, and of national morality ; and 
 we submit that if you do not listen to them you will incur the danger 
 of offering a larger premium to rebellion than to loyalty ; of alienating 
 for ever the cordial respect of a number of loyal persons ; of forfeiting 
 all confidence in the national honour and justice ; of utterly destroying 
 the moral influence of England in South Africa — an influence which 
 means more and is worth more than mere military prestige ; and of 
 handing down to posterity the name of your Administration as one 
 which was guilty of one of the greatest acts of national perfidy towards 
 faithful subjects ever perpetrated." 
 
 And then the writer ends thus : 
 
 " On all grounds, even the very lowest, we cry for justice, and we 
 implore you. Sir, in particular, not to allow the close of an illustrioua 
 career to be sullied by the wanton abandonment of the loyal defenders
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 217 
 
 of the national honour, and an entire disregard for obligations which 
 you yourself have acknowledged to be binding." 
 
 It will be seen from this how strong was the case of 
 the loyalists, and how, not unnaturally, strong to a 
 pitch of indignant anger were their feelings. The act 
 of the Government was indeed — it is to be feared — 
 indefensible whatever excuses may be found for it, and 
 there are some excuses, as we shall see. Still, we 
 are surely in danger of paltering with truth if we fail 
 to acknowledge that it was an indefensible act, and 
 that, since pledge after pledge had been given, it 
 cannot well be denied that for the nation to recede 
 from its pledged word was a terrible betrayal. We 
 cannot wonder at a comment made upon the above 
 letter. It is as follows : 
 
 " This letter, I believe, was unanswered ; and, indeed, there could 
 be no answer to it. The cheap half -measure of justice done to the 
 Boers [if justice it was] waa to be performed partly at the expense of 
 that section of the inhabitants of the Transvaal who did not take up 
 arms against Her Majesty. To use a familiar idiom, it was a robbery 
 of Peter for the payment of Paul, and in the history of South Africa 
 no policy of the English Government has gone farther, nay, so far, to 
 shake the allegiance of Englishmen to the paternal Government than 
 the issues of the Transvaal "War." 
 
 Lord Cairns' words, too, in the House of Lords, are 
 worthy to be remembered. They brought into clear 
 light the hoUowness of the reasons assigned for the 
 volte face of the Government. 
 
 " I want to know," said the noble lord, " what we have been 
 fighting about in the interval. If this arrangement is what was in- 
 tended, why did you not give it at once ? Why did you spend the 
 blood and treasure of the country like water, only to give at the end 
 what you had intended to give at the beginning ? We know that 
 there are those who have lost in the Transvaal that which was dearer
 
 218 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to them than the light of their eyes. They have been consoled with 
 the reflection that the brave men who died, died fighting for their 
 Queen and country. Are the mourners now to be told that these 
 men were fighting for a country which the Government had 
 determined to abandon, and that they were fighting for a Queen 
 who was no longer to be the Sovereign of that country? This 
 has been somewhere styled the Peace of Mount Prospect, but I 
 doubt whether it will not go down as the * Capitulation of 
 Downing Street.'"* 
 
 This was, of course, also unanswerable. Lord Kim- 
 berley, placed in a position as awkward as it is possible 
 to imagine, after all these broken promises could only 
 argue : " The object of this settlement is to preserve 
 all that was valuable in our position when we annexed 
 the country."! 
 
 What Lord Kimberley considered "valuable when 
 we annexed the country " does not appear. What we 
 have "preserved" is the indignation of our fellow 
 countrymen in South Africa, the contempt of the 
 Boers, the tarnishing of British honour, the loss of 
 British prestige, the character of a nation the word of 
 whose Government cannot be trusted, and the dignity 
 of having established in power a tyrannical Oligarchy, 
 one of the worst and most corrupt in the world, as a 
 source of constant unrest for a long time to the whole 
 continent. 
 
 To the loyalists the whole affair was looked upon in 
 this way : 
 
 (i) The surrender was ignominious. 
 
 (2) It was a base betrayal, for it was a giving way 
 to rebellion, and giving, after defeat, what had been 
 refused repeatedly and solemnly to entreaty. 
 
 * Quoted by Caxter, Boer War, p. 512. 
 t Ibid. p. 512.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 219 
 
 (3) It was a flagrant violation of promises given to 
 Englishmen, loyal Boers, and natives. 
 
 (4) It was a surrender to men from whom those 
 natives had always received harsh and cruel treatment, 
 and who had so mismanaged their Republic when they 
 had it, as to bring it to bankruptcy ; to men incapable 
 of governing well and justly when left to themselves. 
 
 (5) It was the deliberate establishment of a foe in 
 the midst of our colonies, and putting in power those 
 who to their dislike of us now added contempt ; who 
 were incapable of understanding magnanimity, and 
 believed us really to be cowards, actuated only by 
 fear. 
 
 (6) It was the destruction of the high idea of 
 English honour and strength on which the welfare of 
 South Africa so much depended. 
 
 (7) And it was a step fraught with danger to 
 liberty, and certain to bring endless difficulties in 
 the future. 
 
 Such were the views of the loyalists, and it is very 
 difficult, if not impossible, to deny that they represent 
 a large amount of truth. 
 
 As to the motives of the British Cabinet, they were 
 probably very various, as is, perhaps necessarily, 
 the case with politicians. To undo the Conservative 
 policy, and justify the strong utterances against it ; 
 to conciliate Mr. Bright and his special followers ; 
 above all, to avoid needless expenditure — were 
 no doubt leading reasons. Probably the last was 
 the strongest. The Treasury had some time before 
 taken fright at the expenses of the Transvaal, and 
 when Sir Garnet Wolseley had been sent out in 
 1879 as Civil Commissioner in Zululand and Natal
 
 220 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 in place of Sir Bartle Frere (who was henceforth 
 to exercise his authority only in the Cape Colony), 
 the home Government had, as we have seen, strongly 
 impressed upon him the need of economy. The need 
 of making the Transvaal less expensive had pressed 
 upon all Governments, and the present authorities 
 were, naturally enough, deeply influenced by it. There 
 had been a tendency all along, as we have seen, to 
 look upon the South African possessions of the Crown 
 as not worth what they cost, and so questions of 
 money, and of showing an economical Budget for the 
 benefit of the taxpayer at home, had very much 
 greater weight, in all probability, in bringing about 
 the extraordinary decision of the Cabinet than any 
 other considerations. It is curious to reflect that, as 
 has been already pointed out, money — the severe 
 determination with which Sir Owen Lanyon pressed 
 the payment of taxes upon the Boers, who always 
 object to any taxpaying — was one of the leading 
 reasons of the Boer rebellion ; and that money, the 
 need of economy, and the idea that the Transvaal 
 was worthless, was one of the main motives for 
 retrocession. There is an irony in events ! Five years 
 later, had the Government held by their promises, 
 they would have found the Transvaal — on the dis- 
 covery of the more valuable goldfields — one of the 
 wealthiest of English possessions, and under a healthy 
 system of administration more than able to pay its 
 expenses — as even Kriiger has found, so that, instead 
 of the chronic bankruptcy to which Boer government 
 always led, he has been able, by oppressing the wealth- 
 producing population of Englishmen and other Uit- 
 landers, even with the very imperfect knowledge of
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 221 
 
 State finance possessed by the Transvaal Government, 
 to keep the vessel of the Republic afloat, and avoid 
 giving umbrage to the Boer farmers on their tender 
 point — money. 
 
 There were, of course, other motives. The evils of a 
 vacillating policy, of tergiversation, of broken promises ; 
 the wrongs done to loyal Boers and loyal Englishmen 
 were kept well out of sight of the class who formed 
 the backbone of the strength of the Liberal party, and 
 to them appeals of a humanitarian and sentimental 
 character were exceedingly telling. The idea of justice 
 to the Boers, of undoing what was represented as the 
 immoral policy of annexation, and of respecting an 
 effort for independence made by a brave people, and 
 of avoiding further bloodshed, undoubtedly appealed 
 strongly to Mr. Gladstone himself. He had ever been 
 a defender of the weak against the strong, and it is 
 probable that he persuaded himself that this was a case 
 in point now. He seemed to forget the dangers of 
 a shifty policy, and the duty of standing by promises 
 made, and intentions again and again reiterated, upon 
 which the loyalists depended. It was an unfortunate 
 decision ; but however men may differ as to his states- 
 manship, no one who ever knew him as a man, could 
 doubt the sincerity and purity of his motives, even 
 though they may deplore what they consider a want 
 of judgment in his conclusions in the present instance. 
 The retrocession of the Transvaal, after all that had 
 been said and done, was indeed a grievous mistake, 
 and has led to grievous consequences ; but behind 
 the mistake there were certainly — especially in the 
 case of the Prime Minister — some noble motives. But 
 of this more anon.
 
 222 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 We cannot, however, close our eyes to the fact that 
 the highly humanitarian and philanthropic aspects of 
 the matter were absurdly exaggerated. It was all very 
 well for Mr. Kriiger to talk of his ''fatherland," but 
 the Transvaal was nothing of the kind : he was a 
 British subject, and born as such in the Cape Colony. 
 It was all very well to talk of the disloyal section of 
 the Boers as being the true possessors of the country, 
 and as being there before some of the others ; but the 
 view of Kriiger's own party before as to the validity of 
 such a title to possession must not be forgotten ; in 
 1856, when Pretorius, Kriiger, and the rest opposed 
 the then Boer Government, the historian tells us: 
 "The community of Lydenburg (i.e., the then rulers) 
 was accused of attempting to domineer over the whole 
 country, without any other right to pre-eminence than 
 that of being composed of the earliest inhabitants.'** 
 It was all very well to be enthusiastic for the rights of 
 these Boers ; but had the other colonists, and above 
 all had the natives, no rights to be respected ? We 
 had saved the Boers from destruction at the hands of 
 Secocoeni, and then at the hands of the Zulus, and from 
 bankruptcy brought on b}'' their own maladministra- 
 tion. The major part of them gladly accepted annex- 
 ation to save them from their troubles. Agitators had 
 stirred them up. Many, as we have seen, had been 
 driven by terrorism to attend malcontent meetings, 
 and then to fight, just as, even more than, " the 
 demands of the Irish nation " in recent times were to 
 a large extent manufactured by means of a "Terror." 
 It was monstrous to forget these things, and do a 
 grave injustice in the name of high moral principle. 
 
 * Theal's History.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 223 
 
 On one point the Boers and the whole community 
 were, and had a right to be, indignant. There had 
 been some eighteen months' delay in redeeming the 
 promise of constitutional government. Not retroces- 
 sion of the territory to a section of the community, 
 but the establishment of constitutional government 
 and the making of the Transvaal into a self-governing 
 colony, was what the Government ought to have done. 
 A mixture of good and of very noble though ill- 
 founded motives, with some fairly defensible from 
 expediency, and some distinctly mean, led them to 
 do a great wrong and to make a terrible mistake. 
 
 But if the deed itself involved grave mistakes, the 
 manner of doing it was a mass of blunders. The 
 Government plan was carried out in a way to cause 
 the maximum of friction with the minimum of good 
 results. 
 
 Such extraordinary secresy was maintained as to the 
 peace proposals that in the end, when all was known, 
 the final settlement burst upon both parties like a 
 sudden clap of thunder. The Boer leaders dared not at 
 once let their extreme adherents know what was actu- 
 ally settled, as in their opinion the settlement did not go 
 far enough. They had on May 24 sent a memorial to Sir 
 Evelyn Wood expressing in fulsome terms their devo- 
 tion to the Queen " as our future Suzerain," and their 
 " respect " for the British nation, and for England's 
 "noble and magnaminous love of right and justice." 
 Their " devotion " and " respect," however, died down 
 when they found that they were not to have every- 
 thing precisely as they wished. They afterwards let 
 it be known that their assent to the final arrangement 
 was " wrung from them." The Volksraad when it met
 
 224 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 used the most violent language as to the settlement. 
 It required, in fact, all the influence of Mr. Kriiger and 
 Mr. Joubert to have the Convention ratified. Mr. 
 Kriiger has all along been a most fortunate man, and 
 one cannot but admire the dogged persistence and 
 shrewdness which he has shown in profiting by the 
 opportunities afforded him through the mistakes of 
 others ; and it must be owned that all along, the 
 English, whom it is said that he heartily detests, have 
 given him abundant opportunities. 
 
 He and the other leaders saw that it was wise to 
 accept the Convention lest the English national temper 
 should be roused, and the people might pass out of 
 their humanitarian and sentimental into a more prac- 
 tical and determined mood. There was, indeed, a 
 threat that if the boundary question which the Govern- 
 ment proposed was pressed, the Boers would again fly 
 to arms, and the English Government, as usual, at once 
 gave way ; and, indeed, it is probable, in the then 
 temper of the English Liberals, that had the Boers 
 pressed them on the other points they would have 
 allowed themselves to be " squeezed " to any extent 
 whatever. No sooner, indeed, were the Boer leaders 
 placed in power than they steadily agitated for an 
 abolition or modification of the Convention. In 1884 
 such a modification was granted by Lord Derby. In 
 the first Convention the name given was " The Trans- 
 vaal State," a sensible name, corresponding to the title 
 "Orange Free State." In 1884 this was changed 
 into " The South African Bepublic," an unwise step, 
 (i) because it is not a real Bepublic at all, and (2) 
 because if it were there is another and better manag-ed 
 Republic in South Africa, and (3) because it played
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 225 
 
 into Mr. Krliger's hands In his constant and not un- 
 natural efforts to make the Boer State, rather than 
 Great Britain, the paramount Power, and to create a 
 Repubhc at the head of Bepublics in South Africa, 
 and destroy the connection with the Empire. Having 
 gained the Convention of 1884, called "the London 
 Convention," the Boers have since denied her Majesty's 
 " suzerainty," which called out, as we have seen, so much 
 devotion from Mr. Kriiger and the other leaders in 
 1 88 1. This contention, however, has no real founda- 
 tion, as the " suzerainty " stands where it did. It 
 never was in the articles, but in the introduction. 
 Sir Bartle Frere observes : " The chief reason iriven 
 for retaining a British suzerainty (whatever that 
 may imply) over the Transvaal, was that it would be 
 some protection to the 700,000 loyal native subjects 
 against any aggression by the Boer Government. . . . 
 It has not, however, been of the slightest use for that 
 or any other visible purpose."* It has been remarked 
 that perhaps the real use of the Convention is that it is 
 the one sole outward and visible sign that Great Britain 
 is the paramount Power in South Africa. To violate 
 the Convention both in letter and spirit seems to have 
 been a chief effort of the Boer Government ever since. 
 That Government has intrigued Math Germany, France, 
 Portugal, and Holland. Indeed, the importation of 
 Hollanders under the rule of the present President, 
 for posts of importance, has been, it is commonly 
 believed, a serious grievance to his own people. The 
 Conservative Government had found it necessary to 
 abrogate " The Sand Biver Convention," and annex 
 the Transvaal owing to its condition of powerlessness 
 
 * Life of Hir Bar Frere, vol. iv.
 
 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 for anything except for mischief to the rest of South 
 Africa. The Liberals denounced this as an intolerable 
 wrong. If it were so, the only way to right it was to 
 return to the terms of that Convention. This they did 
 not do ; they did neither one thing nor the other ; and 
 by the course pursued sowed deep suspicion of England 
 in the minds of the Boers, which for many a long year, 
 if ever, will not be eradicated. 
 
 As to the natives things were still worse. In early 
 days an exaggerated care for the natives had, as we 
 have seen, led the then Colonial Office, guided by the 
 missionaries, to unfair treatment of the Dutch settlers 
 in the colony, and induced the Great Trek, so laying 
 the foundation of the Transvaal and all its troubles. 
 So now, in spite of professions and promises, the 
 natives were practically abandoned to the tender mercies 
 of their old taskmasters. Nothing is more tragic to 
 contemplate than the shocking effects of the surrender 
 on the unfortunate natives. Natives, after all, are 
 human creatures, and some of them of a most promising 
 type. They have behind them centuries upon centuries 
 of savage life. They cannot be lifted to the heights 
 of civilisation all in a moment. They can appreciate 
 the benefits of good government. Few men have 
 understood them as Sir Bartle Frere or Mr. Cecil 
 Rhodes. In spite of all our faults, the natives have 
 believed in us. Once beaten by us, they obey. 
 The Dutch Boer they hate. They instinctively feel 
 the comparatively low type of his manhood, and 
 therefore fear his cruelty. He has, perhaps, his virtues 
 — such virtues, chiefly self-regarding, as belong to a 
 man physically courageous, hard, ready to face danger, 
 but unscrupulous, self-seeking, narrow. He considers
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 227 
 
 the native an inferior class of animal to be treated by 
 the Boer — an elect child of God — as a Canaanite, and to 
 be exterminated when need be. The time is (declared 
 to be) within the memory of living men when a man of 
 the Boer race, now of some distinction, drove natives, 
 as animals, in his plough. It is said to be within the 
 memory of those who live still, when the Transvaal 
 Boer roasted natives alive as punishment for supposed 
 offences. To these people, not altogether so gentle, 
 simple, and religious as some philanthropists supposed, 
 the Government of 1881 handed over the natives of 
 the Transvaal without appeal. Probably no more 
 inhuman mistake has ever been committed, with not 
 only a calm unconsciousness, but even with a flourish 
 of trumpets as to transcendant morality, by any body 
 of well-intentioned and misinformed men. The British 
 colonial policy has much indeed to answer for, but we 
 cannot wonder if many in South Africa consider that 
 it never, probably, has had to answer for a sin of such 
 dimensions, as — in spite, too, of being done in the 
 name of high moral principle — the surrender after 
 Majuba Hill. 
 
 One cannot help at any time condemning folly, cant, 
 ignorance under great responsibilities, faithlessnes even 
 when wearing a mask of morality ; one cannot help, 
 alas ! on any sound principles, condemning the action 
 of England. Equally it is impossible not in a certain 
 way to admire brute strength and vigour, and narrow- 
 minded doggedness and fanaticism, pushing on perse- 
 veringly to its goal. One cannot help, on any principles 
 of fairness, admiring the vigour of the Boer represen- 
 tatives. But Great Britain v. Transvaal Triumvirate 
 is a sad spectacle. The one, enthusiastic for justice
 
 228 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and forgetting to take in things as they are ; the other 
 with little thought of justice, but with a clear " weather 
 eye " open to facts which tell in favour of a project, 
 right or wrong. 
 
 Among the greatest sufferers were the natives. 
 We English are astonishing persons for deceiving 
 ourselves when — with a profoundly egotistical instinct 
 — we pose as the lovers of others. We had always 
 been the friends, the real friends, at times the foolish 
 friends, of the natives. Now our morality, not untem- 
 pered by political necessities, and by the cant of the 
 time, had reached such a pitch of splendid self-denial, 
 that we felt we could throw the native over, and leave 
 him to the mercies of the gentle Boer ! 
 
 When the natives heard of the surrender, chief 
 after chief, a countless number, came from all parts of 
 the Transvaal to inquire if it was a real truth that 
 the English meant to abandon them to the Boers. 
 There was — of that there is no doubt — a ' ' wholesome 
 dread" of their former masters. If it were possible 
 for an enthusiast in favour of surrender to meditate 
 quietly upon this truth, he would see that the terrible 
 fear of the unfortunate natives on hearing of it was a 
 proof of the highest importance that, until England 
 annexed an incapable and anarchic Republic, the 
 Boers had been to the natives no gentle masters. 
 One who writes with full personal knowledge of all 
 the facts, and writes with a quite extraordinary 
 freedom from prejudice, believes that when — un- 
 restrained by England — the Boers ruled the natives, 
 they " ruled them with a rod of iron, if there is no 
 harsher term that may be applied to the matter " — all 
 who hioWf know, alas ! that there is a *' harsher term."
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 229 
 
 Those who know the natives, know how difficult it 
 is for them to be roused and to express their feelings. 
 They did and they do trust the English. They cannot, 
 of course, distinguish between the follies and tergiver- 
 sations of Downing Street and the straight true 
 English action with which they meet in the case 
 of individual Englishmen. They could have no con- 
 ception of the mysterious ins and outs of the Colonial 
 Office. How could they imagine that their liberators, 
 in the name of high principle, should hand them over 
 tied and bound to a harsh, fanatical, even cruel set 
 of men — their most deadly enemies.'* However, it 
 happened. The irony of things is wonderful when 
 once we pass from the straight road of truth and 
 duty. We deliberately {i.e., the Liberal Government 
 of 1 88 1 deliberately) handed over the natives of the 
 Transvaal to the most doubtful taskmasters. " Piteous 
 despairing cries " were raised to Englishmen from 
 chief after chief Jacobus More (Mamagalic), chief 
 of the Bakmena, wrote in a way to bring tears to 
 one's eyes. It is too touching to read his words. 
 
 " Are the English really defeated ? 
 
 " Is it really peace? May everybody really go unmolested where 
 he likes ? 
 
 " I'm very sad, because I thought your Honour would always 
 be my father, and foster me, but now you leave the country and us 
 to our fate ! 
 
 " Oh ! may your Honour, before leaving the country, not forget to 
 do something for the black population of the Transvaal, so that they 
 may bless you ! . . . May your Honour, who has to now been 
 our father, do acts of a father for his children, whom he leaves." 
 
 I know nothing more pathetic, more moving, more 
 touching than the wail of the forsaken natives at this 
 terrible time. The above is only one example of
 
 % 
 
 230 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 numberless "cries of the children" to fathers who 
 hardened their hearts. Downing Street, bent on 
 "high morality," neglected, not only for loyal Boers, 
 when it surrendered, but for unfortunate natives, the 
 first principles of righteousness and duty. 
 
 Of all the details of grievous mistake in the surrender 
 of 1 88 1 none most surely is more saddening than the 
 treatment of those natives. We had always, as we 
 have seen, professed to protect them, and sometimes 
 foolishly ; our betrayal now was, therefore, all the worse. 
 When England was winding up this affair, which 
 seems to many in South Africa an act of pious in- 
 iquity, about three hundred chiefs were summoned to 
 Pretoria to be informed how the vacillating mother — 
 Great Britain — had cared for her trustful and helpless 
 children. " The natives," after all, as was well said, 
 were " the real heirs to the soil." They were never 
 truly cared for. We never considered any one but a 
 section of Boer rebels who were no more "heirs to the 
 soil " than ourselves — not so much, for we could use it 
 and govern it, which they never could. 
 
 However, by the act of the Government of 1881 
 the natives were sacrificed, after having been taught 
 to trust us. 
 
 They were summoned — three hundred chiefs — to 
 Pretoria to hear the last utterances of the Queen of 
 England. They listened to the long exordium. We 
 do not quote it. In its cant, pretence, and unreality it 
 is calculated to bring a blush to the face of every 
 Englishman. 
 
 No opinion was permitted to be expressed by any 
 native. They are not fools, however ; they reasoned : 
 "England is supposed to be strong; she hands over
 
 ^ 
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 231 
 
 the country to Boers, pretending that it belongs to 
 them. They are cruel, they are stupid. England was 
 fair and, we thought, strong. She is weak. The country 
 really is ours. We were here long before Boers. We 
 believed in England. After all, she betrays." 
 
 It is saddening indeed for an Englishman to think 
 of such a moment. Fighting for the liberties of man- 
 kind, a " Liberal " Government had, under the pressure 
 of party necessities, broken every promise given, 
 betrayed every trust, and surrendered the helpless to 
 stupid cruel fanatics, because those fanatics 'persevered 
 in resistance, and because all this suited English party 
 strife. It was, indeed, a moment of deep humiliation. 
 Nothing ought to be so humiliating as when cant wins 
 the day. 
 
 The surrender was a deathblow to the natives, and 
 that too from their professing friends ! Thinking of 
 the effect of the surrender on these unfortunates, we 
 may close with the words of Sir Bartle Frere : * 
 
 " The Convention under which the Transvaal was given up stipu- 
 lated for many things to be done by the new Government of the 
 Republic, none of which have yet been accomplished and for the most 
 part they have not been attempted. . . . The natives scattered 
 among the European farms have been reduced to the same condition 
 of serfdom in which we found them before the annexation. Mapoch 
 and other chiefs to the east and north-east, who had been loyal to the 
 British rule, have been attacked, and great numbei's of their followers 
 slaughtered. A large ' Commando,' said to comprise two thousand 
 Burghers, with two cannon — supplied by the Cape Government — is 
 at present engaged in crushing the tribe, blowing up their caves with 
 dynamite. Their greatest offence is fidelity to the British Government. 
 ... To the natives of the Transvaal and its neighbourhood the 
 surrender of the British Government has brought loss of all security 
 for liberty, life, or property." 
 
 * Letter to Mr. J. M. Maclean, Feb. 23, 1S83.
 
 232 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Then as to the loyal Boers and loyal English, and 
 the colonists at the Cape, what of them ? 
 
 It is impossible to describe the horror with which 
 the news of the surrender by the Government "^as 
 received by all loyal subjects both in the Transvaal 
 and Cape Colony. 
 
 In the Transvaal were both English and Boer 
 settlers who were loyal to the Imperial connection. 
 Many English had settled — in addition to those there 
 before— after the annexation, had acquired property, 
 had invested their capital on the strength of repeated 
 British promises both from Conservatives and Liberals. 
 They knew well the impossibility of Boer government 
 and the untrustworthy character of the Boers. They 
 would never have dreamed of willingly settling under 
 Boer rule, and they knew well that, whatever pro- 
 mises might be made, and whatever paper guarantees 
 executed, they would be the objects of Boer malice 
 and scorn ; and justice they could never hope to 
 have. Many, at ruinous loss, left the country after 
 the surrender : those who remained, remained only 
 to experience the fulfilment of their fears. Boer sus- 
 picions have been more than ever accentuated since 
 the events of 1895. Those who find themselves in 
 the Transvaal in outlying districts learn what it is 
 practically to belong to a subject people, and are well 
 aware that they have to exercise constant caution, 
 and that " the Boers," as it has been said to me, 
 " will get a knife into an Englishman if they 
 can." At times, pretences to the contrary may be 
 necessary, but a Boer — a Transvaal Boer — hates an 
 Englishman. 
 
 The " Old Colony Boers," as they themselves like to
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 233 
 
 be called, are very different. Their lot after the sur- 
 render was not so hard as that of either the native or 
 the Englishman. They do not like the Transvaal 
 Boers. They are in every way superior to them as 
 are the Dutch now in the colony, but the Transvaal 
 Boers have not the same dislike to them as they have 
 to the English. They left the Cape, not from any 
 desire to be in a " Dutch Republic," but purely from 
 reasons relating to their cattle farming. They have 
 confidence in English rule, and they move very much 
 in their own set. Like the rest, though in a less degree, 
 they were sufferers by the change. 
 
 So closed a successful rebellion — successful partly 
 perhaps from the mistakes of British generals, partly 
 from the folly of two successive British Governments ; 
 closed, by the handing over of a fine territory to 
 agitators and rebels, to a part of the inhabitants, and 
 that part disloyal to our Empire and hopelessly unfit to 
 govern ; closed, leaving behinii it in the minds of the 
 disloyal, contempt for Great Britain, and in the minds 
 of the loyal a bitter sense of the untrustworthiness oi 
 her promises. It will be long in South Africa before 
 these fatal betrayals are forgotten, but we may hope 
 that a clear view of our mistakes in the past may 
 teach us the wisdom of firmness and faithfulness and 
 constancy in the future. 
 
 The question remains, can anything be said for the 
 action of the Government ? 
 
 It is constantly urged — and by thoughtful and fair- 
 minded and calm- minded men too — in South Africa 
 that their conduct at the time is indefensible and 
 inexcusable. It can, indeed, scarcely be defended ;
 
 234 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 but, on looking closely at the whole matter — if we 
 are to be quite fair — there are points to be urged 
 in excuse. We cannot wonder that men on the spot, 
 men in close touch with all the details of events, 
 and men who had been bitter sufferers by the policy 
 pursued, should feel strongly, and perhaps make 
 fewer allowances than should in fairness be made 
 for the action of the Government. They put their 
 case strongly thus, and a strong case it must be 
 allowed to be : 
 
 (i) That Government, with all the facts before it, 
 comes to the conclusion that the action of its prede- 
 cessors is wrong — that the Transvaal ought never to 
 have been annexed. This is stated in burning language 
 by its chief representative as the wicked " wanton 
 invasion of a free people." 
 
 (2) None the less it is felt by that Government that 
 whatever might have been done in the past, the status 
 quo must be considered. New responsibilities to those 
 who trusted the Imperial word have been incurred. 
 These cannot be put aside. The retrocession of the 
 Transvaal is impossible. This assurance is reasserted 
 again and again. Loyalists take courage and resist 
 rebellion. 
 
 (3) Rebellion at last begins. Promises made which, 
 if fulfilled, might have stayed all, are not kept. None 
 the less, loyal men trust reiterated promises and trust 
 the Government. 
 
 {4) Rebellion is increased by terrorism, worked well 
 by the leaders of agitation (who are still receiving pay 
 from England) — and nothing is done to counteract 
 this ; nothing to reassure the loyal except repeated 
 promises.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 235 
 
 {5) When rebellion comes, insufficient troops are 
 sent up. Loyal garrisons defending the besieged 
 towns are not supported. Mistakes in generalship, 
 as well as the absence of support and of sufficient 
 forces, lead to defeats. These are represented as the 
 " defensive operations " of a free people struggling 
 for liberty. Really they are the results of the Trans- 
 vaal rebels deliberately invading a British Colony. 
 
 (6) After defeat it is discovered that the act of 
 noblest morality is to break promises, betray friends, 
 submit to rebels, forsake unfortunate natives, give in 
 to the dishonesty, chicanery, and steady bullying of 
 many inferior and not over-scrupulous people among 
 the rebel leaders, and then ride off on the pharisaic 
 claim of a self-denying morality. 
 
 Such is the serious side of the question. 
 
 Such is the case for the prosecution, so to speak. 
 
 Can anything be urged in defence ? Scarcely ; but 
 much can be said in palliation. 
 
 Let us examine this. 
 
 There are many blessings in popular government. 
 It was natural enough that in our early years many of 
 us should be carried off our feet with enthusiasm for 
 its development. It was natural, it was generous to 
 be impatient of what appeared the narrow and 
 inhuman ways of the Toryism of the past, and of all 
 unworthy bolstering up of mere privilege. Sitting at 
 the feet of John Stuart Mill, or stirred by Kingsley's 
 sympathetic enthusiasm, or the many voices pro- 
 phesying coming glories, it would have been super- 
 human during the years of the rising tide of Liberalism 
 not to expect Utopias. But there are no Utopias this 
 side the grave either in politics or in other depart-
 
 236 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ments of human activity. Men expected too much, 
 and, where that is the case, there is a danger of reac- 
 tion, a danger of seeing nothing but defects where 
 they had hoped for impossible virtues. The reactioa 
 has made many men jaundiced cynics before now. 
 They are hasty, however, in their cynical conclu- 
 sions ; they are unreal ; they are wrong. It is, of 
 course, obviously true that " in order to love man- 
 kind one must not expect too much from them." 
 A healthy and generous mind gaining the lessons 
 of experience learns to make large allowances 
 and still to rejoice. Enthusiams have carried the 
 popular masses off their feet before now. Men 
 have been capable of expressing in books excellent 
 popular principles, and yet have turned out no 
 great hands at practical politics. John Stuart Mill 
 himself was excellent in theories, but he was a 
 failure at Westminster. Mr. Morley, in a later 
 generation, thinks often wisely and ably, and states 
 matters clearly, but as a practical politician his 
 greatest admirers would scarcely describe him as a 
 conspicuous success. Good men have done wrong 
 things before now, not from malice, but from mistake. 
 Party government is, so far, the best that has been 
 discovered. No one, however, with any justice of mind 
 can deny that it has many defects. The time may 
 come when the evolution of things may bring us to a 
 more perfect way of carrying on the art of govern- 
 ment, but that time has not come yet. And we are 
 unwise, meantime, to be either unreasoning optimists, 
 or morose and despairing pessimists, because the best 
 methods we yet know are far from perfect. We ought 
 surely to look matters fairly in the face ; to see and
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 237 
 
 acknowledge mistakes, and grave mistakes ; to notice 
 the causes for such mistakes, so as to avoid them again, 
 without condemning wholesale or praising wholesale, 
 without accusing parties of cynical contempt for duty, 
 or leaders of unprincipled charlatanism. Such accusa- 
 tions may, alas ! sometimes be deserved, but we must, 
 in common fairness, be chary of advancing them until 
 we see whether or not more charitable hypotheses may 
 not fulfil the conditions of the problem. 
 
 With us as a nation there may have been some 
 excuse for this. The Liberal party had had broad and 
 generous ideals, but every party is subject to deteriora- 
 tion. There is no doubt that they gave the impression 
 to their opponents and, as has ultimately been seen, 
 to the nation, that they were too fond of tinkering 
 the Constitution continually, instead of using it ; of 
 changing and mending the machinery instead of 
 working it. Where men were alarmed in this way, 
 they lost sight of the constant power of readjustment 
 and of correcting hasty mistake which is to be found 
 in the great fund of common sense — of wise thought 
 coming from experience and applied to conduct public 
 and private — which is one of the most valuable 
 possessions of the English people. However, there 
 are, one cannot doubt, certain crises in our history 
 where the tendency of party government is to hurry 
 the nation into serious errors of judgment, where 
 common sense comes in too late to correct, and can at 
 best only modify grave mistakes. We have all of us 
 lived through fierce controversies with regard to 
 Home Rule in Ireland and the position of the House 
 of Lords. The advocates for drastic measures had a 
 good deal to say for themselves. Many of them were
 
 238 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 able and unquestionably sincere ; the weaker laisser- 
 aller people had abandoned hope, and allowed them- 
 selves to drift in the stream of *' the thing is inevi- 
 table," so often the resource of the sluggard or the 
 coward. The proposed drastic and revolutionary- 
 changes were examined and put aside, and — as large 
 numbers of sober Liberals now think — wisely put 
 aside. The fact is the people had time to think, and 
 common sense prevailed. Crises may come when, even 
 amid the passions of party, time for reflection is given ; 
 but there are also crises when those very passions 
 hurry men away from their better judgment, and then 
 irremediable mistakes may be made. 
 
 Such a crisis was, it seems to me, In 1881. It was 
 one of the many pieces of good luck which have fallen 
 to the lot of Mr. Kriiger (whose chief characteristic, 
 perhaps, has been acuteness in making use of other 
 men's mistakes), that hasty mistakes were made at that 
 time. The action of the then Cabinet with regard to 
 the Transvaal was, it seems probable, a serious mistake 
 into which the nation was hurried and the mode of that 
 action was entirely Indefensible. But although this was 
 so, we can see, now that we have the advantage of the 
 foreshortening effect of time upon the picture, how 
 easily circumstances combined to lead to the mistake ; 
 and thus, though that mistake and the manner of its 
 making cannot be defended, they may, surely, in a 
 measure be excused. 
 
 (i) The nation was suffering from a fever of party 
 spirit. Whoever remembers that time will remember 
 that with one party it was the fashion to talk as though 
 the Liberal leader had a monopoly of " righteousness " 
 and the Conservative leader of wickedness ; and vice
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 239 
 
 versa that Lord Beaconsfield's conduct was that of a 
 noble patriot, and Mr. Gladstone's that of a charlatan. 
 Neither view was right. Both statesmen had done 
 great good, both had made great mistakes. Party 
 feeling at the time amounted to a superstition. Mr. 
 Gladstone was a very noble-minded man and a great 
 leader, but he was not infallible any more than the 
 rest of us. Colonial or foreign policy had never been 
 \\m forte, and he was, like other men, under the influence 
 of the bias of party. Before elections, leaders are apt — 
 for they are human — to speak in a way which calmer 
 reflection will scarcely warrant. They necessarily jput 
 things strongly from one point of view only, and 
 they are in danger in a peculiar degree of over- 
 colouring, and exaggeration, and hasty conclusion. 
 This was in some measure the case, and inevitably 
 the case, in the speeches of many leading men at the 
 time. A saddening example is the accusation against 
 Sir Bartle Frere by Mr. Gladstone of his supposed 
 responsibility for the annexation of the Transvaal. 
 Mr. Gladstone evidently acted on imperfect infor- 
 mation. Had he been responsible for it, Sir Bartle 
 Frere would, in the opinion of many, have had 
 nothing to be ashamed of But as a matter of 
 fact he had nothing to do with it. However, such 
 was the impression on the minds of Liberals, in their 
 passionate haste at the time, and this went so far 
 that that " Great Proconsul " — perhaps the best and 
 wisest Governor that the Cape ever had — was soon 
 after recalled in disgrace, not because the good of 
 South Africa required it, but for the welfare of the 
 Liberal party ! Well might Robert Browning, himself 
 strongly Liberal, say to the present writer at the
 
 240 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 time, and in the presence of many leading Liberals, 
 " The conduct of the Liberal Cabinet to Bartle Frere 
 is disorraceful." 
 
 This is an example of the way in which facts were 
 befogged at the time from party passion. No doubt 
 Mr. Gladstone was pressed by his party, and it is quite 
 probable that when the rebellion broke out his generous 
 sentiments deceived him (as they afterwards did to 
 some extent in regard to Ireland) — deceived him into 
 picturing the violences of agitators, and the extreme 
 measures of the more fierce and unscrupulous, as a 
 patriotic rising for liberty. Further, there was cleverly 
 dangled before the eyes of the Cabinet the fear of 
 a war of races in South Africa. This is one of the 
 trump cards even at this moment, when " Kriigerism," 
 as it has been called, means endless intrigue to 
 stir up Dutch feeling in the colony against English 
 feelincr, for the benefit of the Transvaal Boers. This 
 unquestionably acted upon the minds of statesmen 
 then, as it has acted since. Nothing of the kind would 
 have happened then, and it is highly improbable that, 
 to any great extent, it would happen now ; many of 
 the Cape Dutch are too intelligent, and they have 
 had opportunities of taking the measure of the 
 *' Krligerites" and all their works. 
 
 Even had it been true, there are worse things than 
 war and even than race war. Dishonour, injustice, 
 faithlessness to undertakings are worse ; betrayal of 
 loyal subjects is worse. However, the clever " bogie " 
 did influence the minds of the Cabinet then. A great 
 wave of very mistaken, but in the main sincere, humani- 
 tarian sentiment was passing over their followers. A 
 real enthusiasm for justice and freedom possessed the
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 241 
 
 mind of the Prime Minister, and very imperfect infor- 
 mation and the clever representations of the Boer 
 intriguers in England and at the Cape confused his 
 sense of where justice and freedom lay ! 
 
 There were characteristic views held by the great 
 Prime Minister which doubtless influenced him to such 
 a mistake. We can realise those now. 
 
 Apropos of the debate in 1850 on the Don Pacifico 
 business, when Mr. Gladstone answered Lord Palmer- 
 ston's celebrated " Civis Romanus " speech, it has been 
 well said of Mr. Gladstone's speech, that ^ — 
 
 " [It exemplifies] at a comparatively early period and in high per- 
 fection, two of Mr. Gladstone's most conspicuous qualities, which have 
 grown with his growth and strengthened with his strength, and have 
 been attended by important and opposing consequences. The first of 
 these is his high and even austere morality. He appeals to the most 
 august of all tribunals, to * the law of Nature and of God.' As a test of 
 a foreign policy he asks, not whether it is striking, or brilliant, or suc- 
 cessful, but whether it is right. Is it consistent with moral principle 
 and public duty ; with the chivalry due from the strong to the weak, 
 with the principles of brotherhood among nations and of their sacred 
 independence ? It is this habit of Mr. Gladstone's mind which has 
 done so much to secure him the enthusiastic veneration of his 
 followers, who loathe the savage law of brute force, who recognise 
 the operation of moral principle in international relations, and who 
 feel it a personal pain and degradation when England is forced to 
 figure as the swashbuckler of Europe. 
 
 " But if this element has been a main factor in Mr. Gladstone's 
 hold over the afiections of his disciples, and thereby of his public 
 success, it is not difficult to discern . . . the operation of another 
 element which has done much to mar his popularity, to limit his range 
 of influence, and to set great masses of his countrymen in opposition 
 to his policy. This is his tendency to belittle England, to dwell on 
 the faults and defects of Englishmen, to extol and magnify the virtues 
 and graces of other nations, and to ignore the homely prejudice of 
 patriotism. He has frankly told us that he does not know the 
 
 * George W. E. Russell. The Bight Hon. Tl . E. Gladstone, p. 243,
 
 242 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 meaning of ' prestige,' and an English Minister who makes that con- 
 fession has yet to learn one of the governing sentiments of 
 * An old and haughty nation proud in arms.' " 
 
 This is most true, and it explains much as to the 
 matter in hand. " Prestige" may have an evil sense, 
 but it has a good one. The "prestige" of a great 
 nation is a gift and a force for which it is responsible. 
 To ignore its true meaning, and to deliberately sully 
 it, is to throw away national self-respect. It was this 
 characteristic in the great Prime Minister which made 
 his fellow countrymen feel that colonial and foreign 
 policy was not always safe in his keeping. Mr. Glad- 
 stone, with all his real greatness, had "the defects of his 
 qualities," and a certain want of balance of judgment 
 in applying moral principles to national life probably 
 led him into confusions and mistakes. It w^as this, and 
 no unworthy popularity-hunting, which induced the 
 terrible Transvaal mistake, whereby the hectoring, 
 unworthy, and the debased were exalted, and the weak 
 and loyal and right-minded brought low. 
 
 Then further, there was a ridiculous fallacy allowed 
 at the time, and pleaded since to do duty for truth. 
 That was the doctrine that the Transvaal was " the 
 Boer's country," or, as Mr. Kruger— a British subject 
 born in the colony — described it with astute effrontery, 
 his "fatherland." The "right" to a new country 
 must rest (i) upon an arrangement with those pre- 
 viously in possession; or (2) on might, the might of 
 conquest and the might to hold it ; and (3) joined with 
 one or other of these, the right of just and good 
 administration. By (i) the English hold the Cape 
 and some other possessions, by (2) and (3) some other 
 territories in South Africa.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE SURRENDER 243 
 
 The Boers held the Transvaal — in so far as they did 
 hold it — by the right of " might," by defeating some 
 of its previous possessors. By the right of a just and 
 good administration they have never held it, and do 
 not hold it now. The only "right" by which they held 
 it they forfeited to the English. We delivered them 
 from the Zulus, who would have annihilated them ; 
 and we acted with justice while we held it, although 
 a speedier fulfilment of our promise of self-government 
 would have avoided many evils. By (2) and (3) the 
 Transvaal was justly ours. The sooner, probably, it 
 is ours again the better for itself and for South Africa. 
 The English Government, in handing it over to a sec- 
 tion of the inhabitants in 1881 — and that the least 
 intelligent and least capable of governing — did infinite 
 harm. It was a sad instance of men committins: a 
 great mistake and doing a great wrong from motives 
 many of which were noble, though some of which, of 
 course, were less worthy, and all of which were allowed 
 play much too hurriedly and without sufiicient con- 
 sideration. 
 
 The whole thing, we may hope, has taught us wider 
 views, truer principles, and a juster sense of our respon- 
 sibilities as an Imperial Power. We can see much now 
 that could not then be so clearly seen. We must not 
 judge too hardly, therefore, rulers who, in difiiculties, 
 on the whole did their best. The surrender was a 
 grievous mistake and a §reat wrong. That act we 
 cannot, indeed, defend, but at least we can in some 
 measure excuse it.
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 THE TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 
 
 The mistake of 1881 began to bring forth a fruitful 
 crop of evils before very long. Had this mistake not 
 been made the Transvaal might have been governed, 
 as a self-governing colony, with equal rights to all 
 citizens of whatever nationality, and with a strong and 
 wise Government able to meet the altered circum- 
 stances of the country with statesmanlike prudence 
 and a strong hand. This, however, was not to be ; and 
 the Boers of the Transvaal, with their ideals of isola- 
 tion and the loose relations of a farming community, 
 with their incapacity for governing when left to them- 
 selves, had to find themselves soon confronted with 
 the problem of a large influx of foreigners, for whom 
 equal rights would In time naturally be demanded 
 under pain of a growing discontent. 
 
 For a great change had passed over the Transvaal 
 territory. As early as 1867, and onward for some 
 seven or eight years, gold had been discovered. This 
 was chiefly to the east. The quantities at first were 
 small, and It was not looked upon as being of any 
 serious consequence. Workings of a more extensive 
 kind began, however, about 1882, and in 1885 the 
 valuable beds of the Witwatersrand were discovered, 
 ■vvhich so deeply afiected the history of the country.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 245 
 
 The gold beds of the Rand are in many respects 
 the finest as yet known. Where reef gold is found 
 there is, I believe, some uncertainty. One part 
 may be very rich indeed ; another may fail. The 
 peculiar value of the Transvaal goldfields is the 
 approximate certainty, from the nature of its beds 
 (called " banket " beds), that there will be a steady 
 yield owing to an immense quantity of the precious 
 metal. 
 
 On this account the Rand became famous, and as 
 interest was awakened, European capital flowed into 
 the country. The Boers would have found it impos- 
 sible themselves to work the mines, both from lack of 
 intelligence and knowledge, and from insujSicient 
 resources for an industry so expensive. For the pro- 
 cess, as every one who visits the Rand may see, of 
 separating the precious metal from the materials in 
 which it is embedded is very costly indeed. It would 
 have seemed, therefore, that the influx of immi- 
 grants from England, Germany, America, and other 
 places — mostly, however, English, and for the most 
 part men of intelligence and skill — would have been 
 welcomed by the Government. At first, indeed, it was 
 so. The Republic had been in a state of confusion and 
 almost bankrupt. From the most impecunious it rose 
 swiftly to be one of the most moneyed countries in 
 the world. The revenues of the State mounted up as 
 the mines were developed, and towns were built and 
 extended, but with these revenues grew the popula- 
 tion. Mr. Krtiger and his Boer advisers took alarm. 
 If they could not work their mines without foreign 
 labour and foreign capital, at least they could keep 
 the immigrants always in the position of foreigners —
 
 246 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 always " Uitlanders " with no voice or influence in the 
 government of the Kepublic. 
 
 The admirers of Mr. Krliger represent him as only 
 doing what it is natural and just to do. Things look 
 very different according to the point of view from which 
 they are seen. The Boer point of view was this. They 
 had succeeded — so they believed — in outwitting the 
 English. They had defeated them in some skirmishes, 
 and then, as they still believe, frightened them into 
 better terms in their Convention than they could have 
 at first expected. They had succeeded in " squeezing " 
 Lord Kimberley, in preventing any severance of terri- 
 tory, and in getting things all their own way. They 
 had founded a narrow Oligarchy with power in their 
 hands, and why were they not to keep it ? They had 
 frightened a feeble British Government by the threat 
 of stirring up Dutch feeling against them throughout 
 South Africa ; why were they not to keep the leverage 
 for doing so well in their own hands ? If their oppo- 
 nents had dreamt of the establishment of a free 
 Republic, they had had no intention of the realisation 
 of such a scheme. They had wanted Boer isolation. 
 They had it, and why not keep it ? If the Convention 
 hindered them from barring the immigration of 
 foreigners, it had forgotten to include any terms com- 
 pelling them to admit those foreigners to the franchise, 
 or to treat them with justice. They had treated the 
 natives as true Israel treated the Canaanites, and 
 though the meddling English would not allow them to 
 go to such extremes with them now, still they had 
 "jockeyed " these English into leaving them — short of 
 slavery — to settle that question and all internal affairs. 
 Why were they to give others the chance of meddling
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 24T 
 
 in such things ? In fact, they had got the Transvaal 
 to themselves ; why should they not keep it to them- 
 selves ? Why should they disturb their primitive 
 barbarism by submitting to the ideas of modern 
 civilisation ? If Uitlanders came to work mines it 
 was well. They might, in the process, enrich them- 
 selves, but they must be kept as Helots to serve the 
 dominant Boer. In fact, they wanted to be narrow, 
 exclusive, dominant. They preferred reactionary 
 methods, and a conservatism of the stifFest type. 
 They had faced troubles to acquire a position in which 
 their ideal might be carried out. It might be a very 
 low-class ideal ; still, it was theirs, why give it up ? 
 They could not, perhaps, in the long run, defeat over- 
 whelming British power, but they had before, and they 
 could again, outwit the stupid English by their 
 superior shrewdness. If they must admit the goose 
 that laid the golden eggs, still, after all, it was a 
 goose — it could be penned and its golden Qgg utilised 
 for its owner's benefit, and in time, if need be, it could 
 be slowly killed. In any case, in fact, why should 
 they not use the advantage which the British Govern- 
 ment had given them ? Some hundred thousand 
 Uitlanders had settled in the country. If this went 
 on, and if these men were allowed political rights, 
 they would swamp the Boer minority, and Liberal 
 ideas would prevail ; and the long struggle for comfort- 
 able ignorance, easy-going immorality, untroubled 
 repose, narrow notions, fanatical religion, domination 
 over natives, isolation and exclusiveness would all have 
 been wasted. Why should they not cling to the 
 advantages they had gained ? 
 
 There was much to be said in this way. How
 
 248 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 indeed — upon ordinary self-interested principles — can 
 people blame Mr. Kriiger for holding to the advantage 
 he had gained ? The leaders among the South African 
 Boers have always had a secret jealousy and fear of 
 the English. They know that they are superior in 
 energy, in large-mindedness, in breadth of view, and 
 far before them in culture and the arts of civilisation. 
 In one thing, however, they are their inferiors. The 
 English can easily be " gulled," and their philanthropic 
 and generous instincts worked upon. They had been 
 worked upon to some effect in the retrocession in 1881. 
 Dutch shrewdness liad not only "squeezed" Lord 
 Kimberley, but afterwards ''squeezed" Lord Derby. 
 ** Liberty," to the mind of Mr. Kriiger and his advisers, 
 meant liberty for themselves and their Boers, but not 
 either for natives, nor — in their degree — for Englishmen 
 or any Uitlanders. As the English had been swayed 
 by sentiment, good nature, philanthropy in 1881, so 
 many of them have been swayed since. Mr. Kriiger's 
 point seems to have been, " Keep them down ; use 
 them ; drive them out by degrees ; allow them no share 
 in political interests." This is echoed by his defenders 
 — professional or amateur — and with a sort of reason 
 which appeals to English generosity. " Why disturb 
 him ? Surely the Boer community may be allowed to 
 protect themselves in their pastoral and simple ways 
 against mere ' money-grubbers,' who enrich themselves 
 and then go. Self-preservation is the first law of 
 existence ; you can't blame Kriiger and his Boers for 
 preserving themselves against encroachment." 
 
 There was much to be said for this. 
 
 But then, again, there was another point of view. 
 It had been supposed that there was to be, after the
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 249 
 
 retrocession, a really free Republic. Men imagined 
 that those who settled in the Transvaal would in a 
 short time acquire the rights of citizens, and so cast in 
 their lot with the State which they had made their 
 home. They considered it to be unjust to say that 
 they made their money there for the purpose of leaving 
 the country and spending the money elsewhere ; for 
 that the real truth was that the policy of the Govern- 
 ment was to force them to do so ; not that they sat 
 lightly by their connection with the Republic, and so 
 compelled the Government to act as they did, but that 
 the action of the Government compelled them to sit 
 lightly by their connection with the place. They 
 asked why they should not be treated with the same 
 equal justice as was meted out to immigrants to the 
 Cape Colony ? And they slowly discovered that liberty 
 for others was the last thing that Mr. Kriiger and his 
 Boer advisers contemplated, and that, in fact, liberty 
 was not to be looked for except under the British flag. 
 Had Mr. Kriiger been a large-minded man or a states- 
 man, he might — one cannot help believing — have 
 welded together the Dutch and foreign elements, 
 and made a strong, compact, and loyal Republic, 
 prosperous and rich and peaceful, and both able and 
 willing to resist encroachment or interference from 
 without. Mr. Kriiger, however, is neither one nor the 
 other. Indeed, it is hardly to be expected of him. 
 He is a good representative of the better Boer nature 
 — resolute, dogged, physically courageous, narrow- 
 minded, and ignorant, to which is, probably, to be 
 added not the faintest gratitude for the (ill-starred) 
 generosity of England, but rather a determined dislike 
 of the English people.
 
 250 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 The narrowest policy has, accordingly, all along been 
 adopted by the Pretoria Government, and the Trans- 
 vaal has displayed the extraordinary spectacle of an 
 electoral franchise, not, as elsewhere, more and more 
 enlarged, but more and more so restricted as to render 
 it practically impossible for any one, not a Boer, to 
 acquire it, and the consequently anomalous spectacle 
 of the largest part of the more intelligent and wealth- 
 producing of the community entirely shut out from 
 political rights, and treated as permanent aliens. In 
 Pretoria, a large number of both Bench and Bar — men 
 of the greatest ability and highest culture in the 
 State ; in Johannesburg, by far the larger number of 
 the inhabitants, the most enterprising and wealth- 
 producing of the community, have no political share 
 whatever in the affairs of the country. 
 
 This may be thought natural and satisfactory from 
 the point of view of Mr. Krliger and his admirers. 
 It is an arrangement clearly likely to produce wide- 
 spread and not unnatural discontent. 
 
 There are two grounds on which this discontent 
 appears to be justified : ( i ) That the attitude of the 
 Government is out of keeping with the former claims 
 of Mr. Krliger and those who agree with him, and (2) 
 that the exclusion from political rights subjects those 
 who are so excluded to galling acts of tyranny, and 
 debars them from any means of redress.* 
 
 (i) It is fairly enough contended that on Mr. 
 Kr tiger's own showing it is unfair and wrong to 
 pursue this policy. In 1856, as we have seen, he 
 was working under Mr. Pretorius, and they were both 
 reformers, and the matter of their objections against 
 
 * Theal's History, 1 854-1 872, chap. ii. p. 33.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 251 
 
 the Government which they desired to overthrow was 
 this in the words of the historian : *' The community 
 of Lydenburg was accused of attempting to domineer 
 over the whole country without any other right to 
 pre-eminence than that of being composed of the 
 earhest inhabitants, a right which it had forfeited by 
 its opposition to the general weal."* 
 
 Under Mr. Pretorius, meetings were held to protest 
 against the actions of the Government at Lydenburg, 
 and finally an Assembly sat to frame a constitution. 
 Amidst many other arrangements, it was settled that 
 the Yolksraad should be elected by the people, and 
 two of the important qualifications for seats in the 
 Volksraad were that members were to be " electors of 
 three years' standing," and of European (not merely 
 Boer) origin."! This constitution — notwithstanding 
 traces of religious bigotry in it — was, for Boers, 
 singularly liberal. Mr. Kriiger was then a reformer. 
 One might have expected that he would have sympathy 
 with the Uitlanders in 1895, but it was a far cry from 
 1856 to 1895, and from Boer factions to English-and- 
 American-born immigrants. "Circumstances" are 
 said to "alter cases." What is "sauce for the gfoose" 
 is not always considered " sauce for the gander." 
 Extremes often meet. Like Pius IX., once a reformer, 
 at last an autocrat, Mr. Kriiger had seemed to see 
 reason for his youthful indiscretions ; but, when once 
 placed in power by the generosity of the English 
 people, retreated from his former principles which had 
 the effect of giving civil rights to men of " European," 
 not necessarily of Dutch, " blood." Against this un- 
 
 * Theal's History, 1854-1872, chap. ii. p. 34. 
 
 + Cf. Hillier's Eaid and Reform, pp. 5, 6, quoting Theal's History.
 
 262 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 , just inconsistency, as they deemed it, the Uitlanders 
 t protested. 
 
 Further, (2) the exclusion from political rights sub- 
 jected the Uitlanders, so they considered, to galling 
 acts of unfairness and even of tyranny. 
 
 Among the grievances complained of was, of course, 
 the unfairness of taxing those who had no representa- 
 tion in the Volksraad. It is interesting to remember 
 that this very complaint made up the heavy part of 
 the indictment of the Boers against the English 
 Government after the annexation — in the words of a 
 sympathetic historian, " the levying of taxes on the 
 Boers by an administration in which they were totally 
 unrepresented."* And now those who supplied four- 
 fifths of the revenue of the Transvaal Bepublic, and 
 whose capital and energy raised the State from poverty 
 to wealth, had burdens laid upon them "by an admin- 
 istration in which they were totally unrepresented." 
 It cannot be denied that there is much justice in 
 Mr. Hillier's eloquent appeal : 
 
 "Are we not labouring," he writes, " under all these disabilities to- 
 day ? The one retort to this is we are Uitlanders. That is to say, that 
 in a country not yet sixty years old, in which the population has been 
 formed almost entirely by immigration, in which the President him- 
 self is an immigrant, the mining community, who have been coming 
 in for at least fifteen years past, and have done more in developing 
 the material resources of the country in that time than was ever con- 
 ceived in the wildest dreams of the earlier inhabitants, are foreigners. 
 What proportion of the burghers of this State were actually born in 
 the country ? — this State which owes its prosperity and its progress 
 alike to the continuous stream of immigration. The President at 
 least was not born here." f 
 
 This injustice to Englishmen and others was felt 
 
 * Cf. Nixon's History of the Transvaal, quoted by Hillier, Haid and Beformy 
 p. 17. t Hillier's Baid andBeform, pp. 20, 21.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 25S 
 
 more bitterly considering the full liberty accorded to 
 men of all races by the English in Cape Colony and 
 elsewhere. 
 
 It was felt further that Uitlanders were kept from 
 their rights from corrupt motives. Mr. Collier, him- 
 self a Transvaal burgher, described the second Raad, 
 as it unquestionably is, as " a mockery and a sham.'' 
 Mr. Emsden, once in the Afrikander Bond in the 
 colony, then one of the Transvaal judges, said in 
 1892: 
 
 *'I wish to ask you whether you can give any credence to the 
 statements of a man (President Kriiger) who says he is going to unite 
 two peoples when the whole of his acts for the last ten years show it 
 is absolutely untrue ? I do not speak without knowing what I am 
 talking about — I say you have been kept out of your political privi- 
 leges not because the people have kept you out from fear that your 
 being granted these privileges would touch or endanger the indepen- 
 dence of this country, but to enable a few, and a greedy few, to rule 
 the country for their own ends."* 
 
 The grievances of the Uitlanders, briefly, were 
 these : 
 
 (i) That the Customs tariff was excessive, making 
 food shamefully dear, and that the charges for railway 
 freights were unduly heavy. 
 
 (2) That the duties on machinery and chemicals, 
 were extortionate. 
 
 (3) That these and the dynamite monopoly made 
 the expense of all mining operations excessive. 
 
 And beyond this 
 
 (4) The extreme unfairness as to the vexatious laws 
 touching on education and on the use of language. 
 Before the Committee of the House of Commons in 
 
 * Hillier's Raid and Beform, p. 38.
 
 254 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 March 1897 Mr. Chamberlain gradually extracted 
 from Mr. Schreiner, who appeared to be an unwilling 
 witness, and to — what may be called — " hold a brief" 
 for the Transvaal Government, admissions of hardships 
 as to a sort of " crusade against the English language," 
 and a very narrow and unenlightened policy in the 
 Transvaal as contrasted with the Cape Colony or even 
 the Free State as regards education.* Mr. Schreiner 
 also himself acknowledged that "the grievances" of 
 the Uitlanders were recognised as such in Cape 
 Colony, t 
 
 The Uitlanders then had their view, as Mr. Kriiger 
 and his friends had theirs. They felt acutely what 
 one of them called " the indignities put upon the 
 British section of the community," and the not only 
 "denial of their rights, but a taking away of their 
 rights." t 
 
 Indeed, no one can deny, nor does the warmest 
 partisan on the side of the Boer Government venture 
 to deny, that these were hardships. The Boer view on 
 such matters, however, is the view of a half-civilised 
 people. Whatever virtues we may credit the Boer 
 with, he always shows himself totally incapable of 
 governing, as civilised government is understood, and 
 very hazy as to the meaning of liberty. But for the 
 mistakes and follies of the British Government — who 
 have played into the hands of the Oligarchy at 
 Pretoria — the present anomalous state of things in 
 the Transvaal must long ago have collapsed. 
 
 It was not probable that a large number of English- 
 men — far the majority of the community — together 
 
 * Blue Book. Second Report. South Africa, pp. 244-247. 
 
 t Ibid. p. 249, Qu. 4370. t Ibid. p. 410, Qu. 7877.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 255 
 
 with other Uitlanders, who had as much right to 
 have tlieii^ share in the government of the country as 
 the Dutch have in the Cape Colony, would permanently 
 tolerate such a state of things without any effort to 
 bring about a change. 
 
 An effort was made which began hopefully enough. 
 It would seem that the Uitlanders were asking to 
 have ordinary rights respected. Simple justice was, 
 indeed, all they asked : 
 
 " Society," it has been said, and truly,* " is impossible unless those 
 who are associated agree to extend certain rules of conduct towards 
 one another ; its stability depends on the steadiness with which they 
 abide by that agreement ; and so far as they waver, that mutual 
 trust which is the bond of society is weakened or destroyed." 
 
 Kriigerism has steadily sowed injustice and reaped, 
 consequently, distrust. According to the Grondwetf 
 (to find another constitution), " the country is open for 
 every foreigner who obeys the laws of the Republic." 
 And further, the elective franchise could be acquired 
 after two years' residence. The President, however, 
 was the motive power in a steadily reactionary and 
 vexatious legislation, by which if not in word, yet in 
 fact, the Convention was covertly violated. 
 
 There were more enlightened members of the Kaad, 
 but they were terrorised into submission. Mr. Kriiger 
 is a man of great energy, of great strength of purpose, 
 and of dogged determination. He is, according to our 
 standard of judgment, narrow-minded and bigoted; 
 dislikes the English because he fears them, notwith- 
 standing the debt he owes them for their generous 
 conduct in 1881. He seems to abhor all foreigners 
 
 * Huxley. Evolution and Ethics, p. 56. 
 t i.e., the fundamental constitutional law.
 
 256 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 and all foreign ways. Like all uneducated and rude 
 men, he is not unlikely to despise England for its 
 Quixotic act, and has — so it is said — directed, by 
 violent and passionate threats and appeals, all the 
 Raad legislation against the very nation to whom he 
 owes his present position. 
 
 In 1 89 1 the National Union was formed at Johan- 
 nesburg for the purpose of pressing on questions of 
 Reform. Everything was done in a strictly constitu- 
 tional way. What the Union desired is cleverly set 
 forth in a manifesto drawn up by Mr. Charles Leonard 
 and published on December 26, 1898. 
 
 " (a) What do we want ? 
 How shall we get it ? 
 
 1. The establishment of this Republic as a true Republic. 
 
 2. A Government or Constitution which shall be framed by com- 
 petent persons selected by representatives of the whole people, and 
 framed on lines laid down by them, and which shall be safeguarded 
 against hasty alteration. 
 
 3. An equitable Franchise Law and fair representation. 
 
 4. Equality of the Dutch and English languages. 
 
 5. Responsibility to the Legislature of the heads of the great 
 departments, 
 
 6. Removal of religious disabilities. 
 
 7. Independence of the Courts of Justice, with adequate and 
 secured remuneration of the Judges. 
 
 8. Liberal and comprehensive Education. 
 
 9. An efficient Civil Service, with adequate provision for pay and 
 pension. 
 
 10. Free trade in South African products. 
 This is what we want." * 
 
 How to get it was the question. 
 The assertion has been made that the whole thing 
 was a move of capitalists to capture the country and 
 
 * Uaid and Eeform, pp. 54, 55.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 257 
 
 swell their own gains. Nothing could be more 
 untrue. Until the crisis had almost come in 1895 
 the capitalists were outside the movement. The 
 Union was made up of working men and traders. 
 
 The method employed hitherto for attaining the 
 desired ends had been the sending of petitions to the 
 Raad, and, though the Chief Justice saw the danger 
 of the situation and spoke with vigour, yet in the 
 Raad itself, by Kriiger's influence, petition after peti- 
 tion was rejected, and a monster petition, signed by 
 38,500 people, was in 1895 rejected by the Eaad with 
 fun and laughter. 
 
 This sort of treatment at last proved to the 
 reformers that they could hope for nothing unless 
 by resort to arms. A plan for a rising was adopted 
 and efforts were made to supply the people of 
 Johannesburg with arms and ammunition. It was a 
 slow process, and had to be done with the greatest 
 caution. Mr. Rhodes had oflered to help them by 
 sending in a body of the Chartered Police under the 
 command of Dr. Jameson when called for by the 
 Johannesburg leaders. 
 
 Every one knows now the history of the ill-starred 
 Raid. Never was any undertaking more dogged by 
 misfortune. Mistake after mistake, misunderstanding 
 after misunderstanding followed one another in quick 
 succession. Everything played into the hands of the 
 Krtigerites. The time chosen was unfortunate. 
 Pretoria was crammed with Boers for the Christmas 
 festival. The supply of arms and ammunition was 
 utterly insufficient in Johannesburg. Dr. Jameson's 
 force was much too small. Wrong impressions were 
 left on different minds as to promises given. While
 
 258 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 things were in no way ready, Dr. Jameson, growing 
 impatient, and underrating apparently the difficulties, 
 " took the bit in his teeth." In vain Mr. Ehodes 
 attempted to check him ; in vain the High Commis- 
 sioner sent to order him back. He beheved it was 
 the only way to help Johannesburg, and so forced the 
 situation. 
 
 It proved a fatal mistake. He and his men fought 
 well, and only at length surrendered when he was 
 deceived into believing that the reformers had thrown 
 them over. There seem to be very varying views as 
 to where the fault lay, and the minutely true history 
 of the matter will probably never be ascertained. 
 
 The Reform leaders at Johannesburg believed them- 
 selves to be the real sufferers. They saw — so many of 
 them believed — their plans thwarted by Dr. Jameson's 
 precipitation. They were persuaded by the High 
 Commissioner to lay down their arms under the idea 
 that only so could the lives of Dr. Jameson and his 
 men be saved, though the wily President and his party 
 knew well that one of the conditions of surrender at 
 Doornkop was that all lives would be spared. 
 
 It would be hardly fair, perhaps, to blame Sir 
 Hercules Robinson too much, for he was in such 
 feeble health as to be unfit to cope with the situation ; 
 but the English Government are not altogether free 
 from blame for leaving him, when in poor health, in 
 the position he held. Having persuaded the reformers 
 to fall in with Mr. Kriiger's views, he then left them 
 to their fate, and they certainly believed that Sir 
 Jacobus De Wet made them promises of impunity, 
 which were never kept. This was denied by Sir J. 
 De Wet, and as strongly is, to this day, asserted by
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 259 
 
 more than one independent witness who declared 
 that they heard the promise given. It was one of 
 the many misunderstandings and mistakes which 
 were ahundant in every direction in this unhappy 
 aiFair. The action of the Imperial authorities was, 
 in the main, anything but satisfactory. The whole 
 story of the "Afterwards" of the Raid ought to 
 bring a, blush to the cheek of Englishmen. 
 
 The Uitlanders, indeed, understood that, if they 
 disarmed, Mr. Kriiger would make these concessions : 
 
 1. (As we have seen), the lives of Jameson and his 
 men were to be spared. 
 
 2. The Uitlanders' grievances were to be taken into 
 favourable consideration. 
 
 3. The Reform leaders were to go unpunished or to 
 have only a nominal punishment. 
 
 Of these, as we now know, the first was a matter of 
 course. It was carefully kept from the knowledge of 
 reformers that that had already been made a condi- 
 tion of Jameson's surrender. The other promises were 
 immediately broken. 
 
 The leaders were thrown into prison — a prison unfit 
 for the commonest criminals — and the Boer Govern- 
 ment had the impudence, not only to violate their 
 engagements, but to try them and sentence the four 
 chief men to death. 
 
 Of course, they dared not have carried out this 
 sentence, for, however badly the British authorities 
 had behaved, they would scarcely have sunk so low as 
 to permit it. The English people would certainly not 
 have permitted it. It gave the wily President an 
 opportunity of masquerading as the merciful ruler 
 and remitting the sentences, while at the same time
 
 260 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the affair was turned, by the Transvaal authorities, 
 into a successful commercial transaction by mulcting^ 
 the very men to whom had been promised impunity 
 in immense sums of money, as well as immuring them 
 in a vile and ill-managed gaol. The mind of one of 
 them gave way, and he committed suicide. Of the 
 others, all, save two, after paying enormous fines were 
 released, while compelled to sign a promise to take no 
 further part in Transvaal politics. Two — -Messrs. 
 Karri Davis and Sampson — courageously refused to 
 have any dealings with the Transvaal Government, 
 feeling naturally that rulers who had, as they believed, 
 so grossly violated their engagements should not be 
 dealt with by honest men. They remained in prison 
 until, tired out by their determination, the Transvaal 
 authorities released them at the Queen's Jubilee. 
 The Krugerites represented this as a "graceful act" 
 of clemency. Others looked upon it as a polite pro- 
 ceeding to " make capital," and get rid of the remaining 
 reminder of a broken promise. 
 
 If the British authorities in the Transvaal were 
 thought to have behaved badly, if the Boer President 
 was believed to have been untrue to his word, the 
 Cape Government did not do much better. They 
 actually arrested and handed over to Kriiger's tender 
 mercies two of the reformers, and did their best to do 
 the same in the case of a third. The following is a 
 not unnatural comment by one of their number : 
 
 " The action of the Cape Government in first arresting Messrs.. 
 Joel and Bettelheim, and subsequently in endeavouring to arrest Mr. 
 Charles Leonard, pursuing him with that end to a Portuguese port, 
 will ever remain a stain on this page of the history of the Cape 
 Colony. The arrest of political refugees, one of them a British
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 261 
 
 subject, in a British colony, to be handed over to a foreign State, is 
 an act the character of which might be natural in Turkey, but which 
 surely has never before in history been perpetrated by a British 
 Colonial Government. 
 
 " To Mr, Leonard it was left to find on the shores of England 
 that protection which even a Portuguese port would not withhold 
 from him, but which was denied him in the land of his birth, a 
 British colony. Well might he exclaim in the bitterness of his 
 heart that Cape politicians during this crisis in South Africa thought 
 of nothing but ' crawHng on their stomachs before the Boers.' " * 
 
 In England things were in some respects worse. 
 There were those who were honestly under the 
 hallucination that Krliger and his Government were 
 injured innocents. There were certain sections of 
 politicians who saw in the whole matter a grand 
 opportunity against their political opponents. Much 
 as they hated Mr. Rhodes, they hated Mr. Chamberlain 
 more. The latter had been the object of their most 
 violent invective ever since he had refused to follow 
 Mr. Gladstone in the Home Kule policy. They 
 fondly hoped that they would " kill two birds with 
 one stone," ruin Mr. Rhodes, and still more ruin Mr. 
 Chamberlain, by proving that he had a knowledge of 
 the affair. Hence vigorous efforts were made to bring 
 on a Committee of Inquiry. The committee sat, and 
 in both their objects the Radical leaders were foiled. 
 To some it appeared scandalous that Mr. Labouchere 
 should be on the committee at all, and that after 
 the expose of his writings on the subject by Dr. 
 Rutherford Harris, he was still allowed to remain 
 a member of the committee. It was better, perhaps, 
 that it should be so, as it was in the interests of fair 
 play all round that the worst enemy should have his 
 
 * JRaid and Eeform, p. 74.
 
 262 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 say. The result must have been a grave disappoint- 
 ment to the Radical leaders. Mr. Rhodes fairly 
 acknowledged his share, although it was clear that he 
 had tried his best to prevent Dr. Jameson from 
 " going in " when he did. He has frankly admitted 
 that he had probably been wrong in some steps taken ; 
 but men could not but feel that if the searchlight of 
 a Committee of Inquiry had been turned on the actions 
 of many of the leading Prime Ministers, they would 
 show to much worse advantage ; that if some of the 
 steps taken were open to blame, he at least had acted 
 for no self-interested end, but was fighting a duel with 
 Kriiger to decide whether South Africa should be 
 confederated under the British flag, and with, there- 
 fore, real liberty, or should be at the feet of a 
 reactionary Dutch Oligarchy in which justice and fair 
 play are things unknown. 
 
 As to Mr. Chamberlain, he was entirely exonerated. 
 Vigorous efforts had been made to represent the whole 
 thing as a " stock-jobbing transaction." The political 
 dissenters, and generally what would formerly have 
 been called " the Exeter Hall party," were on the war- 
 path in behalf of Kriiger and in opposition to their 
 own countrymen. All those who — to borrow a descrip- 
 tion lately applied to Mr. Morley— have " an impartial 
 aversion to the British Empire," were straining every 
 nerve against England and in behalf of " the gentle 
 Boer." Kr tiger's emissaries were most assiduous, as 
 they have been ever since, in publications and in the 
 Press, and Mr. Rhodes was subjected to every kind of 
 vilification and calumny. This he has borne with 
 quiet dignity, taking his full share of blame, and ever 
 loyal to his friends. However ungrateful " England
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 263 
 
 of the lion heart " may have shown herself — as, alas ! 
 often before — to one of her greatest sons, he has calmly 
 continued to work for her and for the country of his 
 adoption, never stinting his labours and possessions 
 for so great a cause. 
 
 The committee above all showed plainly to all men 
 the injustice and tyranny of President Kriiger and his 
 Government, though they — the real criminals — 
 remain still unpunished. The saddest memory of all, 
 perhaps, is the trial of Dr. Jameson and his officers. 
 Their trial is in many respects a disgrace to England. 
 The officers were deprived of their commissions, though 
 their only fault was obedience to the orders of their 
 commanding officer. As time has gone on, England 
 has been ashamed of such conduct, and their commis- 
 sions have been since restored to them. As they had 
 tried and failed, they took their punishment with 
 dignity as honest gentlemen. This was fair. It is 
 always difficult to draw the line and say when a 
 movement is rebellion and when rig-ht resistance. In 
 a matter of this sort there is, perhaps, necessarily 
 suffering and punishment if things have not proved 
 successful. It was scarcely necessary, however, that the 
 Lord Chief Justice should have taken so severe a line 
 as he did in his charge. He seemed, as many felt, 
 to hold a brief for the prosecution. A writer well 
 acquainted with the facts says : " While Mr. Khodes' 
 attitude towards Jameson's serious error of judgment 
 had been magnanimous, and that of the Uitlanders in 
 general has been, considering what they have suffered, 
 not altogether lacking in consideration, it has been 
 left to the Lord Chief Justice of England, apparently 
 through fear of foreign opinion and a feeble anxiety to
 
 264 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 pose as perfectly impartial, to treat the English officers 
 and their gallant leader, when they appeared before 
 him, as though they had been common criminals, 
 instead of honourable Englishmen who had merely 
 erred through excess of devotion to the Empire." 
 
 It was not the attitude of Mr. Labouchere, whom 
 he regards as at any rate an open enemy, but the 
 attitude of the Lord Chief Justice, that Mr. Rhodes' 
 celebrated phrase of "unctuous rectitude" was in- 
 tended — so it is said — to describe. As applied to Lord 
 Russell's attitude at the trial, " where he seemed at 
 times to forget that he w^as not the prosecuting 
 counsel, and appeared to use all the art of a great 
 advocate — so many men thought — to procure a con- 
 viction," Mr. Rhodes' phrase is admirably true, and is 
 not likely soon to be forgotten ! It was indeed a 
 humiliating moment for true-hearted Englishmen, and 
 no amount of English pharisaism at the time prevented 
 our foreign critics from holding their sides with laughter 
 at the conduct of " perfidious Albion ! " 
 
 Thus closed a sincere effort for reform of abuses and 
 a noble though Ill-advised effort for liberty, condemned, 
 as such things are, by its failure. Men who had 
 whispered before the Raid that " something ought to 
 be done" in the Transvaal vied with one another in 
 their cries of " Shameful ! " " Disgraceful ! " and so 
 on, when failure had come. There can be no doubt 
 it was a noble blow struck for freedom, but badly 
 planned, badly executed, and condemned because it 
 did not succeed. 
 
 Success, after all, is the one final justification of 
 revolution. If it succeeds, it becomes "a faithful 
 struggle for the rights of man ; " if it fails, it becomes
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERAVARDS 265 
 
 "rebellion." And yet there are " high failures " which 
 are better than " low successes." The British Govern- 
 ment at home, and especially the Colonial Office, 
 were undoubtedly placed in a difficult position in 
 that memorable December, and the Colonial Secretary 
 acted with vigour and, on the whole, with fairness. 
 Still, as throuofh the action of the Hicrh. Commissioner, 
 acting for the Government, the unfortunate reformers 
 were handed bound, so to speak, into the hands of 
 their enemy, and no faith was kept with them, it 
 would appear to be a duty laid upon the British 
 Government that wrongs should be righted at last. 
 When the Boers rebelled in 1881, making an effort for 
 what they considered their liberties, we gave them 
 more than large consideration. When our own people 
 made their abortive effort in 1895 they were betrayed 
 and punished. 
 
 Mr. Kriiger has gone on his way, as usual, ever 
 since. Fair speeches and pious sentiments are 
 uttered at one time, while almost in the same breath 
 violent language and utterances of the most insulting 
 kind are levelled at the Uitlander population of 
 Johannesburg and the Band. Again, at the present 
 moment * there is grave unrest among them.. Wrongs 
 are not righted, burdens are increased, insults are 
 uttered. The Transvaal has become, and will con- 
 tinue, unless measures of Beform are granted, unless 
 there Is thorough change In the methods of adminis- 
 tration, a centre of unrest and menace to all South 
 Africa. It Is vain, probably, to hope for any real 
 improvement from the present Boer rulers ; but it is 
 surely equally vain to imagine that some 100,000 of 
 
 * December 1S98.
 
 me SICETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 the Anglo-Saxon races — English, American, German — 
 will permanently submit to be misgoverned by men 
 inferior in knowledge and civilisation, who may be 
 reckoned at about one-fourth of their number. 
 
 For besides acts of injustice, such as the refusal of 
 the franchise, the unfairness as to education, and the 
 insecurity of the independence of the Judicature, there 
 is felt to be a thoroughly corrupt state of things. 
 
 A brilliant writer, not by any means prejudiced in 
 favour of the Uitlanders, to whose views my attention 
 has just at this moment been drawn, writes : 
 
 " Meanwhile the old Boer virtues were giving way under new 
 temptations. The new Volksraad (as is believed all over South 
 Africa) became corrupt, though of course there have been always 
 pure and upright men among its members. The Civil Service was 
 not above suspicion. Rich men and powerful corporations sur- 
 rounded those who had concessions to give, or the means of 
 influencing legislation, whether directly or indirectly, and the very 
 inexperience of the Boer ranch man who came up as a member of 
 the Yolksraad made him an easy prey." * 
 
 This Is a mild and superlatively charitable way of 
 putting it. At any rate, if once inexperienced in the 
 arts of peculation, the Boers and the Boer Government 
 have acquired, according to the very widespread belief 
 in South Africa, a large experience now. The expres- 
 sion of a Krilgerite official, who had had pretty practical 
 experience, to me was this : " Nothing is done in 
 Pretoria without bribery." 
 
 And there can be little doubt now that the corrup- 
 tion of the Transvaal Is deep and far-reaching. For 
 any desired object there, it is very generally asserted 
 that money, administered in prescribed doses, must be 
 
 * Bryce. Impressions of South Africa, pp. 516, 517.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 267 
 
 forthcoming. Corruption Is a thing obviously hard to 
 bring home. There are methods and methods of 
 bribery, and the Pretoria Government are masters in 
 these. Cases are known In which large sums of 
 money honestly offered as a proper quid pro quo to 
 indemnify the Government for the surrender of certain 
 rights In property have been refused because the 
 money would go, of course, Into the Treasury ; and 
 smaller sums have produced the necessary effect when 
 they have been paid In the form of douceurs to Influ- 
 ential persons, so that they went Into private pockets. 
 Honest and upright men have begun their careers 
 with the firm determination to stand firm to principle 
 and resist the use of such means, but they have found 
 the thing Impossible. For success in carrying through 
 schemes or causes In themselves unobjectionable, they 
 have found it necessary to make It " worth while" for 
 those In authority. "Concessions" of one sort or 
 another are constantly granted, or granted and then 
 sometimes withdrawn. Men In the country declare 
 that the meaning of this is that equivalents for such 
 concessions are given to the people In power, or that 
 the withdrawal occurs because the equivalent has not 
 been arranged so as to satisfy their requirements. It 
 is probable that even the most corrupt of the South 
 American Kepublics cannot surpass the Government of 
 the Transvaal In wholesale corruption. There is a 
 difierence, however, and one which tells favourably for 
 the South American States. There the thing is fairly 
 open and aboveboard. In the Transvaal these things 
 are better managed. Men know of these things ; they 
 are driven Into being parties to them In order to 
 succeed In legitimate objects ; but they cannot be put
 
 268 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 forward, nor yet abandoned, otherwise there would be 
 little chance for them. It is widely believed that 
 large sums in secret service money are expended from 
 the Pretoria Government to carry out their efforts in 
 shaking, as far as may be, the cause of the Empire 
 either abroad or in the colony ; but these things are 
 managed in a way which does credit to Boer astute- 
 ness, so that it would be difficult to bring them home 
 in a manner necessary in law courts.* It is obvious 
 to all that the private fortunes of individuals in 
 high positions flourish side by side with the deple- 
 tion of the Treasury, the needy condition of the State, 
 and the necessity and difficulty of raising loans ; but 
 the true cause cannot well be doubted. It is obvious 
 why men of wealth are sometimes the strong sup- 
 porters of the Government, and then, again, turn 
 unexpectedly in opposition to them. From the 
 nature of the case, it is difficult, if not impossible, to 
 open up these things. Men know that money is at the 
 bottom of it all — that money, and a judicious use of 
 it, gains favour ; also that " the crushed worm will 
 turn ; " that too much may at times be demanded ! 
 Hinc nice lacrimce! There are ways of doing every- 
 thing. Corruption in the hands of the Transvaal 
 Government seems, from all accounts, to be carried to 
 the height of a fine art. 
 
 * A case in point occurred while we were in South Africa. During the then 
 recent elections, it was credibly believed, in fact, pretty well known, that 
 large sums of money from the Transvaal had been spent in the Cape Colony 
 to obtain a return of their supporters. Mr. Rhodes had openly stated the 
 matter, with his usual frankness, on the hustings. He was prosecuted for 
 libel by one of the persons through whom the money was believed to come 
 from more influential sources. The case, of course, went against him. 
 He was sentenced to pay a nominal fine, while he assured the Court that, 
 though technically condemned, he and every one else knew the thing to be 
 true. No one in the colony seemed to have any doubt on the subject.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 269 
 
 One great evil of this is that this odious system of 
 dishonesty and trickery is carried on under the shelter 
 of a profession of religion. We are constantly reminded 
 that " Mr. Kriiger is such a very religious man " ; that 
 the Boers of the Transvaal "are such a religious people;" 
 that " every day and always they read their Bibles," 
 and so on. There is religion and religion ! The 
 American negro has a religion which permits him to 
 sing many warm hymns and at the same time " to rob 
 the henroosts." Grave inconsistencies are certainly 
 human. It is not necessary in the case of Transvaal 
 Boers and their Government to put to the credit of 
 hypocris}^ what is probably — at least in some cases — 
 rightly to be attributed to fanaticism and a low state 
 of civilisation. Bible reading, especially the study 
 of the Old Testament, is unfortunately not inconsistent 
 with selfishness, narrowness, coarseness, immorality, 
 and the love of money. A divorce between religion 
 and morality is the gravest disaster ; and if religion in 
 South Africa is, as it unfortunately is, marked at the 
 present time by a widespread indifferentism, a good 
 deal of this may be laid to the door of a corrupt 
 Oligarchy using and encouraging methods quite incon- 
 sistent with integrity, while encouraging a narrow 
 fanaticism and carrying on its lips the sacred words of 
 Scripture. Corruption soon runs down from the head 
 to the members. A corrupt Government tends to 
 spread corruption through the whole body politic. 
 Men cannot always breathe miasma without suffering 
 from infection in the blood. We expect to find when 
 such a state of things exists in high quarters looseness 
 of moral principle gradually affecting the atmosphere 
 of social life, and we do find it. Can men be so bitterly .
 
 270 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 blamed as some have been, even by us in England 
 who ought to know better, for having struck a blow — 
 even if an ill-planned one — for liberty, and for having 
 endeavoured to sweep away so corrupt a Government ? 
 It is a serious matter which ought to furnish anxious 
 questionings to the British people, that, as a nation, 
 we are responsible for having set up, and for now quietly 
 tolerating, such a state of things. Pecksniff or Stiggins, 
 or at a higher altitude Machiavelli, may find consoling 
 justification for it, but it can hardly commend itself to 
 any fairly enlightened conscience, much less to the 
 " straight " if somewhat slow-moving mind of John 
 Bull. To cleanse an Augean stable is no light under- 
 taking ; but it cannot be doubted that it is the duty 
 of those who have laid its foundations either to do 
 what in them lies to cleanse or clear it away. 
 
 But further, corruption of this sort has a close con- 
 nection v/ith that v/hich, in whatever degree it exists 
 anywhere, is always demoralising — viz., the determina- 
 tion to govern, while depriving the governed of their 
 lust rights. At the present day in modern Greece 
 the traveller sees well-built, noble-looking men and 
 handsome women, and wonders why there should be, 
 in a people which has so splendid a history, much that 
 is wanting in straightforwardness and courage. The 
 answer is : they were for centuries deprived of freedom. 
 The unhealthy state of things in the Transvaal tends 
 in the same direction. The whole tone of life and 
 action gradually must tend to degenerate among those 
 who — deprived of the rights of citizens — have to live 
 under a Government which itself lives by injustice, 
 falsehood, and corruption. 
 
 A very striking thing is the extraordinary caution
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 271 
 
 displayed by some Englishmen living among the Boers 
 of the Transvaal, in speaking of the corrupt proceed- 
 ings, the immoral lives, and the wrongdoings of those 
 among whom they live. They speak like those who 
 are afraid of being overheard ! If they say anything 
 the Boers "will get a knife into them somehow." 
 But, worse, those who are honest and upright begin to 
 despair of the vindication of uprightness and honesty 
 in a State where so many acts of even approximate 
 justice have their price. 
 
 Mr. Bryce is reported lately to have said * that the 
 race difficulties of South Africa would give way before 
 " tact, judgment, and justice." This is a statement 
 which few would differ from. All things in this 
 world would probably go on much better if " tact, 
 judgment, and justice " were the guides of social and 
 political action. Unhappily, they frequently are not 
 so. When dealings have to take place between two 
 States these eminent qualities are needed on both 
 sides. If steady injustice is to be the guide of a 
 government, as it has been for long in the Transvaal 
 Autocracy, a moment may arrive when justice itself 
 demands that injustice should be severely punished 
 and rendered impossible. 
 
 The state of Johannesburg alone cries for interfer- 
 ence. It is worse than futile to talk about the 
 Suzerain being bound by the Convention not to 
 interfere in internal affairs. The Convention — feeble 
 as it was — has been broken, as Englishmen believe, 
 by Boer Bulers again and again ; again and again 
 — so Englishmen contend — they have ignored their 
 own most binding undertakings. Johannesburg 
 
 * At the dinner of the Anglo-African Writers' Club, Dec. 22, 1898.
 
 272 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 has, even now, no municipal government. In 
 that fine city the sanitation is execrable, conse- 
 quently typhoid fever is rife. Educatiqpal facilities 
 do not exist, and the police arrangements are a 
 crying scandal. The English Government still en- 
 dures these violations of pledges given. Indeed, the 
 proceedings in the Transvaal at the present time* 
 form a curious illustration of the character of the 
 Government there, and of the short-sighted folly of 
 the framers of the Convention. The Eaad sat until 
 the middle of December and was then prorogued until 
 February. Two years ago the election took place. 
 During the session of that Assembly which terminated 
 at the end of the year (1898) it turned its attention 
 with more than usual vigour to the invention of new 
 imposts to be laid upon the wealth-producing Uit- 
 landers of Johannesburg, who are treated as civilised 
 Helots by the enlightened Government, and who 
 are of course systematically excluded from any share 
 in the legislation under which they live. A crop of 
 new taxes was grown, and the prorogation took place, 
 it was understood, to give time to the worthies in 
 Pretoria to get seed sown for a fresh crop. The 
 history of this Raad had been signalised by various 
 railway jobberies, and one of the usual "concessions" 
 granted, and then shortly withdrawn for the usual 
 reasons. The most remarkable action of the Kaad was 
 the raising of a much-needed loan — needed too by a small 
 State which, if decently administered, would be one of 
 the richest in the world. It gave rise (not indeed to 
 surprise, for no one who knows the habits of finance 
 so dear to the Transvaal Government is surprised at 
 
 * January 1S9S.
 
 TRANSVAAL— THE RAID AND AFTERWARDS 27S 
 
 anything) but to comment that, while Cape Three-and-a- 
 half per cent, stands at 109, the Transvaal Four per cent, 
 is at 90 ! Nb assertions of the innocence and purity 
 of the Government at Pretoria can stand against this. 
 This is '* an eloquent commentary," as it has been said, 
 "on the reputation of the Transvaal Government." 
 When things of this kind go on public confidence 
 must be shaken ; and such is the case. No one has 
 any idea what may happen next. The energetic 
 Englishmen and Americans who have produced the 
 wealth of the country and who have developed its 
 resources in a way in which the Boers had neither 
 the capacity nor the perseverance to do, as they are in 
 the hands of an irresponsible Oligarchy, or rather, 
 we may say, of an autocrat — thanks to the wisdom 
 of the Convention — must expect anything and put 
 up with everything. It was believed with consi- 
 derable probability and foundation that the time 
 is coming quickly when fresh taxes will be imposed, 
 not of course on the favourite companies and corpora- 
 tions who have contributed, in the manner approved 
 in the Transvaal, to the resources of persons in power, 
 but on those of English stock, who must either submit 
 to the worst or avoid extreme attack by the usual 
 necessary methods. 
 
 Nothing shows more plainly how well the authorities 
 at Pretoria have learnt to flout their Suzerain and to 
 reckon on the immeasurable gullibility or indifference 
 of the English people, than the report in an im- 
 portant London journal at that time of an interview 
 with a Transvaal emissary. With quiet effrontery he 
 informed his questioner — and through him the simple 
 believers in " Kriigerism," if such still exist, in Great
 
 274 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Britain — that things were not going from bad to 
 worse at Johannesburg, where any man with an eye 
 in his head could see the truth ! That President 
 Kriiger — dear, pious, amiable soul — desired to see 
 "everybody in his (!) dominions prosperous and 
 happy " ; that that good man desired progress above 
 all things ; and above all, the height of trust in British 
 blindness was reached in the statement that " never 
 again would Kriiger trust " Mr. Bhodes ! Virtuous, 
 trustful Kriiger ! 
 
 There would have been something comical in the 
 stern moral condemnation of one of the foremost of 
 modern Englishmen by the chief of the hardly im- 
 maculate clique at Pretoria, if it were not sadly true 
 that Englishmen had more than once before been 
 duped by the cunning of Boer leaders into betrayal 
 of their own faithful fellow countrymen ! 
 
 At the present time Englishmen in the Transvaal 
 have to work on quietly and submit to ever increasing 
 injustice, while the audacity of the oppressors becomes 
 more pronounced, finding that the modern fashion of 
 our nation is to carry their objection to evildoers no 
 farther than protest. 
 
 It may be hoped that the nation whose proudest 
 characteristic has hitherto been its love for liberty 
 may yet recover its self-respect by withstanding in- 
 justice and wrongdoing with manly energy. Nothing 
 can be really done to bring peace and prosperity to 
 South Africa until Great Britain wakens to her duties 
 and wipes out that corrupt Oligarchy, and transforms it 
 into a real and free Bepublic, or, still better, into a self- 
 governing colony. Where there is freedom, there there 
 will be a chance of fair dealing between man and man.
 
 PART III 
 
 GENERAL
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CONFEDERATION— THE BARTLE FRERE POLICY 
 
 In recent years — and not unnaturally — Confederation 
 has been, among nations, "a word to conjure with." 
 No one can doubt that, as time goes on, there is what 
 the scientific people call " the evolution of ideas," 
 what Christians account for by the gradual working of 
 *' the leaven which leaveneth the whole lump " — ^.e., 
 the principles of Christianity, brought home by the 
 Spirit of God — and that men and nations have more 
 and more assimilated the ideas which lead to unity. 
 
 All powers of Evil tend to disunion. If any one 
 wished to see the proof — not of the doctrine, we 
 need not call it that, but of the fact of the Fall, he 
 need only cast his eye upon the disunion of masses of 
 mankind. All powers of Good tend to union. To 
 those who look with a religious eye on contemporary 
 history it is a cheering symptom that — with whatever 
 mistakes — there is a deeper desire to draw together 
 the nations. Wherever a State is found — like the so- 
 called Republic of South Africa — which sets its face 
 against elementary justice and cannot endure the idea 
 of imion in any form, it is certain that there the 
 governing ideas are — we need not say unchristian, that 
 of course, but — ^uncivilised, and devoid of the force of 
 progress. It is a cheering truth to those who really
 
 278 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 care for the highest interest of mankind, that as 
 times advance there is more and more a desire for 
 union. 
 
 South Africa seemed to be the place for English 
 expansion. EngUshmen, whatever their faults, have 
 had certainly (i) common sense in manfully using such 
 parts of the world as they possessed not merely with a 
 view to their own interests, but with a real recollection 
 of the interests of aboriginal inhabitants. (2) The 
 common sense of giving a large welcome to members of 
 other nations who desired to come and be sharers with 
 them of new tracts and fresh fields of enterprise. 
 (3) The common sense of feeling that all should have 
 equal rights and a fair share, and that they should be 
 bound together by the sense of the supremacy of 
 justice, and the recognition of fair play between man 
 and man, and the dignity — to put it in a strictly 
 Christian form — of charity. In South Africa the 
 English met the Dutch race. Whatever great virtues 
 are possessed by the latter, they are not those alluded 
 to above. This race has virtues, the English race has 
 faults, but the faults of the latter have not included 
 narrowness, and the virtues of the former have been 
 injured by this very thing. 
 
 The English race has the gift of colonisation, to a 
 degree — on the showing of its foes even — far beyond 
 others. We may be accused of being wanting in a 
 sufficient sense of bureaucracy or organisation ; we 
 may — and justly — ^be accused of pharisaism and a 
 worship of respectability ; we may be accused — and 
 justly — of being the victims of catchwords, and being 
 — ^what I may call " helter skelter " — i.e., ready to 
 accept indefensible anomalies ; but our worst enemies
 
 CONFEDERATION 279 
 
 cannot deny that we are good colonists, that we are 
 glad to assimilate foreign elements, that we desire fair 
 play, that — if we are sometimes stupid, and do foolish 
 things — taking us as a people, we are strong, healthy, 
 fair-minded, earnest, and desire to do right. 
 
 It is quite in accordance with the English character 
 to leave large liberty and yet struggle for close union. 
 There are few things nobler in our national character 
 than this. If South Africa was — as it was — a very 
 important sphere for Imperial expansion, it was also 
 the theatre for the union of scattered communities. 
 No alien races touched the continent ; the English and 
 Dutch had grown, more or less, to understand one 
 another. There was community of interest. The 
 Dutch were too harsh to the natives; the English, 
 quite possibly, too sentimentally lenient. In face of 
 the vast problems opened up by the contact of savage 
 and civilised man, could anything be more obvious than 
 the duty of making an effort to confederate scattered 
 communities of the civilised in the common cause of 
 progress and benefit to mankind ? 
 
 The opportunity was lost, and the chance was let 
 slip by the mistakes of 1858. The English people 
 were, as they are, an Imperial people. Their Govern- 
 ments have too often been the victims of a narrow 
 " parochialism." A golden opportunity once lost in 
 the life of a nation or an individual never quite 
 returns. If in any measure it does, it demands, on its 
 second appearance, a heavier tax of sacrifice. British 
 foUy with regard to the Orange Free State may, 
 perhaps, never be quite retrieved. 
 
 In 1 87 1, however, the idea of Confederation came 
 up. It was recommended by Sir H. Bark ley, it was
 
 280 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 approved by Lord Kimberley * The benefits of it were 
 before the minds of men, certainly before the minds 
 of the then Governor. 
 
 " Uniformity of legislature, simplification of legal procediire, facilita- 
 tion of postal and telegraphic communication, as well as the con- 
 struction of bridges, railways, and other public works, are too obvious," 
 says Sir H. Barkley, " to require comment. Neither need I enlarge 
 on those higher moral ends which would be promoted by the 
 reunion of communities owning a common origin, and still closely 
 connected by ties of relationship or of race. If federation tended, as 
 it undoubtedly would, to promote a milder and less encroaching 
 policy towards the native races on the north of the Orange River, 
 and to put an end to the much-to-be-regretted disputes with the 
 South African and Orange Republics ... its accomplishment should 
 form, independently of all other advantages, the object of the 
 warmest aspirations of every humane and patriotic mind." t 
 
 The opportunity, for one reason or another, was let 
 slip. It is not to be wondered at that the idea lived 
 in men's minds, and that it came up again in 1874. 
 
 The leader of the Confederation movement at this 
 time was Lord Carnarvon. His efforts do not seem 
 to have been forgotten — nay, they appear to be 
 remembered with considerable respect — in South 
 Africa. There seemed to be much to favour the move- 
 ment. Lord Carnarvon had succeeded beyond ex- 
 pectation in Canada. In 1867 he had carried through 
 the British Parliament a measure for that part of the 
 Empire which has since been confessedly productive 
 of excellent results. He was enthusiastic in the 
 matter. He was most conciliatory. If mistakes were 
 made, they were not unnatural mistakes, and, had 
 
 * Parliamentary Papers, 1872. 
 
 t Pailiamentarv Papers, 1873, also quoted bv Egerton, British Colonial 
 Policy p. 418.
 
 CONFEDERATION 281 
 
 there been more continuity in the policy of the 
 Colonial Office, and less influence from mere home 
 politics, such as they were they might have been 
 remedied. 
 
 Mr. Froude, as every one knows, was the emissary 
 chosen to prepare the way in some informal manner 
 for Confederation. That he retarded it — from what- 
 ever cause — there can be little doubt. He seems to 
 have been an accredited agent, and yet not an 
 accredited agent. In some way or other he went to 
 South Africa with the approval of the Government, 
 and yet he disowned any official position. He certainly 
 startled men there. He seems to have spoken with 
 rashness against the toiling people at Kimberley, and 
 then with enthusiasm for the Dutch farmers in the 
 Orange Free State. One thing is certain : instead of 
 paving the way for union, he aroused animosities and 
 created confusion. Indeed, some credit him with 
 creating by his ill-advised words a hostile Afrikander 
 spirit, which has, ever since, been an enemy to union 
 ^nd, even at times, to loyalty. His mission — of what- 
 ever exact character it was — was undoubtedly a 
 mistake. If a wise and thoughtful statesman had 
 been sent out to guide the ship at that critical time ; 
 if he had been given a very free hand ; if he had been 
 loyally supported at home ; if the English Government 
 had acted with consistency and there had been a 
 faithful and continuous policy — the later history of 
 South Africa would have been very different indeed. 
 
 A wise and strong statesman was sent out ; but 
 there was no continuity of policy, no loyal support 
 from home, no free hand given ; but rather, amidst 
 the many difficulties which lay across his path, he was
 
 282 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 thwarted, hindered, cramped, defeated in his efforts by 
 the very Government to which he had a right to look 
 for loyal and steady support. 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere is one of those great statesmen 
 upon whom England is obliged to look back with 
 admiration and sorrow. He was sent out with one 
 clear object before him — Confederation. He had that 
 clear common sense and firmness of purpose which 
 teach a man to make for a great end, but without 
 forgetting the necessary difficulties, and not without 
 realising the need of moving slowly. Had he been 
 supported, instead of being thwarted and then 
 betrayed, England would not now be embarrassed by 
 the misdoings, or responsible for the existence, of a 
 State so injurious to civilisation as the Oligarchy 
 called the South African Republic ; we should not be 
 open to the difficulty — which may one day be serious 
 to the Cape Colony — of German West Africa ; and 
 Confederation — instead of anxiety and disturbance — 
 would now be within measurable distance. 
 
 The real attack upon the wise policy of Sir Bartle 
 Frere arose from two facts : (i) the disaster of 
 Isandhlwana, and (2) the political necessities of parties 
 at home. 
 
 He saw clearly that the Boer question and the Zulu 
 question had to be settled. As to the latter, the 
 Zulus were threatening the Boers ; they were also 
 threatening Natal. Life and property in that colony 
 were in jeopardy while things remained as they did 
 in Zululand. Cetewayo was acting with brutal cruelty. 
 He was steadily preparing for war. He was even 
 making an effort to effect a combination of native 
 races against the white man. He was desirous that
 
 CONFEDERATION 283 
 
 his young braves should "wash their spears." Natal 
 was in imminent peril. Sir Bartle Frere saw clearly 
 the danger of the situation. He saw that the military 
 system of Cetewayo (depending on celibacy, for no 
 man could marry until he had " washed his spears ") 
 must be broken, if life and propert}" were to be safe, 
 and if civilisation was to advance. Indeed, the 
 existence of Natal and of the colonists there depended 
 upon it. 
 
 The sentimentalists at home afterwards objected to 
 the ultimatum to Cetewayo. It was an act of wisdom 
 and humanity both for the colonists and for the Zulus 
 themselves. No one, indeed, would ever have blamed 
 it but for Isandhlwana. On that fatal day Lord 
 Chelmsford failed ; the death of the Prince Imperial, 
 deplorable as it was, was an incident ; but people at 
 home forgot — in fixing their attention on these melan- 
 choly details — the meaning and range of a whole policy. 
 Then came in the usual hindrance of English progress 
 — party politics. Had parties at home been able to 
 do without opposing cries, the great statesman would 
 have settled Zululand, and calmed the Boers in the 
 Transvaal with a really representative form of govern- 
 ment ; German West Africa would not have been ; and 
 a chain of federated colonies, free, because self-governed 
 and owing allegiance to the British Crown, would, by 
 now, be stretching from the Zambesi to the Cape. 
 
 Sir Bartle Frere's splendid and humane undertaking 
 was arrested by ignorance, party feeling, and folly. 
 Varying winds of party passion destroyed a wise and 
 statesmanlike policy. 
 
 Thewhirligig of time brought its revenges. The foolish 
 people who denounced violently all that Sir Bartle Frere
 
 284 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 had done, the men who were loud in the usual cries of 
 "Imperialism" and "Jingoism" while a wise and steady- 
 policy was pursued, were driven to send Sir Charles 
 Warren with a large force to preserve British territory. 
 Those who were shocked with sentimental sorrow over 
 the deaths of Zulus in the war with Cetev/ayo had to 
 close their eyes to the oceans of blood which deluged 
 Zululand since Sir Garnet Wolseley made his well 
 meant but utterly useless " settlement"; and Cete- 
 wayo, by an insane philanthrophy, was " restored." 
 
 The story is one of deep humiliation. Thwarted 
 and betrayed, Sir Bartle Frere left the Cape amidst the 
 acclaim and with the tears and love of thousands. 
 Much of his policy has had, since, to be carried out per- 
 force ; but great mistakes are more easily made than 
 mended, and some of the evil done is irremediable, 
 while what he would have carried through, if sup- 
 ported, must now be done in a form less complete and 
 at heavier cost and under circumstances of graver 
 difficulty. 
 
 What can be done for Confederation now? The 
 faults committed in the past are serious warnings. The 
 first effort was thwarted by a failure to realise respon- 
 sibilities and to read the omens of the future. The 
 second was wrecked by party spirit, blind sentimen- 
 talism, mistaken philanthropy, and a terrible indiffer- 
 ence to obligations incurred. We may hope that 
 these dangers are now diminished. The cry against 
 "Imperialism," we may hope, is dying down. Good men, 
 when they opposed it, meant to oppose a mere wild 
 swashbuckler interference with the rights of others. 
 But this is not Imperialism. In its true sense it is a 
 recognition of responsibility. It is not necessary for
 
 CONFEDERATION 285 
 
 Englishmen to think themselves perfect and all other 
 nations bad ; but it is a duty to realise that if they have 
 the gift of government they should use that gift ; that 
 it is the duty of an Imperial people to stand by their 
 kin beyond the seas ; that if, under the flag of England, 
 they can carry justice and good government and fair 
 play, they are hound to carry it. Mr. Morley, indeed, 
 and " Little Englanders " of his type may be aghast at 
 patriotism ; still — though cosmopolitanism is good in its 
 place — patriotism is a real virtue. We have been led, 
 as a nation, to undertake great responsibilities in the 
 world; these responsibilities we ought to recognise and 
 what they entail we are bound to do. Hiding a talent 
 in a napkin may be a convenient form of laziness, but 
 it cannot command a final reward. 
 
 There is, surely, a unity to be recognised in mankind, 
 but we do not realise and act upon great principles by 
 dreaming over vague ideas. A nation has a kind of per- 
 sonality, it is a sort of living being ; it must act with 
 the sense of other nations having a life like its own, 
 but not so as to forget its duties. A nation must assert 
 itself, but justly while strongly, and if it comes in col- 
 lision with injustice and narrowness in the fulfilment 
 of its duties — well, it must prepare for collision and be 
 true to its sense of right. 
 
 Some men long for peace, and so allow injustice to 
 triumph and evil to go on. Is it peace in the true 
 sense to join loving hands with Kussia without using 
 any influence we have in order that the unspeakable 
 sufierings of Siberia may no longer be ignored, or with 
 Turkey while the horrors of Armenia are condoned ? 
 England may not be able to cure these horrors. But 
 England can cure evils for which she is responsible. Is
 
 286 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 it peace to sit down quietly and acquiesce in division 
 and injustice where our voices and our deeds tell ? To 
 vigorously oppose the effects of injustice which are 
 within our reach is to make for peace. Mankind being 
 what fallen mankind is, it makes for peace not to talk 
 or vote while sentimentally closing our eyes to facts, 
 but to insist on justice being done, to build ships so as 
 to preserve a peaceful and justice-loving Empire, to 
 live and work — not talk and vote merely — so that our 
 country — where she has an influence and a responsi- 
 bility — should dare even to fight, if need be, to win 
 honest and just and well-founded peace. 
 
 Confederation in South Africa may come slowly, 
 probably it will, but it can only come if England does 
 her duty in ways lying plain enough before her after 
 the experiences of her mistakes in the past. 
 
 In South Africa England has one great duty. In 
 the cause of freedom and fair dealing she must, at all 
 costs, be the paramount Power. There is a splendid 
 future for the Cape Colony. There is no reason why 
 the two white races there should not grow more and 
 more as one — in the enjoyment of the free institutions 
 which are the inner meaning of the British Flag, if 
 England does her duty. In Natal the fine English 
 feeling for freedom and self-government is pronounced. 
 Basutoland is a protected Switzerland : where would it 
 be but for the spirit of British fair play ? The vast 
 territories of Bechuanaland, and now of Khodesia 
 (thanks to the great statesman of modern South Africa), 
 are in a fair way for true development under the rule 
 of Great Britain. German South Africa East and West 
 we may have been unwise to create, but these are in the 
 hands of a kindred race, and our true colonising and
 
 CONFEDERATION 287 
 
 just spirit may make them friends, and — if we are true 
 to ourselves — they will feel their identity of interest 
 and of spirit more and more. The Orange Free State, 
 thanks to wise Presidents, has imbibed some of the 
 British temper of toleration and equity. If we are true 
 to ourselves — just, sympathetic, strong — if we resist 
 the selfish and narrow spirit of " Little Englandism," 
 this Republic even more and more will feel the benefit 
 of our just and strong spirit. There is one remaining 
 State in South Africa. The Transvaal — thanks to our 
 mistakes — is the disturbing element and the centre of 
 unrest. Our duty there is clear. We cannot permit 
 an ill-governed and corrupt State — unfortunately, of 
 our making — to hinder the progress and the peace of 
 the whole. 
 
 Incident after incident has helped on its baneful 
 influence. England ought now to be awake to the 
 meaning of things. No one can desire the subversion 
 of the Transvaal Eepublic, if a real Republic it become. 
 The time, however, has surely come, when, in the 
 interest of South Africa, one of two things should be 
 insisted upon by England. Either the Transvaal 
 Government must be radically reformed; " Kriigerism" 
 — ^meaning thereby injustice, maladministration, cor- 
 ruption, and all the consequent crops of evil — should 
 be rooted up by genuine reform ; the long story of 
 inequitable narrowness, and retrogressive action, and 
 suppression of just and fair dealing, should cease ; 
 there should be real and thorough change ; every 
 citizen should be a true citizen and no longer should 
 the minority, ignorant and impervious to just ideas, 
 seek to lord it over the majority of the intellectual 
 and hard working — and this by a decisive abandon-
 
 288 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ment by the present Oligarchy or Autocracy of its 
 evil traditions ; or England must do its duty, must 
 see to it — at whatever cost — that a handful of self- 
 seeking and retrograde men shall no longer be permitted 
 to stop the path of civilisation. England must reform 
 the Transvaal Kepublic, and make it a real and free 
 Republic, or it must sweep it away, and in its place 
 establish a free and self-governing colony to help in the 
 advance and prosperity of South Africa, instead of 
 hindering all that is of value for human progress. 
 
 Once the Transvaal clique is abolished or reformed, 
 the Confederation of South Africa, under the guiding 
 ideas of peace and freedom and progress, will be only a 
 question of time. Incident after incident has come for 
 some years before the world, in the Transvaal, and one 
 or another has blinded the eyes of men in England, 
 but in South Africa they have not blinded many eyes. 
 The main issues remain. Tricksters seeking to main- 
 tain a corrupt Government may "draw red herrings" 
 across the track ; still the great points are clear. Day 
 by day, and probably more and more as time goes 
 on, it must be felt by fair-minded men that things 
 ought not to be permitted to rest where they are. At 
 last it is becoming clear to the most sceptical mind that 
 the working men of the Transvaal will no longer endure 
 the present state of things. Now at last it is more 
 clear to the most unwilling minds in England that 
 things there are far from healthy and sound. Many in 
 South Africa have for long known this ; but England 
 has been hard to convince, and a wily Government 
 has traded too long on the fact. There still lingers 
 in the mind of Englishmen at home a rosy picture of 
 Bible-reading, Puritan, God-fearing, simple farmers in
 
 CONFEDERATION ^89 
 
 the Transvaal — about as far from the truth, probably, 
 as anything can be. Englishmen are waking up from 
 their delusive dream, and discovering the real character 
 of the people who have deluded them so long. When 
 once they are wide awake justice will be done. If 
 remonstrance and expostulation and warning fail, then 
 there must be compulsion ; and — however great the 
 heresy appears in an increasingly invertebrate age — 
 there are worse things than war. 
 
 No one can say what lies in the womb of the future 
 for so wonderful and promising a territory as South 
 Africa ; but there can be little reason to doubt that if 
 Great Britain abandons the vacillating and laisser-aller 
 policy of the past, and learns the duties of consistency 
 and strength, there will be a happy future for such a 
 country, when the various States, having the blessing 
 of peace and justice and freedom, will be at last con- 
 federated and in a union as close and as fruitful of 
 advantage to mankind as that of our other colonies 
 with the motherland. This will, indeed, require time. 
 The first requirement for such a happy consummation 
 in the future is justice and reasonableness in the in- 
 ternal government and external relations of the several 
 States, and, therefore, such honest and thorough re- 
 forms, where reforms are needed, as may secure a 
 lasting peace.
 
 CHAPTER II 
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 
 
 To the English mind the South Africa of to-day has a 
 real and vivid interest which it had not in the past. 
 Even recent years have aroused a stronger sense of its 
 importance than men had any idea of when the older 
 amongst us were boys. The time for neglecting it and 
 disregarding it has passed. In our strange English 
 fashion the energy of the race has compelled its 
 Governments — often against their will — to give to it 
 honest and earnest attention. It is a great country, 
 practically — in great measure — a new country. It 
 has vast possibilities, it presents interesting problems 
 the solution of which lies in the womb of the future. 
 It is now known that it has a fine chmate, where the 
 white man can weU, with the exercise of ordinary pru- 
 dence, live and work. Our children or our children's 
 children will be those who will see it, probably, 
 developed into something of a fuller civilisation, 
 but we are responsible for the preparation for that. 
 There have been wrong things done and abundant 
 mistakes made in the past. From these we may 
 learn to do better in the future. Nations as well as 
 
 men 
 
 " May rise on stepping-stones 
 Of their dead selves to higher things."
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 291 
 
 There is a clearer view of the position and needs of 
 South Africa than once there was. There is a more 
 intelligent and affectionate drawing together of the 
 various parts of the Empire. In South Africa now we 
 have, in spite of all our mistakes, a great and respon- 
 sible position, and we may at this moment by wisdom 
 and sympathy lay foundations for progress and well- 
 being there in years to come. 
 
 The economic conditions of the South Africa of to- 
 day seem favourable. For some years to come the 
 country must depend largely on imports from abroad. 
 The cessation of native wars and the general subsi- 
 dence of disturbance and unrest (except in one quarter) 
 make development by railways more and more hopeful, 
 and the more this is done not only will intercommuni- 
 cation and its civilising influence be more easy, but 
 the needs of life will be met at a less severe cost. 
 
 There seems now to be a very hopeful prospect, from 
 all accounts, for the mines of Rhodesia and the mineral 
 wealth there will be a help at least to start the 
 country.* For agricultural and pasture purposes there 
 are, of course, needed capital and immigrants. There is 
 a vast supply of labour which may be more and more 
 wisely used from the native races. No one, it seems to 
 me, can look on the torrent beds of Bechuan aland and 
 Matabeleland without feeling sure that intelligence 
 and capital will, with no great difficulty, manage the 
 irrigation which will be needed; and as the network of 
 railways develops there will be easy access to the sea. 
 
 * Independently of the British South African Company, /a, 000,000 has 
 been raised recently "by various mining companies for expenditure in 
 Rhodesia, affording striking proof of the confidence of investors in its future," 
 Times, June 8, 1899, from correspondence of Mr. C. Khodes (with Government) 
 as to proposed extension of railway.
 
 292 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 Every country needs capital and energy, and there 
 are many countries that have repaid the toil of man 
 which cannot boast so grateful a soil or so fine a climate 
 as South Africa. The time may yet come when corn 
 may be grown for exportation and the needs of 
 the world. It may never pay, indeed, to irrigate the 
 Karroo, but it will probably pay to irrigate Rhodesia 
 and Bechuanaland, and as capital and enterprise 
 develop this region, certainly the mineral wealth of 
 the country will be of great importance in its develop- 
 ment. There can be little doubt that grazing will be 
 carried on more and more, and that the exports now 
 arising out of this industry will increase. 
 
 The Native question, again, is one of interest as deep 
 in South Africa now as the problems it raises are per- 
 plexing. The mysterious " Curse of Cainan " seems 
 ever to hang over the coloured races everywhere. Do 
 what kindly people may, there is still a strong tendency 
 m the white man to look upon the coloured man every- 
 where as an inferior animal. In many respects this is 
 true. It must be remembered also, there are native 
 populations — as among the Maoris of New Zealand and 
 the Indians of North America — which seem, whatever 
 effort is honestly made to prevent it, gradually to 
 diminish until they appear by some mysterious process 
 likely to die out altogether, before civihsation. Sad as 
 in many ways this is, it certainly simplifies some 
 problems. 
 
 The African races appear to be governed by quite 
 another law. In the Southern States of America one 
 of the most anxious questions for statesmen and 
 sociologists is the steady and rapid increase of the 
 "darkies." It is the same in South Africa. Many
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 293 
 
 causes which tended to keep the coloured population 
 within reasonable limits have been removed. Inter- 
 necine wars have been checked ; wholesale murder such 
 as was perpetrated commonly by Tchaka, ' Cetewayo, 
 Lobengula, has been put a stop to ; the administra- 
 tion of "justice," by means of the witch doctors 
 " smelling out " supposed criminals, has ceased ; sani- 
 tary arrangements have been improved ; human life, in 
 fact, has been protected. These apparently naturally 
 prolific races are becoming, under altered conditions, 
 more prolific than ever. There is said to be a white 
 population of some 800,000, and the coloured popula- 
 tion is estimated at about eight or nine millions. The 
 white population increases by immigration, but so far 
 in no very great degree, and in no way in propor- 
 tion to the natural increase of the coloured races. 
 Clearly one of the first necessities for such a state of 
 things continuing, with safety to life and civilisation, is 
 that there should be some sort of unity of action, and 
 vigour and wisdom, and justice and intelligence in 
 government among the European races. Of this there 
 is no prospect so long as the present anomalous state 
 of afiairs is permitted to continue in the Transvaal. 
 
 Again, there is need of a sensible, formed public 
 opinion as to the treatment of the natives. 
 
 Several methods have been en evidence. 
 
 (i) There has been the method of "petting" the 
 native. This has been the method of sentimentalists 
 who have not realised that kindness does not mean 
 weakness — quite the reverse. It cannot be wondered 
 at if missionaries have at times gone too far in this. 
 In early days or in outlying districts they were the 
 only protectors of the natives. They were doubtless
 
 294 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 witnesses of barbarities and cruel treatment on the 
 part of the white man, and they sometimes went to the 
 opposite extreme. Some of the nobler and wiser men 
 among them have done, and do, great good, but there 
 have been follies of the direst kind leading to real evil. 
 Besides the mischievous influence of Bishop Colenso on 
 the Church in South Africa, his sentimental and absurd 
 views as to the Zulus did great harm and are crucial 
 examples of this kind of tone. When Cetewayo was 
 preparing for a war which, had it not been dealt with 
 by Sir Bartle Frere, would probably have led to the 
 destruction of the Europeans in Natal, Sir Bartle Frere 
 corresponded with Colenso, who had espoused the cause 
 of the Zulus with enthusiastic folly. Colenso, says 
 the biographer of Sir Bartle Frere,* "printed and 
 circulated " this correspondence, " not at the Cape or 
 in Natal, where it would have been promptly criticised, 
 but in England, where the facts were little known." 
 This helped to form that unhappy tone of opinion in 
 England which, believing itself to be friendly to the 
 natives, proved their worst enemy. From this came 
 our fatal policy in Zululand which led to such misery 
 afterwards to the Zulus.t 
 
 Many thoughtful persons, and those too by no 
 means ignorant of missionary matters, or uninterested 
 in them, have expressed strong opinions of the folly 
 of the "petting" system. Colenso's attitude towards 
 the Zulus is a vivid example of it. He seemed to think 
 the Zulu race a glorious race destined to guide the 
 white men and "absorb and assimilate" them. The 
 
 * Martineau. Ldfe of Sir Bartle Frere, vol. ii. p. 246. 
 
 t A quotation which occurred here in a former edition has been withdrawn, 
 as it contained an allegation the truth of which has been denied, and la 
 support of which I possess no proofs.
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 295 
 
 absurd extent to which this was carried in his case is 
 amusingly illustrated in Miss North's " Recollections," 
 thus : 
 
 " We came in sight of Bishopstowe, with its many- 
 gabled house and gum-trees, like an oasis in the 
 desert. It stood on the top of a hill. . . . Dr. 
 Colenso's conversation was delightful, but he gave 
 me the impression of being both weak and vain and 
 very susceptible to flattery. His two elder daughters 
 . . . were perfectly devoted to him and to Zuluism ! 
 which governed everything. The dear natives were 
 incapable of harm, the whites incapable of good. 
 They would, I believe, have heard cheerfully that 
 all the whites had been ' eaten up ' and Cetewayo 
 proclaimed King of Natal. His portrait was all 
 over the house, and they mentioned him in a hushed 
 voice, as a kind of holy martyr, and had hardly a 
 good word to say for any white man except Colonel 
 Durnford. ... I was taken to see the printing- 
 press which was continually contradicting every 
 fact stated by the Government and officials, who 
 in their turn contradicted every fact published by 
 it. Messengers were continually arriving with fresh 
 lies (I believe) from ' the King,' over which the 
 Bishop and his daughters passed all their time. It 
 would have driven me mad to have stayed long in 
 such a strained atmosphere ! " ^ 
 
 This is an extreme example of that unhappy temper 
 which has been one way of treating the natives in 
 South Africa and which has led to incalculable evils, 
 and is best summarised in Miss North's words, " the 
 
 * Miss North. EecoUtctions of a Sappy Life, vol. ii. p. 279.
 
 296 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 dear natives were incapable of harm, the whites in- 
 capable of good." 
 
 (2) Then, there has been a method precisely the 
 opposite. All labour in South Africa is done by the 
 coloured men ; white men are needed to govern and 
 direct them, but they are the workers. This arose, in 
 the first instance, from slavery, and it has lived on. 
 From this, doubtless, in part has come the contempt 
 and sometimes dislike for coloured people. Hence 
 there has been harshness in the past, and no doubt 
 there are instances of harshness and extreme severity 
 in the present. 
 
 Among the Dutch, but especially the Boers of the 
 Transvaal, there have been most instances of severity 
 and even cruelty. In the Transvaal one constantly 
 heard of natives being tricked about their "passes," 
 and so their fines becoming a productive source of 
 revenue, and of their being kept in the dark as to 
 fresh regulations until they had broken them, and 
 were accordingly fined and punished. The labour on 
 the mines attracts the natives because of the pay, but 
 they are obliged by a paternal Government to serve first 
 on the farms before being allowed to go to the Rand, 
 so as to ensure sufl&cient labour for the Boer farmers. 
 One heard also, in well-informed quarters, of employers 
 there cheating their coloured people, either by simply 
 treating them with violence when they demanded 
 their wages, or giving them all kinds of provocation 
 and ill usage so as to induce them to run away before 
 the time when wages were due. In both the Dutch 
 States natives have no political rights whatever, and 
 practically no rights at all. Their condition, however, 
 in the Orange Free State is said to be satisfactory on
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 297 
 
 the whole. There are doubtless humane and good men 
 in the Transvaal, but it is to be feared that the natives 
 there have a very poor time. Slavery is forbidden by 
 our Convention, but our Convention has been treated, 
 to a great extent, as a sham, and the game of *' bluif" 
 has been steadily played, and we have kindly per- 
 mitted it, and, of course, it is always possible to treat 
 men much like slaves without using the odious name. 
 
 In Rhodesia I could not find that the natives were 
 treated otherwise than well ; I saw constant instances 
 of great kindness towards them. It is impossible, of 
 course, to say — speaking of so wide an area — that no 
 harsh acts are committed or have been ; but, speaking 
 broadly, their welfare is certainly considered, and they 
 are now wisely and kindly governed. I was greatly 
 struck in visiting native kraals in Rhodesia with their 
 apparently contented and happy condition. In talking 
 to them, their evident confidence in the English im- 
 pressed me, and, most of all — although he was hundreds 
 of miles away at the time — the trustful and afiectionate 
 manner in which they spoke of Mr. Rhodes. ThiSy 
 more than anything — even more than personal inter- 
 course — because it furnished such unimpeachable 
 testimony, convinced me of the mistaken estimate 
 formed, unfortunately, by some of my countrymen of 
 that great man, of whom we may all well be proud. 
 If they had anxieties on any subject they seemed quite 
 confident that all would be put right when he had time 
 to visit them. And eye-witnesses have related to me the 
 patient and careful manner in which, when in Rhodesia, 
 he has given attention to their wants, and helped them 
 out of little difficulties, dealing, with the loving care 
 which we country parsons spend upon our country
 
 ^98 SICETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 people, with their most tiny needs and sorrows. I 
 saw two of Lobengula's sous, whom he educates, at 
 Groote Schurr, where they spent their hohdays. There 
 can be Httle doubt there have been harshness and 
 severity, and even cruelty, in the past. I do not believe 
 that it is so now, speaking generally, among English- 
 speaking people. Natives wiU, probably, always be in 
 a very inferior position in the Transvaal, and generally 
 amone: the Dutch. If we are determined to maintain 
 that ill-governed State which we call the South 
 African Republic — well and good ; we must take the 
 responsibility of this feature in regard to natives. 
 Still I do not believe that anywhere in South Africa 
 there is such hatred and contempt felt by the 
 white to the coloured population as I have heard 
 expressed by Southerners of the United States after 
 the war, and even by Northerners by whom slavery 
 had been abolished. One could find nothing approach- 
 ing the violence arising from this feeling which took 
 place in America immediately after the great struggle^ 
 or even the dislike towards these races which cultivated 
 Americans have expressed in quite recent times. We 
 must not, however, forget that the brutal contempt of 
 the Transvaal Boer for a native wants the restraining 
 Christianity, or — shall we say ? — civilisation, of a 
 cultured, kind American. 
 
 (3) There is a wise way of treating the native races 
 which forms a happy medium between the above 
 methods, and which one hopes may more and more 
 prevail. In Cape Colony the coloured races have full 
 political rights. The same qualifications as for a white 
 man apply to them as to serving on juries and 
 exercising the franchise. Many wise and humane men
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 29» 
 
 consider that in this matter the Cape has moved too 
 fast, and that such privileges are not unmitigated 
 blessings to the native races. However, that is done. 
 
 In the less settled and newer British possessions, 
 the remnant at least of tribal organisation still con- 
 tinues, and while this is so the natives are, of course, not 
 fit subjects for the franchise. In Rhodesia the Govern- 
 ment seemed to me very sensible. There, the Matabele 
 have a high respect for law and a clear view of the 
 dignity of authority. It seems certain that the native 
 tribes, once thoroughly defeated, accept their defeat, 
 and desire to be governed. Our great mistake in Zulu- 
 land was breaking their power and then leaving them 
 without proper government. This mistake we are not 
 repeating in Rhodesia, and the present arrangement 
 seems to work well, and to educate the inhabitants of 
 that vast and valuable territory for further exercise 
 of constitutional liberty. 
 
 There is no need for harshness, much less for cruelty; 
 and I do not believe that these are shown to the 
 natives by the English — of course, speaking broadly. 
 There is need that they should be governed. They are 
 in the position of children — but children who may, if 
 not educated properly, do incalculable mischief Mr. 
 Rhodes, who has the kindest feeling for the natives, 
 constantly speaks of them as " those poor children." 
 As they have generations of savagery behind them, 
 they can only slowly be educated to better things. 
 Like unruly children, they require discipline, but they 
 must be treated with justice and kindness. It takes 
 time to teach people to work who have inherited 
 habits of laziness varied by the enthusiasms of hunt- 
 ing and war. They have to be taught to work, and
 
 300 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 to be shown that work must be done. They have 
 many good points, but mere " petting " is ruinous. 
 Exaggerated kindness they consider weakness and 
 folly. The sentimentalists seemed to think that 
 natives should be left alone, and that they would 
 " evolve civilisation and liberty from among them- 
 selves." Sir Bartle Frere has some wise words on that 
 subject. He writes : 
 
 "I have always regarded that view as a mischievous dream, the 
 folly of which is proved by history everywhere, but especially by four 
 thousand years of negro existence without one single step of spon- 
 taneous advance throughout this vast continent, every step out of 
 their general animal existence being clearly traceable to some external 
 impulse or impression." * 
 
 With the natives we must move slowly. They must 
 be governed, disciplined, taught to work, treated with 
 justice and wise kindness. As far as I could judge, 
 this seemed to be the case in Rhodesia, and in the 
 compounds at Kimberley. 
 
 One instance of this is worth noticing. We have 
 plenty of evidence at home of the evils of excess in 
 intoxicating drinks. This is bad enough in the case 
 of the white man ; to the coloured man it is absolute 
 ruin. The Chartered Company acted wisely in this. 
 In Rhodesia the regulations are stringent, and the 
 punishment rightly severe, for selling drink to the 
 natives. There are native liquor laws also in the 
 Transvaal. These are often eluded by syndicates for 
 the illicit sale of drink, with, it is said, the connivance 
 by the Government for financial reasons.t Restrictive 
 
 * Martineaa. Life of Sir Bartle Frere, vol. ii. p. 330. 
 
 t After regular connivance, I was told by men knowing the place well, now 
 and again a wretched native was caught, tried, and punished to show the 
 uprightness of a paternal Government.
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 301 
 
 laws of this kind are absolutely necessary, and should 
 be stringently enforced. It may be doubted whether 
 the larger franchise at the Cape is not in some ways a 
 disadvantage, as politicians must necessarily hesitate 
 as to needful restrictions in view of the coloured vote. 
 
 A very humane and sensible man said to me that in 
 dealing with native workmen it was necessary for 
 their sakes to be determined, strict, and even severe at 
 first. If so, they respected authority and felt there 
 was no weakness, and then it was safe to soften into 
 much greater kindness. 
 
 What the future of a country with such a vastly 
 preponderating population of native races may be, 
 who dare prophesy ? But Englishmen have learnt 
 experience from the mistakes of the past, and with 
 the natural gift of government which they so largely 
 possess, there seems no reason why things should 
 not work out well, so that the natives, gradually 
 educated and disciplined, with steady justice and 
 kindness, should become bound by the best ties to 
 the superior race, and useful members of the body 
 politic. These races are much finer specimens of 
 humanity than the American negro, and seem to 
 promise much better in future development. That 
 there should be a considerable social separation 
 is probably, at present at any rate, inevitable, though 
 here again it seemed to be less emphasised than 
 I had seen it in America. I have seen civilised 
 coloured people and Europeans in the same church, and 
 receiving Communion at the same altar ; and in one 
 school, managed by some excellent " religious " women, 
 white children and coloured children of the very poor 
 learning together. Some English clergy do excellent
 
 302 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 work, as I know, among natives, and are able to guide 
 them into Christian character and conduct. Too 
 often, indeed, even good men have said that they 
 prefer the Heathen to the Christian Kaffir, and that the 
 latter learns the white man's vices without his virtues. 
 Doubtless there is some truth in this. Mistakes, and 
 serious mistakes, have been made, still the missionaries 
 — with all their mistakes — have been, in many cases, 
 and are, the true friends of the natives, and mistakes 
 in the past may teach wiser ways — whether to 
 missionaries or Governments — in the future. 
 
 It cannot well be doubted that there may be a 
 great future for races with so many fine characteristics 
 as the various divisions of the Zulu family. English- 
 men, though in a great minority, have managed to 
 govern coloured races in India, and to improve them 
 and raise them in the scale of humanity. In South 
 Africa there are none of the hindrances and difficulties 
 of caste. If we act wisely and justly there seems no 
 reason why we should not train, improve, and use, and 
 make happier and better men of, the South African 
 natives. Religious men cannot doubt that this possi- 
 bility and duty lies before us, acting all the better 
 from our past experience, and even our past mistakes. 
 
 Socially South Africa is interesting. A social chasm 
 must of necessity yawn — as I have admitted — at least 
 until things are greatly changed in this world, between 
 the white and native races. With the white races 
 themselves it is altogether diflPerent. There was a 
 steady rapprochement for some time at the Cape 
 between the Dutch and English races, and such there 
 is now. Recent events, carefully used by clever wire- 
 pullers for political ends, may have caused some feeling
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 
 
 of estrangement. This, however, is merely temporary. 
 The Cape is as loyal as any other part of the Empire, 
 even though efforts are made from time to time by 
 designing politicians to rouse Dutch feeling against 
 the English connection. It is well known and 
 thoroughly felt that it is under the British flag that 
 fullest liberty can be found.* Socially the races become 
 more and more one, and will continue to do so in 
 greater degree when the plague-spot of Transvaal 
 misgovernment is healed. 
 
 It would be unfair to expect, in a young country, 
 all the culture and refinement of the old world. The 
 long centuries have given to Europe a richness of life 
 which of course cannot be found all at once in South 
 Africa. What does strike the visitor is the abundant 
 heartiness and kindness, and the most complete 
 absence of anything like "tuft-hunting" or "toady- 
 ing " or snobbishness. There is a hearty goodwill and 
 genuine friendliness and kindness at the Cape, and 
 among all whom we met, whether in Rhodesia or in 
 the Transvaal and Natal. As yet, of course, there is 
 no wealth of indigenous writers, although there have 
 been one or two useful historians and one novelist who 
 has commanded some attention. There is still room 
 for improvement in education. In time, probably, 
 schools more like our public schools and universities 
 will grow up. It is too soon to expect these things 
 yet. The Good Hope College, however, is doing good 
 work. We could not but feel a certain freshness — 
 
 * It is interesting to remember — just now when Kriiger is refusing elemen- 
 tary justice to Uitlanders, and when there are those who think we can, with- 
 out moral turpitude, permit him to persevere in his contempt for right — that 
 at the Cape the Prime Minister is of German extraction, and the Government 
 is carried on by a Dutch majority. — June 1899.
 
 304. SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 like that of America — as of people of a young world, 
 and, as I have said, ready sociability and kindness. 
 Depth and breadth of life will follow upon brightness 
 and human geniality. 
 
 The state of religion in South Africa was naturally 
 a subject of interest. The chief divisions of Christians 
 were, besides the Anglican Church, the Roman Church 
 and the Dutch Reformed community. As far as I 
 could understand, the latter had three divisions : " the 
 Dutch Reform," then (what may be called) "the 
 Dutch Re-Reform," and what is known as "the 
 Dopper." This was most clear in the Transvaal. The 
 exact differences between the latter bodies it is diffi- 
 cult for an outsider to grasp. They appear all to be 
 Calvinistic; and the chief difference between "the 
 Dopper" and the others appeared to me to be that 
 the latter used hymns in public worship, while " the 
 Dopper" will use nothing but scriptural paraphrases. 
 There is, however, a considerable feeling of hostility 
 between them — so I understood — and I was assured 
 that the religious differences then were such that they 
 might in the long run, not improbably, lead to serious 
 disagreements, if not civil war, among the Transvaal 
 Boers. There are, of course, considerable bodies 
 representing the Baptist, Wesleyan, and other like 
 forms of Christianity. 
 
 As to the Anglican Church, it seemed to be doing 
 steady work. In some places it struck me as being 
 vigorous and effective. It possesses theologians like 
 Dr. Wirgman ; vigorous bishops like the Bishops of 
 Mashonaland, Natal, Bloemfontein, and others ; a 
 venerable Archbishop ; devoted workers, like Mr. 
 Darragh in Johannesburg, the Cowley Fathers in
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 305 
 
 Capetown, and numberless others who could be 
 named. There is, however, so I thought, a great 
 need of more men for the ministry. Our Church has 
 not been so powerful in mission work, until perhaps 
 quite recent years, as might be desired. In anything 
 merely falling under the arrangement of the parochial 
 system she has done well. But it may be doubted 
 whether that system can be anything but a very 
 small part of the work in a young country. Regular 
 and respectable Christians may have means of going to 
 church and receiving the Sacraments by this system, but 
 there are further needs. In such places as Buluwayo, 
 for instance, one sees a vast mass of splendid young 
 Englishmen, with all the freshness and vigour of men 
 working hard under new conditions of life, where the 
 old conventional lines have been to a great degree 
 obliterated. Two things follow : ( i ) Moral dangers are 
 greater ; (2) there is a wider opening for real, hearty 
 work with souls for Christ, if men, real men, could 
 be found to utilise such vast opportunities. What 
 one longed to see was strong bodies of young men, 
 as keen in the cause of Christ as these young fellow 
 countrymen were in that of the Empire or of their 
 various callings. 
 
 The Church at home should not lose sight of 
 the needs of South Africa. A layman of some 
 distinction observed to me, " The curse of the Church 
 of England is her * Moderation.' " He did not, of 
 course, mean "Moderation" in the true sense, but a 
 deficiency of enthusiasm, and a constant tendency — 
 the real bane of true work — in some in authority 
 to pass silently over cases of laziness and neglect, 
 and to spend energy in restraining zeal and holding
 
 306 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 back the energetic efforts of earnestness. There is, 
 unquestionably, too much cause to feel that whereas 
 our Lord said He came " to send fire upon the earth," 
 some of the Church's modern rulers seem to think that 
 their vocation is to work the pumps of the fire engines. 
 We felt this the more, because the silly hubbub called 
 the " Crisis in the Church " was going on while we 
 were in South Africa, and, viewing it from a distance, 
 we realised its pettiness and unfortunate features. 
 
 In a new country, if wise and diligent missionaries 
 are needed for native races, able and self-denying 
 missloners are needed to work for our colonists. The 
 bishops in South Africa have not nearly men enough 
 or able men enough for the work that needs to be 
 done. The Mother Church of the Motherland should 
 exert herself. Funds are needed to make the necessary 
 help possible. Why should not pains be taken to find 
 able and zealous men to offer themselves ? In places 
 like Buluwayo there is need of clergy-houses where five 
 or six strong and vigorous men might cheer each other 
 on to so great a work. Whether or not Kaffir Missions 
 are going on well, one thing is certain, our own young 
 Englishmen are not sufficiently cared for in religious 
 matters. South Africa does not need clergy who go 
 out because their health is bad, or because they have 
 been failures at home, nor bishops who go out for a 
 time and will not give their lives to the work because 
 they yearn for " promotion " in the old country. She 
 needs apostles, men who wiU spend and be spent, who 
 will live and die for their work, and not consider it a 
 " call" to manage some little diocese at home, long 
 organised, which any one could deal with, rather than 
 a vast, new, difficult, and gradually forming, Church in
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW 307 
 
 the colonies. Much has been nobly done by servants 
 of God at home in the great cities and in the slums of 
 London. Two things, however, have been somewhat 
 forgotten. Nowhere so much as in our own country 
 parishes at home, and in our colonies, are strong and 
 able men needed. South Africa needs preachers, and 
 men who hold the faith strongly and intelligently, and 
 can throw real enthusiasm into the cause of Christ. 
 
 Seeing, as I did, a great deal of the laity wherever 
 I was, I was sadly struck with the apparently wide- 
 spread indifferentism. I met many who professed them- 
 selves Agnostics — some, of course, assumed the title as 
 the easy "label" for those who would give way to 
 general religious slothfulness and a lazy Reason. Many, 
 however, were good men who had never had an oppor- 
 tunity of learning the Faith, or who, having in some 
 measure learnt it, had drifted away, from the absence 
 of religious influences. There are, of course, good men 
 and true, but our Young England in South Africa needs 
 more clergy, and clergy of the right sort. Pious plati- 
 tudes are of no use there. In the fresh life of a new 
 country there is needed real work and devotion. 
 Many things — the climate among others, and press of 
 work in those carving out a new life — tend to make 
 men "slack." To meet this is needed an increasing 
 body of men to whom " slackness " is an unknown 
 thing, who have been trained to mission work and can 
 speak earnestly and convincingly to men's souls — men 
 with " cool heads and warm hearts and a zeal that does 
 not count the cost." 
 
 There are two dangers specially likely to assail 
 young men far from home, in a freshly opened up land. 
 The one is the danger of slipping out of the habit of
 
 308 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 religious observances, and so gradually losing hold of 
 religion. The other is the danger which assails a pure 
 moral life. The Church should be "to the front " to 
 help them. There remains a vast deal for the Church 
 at home to do in coming to the aid of the Church in 
 South Africa for such purposes both with men and 
 money. I cannot but hope that more will be done in 
 this way. 
 
 " Preach to us," said a distinguished man in South 
 Africa to me, " preach to us Christian dogma and 
 Marcus Aurelius." It put the matter neatly in a nut- 
 shell, i.e., doctrine and morality. Hard-working men, 
 facing life in new lands, need above all no " vague 
 platitudes of empty dreams," but definite teaching of 
 the definite facts of the Faith, and clear and loving 
 enforcement of the moral duties which depend on 
 these. 
 
 There certainly seemed to be greater kindliness and 
 fewer controversies among the various religious bodies 
 than at home, but one could not avoid a suspicion that 
 indifferentism rather than divine charity was at the 
 root of this. Men do not quarrel over that about 
 which they do not care in the smallest degree. In the 
 centres of population, like Capetown and the neigh- 
 bourhood, and Johannesburg, the churches seemed to 
 be well attended, and good work going on ; but there is 
 much more to be done — there, of course, as everywhere 
 — but above all in outlying districts and younger 
 places. 
 
 South Africa, then, is still in many respects a new 
 country with needs such as one should expect and 
 with vast possibilities. It needs for political quiet a 
 radical change in the Transvaal, the centre and source
 
 SOUTH AFRICA NOW S09 
 
 of all unrest. It heeds an increase of colonists and 
 capital to open up a most hopeful country ; it needs 
 advance in railway systems, and that — through the 
 energy of Mr. Rhodes chiefly — it is likely to have ; and 
 it needs all the efforts of the Church at home to assist 
 the Church there, in lifting up moral life, in teaching 
 revealed religion, in spreading and maintaining the 
 Kingdom of Christ,
 
 CHAPTER III 
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 
 
 We are out on a glorious sea. The evening is as 
 beautiful as well can be imagined. The Table Mountain 
 and all the jagged peaks are growing hazy in the 
 distance. South Africa will soon be a dream to us, 
 and little more ; still, a very pleasant dream. 
 
 Our last morning on the peninsula had been 
 unusually grey and cloudy, but the afternoon turned 
 out beautiful. Capetown and its neighbourhood 
 smiled upon us their farewells. It was pleasant to 
 think of home, but sad to leave dear friends, and 
 a place which had made itself our home, none the less. 
 There is always something solemn and moving in 
 doing anything for the last time — perhaps from the 
 whisper in it of the pathos of human life, of the 
 mystery of change, of the pangs of parting, of ever- 
 lasting farewells. We had met many pleasant ac- 
 quaintances, we had formed some true friendships, and 
 we were leaving some whom we love. 
 
 Good-bye, dear friends, good-bye, then, be attended 
 By loving prayers as on the swift years fly : 
 
 May we meet yet on earth, or — this life ended — 
 In that dear home where none need say good-bye. 
 
 Such were our thoughts. Our cabins have been 
 made sweet with the breath of flowers arranged
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 311 
 
 there by loving hands. Time will pass, the flowers 
 will fade, but not the memories of happy intercourse 
 and abundant kindness. 
 
 As the Arundel Castle beats her way through the 
 waves, and the shores of South Africa fade in the 
 oncoming of a Southern night, we find ourselves 
 dreaming of what is over. 
 
 There are some vivid impressions on our minds. 
 The first and chiefest is of the heartiness and kind- 
 ness of our kith and kin in our Colonial Empire. We 
 are inclined to be angry with old England, because 
 so many of her fine young sons can find no field of 
 energy or way of livelihood at home, and are forced to 
 go so far. And yet, it is by this that the Empire is what 
 it is, and — to judge by the kindness and hospitality of 
 our South African fellow subjects — "absence makes 
 the heart grow fonder," and — however unwisely, at 
 times, England has behaved — the tie to the mother- 
 land is strong still. 
 
 Then we are able, on the dreaming sea, to recall the 
 strange grandeur of South Africa — its bold mountains, 
 its mysterious solitudes — for nothing so much touches 
 the imagination there as just that — a dreamy land ! — 
 its delightful climate, with startling vicissitudes of 
 sunshine and storm, its splendid flora, above all the 
 wealth of atmospheric colour which makes all objects 
 beautiful. Of its future we can dream ; who can tell ? 
 Already possibilities of federation rise above the horizon 
 for Australia. For South Africa they are possibilities, 
 but they seem still — now that so many chances have 
 been thrown away — a great way off. We are thinking 
 of the interesting people we have met or have known 
 there ; and the whole circumstances of the case, the
 
 312 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 whole condition of things from the Zambesi to Cape- 
 town, make the meeting with interesting people a thing 
 of course. Of these the most remarkable were certainly 
 Mr. Krtiger and Mr. E-hodes. The former is indeed, 
 from circumstances, interesting. The latter is so in 
 himself. No one can fail to be interested in a man of 
 wide knowledge, deep and serious thought, unflinching 
 courage, large schemes for the benefit of his adopted 
 country and for the good of others ; a man possessed 
 of the frank simplicity of character of a boy, together 
 with great capacity and a statesmanlike grip of 
 things ; a man — with whatever faults, and having 
 made whatever mistakes (if, as in the case of all of 
 us, it is so with him) — whom you might be with for 
 weeks and months and yet never hear him pro- 
 voked into saying an unkind word of any one — 
 not of his worst enemy — in spite of all the malig- 
 nant abuse and misunderstanding to which he has 
 been subjected — an ava'6, dvdpwvf a king of men — a 
 remarkable man. 
 
 Nothing, thinking it over in the dreamy silence of 
 the sympathetic sea, seems so striking to me in South 
 Africa as this man. Here is a man who is generous to 
 a fault, whom his countrymen have believed to be 
 sordid ; whom they have thought selfish, who lives for 
 others and for his country ; who has made mistakes 
 and frankly admits them ; who has had unwise friends, 
 but has ever been faithful to them. A man with a 
 large, kind heart, with great intellectual capacity, 
 most human, most serious, most deep-thinking — large, 
 strong, kind in all ways — a man never to forget, to 
 love for his faults as well as his virtues. , Yes, a 
 remarkable man, as I have said, a giant among the
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 313 
 
 pigmies of the age, but, above all, a reail man, simple, 
 kindly, faithful, sincere. 
 
 To expect the convinced English Radical or even 
 Liberal, or even the best specimen — the philosophical 
 Radical — to believe me would be absurd. Neverthe- 
 less, if a man, with prepossessions in some respects 
 opposed, sees and hears and thinks for himself, his 
 testimony may be worth something. My country, I 
 feel more and more, is the victim of Shibboleths and 
 make-believes. Englishmen have so high a sense of 
 goodness, that — only dress some one up in a dress that 
 may look good — they believe in him ; dress some one 
 up in a dress to look evil, him they condemn. For 
 many Englishmen Krliger is (mirabile dictu!) the 
 simple-hearted, the sincere ! Rhodes is the sordid and 
 base ! 
 
 One thing, as I think back, was evident to me, how 
 thoroughly Rhodes is loved, by good men and men of 
 culture whom I knew at the Cape, and — that is the 
 striking thing — among the weak, or helpless, or 
 struggling, of whatever colour, in Rhodesia. Another 
 interesting point is this. Men who had never known 
 him, who had fallen in with the English estimate and 
 the misrepresentations of the enemies of England 
 (which England loves to swallow), have told me, with 
 regret, how they felt they had maligned him when 
 once they came to know him. When once I came to 
 know him for myself — after having been indoctrinated 
 with the opposing " liberal " views at home, though I 
 never quite believed them — I saw how it must be. A 
 man of utter fearlessness, ready to expose himself 
 calmly, as he did, to terrible danger in the rebellion, of 
 large and generous views for the extension of England's
 
 314 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 dominion as the guarantee of freedom, of open-handed 
 generosity, not only to forward his far-sighted efforts, 
 but to help case after case of individual need to an 
 extent incredible, and of which no one, as far as he 
 could help it, knew — that man must be loved, and his 
 influence felt, even in a hlase age like our own, where 
 belief in goodness is hard to find. 
 
 No, this is not necessary where a man is measured 
 by the modern, conventional standards. Nowadays, 
 even men who care nothing for morality will bring up 
 a moral text. All sorts of " old saws," without any 
 real application, have been levelled against Mr. 
 E/hodes. I have often heard that his view was 
 "Might made Right." Nothing, as one found, could 
 be more wide of the truth. I never met a man with 
 a sterner sense of the value of Right, only with a 
 hatred of the canting manner in which the moral view 
 is used. Also it Is the custom to assign to Mr. Rhodes 
 all the faults of the Chartered Company. Those 
 faults have, I believe, been grossly exaggerated. I am 
 certain that, in spite of all the talk of Syndicates and 
 Amalgamations, and so on — talk always brought up 
 about a new country — the Chartered Company has done 
 good work. Doubtless it has had faults, and grave 
 faults. Critics at home, who do nothing but write " to 
 fill the weekly page," have learnt that they must 
 criticise the men who act under grave difficulty; and 
 these home critics seem to have one or two important 
 canons to guide them In their hurried judgments week 
 by week : (i) Assail your own countrymen, (2) attri- 
 bute the basest motives, (3) hear no word against 
 those whom your political mistakes have placed In 
 position.
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 815 
 
 So it has been that any mistake of the Chartered 
 Company has been laid to the doors of Mr. Rhodes ; 
 that Mr. Rhodes must be supposed to act always from 
 personal ambition — in spite of his real acts quite 
 subversive of such a theory — and then that England, 
 having committed a moral fault of the most serious 
 character, in violating pledges and setting up the 
 cruel and corrupt Transvaal Oligarchy — any one who 
 calls that other than good is wrong — therefore Rhodes. 
 The fact is we have lowered the moral standard in 
 South Africa steadily by our mistakes and iniquities, 
 and as — at whatever cost — appearances must be kept 
 up, it has been found well to blame a great man of 
 whom — were our political and moral atmosphere not 
 so much vitiated — we should have learnt to be proud. 
 Mr. Rhodes, in his views and policy, has been, and is, 
 in many respects, representative of, the hope of South 
 Africa, notwithstanding the faithlessness and folly of 
 England. Of course, this will not be believed by those 
 who spin theories out of foregone conclusions. Still — ■ 
 from observing, questioning, thinking — without any 
 prepossession whatever, or rather prepossessions in 
 the opposite direction — (except, indeed, the conclusion 
 formed on evidence, of the true type of the Kriigerite 
 character) — this is the conviction which I have formed 
 and record, as I think of the South Africa fading away 
 across the waves. Our happy times in South Africa 
 are over. We are looking back upon it already as a 
 dream, though a happy dream, but it has left behind it 
 impressions, new and deep and strong. 
 
 In our modern days the conditions which have to 
 do with the civilisation with which we are concerned 
 are very different from those of the past. Those con-
 
 316 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 ditions, too, vary much more rapidly than they did 
 fifty years ago ; but under these, such as they are, 
 character and conduct are tried as much as ever they 
 were. One interest of a new country is observing this, 
 becoming aware of conditions very dissimilar to those 
 at home, but which always do the same work for other 
 men — viz., form a school of character. Certainly, 
 among other things, the energy of our race never 
 comes home to one more vividly than in South Africa. 
 Even in the comparatively less important matter of 
 games and athletic exercises, for instance, one is struck 
 by the vigour and persistence of healthy English effort, 
 although in a climate which would seem to invite to 
 repose. 
 
 There is plenty of food for anxiety there for 
 those who hold the moral and religious principles 
 belonging to Christianity, plenty of room for labour 
 whether in religious or social or political matters, 
 but there is a hope that with the predominating 
 force of English principles and character — serious- 
 ness, a sense of duty, a deep religious sense, a love 
 of justice and fair play, a respect for the dignity 
 of woman and the sanctities of home — there is a 
 healthy and hopeful future before this people. In 
 politics we must be on our guard against the secret 
 intriguers who would injure the best hopes of South 
 Africa by undermining the paramount power of Great 
 Britain. We must learn larger views of things ; 
 consign " Little Englandism " and all its works to the 
 limbo of discarded mischiefs and follies ; break away 
 from vacillation and inconsistency in our Imperial 
 policy, and be steadily just and strong. In religion, 
 the Church at home must rouse herself more to help
 
 HOMEWARD BOUND 317 
 
 the Church in South Africa ; we must have done with 
 the narrowness which makes our most able young men 
 in the ministry imagine that because " charity begins 
 at home " it is to end there ; we must throw away 
 platitudes, dreamy vagueness, mere *' goody " respecta- 
 bility, and help the young and strong of a new land 
 to hold and live the practical common sense of the 
 Catholic Faith, and find in that a helper to teach the 
 science of goodness and conquer the works of sin. 
 We are leaving a land of many unsolved problems, 
 rich in beauty, rich in possibilities, rich in hopes and 
 fears. Foreign travel in a new land is a break in the 
 ordinary tenour of life. It leaves us full of many 
 thoughts and many dreams. 
 
 Our homeward-bound voyage in the Arundel Castle 
 was in some ways unusual. It happened that our 
 fellow passengers were fewer in number than would 
 generally be the case. We had a fine boat, the 
 steadiest I have ever known, and plenty of room ; 
 pleasant officers, pleasant companions, a holiday from 
 the " entertainments " which sometimes, at sea, become 
 a burden, and, as far as the Canaries, glorious weather, 
 with all the most splendid nights and loveliest days of 
 the tropics ; and, in perfection, that sense of repose and 
 time for thinking and dreaming, never, perhaps, fully 
 known except at sea. 
 
 We had a tedious day at Las Palmas. The authori- 
 ties had heard that there had once been a case of 
 plague at Delagoa Bay, so, as we came from Capetown, 
 Spanish fears and logic condemned us to four and 
 twenty hours' inaction under the yellow flag ! 
 
 From Las Palmas we became more and more con- 
 scious of the changeful temper of the North Atlantic.
 
 318 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 In " the Bay " it at first was rough, and then blew 
 a tremendous gale. But our good ship behaved 
 splendidly, and about eighteen days from Capetown 
 we found ourselves one chilly midnight in Plymouth 
 Sound. We carried with us many memories of in- 
 terest and pleasure from South Africa, yet, after all, 
 we realised once again that "there is no place like 
 home."
 
 POSTSCRIPT 
 
 Just as the last sheets of what I have written are In the 
 press, an event is occurring which is, one must believe, 
 of the highest consequence to South Africa — the 
 meeting of the High Commissioner and the President 
 of the Transvaal State at Bloemfontein. The Colonial 
 Secretary has said that this Conference will be held 
 " with a view of arriving at such an arrangement as 
 her Majesty's Government could accept and recom- 
 mend to the Uitlander population as a reasonable con- 
 cession to their just demands " ; and, he added, " a 
 settlement of the difficulties which have threatened 
 the good relations which her Majesty's Government 
 desire should constantly exist between themselves and 
 the South African Republic." 
 
 Those who have the interests of South Africa at 
 heart may be pardoned if they are somewhat slow to 
 believe in Mr. Krliger's protestations or promises, and 
 if they are still haunted with a lingering fear lest the 
 Imperial authorities be not yet sufficiently wide awake 
 in their dealings with the Boer rulers. Still there is a 
 ray of hope. At last England seems to have wakened 
 up to the mistakes of the past and to her duties now. 
 Mistakes are more easily made than unmade, but much 
 may be done to right the wrong if the reign of hollow 
 sentiment and vacillation is ended, and if, instead, 
 there is right feeling, a clear view of duty, and an un-
 
 320 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA 
 
 bending determination that justice shall be done. The 
 Boer President has professed a willingness to discuss 
 all questions, if the independence of the Transvaal 
 Republic is not threatened. Such independence as it 
 enjoys under the suzerainty of the Queen no one can 
 wish to threaten. It must, however, be a real inde- 
 pendence, not, as hitherto, a tyranny ; it must become, 
 if England is to permit it to remain a separate State, 
 a real Republic, not a narrow Oligarchy. It is to be 
 hoped that England will be content with nothing short 
 of this. At last our Government seems awake to its 
 duties. At last it has considered the grievous wrongs 
 done to the Uitlanders. If the President's professions 
 at last mean anything, it is to be hoped that actual 
 practical results may follow from this Conference. 
 The letter of the State Secretary to Mr. Chamberlain 
 lately, in answer to his remonstrance on the dynamite 
 monopoly, is not reassuring ; but if Mr. Krliger is once 
 fully aware that England is awake and determined, 
 all may end well. The Uitlanders have been informed 
 that " her Majesty's Government cannot but express 
 their general sympathy with the memorialists," and 
 that they are earnestly desirous of seeing a speedy 
 and substantial change effected in their condition. 
 
 There are some matters in the Transvaal which may 
 help to convince Mr. Kriiger of the folly of further 
 resistance to what is right and just. Some of the 
 younger and more enlightened Boers, especially those 
 who have had the advantage of education at the Cape, 
 are apparently not satisfied with the paternal tyranny 
 of Pretoria. There is some disquiet as to the attitude 
 of the religious bodies in the Dutch community 
 towards one another. Expediency may convince
 
 POSTSCRIPT 321 
 
 even the Boer Government of the advantage of 
 justice. 
 
 The whole administration of the Transvaal requires 
 reform. For the State to flourish men must gain an 
 assurance that the reign of corruption has passed 
 away. These things, however, will come in due time, 
 if the great and indispensable change is made — i.e., if 
 there is a wise and just franchise, at least for all men 
 of European extraction ; in fact, if the Republic 
 becomes a true Eepublic instead of a sham. 
 
 The Times has justly remarked that " the proposals 
 which Mr. Krliger is understood to have laid before 
 the Volksraad for reducing the present monstrous 
 period of qualification from fourteen years to nine are 
 obviously a mockery. Yet these terms," adds the 
 Times, " were debated in the Raad in the spirit of 
 narrow and bitter hostility to the Uitlanders." We 
 may still hope that better counsels will prevail. The 
 English Government, however, must be firm. The 
 time for paltering with these matters, and making 
 promises not intended to be kept, ought to have passed. 
 We ought to have learnt by the way in which we have 
 allowed ourselves to be deluded formerly, that firmness 
 and straightforwardness are needed, and that justice 
 must at last be done. To quote the Times again, " this 
 Conference will either result In a thorough agreement, 
 or It will convince England and the world that the 
 Boers have no real Intention of keeping their promises, 
 and of granting a substantial redress of grievances to 
 the overwhelming majority of the white inhabitants of 
 the Republic." The Transvaal Is the centre of unrest 
 in South Africa. While It Is so seriously misgoverned 
 as at present It will continue so to be. England's
 
 *» 
 
 322 SKETCHES IN SOUTH AFRICA ' 
 
 mistakes and a well-intentioned unwisdom set up this 
 cause of disturbance. It is the duty of England to 
 see that this cause be removed, that justice be done, 
 that just demands be attended to; and at the present 
 moment there appears some hope — which all must 
 welcome — that this may be effected if our Government 
 shows wisdom and firmness, without any disturbance 
 of the blessings of peace. 
 
 Is that possible ? Will England do her duty ? The 
 last intelligence, as these sheets pass out of my hands, 
 is the news of Mr. Krilger's proposals and the complete 
 failure of the Conference. Already one respectable 
 newspaper seems to advise that we should add another 
 chapter to our many chapters of dishonour in South 
 Africa, and retire and let things go ! Shall we do it ? 
 Who knows ? If we do, then indeed we deserve the 
 contempt so largely given to us by the Boers, but 
 — worse — we shall earn our own. 
 
 POSTSCRIPT II 
 
 As this Second Edition passes into the press, Transvaal affairs hang 
 still in the balance. When certain names appeared as those of the 
 advisers of Mr. Kriigei-, all who care for English honour and South 
 African prosperity felt that England required to be on the alert. At 
 this moment, obscure offers of " concession " are put forward. They 
 lead any honest man to suspect — to use the language of the Times — 
 that " beneath this obscurity and complication there lurks an 
 intention on the part of President Krliger of conceding less than he 
 professes to give." Sir Alfred Milner's proposals are modest to a 
 fault. They at least should be the irreducible minimum. The new 
 " concessions " are declared, so it is reported, by Mr. Schreiner to be 
 " adequate and satisfactory " ; and by Sii- Gordon Sprigg to be 
 " totally inadequate and unsatisfactory." Englishmen should know 
 which to believe ! It is high time that Mr, Kriiger and his 
 people should be taught that England is at last awake, and that 
 their Suzerain is no longer to be trifled with. Is England to com- 
 mand or to obey in South Africa? The question is vital. Quo- 
 usque tandem ?
 
 INDEX 
 
 Aberdeen, Lord, 131 
 
 Adderley, Mr., gallant attempt of, 
 
 163, 166 
 Afrikander, Dutch and English, 92 
 
 spirit of, 281 
 Agnosticism, 307 
 Agriculture, difficulties of, 33, 43, 
 
 44 
 Albany, Settlement of, 30 
 Algoa Bay, 31, 137 
 Anstruther, Colonel, 198 
 Artisans, openings for, 33 
 Atmosphere, effect of, 18, 19 20 
 
 cold and heat of, 80 
 
 B 
 
 Barkley, Sir H., 279, 280 
 Basutos, 153, 156, 160, 162, 165, 
 
 177, 178, 286 
 Beaconsfield, Lord, 203, 239 
 Beaufort West, 103 
 ^echuanaland, 82, 91, 180, 292 
 Bethel, Commander, murder of, 87, 
 
 180 
 Bloemfontein, 154, 157, 165, 319 
 Boer Republics, confusions of, 175- 
 
 183 
 Boers, Transvaal, compared with 
 Cape Dutch, 28 
 retrogressive character of, 57 
 character of, 61, 62, 175, 176, 
 178, 181, 184, 188, 195, 197, 
 198, 199 
 contempt for English, 63 
 
 Boers, Hinterland threatened by, 
 84 
 
 124, 125, 148, 149, 150, 164; 
 
 "Old Colony," 233; Plea 
 for Transvaal, 246-248 
 
 Boksburg, visit to, 68, 69 
 Kaffir dance at, 70, 71 
 
 Boomplatz, victory of, 157, 173 
 
 Bright, Mr., 219 
 
 British Flag, 136, 144, 165, 169, 
 185, 205 
 
 British Government, policy of, 31 
 
 Browning, Robert, 239, 240 
 
 Buluwayo, 80, 81, 82 
 
 Burgers, President, 181, 182 
 
 Buxton, Mr. Fowell, 131, 132 . 
 
 
 
 Cairns, Lord, 217 
 
 Cape Colony, 82, 85, 107, 136-146 
 
 discovery of, 108 
 Capetown, the town itself, 15 ; its 
 
 neighbourhood, 16-29, 104 
 Carnarvon, Lord, 174, 280 
 Catchwords, power of, 183 
 Cathcart, General, 160, 161, 163, 
 
 173 
 Cellier, Mr., testimony of, 253 
 Cetewayo, 178, 183, 193, 282, 283, 
 
 284, 293 
 Chamberlain, Mr., 254, 261, 262, 
 
 263, 320 
 Chartered Company, 98, 314, 315 
 Chelmsford, Lord, 192, 283 
 Claremont, 27 
 Clerk, Sir George, 160, 164
 
 324 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Climate, variations of, 41, 42 
 of Johannesburg, 62, 53 
 Coach, drive on, 72-79 
 Cole, Sir Lowrie, 132 
 Colenso, Bishop, 294, 295 
 CoUey, Sir George Pomeroy, 198, 
 
 199, 200 
 Colonial Office, 128, 129, 131, 137, 
 
 140, 141, 146, 147, 150, 154, 158, 
 
 160, 161, 164, 166, 168, 174, 188, 
 
 209 
 Compensation, duty of, 134, 135 
 Constantia, 27 
 Groot, 27 
 Convention, 93, 158, 159, 165, 173, 
 
 175, 178, 224, 225, 226, 246, 265, 
 
 286, 297, 319 
 
 D 
 
 D' Almeida, 109 
 -De Beers, 102 
 Delagoa Bay, 84, 108, 109, 151, 
 
 162 
 Derby, Lord, 131, 224 
 Piamond mines, 103, 170 
 Diaz, Bartolommeo, 107 
 Difficulties, how to treat, 162 
 Downing Street, 138, 141, 154, 163, 
 
 166, 168, 172, 174, 186 
 Drakenberg, 34 
 
 Durban, description of, 34, 35, 38, 39 
 character of, 36 
 rickshaws of, 37 
 D'Urban, Sir Benjamin, 40, 132, 
 
 133, 141, 142, 143, 168 
 Dust, prevalence of, 28 
 in Johannesburg, 62 
 in Kriigersdorp, 71, 72 
 Dutch families, of the Cape, 27 
 character of colonisation, 111, 
 
 112 
 character of, 113-116 
 condition of, in Cape Colony, 
 
 66 
 East India Company, 118, 119, 
 120, 121 
 
 Dutch families, rehgion of, 112, 
 114, 116, 176, 179, 181, 196 
 settlement of, 110 
 
 E 
 
 East London, 31 
 Emsden, Mr., testimony of, 253 
 England, responsibiUty of, 285-289 
 English, treatment of Dutch, 66 
 character of, 278, 290, 291 
 energy of, 80, 81, 88, 89, 139 
 first settlers, 110 ; generous 
 treatment of Dutch, 121,122 
 language in Transvaal, 67 
 opinion easily deceived, 59, 60 
 power of colonisation, 278, 279 
 residency in Transvaal, 67, 68 
 title to South Africa, 122 ; to 
 Transvaal, 242, 243; early 
 policy towards Boers, 126- 
 136; settlers in Transvaal, 
 232 ; right to Transvaal, 242, 
 243, 248-252 
 treatment of, by Dutch, 67, 
 273, 274 
 Estcourt, 41, 42 
 
 description of, 42, 43 
 
 Federation, 167, 168, 172, 174, 186, 
 
 194, 277-289 
 Forster, Mr., support of forward 
 
 policy, 86 
 French concerns in South Africa, 
 
 119-121 
 Frere, Sir Bartle, 133, 142, 143, 156, 
 
 168, 174, 186, 187, 190, 191, 192, 
 
 198, 220, 226, 239, 282, 284, 285, 
 
 294, 300 
 Froude, Mr., effect on Federation, 
 
 281 
 
 G 
 
 Gama, Vasco da, 108 
 German? West Africa, 282, 283, (and 
 East) 286
 
 INDEX 
 
 325 
 
 Gladstone, feeling towards, 64 
 186, 190, 197, 203, 209, 211, 
 
 221, 239, 261 
 Glenelg, Lord, 131, 133, 141, 142, 
 
 143, 155 
 Good Hope Hall, 15 
 Goderich, Lord, 131 
 Governors, treatment of, 141, 155, 
 
 156, 157, 185, 186 
 Grahamstown, site of, 31 
 Grey, Lord, 155, 158, 160, 173 
 Grey, Sir George, 142, 143, 144, 
 
 167, 168, 177, 178 
 Griqualand, 103, 153, 154, 156, 165 
 Groote Shuur, 19 
 , description of, 21-27 
 
 Hepburn, Rev. Mr., 83 
 Huguenots, 112, 123 
 
 Imperial Ideas, 139, 172; true 
 
 meaning of, 284, 286 
 Indian Ocean, 30 
 Indifferentism, 307, 308 
 Ingogo Heights, 199, 205 
 Irrigation, possibility of, 89, 291 
 Isandhlwana, 190, 191, 282, 283 
 Italy, comparison with, 28 
 
 Jameson, Dr., 21, 87, 97, 257, 268, 
 262, 263 
 
 Johannesburg, approach to, 49 
 cHmate of, 51, 52 
 description of, 63, 54 
 educational difficulties in, 272 
 effect of gold in, 66 
 sanitary conditions of, 67 
 reform leaders of, 268, 260, 272 
 
 162 
 
 Joubert, General, 87, 176, 184, 192, 
 198, 207, 224 
 
 K 
 
 Kaffirs, raids of, 31 
 Wars of, 118' 
 
 126, 127, 133, 137, 138, 141 
 
 Karroo, 103, 292 
 Keate, award, 180 
 Kimberley, description of, 102, 103, 
 170 
 
 Lord, 207, 218, 246, 280 
 
 King WiUiam's Town, 31 
 Khama, 83, 84 
 Khama's country, 82 
 Kowie, site of Grahamstown, 31 
 Kriiger, poUcy towards Hollanders, 
 48,49 
 
 description of, 69-61 
 Mr. Bryce's view of, 60, n 
 success of, 62 
 
 exaggerations about, 64, 65 
 policy unmasked, 86, 87 
 
 116, 162, 168, 176, 179, 181, 
 
 182, 184, 185, 188, 190, 192, 195, 
 196, 198, 207, 220, 222, 224, 225, 
 238, 246, 246, 248, 249, 250, 261, 
 266, 257, 262, 263, 320 
 
 Mrs., 65 
 
 " Kriigerism," 240, 265, 267, 260, 
 
 287, 315 
 Kriigersdorp, visit to, 71, 72 
 coach from, 72, 73 
 
 Ladismith, 46 
 
 Laing's Nek, 46, 199, 205 
 
 Lanyon, Sir Owen, 189, 190, 194, 
 
 220 
 Lawley, Hon. Arthur, 95 
 " Lead mines," beauty of, 78 
 Leonard, Mr. C., manifesto of, 256, 
 
 261 
 Liquor Question with Natives, 300, 
 
 301 
 Little Englandism, 139, 140, 147, 
 
 156, 169, 162, 172, 285, 316 
 Livingstone, Dr., 82, 179
 
 326 
 
 INDEX 
 
 Lobengula, 94, 98, 293 
 Lytton, Sir H. B., 167 
 
 M 
 
 Mackenzie, Rev. John, 86, 87 
 Mafeking, 72, 79, 80, 81, 82, 152 
 Majuba heights, 46, 199, 205 
 Manda Valley, 46 
 Mankaroane, 85 
 Maritzburg, 39, 40 
 Mashonaland, 97 
 Matabele, 97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 152, 
 
 respect for law, 299 
 Matabeleland, 82 
 Matoppos, 93, 96, 97, 100, 102 
 Mill, John Stuart, 235, 236 
 Mines of Transvaal, 64, 88, 244, 
 245 
 
 of Rhodesia, 88, 90, 291 
 
 Missionaries, 82, 83, 86, 129, 130, 
 
 132, 137, 148, 302 
 Moflfat, Dr., 83 
 son of, 83 
 Money, its effect in politics, 189, 
 
 190, 199, 219, 220 ; power of in 
 
 Transvaal, 266-273 
 Morley, Mr., 236, 262, 285 
 Moshesh, 153, 164, 161, 166, 177 
 Mowbray, 17 
 
 its character, 19 
 Mozilekatze, 84, 152 
 Mpefu, campaign against, 48 
 Murray, Sir George, 132 
 Muizenburg, 17, 120 
 
 N 
 
 Natal, 151, 153, 157, 179, 198, 199, 
 219, 286 
 
 climate of, 39, 44 
 
 coal-fields of, 46 
 
 coast of, 33, 34 
 
 produce of, 39, 40, 43, 44 
 Natives' belief in ghosts, 47 
 
 effect of surrender on, 226-232 
 
 leaving Transvaal, 48 
 
 Natives, races, 115-117 
 
 treatment by Boers, 48, 147, 
 
 148, 169 
 treatment of, 83, 84, 151, 
 293-301 
 Newcastle, Duke of, 155, 160, 161, 
 
 162, 166, 168 
 Newlands, 17 
 Ngami Lake, 84 
 
 O 
 
 Orange Free State, 103, 147-170, 
 
 177, 178, 224, 287, 296 
 Orange River sovereignty, 144, 157, 
 
 159, 160-164, 173 
 
 Packington, Sir John, 160 
 
 Party Government, weakness of, 
 
 235-240 
 Philips, Dr., 132, 148, 164 
 Pines, stone, 18 
 
 avenues of, 19 
 
 woods of, 28 
 
 Pitsani, 98 
 
 Port Ehzabeth, Settlement of, 31, 
 32,34 
 
 description of, 32, 33 
 Portuguese, 107-111 
 Prestige, 218, 242 
 Pretoria, description of, 57, 58, 169, 
 
 199 
 Pretorius, 84, 85 
 
 Q 
 
 QUATHLAMBA, 18, 30 
 
 description of, 34 
 Queenstown, 31 
 
 R 
 
 Raid, route of, 79 
 
 raids, Boer, 84, 85, 87 
 Railways in Natal, 46 
 
 to Buluwayo, 81, 82
 
 INDEX 
 
 327 
 
 Religion in South Africa, 304-309 
 Republic, South African, 158, 170, 
 175, 179 
 
 New, 167, 168 
 
 Retrocession, professed reasons for, 
 202 ; reasons to condemn, 234, 
 235 ; excuses for, 235-243 
 Rhodes, Rt. Hon. Cecil J., 19, 20, 
 21, 85, 86, 87, 95, 97, 99, 140, 145, 
 180, 226, 257, 258, 261, 262, 263 
 anecdotes of, 21, 25 
 as capitalist, 56 
 character of, 312-315 
 influence on natives, 297, 299 
 Rhodesia, 82, 180, 286 
 
 description of, 91, 94, 95 
 hopes for, 92-94 
 needs of, 93 
 Rickshaws, 37 
 Roberts, Sir F., 206 
 Robin Island, 15 
 Robinson, Sir Hercules, 87, 156, 
 
 258 
 Rondebosch, 17 
 
 S 
 
 Sabi River, 108 
 
 Salisbury, 82 
 
 Schreiner, Mr., 254 
 
 Sea Point, 17 
 
 Secocceni, 181, 182, 184, 192 
 
 Shashi River, 82 
 
 Shepstone, Sir Theophilus, 182-189 
 
 Silver Trees, 28 
 
 Simon's Bay, 28, 29 
 
 Slagter's Nek. 124, 125, 126 
 
 Slaves, 117, 118, 148, 178 
 
 Slave trade, 133, 135, 147 
 
 Smith, Sir Harry, 166, 157, 159, 160, 
 
 173 
 Snakes, 44 
 
 dangers from, 45 
 Sofala, 108 
 South Africa, 15 
 
 character of central part, 34 
 
 hospitality in, 38 
 
 South Africa, social aspect of, 302, 
 
 304 
 South African College, 15 
 Spring-Rice, Mr. T., 131 
 Sprints, 77, 96 (Bronkhurst), 198 
 St. James, 17 
 
 St. John's River, description of, 31 
 Storms in South Africa, 74-77 
 Stupidity, English, character of, 
 
 195, 196 
 
 Table Bay, 110, 121, 155 
 Table Mountain, 15 
 
 its form, 16-17 
 
 its range, 17 
 
 Tanganyika, 82 ^ 
 
 Team driving, 73, 78, 79 
 
 Times, testimony of, 206, 207, 291 
 
 on Kriiger's proposals, 321 
 Transvaal, change on entering, 48 
 
 condition of EngUsh in, 66, 
 
 encroachments of, 84-87 
 
 high prices in, 49, 81 
 
 mode of finance, 67, 266-275 
 Transvaal, 98, 102, 112, 114, 115, 
 
 168 
 Trek, Great, 135, 136, 143, 147, 16a- 
 
 163, 173 
 Tshaka, 161, 293 
 
 U 
 
 UiTiiANDERS, grievances of, 55, 67, 
 88, 246 ; plea for, 260-256, 258, 
 266 
 
 Ulundi, 192, 193 
 
 Umzimvoobu, gates of, 31 
 
 Van der Byl, family of, 27 
 Veldt, idea of, 69 
 
 effect on imagination, 73, 74 
 Vitteboomen, 27 
 Volksraad, description of, 67 
 Vryburg, 82
 
 328 
 
 INDEX 
 
 w 
 
 Warren, Sir Charles, 87, 180 
 
 Wet, De, Sir J., 258 
 
 White, Mr. C. K., letters of, 211- 
 
 217 
 Willows, great size of, 41, 58 
 Witwatersrand, appearance of, 49,66 
 characteristics of, 54 
 
 190 
 
 Wolseley, Sir Garnet, 192, 193, 194, 
 
 198, 209, 219, 284 , 
 
 Wood, Sir Evelyn, 199, 200, 205, 223 
 Wodehouse, Sir P., 85 
 Woodstock, 17 
 
 its Hospital, 18 
 Wynberg, 17 
 
 Z 
 
 Zambesi, 152, 283, 312 
 
 Zulus, appearance of, 37 
 
 84, 151, 153, 173, 178, 182, 190, 
 
 192, 194, 219, 282, 283, 284, 294, 
 
 295 
 
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