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Title: Cetywayo and his White Neighbours
       Remarks on Recent Events in Zululand, Natal, and the Transvaal

Author: H. Rider Haggard

Release Date: August, 2005 [EBook #8667]
[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
[This file was first posted on July 31, 2003]

Edition: 10

Language: English

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS ***




Produced by John Bickers and Dagny




CETYWAYO AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS
By H. Rider Haggard

First Published 1882.

Etext prepared by John Bickers, jbickers@ihug.co.nz
              and Dagny, dagnypg@hotmail.com



                               CETYWAYO

                       AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS

                                 OR,

                REMARKS ON RECENT EVENTS IN ZULULAND,
                      NATAL, AND THE TRANSVAAL.

                                  BY

                           H. RIDER HAGGARD



 "I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating
  in this way, for a change of Government in England may give them
  again the old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance
  of English politics than such an idea. I tell you there is no
  Government--Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical--who
  would dare, under any circumstances, to give back this country
  (the Transvaal). They would not dare, because the English people
  would not allow them."--(/Extract from Speech of Sir Garnet
  Wolseley, delivered at a Public Banquet in Pretoria, on the 17th
  December 1879./)

 "There was a still stronger reason than that for not receding (from
  the Transvaal); it was impossible to say what calamities such a
  step as receding might not cause. . . . For such a risk he could
  not make himself responsible. . . . Difficulties with the Zulu and
  the frontier tribes would again arise, and looking as they must to
  South Africa as a whole, the Government, after a careful
  consideration of the question, came to the conclusion that we
  could not relinquish the Transvaal."--(/Extract from Speech of
  Lord Kimberley in the House of Lords, 24th May 1880. H. P. D.,
  vol. cclii., p. 208./)



                           PREPARER'S NOTE

  This text was prepared from an 1882 edition published by Trubner &
  Co., Ludgate Hill, London.



                             INTRODUCTION

The writer on Colonial Affairs is naturally, to some extent,
discouraged by the knowledge that the subject is an unattractive one
to a large proportion of the reading public. It is difficult to get up
anything beyond a transient interest in the affairs of our Colonial
dependencies; indeed, I believe that the mind of the British public
was more profoundly moved by the exodus of Jumbo, than it would be
were one of them to become the scene of some startling catastrophe.
This is the more curious, inasmuch as, putting aside all sentimental
considerations, which indeed seem to be out of harmony with the age we
live in: the trade done, even with such comparatively insignificant
colonies as our South African possessions, amounts to a value of many
millions of pounds sterling per annum. Now, as the preachers of the
new gospel that hails from Birmingham and Northampton have frequently
told us, trade is the life-blood of England, and must be fostered at
any price. It is therefore surprising that, looking on them in the
light of a commercial speculation, in which aspect (saith the
preacher) they are alone worthy of notice, a keener interest is not
taken in the well-being and development of the Colonies. We have only
to reflect to see how great are the advantages that the Mother Country
derives from the possession of her Colonial Empire; including, as they
do, a home for her surplus children, a vast and varied market for her
productions, and a wealth of old-fashioned loyalty and deep attachment
to the Old Country--"home," as it is always called--which, even if it
is out of date, might prove useful on emergency. It seems therefore,
almost a pity that some Right Honourable Gentlemen and their followers
should adopt the tone they do with reference to the Colonies. After
all, there is an odd shuffling of the cards going on now in England;
and great as she is, her future looks by no means sunny. Events in
these latter days develop themselves very quickly; and though the idea
may, at the present moment, seem absurd, surely it is possible that,
what between the rapid spread of Radical ideas, the enmity of Ireland,
the importation of foreign produce, and the competition of foreign
trade, to say nothing of all the unforeseen accidents and risks of the
future, the Englishmen of, say, two generations hence, may not find
their country in her present proud position. Perhaps, and stranger
things have happened in the history of the world, she may by that time
be under the protection of those very Colonies for which their
forefathers had such small affection.

The position of South Africa with reference to the Mother Country is
somewhat different to that of her sister Colonies, in that she is
regarded, not so much with apathy tinged with dislike, as with
downright disgust. This feeling has its foundation in the many
troubles and expenses in which this country has been recently
involved, through local complications in the Cape, Zululand, and the
Transvaal: and indeed is little to be wondered at. But, whilst a large
portion of the press has united with a powerful party of politicians
in directing a continuous stream of abuse on to the heads of the white
inhabitants of South Africa, whom they do not scruple to accuse of
having created the recent disturbances in order to reap a money profit
from them: it does not appear to have struck anybody that the real
root of this crop of troubles might, after all, be growing nearer
home. The truth of the matter is, that native and other problems in
South Africa have, till quite lately, been left to take their chance,
and solve themselves as best they might; except when they have, in a
casual manner, been made the /corpus vile/ of some political
experiment. It was during this long period of inaction, when each
difficulty--such as the native question in Natal--was staved off to be
dealt with by the next Government, that the seed was sown of which we
are at present reaping the fruit. In addition to this, matters have
recently been complicated by the elevation of South African affairs to
the dignity of an English party question. Thus, the Transvaal
Annexation was made use of as a war-cry in the last general election,
a Boer rebellion was thereby encouraged, which resulted in a complete
reversal of our previous policy.

Now, if there is any country dependent on England that requires the
application to the conduct of its affairs of a firm, considered, and
consistent policy, that country is South Africa. Boers and Natives are
quite incapable of realising the political necessities of any of our
parties, or of understanding why their true interests should be
sacrificed in order to minister to those necessities. It is our
wavering and uncertain policy, as applied to peoples, who look upon
every hesitating step as a sign of fear and failing dominion, that, in
conjunction with previous postponement and neglect, has really caused
our troubles in South Africa. For so long as the affairs of that
country are influenced by amateurs and sentimentalists, who have no
real interest in it, and whose knowledge of its circumstances and
conditions of life is gleaned from a few blue-books, superficially got
up to enable the reader to indite theoretical articles to the
"Nineteenth Century," or deliver inaccurate speeches in the House of
Commons--for so long will those troubles continue.

If I may venture to make a suggestion, the affairs of South Africa
should be controlled by a Board or Council, like that which formerly
governed India, composed of moderate members of both parties, with an
admixture of men possessing practical knowledge of the country. I do
not know if any such arrangement would be possible under our
constitution, but the present system of government, by which the
control of savage races fluctuates in obedience of every variation of
English party politics, is most mischievous in its results.

The public, however, is somewhat tired of South Africa, and the reader
may, perhaps, wonder why he should be troubled with more literature on
the subject. I can assure him that these pages are not written in
order to give me an opportunity of airing my individual experiences or
ideas. Their object is shortly--(1.) To give a true history of the
events attendant on the Annexation of the Transvaal, which act has so
frequently been assigned to the most unworthy motives, and has never
yet been fairly described by any one who was in a position to know the
facts; (2.) To throw as much publicity as possible on the present
disgraceful state of Zululand, resulting from our recent settlement in
that country; (3.) To show all interested in the Kafir races what has
been the character of our recent surrender in the Transvaal, and what
its effect will be on our abandoned native subjects living in that
country.

It may, perhaps, seem an odd statement, considering that I have lived
in various parts of South Africa for about six years, and have,
perhaps, enjoyed exceptional advantage in forming my opinions, when I
say that my chief fear in publishing the present volume, is lest my
knowledge of my subject in all its bearings should not be really equal
to the task. It is, I know, the fashion to treat South African
difficulties as being simple of solution. Thus it only took Sir Garnet
Wolseley a few weeks to understand the whole position of Zulu affairs,
and to execute his memorable settlement of that country: whilst
eminent writers appear to be able, in scampering from Durban /via/
Kimberley to Cape Town in a post-cart, to form decided opinions upon
every important question in South Africa. The power of thus rapidly
assimilating intricate knowledge, and of seeing straight through a
wall whilst ordinary individuals are still criticising the bricks, is
no doubt one of the peculiar privileges of genius--which is, perhaps
fortunately for South Africa--rare. To the common run of mind,
however, the difficulty of forming a sound and accurate judgment on
the interlacing problems that disclose themselves to the student of
the politics of South-Eastern Africa, is exceedingly great and the
work of years.

But although it is by no means perfect, I think that my knowledge of
these problems and of their imminent issues is sufficiently intimate
to justify me in making a prophecy--namely, that unless the native and
other questions of South-Eastern Africa are treated with more honest
intelligence, and on a more settled plan than it has hitherto been
thought necessary to apply to them, the British taxpayer will find
that he has /by no means/ heard the last of that country and its wars.

There is one more point to which, although it hardly comes within the
scope of this volume, I have made some allusion, and which I venture
to suggest deserves the consideration of thinking Englishmen. I refer
to the question of the desirability of allowing the Dutch in South
Africa, who are already numerically the strongest, to continue to
advance with such rapid strides towards political supremacy. That the
object of this party is to reduce Englishmen and English ideas to a
subordinate position in the State, if not actually to rid itself of
our rule and establish a republic, there is no manner of doubt.
Indeed, there exists a powerful organisation, the Africander Bond,
which has its headquarters in the Cape, and openly devotes its
energies to forwarding these ends, by offering a sturdy opposition to
the introduction of English emigrants and the use of the English
language, whilst striving in every way to excite class prejudices and
embitter the already strained relations between Englishman and Boer.
In considering this question, it is as well not to lose sight of the
fact that the Dutch are as a body, at heart hostile to our rule,
chiefly because they cannot tolerate our lenient behaviour to the
native races. Should they by any chance cease to be the subjects of
England, they will, I believe, become her open enemies. This of itself
would be comparatively unimportant, were it not for the fact that, in
the event of the blocking of the Suez Canal, it would be, to say the
least, inconvenient that the Cape should be in the hands of a hostile
population.

In conclusion, I wish to state that this book is not written for any
party purpose. I have tried to describe a state of affairs which has
for the most part come under my own observation, and events in which I
have been interested, and at times engaged. That the naked truths of
such a business as the Transvaal surrender, or of the present
condition of Zululand, are unpleasant reading for an Englishman, there
is no doubt; but, so far as these pages are concerned, they owe none
of their ugliness to undue colouring or political bias.

Windham Club, St. James' Square,
           June 1882.





                               CETYWAYO

                       AND HIS WHITE NEIGHBOURS




                   CETYWAYO AND THE ZULU SETTLEMENT

  Claims of affairs of Zululand to attention--Proposed visit of
  Cetywayo to England--Chaka--His method of government--His death--
  Dingaan--Panda--Battle of the Tugela--John Dunn--Nomination of
  Cetywayo--His coronation--His lady advocates--Their attacks on
  officials--Was Cetywayo bloodthirsty?--Cause of the Zulu war--Zulu
  military system--States of feeling amongst the Zulus previous to
  the war--Cetywayo's position--His enemies--His intentions on the
  Transvaal--Their frustration by Sir T. Shepstone--Cetywayo's
  interview with Mr. Fynney--His opinion of the Boers--The
  annexation in connection with the Zulu war--The Natal colonists
  and the Zulu war--Sir Bartle Frere--The Zulu war--Cetywayo's half-
  heartedness--Sir Garnet Wolseley's settlement--Careless selection
  of chiefs--The Sitimela plot--Chief John Dunn--Appointment of Mr.
  Osborn as British Resident--His difficult position--Folly and
  cruelty of our settlement--Disappointment of the Zulus--Object and
  result of settlement--Slaughter in Zululand--Cetywayo's son--
  Necessity of proper settlement of Zululand--Should Cetywayo be
  restored?

Zululand and the Zulu settlement still continue to receive some
attention from the home public, partly because those responsible for
the conduct of affairs are not quite at ease about it, and partly
because of the agitation in this country for the restoration of
Cetywayo.

There is no doubt that the present state of affairs in Zululand is a
subject worthy of close consideration, not only by those officially
connected with them, but by the public at large. Nobody, either at
home or in the colonies, wishes to see another Zulu war, or anything
approaching to it. Unless, however, the affairs of Zululand receive a
little more attention, and are superintended with a little more
humanity and intelligence than they are at present, the public will
sooner or later be startled by some fresh catastrophe. Then will
follow the usual outcry, and the disturbance will be attributed to
every cause under the sun except the right one--want of common
precautions.

The Zulu question is a very large one, and I only propose discussing
so much of it as necessary to the proper consideration of the proposed
restoration of Cetywayo to his throne.

The king is now coming to England,[*] where he will doubtless make a
very good impression, since his appearance is dignified, and his
manners, as is common among Zulus of high rank, are those of a
gentleman. It is probable that his visit will lead to a popular
agitation in his favour, and very possibly to an attempt on the part
of the English Government to reinstate him in his kingdom. Already
Lady Florence Dixie waves his banner, and informs the public through
the columns of the newspapers how good, how big, and how beautiful he
is, and "F. W. G. X." describes in enthusiastic terms his pearl-like
teeth. But as there are interests involved in the question of his
reinstatement which are, I think, more important than Cetywayo's
personal proportions of mind or body, and as the results of such a
step would necessarily be very marked and far-reaching, it is as well
to try and understand the matter in all its bearing before anything is
done.

[*] Since the above was written the Government have at the last moment
    decided to postpone Cetywayo's visit to this country, chiefly on
    account of the political capital which was being made out of the
    event by agitators in Zululand. The project of bringing the king
    to England does not, however, appear to have been abandoned.

There has been a great deal of special pleading about Cetywayo. Some
writers, swayed by sentiment, and that spirit of partisanship that the
sight of royalty in distress always excites, whitewash him in such a
persistent manner that their readers are left under the impression
that the ex-king is a model of injured innocence and virtue. Others
again, for political reasons, paint him very black, and predict that
his restoration would result in the destruction, or at the least,
disorganisation, of our South African empire. The truth in this, as in
the majority of political controversies, lies somewhere between these
two extremes, though it is difficult to say exactly where.

To understand the position of Cetywayo both with reference to his
subjects and the English Government, it will be necessary to touch,
though briefly, on the history of Zululand since it became a nation,
and also on the principal events of the ex-king's reign.

Chaka, Cetywayo's great uncle, was the first Zulu king, and doubtless
one of the most remarkable men that has ever filled a throne since the
days of the Pharaohs. When he came to his chieftainship, about 1813,
the Zulu people consisted of a single small tribe; when his throne
became vacant in 1828, their name had become a living terror, and they
were the greatest Black power in South Africa. The invincible armies
of this African Attila had swept north and south, east and west, had
slaughtered more than a million human beings, and added vast tracts of
country to his dominions. Wherever his warriors went, the blood of
men, women, and children was poured out without stay or stint; indeed
he reigned like a visible Death, the presiding genius of a saturnalia
of slaughter.

His methods of government and warfare were peculiar and somewhat
drastic, but most effective. As he conquered a tribe, he enrolled its
remnants in his army, so that they might in their turn help to conquer
others. He armed his regiments with the short stabbing assegai,
instead of the throwing assegai which they had been accustomed to use,
and kept them subject to an iron discipline. If a man was observed to
show the slightest hesitation about coming to close quarters with the
enemy, he was executed as soon as the fight was over. If a regiment
had the misfortune to be defeated, whether by its own fault or not, it
would on its return to headquarters find that a goodly proportion of
the wives and children belonging to it had been beaten to death by
Chaka's orders, and that he was waiting their arrival to complete his
vengeance by dashing out their brains. The result was, that though
Chaka's armies were occasionally annihilated, they were rarely
defeated, and they never ran away. I will not enter in the history of
his numerous cruelties, and indeed they are not edifying. Amongst
other things, like Nero, he killed his own mother, and then caused
several persons to be executed because they did not show sufficient
sorrow at her death.

At length, in 1828, he too suffered the fate he had meted out to so
many, and was killed by his brothers, Dingaan and Umhlangan, by the
hands of one Umbopa. He was murdered in his hut, and as his life
passed out of him he is reported to have addressed these words to his
brothers, who were watching his end: "What! do you stab me, my
brothers, dogs of mine own house, whom I have fed? You hope to be
kings; but though you do kill me, think not that your line shall reign
for long. I tell you that I hear the sound of the feet of the great
white people, and that this land shall be trodden by them." He then
expired, but his last words have always been looked upon as a prophecy
by the Zulus, and indeed they have been partly fulfilled.

Having in his turn killed Umhlangan, his brother by blood and in
crime, Dingaan took possession of the throne. He was less pronounced
than Chaka in his foreign policy, though he seems to have kept up the
family reputation as regards domestic affairs. It was he who,
influenced, perhaps, by Chaka's dying prophecy about white men,
massacred Retief, the Boer leader, and his fifty followers, in the
most treacherous manner, and then falling on the emigrant Boers in
Natal, murdered men, women, and children to the number of nearly six
hundred. There seems, however, to have been but little love lost
between any of the sons of Usengangacona (the father of Chaka,
Dingaan, Umhlangan, and Panda), for in due course Panda, his brother,
conspired with the Boers against Dingaan, and overthrew him with their
assistance. Dingaan fled, and was shortly afterwards murdered in
Swaziland, and Panda ascended the throne in 1840.

Panda was a man of different character to the remainder of his race,
and seems to have been well content to reign in peace, only killing
enough people to keep up his authority. Two of his sons, Umbelazi and
Cetywayo, of whom Umbelazi was the elder and Panda's favourite, began,
as their father grew old, to quarrel about the succession to the
crown. On the question being referred to Panda, he is reported to have
remarked that when two young cocks quarrelled the best thing they
could do was to fight it out. Acting on this hint, each prince
collected his forces, Panda sending down one of his favourite
regiments to help Umbelazi. The fight took place in 1856 on the banks
of the Tugela. A friend of the writer, happening to be on the Natal
side of the river the day before the battle, and knowing it was going
to take place, swam his horse across in the darkness, taking his
chance of the alligators, and hid in some bush on a hillock commanding
the battlefield. It was a hazardous proceeding, but the sight repaid
the risk, though he describes it as very awful, more especially when
the regiment of veterans sent by Panda joined in the fray. It came up
at the charge, between two and three thousand strong, and was met near
his hiding-place by one of Cetywayo's young regiments. The noise of
the clash of their shields was like the roar of the sea, but the old
regiment, after a struggle in which men fell thick and fast,
annihilated the other, and passed on with thinned ranks. Another of
Cetywayo's regiments took the place of the one that had been
destroyed, and this time the combat was fierce and long, till victory
again declared for the veterans' spears. But they had brought it dear,
and were in no position to continue their charge; so the leaders of
that brave battalion formed its remnants into a ring, and, like the
Scotch at Flodden--


 "The stubborn spearmen still made good
  The dark, impenetrable wood;
  Each stepping where his comrade stood
    The instant that he fell,"


till there were none left to fall. The ground around them was piled
with dead.

But this gallant charge availed Umbelazi but little, and by degrees
Cetywayo's forces pressed his men back to the banks of the Tugela, and
finally into it. Thousands fell upon the field and thousands perished
in the river. When my friend swam back that night, he had nothing to
fear from the alligators: they were too well fed. Umbelazi died on the
battlefield of a broken heart, at least it is said that no wound could
be found on his person. He probably expired in a fit brought on by
anxiety of mind and fatigue. A curious story is told of Cetywayo with
reference to his brother's death. After the battle was over a Zulu
from one of his own regiments presented himself before him with many
salutations, saying, "O prince! now canst thou sleep in peace, for
Umbelazi is dead." "How knowest thou that he is dead?" said Cetywayo.
"Because I slew him with my own hand," replied the Zulu. "Thou dog!"
said the prince, "thou hast dared to lift thy hand against the blood
royal, and now thou makest it a matter of boasting. Wast thou not
afraid? By Chaka's head thou shalt have thy reward. Lead him away."
And the Zulu, who was but lying after all, having possessed himself of
the bracelets off the dead prince's body, was instantly executed. The
probability is that Cetywayo acted thus more from motives of policy
than from affection to his brother, whom indeed he hoped to destroy.
It did not do to make too light of the death of an important prince:
Umbelazi's fate to-day might be Cetywayo's fate to-morrow. This story
bears a really remarkable resemblance to that of the young man who
slew Saul, the Lord's anointed, and suffered death on account thereof
at the hands of David.

This battle is also memorable as being the occasion of the first
public appearance of Mr. John Dunn, now the most important chief in
Zululand, and, be it understood, the unknown quantity in all future
transactions in that country. At that time Dunn was a retainer of
Umbelazi's, and fought on his side in the Tugela battle. After the
fight, however, he went over to Cetywayo and became his man. From that
time till the outbreak of the Zulu war he remained in Zululand as
adviser to Cetywayo, agent for the Natal Government, and purveyor of
firearms to the nation at large. As soon as Cetywayo got into trouble
with the Imperial Government, Dunn, like a prudent man, deserted him
and came over to us. In reward Sir Garnet Wolseley advanced him to the
most important chieftainship in Zululand, which he hopes to make a
stepping-stone to the vacant throne. His advice was largely followed
by Sir Garnet in the bestowal of the other chieftainships, and was
naturally not quite disinterested. He has already publicly announced
his intention of resisting the return of the king, his old master, by
force of arms, should the Government attempt to reinstate him.

A period of sixteen years elapsed before Cetywayo reaped the fruits of
the battle of the Tugela by succeeding to the throne on the death of
his father, Panda, the only Zulu monarch who has as yet come to his
end by natural causes.

In 1861, however, Cetywayo was, at the instance of the Natal
Government, formally nominated heir to the throne by Mr. Shepstone, it
being thought better that a fixed succession should be established
with the concurrence of the Natal Government than that matters should
be left to take their chance on Panda's death. Mr. Shepstone
accomplished his mission successfully, though at great personal risk.
For some unknown reason, Cetywayo, who was blown up with pride, was at
first adverse to being thus nominated, and came down to the royal
kraal with three thousand armed followers, meaning, it would see, to
kill Mr. Shepstone, whom he had never before met. Panda, the old king,
had an inkling of what was to happen, but was powerless to control his
son, so he confined himself to addressing the assembled multitude in
what I have heard Sir Theophilus Shepstone say was the most eloquent
and touching speech he ever listened to, the subject being the duties
of hospitality. He did not at the time know how nearly the speech
concerned him, or that its object was to preserve his life. This,
however, soon became manifest when, exception being taken to some
breech of etiquette by one of his servants, he was surrounded by a mob
of shouting savages, whose evident object was to put an end to him and
those with him. For two hours he remained sitting there, expecting
that every moment would be his last, but showing not the slightest
emotion, till at length he got an opportunity of speaking, when he
rose and said, "I know that you mean to kill me; it is an easy thing
to do; but I tell you Zulus, that for every drop of my blood that
falls to the ground, a hundred men will come out of the sea yonder,
from the country of which Natal is one of the cattle-kraals, and will
bitterly avenge me." As he spoke he turned and pointed towards the
ocean, and so intense was the excitement that animated it, that the
whole great multitude turned with him and stared towards the horizon,
as though they expected to see the long lines of avengers creeping
across the plains. Silence followed his speech; his imperturbability
and his well-timed address had saved his life. From that day his name
was a power in the land.[*]

[*] A very good description of this scene was published in the /London
    Quarterly Review/ in 1878. The following is an extract:

    "In the centre of those infuriated savages he (Mr. Shepstone) sat
    for more than two hours outwardly calm, giving confidence to his
    solitary European companion by his own quietness, only once
    saying, 'Why, Jem, you're afraid,' and imposing restraint on his
    native attendants. Then, when they had shouted, as Cetywayo
    himself said in our hearing, 'till their throats were so sore that
    they could shout no more,' they departed. But Sompseu (Mr.
    Shepstone) had conquered. Cetywayo, in describing the scene to us
    and our companion on a visit to him a short time afterwards, said,
    'Sompseu is a great man: no man but he could have come through
    that day alive.' Similar testimony we have had from some of the
    Zulu assailants, from the native attendants, and the companion
    above mentioned. Next morning Cetywayo humbly begged an interview,
    which was not granted but on terms of unqualified submission. From
    that day Cetywayo has submitted to British control in the measure
    in which it has been exercised, and has been profuse in his
    expressions of respect and submission to Mr. T. Shepstone; but in
    his heart, as occasional acts and speeches show, he writhes under
    the restraint, and bitterly hates the man who imposed it."

It was on this occasion that a curious incident occurred which
afterwards became of importance. Among the Zulus there exists a
certain salute, "Bayete," which it is the peculiar and exclusive
privilege of Zulu royalty to receive. The word means, or is supposed
to mean, "Let us bring tribute." On Mr. Shepstone's visit the point
was raised by the Zulu lawyers as to what salute he should receive. It
was not consistent with their ideas that the nominator of their future
king should be greeted with any salute inferior to the Bayete, and
this, as plain Mr. Shepstone, it was impossible to give him. The
difficulty was obvious, but the Zulu mind proved equal to it. He was
solemnly announced to be a Zulu king, and to stand in the place of the
great founder of their nation, Chaka. Who was so fit to proclaim the
successor to the throne as the great predecessor of the prince
proclaimed? To us this seems a strange, not to say ludicrous, way of
settling a difficulty, but there was nothing in it repugnant to Zulu
ideas. Odd as it was, it invested Mr. Shepstone with all the
attributes of a Zulu king, such as the power to make laws, order
executions, &c., and those attributes in the eyes of Zulus he still
retains.

In 1873 messengers came down from Zululand to the Natal Government,
bringing with them the "king's head," that is, a complimentary present
of oxen, announcing the death of Panda. "The nation," they said, "was
wandering; it wanders and wanders, and wanders again;" the spirit of
the king had departed from them; his words had ceased, and "none but
children were left." The message ended with a request that Mr.
Shepstone, as Cetywayo's "father," should come and instal him on the
throne. A month or two afterwards there came another message, again
requesting his attendance; and on the request being refused by the
Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, there came a third message, to which the
Natal Government returned a favourable answer.

Accordingly Mr. Shepstone proceeded to Zululand, and on the 3rd
September 1873 proclaimed Cetywayo king with all due pomp and
ceremony. It was on this occasion that, in the presence of, and with
the enthusiastic assent of, both king and people, Mr. Shepstone,
"standing in the place of Cetywayo's father, and so representing the
nation," enunciated the four following articles, with a view to
putting an end to the continual slaughter that darkens the history of
Zululand:--

1. That the indiscriminate shedding of blood shall cease in the land.

2. That no Zulu shall be condemned without open trial, and the public
examination of witnesses for and against, and that he shall have a
right to appeal to the king.

3. That no Zulu's life shall be taken without the previous knowledge
and consent of the king, after such trial has taken place, and the
right of appeal has been allowed to be exercised.

4. That for minor crimes the loss of property, all or a portion, shall
be substituted for the punishment of death.

Nobody will deny that these were admirable regulations, and that they
were received as such at the time by the Zulu king and people. But
there is no doubt that their ready acceptance by the king was a
sacrifice to his desire to please "his father Sompseu" (Mr. Shepstone)
and the Natal Government, with both of which he was particularly
anxious to be on good terms. He has never adhered to these coronation
regulations, or promises, as they have been called, and the
probability is that he never intended to adhere to them. However this
may be, I must say that personally I have been unable to share the
views of those who see in the breach of these so-called promises a
justification of the Zulu war. After all, what do they amount to, and
what guarantee was there for their fulfilment? They merely represent a
very laudable attempt on the part of the Natal Government to keep a
restraining hand on Zulu cruelty, and to draw the bonds of friendship
as tight as the idiosyncrasies of a savage state would allow. The
Government of Natal had no right to dictate the terms to a Zulu king
on which he was to hold his throne. The Zulu nation was an independent
nation, and had never been conquered or annexed by Natal. If the
Government of that colony was able by friendly negotiation to put a
stop to Zulu slaughter, it was a matter for congratulation on
humanitarian grounds; but it is difficult to follow the argument that
because it was not able, or was only partially able, to do so,
therefore England was justified in making war on the Zulus. On the
other hand, it is perfectly ludicrous to observe the way in which
Cetywayo's advocates overshoot the mark in arguing this and similar
points; especially his lady advocates, whose writings upon these
subjects bear about the same resemblance to the truth that the speech
to the jury by the counsel for the defence in a hopeless murder case
does to the summing up of the judge. Having demonstrated that the
engagements entered into by Cetywayo meant nothing, they will proceed
to show that, even if they did, cold-blooded murder, when perpetrated
by a black paragon like Cetywayo, does not amount to a great offence.
In the mouths of these gentle apologists for slaughter, massacre
masquerades under the name of "executions," and is excused on the plea
of being, "after all," only the enforcement of "an old custom." Again,
the employment of such phrases, in a solemn answer to a remonstrance
from the Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, as "I do kill; but do not
consider that I have done anything yet in the way of killing. . . . I
have not yet begun; I have yet to kill," are shown to mean nothing at
all, and to be "nothing more than the mere irritation of the
moment."[*] Perhaps those of Cetywayo's subjects who suffered on
account of this mere momentary irritation took a more serious view of
it. It is but fair to the particular authority from whom I quote (Miss
Colenso's "History of the Zulu War," pp. 230-231) to state that she
considers this reply from the "usually courteous and respectful king"
as "no doubt petulant and wanting in due respect." Considering that
the message in question (which can be read in the footnote) was a
point-blank defiance of Sir Henry Bulwer, admitting that there had
been slaughter, but that it was nothing compared to what was coming,
most people will not think Miss Colenso's description of it too
strong.

[*] The following is the text of the message:--

    "Did I ever tell Mr. Shepstone I would not kill? Did he tell the
    white people that I made such an arrangement? Because if he did he
    has deceived them. I do kill; but do not consider that I have done
    anything yet in the way of killing. Why do the white people start
    at nothing? I have not yet begun; I have yet to kill; it is the
    custom of our nation, and I shall not depart from it. Why does the
    Governor of Natal speak to me about my laws? Do I go to Natal and
    dictate to him about his laws? I shall not agree to any laws or
    rules from Natal, and by doing so throw the large kraal which I
    govern into the water. My people will not listen unless they are
    killed; and while wishing to be friends with the English, I do not
    agree to give my people over to be governed by laws sent to me by
    them. Have I not asked the English to allow me to wash my spears
    since the death of my father 'Umpandi,' and they have kept playing
    with me all this time, treating me like a child? Go back and tell
    the English that I shall now act on my own account, and if they
    wish me to agree to their laws, I shall leave and become a
    wanderer; but before I go it will be seen, as I shall not go
    without having acted. Go back and tell the white men this, and let
    them hear it well. The Governor of Natal and I are equal; he is
    Governor of Natal, and I am Governor here."

To admit that the Zulu king has the right to kill as many of his
subjects as he chooses, so long as they will tolerate being killed, is
one thing, but it is certainly surprising to find educated Europeans
adopting a line of defence of these proceedings on his behalf that
amounts to a virtual expression of approval, or at least of easy
toleration. Has philanthropy a deadening effect on the moral sense,
that the people who constitute themselves champions for the
unfortunate Zulu king and the oppressed Boers cannot get on to their
hobbies without becoming blind to the difference between right and
wrong? Really an examination of the utterances of these champions of
oppressed innocence would almost lead one to that conclusion. On the
one hand they suppress and explain away facts, and on the other supply
their want of argument by reckless accusations and vicious attacks on
the probity of such of their fellow-Englishmen, especially if in
office, as have had the misfortune to pursue a course of action or to
express opinions not pleasing to them or their proteges. For instance,
an innocent and unenlightened reader of the very interesting work from
which I have just quoted probably lays it down with the conviction
that both Sir Bartle Frere and Sir Theophilus Shepstone are very
wicked men and full of bad motives, and will wonder how a civilised
Government could employ such monsters of bloodthirsty duplicity. As he
proceeds he will also find that there is not much to be said for the
characters of either Sir Garnet Wolseley or Lord Chelmsford; whilst as
regards such small fry as Mr. John Shepstone, the present Secretary of
Native Affairs in Natal, after passing through Miss Colenso's mill
their reputations come out literally in rags and tatters. He will be
shocked to find that not only did one and all of these gentlemen make
gross errors of judgment, but, trusted and distinguished servants of
their country as they are, they were one and all actuated by dark
personal motives that will not bear examination.

Heaven help the members of the Shepstone family when they fall into
the hands of the gentler but more enthusiastic sex, for Miss Colenso
is not their only foe. In a recent publication called a "Defence of
Zululand and its Kings," Lady Florence Dixie gibbets Mr. Henrique
Shepstone, and points him out to be execrated by a Cetywayo-
worshipping public, because the ex-king is to be sent to England in
his charge; when, according to Lady Dixie, he will certainly be
scoundrel enough to misinterpret all that Cetywayo says for his own
ends, and will thereby inflict a "cruel wrong" upon him, and render
his visit to England "perfectly meaningless." Perhaps it has never
occurred to Lady Dixie that this is a very serious charge to bring
against an honourable man, whose reputation is probably as dear to him
as the advancement of Cetywayo's cause is to her. It is all very well
to be enthusiastic, but ladies should remember that there are other
people in the world to be considered beside Cetywayo.

As regards the question of Cetywayo's bloodthirstiness, which is so
strenuously denied by his apologists, I cannot say that a careful
study of the blue books bearing on the subject brings me to the same
conclusion. It is true that there is not much information on the
point, for the obvious reason that the history of slaughters in
Zululand in the vast majority of cases only reached Natal in the form
of rumours, which nobody thought it worth while to report. There were
no newspaper correspondents in Zululand. There is not, however, any
doubt that Cetywayo was in the habit of killing large numbers of
people; indeed it was a matter of the commonest notoriety; nor, as
will be seen from the message I have transcribed, did he himself deny
it, when, being angry, he spoke the truth. At the same time that this
message was sent, we find Mr. Osborn, then resident magistrate at
Newcastle in Natal, who is certainly not given to exaggeration,
writing to the Secretary for Native Affairs thus:--"From all I have
been able to learn, Cetywayo's conduct has been, and continues to be,
disgraceful. He is putting people to death in a shameful manner,
especially girls. The dead bodies are placed by his order in the
principal paths, especially where the paths intersect each other
(cross roads). A few of the parents of the young people so killed
buried the bodies, and thus brought Cetywayo's wrath on themselves,
resulting not only on their own death, but destruction of the whole
family. . . . It is really terrible that such horrible savagery could
take place on our own borders. . . . Uhamu reproved Cetywayo the other
day, reminded him of his promises to Mr. Shepstone, and begged him to
spare the people. This advice, as could be expected, was not
relished."

Again, Mr. Fynney, in his report of his visit to Zululand in 1877,
states that though the king and his "indunas" (councillors) denied
that men were killed without trial, the people told a very different
tale. Thus he says, "In every instance, where I had so far gained the
confidence of the Zulus as to cause them to speak freely, was I
assured of the truthfulness of the statement that the king, Cetywayo,
caused his people to be put to death in great numbers; and when I
remarked that of course he did so after a fair and proper trial, in
some cases my remark was greeted with a suppressed laugh or a smile.
Some remarked, 'Yes, a trial of bullets;' others, 'Yes, we get a
trial, but that means surrounding the kraal at daybreak and shooting
us down like cattle.' One asked me what the Government in Natal
intended doing, or what was thought in Natal about the killing,
saying, 'It was not in the night that Sompseu spoke, but in the
sunshine; the king was not alone, but his people were around him, and
the ears of all Zululand heard these words, and the hearts of all
Zulus were joyful, and in gladness they lifted up their hands saying:
The mouth of our white father has spoken good words; he has cautioned
his child in the presence of his people, and a good sun has risen this
day over Zululand! How is it now? Has the king listened? Does he hold
fast those words? No! not one. The promises he made are all broken.
What does Sompseu say to this? You should dine at my kraal yonder for
a few days, and see the izizi (cattle and other property of people who
have been killed) pass, and you would then see with your own eyes how
a case is tried.'" Farther on Mr. Fynney says, "When a charge is made
against a Zulu, the question is generally asked, 'Has he any cattle?'
and if answered in the affirmative, there is little chance of escape.
Instances of killing occurred while I was in Zululand, and to my
knowledge no trial was allowed. An armed party was despatched on the
morning I left Ondine, and, as I was informed, to kill."

There is no reason to suppose that Mr. Fynney was in any way
prejudiced in making these remarks; on the contrary, he was simply
carrying out an official mission, and reporting for the general
information of the Governments of Natal and the Transvaal. It is,
however, noticeable that neither these nor similar passages are ever
alluded to by Cetywayo's advocates, whose object seems to be rather to
suppress the truth than to put it fairly before the public, if by such
suppression they think they can advance the cause of the ex-king.

The whole matter of Cetywayo's private policy, however, appears to me
to be very much beside the question. Whether or no he slaughtered his
oppressed subjects in bygone years, which there is no doubt he did, is
not our affair, since we were not then, as we are now, responsible for
the good government of Zululand; and seeing the amount of slaughter
that goes on under our protectorate, it ill becomes us to rake up
these things against Cetywayo. What we have to consider is his foreign
policy, not the domestic details of his government.[*]

[*] A gentleman, who has recently returned from travelling in
    Zululand, relates the following story as nearly as possible in the
    words in which it was told to him by a well-known hunter in
    Zululand, Piet Hogg by name, now residing near Dundee on the Zulu
    border. The story is a curious one as illustrative of Zulu
    character, and scarcely represents Cetywayo in as amiable a light
    as one might wish. Piet Hogg and my informant were one day talking
    about the king when the former said, "I was hunting and trading in
    Zululand, and was at a military kraal occupied by Cetywayo, where
    I saw a Basuto who had been engaged by the king to instruct his
    people in building houses, that were to be /square/ instead of
    circular (as are all Zulu buildings), for which his pay was to be
    thirty head of cattle. The Basuto came to Cetywayo in my presence,
    and said that the square buildings were made; he now wished to
    have his thirty head of cattle and to depart. Cetywayo having
    obtained what he required, began to think the man overpaid, so
    said, 'I have observed that you like ---- (a Zulu woman belonging
    to the kraal); suppose you take her instead of the thirty head of
    cattle.' Now this was a very bad bargain for the Basuto, as the
    woman was not worth more, in Zulu estimation, than ten head of
    cattle; but the Basuto, knowing with whom he had to deal, thought
    it might be better to comply with the suggestion rather than
    insist upon his rights, and asked to be allowed till the next
    morning to consider the proposal. After he had been dismissed on
    this understanding, Cetywayo sent for the woman, and accused her
    of misconduct with the Basuto, the punishment of which, if proved,
    would be death. She denied this vehemently, with protestations and
    tears. He insisted, but, looking up at a tree almost denuded of
    leaves which grew close by, said, significantly, 'Take care that
    not a leaf remains on that tree by the morning.' The woman
    understood the metaphor, and in an hour or two, aided by other
    strapping Zulu females, attacked the unfortunate Basuto and killed
    him with clubs. But Cetywayo having thus, like the monkey in the
    fable, employed a cat's paw to do his dirty work, began to think
    the Basuto's untimely death might have an ugly appearance in my
    eyes, so gave orders in my presence that, as a punishment, six of
    the women who had killed the Basuto should also be put to death.
    This was too much for me, knowing as I did, all that had passed. I
    reproached Cetywayo for his cruelty, and declared I would leave
    Zululand without trading there, and without making him the present
    he expected. I also said I should take care the great English
    'Inkose' (the Governor of Natal) should hear of his conduct and
    the reason of my return. Cetywayo was then on friendly terms with
    the English, and being impressed by my threats, he reconsidered
    his orders, and spared the lives of the women."

I do not propose to follow out all the details of the boundary dispute
between Cetywayo and the Transvaal, or to comment on the different
opinions held on the point by the various authorities, English and
Zulu. The question has been, for the moment, settled by the Transvaal
Convention, and is besides a most uninteresting one to the general
reader.

Nor shall I enter into a discussion concerning the outrages on which
Sir Bartle Frere based his ultimatum previous to the Zulu war. They
were after all insignificant, although sufficient to serve as a /casus
belli/ to a statesman determined to fight. The Zulu war was, in the
opinion of Sir B. Frere, necessary in self-defence, which is the first
principle of existence. If it admits of justification, it is on the
ground that the Zulu army was a menace to the white population of
South Africa, and that it was therefore necessary to destroy it, lest
at some future time it should destroy the whites. It is ridiculous to
say that the capture of two Zulu women in Natal and their subsequent
murder, or the expulsion on political grounds of a few missionaries,
justified us in breaking up a kingdom and slaughtering ten thousand
men. Sir Bartle Frere declared war upon the Zulus because he was
afraid, and had good reason to be afraid, that if he did not, Cetywayo
would before long sweep either the Transvaal or Natal; whilst, on the
other hand, the Zulus fought us because our policy was too
philanthropic to allow them to fight anybody else. This statement may
appear strange, but a little examination into Zulu character and
circumstances will, I think, show it to be correct.

It must be remembered that for some years before Panda's death the
Zulus had not been engaged in any foreign war. When Cetywayo ascended
the throne, it was the general hope and expectation of the army, and
therefore of the nation, that this period of inaction would come to an
end, and that the new king would inaugurate an active foreign policy.
They did not greatly care in what direction the activity developed
itself, provided it did develop. It must also be borne in mind that
every able-bodied man in the Zulu country was a member of a regiment,
even the lads being attached to regiments as carriers, and the women
being similarly enrolled, though they did not fight. The Zulu military
system was the universal-service system of Germany brought to an
absolute perfection, obtained by subordinating all the ties and duties
of civil life to military ends. Thus, for instance, marriage could not
be contracted at will, but only by the permission of the king, which
was generally delayed until a regiment was well advanced in years,
when a number of girls were handed over to it to take to wife. This
regulation came into force because it was found that men without home
ties were more ferocious and made better soldiers, and the result of
these harsh rules was that the Zulu warrior, living as he did under
the shadow of a savage discipline, for any breach of which there was
but one punishment, death, can hardly be said to have led a life of
domestic comfort, such as men of all times and nations have thought
their common right. But even a Zulu must have some object in life,
some shrine at which to worship, some mistress of his affections. Home
he had none, religion he had none, mistress he had none, but in their
stead he had his career as a warrior, and his hope of honour and
riches to be gained by the assegai. His home was on the war-track with
his regiment, his religion the fierce denunciation of the isanusi,[*]
and his affections were fixed on the sudden rush of battle, the red
slaughter, and the spoils of the slain. "War," says Sir T. Shepstone,
in a very remarkable despatch written about a year before the outbreak
of the Zulu war, "is the universal cry among the soldiers, who are
anxious to live up to their traditions, . . . . and the idea is
gaining ground among the people that their nation has outlived the
object of its existence." Again he says, "The engine (the Zulu
military organisation) has not ceased to exist or to generate its
forces, although the reason or excuse for its existence has died away:
these forces have continued to accumulate and are daily accumulating
without safety-valve or outlet."

[*] /Witch-doctor./ These persons are largely employed in Zululand to
    smell out witches who are supposed to have bewitched others, and
    are of course very useful as political agents. Any person
    denounced by them is at once executed. A friend of the writer's
    was once present at a political smelling-out on a large scale, and
    describes it as a very curious and unpleasant scene. The men, of
    whom there were some thousands, were seated in a circle, as pale
    with terror as Zulus can be. Within the circle were several witch
    doctors; one of whom amidst his or her incantations would now and
    again step forward and touch some unfortunate man with a forked
    stick. The victim was instantly led away a few paces and his neck
    twisted. The circle awaited each denunciation in breathless
    expectation, for not a man among them knew whose turn it might be
    next. On another occasion, an unfortunate wretch who had been
    similarly condemned by an isanusi rushed up to the same
    gentleman's waggon and besought shelter. He was hidden under some
    blankets, but presently his pursuers arrived, and insisted upon
    his being handed over. All possible resistance was made, until the
    executioners announced that they would search the waggon and kill
    him there. It was then covenanted that he should have a start in
    the race for life. He was, however, overtaken and killed. These
    instances will show how dark and terrible is the Zulu superstition
    connected with witchcraft, and what a formidable weapon it becomes
    in the hands of the king or chief.

Desirable as such a state of feeling may be in an army just leaving
for the battlefield, it is obvious that for some fifty thousand men,
comprising the whole manhood of the nation, to be continually on the
boil with sanguinary animosity against the human race in general, is
an awkward element to fit into the peaceable government of a state.

Yet this was doubtless the state of affairs with which Cetywayo had to
contend during the latter years of his reign. He found himself
surrounded by a great army, in a high state of efficiency and warlike
preparation, proclaiming itself wearied with camp life, and clamouring
to be led against an enemy, that it might justify its traditions and
find employment for its spears. Often and often he must have been
sorely puzzled to find excuses wherewithal to put it off. Indeed his
position was both awkward and dangerous: on the one hand was Scylla in
the shape of the English Government, and on the other the stormy and
uncertain Charybdis of his clamouring regiments. Slowly the idea must
have began to dawn upon him that unless he found employment for the
army, which, besides being disgusted with his inactivity, was somewhat
wearied with his cruelties, for domestic slaughter had ceased to
divert and had begun to irritate: the army, or some enterprising
members of it, might put it beyond his power ever to find employment
for it at all, and bring one of his brothers to rule in his stead.

And yet who was he to fight, if fight he must? There were three
possible enemies--1. The Swazis; 2. The Transvaal Boers; 3. The
English.

Although the English may have held a place on Cetywayo's list as
possible foes, there is no ground for supposing that, until shortly
before the war, he had any wish to fight with us. Indeed, whereas
their hatred of the Boers was pronounced, and openly expressed, both
the Zulu king and people always professed great respect for
Englishmen, and even a certain amount of liking and regard.

Therefore, when Cetywayo had to settle on an enemy to attack, it was
not the English that he chose, but the Swazis, whose territory
adjoined his own, lying along the borders of the Transvaal towards
Delagoa Bay. The Swazis are themselves Zulus, and Cetywayo claimed
certain sovereign rights over them, which, however, they refused to
recognise. They are a powerful tribe, and can turn out about 10,000
fighting men, quite enough for Cetywayo's young warriors to try their
mettle on. Still the king does not appear to have wished to undertake
the war without first obtaining the approval of the Natal Government,
to whom he applied several times for permission "to wash his spears,"
saying that he was but half a king until he had done so. The Natal
Government, however, invariably replied that he was on no account to
do anything of the sort. This shows the inconveniences of possessing a
complimentary feudal hold over a savage potentate, the shadow of power
without the reality. The Governor of Natal could not in decency
sanction such a proceeding as a war of extermination against the
Swazis, but if it had occurred without his sanction, the Swazis would
have suffered no doubt, but the Zulu spears would have been
satisfactorily washed, and there would have been no Zulu war. As it
is, Englishmen have been killed instead of Swazis.

Thwarted in his designs on the Swazis, Cetywayo next turned his
attention to the Transvaal Boers. The Zulus and the Boers had never
been good friends since the days of the massacre of Retief, and of
late years their mutual animosity had been greatly increased owing to
their quarrels about the boundary question previously alluded to. This
animosity reached blood-heat when the Boer Government, acting with the
arrogance it always displayed towards natives, began to lay its
commands upon Cetywayo about his relations with the Amaswazi, the
alleged trespassing on Boer territory, and other matters. The
arrogance was all the more offensive because it was impotent. The
Boers were not in a position to undertake the chastisement of the
Zulus. But the king and council of Zululand now determined to try
conclusions with the Transvaal on the first convenient opportunity,
and this time without consulting the Government of Natal. The
opportunity soon occurred. Secocoeni, the powerful chief of the
Bapedi, one of the tribes whose territories border on the Transvaal,
came to a difference with the Boers over another border question.
There is good ground for supposing that Cetywayo incited him to
withstand the Boer demands; it is certain that during the course of
the war that followed he assisted him with advice, and more
substantially still, with Zulu volunteers.

To be brief, the Secocoeni war resulted in the discomfiture of the
Transvaal forces. Another result of this struggle was to throw the
whole state into the most utter confusion, of which the Dutch
burghers, always glad of an opportunity to defy the law, took
advantage to refuse to pay taxes. National bankruptcy ensued, and
confusion grew worse confounded.

Cetywayo took note of all this, and saw that now was his opportunity
to attack. The Boers had suffered both in morale and prestige from
their defeat by Secocoeni, who was still in arms against them; whilst
the natives were proportionately elated by their success over the
dreaded white men. There was, he knew well, but little chance of a
rapid concentration to resist a sudden raid, especially when made by
such a powerful army, or rather chain of armies, as he could set in
motion. Everything favoured the undertaking; indeed, humanly speaking,
it is difficult to see what could have saved the greater part of the
population of the Transvaal from sudden extinction, if a kind
Providence had not just then put it into the head of Lord Carnarvon to
send out Sir T. Shepstone as Special Commissioner to their country.
When Cetywayo heard that his father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) was
going up to the Transvaal, he held his hand, sent out spies, and
awaited the course of events. The following incident will show with
what interest he was watching what took place. At the Vaal River a
party of Boers met the Special Commissioner and fired salutes to
welcome him. It was immediately reported to Cetywayo by his spies that
the Boers had fired over Sir T. Shepstone's waggon. Shortly afterwards
a message arrived at Pretoria from Cetywayo to inquire into the truth
of the story, coolly announcing his intention of sweeping the
Transvaal if it were true that "his father" had been fired at. In a
conversation with Mr. Fynney after the Annexation Cetywayo alludes to
his intentions in these words:--

"I heard that the Boers were not treating him (Sompseu) properly, and
that they intended to put him in a corner. If they had done so I
should not have waited for anything more. /Had but one shot been
fired/, I should have said, 'What more do I wait for? they have
touched my father.' I should have poured my men over the land, and I
can tell you, son of Mr. Fynney, the land would have burned with
fire." This will show how eagerly Cetywayo was searching for an excuse
to commence his attack on the Transvaal. When the hope of finding a
pretext in the supposed firing at Sir T. Shepstone or any incident of
a similar nature faded away, he appears to have determined to carry
out his plans without any immediate pretext, and to make a /casus
belli/ of his previous differences with the Government of the
Republic. Accordingly he massed his impis (army corps) at different
points along the Transvaal border, where they awaited the signal to
advance and sweep the country. Information of Cetywayo's doings and of
his secret plans reached Pretoria shortly before the Annexation, and
confirmed the mind of the Special Commissioner as to the absolute
necessity of that measure to save the citizens of the Republic from
coming to a violent end, and South Africa from being plunged into a
native war of unexampled magnitude. The day before the Annexation took
place, when it was quite certain that it would take place, a message
was sent to Cetywayo by Sir T. Shepstone telling him of what was about
to happen, and telling him too in the sternest and most
straightforward language, that the Transvaal had become the Queen's
land like Natal, and that he must no more think of attacking it than
he would of attacking Natal. Cetywayo on receiving the message at once
disbanded his armies and sent them to their kraals. "Kabuna," he said
to the messenger, "my impis were gathered; now at my father's (Sir T.
Shepstone's) bidding I send them back to their homes."

This fact, namely, that at the bidding of his old mentor Sir T.
Shepstone, Cetywayo abandoned his long-cherished plans, and his
undoubted opportunity of paying off old scores with the Boers in a
most effectual manner, and gave up a policy that had so many charms
for him, must be held by every unprejudiced man to speak volumes in
his favour. It must be remembered that it was not merely to oblige his
"father Sompseu" that he did this, but to meet the wishes of the
English Government, and the act shows how anxious he was to retain the
friendship and fall in with the views of that Government. Evidently
Cetywayo had no animosity against us in April 1877.

In his interview with Mr. Fynney, Cetywayo speaks out quite frankly as
to what his intentions had been; he says, "I know all about the
soldiers being on their way up, but I would have asked Sompseu to
allow the soldiers to stand on one side for just a little while, only
a little, and see what my men could do. It would have been unnecessary
for the Queen's people to trouble. My men were all ready, and how big
must that stone have been, with my father Sompseu digging at one side
and myself at the other, that would not have toppled over? Even though
the size of that mountain (pointing to a mountain range), we could put
it on its back. Again I say I am glad to know the Transvaal is
English ground; perhaps now there may be rest."

This and other passages show beyond all doubt from what an awful
catastrophe the Transvaal was saved by the Annexation. That Cetywayo
personally detested the Boers is made clear by his words to Mr.
Fynney. "'The Boers,' he says, 'are a nation of liars; they are a bad
people, bad altogether. I do not want them near my people; they lie
and claim what is not theirs, and ill-use my people. Where is Thomas?'
(President Burgers). I informed him that Mr. Burgers had left the
Transvaal. 'Then let them pack up and follow Thomas,' said he. 'Let
them go. The Queen does not want such people as those about her land.
What can the Queen make of them or do with them? Their evil ways
puzzled both Thomas and Rudolph, Landdrost of Utrecht; they will not
be quiet.'"

It is very clear that if Cetywayo had been left to work his will, a
great many of the Boers would have found it necessary to "pack up and
follow Thomas," whilst many more would have never needed to pack
again.

I am aware that attempts have been made to put another explanation on
Cetywayo's warlike preparations against the Boers. It has been said
that the Zulu army was called up by Sir T. Shepstone to coerce the
Transvaal. It is satisfactory to be able, from intimate personal
knowledge, to give unqualified denial to that statement, which is a
pure invention, as indeed is easily proved by clear evidence, which I
have entered into in another part of this book. Cetywayo played for
his own hand all along, and received neither commands nor hints from
the Special Commissioner to get his army together. Indeed, when Sir T.
Shepstone discovered what was going on, he suffered great anxiety lest
some catastrophe should occur before he was in a position to prevent
it. Nothing short of the Annexation could have saved the Transvaal at
that moment, and the conduct of the Boers after the danger had been
taken on to the shoulders of the Imperial Government is a startling
instance of national ingratitude.

Here again the Zulu king was brought face to face with the ubiquitous
British Government, and that too at a particularly aggravating moment.
He was about to commence his attack when he was met with a polite,
"Hands off; this is British territory." No wonder that we find him in
despair renewing his prayer that Sompseu will allow him to make "one
little raid only, one small swoop," and saying that "it is the custom
of our country, when a new king is placed over the nation, to wash
their spears, and it has been done in the case of all former kings of
Zululand. I am no king, but sit in a heap. I cannot be a king till I
have washed my assegais." All of which is doubtless very savage and
very wrong, but such is the depravity of human nature, that there is
something taking about it for all that.

It was at this period of the history of South Africa that many people
think we made our crowning mistake. We annexed the Transvaal, say
they, six months too soon. As things have turned out, it would have
been wiser to have left Zulus and Transvaal Boers to try conclusions,
and done our best to guard our own frontiers. There is no doubt that
such a consummation of affairs would have cleared the political
atmosphere wonderfully; the Zulus would have got enough fighting to
last them some time, and the remainder of the Boers would have
entreated our protection and become contented British subjects; there
would have been no Isandhlwana and no Majuba Hill. But to these I say
who could foresee the future, and who, in the then state of kindly
feeling towards the Boers, could wish to leave them, and all the
English mixed up with them, to undergo, unprepared as they were, the
terrible experience of a Zulu invasion? Besides, what guarantee was
there that the slaughter would stop in the Transvaal, or that the
combat would not have developed into a war of races throughout South
Africa? Even looking at the matter in the light of after events, it is
difficult to regret that humanity was on this occasion allowed to take
precedence of a more cold-blooded policy. If the opponents of the
Annexation, or even the members of the Transvaal Independence
Committee, knew what a Zulu invasion meant, they would scarcely have
been so bitter about that act.

From the time of the Annexation it was a mere matter of opinion as to
which direction the Zulu explosion would take. The safety-valves were
loaded whilst the pressure daily increased, and all acquainted with
the people knew that it must come sooner or later.

Shortly after the Transvaal became British territory the old Zulu
boundary question came to the fore again and was made more complicated
than ever by Sir T. Shepstone, who had hitherto favoured the Zulu
claims, taking the Boer side of the controversy, after examination of
the locality and of persons acquainted with the details of the matter.
There was nothing wonderful in this change of opinion, though of
course it was attributed to various motives by advocates of the Zulu
claims, and there is no doubt that Cetywayo himself did not at all
like it, and, excited thereto by vexation and the outcry of his
regiments, adopted a very different and aggressive tone in his
communications with the English authorities. Indeed his irritation
against the Boers and everybody connected with them was very great.
Probably if he had been left alone he would in time have carried out
his old programme, and attacked the Transvaal. But, fortunately for
the Transvaal, which, like sailors and drunken men, always seems to
have had a special Providence taking care of it: at this juncture Sir
Bartle Frere appeared upon the scene, and after a few preliminaries
and the presentation of a strong ultimatum, which was quite
impracticable so far as Cetywayo was concerned, since it demanded what
it was almost impossible for him to concede--the disbandment of his
army--invaded Zululand.

It is generally supposed that the Natal colonists had a great deal to
do with making the Zulu war, but this is not the case. It is quite
true that they were rejoiced at the prospect of the break-up of
Cetywayo's power, because they were very much afraid of him and of his
"celibate man-slaying machine," which, under all the circumstances, is
not wonderful. But the war was a distinctly Imperial war, made by an
Imperial officer, without consultation with Colonial authorities, on
Imperial grounds, viz., because Cetywayo menaced Her Majesty's power
in South Africa. Of course, if there had been no colonies there would
have been no war, but in that way only are they responsible for it.
Natal, however, has not grudged to pay 250,000 pounds towards its
expenses, which is a great deal more than it can afford, and,
considering that the foolish settlement made by Sir Garnet Wolseley is
almost sure to involve the colony in trouble, quite as much as should
be asked.

The fact of the matter was, that Sir Bartle Frere was a statesman who
had the courage of his convictions; he saw that a Zulu disturbance of
one kind or another was inevitable, so he boldly took the initiative.
If things had gone right with him, as he supposed they would, praise
would have been lavished on him by the Home authorities, and he would
have been made a peer, and perhaps Governor-General of India to boot;
but he reckoned without his Lord Chelmsford, and the element of
success which was necessary to gild his policy in the eyes of the home
public was conspicuous by its absence. As it was, no language was
considered to be too bad to apply to this "imperious proconsul" who
had taken upon himself to declare a war. If it is any consolation to
him, he has at any rate the gratitude of the South African Colonies,
not so much for what he has done, for that is being carefully
nullified by the subsequent action of the Home Government, but
because, believing his policy to be right, he had the boldness to
carry it out at the risk of his official reputation. Sir Bartle Frere
took a larger view of the duties of the governor of a great dependency
than to constitute himself the flickering shadow of the Secretary of
State in Downing Street, who, knowing little of the real interests of
the colony, is himself only the reflection of those that hold the
balance of power, to whom the subject is one of entire indifference,
provided that there is nothing to pay.

The details of the Zulu war are matters of melancholy history, which
it is useless to recapitulate here. With the exception of the affair
at Rorke's Drift, there is nothing to be proud of in connection with
it, and a great deal to be ashamed of, more especially its final
settlement. There is, however, one point that I wish to submit to the
consideration of my readers, and that is, that Cetywayo was never
thoroughly in earnest about the war. If he had been in earnest, if he
had been determined to put out his full strength, he would certainly
have swept Natal from end to end after his victory at Isandhlwana.
There was no force to prevent his doing so: on the contrary, it is
probable that if he had advanced a strong army over the border, a
great number of the Natal natives would have declared in his favour
through fear of his vengeance, or at the least would have remained
neutral. He had ample time at his disposal to have executed the
manoeuvre twice over before the arrival of the reinforcements, of
which the results must have been very dreadful, and yet he never
destroyed a single family. The reason he has himself given for this
conduct is that he did not wish to irritate the white man; that he had
not made the war, and was only anxious to defend his country.

When the fighting came to an end after the battle of Ulundi, there
were two apparent courses open to us to take. One was to take over the
country and rule it for the benefit of the Zulus, and the other to
enforce the demands in Sir Bartle Frere's ultimatum, and, taking such
guarantees as circumstances would admit of, leave Cetywayo on the
throne. Instead of acting on either of these plans, however, Sir
Garnet Wolseley proceeded, in the face of an extraordinary consensus
of adverse opinion, which he treated with calm contempt, to execute
what has proved to be a very cruel settlement. Sir Garnet Wolseley has
the reputation of being an extremely able man, and it is only fair to
him to suppose that he was not the sole parent of this political
monster, by which all the blood and treasure expended on the Zulu war
were made of no account, but that it was partially dictated to him by
authorities at home, who were anxious to gratify English opinion, and
partly ignorant, partly careless of the consequences. At the same
time, it is clear that he is responsible for the details of the
scheme, since immediately after the capture of Cetywayo he writes a
despatch about them which was considered so important, that a member
of his staff was sent to England in charge of it. In this document he
informs the Secretary of State that Cetywayo's rule was resolutely
built up "without any of the ordinary and lawful foundations of
authority, and by the mere vigour and vitality of an individual
character." It is difficult to understand what Sir Garnet means in
this passage. If the fact of being the rightful and generally accepted
occupant of the throne is not an "ordinary and lawful foundation of
authority," what is? As regards Cetywayo having built up his rule by
the "mere vigour and vitality of an individual character," he is
surely in error. Cetywayo's position was not different to that of his
immediate predecessors. If Sir Garnet had applied the remark to Chaka,
the first king, to the vigour and vitality of whose individual
character Zululand owes its existence as a nation, it would have been
more appropriate. The despatch goes on to announce that he has made up
his mind to divide the country into thirteen portions, in order to
prevent the "possibility of any reunion of its inhabitants under one
rule," and ends in these words: "I have laboured with the great aim of
establishing for Her Majesty's subjects in South Africa, both white
and coloured, as well as for this spirited people against whom
unhappily we have been involved in war, the enduring foundations of
peace, happiness and prosperity." The spirited people were no doubt
vastly thankful, but the white man, reading such a passage as this,
and knowing the facts of the case, will only recognise Sir Garnet
Wolseley's admirable talent for ironical writing.

Sir Garnet entered into an agreement with each of his kinglets, who,
amongst other things, promised that they would not make war without
the sanction of the British Government. He also issued a paper of
instructions to the gentleman who was first appointed British Resident
(who, by the way, very soon threw up his post in despair). From this
document we learn that all the ex-king's brothers are to "be under the
eye of the chief John Dunn," but it is chiefly remarkable for the
hostility it evinces to all missionary enterprise. The Resident is
instructed to "be careful to hold yourself entirely aloof from all
missionary or proselytising enterprises," and that "grants of land by
former kings to missionaries cannot be recognised by the British
Government," although Sir Garnet will allow missionaries to live in
the country if the chief of the district does not object. These
instructions created some adverse comment in England, with the result
that, in the supplementary instructions issued on the occasion of Mr.
Osborn's appointment as Resident, they were somewhat modified. In the
despatch to the Secretary of State in which he announces the new
appointment, Sir Garnet says that Mr. Osborn is to be the "councillor,
guide, and friend" of the native chiefs, and that to his "moral
influence" "we should look I think for the spread of civilisation and
the propagation of the Gospel." What a conglomeration of duties,--at
once "prophet, priest, and king!" Poor Mr. Osborn!

Of the chiefs appointed under this unfortunate settlement, some were
so carelessly chosen that they have no authority whatsoever over the
districts to which they were appointed, their nominal subjects
preferring to remain under the leadership of their hereditary chief.
Several of Sir Garnet's little kings cannot turn out an hundred men,
whilst the hereditary chief, who has no official authority, can bring
up three or four thousand. Thus, for instance, a territory was given
to a chief called Infaneulela. The retainers of this gentleman live in
a kraal of five or six huts on the battlefield of Ulundi. A chief
called Dilligane, to whom the district should have been given, is
practically head man of the district, and takes every possible
opportunity of defying the nominee chief, Infaneulela, who is not
acknowledged by the people. Another case is that of Umgitchwa, to whom
a territory was given. In this instance there are two brothers,
Umgitchwa and Somhlolo, born of different mothers. Umgitchwa is the
elder, but Somhlolo is the son of a daughter of the king, and
therefore, according to Zulu custom, entitled to succeed to the
chieftainship. Somhlolo was disinherited by Sir Garnet on account of
his youth (he is about twenty-five and has many wives). But an ancient
custom is not to be thus abrogated by a stroke of the pen, and
Somhlolo is practically chief of the district. Fighting is imminent
between the two brothers.

A third case is that of Hlubi, who, though being a good, well-meaning
man, is a Basuto, and being a foreigner, has no influence over the
Zulus under him.

A fourth instance is that of Umlandela, an old and infirm Zulu, who
was made chief over a large proportion of the Umtetwa tribe on the
coast of Zululand. His appointment was a fatal mistake, and has
already led to much bloodshed under the following curious
circumstances, which are not without interest, as showing the
intricacy of Zulu plots.

The Umtetwas were in the days of Chaka a very powerful tribe, but
suffered the same fate at his hands as did every other that ventured
to cross spears with him. They were partially annihilated, and whilst
some of the survivors, of whom the Umtetwas in Zululand are the
descendants, were embodied in the Zulu regiments, others were
scattered far and wide. Branches of this important tribe exist as far
off as the Cape Colony. Dingiswayo, who was the chief of the Umtetwas
when Chaka conquered the tribe, fled after his defeat into Basutoland,
and is supposed to have died there. After the Zulu war Sir G. Wolseley
divided the Umtetwa into two districts, appointing an Umtetwa chief
named Somkeli ruler over one, and Umlandela over the other.

Umlandela, being a Zulu and worn with age, has never had any authority
over his nominal subjects, and has been anxious to rid himself of the
danger and responsibility of his chieftainship by transferring it on
to the shoulders of Mr. John Dunn, whose territory adjoins his own,
and who would be, needless to say, nothing loth to avail himself of
the opportunity of increasing his taxable area. Whilst this intrigue
was in progress all Zululand was convulsed with the news of our defeat
by the Boers and the consequent surrender of the Transvaal. It was
commonly rumoured that our forces were utterly destroyed, and that the
Boers were now the dominant Power. Following on the heels of this
intelligence was a rumour to the effect that Cetywayo was coming back.
These two reports, both of which had a foundation of truth, had a very
bad effect on the vulgar mind in Zululand, and resulted in the setting
in motion of a variety of plots, of which the following was the most
important.

The Umtetwa tribe is among those who are not anxious for the return of
Cetywayo, but see in the present state of affairs an opportunity of
regaining the power they possessed before the days of Chaka. If they
were to have a king over Zululand they determined that it should be an
Umtetwa king, and Somkeli, one of the chiefs appointed by Sir Garnet,
was the man who aimed at the throne. He was not, however, anxious to
put out his hand at first further than he could draw it back, so he
adopted a very ingenious expedient. It will be remembered that the old
Chief Dingiswayo fled to Basutoland, where he is reported to have
married. It occurred to Somkeli that if he could produce a descendant
or a pseudo-descendant of Dingiswayo he would have no difficulty in
beginning operations by dispossessing Umlandela of his territory in
favour of the supposed lawful heir. In fact he wanted a cat to pull
the chestnuts out of the fire for him, who could easily be got rid of
afterwards. Accordingly one Sitimela was produced who is supposed to
be an escaped convict from Natal, who gave out that he was a grandson
of Dingiswayo by a Basuto woman, and a great medicine-man, able to
kill everybody by a glance of his eye.

To this impostor adherents flocked from all parts of Zululand, and
Umlandela flying for his life into John Dunn's territory, Sitimela
seized upon the chieftainship. The Resident thereupon ordered him to
appear before him, but he, as might be expected, refused to come. As
it was positively necessary to put an end to the plot by some means,
since its further development would have endangered and perhaps
destroyed the weak-knee'd Zulu settlement, Mr. Osborn determined to
proceed to the scene of action. Mahomet would not go to the mountain,
so the mountain had to go to Mahomet. On arrival he pitched his tents
half way between the camps of Sitimela and John Dunn, who had
Umlandela under his charge, and summoned Somkeli, the author of the
plot, to appear before him. Ten days elapsed before the summons was
obeyed. During this time, and indeed until they finally escaped, the
Resident and his companion could not even venture to the spring, which
was close at hand, to wash, for fear of being assassinated. All day
long they could see lines of armed men swarming over the hills round
them, and hear them yelling their war-songs. At length Somkeli
appeared, accompanied by over a thousand armed warriors. He was
ordered to withdraw his forces from Sitimela's army and go home. He
went home, but did not withdraw his forces. The next day Sitimela
himself appeared before the Resident. He was ordered to come with ten
men: he came with two thousand all armed, wild with excitement and
"moutied" (medicined). To make this medicine they had killed and
pounded up a little cripple boy and several of Umlandela's wives. It
afterwards transpired that the only reason Sitimela did not then and
there kill the Resident was that he (Mr. Osborn) had with him several
chiefs who were secretly favourable to Sitimela's cause, and if he had
killed him he would, according to Zulu custom, have had to kill them
too. Mr. Osborn ordered Sitimela to disperse his forces or take the
consequences, and waited a few days for him to do so; but seeing no
signs of his compliance, he then ordered the neighbouring chiefs to
fall on him, and at length withdrew from his encampment,--none too
soon. That very night a party of Sitimela's men came down to kill him,
and finding the tent in which he and his companions had slept
standing, stabbed at its supposed occupants through the canvas.

Sitimela was defeated by the forces ordered out by the Resident with a
loss of about 500 men. It is, however, worthy of note, and shows how
widespread was the conspiracy, that out of all the thousands promised,
Mr. Osborn was only able to call out two thousand men.

The appointment, however, that has occasioned the most criticism is
that of John Dunn, who got the Benjamin share of Zululand in
preference to his brother chiefs. The converting of an Englishman into
a Zulu chief is such a very odd proceeding that it is difficult to
know what to think of it. John Dunn is an ambitious man, and most
probably has designs on the throne; he is also a man who understands
the value of money, of which he makes a great deal out of his
chieftainship. At the same time, it is clear that, so far as it goes,
his rule is better than that of the other chiefs; he has a uniform tax
fixed, and has even done something in the way of starting schools and
making roads. From all that I have been able to gather, his popularity
and influence with the Zulus are overrated, though he has lived
amongst them so many years, and taken so many of their women to wife.
His appointment was a hazardous experiment, and in the long run is
likely to prove a mischievous one, since any attempted amendment of
the settlement will be violently resisted by him on the ground of
vested interests. Also, if white men are set over Zulus at all, they
should be /gentlemen/ in the position of government officers, not
successful adventurers.

Perhaps the only wise thing done in connection with the settlement was
the appointment of Mr. Osborn, C.M.G., as British Resident. It is not
easy to find a man fitted for that difficult and dangerous position,
for the proper filling of which many qualifications are required.
Possessed of an intimate knowledge of the Zulus, their language, and
their mode of thought and life, and being besides a very able and
energetic officer, Mr. Osborn would have saved the settlement from
breaking down if anybody could have saved it. As it is, by the
exercise of ceaseless energy and at great personal risk, he has
preserved it from total collapse. Of the dangers and anxieties to
which he is exposed, the account I have given of the Sitimela incident
is a sufficient example. He is, in fact, nothing but a shadow, for he
has no force at his command to ensure obedience to his decisions, or
to prevent civil war; and in Zululand, oddly enough, force is a
remedy. Should one chief threaten the peace of the country, he can
only deal with him by calling on another chief for aid, a position
that is neither dignified nor right. What is worst of all is that the
Zulus are beginning to discover what a shadow he is, and with this
weakened position he has to pit his single brains against all the
thousand and one plots which are being woven throughout Zululand. The
whole country teems with plots. Mnyamane, the late Prime Minister, and
one of the ablest, and perhaps the most influential man in Zululand,
is plotting for the return of Cetywayo. Bishop Colenso, again, is as
usual working his own wires, and creating agitations to forward his
ends, whatever they may be at the moment. John Dunn, on the other
hand, is plotting to succeed Cetywayo, and so on /ad infinitum/. Such
is the state of affairs with which our unfortunate Resident has to
contend. Invested with large imaginary powers, he has in reality
nothing but his personal influence and his own wits to help him. He
has no white man to assist him, but living alone in a broken-down
tent and some mud huts built by his son's hands (for the Government
have never kept their promise to put him up a house), in the midst of
thousands of restless and scheming savages, amidst plots against the
peace and against his authority, he has to do the best he can to carry
out an impracticable settlement, and to maintain the character of
English justice and the honour of the English name. Were Mr. Osborn to
throw up his post or to be assassinated, the authorities would find it
difficult to keep the whole settlement from collapsing like a card
castle.

Nobody who understood Zulu character and aspirations could ever have
executed such a settlement as Sir Garnet Wolseley's, unless he did it
in obedience to some motive or instructions that it was not advisable
to publish. It is true that Sir Garnet's experience of the Zulus was
extremely small, and that he put aside the advice of those who did
know them with that contempt with which he is wont to treat colonists
and their opinions. Sir Garnet Wolseley does not like colonial people,
possibly because they have signally failed to appreciate heaven-born
genius in his person, or his slap-dash drumhead sort of way of
settling the fate of countries, and are, indeed, so rude as to openly
say, that, in their opinion, he did more mischief in Africa in a few
months, than it would take an ordinary official a lifetime to
accomplish.

However this may be, stop his ears as much as he might, Sir Garnet
cannot have been entirely blind to the import of what he was doing,
and the only explanation of his action is that he entered on it more
with the idea of flattering and gratifying English public opinion,
than of doing his best for the Zulus or the white Colonists on their
borders. A great outcry had been raised at home, where, in common with
most South African affairs, the matter was not thoroughly understood,
against the supposed intended annexation of Zululand for the benefit
of "greedy colonists." It was argued that colonists were anxious for
the annexation in order that they might get the land to speculate
with, and doubtless this was, in individual instances, true. I fully
agree with those who think that it would be unwise to throw open
Zululand to the European settler, not on account of the Zulus, who
would benefit by the change, but because the result would be a state
of affairs similar to that in Natal, where there are a few white men
surrounded by an ever-growing mass of Kafirs. But there is a vast
difference between Annexation proper and the Protectorate it was our
duty to establish over the natives. Such an arrangement would have
presented few difficulties, and have brought with it many advantages.
White men could have been forbidden to settle in the country. A small
hut-tax, such as the Zulus would have cheerfully paid, would have
brought in forty or fifty thousand a year, an ample sum to defray the
expenses of the Resident and sub-Residents: the maintenance of an
adequate native force to keep order: and even the execution of
necessary public works. It is impossible to overrate the advantages
that must have resulted both to the Zulus and their white neighbours
from the adoption of this obvious plan, among them being lasting peace
and security to life and property; or to understand the folly and
cruelty that dictated the present arrangement, or rather want of
arrangement. Not for many years has England missed such an opportunity
of doing good, not only at no cost, but with positive advantage to
herself. Did we owe nothing to this people whose kingdom we had broken
up, and whom we had been shooting down by thousands? They may well
ask, as they do continually, what they have done that we should treat
them as we have and are doing?

It cannot be too clearly understood, that, when the Zulus laid down
their arms they did so, hoping and believing that they would be taken
over by the English Government, which, having been fairly beaten by
it, they now looked on as their head or king, and be ruled like their
brethren in Natal. They expected to have to pay taxes and to have
white magistrates placed over them, and they or the bulk of them
looked forward to the change with pleasure. It must be remembered that
when once they have found their master, there exists no more law-
abiding people in the world than the Zulus, provided they are ruled
firmly, and above all justly. Believing that such a rule would fall to
their lot they surrendered when they did. How great, then, must their
surprise have been when they found, that without their wishes being
consulted in the matter, their own hereditary king was to be sent
away, and thirteen little kings set up in his place, with, strangest
of all, a white man as chief little king, whilst the British
Government contented itself with placing a Resident in the country, to
watch the troubles that must ensue.

Such a settlement as this could only have one object and one result,
neither of which is at all creditable to the English people. The Zulus
were parcelled out among thirteen chiefs, in order that their strength
might be kept down by internecine war and mutual distrust and
jealousy: and, as though it were intended to render this result more
certain, territories were chucked about in the careless way I have
described, whilst central authority was abolished, and the vacant
throne is dangled before all eyes labelled "the prize of the
strongest." Of course Sir Garnet's paper agreements with the chiefs
were for the most part disregarded from the first. For instance, every
chief has his army and uses it too. In Zululand bloodshed is now a
thing of every-day occurrence, and the whole country is torn by fear,
uncertainly, and consequent want.[*] The settlement is bearing its
legitimate fruit; some thousands of Zulus have already been killed in
direct consequence of it, and more will doubtless follow. And this is
the outcome of all the blood and treasure spent over the Zulu war!
Well, we have settled Zululand on the most approved principles, and
thank Heaven, British influence has not been extended!

[*] A severe famine is said to be imminent in Zululand.

To show that I am not singular in my opinion as to the present state
of Zululand, I may be allowed to quote a few short extracts taken at
random, from half-a-dozen numbers of the "Natal Mercury." Talking of
the Zulu settlement terms as dictated by Sir G. Wolseley, the leading
article of the issue 21st November 1881 says:--"It will at once be
apparent that these terms have in several cases been flagrantly
violated, especially as regards clauses of 2, 3, 4, and 6. This last
will assuredly be broken again and yet again, so long as the British
Resident occupies the position of an official mollusc. The chiefs
themselves perceive and admit the evils that must arise out of the
absence of any effective central authority. These evils are so
obvious, they were so generally recognised at the outset as being
inherent in the scheme, that we might almost suppose their occurrence
had been deliberately anticipated as a desired outcome of the
settlement. The morality of such a line of policy would be precisely
on a par with that which is involved in the proposal to reinstate
Cetywayo as a means of dealing with the Boers. The creation of
thirteen kinglets in order that they might destroy each other, is as
humane and high-minded an effort of statesmanship as would be the
restoration of a banished king in order that he might eat up a people
to whom the same power has just given back their independence. To the
simple colonial mind such deep designs of Machiavellian statecraft are
as hateful as they are inhuman and dishonest."

A correspondent of the "Mercury" in Zululand writes under date of 13th
October:--

"I send a line at the last moment to say that things are going from
bad to worse at railway speed. Up to the arrival of Sir Evelyn Wood,
the chiefs did not fully realise that they were really independent at
all. Now they do, and if I mistake not, like a beggar on horseback
will ride to the devil sharp. Oham has begun by killing a large number
of the Amagalusi people. My information is derived from native
sources, and may be somewhat exaggerated. It is that the killed at
Isandhlwana were few compared with those killed by Uhamu a few days
ago. Usibebu also and Undabuka are, I am told, on the point of coming
to blows; and if they do that it will be worse still, for Undabuka
will find supporters throughout the length and breadth of Zululand.
Undabuka, the full brother of the ex-king, is the protege of the
Bishop of Natal. The Bishop, I find, has again sent one of his agents
(Amajuba by name) calling for another deputation. The deputation is
now on its way to Natal, and that, I understand, against the express
refusal of the Resident to allow it." In the issue of 14th November is
published a letter from Mr. Nunn, a gentleman well known in Zululand,
from which, as it is too long to quote in its entirety, I give a few
extracts:--"/Oham's Camp, Oct.15./--The Zulus cannot comprehend the
Transvaal affair, and it has been industriously circulated among them
that the English have been beaten and forced to give back the
Transvaal. They do not understand gracious acts of restoration after
we have been beaten. Four times this year has Umnyamana called his
army together and menaced Oham, who has several times had to have
parties of his followers sleeping around his kraal in the hills
adjacent, so as to give him timely notice to fly. When Oham left his
kraal for the purpose of attending the meeting at Inslasatye, the same
day the whole of the Maquilisini Tribe came on to the hills adjacent
to Oham's kraal, the 'Injamin,' and threatened that district. This has
been the case on two or three former occasions, and simultaneously
Umnyamana's tribe and Undabuka's followers always flew to arms, thus
threatening on all sides. . . . Trading is and has been for months
entirely suspended in this district. The fields are unplanted, no
ploughs or Kafir-picks at work--all are in a state of excitement, not
knowing the moment a collision may take place. Hunger will stare many
in the face next year, and all the men yelling to their chiefs to be
let loose and put an end to this state of uncertainty."

Mr. Nunn encloses an account by an eye-witness of a battle which took
place on the 2d October 1881 between Oham's army and the Maquilisini
Tribe. The following is an extract:--"On the 2nd there was a heavy
mist, and on moving forward the mounted party found themselves in the
midst of the enemy (the Maquilisini), and on hearing a cry to stab the
horses, they rode through them with no casualty (except one horse
slightly wounded with a bullet). The army, moving in a half circle,
now became generally engaged in a hand-to-hand fight, and our men were
checked and annoyed by a number of the enemy armed with guns, who were
in a stone-kraal and kept up a constant fire. Amatonga, now at the
head of the mounted party, charged and drove the enemy out of the
kraal, from which they three several times charged the enemy on the
flank, assisted by a small infantry party, and cut paths through their
ranks. The fight, which had now lasted nearly an hour, commenced to
flag, and Oham's army making a sudden rush entirely routed the enemy,
and the carnage lasted to the Bevan river, the boundary of the
Transvaal. No women or children were killed, but out of an army of
about 1500 of the enemy but few escaped" (sic) . . . . "The men, as
they were being killed, repeatedly exclaimed, 'We are dying through
Umnyamana and Umlabaku.'"

In the "Natal Mercury" of the 13th March occurs the following:--

"/Zulu Country./--As to the state of the country it is something we
cannot describe; everything is upside down, and the chiefs appointed
by the government are mere nobodies, and have not any power over their
own people. Even the Resident is in a false position, and seems
perfectly powerless to act either way. We had one row, just arriving
at a kraal in time to save it from being eaten up. Witchcraft and
killing, one of the pretences on which the English made war, are of
every-day occurrence, and fifty times worse than they were before the
war. Oham and Tibysio (?) keep their men continually in the field,
consequently those districts are at present in a state of famine."

Sir Garnet Wolseley executed the Zulu settlement on the 1st September
1879. The above extracts will suffice to show the state of the country
after it has been working for little more than two years. They will
also, I believe, suffice to convince any just and impartial mind that
I do not exaggerate when I say that it is an abomination and a
disgrace to England. The language may be strong, but when one hears of
1500 unfortunates (nearly twice as many as we lost at Isandhlwana)
being slaughtered in a single intertribal broil, it is time to use
strong language. It is not as though this were an unexpected or an
unavoidable development of events, every man who knew the Zulus
predicted the misery that must result from such a settlement, but
those who directed their destinies turned a deaf ear to all warnings.
They did not wish to hear.

And now we are told that civil war is imminent between the Cetywayo or
anti-settlement party, and what I must, for want of a better name,
call the John Dunn party, or those who have acquired interests under
the settlement, and who for various reasons wish to see Cetywayo's
face no more. If this occurs, and it will occur unless the Government
makes up its mind to do something before long, the slaughter, not only
of men but also of women and children, will be enormous; fugitives
will pour into Natal, followed perhaps by their pursuers, and for
aught we know the war may spread into our own dominions. We are a
philanthropic people, very, when Bulgarians are concerned, or when the
subject is one that piques the morbid curiosity, or is the rage of the
moment, and the subject of addresses from great and eloquent speakers.
But we can sit still, and let such massacres as these take place, when
we have but to hold up our hand to stop them. When occasionally the
veil is lifted a little, and the public hears of "fresh fighting in
Zululand;" a question is asked in the House; Mr. Courtney, as usual,
has no information, but generally discredits the report, and it is put
aside as "probably not true." I am well aware that of the few who read
these words, many will discredit them, or say that they are written
for some object, or for party purposes. But it is not the case; they
are written in the interest of the truth, and in the somewhat faint
hope that they may awaken a portion of the public, however small, to a
knowledge of our responsibilities to the unfortunate Zulus. For try to
get rid of it as we may, those responsibilities rest upon our
shoulders. When we conquered the Zulu nation and sent away the Zulu
king, we undertook, morally at any rate, to provide for the future
good government of the country; otherwise, the Zulu war was unjust
indeed. If we continue to fail, as we have hitherto, to carry out our
responsibilities as a humane and Christian nation ought to do, our
lapse from what is right will certainly recoil upon our own heads,
and, in the stern lessons of future troubles and disasters, we shall
learn that Providence with the nation, as with the individual, makes a
neglected duty its own avenger. We have sown the wind, let us be
careful lest we reap the whirlwind.

It is very clear that things cannot remain in their present condition.
If they do, it is probable that the Resident will sooner or later be
assassinated; not from any personal motives, but as a political
necessity, and some second Chaka will rise up and found a new Zulu
dynasty, sweeping away our artificial chiefs and divisions like
cobwebs. This idea seems to have penetrated into Lord Kimberley's
official mind, since in his despatch of instructions to Sir H. Bulwer,
written in February last, he says, "Probably if the chiefs are left to
themselves after a period more or less prolonged of war and anarchy,
some man will raise himself to the position of supreme chief." The
prospect of war and anarchy in Zululand does not, however, trouble
Lord Kimberley at all; in fact, the whole despatch is typical to a
degree of the Liberal Colonial policy. Lord Kimberley admits that what
little quiet the country has enjoyed under the settlement, "was due to
a mistaken belief on the part of the Zulus that the British Government
was ruling them, or would rule them through the Resident." He
evidently clearly sees all the evils and bloodshed that are resulting
and that must result from the present state of affairs; indeed he
recapitulates them, and then ends up by even refusing to allow such
slight measures of relief as the appointment of sub-Residents to be
carried out, although begged for by the chiefs, on the ground that it
might extend British influence. Of the interests of the Zulus himself
he is quite careless. The whole despatch can be summed up thus: "If
you can find any method to improve the state of affairs which will not
subject us to the smallest cost, risk, or responsibility, you can
employ it; if not, let them fight it out." Perhaps Lord Kimberley may
live (officially) long enough to find out that meanness and
selfishness do not always pay, and that it is not always desirable,
thus to sacrifice the respect, and crush the legitimate aspirations of
a generous people.

Unless something is done before long, it is possible that John Dunn
may succeed after a bloody war in securing the throne; but this would
not prove a permanent arrangement, since he is now getting on in life
and has no son to carry on the dynasty. Another possibility, and one
that is not generally known, at any rate in this country, though it is
perhaps the most probable of all, is this. Cetywayo has left a son in
Zululand, who is being carefully educated under the care of Mnyamane,
the late King's Prime Minister. The boy is now about 16 years of age,
and is reported to possess very good abilities, and is the trump card
that Mnyamane will play as soon as the time is ripe. This young man is
the hereditary heir to the Zulu crown, and it is more than probable
that if he is proclaimed king the vast majority of the nation will
rally round him and establish him firmly on his throne. There is
little use in keeping Cetywayo confined whilst his son is at large.
The lad should have been brought to England and educated, so that he
might at some future time have assisted in the civilisation of his
country: as it is, he is growing up in a bad school.

And now I come to the root of the whole matter, the question whether
or no, under all these circumstances, it is right or desirable to
re-establish Cetywayo on the throne of Zululand. In considering this
question, I think that Cetywayo's individuality ought to be out on one
side, however much we may sympathise with his position, as I confess I
do to some extent myself. After all, Cetywayo is only one man, whereas
the happiness, security, and perhaps the lives of many thousands are
involved in the issue of the question. In coming to any conclusion in
the matter it is necessary to keep in view the intentions of the
Government as regards our future connection with Zululand. If the
Government intends to do its duty and rule Zululand as it ought to be
ruled, by the appointment of proper magistrates, the establishment of
an adequate force, and the imposition of the necessary taxes; then it
would be the height of folly to permit Cetywayo to return, since his
presence would defeat the scheme. It must be remembered that there is
as yet nothing whatsoever to prevent this plan being carried out. It
would be welcomed with joy by the large majority of both Zulus and
Colonists. It would also solve the problem of the increase of the
native population of Natal, which is assuming the most alarming
proportions, since Zululand, being very much underpopulated, it would
be easy, were that country once quietly settled, to draft the majority
of the Natal Zulus back into it. This is undoubtedly the best course,
and indeed the only right course; but it does not at all follow that
it will be taken, since governments are unfortunately more concerned
at the prospect of losing votes than with the genuine interests of
their dependencies. The proper settlement of Zululand would not be
popular amongst a large class in this country, and therefore it is not
likely to be carried out, however right and necessary it may be.

If nothing is going to be done, then it becomes a question whether or
no Cetywayo should be sent back.

The large majority of the Natalians consider that his restoration
would be an act of suicidal folly, and their opinion is certainly
entitled to great weight, since they are after all the people
principally concerned. The issue of the experiment would be a matter
of comparative indifference to people living 7000 miles away, but is
naturally regarded with some anxiety by those who have their homes on
the borders of Zululand. It is very well to sympathise with savage
royalty in distress, but it must be borne in mind that there are
others to be considered besides the captive king. Many of the Zulus,
for instance, are by no means anxious to see him again, since they
look forward with just apprehension to the line of action he may take
with those who have not shown sufficient anxiety for his return, or
have in other ways incurred his resentment. One thing is clear, to
send the king back to Zululand is to restore the /status in quo/ as it
was before the war. There can be no half measures about it, no more
worthless paper stipulations; a Zulu king must either be allowed to
rule in his own fashion or not at all. The war would go for nothing,
and would doubtless have to be fought over again with one of
Cetywayo's successors.

Also it must be remembered that it is one thing to talk of restoring
Cetywayo, and another to carry his restoration into effect. It would
not simply be a question of turning him down on the borders of
Zululand, and letting him find his own way back to his throne, for
such a proceeding would be the signal for the outbreak of civil war.
It is not to be supposed that John Dunn, and those whose interests are
identical with Dunn's, would allow the ex-king to reseat himself on
the throne without a struggle; indeed the former has openly declared
his intention of resisting the attempt by force of arms if necessary.
He is by no means anxious to give up the 15,000 pounds a year his
hut-tax brings in, and all the contingent profits and advantages of
his chieftainship. If we wish to restore Cetywayo we must first depose
Dunn; in fact, we must be ready to support his restoration by force of
arms.

As regards Cetywayo himself, I cannot share the opinion of those who
think that he would be personally dangerous. He has learnt his lesson,
and would not be anxious to try conclusions with the English again;
indeed, I believe he would prove a staunch ally. But supposing him
re-established on the throne, how long would it be before a
revolution, or the hand of the assassin, to say nothing of the
ordinary chances of nature, put an end to him, and how do we know that
his successor in power would share his views?

Cetywayo's rule, bad as it was, was perhaps preferable to the reign of
terror that we have established, under the name of a settlement. But
that we can still remedy if we choose to do so, whereas, if we once
restore Cetywayo, all power over the Zulus passes out of our hands.

We have many interests to consider in South Africa, all of which will
be more or less affected by our action in this matter. On the whole, I
am of opinion that the Government that replaces Cetywayo on the throne
of his fathers will undertake a very grave responsibility, and must be
prepared to deal with many resulting complications, not the least of
which will be the utter exasperation of the white inhabitants of
Natal.




                   NATAL AND RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT

  Natal--Causes of increase of the native population--Happy
  condition of the Natal Zulus--Polygamy--Its results on population
  --The impossibility of eradicating it--Relations between a Zulu
  and his wives--Connection between polygamy and native law--
  Missionary work amongst the Zulus--Its failure--Reasons of its
  failure--Early days of Natal--Growth of the native question--
  Coming struggle between white and black over the land question--
  Difficulty of civilising the Zulu--Natal as a black settlement--
  The constitution of Natal--Request for responsible government--Its
  refusal--The request renewed and granted--Terms and reason of Lord
  Kimberley's offer--Infatuation of responsible government party in
  Natal--Systematic abuse of colonists in England--Colonial
  speculators--Grievances against the Imperial Government--Sir Henry
  Bulwer--Uncertain future of Natal--Its available force--Exterior
  dangers--The defence question shirked by the "party of progress"--
  The confederation question--The difficulty of obtaining desirable
  immigrants--The only real key to the Natal native question--Folly
  of accepting self-government till it is solved.

Natal has an area of about 18,000 square miles, and its present
population is, roughly, 25,000 whites and 400,000 natives of the Zulu
race. When, in 1843, it first became a British colony, the number of
natives living within its borders was very small, and they were for
the most part wanderers, fragmentary remnants of the tribes that Chaka
had destroyed. I shall probably be under, rather than over the mark,
if I say, that the Zulu population of the colony has multiplied itself
by ten during the last thirty years. Two causes have combined to bring
about this extraordinary increase; firstly, wholesale immigration from
the surrounding territories; and secondly, the practice of polygamy.

This immigration has been due to a great want of foresight, or want of
knowledge, on the part of the Home authorities, who have allowed it to
go on without check or hindrance till it has, in conjunction with its
twin evil polygamy, produced the state of affairs it is my object to
describe. Ever since its first establishment as a colony Natal has
been turned into a city of refuge for the native inhabitants of
Zululand, the Transvaal, Swaziland, and elsewhere. If news came to a
Zulu chief that his king purposed to eat him up, he at once fled
across the Tugela with his wives and followers and settled in Natal.
If the Boers or Swazis destroyed a tribe, the remnant found its way to
Natal.

That country, indeed, is to the South African native a modern Isles of
the Blest. Once across the border line, and, whatever his crime, he is
in a position to defy his worst enemy, and can rest secure in the
protection of the Home and local Governments, and of the enactments
specially passed to protect him and his privileges. The Government
allots him land, or if it does not he squats on private land: bringing
with him his own peculiar and barbarous customs. In all the world I do
not know a race more favoured by circumstances than the Natal Zulus.
They live on the produce of the fields that their wives cultivate, or
rather scratch, doing little or no work, and having no occasion to do
any. They are very rich, and their taxes are a mere trifle, fifteen
shillings per annum for each hut. They bear no share of the curse that
comes to all other men as a birthright; they need not labour.
Protected by a powerful Government, they do not fear attack from
without, or internal disorder. What all men desire, riches and women,
are theirs in abundance, and even their children, the objects of so
much expense and sore perplexity to civilised parents, are to them a
source of wealth. Their needs are few; a straw hut, corn for food, and
the bright sun. They are not even troubled with the thought of a
future life, but, like the animals, live through their healthy, happy
days, and at last, in extreme old age, meet a death which for them has
no terrors, because it simply means extinction. When compared to that
of civilised races, or even of their own brethren in the interior,
their lot is indeed a happy one.

But the stream of immigration, continuous though it has been, would
not by itself have sufficed to bring up the native population to its
present enormous total, without the assistance of the polygamous
customs of the immigrants.

I believe that inquirers have ascertained, that, as a general rule,
the practice of polygamy has not the effect of bringing about an
abnormal growth of population. However this may be elsewhere, in
Natal, owing in great measure to the healthy customs of the Zulu
race,[*] the rate of increase is unprecedented. Many writers and other
authorities consider polygamy as an institution, to be at once wicked
and disgusting. As to its morality, it is a point upon which it is
difficult to express any opinion, nor, indeed, does the question enter
into the scope of what I have to say; but it must be remembered that
in the case of the Zulu his whole law and existence is mixed up with
the institution, and that it is necessary to him to repair the gaps
made in his ranks by war. Violent anti-polygamists in this country
always make a strong point of the cruelty it is supposed to involve to
the women, and talk about the "violation of their holiest feelings."
As a matter of fact, sad as it may appear, the Zulu women are much
attached to the custom, nor would they, as a general rule, consent to
marry a man who only purposed taking one wife. There are various
reasons for this: for instance, the first wife is a person of
importance, and takes precedence of all the others, a fact as much
appreciated by the Zulu woman as by the London lady. Again, the more
wives there are, the more wealth it brings into the family, since in
the ordinary course of nature more wives mean more female children,
who, when they come to a marriageable age, mean in their turn at least
ten cows each (the Government price for a wife). The amount thus
obtained is placed to the credit of the estate of the mother of the
girl married, and for this reason all Zulu women are extremely anxious
to have children, especially female children. Finally, the liking of
Zulu women for the custom is bred in them. It has been going on for
countless generations, and it is probable that it will go on for so
long as the race endures. Nations do not change such habits unless the
change is forced on them, with the alternative of extermination.

[*] As soon as a Zulu woman is discovered to be pregnant, her husband
    ceases to cohabit with her, nor does he live with her again until
    the child is weaned, eighteen months, and sometimes two years,
    after its birth.

Polygamy will never be eradicated by moral persuasion, because, even
if a native could be brought to think it wrong, which is in itself
impossible, its abolition would affect his interests irredeemably. A
Zulu's wives are also his servants; they plough his land and husband
his grain, in addition to bearing his children. Had he but one wife
most of her time would be taken up with the latter occupation, and
then the mealie-planting and gathering would necessarily fall to the
lot of the husband, a state of affairs he would never consent to.
Again, if monogamy were established, girls would lose their value, and
a great source of wealth would be destroyed. It must, however, be
understood that Zulu girls are not exactly sold; the cows received by
the parents are by a legal fiction supposed to be a gift presented,
not a price paid. Should the wife subsequently run away, they are, I
believe, returnable.

On these subjects, as is not to be wondered at when so many interests
are concerned, the Zulu law is a little intricate. The cleverest
counsel in the Temple could not give an opinion on such a case as the
following:--

A. has four wives and children by Nos. 1 and 3. On his death his
brother, B., a rich man, takes over his wives and property, and has
children by each of the four women. He has also children by other
wives. On his death, in extreme old age, how should the property be
divided amongst the descendants of the various marriages?

It is clear that if such a case as this is to be dealt with at all it
must be under native law, and this is one of the great dangers of
polygamy. Once rooted in a state it necessitates a double system of
laws, since civilised law is quite unable to cope with the cases daily
arising from its practice. It is sometimes argued that the law
employed is a matter of indifference, provided that substantial
justice is done, according to the ideas of people concerned, and this
is doubtless very true if it is accepted as a fact that the Zulu
population of Natal is always to remain in its present condition of
barbarism. To continue to administer their law is to give it the
sanction of the white man's authority, and every day that it is so
administered makes it more impossible to do away with it. I say "more
impossible" advisedly, because I believe its abrogation is already
impossible. There is no satisfactory way out of the difficulty,
because it has its roots in, and draws its existence from, the
principle of polygamy, which I believe will last while the people
last.

Some rely on the Missionary to effect this stupendous change, and turn
a polygamous people into monogamists. But it is a well-known fact that
the missionaries produce no more permanent effect on the Zulu mind
than a child does on the granite rock which he chips at with a chisel.
How many real Christians are there in Zululand and Natal, and of that
select and saintly band how many practise monogamy? But very few, and
among those few there is a large proportion of bad characters, men who
have adopted Christianity as a last resource. I mean no disrespect to
the missionaries, many of whom are good men, doing their best under
the most unpromising conditions, though some are simply traders and
political agitators. But the fact remains the same. Christianity makes
no appreciable progress amongst the Zulu natives, whilst, on the other
hand, no one having any experience in the country will, if he can
avoid it, have a so-called Christian Kafir in his house, because the
term is but too frequently synonymous with that of drunkard and thief.
I do not wish it to be understood that it is the fact of his
Christianity that so degrades the Zulu, because I do not think it has
anything to do with it. It is only that the novice, standing on the
threshold of civilisation, as a rule finds the vices of the white man
more congenial than his virtues.

The Zulus are as difficult to convince of the truths of Christianity
as were the Jews, whom they so much resemble in their customs. They
have a natural disinclination to believe that which they cannot see,
and, being constitutionally very clever and casuistical, are prepared
to argue each individual point with an ability very trying to
missionaries. It was one of these Zulus, known as the Intelligent
Zulu, but in reality no more intelligent than his fellows, whose
shrewd remarks first caused doubts to arise in the mind of Bishop
Colenso, and through him in those of thousands of others.

Another difficulty in the way of the Missionary is, that he is obliged
to insist on the putting away of surplus wives, and thus to place
himself out of court at the outset. It is quite conceivable that in
the opinion of wild and savage men, it is preferable to let the new
teaching alone, rather than to adopt it at the cost of such a radical
change in their domestic arrangements. As a case in point I may quote
that of Hlubi, the Basutu appointed chief of one of the divisions of
Zululand, by Sir G. Wolseley. Hlubi is at heart a Christian, and a
good man, and anxious to be baptized. The missionaries, however,
refuse to baptize him, because he has two wives. Hlubi therefore
remains a heathen, saying, not unnaturally, that he feels it would be
impossible for him to put away a woman with whom he has lived for so
many years.

Whilst polygamy endures Christianity will advance with but small
strides. It seems to me that we are beginning at the wrong end. We
must civilise first and Christianise afterwards. As well try to sow
corn among rocks and look to gather a full crop, as expect the words
of Grace and Divine love to bear fruit in the hearts of a people whose
forefathers have for countless generations been men of blood, whose
prized traditions are one long story of slaughter, and who, if they
are now at peace are, as it were, only gathering strength for a surer
spring. First, the soil must be prepared before the seed is sown.

To do this there is but one way. Abolish native customs and laws,
especially polygamy, and bring our Zulu subjects within the pale of
our own law. Deprive them of their troops of servants in the shape of
wives, and thus force them to betake themselves to honest labour like
the rest of mankind.

There is only one objection in the way of the realisation of this
scheme, which would, doubtless, bring about, in the course of a
generation, a much better state of things, and gather many thousand
converts into the fold of the Church; and that is, the opportunity
has, so far as Natal is concerned, been missed--the time has gone by
when it could have been carried out. To young countries, as to young
men, there come sometimes opportunities of controlling their future
destinies which, if not seized at the moment, pass away for ever, or
only to return after long and troubled years. Natal has had her
chance, and it has gone away from her, though through no fault of her
own. If, when the colony was first settled, the few natives who then
lived there had been forced to conform to the usages of civilised life
or to quit its borders; if refugees had been refused admission save on
the same terms, it would not occupy the very serious position it does
at the present moment.

To understand the situation into which Natal has drifted with
reference to its native inhabitants, it is necessary to premise that
that country has hitherto had practically no control over its own
affairs, more especially as regards native legislation.

In its early days it was a happy, quiet place, a favoured clime, where
the traveller or settler could find good shooting, cheap labour, and
cheap living. No enemy threatened its rest, and the natives were
respectful and peaceful in their behaviour. But it was in those days
that the native difficulty, that Upas tree that now overshadows and
poisons the whole land, took root; for slowly, from all parts, all
through that quiet time, by ones, by tens, by hundreds, refugees were
flowing in, and asking and receiving land to settle on from the
Government.

It is not, however, to be supposed that the local officials did not
perceive the gathering danger, since it has again and again been
pointed out to different Secretaries of State, and again and again
been ignored by them, or put off for the consideration of their
successors. Hand-to-mouth legislation has always been the
characteristic of our rule in South Africa. On one occasion Sir
Theophilus, then Mr. Shepstone, went so far as to offer to personally
draw off a large portion of the native population, and settle them on
some vacant territory bordering on the Cape Colony, but the suggestion
was not acceded to, for fear lest the execution of the scheme should
excite disturbances amongst the natives of the Cape. Thus year after
year has passed away--plan after plan has been put aside,--and nothing
has been done.

In the colony a great deal of abuse is poured out on the head of Sir
T. Shepstone, to whom the present native situation is unjustly
attributed by a certain party of politicians. Sir T. Shepstone was for
very many years Secretary for Native Affairs in Natal, but until he
came to England, shortly before the termination of his official
career, he was personally unknown to the Colonial Office, and had no
influence there. It was totally out of his power to control the policy
of the Home Government with reference to the Natal natives; he could
only take things as he found them, and make the best of such materials
as came to his hand. As he could not keep the natives out of the
colony or prevent polygamy, he did what he could towards making them
loyal and contented subjects. How well he succeeded, and with what
consummate tact and knowledge he must have exercised his authority, is
shown by the fact that in all these years there has been but one
native disturbance, namely that of Langalibalele, and by the further
fact that the loyalty of the Natal Zulus stood the strain of the Zulu
war. Also, there never has been, and probably never will be, another
white man so universally beloved and reverenced by the natives
throughout the length and breadth of South Africa.

But Sir T. Shepstone's influence for good will pass away, as all
purely personal influence must, and meanwhile, what is the situation?
On the one hand, there is a very slowly increasing, scattered, and
mixed population of about 25,000 whites, capable, at the outside, of
putting a force of 4000 men in the field. On the other, there is a
warlike native population, united by the ties of race and common
interests, numbering at the present moment between 400,000 and
500,000, and increasing by leaps and bounds: capable of putting quite
80,000 warriors into the field, and possessing, besides, numerous
strongholds called locations. At present these two rival populations
live side by side in peace and amity, though at heart neither loves
the other. The two races are so totally distinct that it is quite
impossible for them to have much community of feeling; they can never
mingle; their ideas are different, their objects are different, and in
Natal their very law is different. Kafirs respect and like individual
Englishmen, but I doubt whether they are particularly fond of us as a
race, though they much prefer us to any other white men, and are
devoted to our rule, so long as it is necessary to them. The average
white man, on the other hand, detests the Kafir, and looks on him as a
lazy good-for-nothing, who ought to work for him and will not work for
him, whilst he is quite incapable of appreciating his many good
points. It is an odd trait about Zulus that only gentlemen, in the
true sense of the word, can win their regard, or get anything out of
them.

It is obvious that, sooner or later, these two races must come into
contact, the question being how long the present calm will last. To
this question I will venture to suggest an answer,--I believe the
right one. It will last until the native gets so cramped for room that
he has no place left to settle on, except the white man's lands. The
white man will then try to turn him off, whereupon the native will
fall back on the primary resource of killing him, and possessing
himself of the land by force. This plan, simultaneously carried out on
a large scale, would place the colony at the mercy of its native
inhabitants.

Nor is the time so very far distant when Englishmen and Zulus will
stand face to face over this land question. In the early days of the
colony, locations were established in the mountainous districts,
because they were comparatively worthless, and the natives were
settled in them by tribes. Of what goes on in these locations very
little is known, except that they are crowded, and that the
inhabitants are as entirely wedded to their savage customs as their
forefathers were before them. As there is no more room in the
locations, many thousands of Kafirs have settled upon private lands,
sometimes with and sometimes without the leave of the owners. But, for
many reasons, this is a state of affairs that cannot go on for ever.
In a few years, the private lands will be filled up, as well as the
locations, and what then?

Zulus are a people who require a very large quantity of land, since
they possess great numbers of cattle which must have grazing room.
Also their cultivation being of the most primitive order, and
consisting as it does of picking out the very richest patches of land,
and cropping them till they are exhausted, all ordinary land being
rejected as too much trouble to work, the possession, or the right of
usor, of several hundred acres is necessary to the support of a single
family. Nor, if we may judge from precedent, and its well-marked
characteristics, is it to be supposed that this race will at the pinch
suit itself to circumstances, take up less land, and work harder.
Zulus would rather fight to the last than discard a cherished and an
ancient custom. Savages they are, and savages they will remain, and in
the struggle between them and civilisation it is possible that they
may be conquered, but I do not believe that they will be converted.
The Zulu Kafir is incompatible with civilisation.

It will be seen, from what I have said, that Natal might more properly
be called a Black settlement than an English colony. Looking at it
from the former point of view, it is a very interesting experiment.
For the first time probably since their race came into existence, Zulu
natives have got a chance given them of increasing and multiplying
without being periodically decimated by the accidents of war, whilst
at the same time enjoying the protection of a strong and a just
government. It remains to be seen what use they will make of their
opportunity. That they will avail themselves of it for the purposes of
civilising themselves I do not believe; but it seems to me possible
that they will learn from the white man the advantages of combination,
and aim at developing themselves into a powerful and united black
nation.

It is in the face of this state of things that Lord Kimberley now
proposes to grant responsible government to the white inhabitants of
Natal, should they be willing to accept it, providing that it is to
carry with it the responsibility of ruling the natives, and further,
of defending the colony from the attacks of its neighbours, whether
white or coloured.

Natal has hitherto been ruled under a hybrid constitution, which,
whilst allowing the Legislative Assembly of the colony to pass laws,
&c., reserves all real authority to the Crown. There has, however,
been for some years past a growing agitation amongst a proportion of
its inhabitants, instituted with the object of inducing the Home
Government to concede practical independence to the colony, Her
Majesty having on several occasions been petitioned on the subject by
the Legislative Council. On the 13th February 1880, Sir G. Wolseley,
who was at the time Governor of Natal, wrote what I can only call, a
very intemperate despatch to the Secretary of State, commenting on the
prayer for responsible government, which he strongly condemned. He
also took the opportunity to make a series of somewhat vicious attacks
on the colonists in general, whose object in asking for independence
was, he implied, to bring the black man in relations of "appropriate
servitude to his white superior." It would appear, however, from words
used by him towards the end of his despatch, that the real reason of
his violence was, that he feared, that one of the first acts of the
Natal Parliament would be to put an end to his settlement in Zululand,
which was and is the laughing-stock of the colony. He was probably
right in this supposition. The various charges he brings against the
colonists are admirably and conclusively refuted in a minute adopted
by the Legislative Council of Natal, dated 20th December 1880.

In a despatch, dated 15th March 1881, Lord Kimberley refuses to accede
to the request for the grant of Responsible Government.

On the 28th of December, the Legislative Council again petitioned the
Crown on the subject, and forward to Lord Kimberley a report of a
Select committee appointed to consider the matter, in which the
following words occur:--

"Your committee hold that while the colony may well be held
responsible for its defence from such aggression as may be caused by
the acts or policy of a responsible government, it cannot justly be
saddled with the obligation to meet acts of aggression from bordering
territories that have arisen out of the circumstances or measures over
which such government have had no control; although, as a matter of
fact, the brunt of defence (must be borne?) in the first instance by
the colonists. The Council, therefore, neither exercises, nor desires
to exercise, any control over territories adjacent to or bordering on
the colony; for the preservation of its own internal peace and order
the colony is prepared to provide. The duty of protecting the colony
from external foes, whether by sea or land, devolves on the Empire as
a whole, otherwise to be a section of that Empire constitutes no real
privilege."

To this report, somewhat to the surprise of the Natalians, Lord
Kimberley returned, in a despatch addressed to Sir H. Bulwer, on the
occasion of his departure to take up the Governorship of Natal, and
dated 2d February 1882, a most favourable reply. In fact, he is so
obliging as to far exceed the wishes of the Natalians, as expressed in
the passage just quoted, and to tell them that Her Majesty's
Government is not only ready to give them responsible government, but
that it will expect them to defend their own frontiers, independently
of any assistance from the Imperial Government. He further informs
them that the Imperial troops will be withdrawn, and that the only
responsibility Her Majesty's Government will retain with reference to
the colony will be that of its defence against aggression by foreign
powers.

This sudden change of face on the part of the Imperial Government,
which had up till now flatly refused to grant /any measure/ of self-
government to Natal, may at first seem rather odd, but on examination
it will be found to be quite in accordance with the recently developed
South African policy of Mr. Gladstone's Government. There is little
doubt that it is an article of faith among the Liberal party that the
less the mother-country has to do with her colonies, and more
especially her South African colonies, the better. A grand step was
made in the direction of the abandonment of our South African Empire
when we surrendered the Transvaal to the Boers, and it is clear that
if our troops can be withdrawn from Natal and all responsibility for
the safety of that colony put an end to, the triumph of self-
effacement will be still more complete. But there is another and more
immediate reason for Lord Kimberley's generous offer. He knows, no one
better, that the policy pursued in South Africa, both as regards the
Transvaal and Zululand, must produce its legitimate fruit--bloodshed--
before very long. He, or rather his Government, is consequently
anxious to cut the connection before anything of the sort occurs, when
they will be able to attribute the trouble, whatever it is, to the
ill-advised action of the Colonial Legislature.

What is still more strange, however, is that the colonists, having
regard to the position they occupy with reference to the Kafirs that
surround them, to whom they bear the same relative proportion that the
oases do in the desert, or the islands of an archipelago to the ocean
that washes their shores, should wish for such a dangerous boon as
that of self-government, if indeed they really do wish it. When I
lived in Natal, I often heard the subject discussed, and watched the
Legislative Council pass its periodical resolutions about it, but I
confess I always looked on the matter as being more or less of a
farce. There exists, however, in Natal a knot of politicians who are
doubtless desirous of the change, partly because they think that it
would be really beneficial, and partly because they are possessed by a
laudable ambition to fill the high positions of Prime Minister,
Treasurer, &c., in the future Parliament. But these gentlemen for the
most part live in towns, where they are comparatively safe should a
native rising occur. I have not noticed the same enthusiasm for
responsible government among those Natalians who live up country in
the neighbourhood of the locations.

Still there does exist a considerable party who are in favour of the
change, a party that has recently sprung into existence. Many things
have occurred within the last few years to irritate and even
exasperate people in Natal with the Imperial Government, and generally
with the treatment that they have received at our hands. For instance,
colonists are proverbially sensitive, and it is therefore rather hard
that every newspaper correspondent or itinerant bookmaker who comes to
their shores, should at once proceed to print endless letters and
books abusing them without mercy. The fact of the matter is that these
gentlemen come, and put up at the hotels and pot-shops, where they
meet all the loafers and bad characters in the country, whom they take
to be specimens of the best class of colonists, whom they describe
accordingly as the "riddlings of society." Into the quiet,
respectable, and happy homes that really give the tone to the colony
they do not enter.

It is also a favourite accusation to bring against the people of Natal
that they make the South African wars in order to make money out of
them. For instance, in a leading article of one of the principal
English journals, it was stated not long ago, that the murmurs of the
colonists at being forced to eat the bread of humiliation in the
Transvaal matter, arose from no patriotic feeling, but from sorrow at
the early termination of a war out of which they hoped to suck no
small advantage. This statement is quite untrue.

No doubt a great deal of money has been made out of the wars by a few
colonial speculators, some of it, maybe, dishonestly; but this is not
an unusual occurrence in a foreign war. Was no money made dishonestly
by English speculators and contractors in the Crimean War? Cannot
Manchester boast manufacturers ready to supply our enemies,--for cash
payments,--with guns to shoot us with, or any other material of war?

It is not to be supposed that because a few speculators made fortunes
out of the Commissariat that the whole colony participated in the
spoils of the various wars. On the contrary, the marjority of its
inhabitants have suffered very largely. Not only have they run
considerable personal risk, but since, and owing to, the Zulu and Boer
wars the cost of living has almost, if not quite doubled, which,
needless to say, has not been the case with their incomes. It is
therefore particularly cruel that Natal should be gibbeted as the
abode of scoundrels of the worst sort, men prepared to bring about
bloodshed in order to profit by it. Sir Garnet Wolseley, however,
found in this report of colonial dishonesty a convenient point of
vantage from which to attack the colonists generally, and in his
despatch about responsible government we may be sure he did not spare
them. The Legislative Council thus comments on his remarks: "To
colonists a war means the spreading among them of distress, alarm, and
confusion, peril to life and property in outlying districts, the
arrest of progress, and general disorganisation. . . . The Council
regard with pain and indignation the uncalled-for and cruel stigma
thus cast upon the colonists by Sir Garnet Wolseley."

At first sight these accusations may not appear to have much to do
with the question of whether or no the colonists should accept
responsible government, but in reality they have, inasmuch as they
create a feeling of soreness that inclines the Natalians to get rid of
Imperial interference and the attendant criticism at any price.

More substantial grievances against the English Government are the
present condition of the native problem, which the colonists justly
attribute to Imperial mismanagement, and that triumph of genius, Sir
Garnet Wolseley's settlement in Zululand. They see these evils, which
they know were preventable, growing more formidable day by day, and
they imagine, or some of them do, that if they had free institutions
it would still be in their power to stop that growth.

The whole question has now been referred to the colony, which is to
elect a fresh Legislative Assembly on the issue of responsible
government. The struggle between "the party of progress," i.e., the
responsible government section, and the reactionists, or those who are
prepared to dispense with "freedom," provided they can be sure of
safety, is being carried on keenly, and at present it is doubtful
which side will have a majority. I do not, however, believe that the
majority of any Council returned will consent to accept Lord
Kimberley's proposal as it stands; to walk into a parlour in which the
spider is so very obvious, and to deliberately undertake the
guardianship of all the Imperial interests in South-Eastern Africa. If
they do, they will, in my opinion, deserve all they will get.[*]

[*] Since this chapter was written the Natal constituencies have, as I
    thought probable, declared against the acceptance of Lord
    Kimberley's offer in its present form, by returning a majority of
    anti-responsible Government men. It is, however, probable that the
    new Legislative Council will try to re-open negotiations on a
    different, or, at any rate, a modified basis.

The Natalians are fortunate at the present crisis in having, by dint
of vigorous agitation against the appointment of Mr. Sendall, a
gentleman selected by Lord Kimberley to govern them, obtained the
reappointment of their former Governor, Sir Henry Bulwer. Sir Henry,
during his first tenure of office, lost credit with the South African
colonists on account of his lukewarmness with reference to the Zulu
war, but the course of events has gone far towards justifying his
views. He is one of the most hard-working and careful Governors that
Natal has ever had, and, perhaps, the most judicious. Of a temperate
and a cautious mind, he may be more safely trusted to pilot a country
so surrounded with difficulties and dangers as Natal is, than most
men, and it is to be hoped that the application to the questions of
the day, of the strong common sense that he possesses in such an
eminent degree, may have a cooling effect on the hot heads and excited
imaginations of the "party of progress."

In considering the pros and cons of the responsible government
question, it must be steadily kept in sight that Natal is not likely
to be a country with a peaceful future. To begin with, she has her
native inhabitants to deal with. To-day they number, say 450,000,
fifteen or twenty years hence they will number a million, or perhaps
more. These men are no longer the docile overgrown children they were
twenty years ago. The lessons of our performances in the Zulu and Boer
wars, more especially the latter, have not been lost upon them, and
they are beginning to think that the white man, instead of being the
unconquerable demigod they thought him, is somewhat of a humbug.
Pharaoh, we know, grew afraid of the Israelites; Natal, with a much
weaker power at command than that of Pharaoh, has got to cope with a
still more dangerous element, and one that cannot be induced to depart
into the wilderness.

And after all what does the power of Natal amount to? Let us be
liberal, and say six thousand men, it is the outside. In the event of
a native rising, or any other serious war, I believe that of this
number, at least two thousand would make themselves scarce. There
exists in all colonies a floating element of individuals who have
drifted there for the purpose of making money, but who have no real
affection for the (temporary) country of their adoption. Their capital
is, as a rule, small and easily realised, and the very last thing that
they would think of doing, would be to engage in a deadly life or
death struggle, on behalf of a land that they only look on as a milch
cow, out of which their object is to draw as much as possible. On the
contrary, they would promptly seek another cow, leaving the old one to
the tender mercies of the butcher.

Their defection would leave some 4000 men to cope with the difficulty,
whatever it was, of which number at least 1000 would be ineffective
from age and various other causes, whilst of the remainder, quite 1000
would be obliged to remain where they were to protect women and
children in outlying districts. This would leave a total effective
force of 2000 men, or, deducting 500 for garrison purposes, of 1500
ready to take the field. But it would take some time to collect, arm,
and equip even this number, and in the meanwhile, in the case of a
sudden and preconcerted native rising, half the inhabitants of the
colony would be murdered in detail.

But Natalians have got other dangers to fear besides those arising
from the presence of this vast mass of barbarism in their midst. After
a period of anarchy a new king may possess himself of the throne of
Zululand, and it is even possible that he might, under circumstances
that will arise hereafter, lead his armies into Natal, and create a
difficulty with which the 1500 available white men would find it
difficult to cope. Or the Boers of the Orange Free State and Transvaal
may get tired of paying customs dues at Durban, and march 5000 men
down to take possession of the port! Perhaps Natal might provide
herself with an effective force by enrolling an army of 10,000 or
20,000 Kafirs, but it seems to me that the proceeding would be both
uncertain and expensive, and, should the army take it into its head to
mutiny, very dangerous to boot.

It is a noticeable fact that those who so ardently advocate the
acceptance of Lord Kimberley's offer, in all their speeches,
addresses, and articles, almost entirely shirk this question of
defence, which is, after all, the root of the matter. I have formed my
estimate of the number of men forthcoming in time of danger, on the
supposition that a burgher law was in force in Natal, that is, that
every man remaining in the country should be obliged to take a part in
its defence. But they do not even hint at a burgher law--in fact, they
repudiate the idea, because they know that it would not be tolerated.
The universal service system is not the Natalian's idea of happiness.
They simply avoid the question, calling it the "defence bugbear," and
assume that it will all be arranged in some unforeseen way.

The only suggestion that I have yet seen as regards the arrangements
for the future defence of the colony should it become independent, is
a somewhat ominous one, namely:--that Natal should enter into a close
alliance, offensive and defensive, with the Transvaal and the Orange
Free State. But, as the advocates of "freedom" would soon find, the
Orange Free State (for even if willing to help them, the Transvaal
will for some years have enough to do with its own affairs) will not
come forward for nothing. There would first have to be a few business
formalities with reference to the customs dues collected in Durban, on
goods passing through to the interior, which yield the bulk of the
Natal revenue: and possibly, some concessions to Boer public opinion
as regards the English mode of dealing with the Natal natives. I
incline to the opinion that in relying on the assistance of the Boers
in time of trouble the inhabitants of Natal would be leaning on a
broken reed. They are more likely to find them in arms against them
than fighting on their side.

The party of progress also talks much about the prospects of
confederation with the Cape, if once they get responsible government.
Most people, however, will think that the fact of their being
independent, and therefore responsible for their own defence, will
hardly prove an inducement to the Cape to offer to share those
responsibilities. The only confederation possible to Natal as a self-
governing community will be a Boer confederation, to which it may be
admitted--on certain terms. Another cry is that the moment responsible
government is established immigrants will flow into the country, and
thus restore the balance of races. I take the liberty to doubt the
truth of this supposition. The intending emigrant from Europe does
not, it is true, understand the ins and outs of the Natal native
question, but he does now that it is a place where there are wars and
rumours of wars, and where he might possibly be killed, and the result
is that he wisely goes to some other colony, that has equal advantages
to offer and no Kafirs. To suppose that the emigrant would go to Natal
when he came to understand that it was an independent settlement of a
few white men, living in the midst of a mass of warlike Kafirs, when
Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the United States, are all holding
out their arms to him, is to suppose him a bigger fool than he is. At
the best of times Natal is not likely to attract many desirable
emigrants: under a responsible government I do not believe that it
will attract any.

It seems to me, that there is only one condition of affairs under
which it would be at all possible for the Natalians to assume the
responsibilities of self-government with any safety, and that is when
the great bulk of the native population has been removed back to
whence it came--Zululand. Causes of a diametrically opposite nature to
those that have been at work among the natives of Natal, have been in
operation amongst their brethren in Zululand. In Natal, peace,
polygamy, plenty and immigration have bred up an enormous native
population. In Zululand, war, private slaughter by the king's order,
and the severe restrictions put upon marriage, have kept down the
increase of the race; also an enormous number of individuals have fled
from the one country into the other. I do not suppose that the
population of Zululand amounts, at the present moment, to much more
than half that of Natal.

In this state of affairs lies the only real key to the Natal native
difficulty. Let Zululand be converted into a black colony under
English control, and its present inhabitants be established in
suitable locations; then let all the natives of Natal, with the
exception of those who choose to become monogamists and be subject to
civilised law, be moved into Zululand, and also established in
locations. There would be plenty of room for them all. Of course there
would be difficulties in the way of the realisation of this scheme,
but I do not think that they would prove insuperable. It is probable,
however, that it would require a show of force before the Natal
natives would consent to budge. Indeed, it is absurd to suppose, that
anything would induce them to leave peaceful Natal, and plunge into
the seething cauldron of bloodshed, extortion, and political plots
that we have cooked up in Zululand under the name of a settlement.
Proper provisions must first be made for the government of the
country, and security to life and property made certain. Till this is
done, no natives in their senses will return to Zululand.

Till this is done, too, or till some other plan is discovered by means
of which the native difficulty can be effectively dealt with, the
Natalians will indeed be foolish if they discard the protection of
England, and accept the fatal boon of self-government. If they do,
their future career may be brilliant; but I believe that it will be
brief.

It is no answer to urge that at present the natives seem quite quiet,
and that there is no indication of disturbance.

History tells us that before the destruction of doomed Pompeii,
Vesuvius was very still; only day by day the dark cloud hanging over
the mountain's summit grew denser and blacker. We know what happened
to Pompeii.

I do not wish to suggest anything unpleasant, far from it; but
sometimes, I cannot help thinking, that it is perhaps a matter worth
the consideration of the Natalians, whether it might not be as well,
instead of talking about responsible government: to improve upon the
example of the inhabitants of Pompeii, and take to their ships
/before/ the volcano begins to work.

It seems to me that there is an ugly cloud gathering on the political
horizon in Natal.




                            THE TRANSVAAL



                              CHAPTER I

                  ITS INHABITANTS, LAWS, AND CUSTOMS

  Invasion by Mosilikatze--Arrival of the emigrant Boers--
  Establishment of the South African republic--The Sand River
  convention--Growth of the territory of the republic--The native
  tribes surrounding it--Capabilities of the country--Its climate--
  Its inhabitants--The Boers--Their peculiarities and mode of life--
  Their abhorrence of settled government and payment of taxes--The
  Dutch patriotic party--Form of government previous to the
  annexation--Courts of law--The commando system--Revenue
  arrangements--Native races in the Transvaal.

The Transvaal is a country without a history. Its very existence was
hardly known of until about fifty years ago. Of its past we know
nothing. The generations who peopled its great plains have passed
utterly out of the memory and even the traditions of man, leaving no
monument to mark that they have existed, not even a tomb.

During the reign of Chaka, 1813-1828, whose history has been sketched
in a previous chapter, one of his most famous generals, Mosilikatze,
surnamed the Lion, seceded from him with a large number of his
soldiers, and striking up in a north-westerly direction, settled in or
about what is now the Morico district of the Transvaal. The country
through which Mosilikatze passed was at that time thickly populated
with natives of the Basutu or Macatee race, whom the Zulus look upon
with great contempt. Mosilikatze expressed the feelings of his tribe
in a practical manner, by massacring every living soul of them that
came within his reach. That the numbers slaughtered were very great,
the numerous ruins of Basutu kraals all over the country testify.

It was Chaka's intention to follow up Mosilikatze and destroy him, but
he was himself assassinated before he could do so. Dingaan, his
successor, however, carried out his brother's design, and despatched a
large force to punish him. This army, after marching over 300 miles,
burst upon Mosilikatze, drove him back with slaughter, and returned
home triumphant. The invasion is important, because the Zulus claim
the greater part of the Transvaal territory by virtue of it.

About the time that Mosilikatze was conquered, 1835-1840, the
discontented Boers were leaving the Cape Colony exasperated at the
emancipation of the slaves by the Imperial authorities. First they
made their way to Natal, but being followed thither by the English
flag they travelled further inland over the Vaal River and founded the
town of Mooi River Dorp or Potchefstroom. Here they were joined by
other malcontents from the Orange Sovereignty, which, although
afterwards abandoned, was at that time a British possession. Acting
upon


  The good old rule, the simple plan
  Of let him take who has the power,
  And let him keep who can,


the Boers now proceeded to possess themselves of as much territory as
they wanted. Nor was this a difficult task. The country was, as I have
said, peopled by Macatees, who are a poor-spirited race as compared to
the Zulus, and had had what little courage they possessed crushed out
of them by the rough handling they had received at the hands of
Mosilikatze and Dingaan. The Boers, they argued, could not treat them
worse than the Zulus had done. Occasionally a Chief, bolder than the
rest, would hold out, and then such an example was made of him and his
people that few cared to follow in his footsteps.

As soon as the Boers were fairly settled in their new home, they began
to think about setting up a Government. First they tried a system of
Commandants, with a Commandant-general, but this does not seem to have
answered. Next, those of their number who lived in Lydenburg district
(where the gold fields now are) set up a Republic, with a President
and Volksraad, or popular assembly. This example was followed by the
other white inhabitants of the country, who formed another Republic
and elected another President, with Pretoria for their capital. The
two republics were subsequently incorporated.

In 1852 the Imperial authorities, having regard to the expense of
maintaining an effective government over an unwilling people in an
undeveloped and half-conquered country, concluded a convention with
the emigrant Boers "beyond the Vaal River." The following were the
principal stipulations of this convention, drawn up between Major Hogg
and Mr. Owen, Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners for the settling
and adjusting of the affairs of the eastern and north-eastern
boundaries of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope on the one part, and
a deputation representative of the emigrant farmers north of the Vaal
River on the other. It was guaranteed "in the fullest manner on the
part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal
River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves
according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of
the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made by the
said Government on the territory beyond to the north of the Vaal
River, with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British
Government is to promote peace, free trade, and friendly intercourse
with the emigrant farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit
that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference
is binding on both parties."

Next were disclaimed, on behalf of the British Government, "all
alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the
north of the Vaal River."

It was also agreed "that no slavery is or shall be permitted or
practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the
emigrant farmers."

It was further agreed "that no objection shall be made by any British
authority against the emigrant Boers purchasing their supplies of
ammunition in any of the British colonies and possessions of South
Africa; it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with
the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the
emigrant farmers on both sides of the Vaal River."

These were the terms of this famous convention, which is as slipshod
in its diction as it is vague in its meaning. What, for instance, is
meant by the territory to the north of the Vaal River? According to
the letter of the agreement, Messrs. Hogg and Owen ceded all the
territory between the Vaal and Egypt. This historical document was the
Charta of the new-born South African Republic. Under its provisions,
the Boers, now safe from interference on the part of the British,
established their own Government and promulgated their "Grond Wet," or
Constitution.

The history of the Republic between 1852 and 1876 is not very
interesting, and is besides too wearisome to enter into here. It
consists of an oft-told tale of civil broils, attacks on native
tribes, and encroachment on native territories. Until shortly before
the Annexation, every burgher was, on coming of age, entitled to
receive from the Government 6000 acres of land. As these rights were
in the early days of the Republic frequently sold to speculators for
such trifles as a bottle of brandy or half a dozen of beer, and as the
seller still required his 6000 acres: for a Boer considers it beneath
his dignity to settle on less, it is obvious that it required a very
large country to satisfy all demands. To meet these demands, the
territories of the Republic had to be stretched like an elastic band,
and they were stretched accordingly,--at the expense of the natives.
The stretching process was an ingenious one, and is very well
described in a minute written by Mr. Osborn, the late Magistrate at
Newcastle, dated 22d September, 1876, in these words:--

"The Boers, as they have done in other cases and are still doing,
encroached by degrees on native territory, commencing by obtaining
permission to graze stock upon portions of it at certain seasons of
the year, followed by individual graziers obtaining from native
headmen a sort of right or license to squat upon certain defined
portions, ostensibly in order to keep other Boer squatters away from
the same land. These licenses, temporarily intended as friendly or
neighbourly acts by unauthorised headmen, after a few seasons of
occupation by the Boer, are construed by him as title, and his
permanent occupation ensues. Damage for trespass is levied by him from
the very man from whom he obtained the right to squat, to which the
natives submit out of fear of the matter reaching the ears of the
paramount chief, who would in all probability severely punish them for
opening the door to encroachment by the Boer. After a while, however,
the matter comes to a crisis in consequence of the incessant disputes
between the Boers and the natives; one or other of the disputants lays
the case before the paramount chief, who, when hearing both parties,
is literally frightened with violence and threats by the Boer into
granting him the land. Upon this the usual plan followed by the Boer
is at once to collect a few neighbouring Boers, including a field
cornet, or even an acting provisional field cornet, appointed by the
field cornet or provisional cornet, the latter to represent the
Government, although without instructions authorising him to act in
the matter. A few cattle are collected among themselves, which the
party takes to the chief, and his signature is obtained to a written
document alienating to the Republican Boers a large slice of all his
territory. The contents of this document are, as far as I can make
out, never clearly or intelligibly explained to the chief who signs
and accepts of the cattle under the impression that it is all in
settlement of hire for the grazing licenses granted by his headmen.
This, I have no hesitation in saying, is the usual method by which the
Boers obtain what they call cessions to them of territories by native
chiefs. In Secocoeni's case they allege that his father Sequati cedes
to them the whole of his territory (hundreds of square miles) for a
hundred head of cattle."

So rapidly did this progress go on that the little Republic to the
"North of the Vaal River," had at the time of the Annexation grown
into a country of the size of France. Its boundaries had only been
clearly defined where they abutted on neighbouring White Communities,
or on the territories of great native powers, on which the Government
had not dared to infringe to any marked degree, such as those of Lo
Bengula's people in the north. But wheresoever on the State's borders
there had been no white Power to limit its advances, or where the
native tribes had found themselves too isolated or too weak to resist
aggressions, there the Republic had by degrees encroached and extended
the shadow, if not the substance, of its authority.

The Transvaal has a boundary line of over 1,600 miles in
circumference, and of this a large portion is disputed by different
native tribes. Speaking generally, the territory lies between the 22
and 28 degrees of South Latitude and the 25 and 32 degrees of East
Longitude, or between the Orange Free State, Natal and Griqualand West
on the south, and the Limpopo River on the north; and between the
Lebombo mountains on the east, and the Kalihari desert on the west. On
the north of its territory live three great tribes, the Makalaka, the
Matabele (descendants of the Zulus who deserted Chaka under
Mosilikatze) and the Matyana. These tribes are all warlike. On the
west, following the line down to the Diamond Field territory, are the
Sicheli, the Bangoaketsi, the Baralong and the Koranna tribes. Passing
round by Griqualand West, the Free State, and Natal, we reach Zululand
on the south-east corner; then come the Lebombo mountains on the east,
separating the Transvaal from Amatonga land, and from the so-called
Portuguese possessions, which are entirely in the hands of native
tribes, most of them subject to the great Zulu chief, Umzeila, who has
his stronghold in the north-east.

It will be observed that the country is almost surrounded by native
tribes. Besides these there are about one million native inhabitants
living within its borders. In one district alone, Zoutpansberg, it is
computed that there are 364,250 natives, as compared to about 750
whites.

If a beautiful and fertile country were alone necessary to make a
state and its inhabitants happy and prosperous, happiness and
prosperity would rain upon the Transvaal and the Dutch Boers. The
capabilities of this favoured land are vast and various. Within its
borders are to be found highlands and lowlands, vast stretches of
rolling veldt like gigantic sheep downs, hundreds of miles of swelling
bushland, huge tracts of mountainous country, and even little glades
spotted with timber that remind one of an English park. There is every
possible variety of soil and scenery. Some districts will grow all
tropical produce, whilst others are well suited for breeding sheep,
cattle and horses. Most of the districts will produce wheat and all
other cereals in greater perfection and abundance than any of the
other South African colonies. Two crops of cereals may be obtained
from the soil every year, and both the vine and tobacco are cultivated
with great success. Coffee, sugar-cane and cotton have been grown with
profit in the northern parts of the State. Also the undeveloped
mineral wealth of the country is very great. Its known minerals are
gold, copper, lead, cobalt, iron, coal, tin and plumbago: copper and
iron having long been worked by the natives. Altogether there is
little doubt that the Transvaal is the richest of all the South
African states, and had it remained under English rule it would, with
the aid of English enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy
and prosperous country. However there is little chance of that now.

Perhaps the greatest charm of the Transvaal lies in its climate, which
is among the best in the world, and in all the southern districts very
healthy. During the winter months, that is from April to October,
little or no rain falls, and the climate is cold and bracing. In
summer it is rather warm, but not overpoweringly hot, the thermometer
at Pretoria averaging from 65 to 73 degrees, and in the winter from 59
to 56 degrees. The population of the Transvaal is estimated at about
40,000 whites, mostly of Dutch origin, consisting of about thirty vast
families: and one million natives. There are several towns, the
largest of which are Pretoria and Potchefstroom.

Such is the country that we annexed in 1877, and were drummed out of
in 1881. Now let us turn to its inhabitants. It has been the fashion
to talk of the Transvaal as though nobody but Boers lived in it. In
reality the inhabitants were divided into three classes: 1. Natives;
2. Boers; 3. English. I say were divided, because the English class
can now hardly be said to exist, the country having been made too hot
to hold it, since the war. The natives stand in the proportion of
nearly twenty to one to the whites. The Boers were in their turn much
more numerous than the English, but the latter owned nearly all the
trading establishments in the country, and also a very large amount of
property.

The Transvaal Boers have been very much praised up by members of the
Government in England, and others who are anxious to advance their
interests, as against English interests. Mr. Gladstone, indeed, can
hardly find words strong enough to express his admiration of their
leaders, those "able men," since they inflicted a national humiliation
on us; and doubtless they are a people with many good points. That
they are not devoid of sagacity can be seen by the way they have dealt
with the English Government.

The Boers are certainly a peculiar people, though they can hardly be
said to be "zealous of good works." They are very religious, but their
religion takes it colour from the darkest portions of the Old
Testament; lessons of mercy and gentleness are not at all to their
liking, and they seldom care to read the Gospels. What they delight in
are the stories of wholesale butchery by the Israelites of old; and in
their own position they find a reproduction of that of the first
settlers in the Holy Land. Like them they think they are entrusted by
the Almighty with the task of exterminating the heathen native tribes
around them, and are always ready with a scriptural precedent for
slaughter and robbery. The name of the Divinity is continually on
their lips, sometimes in connection with very doubtful statements.
They are divided into three sects, none of which care much for the
other two. These are the Doppers, who number about half the
population, the Orthodox Reform, and the Liberal Reform, which is the
least numerous. Of these three sects, the Doppers are by far the most
uncompromising and difficult to deal with. They much resemble the
puritans of Charles the First's time, of the extreme Hew-Agag-in-
pieces stamp.

It is difficult to agree with those who call the Boers cowards, an
accusation which the whole of their history belies. A Boer does not
like fighting if he can avoid it, because he sets a high value on his
own life; but if he is cornered, he will fight as well as anybody
else. The Boers fought well enough, in the late war, though that, it
is true, is no great criterion of courage, since they were throughout
flushed with victory, and, owing to the poor shooting of the British
troop, in but little personal danger. One very unpleasant
characteristic they have, and that is an absence of regard for the
truth, especially where land is concerned. Indeed the national
characteristic is crystallised into a proverb, "I am no slave to my
word." It has several times happened to me, to see one set of highly
respectable witnesses in a land case, go into the box and swear
distinctly that they saw a beacon placed on a certain spot, whilst an
equal number on the other side will swear that they saw it placed a
mile away. Filled as they are with a land hunger, to which that of the
Irish peasant is a weak and colourless sentiment, there is little that
they will not do to gratify their taste. It is the subject of constant
litigation amongst them, and it is by no means uncommon for a Boer to
spend several thousand pounds in lawsuits over a piece of land not
worth as many hundreds.

Personally Boers are fine men, but as a rule ugly. Their women-folk
are good-looking in early life, but get very stout as they grow older.
They, in common with most of their sex, understand how to use their
tongues; indeed, it is said, that it was the women who caused the
rising against the English Government. None of the refinements of
civilisation enter into the life of an ordinary Boer. He lives in a
way that would shock an English labourer at twenty-five shillings the
week, although he is very probably worthy fifteen or twenty thousand
pounds. His home is but too frequently squalid and filthy to an
extraordinary degree. He himself has no education, and does not care
that his children should receive any. He lives by himself in the
middle of a great plot of land, his nearest neighbour being perhaps
ten or twelve miles away, caring but little for the news of the
outside world, and nothing for its opinions, doing very little work,
but growing daily richer through the increase of his flocks and herds.
His expenses are almost nothing, and as he gets older, wealth
increases upon him. The events in his life consist of an occasional
trip on "commando," against some native tribe, attending a few
political meetings, and the journeys he makes with his family to the
nearest town, some four times a year, in order to be present at
"Nachtmaal" or communion. Foreigners, especially Englishmen, he
detests, but he is kindly and hospitable to his own people. Living
isolated as he does, the lord of a little kingdom, he naturally comes
to have a great idea of himself, and a corresponding contempt for all
the rest of mankind. Laws and taxes are things distasteful to him, and
he looks upon it as an impertinence that any court should venture to
call him to account for his doings. He is rich and prosperous, and the
cares of poverty, and all the other troubles that fall to the lot of
civilised men, do not affect him. He has no romance in him, nor any of
the higher feelings and aspirations that are found in almost every
other race; in short, unlike the Zulu he despises, there is little of
the gentleman in his composition, though he is at times capable of
acts of kindness and even generosity. His happiness is to live alone
in the great wilderness, with his children, his men-servants and his
maid-servants, his flocks and his herds, the monarch of all he
surveys. If civilisation presses him too closely, his remedy is a
simple one. He sells his farm, packs up his goods and cash in his
waggon, and starts for regions more congenially wild. Such are some of
the leading characteristics of that remarkable product of South
Africa, the Transvaal Boer, who resembles no other white man in the
world.

Perhaps, however, the most striking of all his oddities is his
abhorrence of all government, more especially if that government be
carried out according to English principles. The Boers have always
been more or less in rebellion; they rebelled against the rule of the
Company when the Cape belonged to Holland, they rebelled against the
English Government in the Cape, they were always in a state of semi-
rebellion against their own government in the Transvaal, and now they
have for the second time, with the most complete success, rebelled
against the English Government. The fact of the matter is that the
bulk of their number hate all Governments, because Governments enforce
law and order, and they hate the English Government worst of all,
because it enforces law and order most of all. It is not liberty they
long for, but license. The "sturdy independence" of the Boer resolves
itself into a determination not to have his affairs interfered with by
any superior power whatsoever, and not to pay taxes if he can possibly
avoid it. But he has also a specific cause of complaint against the
English Government, which would alone cause him to do his utmost to
get rid of it, and that is its mode of dealing with natives, which is
radically opposite to his own. This is the secret of Boer patriotism.
To understand it, it must be remembered that the Englishman and the
Boer look at natives from a different point of view. The Englishman,
though he may not be very fond of him, at any rate regards the Kafir
as a fellow human being with feelings like his own. The average Boer
does not. He looks upon the "black creature" as having been delivered
into his hand by the "Lord" for his own purposes, that is, to shoot
and enslave. He must not be blamed too harshly for this, for, besides
being naturally of a somewhat hard disposition, hatred of the native
is hereditary, and is partly induced by the history of many a bloody
struggle. Also the native hates the Boer fully as much as the Boer
hates the native, though with better reason. Now native labour is a
necessity to the Boer, because he will not as a rule do hard manual
labour himself, and there must be some one to plant and garner the
crops, and herd the cattle. On the other hand, the natives are not
anxious to serve the Boers, which means little or no pay and plenty of
thick stick, and sometimes worse. The result of this state of affairs
is that the Boer often has to rely on forced labour to a very great
extent. But this is a thing that an English Government will not
tolerate, and the consequence is that under its rule he cannot get the
labour that is necessary to him.

Then there is the tax question. If he lives under the English flag the
money has to be paid regularly, but under his own Government he pays
or not as he likes. It was this habit of his of refusing payment of
taxes that brought the Republic into difficulties in 1877, and that
will ere long bring it into trouble again. He cannot understand that
cash is necessary to carry on a Government, and looks upon a tax as
though it were so much money stolen from him. These things are the
real springs of the "sturdy independence" and the patriotism of the
ordinary Transvaal farmer. Doubtless, there are some who are really
patriotic; for instance, one of their leaders, Paul Kruger. But with
the majority, patriotism is only another word for unbounded license
and forced labour.

These remarks must not be taken to apply to the Cape Boers, who are a
superior class of men, since they, living under a settled and
civilised Government, have been steadily improving, whilst their
cousins, living every man for his own hand, have been deteriorating.
The old Voortrekkers, the fathers and grandfathers of the Transvaal
Boer of to-day, were, without doubt, a very fine set of men, and
occasionally you may in the Transvaal meet individuals of the same
stamp whom it is a pleasure to know. But these are generally men of a
certain age with some experience of the world; the younger men are
very objectionable in their manners.

The real Dutch Patriotic party is not to be found in the Transvaal,
but in the Cape Colony. Their object, which, as affairs now are, is
well within the bounds of possibility, is by fair means or foul to
swamp the English element in South Africa, and to establish a great
Dutch Republic. It was this party, which consists of clever and well
educated men, who raised the outcry against the Transvaal Annexation,
because it meant an enormous extension of English influence, and who
had the wit, by means of their emissaries and newspapers, to work upon
the feeling of the ignorant Transvaal farmers until they persuaded
them to rebel; and finally, to avail themselves of the yearnings of
English radicalism for the disruption of the Empire and the
minimisation of British authority, to get the Annexation cancelled.
All through this business the Boers have more or less danced in
obedience to strings pulled at Cape Town, and it is now said that one
of the chief wire-pullers, Mr. Hofmeyer, is to be asked to become
President of the Republic. These men are the real patriots of South
Africa, and very clever ones too, not the Transvaal Boers, who vapour
about their blood and their country and the accursed Englishman to
order, and are in reality influenced by very small motives, such as
the desire to avoid payment of taxes, or to hunt away a neighbouring
Englishman, whose civilisation and refinement are as offensive as his
farm is desirable. Such are the Dutch inhabitants of the Transvaal. I
will now give a short sketch of their institutions as they were before
the Annexation, and to which the community has reverted since its
recision, with, I believe, but few alterations.

The form of government is republican, and to all intents and purposes,
manhood suffrage prevails, supreme power resting in the people. The
executive power of the State centres in a President elected by the
people to hold office for a term of five years, every voter having a
voice in his election. He is assisted in the execution of his duties
by an Executive Council, consisting of the State Secretary and such
other three members as are selected for that purpose by the
legislative body, the Volksraad. The State Secretary holds office for
four years, and is elected by the Volksraad. The members of the
Executive all have seats in the Volksraad, but have no votes. The
Volksraad is the legislative body of the State, and consists of forty-
two members. The country is divided into twelve electoral districts,
each of which has the right to return three members; the Gold Fields
have also the right of electing two members, and the four principal
towns, one member each. There is no power in the State competent to
either prorogue or dissolve the Volksraad except that body itself, so
that an appeal to the country on a given subject or policy is
impossible without its concurrence. Members are elected for four
years, but half retire by rotation every two years, the vacancies
being filled by re-elections. Members must have been voters for three
years, and be not less than thirty years of age, must belong to a
Protestant Church, be resident in the country, and owners of immovable
property therein. A father and son cannot sit in the same Raad,
neither can seats be occupied by coloured persons, bastards, or
officials.

For each electoral district there is a magistrate or Landdrost whose
duties are similar to those of a Civil Commissioner. These districts
are again subdivided into wards presided over by field cornets, who
exercise judicial powers in minor matters, and in times of war have
considerable authority. The Roman Dutch law is the common law of the
country, as it is of the colonies of the Cape of Good Hope and Natal,
and of the Orange Free State.

Prior to the Annexation justice was administered in a very primitive
fashion. First, there was the Landdrosts' Court, from which an appeal
lay to a court consisting of the Landdrost and six councillors elected
by the public. This was a court of first instance as well as a court
of appeal. Then there was a Supreme Court, consisting of three
Landdrosts from three different districts, and a jury of twelve
selected from the burghers of the State. There was no appeal from this
court, but cases have sometimes been brought under the consideration
of the Volksraad as the supreme power. It is easy to imagine what the
administration of justice was like when the presidents of all the law
courts in the country were elected by the mob, not on account of their
knowledge of the law, but because they were popular. Suitors before
the old Transvaal courts found the law surprisingly uncertain. A High
Court of Justice was, however, established after the Annexation, and
has been continued by the Volksraad, but an agitation is being got up
against it, and it will possibly be abolished in favour of the old
system.

In such a community as that of the Transvaal Boers, the question of
public defence was evidently of the first importance. This is provided
for under what is known as the Commando system. The President, with
the concurrence of the Executive Council, has the right of declaring
war, and of calling up a Commando, in which the burghers are placed
under the field cornets and commandants. These last are chosen by the
field cornets for each district, and a Commandant-general is chosen by
the whole laager or force, but the President is the Commander-in-Chief
of the army. All the inhabitants of the state between sixteen and
sixty, with a few exceptions, are liable for service. Young men under
eighteen, and men over fifty, are only called out under circumstances
of emergency. Members of the Volksraad, officials, clergymen, and
school-teachers are exempt from personal service, unless martial law
is proclaimed, but must contribute an amount not exceeding 15 pounds
towards the expense of the war. All legal proceedings in civil cases
are suspended against persons on commando, no summonses can be made
out, and as soon as martial law is proclaimed no legal execution can
be prosecuted, the pounds are closed, and transfer dues payments are
suspended, until after thirty days from the recall of the proclamation
of martial law. Owners of land residing beyond the borders of the
Republic are also liable, in addition to the ordinary war tax, to
place a fit and proper substitute at the disposal of the Government,
or otherwise to pay a fine of 15 pounds. The first levy of the
burghers is, of men from eighteen to thirty-four years of age; the
second, thirty-four to fifty; and the third, from sixteen to eighteen,
and from fifty to sixty years. Every man is bound to provide himself
with clothing, a gun, and ammunition, and there must be enough waggons
and oxen found between them to suffice for their joint use. Of the
booty taken, one quarter goes to Government and the rest to the
burghers. The most disagreeable part of the commandeering system is,
however, yet to come; personal service is not all that the resident in
the Transvaal Republic has to endure. The right is vested in field
cornets to commandeer articles as well as individuals, and to call
upon inhabitants to furnish requisites for the commando. As may be
imagined, it goes very hard on these occasions with the property of
any individual whom the field cornet may not happen to like.

Each ward is expected to turn out its contingent ready and equipped
for war, and this can only be done by seizing goods right and left.
One unfortunate will have to find a waggon, another to deliver his
favourite span of trek oxen, another his riding-horse, or some
slaughter cattle, and so on. Even when the officer making the levy is
desirous of doing his duty as fairly as he can, it is obvious that
very great hardships must be inflicted under such a system.
Requisitions are made more with regard to what is wanted, than with a
view to an equitable distribution of demands; and like the Jews in the
time of the Crusades, he who has got most must pay most, or take the
consequences, which may be unpleasant. Articles which are not
perishable, such as waggons, are supposed to be returned, but if they
come back at all they are generally worthless.

In case of war, the native tribes living within the borders of the
State are also expected to furnish contingents, and it is on them that
most of the hard work of the campaign generally falls. They are put in
the front of the battle, and have to do the hand-to-hand fighting,
which, however, if of the Zulu race, they do not object to.

The revenue of the State is so arranged that the burden of it should
fall as much as possible on the trading community and as little as
possible on the farmer. It is chiefly derived from licenses on trades,
professions, and callings, 30s. per annum quit-rent on farms, transfer
dues and stamps, auction dues, court fees, and contributions from such
native tribes as can be made to pay them. Since we have given up the
country, the Volksraad has put a very heavy tax on all imported goods,
hoping thereby to beguile the Boers into paying taxes without knowing
it, and at the same time strike a blow at the trading community, which
is English in its proclivities. The result has been to paralyse what
little trade there was left in the country, and to cause great
dissatisfaction amongst the farmers, who cannot understand why, now
that the English are gone, they should have to pay twice as much for
their sugar and coffee as they have been accustomed to do.


I will conclude this chapter with a few words about the natives, who
swarm in and around the Transvaal. They can be roughly divided into
two great races, the Amazulu and their offshoots, and the Macatee or
Basutu tribes. All those of Zulu blood, including the Swazies,
Mapock's Kafirs, the Matabele, the Knobnodes, and others are very
warlike in disposition, and men of fine physique. The Basutus (who
must not be confounded with the Cape Basutus), however, differ from
these tribes in every respect, including their language, which is
called Sisutu, the only mutual feeling between the two races being
their common detestation of the Boers. They do not love war; in fact,
they are timid and cowardly by nature, and only fight when they are
obliged to. Unlike the Zulus, they are much addicted to the arts of
peace, show considerable capacities for civilisation, and are even
willing to become Christians. There would have been a far better field
for the Missionary in the Transvaal than in Zululand and Natal.
Indeed, the most successful mission station I have seen in Africa is
near Middelburg, under the control of Mr. Merensky. In person the
Basutus are thin and weakly when compared to the stalwart Zulu, and it
is their consciousness of inferiority both to the white men, and their
black brethren, that, together with their natural timidity, makes them
submit as easily as they do to the yoke of the Boer.



                              CHAPTER II

                   EVENTS PRECEDING THE ANNEXATION

  Mr. Burgers elected president--His character and aspirations--His
  pension from the English Government--His visit to England--The
  railway loan--Relations of the republic with native tribes--The
  pass laws--Its quarrel with Cetywayo--Confiscation of native
  territory by the Keate award--Treaty with the Swazi king--The
  Secocoeni war--Capture of Johannes' stronghold by the Swazi allies
  --Attack on Secocoeni's mountain--Defeat and dispersion of the
  Boers--Elation of the natives--Von Schlickmann's volunteers--
  Cruelties perpetrated--Abel Erasmus--Treatment of natives by Boers
  --Public meeting at Potchefstroom in 1768--The slavery question--
  Some evidence on the subject--Pecuniary position of the Transvaal
  prior to the annexation--Internal troubles--Divisions amongst the
  Boers--Hopeless condition of the country.

In or about the year 1872, the burghers of the Republic elected Mr.
Burgers their President. This remarkable man was a native of the Cape
Colony, and passed the first sixteen or seventeen years of his life,
he once informed me, on a farm herding sheep. He afterwards became a
clergyman noted for the eloquence of his preaching, but his ideas
proving too broad for his congregation, he resigned his cure, and in
an evil moment for himself took to politics.

President Burgers was a man of striking presence and striking talents,
especially as regards his oratory, which was really of a very high
class, and would have commanded attention in our own House of Commons.
He possessed, however, a mind of that peculiarly volatile order, that
is sometimes met with in conjunction with great talents, and which
seems to be entirely without ballast. His intellect was of a balloon-
like nature, and as incapable of being steered. He was always soaring
in the clouds, and, as is natural to one in that elevated position,
taking a very different and more sanguine view of affairs to that
which men of a more lowly, and perhaps a more practical, turn of mind
would do.

But notwithstanding his fly-away ideas, President Burgers was
undoubtedly a true patriot, labouring night and day for the welfare of
the state of which he had to undertake the guidance: but his
patriotism was too exalted for his surroundings. He wished to elevate
to the rank of a nation a people who had not got the desire to be
elevated; with this view he contracted railway loans, made wars,
minted gold, &c., and then suddenly discovered that the country
refused to support him. In short, he was made of a very different clay
to that of the people he had to do with. He dreamt of a great Dutch
Republic "with eight millions of inhabitants," doing a vast trade with
the interior through the Delagoa Bay Railway. They, on the other hand,
cared nothing about republics or railways, but fixed their affections
on forced labour and getting rid of the necessity of paying taxes--and
so between them the Republic came to grief. But it must be borne in
mind that President Burgers was throughout actuated by good motives;
he did his best by a stubborn and stiff-necked people; and if he
failed, as fail he did, it was more their fault than his. As regards
the pension he received from the English Government, which has so
often been brought up against him, it was after all no more than his
due after five years of arduous work. If the Republic had continued to
exist, it is to be presumed that they would have made some provision
for their old President, more especially as he seems to have exhausted
his private means in paying the debts of the country. Whatever may be
said of some of the other officials of the Republic, its President
was, I believe, an honest man.

In 1875, Mr. Burgers proceeded to Europe, having, he says in a
posthumous document recently published, been empowered by the
Volksraad "to carry out my plans for the development of the country,
by opening up a direct communication for it, free from the trammels of
British ports and influence." According to this document, during his
absence, two powerful parties, viz., "the faction of unprincipled
fortune-hunters, rascals, and runaways on the one hand, and the
faction of the extreme orthodox party in a certain branch of the Dutch
Reform Church on the other, began to co-operate against the Government
of the Republic and me personally. . . . . . Ill as I was, and
contrary to the advice of my medical men, I proceeded to Europe, in
the beginning of 1875, to carry out my project, and no sooner was my
back turned on the Transvaal, than the conspiring elements began to
act. The new coat of arms and flag adopted in the Raad by an almost
unanimous vote were abolished. The laws for a free and secular
education were tampered with, and my resistance to a reckless
inspection and disposal of Government lands, still occupied by
natives, was openly defied. The Raad, filled up to a large extent with
men of ill repute, who, under the cloak of progress and favour to the
Government view, obtained their seats, was too weak to cope with the
skill of the conspirators, and granted leave to the acting President
to carry out measures diametrically opposed to my policy. /Native
lands/ were inspected and given out to a few speculators, who held
large numbers of claims to lands which were destined for citizens, and
so a war was prepared for me, on my return from Europe, which I could
not avert." This extract is interesting, as showing the state of
feeling existing between the President and his officers previous to
the outbreak of the Secocoeni war. It also shows how entirely he was
out of sympathy with the citizens, seeing that as soon as his back was
turned, they, with Mr. Joubert and Paul Kruger at their head, at once
undid all the little good he had done.

When Mr. Burgers got to England, he found that city capitalists would
have nothing whatever to say to his railway scheme. In Holland,
however, he succeeded in getting 90,000 pounds of the 300,000 pounds
he wished to borrow at a high rate of interest, and by passing a bond
on five hundred government farms. This money was immediately invested
in a railway plant, which, when it arrived at Delagoa Bay, had to be
mortgaged to pay the freight on it, and that was the end of the
Delagoa Bay railway scheme, except that the 90,000 pounds is, I
believe, still owing to the confiding shareholders in Holland.

On his return to the Transvaal the President was well received, and
for a month or so all went smoothly. But the relations of the Republic
with the surrounding native tribes had by this time become so bad that
an explosion was imminent somewhere. In the year 1874 the Volksraad
raised the price of passes under the iniquitous pass law, by which
every native travelling through the territory was made to pay from 1
pound to five pounds. In case of non-payment the native was made
subject to a fine of from 1 pound to 10 pounds, and to a beating of
from "ten to twenty-five lashes." He was also to go into service for
three months, and have a certificate thereof, for which he must pay
five shillings; the avowed object of the law being to obtain a supply
of Kafir labour. This was done in spite of the earnest protest of the
President, who gave the Raad distinctly to understand that by
accepting this law they would, in point of fact, annul treaties
concluded with the chiefs on the south-western borders. It was not
clear, however, if this amended pass law ever came into force. It is
to be hoped it did not, for even under the old law natives were
shamefully treated by the Boers, who would pretend that they were
authorised by the Government to collect the tax; the result being that
the unfortunate Kafir was frequently obliged to pay twice over.
Natives had such a horror of the pass laws of the country, that when
travelling to the Diamond Fields to work they would frequently go
round some hundreds of miles rather than pass through the Transvaal.

That the Volksraad should have thought it necessary to enact such a
law in order that the farmers should obtain a supply of Kafir labour
in a territory that had nearly a million of native inhabitants, who,
unlike the Zulus, are willing to work if only they meet with decent
treatment, is in itself an instructive commentary on the feelings
existing between the Boer master and Kafir servant.

But besides the general quarrel with the Kafir race in its entirety,
which the Boers always have on hand, they had just then several
individual differences, in each of which there lurked the
possibilities of disturbance.

To begin with, their relations with Cetywayo were by no means
amicable. During Mr. Burgers' absence the Boer Government, then under
the leadership of P. J. Joubert, sent Cetywayo a very stern message--a
message that gives the reader the idea that Mr. Joubert was ready to
enforce it with ten thousand men. After making various statements and
demands with reference to the Amaswazi tribe, the disputed boundary
line, &c., it ends thus:--

"Although the Government of the South African Republic has never
wished, and does not now desire, that serious disaffection and
animosities should exist between you and them, yet it is not the less
of the greatest consequence and importance for you earnestly to weigh
these matters and risks, and to satisfy them; the more so, if you on
your side also wish that peace and friendship shall be maintained
between you and us."

The Secretary for Native Affairs for Natal comments on this message in
these words: "The tone of this message to Cetywayo is not very
friendly, it has the look of an ultimatum, and if the Government of
the Transvaal were in circumstances different to what it is, the
message would suggest an intention to coerce if the demands it conveys
are not at once complied with; but I am inclined to the opinion that
no such intention exists, and that the transmission of a copy of the
message to the Natal Government is intended as a notification that the
Transvaal Government has proclaimed the territory hitherto in dispute
between it and the Zulus to be Republican territory, and that the
Republic intends to occupy it."

In the territories marked out by a decision known as the Keate Award,
in which Lieutenant-Governor Keate of Natal, at the request of both
parties, laid down the boundary line between the Boers and certain
native tribes, the Boer Government carried it with a yet higher hand,
insomuch as the natives of those districts, being comparatively
unwarlike, were less likely to resist.

On the 18th August 1875, Acting President Joubert issued a
proclamation by which a line was laid down far to the southward of
that marked out by Mr. Keate, and consequently included more territory
within the elastic boundaries of the Republic. A Government notice of
the same date invites all claiming lands now declared to belong to the
Republic, to send in their claims to be settled by a land commission.

On the 6th March 1876, another chief in the same neighbourhood
(Montsoia) writes to the Lieutenant-Governor of Griqualand West in
these terms:--

"My Friend,--I wish to acquaint you with the doings of some people
connected with the Boers. A man-servant of mine has been severely
injured in the head by one of the Boers' servants, which has proved
fatal. Another of my people has been cruelly treated by a Boer tying a
rein about his neck, and then mounting his horse and dragging him
about the place. My brother Molema, who is the bearer of this, will
give you full particulars."

Molema explains the assaults thus: "The assaulted man is not dead; his
skull was fractured. The assault was committed by a Boer named Wessels
Badenhorst, who shamefully ill-treated the man, beat him till he
fainted, and, on his revival, fastened a rim around his neck, and made
him run to the homestead by the side of his (Badenhorst's) horse
cantering. At the homestead he tied him to the waggon-wheel, and
flogged him again till Mrs. Badenhorst stopped her husband."

Though it will be seen that the Boers were on good terms neither with
the Zulus nor the Keate Award natives, they still had one Kafir ally,
namely, Umbandeni, the Amaswazi king. This alliance was concluded
under circumstances so peculiar that they are worthy of a brief
recapitulation. It appears that in the winter of the year 1875 Mr.
Rudolph, the Landdrost of Utrecht, went to Swazieland, and, imitating
the example of the Natal Government with Cetywayo, crowned Umbandeni
king, on behalf of the Boer Government. He further made a treaty of
alliance with him, and promised him a commando to help him in case of
his being attacked by the Zulus. Now comes the curious part of the
story. On the 18th May 1876, a message came from this same Umbandeni
to Sir H. Bulwer, of which the following is an extract:--"We are sent
by our king to thank the Government of Natal for the information sent
to him last winter by that Government, and conveyed by Mr. Rudolph, of
the intended attack on his people by the Zulus. We are further
instructed by the king to thank the Natal Government for the influence
it used to stop the intended raid, and for instructing a Boer commando
to go to his country to render him assistance in case of need; and
further for appointing Mr. Randolph at the head of the commando to
place him (Umbandeni) as king over the Amaswazi, and to make a treaty
with him and his people on behalf of the Natal Government. . . . . .
The Transvaal Government has asked Umbandeni to acknowledge himself a
subject of the Republic, but he has distinctly refused to do so." In a
minute written on this subject, the Secretary for Native Affairs for
Natal says, "No explanation or assurance was sufficient to convince
them (Umbandeni's messengers) that they had on that occasion made
themselves subjects of the South African Republic; they declared it
was not their wish or intention to do so, and that they would refuse
to acknowledge a position into which they had been unwittingly
betrayed." I must conclude this episode by quoting the last paragraph
of Sir H. Bulwer's covering despatch, because it concerns larger
issues than the supposed treaty: "It will not be necessary that I
should at present add any remarks to those contained in the minute for
the Secretary for Native Affairs, but I would observe that the
situation arising out of the relations of the Government of the South
African Republic with the neighbouring states is so complicated, and
presents so many elements of confusion and of danger to the peace of
this portion of South Africa, that I trust some way may be found to an
early settlement of questions that ought not, in my opinion, to be
left alone, as so many have been left, to take the chance of the
future."

And now I come to the last and most imminent native difficulty that at
the time faced the Republic. On the borders of Lydenburg district
there lived a powerful chief named Secocoeni. Between this chief and
the Transvaal Government difficulties arose in the beginning of 1876
on the usual subject--land. The Boers declared that they had bought
the land from the Swazies, who had conquered portions of the country,
and that the Swazies offered to make it "clean from brambles," i.e.,
kill everybody living on it; but that they (the Boers) said that they
were to let them be, that they might be their servants. The Basutus,
on the other hand, said that no such sale ever took place, and, even
if it did take place, it was invalid, because the Swazies were not in
occupation of the land, and therefore could not sell it. It was a
Christian Kafir called Johannes, a brother of Secocoeni, who was the
immediate cause of the war. This Johannes used to live at a place
called Botsobelo, the mission-station of Mr. Merensky, but moved to a
stronghold on the Spekboom river, in the disputed territory. The Boers
sent to him to come back, but he refused, and warned the Boers off his
land. Secocoeni was then appealed to, but declared that the land
belonged to his tribe, and would be occupied by Johannes. He also told
the Boers "that he did not wish to fight, but that he was quite ready
to do so if they preferred it." Thereupon the Transvaal Government
declared war, although it does not appear that the natives committed
any outrage or acts of hostility before the declaration. As regards
the Boers' right to Secocoeni's country, Sir H. Barkly sums up the
question thus, in a despatch addressed to President Burgers, dated
28th Nov. 1876:--"On the whole, it seems perfectly clear, and I feel
bound to repeat it, that Sikukuni was neither /de jure/ or /de facto/
a subject of the Republic when your Honour declared war against him in
June last." As soon as war had been declared, the clumsy commando
system was set working, and about 2500 white men collected; the
Swazies also were applied to to send a contingent, which they did,
being only too glad of the opportunity of slaughter.

At first all went well, and the President, who accompanied the
commando in person, succeeded in reducing a mountain stronghold,
which, in his high-flown way, he called a "glorious victory" over a
"Kafir Gibraltar."

On the 14th July another engagement took place, when the Boers and
Swazies attacked Johannes' stronghold. The place was taken with
circumstances of great barbarity by the Swazies, for when the signal
was given to advance the Boers did not move. Nearly all the women were
killed, and the brains of the children were dashed out against the
stones; in one instance, before the captive mother's face. Johannes
was badly wounded, and died two days afterwards. When he was dying he
said to his brother, "I am going to die. I am thankful I do not die by
the hands of these cowardly Boers, but by the hand of a black and
courageous nation like myself . . ." He then took leave of his people,
told his brother to read the Bible, and expired. The Swazies were so
infuriated at the cowardice displayed by the Boers on this occasion
that they returned home in great dudgeon.

On the 2nd of August Secocoeni's mountain, which is a very strong
fortification, was attacked in two columns, or rather an attempt was
made to attack it, for when it came to the pinch only about forty men,
mostly English and Germans, would advance. Thereupon the whole
commando retreated with great haste, the greater part of it going
straight home. In vain the President entreated them to shoot him
rather than desert him; they had had enough of Secocoeni and his
stronghold, and home they went. The President then retreated with what
few men he had left to Steelport, where he built a fort, and from
thence returned to Pretoria. The news of the collapse of the commando
was received throughout the Transvaal, and indeed the whole of South
Africa, with the greatest dismay. For the first time in the history of
that country the white man had been completely worsted by a native
tribe, and that tribe wretched Basutus, people whom the Zulus call
their "dogs." It was glad tidings to every native from the Zambesi to
the Cape, who learnt thereby that the white man was not so invincible
as he used to be. Meanwhile the inhabitants of Lydenburg were filled
with alarm, and again and again petitioned the Governors of the Cape
and Natal for assistance. Their fears were, however, to a great extent
groundless, for, with the exception of occasional cattle-lifting,
Secocoeni did not follow up his victory.

On the 4th September the President opened the special sitting of the
Volksraad, and presented to that body a scheme for the establishment
of a border force to take the place of the commando system, announcing
that he had appointed a certain Captain Von Schlickmann to command it.
He also requested the Raad to make some provision for the expenses of
the expedition, which they had omitted to do in their former sitting.

Captain Von Schlickmann determined to carry on the war upon a
different system. He got together a band of very rough characters on
the Diamond Fields, and occupied the fort built by the President, from
whence he would sally out from time to time and destroy kraals. He
seems, if we may believe the reports in the blue books and the stories
of eye-witnesses, to have carried on his proceedings in a somewhat
savage way. The following is an extract from a private letter written
by one of his volunteers:--

"About daylight we came across four Kafirs. Saw them first, and
charged in front of them to cut off their retreat. Saw they were
women, and called out not to fire. In spite of that, one of the poor
things got her head blown off (a d----d shame). . . . Afterwards two
women and a baby were brought to the camp prisoners. The same night
they were taken out by our Kafirs and murdered in cold blood by the
order of ----. Mr. ---- and myself strongly protested against it, but
without avail. I never heard such a cowardly piece of business in my
life. No good will come of it, you may depend. . . . ---- says he
would cut all the women and children's throats he catches. Told him
distinctly he was a d----d coward."

Schlickmann was, however, a mild-mannered man when compared to a
certain Abel Erasmus, afterwards denounced at a public dinner by Sir
Garnet Wolseley as a "fiend in human form." This gentleman, in the
month of October, attacked a friendly kraal of Kafirs. The incident is
described thus in a correspondent's letter:--

"The people of the kraals, taken quite by surprise, fled when they saw
their foes, and most of them took shelter in the neighbouring bush.
Two or three men were distinctly seen in their flight from the kraal,
and one of them is known to have been wounded. According to my
informant the remainder were women and children, who were pursued into
the bush, and there, all shivering and shrieking, were put to death by
the Boers' Kafirs, some being shot, but the majority stabbed with
assegais. After the massacre he counted thirteen women and three
children, but he says he did not see the body of a single man. Another
Kafir said, pointing to a place in the road where the stones were
thickly strewn, 'the bodies of the women and children lay like these
stones.' The Boer before mentioned, who has been stationed outside,
has told one of his own friends, whom he thought would not mention it,
that the shrieks were fearful to hear."

Several accounts of, or allusion to, this atrocity can be found in the
blue books, and I may add that it, in common with others of the same
stamp, was the talk of the country at the time.

I do not relate these horrors out of any wish to rake up old stories
to the prejudice of the Boers, but because I am describing the state
of the country before the Annexation, in which they form an
interesting and important item. Also, it is as well that people in
England should know into what hands they have delivered over the
native tribes who trusted in their protection. What happened in 1876
is probably happening again now, and will certainly happen again and
again. The character of the Transvaal Boer and his sentiments towards
the native races have not modified during the last five years, but, on
the contrary, a large amount of energy, which has been accumulating
during the period of British protection, will now be expended on their
devoted heads.

As regards the truth of these atrocities, the majority of them are
beyond the possibility of doubt; indeed, to the best of my knowledge,
no serious attempt has ever been made to refute such of them as have
come into public notice, except in a general way, for party purposes.
As, however, they may be doubted, I will quote the following extract
from a despatch written by Sir H. Barkly to Lord Carnarvon, dated 18th
December 1876:--

"As Von Schlickmann has since fallen fighting bravely, it is not
without reluctance that I join in affixing this dark stain on his
memory, but truth compels me to add the following extract from a
letter which I have since received from one whose name (which I
communicate to your Lordship privately) forbids disbelief: 'There is
no longer the /slightest doubt/ as to the murder of the two women and
the child at Steelport by the direct order of Schlickmann, and in the
attack on the kraal near which these women were captured (or some
attack about that period) he ordered his men to cut the throats of all
the wounded! This is no mere report; it is positively true.'" He
concludes by expressing a hope that the course of events will enable
Her Majesty's Government to take such steps "as will terminate this
wanton and useless bloodshed, and prevent the recurrence of the
/scenes of injustice, cruelty, and rapine which abundant evidence is
every day forthcoming to prove have rarely ceased to disgrace the
Republics beyond the Vaal ever since they first sprang into
existence./"[*]

[*] The italics are my own.--Author.

These are strong words, but none too strong for the facts of the case.
Injustice, cruelty, and rapine have always been the watchwords of the
Transvaal Boers. The stories of wholesale slaughter in the earlier
days of the Republic are very numerous. One of the best known of those
shocking occurrences took place in the Zoutpansberg war in 1865. On
this occasion a large number of Kafirs took refuge in caves, where the
Boers smoked them to death. Some years afterwards Dr. Wangeman, whose
account is, I believe, thoroughly reliable, describes the scene of
their operations in these words:--

"The roof of the first cave was black with smoke; the remains of the
logs which were burnt lay at the entrance. The floor was strewn with
hundreds of skulls and skeletons. In confused heaps lay karosses,
kerries, assegais, pots, spoons, snuff-boxes, and the bones of men,
giving one the impression that this was the grave of a whole people.
Some estimate the number of those who perished here from twenty to
thirty thousand. This is, I believe, too high. In the one chamber
there were from two hundred to three hundred skeletons; the other
chambers I did not visit."

In 1868 a public meeting was held at Potchefstroom to consider the war
then going on with the Zoutpansberg natives. According to the report
of the proceedings, the Rev. Mr. Ludorf said that "on a particular
occasion a number of native children, who were too young to be
removed, had been collected in a heap, covered with long grass, and
burned alive. Other atrocities had also been committed, but these were
too horrible to relate." When called upon to produce his authority for
this statement, Mr. Ludorf named his authority "in a solemn
declaration to the State Attorney." At this same meeting Mr. J. G.
Steyn, who had been Landdrost of Potchefstroom, said "there now was
innocent blood on our hands which had not yet been avenged, and the
curse of God rested on the land in consequence." Mr. Rosalt remarked
that "it was a singular circumstance that in the different colonial
Kafir wars, as also in the Basutu wars, one did not hear of destitute
children being found by the commandoes, and asked how it was that
every petty commando that took the field in this Republic invariably
found numbers of destitute children. He gave it as his opinion that
the present system of apprenticeship was an essential cause of our
frequent hostilities with the natives." Mr. Jan Talyard said,
"Children were forcibly taken from their parents, and were then called
destitute and apprenticed." Mr. Daniel Van Nooren was heard to say,
"If they had to clear the country, and could not have the children
they found, he would shoot them." Mr. Field-Cornet Furstenburg stated
"that when he was at Zoutpansberg with his burghers, the chief Katse-
Kats was told to come down from the mountains; that he sent one of his
subordinates as a proof of amity; that whilst a delay of five days was
guaranteed by Commandant Paul Kruger, who was then in command, orders
were given at the same time to attack the natives at break of day,
which was accordingly done, but which resulted in total failure."
Truly, this must have been an interesting meeting.

Before leaving these unsavoury subjects, I must touch on the question
of slavery. It has been again and again denied, on behalf of the
Transvaal Boers, that slavery existed in the Republic. Now, this is,
strictly speaking, true; slavery did not exist, but apprenticeship did
--the rose was called by another name, that is all. The poor destitute
children who were picked up by kindhearted Boers, after the
extermination of their parents, were apprenticed to farmers till they
came of age. It is a remarkable fact that these children never
attained their majority. You might meet oldish men in the Transvaal
who were not, according to their masters' reckoning, twenty-one years
of age. The assertion that slavery did not exist in the Transvaal is
only made to hoodwink the English public. I have known men who have
owned slaves, and who have seen whole waggon-loads of "black ivory,"
as they were called, sold for about 15 pounds a-piece. I have at this
moment a tenant, Carolus by name, on some land I own in Natal, now a
well-to-do man, who was for many years--about twenty, if I remember
right--a Boer slave. During those years, he told me, he worked from
morning till night, and the only reward he received was two calves. He
finally escaped into Natal.

If other evidence is needed it is not difficult to find, so I will
quote a little. On the 22d August 1876 we find Khama, king of the
Bamangwato, one of the most worthy chiefs in South Africa, sending a
message to "Victoria, the great Queen of the English people," in these
words:--

"I write to you, Sir Henry, in order that your Queen may preserve for
me my country, it being in her hands. The Boers are coming into it,
and I do not like them. Their actions are cruel among us black people.
We are like money, they sell us and our children. I ask Her Majesty to
pity me, and to hear that which I write quickly. I wish to hear upon
what conditions Her Majesty will receive me, and my country and my
people, under her protection. I am weary with fighting. I do not like
war, and I ask Her Majesty to give me peace. I am very much distressed
that my people are being destroyed by war, and I wish them to obtain
peace. I ask Her Majesty to defend me, as she defends all her people.
There are three things which distress me very much--war, selling
people, and drink. All these things I shall find in the Boers, and it
is these things which destroy people to make an end of them in the
country. /The custom of the Boers has always been to cause people to
be sold, and to-day they are still selling people./ Last year I saw
them pass with two waggons full of people whom they had bought at the
river at Tanane" (Lake Ngate).

The Special Correspondence of the "Cape Argus," a highly respectable
journal, writes thus on the 28th November 1876:--"The Boer from whom
this information was gleaned has furnished besides some facts which
may not be uninteresting, as a commentary on the repeated denials by
Mr. Burgers of the existence of slavery. During the last week slaves
have been offered for sale on his farm. The captives have been taken
from Secocoeni's country by Mapoch's people, and are being exchanged
at the rate of a child for a heifer. He also assures us that the whole
of the Highveld is bring replenished with Kafir children, whom the
Boers have been lately purchasing from the Swazies at the rate of a
horse for a child. I should like to see this man and his father as
witnesses before an Imperial Commission. He let fall one or two
incidents of the past which were brought to mind by the occurrences of
the present. In 1864, he says, 'The Swazies accompanied the Boers
against Males. The Boers did nothing but stand by and witness the
fearful massacre. The men and women were also murdered. One poor woman
sat clutching her baby of eight days old. The Swazies stabbed her
through the body, and when she found that she could not live, she
wrung the baby's neck with her own hands to save it from future
misery. On the return of that Commando the children who became too
weary to continue the journey were killed on the road. The survivors
were sold as slaves to the farmers.'"

The same gentleman writes in the issue of the 12th December as
follows:--"The whole world may know it, for it is true, and
investigation will only bring out the horrible details, that through
the whole course of this Republic's existence it has acted in
contravention of the Sand River Treaty; and slavery has occurred not
only here and there in isolated cases, but as an unbroken practice,
and has been one of the peculiar institutions of the country, mixed up
with all its social and political life. It has been at the root of
most of its wars. It has been carried on regularly even in times of
peace. It has been characterised by all those circumstances which have
so often roused the British nation to an indignant protest, and to
repeated efforts to banish the slave trade from the world. The Boers
have not only fallen on unsuspecting kraals simply for the purpose of
obtaining the women and children and cattle, but they have carried on
a traffic through natives who have kidnapped the children of their
weaker neighbours, and sold them to the white man. Again, the Boers
have sold and exchanged their victims among themselves. Waggon-loads
of slaves have been conveyed from one end of the country to the other
for sale, and that with the cognisance of, and for the direct
advantage of, the highest officials of the land. The writer has
himself seen in a town, situated in the south of the Republic, the
children who had been brought down from a remote northern district.
One fine morning, in walking through the streets, he was struck with
the number of little black strangers standing about certain houses,
and wondered where they could have come from. He learnt a few hours
later that they were part of loads which were disposed of on the
outskirts of the town the day before. The circumstances connected with
some of these kidnapping excursions are appalling, and the barbarities
practised by cruel masters upon some of these defenceless creatures
during the course of their servitude are scarcely less horrible than
those reported from Turkey. It is no disgrace in this country for an
official to ride a fine horse which was got for two Kafir children, to
procure whom the father and mother were shot. No reproach is inherited
by the mistress who, day after day, tied up her female servant in an
agonising posture, and had her beaten until there was no sound part in
her body, securing her in the stocks during the intervals of torture.
That man did not lose caste who tied up another woman and had her
thrashed until she brought forth at the whipping-post. These are
merely examples of thousands of cases which could be proved were an
Imperial Commission to sit, and could the wretched victims of a
prolonged oppression recover sufficiently from the dread of their old
tyrants to give a truthful report."

To come to some evidence more recently adduced. On the 9th May 1881,
an affidavit was sworn to by the Rev. John Thorne, curate of St. John
the Evangelist, Lydenburg, Transvaal, and presented to the Royal
Commission appointed to settle Transvaal affairs, in which he
states:--"That I was appointed to the charge of a congregation in
Potchefstroom, about thirteen years ago, when the Republic was under
the presidency of Mr. Pretorius.[*] I remember noticing one morning,
as I walked through the streets, a number of young natives, whom I
knew to be strangers. I inquired where they came from. I was told that
they had just been brought from Zoutpansberg. This was the locality
from which slaves were chiefly brought at that time, and were traded
for under the name of 'Black Ivory.' One of these natives belonged to
Mr. Munich, the State Attorney. It was a matter of common remark at
that time, that the President of the Republic was himself one of the
greatest dealers in slaves." In the fourth paragraph of the same
affidavit Mr. Thorne says, "That the Rev. Doctor Nachtigal, of the
Berlin Missionary Society, was the interpreter for Shatane's people in
the private office of Mr. Roth, and, at the close of the interview,
told me what had occurred. On my expressing surprise, he went on to
relate that he had information on native matters which would surprise
me more. He then produced the copy of a register, kept in the
landdrost's office, of men, women, and children, to the number of four
hundred and eighty (480), who had been disposed of by one Boer to
another for a consideration. In one case an ox was given in exchange,
in another goats, in a third a blanket, and so forth. Many of these
natives he (Mr. Nachtigal) knew personally. The copy was certified as
true and correct by an official of the Republic, and I would mention
his name now, only that I am persuaded that it would cost the man his
life if his act became known to the Boers."

[*] One of the famous Triumvirate.

On the 16th May 1881, a native, named Frederick Molepo, was examined
by the Royal Commission. The following are extracts from his
examination:--

"(Sir E. Wood.) Are you a Christian?--Yes.

"(Sir H. de Villiers.) How long were you a slave?--Half a year.

"How do you know that you were a slave? Might you not have been an
apprentice?--No, I was not apprenticed.

"How do you know?--They got me from my parents, and ill-treated me.

"(Sir E. Wood.) How many times did you get the stick?--Every day.

"(Sir H. de Villiers.) What did the Boers do with you when they caught
you?--They sold me.

"How much did they sell you for?--One cow and a big pot."

On the 28th May 1881, amongst the other documents handed in for the
consideration of the Royal Commission, is the statement of a headman,
whose name it has been considered advisable to omit in the blue book
for fear the Boers should take vengeance on him. He says, "I say, that
if the English Government dies I shall die too; I would rather die
than be under the Boer Government. I am the man who helped to make
bricks for the church you see now standing in the square here
(Pretoria), as a slave without payment. As a representative of my
people I am still obedient to the English Government, and willing to
obey all commands from them, even to die for their cause in this
country, rather than submit to the Boers.

"I was under Shambok, my chief, who fought the Boers formerly, but he
left us, and we were /put up to auction/ and sold among the Boers. I
want to state this myself to the Royal Commission in Newcastle. I was
bought by Fritz Botha and sold by Frederick Botha, who was then veld
cornet (justice of the peace) of the Boers."[*]

[*] I have taken the liberty to quote all these extracts exactly as
    they stand in the original, instead of weaving their substance
    into my narrative, in order that I may not be accused, as so often
    happens to authors who write upon this subject, of having
    presented a garbled version of the truth. The original of every
    extract is to be found in blue books presented to Parliament. I
    have thought it best to confine myself to these, and avoid
    repeating stories of cruelties and slavery, however well
    authenticated, that have come to my knowledge privately, such
    stories being always more or less open to suspicion.

It would be easy to find more reports of the slave-trading practices
of the Boers, but as the above are fair samples it will not be
necessary to do so. My readers will be able from them to form some
opinion as to whether or not slavery or apprenticeship existed in the
Transvaal. If they come to the conclusion that it did, it must be
borne in mind that what existed in the past will certainly exist again
in the future. Natives are not now any fonder of working for Boers
than they were a few years back, and Boers must get labour somehow.
If, on the other hand, it did not exist, then the Boers are a grossly
slandered people, and all writers on the subject, from Livingstone
down, have combined to take away their character.

Leaving native questions for the present, we must now return to the
general affairs of the country. When President Burgers opened the
special sitting of the Volksraad, on the 4th September, he appealed,
it will be remembered, to that body for pecuniary aid to liquidate the
expenses of the war. This appeal was responded to by the passing of a
war tax, under which every owner of a farm was to pay 10 pounds, the
owner of half a farm 5 pounds, and so on. The tax was not a very just
one, since it fell with equal weight on the rich man, who held twenty
farms, and the poor man, who held but one. Its justice or injustice
was, however, to a great extent immaterial, since the free and
independent burghers, including some of the members of the Volksraad
who had imposed it, promptly refused to pay it, or indeed, whilst they
were about it, any other tax. As the Treasury was already empty, and
creditors were pressing, this refusal was most ill-timed, and things
began to look very black indeed. Meanwhile, in addition to the
ordinary expenditure, and the interest payable on debts, money had to
be found to pay Von Schlickmann's volunteers. As there was no cash in
the country, this was done by issuing Government promissory notes,
known as "goodfors," or vulgarly as "good for nothings," and by
promising them all booty, and to each man a farm of two thousand
acres, lying east and north-east of the Loolu mountains; in other
words, in Secocoeni's territory, which did not belong to the
Government to give away. The officials were the next to suffer, and
for six months before the Annexation these unfortunate individuals
lived as best they could, for they certainly got no salary, except in
the case of a postmaster, who was told to help himself to his pay in
stamps. The Government issued large numbers of bills, but the banks
refused to discount them, and in some cases the neighbouring Colonies
had to advance money to the Transvaal post-cart contractors, who were
carrying the mails, as a matter of charity. The Government even
mortgaged the great salt-pan near Pretoria for the paltry sum of 400
pounds, whilst the leading officials of the Government were driven to
pledging their own private credit in order to obtain the smallest
article necessary to its continuance. In fact, to such a pass did
things come that when the country was annexed a single threepenny bit
(which had doubtless been overlooked) was found in the Treasury chest,
together with acknowledgments of debts to the extent of nearly 300,000
pounds.

Nor was the refusal to pay taxes, which they were powerless to
enforce, the only difficulty with which the Government had to contend.
Want of money is as bad and painful a thing to a State as to an
individual, but there are perhaps worse things than want of money, one
of which is to be deserted by your own friends and household. This was
the position of the Government of the Republic; no sooner was it
involved in overwhelming difficulties than its own subjects commenced
to bait it, more especially the English portion of its subjects. They
complained to the English authorities about the commandeering of
members of their family or goods; they petitioned the British
Government to interfere, and generally made themselves as unpleasant
as possible to the local Authorities. Such a course of action was
perhaps natural, but it can hardly be said to be either quite logical
or just. The Transvaal Government had never asked them to come and
live in the country, and if they did so, it must be remembered that
many of the agitators had accumulated property, to leave which would
mean ruin; and they saw that, unless something was done, its value
would be destroyed.

Under the pressure of all these troubles the Boers themselves split up
into factions, as they are always ready to do. The Dopper party
declared that they had had enough progress, and proposed the extremely
conservative Paul Kruger as President, Burgers' time having nearly
expired. Paul Kruger accepted the candidature, although he had
previously promised his support to Burgers, and distrust of each other
was added to the other difficulties of the Executive, the Transvaal
becoming a house very much divided against itself. Natives, Doppers,
Progressionists, Officials, English, were all pulling different ways,
and each striving for his own advantage. Anything more hopeless than
the position of the country on the 1st January 1877 it is impossible
to conceive. Enemies surrounded it; on every border there was the
prospect of a serious war. In the exchequer there was nothing but
piles of overdue bills. The President was helpless, and mistrustful of
his officers, and the officers were caballing against the President.
All the ordinary functions of Government had ceased, and trade was
paralysed. Now and then wild proposals were made to relieve the State
of its burdens, some of which partook of the nature of repudiation,
but these were the exception; the majority of the inhabitants, who
would neither fight nor pay taxes, sat still and awaited the
catastrophe, utterly careless of all consequences.



                             CHAPTER III

                            THE ANNEXATION

  Anxiety of Lord Carnarvon--Despatch of Sir T. Shepstone as Special
  Commissioner to the Transvaal--Sir T. Shepstone, his great
  experience and ability--His progress to Pretoria and reception
  there--Feelings excited by the arrival of the mission--The
  annexation /not/ a foregone conclusion--Charge brought against Sir
  T. Shepstone of having called up the Zulu army to sweep the
  Transvaal--Its complete falsehood--Cetywayo's message to Sir T.
  Shepstone--Evidence on the matter summed up--General desire of the
  natives for English rule--Habitual disregard of their interests--
  Assembly of the Volksraad--Rejection of Lord Carnarvon's
  Confederation Bill and of President Burgers' new constitution--
  President Burgers' speeches to the Raad--His posthumous statement
  --Communication to the Raad of Sir T. Shepstone's intention to
  annex the country--Despatch of Commission to inquire into the
  alleged peace with Secocoeni--Its fraudulent character discovered
  --Progress of affairs in the Transvaal--Paul Kruger and his party
  --Restlessness of natives--Arrangements for the annexation--The
  annexation proclamation.

The state of affairs described in the previous chapter was one that
filled the Secretary of State for the Colonies with alarm. During his
tenure of office, Lord Carnarvon evidently had the permanent welfare
of South Africa much at heart, and he saw with apprehension that the
troubles that were brewing in the Transvaal were of a nature likely to
involve the Cape and Natal in a native war. Though there is a broad
line of demarcation between Dutch and English, it is not so broad but
that a victorious nation like the Zulus might cross it, and beginning
by fighting the Boer, might end by fighting the white man irrespective
of race. When the reader reflects how terrible would be the
consequences of a combination of native tribes against the Whites, and
how easily such a combination might at that time have been brought
about in the first flush of native successes, he will understand the
anxiety with which all thinking men watched the course of events in
the Transvaal in 1876.

At last they took such a serious turn that the Home Government saw
that some action must be taken if the catastrophe was to be averted,
and determined to despatch Sir Theophilus Shepstone as Special
Commissioner to the Transvaal, with powers, should it be necessary, to
annex the country to Her Majesty's dominions, "in order to secure the
peace and safety of Our said colonies and of Our subjects elsewhere."

The terms of his Commission were unusually large, leaving a great deal
to his discretionary power. In choosing that officer for the execution
of a most difficult and delicate mission, the Government, doubtless,
made a very wise selection. Sir Theophilus Shepstone is a man of
remarkable tact and ability, combined with great openness and
simplicity of mind, and one whose name will always have a leading
place in South African history. During a long official lifetime he has
had to do with most of the native races in South Africa, and certainly
knows them and their ways better than any living man; whilst he is by
them all regarded with a peculiar and affectionate reverence. He is
/par excellence/ their great white chief and "father," and a word from
him, even now that he has retired from active life, still carries more
weight than the formal remonstrances of any governor in South Africa.

With the Boers he is almost equally well acquainted, having known many
of them personally for years. He possesses, moreover, the rare power
of winning the regard and affection, as well as the respect, of those
about him in such a marked degree that those who have served him once
would go far to serve him again. Sir T. Shepstone, however, has
enemies like other people, and is commonly reported among them to be a
disciple of Machiavelli, and to have his mind steeped in all the
darker wiles of Kafir policy. The Annexation of the Transvaal is by
them attributed to a successful and vigorous use of those arts that
distinguished the diplomacy of two centuries ago. Falsehood and
bribery are supposed to have been the great levers used to effect the
change, together with threats of extinction at the hands of a savage
and unfriendly nation.

That the Annexation was a triumph of mind over matter is quite true,
but whether or not that triumph was unworthily obtained, I will leave
those who read this short chronicle of the events connected with it to
judge. I saw it somewhat darkly remarked in a newspaper the other day
that the history of the Annexation had evidently yet to be written;
and I fear that the remark represents the feeling of most people about
the event; implying as it did, that it was carried out, by means
certainly mysterious, and presumably doubtful. I am afraid that those
who think thus will be disappointed in what I have to say about the
matter, since I know that the means employed to bring the Boers--

 "Fracti bello, fatisque repulsi"--

under her Majesty's authority were throughout as fair and honest as
the Annexation itself was, in my opinion, right and necessary.

To return to Sir T. Shepstone. He undoubtedly had faults as a ruler,
one of the most prominent of which was that his natural mildness of
character would never allow him to act with severity even when
severity was necessary. The very criminals condemned to death ran a
good chance of reprieve when he had to sign their death-warrants. He
had also that worst of faults (so called), in one fitted by nature to
become great--want of ambition, a failing that in such a man marks him
the possessor of an even and a philosophic mind. It was no seeking of
his own that raised him out of obscurity, and when his work was done
to comparative obscurity he elected to return, though whether a man of
his ability and experience in South African affairs should, at the
present crisis, be allowed to remain there, is another question.

On the 20th December 1876, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President
Burgers, informing him of his approaching visit to the Transvaal, to
secure, if possible, the adjustment of the existing troubles, and the
adoption of such measures as might be best calculated to prevent their
recurrence in the future.

On his road to Pretoria, Sir Theophilus received a hearty welcome from
the Boer as well as the English inhabitants of the country. One of
these addresses to him says: "Be assured, high honourable Sir, that we
burghers, now assembled together, entertain the most friendly feeling
towards your Government, and that we shall agree with anything you may
do in conjunction with our Government for the progress of our State,
the strengthening against our native enemies, and for the general
welfare of all the inhabitants of the whole of South Africa. Welcome
in Heidelberg, and welcome in the Transvaal."

At Pretoria the reception of the Special Commissioner was positively
enthusiastic; the whole town came out to meet him, and the horses
having been taken out of the carriage, he was dragged in triumph
through the streets. In his reply to the address presented to him, Sir
Theophilus shadowed forth the objects of his mission in these words:
"Recent events in this country have shown to all thinking men the
absolute necessity for closer union and more oneness of purpose among
the Christian Governments of the southern portion of this Continent:
the best interests of the native races, no less than the peace and
prosperity of the white, imperatively demand it, and I rely upon you
and upon your Government to co-operate with me in endeavouring to
achieve the great and glorious end of inscribing on a general South
African banner the appropriate motto--'Eendragt maakt magt' (Unity
makes strength)."

A few days after his arrival a commission was appointed, consisting of
Messrs. Henderson and Osborn, on behalf of the Special Commissioner,
and Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen, on behalf of the Transvaal
Government, to discuss the state of the country. This commission came
to nothing, and was on both sides nothing more than a bit of by-play.

The arrival of the mission was necessarily regarded with mixed
feelings by the inhabitants of the Transvaal. By one party it was
eagerly greeted, viz., the English section of the population, who
devoutly hoped that it had come to annex the country. With the
exception of the Hollander element, the officials also were glad of
its arrival, and secretly hoped that the country would be taken over,
when there would be more chance of their getting their arrear pay. The
better educated Boers also were for the most part satisfied that there
was no hope for the country unless England helped it in some way,
though they did not like having to accept the help. But the more
bigoted and narrow-minded among them were undoubtedly opposed to
English interference, and under their leader, Paul Kruger, who was at
the time running for the President's chair, did their best to be rid
of it. They found ready allies in the Hollander clientele, with which
Mr. Burgers had surrounded himself, headed by the famous Dr. Jorissen,
who was, like most of the rulers of this singular State, an
ex-clergyman, but now an Attorney-general, not learned in the law.
These men were for the most part entirely unfit for the positions they
held, and feared that in the event of the country changing hands they
might be ejected from them; and also, they did all Englishmen the
favour to regard them, with that particularly virulent and general
hatred which is a part of the secret creed of many foreigners, more
especially of such as are under our protection. As may easily be
imagined, what between all these different parties and the presence of
the Special Commissioner, there were certainly plenty of intrigues
going on in Pretoria during the first few months of 1877, and the
political excitement was very great. Nobody knew how far Sir T.
Shepstone was prepared to go, and everybody was afraid of putting out
his hand further than he could pull it back, and trying to make
himself comfortable on two stools at once. Members of the Volksraad
and other prominent individuals in the country who had during the day
been denouncing the Commissioner in no measured terms, and even
proposing that he and his staff should be shot as a warning to the
English Government, might be seen arriving at his house under cover of
the shades of evening, to have a little talk with him, and express the
earnest hope that it was his intention to annex the country as soon as
possible. It is necessary to assist at a peaceable annexation to learn
the depth of meanness human nature is capable of.

In Pretoria, at any rate, the ladies were of great service to the
cause of the mission, since they were nearly all in favour of a change
of government, and, that being the case, they naturally soon brought
their husbands, brothers, and lovers to look at things from the same
point of view. It was a wise man who said that in any matter where it
is necessary to obtain the goodwill of a population you should win
over the women; that done, you need not trouble yourself about the
men.

Though the country was thus overflowing with political intrigues,
nothing of the kind went on in the Commissioner's camp. It was not he
who made the plots to catch the Transvaalers; on the contrary, they
made the plots to catch him. For several months all that he did was to
sit still and let the rival passions work their way, fighting what the
Zulus afterwards called the "fight of sit down." When anybody came to
see him he was very glad to meet them, pointed out the desperate
condition of the country, and asked them if they could suggest a
remedy. And that was about all he did do, beyond informing himself
very carefully as to all that was going on in the country, and the
movements of the natives within and outside its borders. There was no
money spent on bribery, as has been stated, though it is impossible to
imagine a state of affairs in which it would have been more easy to
bribe, or in which it could have been done with greater effect; unless
indeed the promise that some pension should be paid to President
Burgers can be called a bribe, which it was certainly never intended
to be, but simply a guarantee that after having spent all his private
means on behalf of the State he should not be left destitute. The
statement that the Annexation was effected under a threat that if the
Government did not give its consent Sir T. Shepstone would let loose
the Zulus on the country is also a wicked and malicious invention, but
with this I shall deal more at length further on.

It must not, however, be understood that the Annexation was a foregone
conclusion, or that Sir T. Shepstone came up to the Transvaal with the
fixed intention of annexing the country without reference to its
position, merely with a view of extending British influence, or, as
has been absurdly stated, in order to benefit Natal. He had no fixed
purpose, whether it were necessary or no, of exercising the full
powers given to him by his commission; on the contrary, he was all
along most anxious to find some internal resources within the State by
means of which Annexation could be averted, and of this fact his
various letters and despatches give full proof. Thus, in his letter to
President Burgers, of the 9th April 1877, in which he announces his
intention of annexing the country, he says: "I have more than once
assured your Honour that if I could think of any plan by which the
independence of the State could be maintained by its own internal
resources I would most certainly not conceal that plan from you." It
is also incidentally remarkably confirmed by a passage in Mr. Burgers'
posthumous defence, in which he says: "Hence I met Shepstone alone in
my house, and opened up the subject of his mission. With a candour
that astonished me, he avowed that his purpose was to annex the
country, as he had sufficient grounds for it, unless I could so alter
as to satisfy his Government. My plan of a new constitution, modelled
after that of America, of a standing police force of two hundred
mounted men, was then proposed. He promised to give me time to call
the Volksraad together, and to /abandon his design/ if the Volksraad
would adopt these measures, and the country be willing to submit to
them, and to carry them out." Further on he says: "In justice to
Shepstone I must say that I would not consider an officer of my
Government to have acted faithfully if he had not done what Shepstone
did."

It has also been frequently alleged in England, and always seems to be
taken as the groundwork of argument in the matter of the Annexation,
that the Special Commissioner represented that the majority of the
inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on
that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in
this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case
has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party
purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make
their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other
Officials had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the
Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out
their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If
they had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches,
they would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was
annexed was, not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for
it, but because the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and
was about to be destroyed by native tribes. They would further have
found that Sir T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the
Boers were in favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most
thinking men in the country saw no other way out of the difficulty;
but what proportion of the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also
said, in the fifteenth paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of
6th March 1877, that petitions signed by 2500 people, representing
every class of the community, out of a total adult population of 8000,
had been presented to the Government of the Republic, setting forth
its difficulties and dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for
their amelioration or removal." He also stated, and with perfect
truth, that many more would have signed had it not been for the
terrorism that was exercised, and that all the towns and villages in
the country desired the change, which was a patent fact.

This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is
built--a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such
a charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been
duped into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into
thin air.

But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner
--a charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a
Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence,
especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the
statement that he called up the Zulu army with the intention of
sweeping the Transvaal if the Annexation was objected to. I may state,
from my own personal knowledge, that the report is a complete
falsehood, and that no such threat was ever made, either by Sir T.
Shepstone or by anybody connected with him, and I will briefly prove
what I say.

When the mission first arrived at Pretoria, a message came from
Cetywayo to the effect that he had heard that the Boers had fired at
"Sompseu" (Sir T. Shepstone), and announcing his intention of
attacking the Transvaal if "his father" was touched. About the middle
of March alarming rumours began to spread as to the intended action of
Cetywayo with reference to the Transvaal; but as Sir T. Shepstone did
not think that the king would be likely to make any hostile movement
whilst he was in the country, he took no steps in the matter. Neither
did the Transvaal Government ask his advice and assistance. Indeed, a
remarkable trait in the Boers is their supreme self-conceit, which
makes them believe that they are capable of subduing all the natives
in Africa, and of thrashing the whole British army if necessary.
Unfortunately, the recent course of events has tended to confirm them
in their opinion as regards their white enemies. To return: towards
the second week in April, or the week before the proclamation of
annexation was issued, things began to look very serious; indeed,
rumours that could hardly be discredited reached the Special
Commissioner that the whole of the Zulu army was collected in a chain
of Impis or battalions, with the intention of bursting into the
Transvaal and sweeping the country. Knowing how terrible would be the
catastrophe if this were to happen, Sir T. Shepstone was much alarmed
about the matter, and at a meeting with the Executive Council of the
Transvaal Government he pointed out to them the great danger in which
the country was placed. This was done in the presence of several
officers of his Staff, and it was on this friendly exposition of the
state of affairs that the charge that he had threatened the country
with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the 11th of April, or the day
before the Annexation, a message was despatched to Cetywayo, telling
him of the reports that had reached Pretoria, and stating that if they
were true he must forthwith give up all such intentions, as the
Transvaal would at once be placed under the sovereignty of Her
Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies for purposes of
aggression they must be disbanded at once. Sir T. Shepstone's message
reached Zululand not a day too soon. Had the Annexation of the
Transvaal been delayed by a few weeks even--and this is a point which
I earnestly beg Englishmen to remember in connection with that act--
Cetywayo's armies would have entered the Transvaal, carrying death
before them, and leaving a wilderness behind them.

Cetywayo's answer to the Special Commissioner's message will
sufficiently show, to use Sir Theophilus' own words in his despatch on
the subject, "the pinnacle of peril which the Republic and South
Africa generally had reached at the moment when the Annexation took
place." He says, "I thank my Father Sompseu (Sir T. Shepstone) for his
message. I am glad that he has sent it, because the Dutch have tired
me out, and I intended to fight them once and once only, and to drive
them over the Vaal. Kabana (name of messenger), you see my Impis
(armies) are gathered. It was to fight the Dutch I called them
together; now I will send them back to their homes. Is it well that
two men ('amadoda-amabili') should be made 'iziula' (fools)? In the
reign of my father Umpanda the Boers were constantly moving their
boundary further into my country. Since his death the same thing has
been done. I had therefore determined to end it once for all!" The
message then goes on to other matters, and ends with a request to be
allowed to fight the Amaswazi, because "they fight together and kill
one another. This," says Cetywayo naively, "is wrong, and I want to
chastise them for it."

This quotation will suffice to convince all reasonable men, putting
aside all other matters, from what imminent danger the Transvaal was
delivered by the much-abused Annexation.

Some months after that event, however, it occurred to the ingenious
mind of some malicious individual in Natal that, properly used, much
political capital might be made out of this Zulu incident, and the
story that Cetywayo's army had been called up by Sir Theophilus
himself to overawe, and, if necessary, subdue the Transvaal, was
accordingly invented and industriously circulated. Although Sir T.
Shepstone at once caused it to be authoritatively contradicted, such
an astonishing slander naturally took firm root, and on the 12th April
1879 we have Mr. M. W. Pretorius, one of the Boer leaders, publicly
stating at a meeting of the farmers that "previous to the Annexation
Sir T. Shepstone had threatened the Transvaal with an attack from the
Zulus as an argument for advancing the Annexation." Under such an
imputation the Government could no longer keep silence, and
accordingly Sir Owen Lanyon, who was then Administrator of the
Transvaal, caused the matter to be officially investigated, with these
results, which are summed up by him in a letter to Mr. Pretorius,
dated 1st May 1879:--

1. The records of the Republican Executive Council contained no
allusion to any such statement.

2. Two members of that Council filed statements in which they
unreservedly denied that Sir T. Shepstone used the words or threats
imputed to him.

3. Two officers of Sir T. Shepstone's staff, who were always present
with him at interviews with the Executive Council, filed statements to
the same effect.

"I have no doubt," adds Sir Owen Lanyon, "that the report has been
originated and circulated by some evil-disposed persons."

In addition to this evidence we have a letter written to the Colonial
Office by Sir T. Shepstone, dated London, August 12, 1879, in which he
points out that Mr. Pretorius was not even present at any of the
interviews with the Executive Council on which occasion he accuses him
of having made use of the threats. He further shows that the use of
such a threat on his part would have been the depth of folly, and
"knowingly to court the instant and ignominious failure of my
mission," because the Boers were so persuaded of their own prowess
that they could not be convinced that they stood in any danger from
native sources, and also because "such play with such keen-edged tools
as the excited passions of savages are, and especially such savages as
I knew the Zulus to be, is not what an experience of forty-two years
in managing them inclined me to." And yet, in the face of all this
accumulated evidence, this report continues to be believed, that is,
by those who wished to believe it.

Such are the accusations that have been brought against the manner of
the Annexation and the Officer who carried it out, and never were
accusations more groundless. Indeed both for party purposes, and from
personal animus, every means, fair or foul, has been used to discredit
it and all connected with it. To take a single instance, one author
(Miss Colenso, p. 134, "History of the Zulu War") actually goes the
length of putting a portion of a speech made by President Burgers into
the mouth of Sir T. Shepstone, and then abusing him for his incredible
profanity. Surely this exceeds the limits of fair criticism.

Before I go on to the actual history of the Annexation there is one
point I wish to submit to my reader. In England the change of
Government has always been talked of as though it only affected the
forty thousand white inhabitants of the country, whilst everybody
seems to forget that this same land had about a million human beings
living on it, its original owners, and only, unfortunately for
themselves, possessing a black skin, and therefore entitled to little
consideration,--even at the hands of the most philanthropic Government
in the world. It never seems to have occurred to those who have raised
so much outcry on behalf of the forty thousand Boers, to inquire what
was thought of the matter by the million natives. If they were to be
allowed a voice in their own disposal, the country was certainly
annexed by the wish of a very large majority of its inhabitants. It is
true that Secocoeni, instigated thereto by the Boers, afterwards
continued the war against us, but, with the exception of this one
chief, the advent of our rule was hailed with joy by every native in
the Transvaal, and even he was glad of it at the time. During our
period of rule in the Transvaal the natives have had, as they foresaw,
more peace than at any time since the white man set foot in the land.
They have paid their taxes gladly, and there has been no fighting
among themselves; but since we have given up the country we hear a
very different tale. It is this million of men, women, and children
who, notwithstanding their black skins, live and feel, and have
intelligence as much as ourselves, who are the principal, because the
most numerous sufferers from Mr. Gladstone's conjuring tricks, that
can turn a Sovereign into a Suzerain as airily as the professor of
magic brings a litter of guinea-pigs out of a top hat. It is our
falsehood and treachery to them whom we took over "for ever," as we
told them, and whom we have now handed back to their natural enemies
to be paid off for their loyalty to the Englishman, that is the
blackest stain in all this black business, and that has destroyed our
prestige, and caused us to be looked on amongst them, for they do not
hide their opinion, as "cowards and liars."

But very little attention, however, seems to have been paid to native
views or claims at any time in the Transvaal; indeed they have all
along been treated as serfs of the soil, to be sold with it, if
necessary, to a new master. It is true that the Government, acting
under pressure from the Aborigines Protection Society, made, on the
occasion of the Surrender, a feeble effort to secure the independence
of some of the native tribes; but when the Boer leaders told them
shortly that they would have nothing of the sort, and that, if they
were not careful, they would reoccupy Laing's Nek, the proposal was at
once dropped, with many assurances that no offence was intended. The
worst of the matter is that this treatment of our native subjects and
allies will assuredly recoil on the heads of future innocent
Governments.

Shortly after the appointment of the Joint-Commission alluded to at
the beginning of this chapter, President Burgers, who was now in
possession of the Special Commissioner's intentions, should he be
unable to carry out reforms sufficiently drastic to satisfy the
English Government, thought it best to call together the Volksraad. In
the meantime, it had been announced that the "rebel" Secocoeni had
sued for peace and signed a treaty declaring himself a subject of the
Republic. I shall have to enter into the question of this treaty a
little further on, so I will at present only say that it was the first
business laid before the Raad, and, after some discussion, ratified.
Next in order to the Secocoeni peace came the question of
Confederation, as laid down in Lord Carnarvon's Permissive Bill. This
proposal was laid before them in an earnest and eloquent speech by
their President, who entreated them to consider the dangerous position
of the Republic, and to face their difficulties like men. The question
was referred to a committee, and an adverse report being brought up,
was rejected without further consideration. It is just possible that
intimidation had something to do with the summary treatment of so
important a matter, seeing that whilst it was being argued a large mob
of Boers, looking very formidable with their sea-cow hide whips,
watched every move of their representatives through the windows of the
Volksraad Hall. It was Mr. Chamberlain's caucus system in practical
and visible operation.

A few days after the rejection of the Confederation Bill, President
Burgers, who had frequently alluded to the desperate condition of the
Republic, and stated that either some radical reform must be effected
or the country must come under the British flag, laid before the Raad
a brand new constitution of a very remarkable nature, asserting that
they must either accept it or lose their independence.

The first part of this strange document dealt with the people and
their rights, which remained much as they were before, with the
exception that the secrecy of all letters entrusted to the post was to
be inviolable. The recognition of this right is an amusing incident in
the history of a free Republic. Under following articles the Volksraad
was entrusted with the charge of the native inhabitants of the State,
the provision for the administration of justice, the conduct of
education, the regulation of money-bills, &c. It is in the fourth
chapter, however, that we come to the real gist of the Bill, which was
the endowment of the State President with the authority of a dictator.
Mr. Burgers thought to save the State by making himself an absolute
monarch. He was to be elected for a period of seven years instead of
five years, and to be eligible for re-election. In him was vested the
power of making all appointments without reference to the legislature.
All laws were to be drawn up by him, and he was to have the right of
veto on Volksraad resolutions, which body he could summon and dissolve
at will. Finally, his Executive Council was to consist of heads of
departments appointed by himself, and of one member of the Volksraad.
The Volksraad treated this Bill in much the same way as they had dealt
with the Permissive Confederation Bill, gave it a casual
consideration, and threw it out.

The President, meanwhile, was doing his best to convince the Raad of
the danger of the country; that the treasury was empty, whilst duns
were pressing, that enemies were threatening on every side, and,
finally, that Her Majesty's Special Commissioner was encamped within a
thousand yards of them, watching their deliberations with some
interest. He showed them that it was impossible at once to scorn
reform and reject friendly offers, that it was doubtful if anything
could save them, but that if they took no steps they were certainly
lost as a nation. The "Fathers of the land," however, declined to
dance to the President's piping. Then he took a bolder line. He told
them that a guilty nation never can evade the judgment that follows
its steps. He asked them "conscientiously to advise the people not
obstinately to refuse a union with a powerful Government. He could not
advise them to refuse such a union. . . . He did not believe that a
new constitution would save them; for as little as the old
constitution had brought them to ruin, so little would a new
constitution bring salvation. . . . If the citizens of England had
behaved towards the Crown as the burghers of this State had behaved to
their Government, England would never have stood so long as she had."
He pointed out to them their hopeless financial position. "To-day," he
said, "a bill for 1100 pounds was laid before me for signature; but I
would sooner have cut off my right hand than sign that paper--(cheers)
--for I have not the slightest ground to expect that, when that bill
becomes due, there will be a penny to pay it with." And finally, he
exhorted them thus: "Let them make the best of the situation, and get
the best terms they possibly could; let them agree to join their hands
to those of their brethren in the south, and then from the Cape to the
Zambesi there would be one great people. Yes, there was something
grand in that, grander even than their idea of a Republic, something
which ministered to their national feeling--(cheers)--and would this
be so miserable? Yes, this would be miserable for those who would not
be under the law, for the rebel and the revolutionist, but welfare and
prosperity for the men of law and order."

These powerful words form a strong indictment against the Republic,
and from them there can be little doubt that President Burgers was
thoroughly convinced of the necessity and wisdom of the Annexation. It
is interesting to compare them, and many other utterances of his made
at this period, with the opinions he expresses in the posthumous
document recently published, in which he speaks somewhat jubilantly of
the lessons taught us on Laing's Nek and Majuba by such "an inherently
weak people as the Boers," and points to them as striking instances of
retribution. In this document he attributes the Annexation to the
desire to advance English supremacy in South Africa, and to lay hold
of the way to Central South Africa. It is, however, noticeable that he
does not in any way indicate how it could have been averted, and the
State continue to exist; and he seems all along to feel that his case
is a weak one, for in explaining, or attempting to explain, why he had
never defended himself from the charges brought against him in
connection with the Annexation, he says: "Had I not endured in
silence, had I not borne patiently all the accusations, but out of
selfishness or fear told the plain truth of the case, the Transvaal
would never have had the consideration it has now received from Great
Britain. However unjust the Annexation was, my self-justification
would have /exposed the Boers to such an extent/, and the state of the
country in such a way, that it would have deprived them both of the
sympathy of the world and the consideration of the English
politicians." In other words, "If I had told the truth about things as
I should have been obliged to do to justify myself, there would have
been no more outcry about the Annexation, because the whole world,
even the English Radicals, would have recognised how necessary it was,
and what a fearful state the country was in."

But to let that pass, it is evident that President Burgers did not
take the same view of the Annexation in 1877 as he did in 1881, and
indeed his speeches to the Volksraad would read rather oddly printed
in parallel columns with his posthumous statement. The reader would be
forced to one of two conclusions, either on one of the two occasions
he is saying what he does not mean, or he must have changed his mind.
As I believe him to have been an honest man, I incline to the latter
supposition; nor do I consider it so very hard to account for, taking
into consideration his natural Dutch proclivities. In 1877 Burgers is
the despairing head of a State driving rapidly to ruin, if not to
actual extinction, when the strong hand of the English Government is
held out to him. What wonder that he accepts it gladly on behalf of
his country, which is by its help brought into a state of greater
prosperity than it has ever before known? In 1881 the wheel has gone
round, and great events have come about whilst he lies dying. The
enemies of the Boers have been destroyed, the powers of the Zulus and
Secocoeni are no more; the country has prospered under a healthy rule,
and its finances have been restored. More,--glad tidings have come
from Mid-Lothian, to the "rebel and the revolutionist," whose hopes
were flagging, and eloquent words have been spoken by the new English
Dictator that have aroused a great rebellion. And, to crown all,
English troops have suffered one massacre and three defeats, and
England sues for peace from the South African peasant, heedless of
honour or her broken word, so that the prayer be granted. With such
events before him, that dying man may well have found cause to change
his opinion. Doubtless the Annexation was wrong, since England disowns
her acts; and may not that dream about the great South African
Republic come true after all? Has not the pre-eminence of the
Englishman received a blow from which it can never recover, and is not
his control over Boers and natives irredeemably weakened? And must he,
--Burgers,--go down to posterity as a Dutchman who tried to forward
the interests of the English party? No, doubtless the Annexation was
wrong; but it has done good, for it has brought about the downfall of
the English: and we will end the argument in the very words of his
last public utterance, with which he ends his statement: "South Africa
gained more from this, and has made a larger step forward in the march
of freedom than most people can conceive."

Who shall say that he is wrong? the words of dying men are sometimes
prophetic! South Africa has made a great advance towards the "freedom"
of a Dutch Republic.

This has been a digression, but I hope not an uninteresting one. To
return--on the 1st March, Sir T. Shepstone met the Executive Council,
and told them that in his opinion there was now but one remedy to be
adopted, and that was that the Transvaal should be united with English
Colonies of South Africa under one head, namely the Queen, saying at
the same time that the only thing now left to the Republic was to make
the best arrangements it could for the future benefit of its
inhabitants, and to submit to that which he saw to be, and every
thinking man saw to be, inevitable. So soon as this information was
officially communicated to the Raad, for a good proportion of its
members were already acquainted with it unofficially, it flew from a
state of listless indifference into vigorous and hasty action. The
President was censured, and a Committee was appointed to consider and
report upon the situation, which reported in favour of the adoption of
Burgers' new constitution. Accordingly, the greatest part of this
measure, which had been contemptuously rejected a few days before, was
adopted almost without question, and Mr. Paul Kruger was appointed
Vice-President. On the following day, a very drastic treason law was
passed, borrowed from the Statute book of the Orange Free State, which
made all public expression of opinion, if adverse to the Government,
or in any way supporting the Annexation party, high treason. This
done, the Assembly prorogued itself until--October 1881.

During and after the sitting of the Raad, rumours arose that the Chief
Secocoeni's signature to the treaty of peace, ratified by that body,
had been obtained by misrepresentation. As ratified, this treaty
consisted of three articles, according to which Secocoeni consented,
first to become a subject of the Republic, and obey the laws of the
country; secondly, to agree to a certain restricted boundary line and,
thirdly, to pay 2000 head of cattle; which, considering he had
captured quite 5000 head, was not exorbitant.

Towards the end of February a written message was received from
Secocoeni by Sir T. Shepstone, dated after the signing of the supposed
treaty. The original, which was written in Sisutu, was a great
curiosity. The following is a correct translation:--


 "For Myn Heer Sheepstone,--I beg you, Chief, come help me, the
  Boers are killing me, and I don't know the reasons why they should
  be angry with me; Chief, I beg you come with Myn Heer Merensky.--I
  am Sikukuni."


This message was accompanied by a letter from Mr. Merensky, a well-
known and successful missionary, who had been for many years resident
in Secocoeni's country, in which he stated that he heard on very good
authority that Secocoeni had distinctly refused to agree to that
article of the treaty by which he became a subject of the State. He
adds that he cannot remain "silent while such tricks are played."

Upon this information, Sir T. Shepstone wrote to President Burgers,
stating that "if the officer in whom you have placed confidence has
withheld any portion of the truth from you, especially so serious a
portion of it, he is guilty of a wrong towards you personally, as well
as towards the Government, because he has caused you to assume an
untenable position," and suggesting that a joint commission should be
despatched to Secocoeni, to thoroughly sift the question in the
interest of all concerned. This suggestion was after some delay agreed
to, and a commission was appointed, consisting of Mr. Van Gorkom, a
Hollander, and Mr. Holtshausen, a member of the Executive Council, on
behalf of the Transvaal Government, and Mr. Osborn, R.M., and Captain
Clarke, R.A., on behalf of the Commissioner, whom I accompanied as
Secretary.

At Middelburg the native Gideon who acted as interpreter between
Commandant Ferreira, C.M.G. (the officer who negotiated the treaty on
behalf of the Boer Government), and Secocoeni was examined, and also
two natives, Petros and Jeremiah, who were with him, but did not
actually interpret. All these men persisted that Secocoeni had
positively refused to become a subject of the Republic, and only
consented to sign the treaty on the representations of Commandant
Ferreira that it would only be binding, as regards to the two articles
about the cattle and the boundary line.

The Commission then proceeded to Secocoeni's town, accompanied by a
fresh set of interpreters, and had a long interview with Secocoeni.
The chief's Prime Minister or "mouth," Makurupiji, speaking in his
presence, and on his behalf and making use of the pronoun "I" before
all the assembled headmen of the tribe, gave an account of the
interview between Commandant Ferreira in the presence of that
gentleman, who accompanied the commission and Secocoeni, in almost the
same words as had been used by the interpreters at Middelburg. He
distinctly denied having consented to become a subject of the Republic
or to stand under the law, and added that he feared he "had touched
the feather to" (signed) things that he did not know of in the treaty.
Commandant Ferreira then put some questions, but entirely failed to
shake the evidence; on the contrary, he admitted by his questions that
Secocoeni had not consented to become a subject of the Republic.
Secocoeni had evidently signed the piece of paper under the impression
that he was acknowledging his liability to pay 2000 head of cattle,
and fixing a certain portion of his boundary line, and on the distinct
understanding that he was not to become a subject of the State.

Now it was the Secocoeni war that had brought the English Mission into
the country, and if it could be shown that the Secocoeni war had come
to a successful termination, it would go far towards helping the
Mission out again. To this end, it was necessary that the Chief should
declare himself a subject of the State, and thereby, by implication
acknowledge himself to have been a rebel, and admit his defeat. All
that was required was a signature, and that once obtained the treaty
was published and submitted to the Raad for confirmation, without a
whisper being heard of the conditions under which this ignorant Basutu
was induced to sign. Had no Commission visited Secocoeni, this treaty
would afterwards have been produced against him in its entirety.
Altogether, the history of the Secocoeni Peace Treaty does not
reassure one as to the genuineness of the treaties which the Boers are
continually producing, purporting to have been signed by native
chiefs, and as a general rule presenting the State with great tracts
of country in exchange for a horse or a few oxen. However fond the
natives may be of their Boer neighbours, such liberality can scarcely
be genuine. On the other hand, it is so easy to induce a savage to
sign a paper, or even, if he is reticent, to make a cross for him, and
once made, as we all know, /litera scripa manet/, and becomes title to
the lands.

During the Secocoeni investigation, affairs in the Transvaal were
steadily drifting towards anarchy. The air was filled with rumours;
now it was reported that an outbreak was imminent amongst the English
population at the Gold Fields, who had never forgotten Von
Schlickmann's kind suggestion that they should be "subdued;" now it
was said that Cetywayo had crossed the border, and might shortly be
expected at Pretoria; now that a large body of Boers were on their
road to shoot the Special Commissioner, his twenty-five policemen and
Englishmen generally, and so on.

Meanwhile, Paul Kruger and his party were not letting the grass grow
under their feet, but worked public feeling with great vigour, with
the double object of getting Paul made President and ridding
themselves of the English. Articles in his support were printed in the
well-known Dutch paper "Die Patriot," published in the Cape Colony,
which are so typical of the Boers and of the only literature that has
the slightest influence over them, that I will quote a few extracts
from one of them.

After drawing a very vivid picture of the wretched condition of the
country as compared to what it was when the Kafirs had "a proper
respect" for the Boers, before Burgers came into power, the article
proceeds to give the cause of this state of affairs. "God's word," it
says, "gives us the solution. Look at Israel, while the people have a
godly king, everything is prosperous, but under a godless prince the
land retrogrades, and the whole of the people must suffer. Read
Leviticus, chapter 26, with attention, &c. In the day of the
Voortrekkers (pioneers), a handful of men chased a thousand Kafirs and
made them run; so also in the Free State War (Deut. xxxii. 30; Jos.
xxiii. 10; Lev. xxvi. 8). But mark, now when Burgers became President,
he knows no Sabbath, he rides through the land in and out of town on
Sunday, he knows not the church and God's service (Lev. xxvi. 2-3) to
the scandal of pious people. And he formerly was a priest too. And
what is the consequence? No harvest (Lev. xxvi. 16), an army of 6,000
men runs because one man falls (Lev. xxvi. 17, &c.) What is now the
remedy?" The remedy proves to be Paul Kruger, "because there is no
other candidate. Because our Lord clearly points him out to be the
man, for why is there no other candidate? Who arranged it this way?"
Then follows a rather odd argument in favour of Paul's election,
"Because he himself (P. Kruger) acknowledges in his own reply that he
is /incompetent/, but that all his ability is from our Lord. Because
he is a warrior. Because he is a Boer." Then Paul Kruger, the warrior
and the Boer, is compared to Joan of Arc, "a simple Boer girl who came
from behind the sheep." The Burghers of Transvaal are exhorted to
acknowledge the hand of the Lord, and elect Paul Kruger, or look for
still heavier punishment. (Lev. xxvi. 18 /et seq/.) Next the "Patriot"
proceeds to give a bit of advice to "our candidate, Paul Kruger." He
is to deliver the land from the Kafirs. "The Lord has given you the
heart of a warrior, arise and drive them," a bit of advice quite
suited to his well-known character. But this chosen vessel was not to
get all the loaves and fishes; on the contrary, as soon as he had
fulfilled his mission of "driving" the Kafirs, he was to hand over his
office to a "good" president. The article ends thus: "If the Lord
wills to use you now to deliver this land from its enemies, and a day
of peace and prosperity arises again, and you see that you are not
exactly the statesman to further govern the Republic, then it will be
your greatest honour to say, 'Citizens, I have delivered you from the
enemy, I am no statesman, but now you have peace and time to choose
and elect a /good/ President.'"

An article such as the above is instructive reading as showing the low
calibre of the minds that are influenced by it. Yet such writings and
sermons have more power among the Boers than any other arguments,
appealing as they do to the fanaticism and vanity of their nature,
which causes them to believe that the Divinity is continually
interfering on their behalf at the cost of other people. It will be
noticed that the references given are all to the Old Testament, and
nearly all refer to acts of blood.

These doctrines were not, however, at all acceptable to Burgers'
party, or the more enlightened members of the community, and so bitter
did the struggle of rival opinions become that there is very little
doubt that had the country not been annexed, civil war would have been
added to its other calamities. Meanwhile the natives were from day to
day becoming more restless, and messengers were constantly arriving at
the Special Commissioner's camp, begging that their tribe might be put
under the Queen, and stating that they would fight rather than submit
any longer to the Boers.

At length on the 9th April, Sir T. Shepstone informed the Government
of the Republic that he was about to declare the Transvaal British
territory. He told them that he had considered and reconsidered his
determination, but that he could see no possible means within the
State by which it could free itself from the burdens that were sinking
it to destruction, adding that if he could have found such means he
would certainly not have hidden them from the Government. This
intimation was received in silence, though all the later proceedings
with reference to the Annexation were in reality carried out in
concert with the Authorities of the Republic. Thus on the 13th March
the Government submitted a paper of ten questions to Sir T. Shepstone
as regards the future condition of the Transvaal under English rule,
whether the debts of the State would be guaranteed, &c. To these
questions replies were given which were on the whole satisfactory to
the Government. As these replies formed the basis of the proclamation
guarantees, it is not necessary to enter into them.

It was further arranged by the Republican Government that a formal
protest should be entered against the Annexation, which was
accordingly prepared and privately shown to the Special Commissioner.
The annexation proclamation was also shown to President Burgers, and a
paragraph eliminated at his suggestion. In fact, the Special
Commissioner and the President, together with most of his Executive,
were quite at one as regards the necessity of the proclamation being
issued, their joint endeavours being directed to the prevention of any
disturbance, and to secure a good reception for the change.

At length, after three months of inquiry and negotiation, the
proclamation of annexation was on the 12th of April 1877 read by Mr.
Osborn, accompanied by some other gentlemen of Sir T. Shepstone's
staff. It was an anxious moment for all concerned. To use the words of
the Special Commissioner in his despatch home on the subject, "Every
effort had been made during the previous fortnight by, it is said,
educated Hollanders, and who had but lately arrived in the country to
rouse the fanaticism of the Boers and induce them to offer 'bloody'
resistance to what it was known I intended to do. The Boers were
appealed to in the most inflammatory language by printed manifestoes
and memorials; . . . . it was urged that I had but a small escort
which could easily be overpowered." In a country so full of
desperadoes and fanatical haters of anything English, it was more than
possible than though such an act would have been condemned by the
general sense of the country, a number of men could easily be found
who would think they were doing a righteous act in greeting the
"annexationists" with an ovation of bullets. I do not mean that the
anxiety was personal, because I do not think the members of that small
party set any higher value on their lives than other people, but it
was absolutely necessary for the success of the act itself, and for
the safety of the country, that not a single shot should be fired. Had
that happened it is probable that the whole country would have been
involved in confusion and bloodshed, the Zulus would have broken in,
and the Kafirs would have risen; in fact, to use Cetywayo's words,
"the land would have burned with fire."

It will therefore be easily understood what an anxious hour that was
both for the Special Commissioner sitting up at Government House, and
for his Staff down on the Market Square, and how thankful they were
when the proclamation was received with hearty cheers by the crowd.
Mr. Burgers' protest, which was read immediately afterwards, was
received in respectful silence.

And thus the Transvaal Territory passed for a while into the great
family of the English Colonies. I believe that the greatest political
opponent of the act will bear tribute to the very remarkable ability
with which it was carried out. When the variety and number of the
various interests that had to be conciliated, the obstinate nature of
the individuals who had to be convinced, as well as the innate hatred
of the English name and ways which had to be overcome to carry out
this act successfully, are taken into consideration: together with a
thousand other matters, the neglect of any one of which would have
sufficed to make failure certain, it will be seen what tact and skill,
and knowledge of human nature were required to execute so difficult a
task. It must be remembered that no force was used, and that there
never was any threat of force. The few troops that were to enter the
Transvaal were four weeks' march from Pretoria at the time. There was
nothing whatsoever to prevent the Boers putting a summary stop to the
proceedings of the Commissioner if they had thought fit.

That Sir Theophilus played a bold and hazardous game nobody will deny,
but, like most players who combine boldness with coolness of head and
justice of cause, he won; and, without shedding a single drop of
blood, or even confiscating an acre of land, and at no cost, annexed a
great country, and averted a very serious war. That same country four
years later cost us a million of money, the loss of nearly a thousand
men killed and wounded, and the ruin of many more confiding thousands,
to surrender. It is true, however, that nobody can accuse the
retrocession of having been conducted with judgment or ability--very
much the contrary.

There can be no more ample justification of the necessity of the issue
of the annexation proclamation than the proclamation itself--

First, it touches on the Sand River Convention of 1852, by which
independence was granted to the State, and shows that the "evident
objects and inciting motives" in granting such guarantee were to
promote peace, free-trade and friendly intercourse, in the hope and
belief that the Republic "would become a flourishing and self-
sustaining State, a source of strength and security to neighbouring
European communities, and a point from which Christianity and
civilisation might rapidly spread toward Central Africa." It goes on
to show how these hopes have been disappointed, and how that
"increasing weakness in the State itself on the one side, and more
than corresponding growth of real strength and confidence among the
native tribes on the other have produced their natural and inevitable
consequence. . . . that after more or less of irritating conflict with
aboriginal tribes to the north, there commenced about the year 1867
gradual abandonment to the natives in that direction of territory,
settled by burghers of the Transvaal in well-built towns and villages
and on granted farms."

It goes on to show that "this decay of power and ebb of authority in
the north, is being followed by similar processes in the south under
yet more dangerous circumstances. People of this State residing in
that direction have been compelled within the last three months, at
the bidding of native chiefs and at a moment's notice, to leave their
farms and homes, their standing crops. . . . . all to be taken
possession of by natives, but that the Government is more powerless
than ever to vindicate its assumed rights or to resist the declension
that is threatening its existence." It then recites how all the other
colonies and communities of South Africa have lost confidence in the
State, how it is in a condition of hopeless bankruptcy, and its
commerce annihilated whilst the inhabitants are divided into factions,
and the Government has fallen into "helpless paralysis." How also the
prospect of the election of a new President, instead of being looked
forward to with hope, would, in the opinion of all parties, be the
signal for civil war, anarchy, and bloodshed. How that this state of
things affords the very strongest temptation to the great neighbouring
native powers to attack the country, a temptation that they were only
too ready and anxious to yield to, and that the State was in far too
feeble a condition to repel such attacks, from which it had hitherto
only been saved by the repeated representations of the Government of
Natal. The next paragraphs I will quote as they stand, for they sum up
the reasons for the Annexation.

"That the Secocoeni war, which would have produced but little effect
on a healthy constitution, has not only proved suddenly fatal to the
resources and reputation of the Republic, but has shown itself to be a
culminating point in the history of South Africa, in that a Makatee or
Basutu tribe, unwarlike and of no account in Zulu estimation,
successfully withstood the strength of the State, and disclosed for
the first time to the native powers outside the Republic, from the
Zambesi to the Cape, the great change that had taken place in the
relative strength of the white and black races, that this disclosure
at once shook the prestige of the white man in South Africa, and
placed every European community in peril, that this common danger has
caused universal anxiety, has given to all concerned the right to
investigate its cause, and to protect themselves from its
consequences, and has imposed the duty upon those who have the power
to shield enfeebled civilisation from the encroachments of barbarism
and inhumanity." It proceeds to point out that the Transvaal will be
the first to suffer from the results of its own policy, and that it is
for every reason perfectly impossible for Her Majesty's Government to
stand by and see a friendly white State ravaged, knowing that its own
possessions will be the next to suffer. That H. M. Government, being
persuaded that the only means to prevent such a catastrophe would be
by the annexation of the country, and, knowing that this was the wish
of a large proportion of the inhabitants of the Transvaal, the step
must be taken. Next follows the formal annexation.

Together with the proclamation, an address was issued by Sir T.
Shepstone to the burghers of the State, laying the facts before them
in a friendly manner, more suited to their mode of thought than it was
possible to do in a formal proclamation. This document, the issue of
which was one of those touches that ensured the success of the
Annexation, was a powerful summing up in colloquial language of the
arguments used in the proclamation strengthened by quotations from the
speeches of the President. It ends with these words: "It remains only
for me to beg of you to consider and weigh what I have said calmly and
without undue prejudice. Let not mere feeling or sentiment prevail
over your judgment. Accept what Her Majesty's Government intends shall
be, and what you will soon find from experience, is a blessing not
only to you and your children, but to the whole of South Africa
through you, and I believe that I speak these words to you as a friend
from my heart."

Two other proclamations were also issued, one notifying the assumption
of the office of Administrator of the Government by Sir T. Shepstone,
and the other repealing the war-tax, which was doubtless an unequal
and oppressive impost.

I have in the preceding pages stated all the principal grounds of the
Annexation and briefly sketched the history of that event. In the next
chapter I propose to follow the fortunes of the Transvaal under
British Rule.



                              CHAPTER IV

                   THE TRANSVAAL UNDER BRITISH RULE

  Reception of the annexation--Major Clarke and the Volunteers--
  Effect of the annexation on credit and commerce--Hoisting of the
  Union Jack--Ratification of the annexation by Parliament--Messrs.
  Kruger and Jorissen's mission to England--Agitation against the
  annexation in the Cape Colony--Sir T. Shepstone's tour--Causes of
  the growth of discontent among the Boers--Return of Messrs.
  Jorissen and Kruger--The Government dispenses with their services
  --Despatch of a second deputation to England--Outbreak of war with
  Secocoeni--Major Clarke, R.A.--The Gunn of Gunn plot--Mission of
  Captain Paterson and Mr. Sergeaunt to Matabeleland--Its melancholy
  termination--The Isandhlwana disaster--Departure of Sir T.
  Shepstone for England--Another Boer meeting--The Pretoria Horse--
  Advance of the Boers on Pretoria--Arrival of Sir B. Frere at
  Pretoria and dispersion of the Boers--Arrival of Sir Garnet
  Wolseley--His proclamation--The Secocoeni expedition--Proceedings
  of the Boers--Mr. Pretorius--Mr. Gladstone's Mid-Lothian speeches,
  their effect--Sir G. Wolseley's speech at Pretoria, its good
  results--Influx of Englishmen and cessation of agitation--
  Financial position of the country after three years of British
  rule--Letter of the Boer leaders to Mr. Courtney.

The news of the Annexation was received all over the country with a
sigh of relief, and in many parts of it with great rejoicings. At the
Gold Fields, for instance, special thanksgiving services were held,
and "God save the Queen" was sung in church. Nowhere was there the
slightest disturbance, but, on the contrary, addresses of
congratulation and thanks literally poured in by every mail, many of
them signed by Boers who have since been conspicuous for their bitter
opposition to English rule. At first, there was some doubt as to what
would be the course taken under the circumstances by the volunteers
enlisted by the late Republic. Major Clarke, R.A., was sent to convey
the news, and to take command of them, unaccompanied save by his Kafir
servant. On arrival at the principal fort, he at once ordered the
Republican flag to be hauled down and the Union Jack run up, and his
orders were promptly obeyed. A few days afterwards some members of the
force thought better of it, and having made up their minds to kill
him, came to the tent where he was sitting to carry out their purpose.
On learning their kind intentions, Major Clarke fixed his eye-glass in
his eye, and, after steadily glaring at them through it for some time,
said, "You are all drunk, go back to your tents." The volunteers,
quite overcome by his coolness and the fixity of his gaze, at once
slipped off, and there was no further trouble. About three weeks after
the Annexation, the 1-13th Regiment arrived at Pretoria, having been
very well received all along the road by the Boers, who came from
miles round to hear the band play. Its entry into Pretoria was quite a
sight; the whole population turned out to meet it; indeed the feeling
of rejoicing and relief was so profound that when the band began to
play "God save the Queen" some of the women burst into tears.

Meanwhile the effect of the Annexation on the country was perfectly
magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds
that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and
the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been
possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have
realised large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877,
and selling it shortly after the Annexation.

On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs
who were anywhere within reach, were summoned to attend the first
formal hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival,
and the ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives
in addition to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the
crowd, the salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the
Queen," the Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal
was formally announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by
Colonel Brooke, R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I
may say that it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I
have foreseen that I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted
with so much joyous ceremony, within a few years shamefully and
dishonourably hauled down and buried,[*] I think it would have been
the most miserable.

[*] The English flag was during the signing of the Convention at
    Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of Englishmen and loyal
    natives.

The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the
Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the
Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her
Majesty's commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the
Government for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you
have discharged a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also
accepted by Parliament with very few dissentient voices, since it was
not till afterwards, when the subject became useful as an
electioneering howl, that the Liberal party, headed by our "powerful
popular minister," discovered the deep iniquity that had been
perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were the Transvaal Boers
with the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen, and Bok, who formed the
deputation to proceed to England and present President Burgers' formal
protest against the Annexation, found great difficulty in raising one-
half of the necessary expenses--something under one thousand pounds--
towards the cost of the undertaking. The thirst for independence
cannot have been very great when all the wealthy burghers in the
Transvaal put together would not subscribe a thousand pounds towards
retaining it. Indeed, at this time the members of the deputation
themselves seem to have looked upon their undertaking as being both
doubtful and undesirable, since they informed Sir T. Shepstone that
they were going to Europe to discharge an obligation which had been
imposed upon them, and if the mission failed, they would have done
their duty. Mr. Kruger said that if they did fail, he would be found
to be as faithful a subject under the new form of government as he had
been under the old; and Dr. Jorissen admitted with equal frankness
that "the change was inevitable, and expressed his belief that the
cancellation of it would be calamitous."

Whilst the Annexation was thus well received in the country
immediately interested, a lively agitation was commenced in the
Western Province of the Cape Colony, a thousand miles away, with a
view of inducing the Home Government to repudiate Sir T. Shepstone's
act. The reason of this movement was that the Cape Dutch party, caring
little or nothing for the real interests of the Transvaal, did care a
great deal about their scheme to turn all the white communities of
South Africa into a great Dutch Republic, to which they thought the
Annexation would be a deathblow. As I have said elsewhere, it must be
borne in mind that the strings of the anti-annexation agitation have
all along been pulled in the Western Province, whilst the Transvaal
Boers have played the parts of puppets. The instruments used by the
leaders of the movement in the Cape were, for the most part, the
discontented and unprincipled Hollander element, a newspaper of an
extremely abusive nature called the "Volkstem," and another in Natal
known as the "Natal Witness," lately edited by the notorious Aylward,
which has an almost equally unenviable reputation.

On the arrival of Messrs. Jorissen and Kruger in England, they were
received with great civility by Lord Carnarvon, who was, however,
careful to explain to them that the Annexation was irrevocable. In
this decision they cheerfully acquiesced, assuring his lordship of
their determination to do all they could to induce the Boers to accept
the new state of things, and expressing their desire to be allowed to
serve under the new Government.

Whilst these gentlemen were thus satisfactorily arranging matters with
Lord Carnarvon, Sir T. Shepstone was making a tour round the country
which resembled a triumphal progress more than anything else. He was
everywhere greeted with enthusiasm by all classes of the community,
Boers, English, and natives, and numerous addresses were presented to
him couched in the warmest language, not only by Englishmen but also
by Boers.

It is very difficult to reconcile the enthusiasm of a great number of
the inhabitants of the Transvaal for English rule, and the quite
acquiescence of the remainder, at this time, with the decidedly
antagonistic attitude assumed later on. It appears to me, however,
that there are several reasons that go far towards accounting for it.
The Transvaal, when we annexed it, was in the position of a man with a
knife at his throat, who is suddenly rescued by some one stronger than
he, on certain conditions which at the time he gladly accepts, but
afterwards, when the danger is passed, wishes to repudiate. In the
same way the inhabitants of the South African Republic, were in the
time of need very thankful for our aid, but after a while, when the
recollection of their difficulties had grown faint, when their debts
had been paid and their enemies defeated, they began to think that
they would like to get rid of us again, and start fresh on their own
account, with a clean sheet. What fostered agitation more than
anything else, however, was the perfect impunity in which it was
allowed to be carried on. Had only a little firmness and decision been
shown in the first instance there would have been no further trouble.
We might have been obliged to confiscate half-a-dozen farms, and
perhaps imprison as many free burghers for a few months, and there it
would have ended. Neither Boers or natives understand our namby-pamby
way of playing at government; they put it down to fear. What they
want, and what they expect, is to be governed with a just but a firm
hand. Thus when the Boers found that they could agitate with impunity,
they naturally enough continued to agitate. Anybody who knows them
will understand that it was very pleasant to them to find themselves
in possession of that delightful thing, a grievance, and, instead of
stopping quietly at home on their farms, to feel obliged to proceed,
full of importance and long words, to a distant meeting, there to
spout and listen to the spouting of others. It is so much easier to
talk politics than to sow mealies. Some attribute the discontent among
the Boers to the postponement of the carrying out of the annexation
proclamation promises with reference to the free institutions to be
granted to the country, but in my opinion it had little or nothing to
do with it. The Boers never understood the question of responsible
government, and never wanted that institution; what they did want was
to be free of all English control, and this they said twenty times in
the most outspoken language. I think there is little doubt the causes
I have indicated are the real sources of the agitation, though there
must be added to them their detestation of our mode of dealing with
natives, and of being forced to pay taxes regularly, and also the
ceaseless agitation of the Cape wire-pullers, through their agents the
Hollanders, and their organs in the press.

On the return of Messrs. Kruger and Jorissen to the Transvaal, the
latter gentleman resumed his duties as Attorney-General, on which
occasion, if I remember aright, I myself had the honour of
administering to him the oath of allegiance to Her Majesty, that he
afterwards kept so well. The former reported the proceedings of the
deputation to a Boer meeting, when he took a very different tone to
that in which he addressed Lord Carnarvon, announcing that if there
existed a majority of the people in favour of independence, he still
was Vice-President of the country.

Both these gentlemen remained for some time in the pay of the British
Government, Mr. Jorissen as Attorney-General, and Mr. Kruger as member
of the Executive Council. The Government, however, at length found it
desirable to dispense with their services, though on different
grounds. Mr. Jorissen had, like several other members of the
Republican Government, been a clergyman, and was quite unfit to hold
the post of Attorney-General in an important colony like the
Transvaal, where legal questions were constantly arising requiring all
the attention of a trained mind; and after he had on several occasions
been publicly admonished from the bench, the Government retired him on
liberal terms. Needless to say, his opposition to English rule then
became very bitter. Mr. Kruger's appointment expired by law in
November 1877, and the Government did not think it advisable to
re-employ him. The terms of his letter of dismissal can be found on
page 135 of Blue Book (c. 144), and involving as they do a serious
charge of misrepresentation in money matters, are not very creditable
to him. After this event he also pursued the cause of independence
with increased vigour.

During the last months of 1877 and the first part of 1878 agitation
against British rule went on unchecked, and at last grew to alarming
proportions, so much so that Sir T. Shepstone, on his return from the
Zulu border in March 1878, where he had been for some months
discussing the vexed and dangerous question of the boundary line with
the Zulus, found it necessary to issue a stringent proclamation
warning the agitators that their proceedings and meetings were
illegal, and would be punished according to law. This document which
was at the time vulgarly known as the "Hold-your-jaw" proclamation,
not being followed by action, produced but little effect.

On the 4th April 1878 another Boer meeting was convened, at which it
was decided to send a second deputation to England, to consist this
time of Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, with Mr. Bok as secretary. This
deputation proved as abortive as the first, Sir M. Hicks Beach
assuring it, in a letter dated 6th August 1878, that it is
"impossible, for many reasons, . . . . that the Queen's sovereignty
should now be withdrawn."

Whilst the Government was thus hampered by internal disaffection, it
had also many other difficulties on its hands. First, there was the
Zulu boundary question, which was constantly developing new dangers to
the country. Indeed, it was impossible to say what might happen in
that direction from one week to another. Nor were its relations with
Secocoeni satisfactory. It will be remembered that just before the
Annexation this chief had expressed his earnest wish to become a
British subject, and even paid over part of the fine demanded from him
by the Boer Government to the Civil Commissioner, Major Clarke. In
March 1878, however, his conduct towards the Government underwent a
sudden change, and he practically declared war. It afterwards
appeared, from Secocoeni's own statement, that he was instigated to
this step by a Boer, Abel Erasmus by name--the same man who was
concerned in the atrocities in the first Secocoeni war--who constantly
encouraged him to continue the struggle. I do not propose to minutely
follow the course of this long war, which, commencing in the beginning
of 1878, did not come to an end till after the Zulu war: when Sir
Garnet Wolseley attacked Secocoeni's stronghold with a large force of
troops, volunteers, and Swazi allies, and took it with great
slaughter. The losses on our side were not very heavy, so far as white
men were concerned, but the Swazies are reported to have lost 400
killed and 500 wounded.

The struggle was, during the long period preceding the final attack,
carried on with great courage and ability by Major Clarke, R.A.,
C.M.G., whose force, at the best of times, only consisted of 200
volunteers and 100 Zulus. With this small body of men he contrived,
however, to keep Secocoeni in check, and to take some important
strongholds. It was marked also by some striking acts of individual
bravery, of which one, performed by Major Clarke himself, whose
reputation for cool courage and presence of mind in danger is
unsurpassed in South Africa, is worthy of notice; and which, had
public attention been more concentrated on the Secocoeni war, would
doubtless have won him the Victoria Cross. On one occasion, on
visiting one of the outlying forts, he found that a party of hostile
natives, who were coming down to the fort on the previous day with a
flag of truce, had been accidentally fired upon, and had at once
retreated. As his system in native warfare was always to try and
inspire his enemy with perfect faith in the honour of Englishmen, and
their contempt of all tricks and treachery even towards a foe, he was
very angry at this occurrence, and at once, unarmed and unattended
save by his native servant, rode up into the mountains to the kraal
from which the white flag party had come on the previous day, and
apologised to the Chief for what had happened. When I consider how
very anxious Secocoeni's natives were to kill or capture Clarke, whom
they held in great dread, and how terrible the end of so great a
captain would in all probability have been had he taken alive by these
masters of refined torture, I confess that I think this act of
gentlemanly courage is one of the most astonishing things I ever heard
of. When he rode up those hills he must have known that he was
probably going to meet his death at the hands of justly incensed
savages. When Secocoeni heard of what Major Clarke had done he was so
pleased that he shortly afterwards released a volunteer whom he had
taken prisoner, and who would otherwise, in all probability, have been
tortured to death. I must add that Major Clarke himself never reported
to or alluded to this incident, but an account of it can be found in a
despatch written by Sir O. Lanyon to the Secretary of State, dated 2d
February 1880.

Concurrently with, though entirely distinct from, the political
agitation that was being carried on among the Boers having for object
the restoration of independence, a private agitation was set on foot
by a few disaffected persons against Sir T. Shepstone, with the view
of obtaining his removal from office in favour of a certain Colonel
Weatherley. The details of this impudent plot are so interesting, and
the plot itself so typical of the state of affairs with which Sir T.
Shepstone had to deal, that I will give a short account of it.

After the Annexation had taken place, there were naturally enough a
good many individuals who found themselves disappointed in the results
so far as they personally were concerned; I mean that they did not get
so much out of it as they expected. Among these was a gentleman called
Colonel Weatherley, who had come to the Transvaal as manager of a
gold-mining company, but getting tired of that had taken a prominent
part in the Annexation, and who, being subsequently disappointed about
an appointment, became a bitter enemy of the Administrator. I may say
at once that Colonel Weatherley seems to me to have been throughout
the dupe of the other conspirators.

The next personage was a good-looking desperado, who called himself
Captain Gunn of Gunn, and who was locally somewhat irreverently known
as the very Gunn of very Gunn. This gentleman, whose former career had
been of a most remarkable order, was, on the annexation of the
country, found in the public prison charged with having committed
various offences, but on Colonel Weatherley's interesting himself
strongly on his behalf, he was eventually released without trial. On
his release, he requested the Administrator to publish a Government
notice declaring him innocent of the charges brought against him. This
Sir T. Shepstone declined to do, and so, to use his own words, in a
despatch to the High Commissioner on the subject, Captain Gunn of Gunn
at once became "what in this country is called a patriot."

The third person concerned was a lawyer, who had got into trouble on
the Diamond Fields, and who felt himself injured because the rules of
the High Court did not allow him to practise as an advocate. The
quartet was made up by Mr. Celliers, the editor of the patriotic
organ, the "Volkstem," who, since he had lost the Government printing
contract, found that no language could be too strong to apply to the
/personnel/ of the Government, more especially its head. Of course,
there was a lady in it; what plot would be complete without? She was
Mrs. Weatherley, now, I believe, Mrs. Gunn of Gunn. These gentlemen
began operations by drawing up a long petition to Sir Bartle Frere as
High Commissioner, setting forth a string of supposed grievances, and
winding up with a request that the Administrator might be "promoted to
some other sphere of political usefulness." This memorial was
forwarded by the "committee," as they called themselves, to various
parts of the country for signature, but without the slightest success,
the fact of the matter being that it was not the Annexor but the
Annexation that the Boers objected to.

At this stage in the proceedings Colonel Weatherley went to try and
forward the good cause with Sir Bartle Frere at the Cape. His letters
to Mrs. Weatherley from thence, afterwards put into Court in the
celebrated divorce case, contained many interesting accounts of his
attempts in that direction. I do not think, however, that he was
cognisant of what was being concocted by his allies in Pretoria, but
being a very vain, weak man, was easily deceived by them. With all his
faults he was a gentleman. As soon as he was gone a second petition
was drawn up by the "committee," showing "the advisability of
immediately suspending our present Administrator, and temporarily
appointing and recommending for Her Majesty's royal and favourable
consideration an English gentleman of high integrity and honour, in
whom the country at large has respect and confidence."

The English gentleman of high integrity and honour of course proves to
be Colonel Weatherley, whose appointment is, further on, "respectfully
but earnestly requested," since he had "thoroughly gained the
affections, confidence, and respect of Boers, English, and other
Europeans in this country." But whilst it is comparatively easy to
write petitions, there is sometimes a difficulty in getting people to
sign them, as proved to be the case with reference to the documents
under consideration. When the "committee" and the employes in the
office of the "Volkstem" had affixed their valuable signatures it was
found to be impossible to induce anybody else to follow their example.
Now, a petition with some half dozen signatures attached would not, it
was obvious, carry much weight with the Imperial Government, and no
more could be obtained.

But really great minds rise superior to such difficulties, and so did
the "committee," or some of them, or one of them. If they could not
get genuine signatures to their petitions, they could at any rate
manufacture them. This great idea once hit out, so vigorously was it
prosecuted that they, or some of them, or one of them, produced in a
very little while no less than 3883 signatures, of which sixteen were
proved to be genuine, five were doubtful, and all the rest fictitious.
But the gentleman, whoever he was, who was the working partner in the
scheme--and I may state, by way of parenthesis, that when Gunn of Gunn
was subsequently arrested, petitions in process of signature were
found under the mattress of his bed--calculated without his host. He
either did not know, or had forgotten, that on receipt of such
documents by a superior officer, they are at once sent to the officer
accused to report upon. This course was followed in the present case,
and the petitions were discovered to be gross impostures. The
ingenuity exercised by their author or authors was really very
remarkable, for it must be remembered that not one of the signatures
was forged; they were all invented, and had, of course, to be written
in a great variety of hands. The plan generally pursued was to put
down the names of people living in the country, with slight
variations. Thus "De /V/illiers" became "De /W/illiers," and "Van
Z/y/l" "Van Z/u/l." I remember that my own name appeared on one of the
petitions with some slight alteration. Some of the names were
evidently meant to be facetious. Thus there was a "Jan Verneuker,"
which means "John the Cheat."

Of the persons directly or indirectly concerned in this rascally plot,
the unfortunate Colonel Weatherly subsequently apologised to Sir T.
Shepstone for his share in the agitation, and shortly afterwards died
fighting bravely on Kambula. Captain Gunn of Gunn and Mrs. Weatherley,
after having given rise to the most remarkable divorce case I ever
heard,--it took fourteen days to try--were, on the death of Colonel
Weatherley, united in the bonds of holy matrimony, and are, I believe,
still in Pretoria. The lawyer vanished I know not where, whilst Mr.
Celliers still continues to edit that admirably conducted journal the
"Volkstem;" nor, if I may judge from the report of a speech made by
him recently at a Boer festival, which, by the way, was graced by the
presence of our representative, Mr. Hudson, the British Resident: has
his right hand forgotten its cunning, or rather his tongue lost the
use of those peculiar and recherche epithets that used to adorn the
columns of the "Volkstem." I see that he, on this occasion, denounced
the English element as being "poisonous and dangerous" to a State, and
stated, amidst loud cheers, that "he despised" it. Mr. Cellier's lines
have fallen in pleasant places; in any other country he would long ago
have fallen a victim to the stern laws of libel. I recommend him to
the notice of enterprising Irish newspapers. Such is the freshness and
vigour of his style that I am confident he would make the fortune of
any Hibernian journal.

Some little time after the Gunn of Gunn frauds a very sad incident
happened in connection with the Government of the Transvaal. Shortly
after the Annexation, the Home Government sent out Mr. Sergeaunt,
C.M.G., one of the Crown Agents for the Colonies, to report on the
financial condition of the country. He was accompanied, in an
unofficial capacity, amongst other gentlemen, by Captain Patterson and
his son, Mr. J Sergeaunt; and when he returned to England, these two
gentlemen remained behind to go on a shooting expedition. About this
time Sir Bartle Frere was anxious to send a friendly mission to Lo
Bengula, king of the Matabele, a branch of the Zulu tribe, living up
towards the Zambesi. This chief had been making himself unpleasant by
causing traders to be robbed, and it was thought desirable to
establish friendly relations with him, so it was suggested to Captain
Patterson and Mr. Sergeaunt that they should combine business with
pleasure, and go on a mission to Lo Bengula, an offer which they
accepted, and shortly afterwards started for Matabeleland with an
interpreter and a few servants. They reached their destination in
safety; and having concluded their business with the king, started on
a visit to the Zambesi Falls on foot, leaving the interpreter with the
wagon. The falls were about twelve days' walk from the king's kraal,
and they were accompanied thither by young Mr. Thomas, the son of the
local missionary, two Kafir servants, and twenty native bearers
supplied by Lo Bengula. The next thing that was heard of them was that
they had all died through drinking poisoned water, full details of the
manner of their deaths being sent down by Lo Bengula.

In the first shock and confusion of such news it was not very closely
examined, at any rate by the friends of the dead men, but, on
reflection, there were several things about it that appeared strange.
For instance, it was well known that Captain Patterson had a habit,
for which indeed, we had often laughed at him, of, however thirsty he
might be, always having his water boiled when he was travelling, in
order to destroy impurities: and it seemed odd, that he should on this
one occasion, have neglected the precaution. Also, it was curious that
the majority of Lo Bengula's bearers appeared to have escaped, whereas
all the others were, without exception, killed; nor even in that
district is it usual to find water so bad that it will kill with the
rapidity it had been supposed to do in this case, unless indeed it had
been designedly poisoned. These doubts of the poisoning-by-water-story
resolved themselves into certainty when the waggon returned in charge
of the interpreter, when, by putting two and two together, we were
able to piece out the real history of the diabolical murder of our
poor friends with considerable accuracy, a story which shows what
bloodthirsty wickedness a savage is capable of when he fancies his
interests are threatened.

It appeared that, when Captain Patterson first interviewed Lo Bengula,
he was not at all well received by him. I must, by way of explanation,
state that there exists a Pretender to his throne, Kruman by name,
who, as far as I can make out, is the real heir to the kingdom. This
man had, for some cause or other, fled the country, and for a time
acted as gardener to Sir T. Shepstone in Natal. At the date of Messrs.
Patterson and Sergeaunt's mission to Matabeleland he was living, I
believe, in the Transvaal. Captain Patterson, on finding himself so
ill received by the king, and not being sufficiently acquainted with
the character of savage chiefs, most unfortunately, either by accident
or design, dropped some hint in the course of conversation about this
Kruman. From that moment, Lo Bengula's conduct towards the mission
entirely changed, and, dropping his former tone, he became profusely
civil; and from that moment, too, he doubtless determined to kill
them, probably fearing that they might forward some scheme to oust him
and place Kruman, on whose claim a large portion of his people looked
favourably, on the throne.

When their business was done, and Captain Patterson told the king that
they were anxious, before returning, to visit the Zambesi Falls, he
readily fell in with their wish, but, in the first instance, refused
permission to young Thomas, the son of the missionary, to accompany
them, only allowing him to do so on the urgent representation of
Captain Patterson. The reason for this was, no doubt, that he had
kindly feelings towards the lad, and did not wish to include him in
the slaughter.

Captain Patterson was a man of extremely methodical habits, and,
amongst other things, was in the habit of making notes of all that he
did. His note-book had been taken off his body, and sent down to
Pretoria with the other things. In it we found entries of his
preparations for the trip, including the number and names of the
bearers provided by Lo Bengula. We also found the chronicle of the
first three days' journey, and that of the morning of the fourth day,
but there the record stopped. The last entry was probably made a few
minutes before he was killed; and it is to be observed that there was
no entry of the party having been for several days without water, as
stated by the messengers, and then finding the poisoned water.

This evidence by itself would not have amounted to much, but now comes
the curious part of the story, showing the truth of the old adage,
"Murder will out." It appears that when the waggon was coming down to
Pretoria in charge of the interpreter, it was outspanned one day
outside the borders of Lo Bengula's country, when some Kafirs--
Bechuanas, I think--came up, asked for some tobacco, and fell into
conversation with the driver, remarking that he had come up with a
full waggon, and now he went down with an empty one. The driver
replied by lamenting the death by poisoned water of his masters,
whereupon one of the Kafirs told him the following story:--He said
that a brother of his was out hunting, a little while back, in the
desert for ostriches, with a party of other Kafirs, when hearing shots
fired some way off, they made for the spot, thinking that white men
were out shooting, and that they would be able to beg meat. On
reaching the spot, which was by a pool of water, they saw the bodies
of three white men lying on the ground, and also those of a Hottentot
and a Kafir, surrounded by an armed party of Kafirs. They at once
asked the Kafirs what they had been doing killing the white men, and
were told to be still, for it was by "order of the king." They then
learned the whole story. It appeared that the white men had made a
mid-day halt by the water, when one of the bearers, who had gone to
the edge of the pool, suddenly shouted to them to come and look at a
great snake in the water. Captain Patterson ran up, and, as he leaned
over the edge, was instantly killed by a blow with an axe; the others
were then shot and assegaied. The Kafir further described the clothes
that his brother had seen on the bodies, and also some articles that
had been given to his party by the murderers, that left little doubt
as to the veracity of his story. And so ended the mission to
Matabeleland.

No public notice was taken of the matter, for the obvious reason that
it was impossible to get at Lo Bengula to punish him; nor would it
have been easy to come by legal evidence to disprove the ingenious
story of the poisoned water, since anybody trying to reach the spot of
the massacre would probably fall a victim to some similar accident
before he got back again. It is devoutly to be hoped that the
punishment he deserves will sooner or later overtake the author of
this devilish and wholesale murder.

The beginning of 1879 was signalised by the commencement of operations
in Zululand and by the news of the terrible disaster at Isandhlwana,
which fell on Pretoria like a thunderclap. It was not, however, any
surprise to those who were acquainted with Zulu tactics and with the
plan of attack adopted by the English commanders. In fact, I know that
one solemn warning of what would certainly happen to him, if he
persisted in his plan of advance, was addressed to Lord Chelmsford,
through the officer in command at Pretoria, by a gentlemen whose
position and long experience of the Zulus and their mode of attack
should have carried some weight. If it ever reached him, he took, to
the best of my recollection, no notice of it whatever.

But though some such disaster was daily expected by a few, the
majority of both soldiers and civilians never dreamed of anything of
the sort, the general idea being that the conquest of Cetywayo was a
very easy undertaking: and the shock produced by the news of
Isandhlwana was proportionally great, especially as it reached
Pretoria in a much exaggerated form. I shall never forget the
appearance of the town that morning; business was entirely suspended,
and the streets were filled with knots of men talking, with scared
faces, as well they might: for there was scarcely anybody but had lost
a friend, and many thought that their sons or brothers were among the
dead on that bloody field. Among others, Sir T. Shepstone lost one
son, and thought for some time that he had lost three.

Shortly after this event Sir T. Shepstone went to England to confer
with the Secretary of State on various matters connected with the
Transvaal, carrying with him the affection and respect of all who knew
him, not excepting the majority of the malcontent Boers. He was
succeeded by Colonel, now Sir Owen Lanyon, who was appointed to
administer the Government during the absence of Sir T. Shepstone.

By the Boers, however, the news of our disaster was received with
great and unconcealed rejoicing, or at least by the irreconcilable
portion of that people. England's necessity was their opportunity, and
one of which they certainly meant to avail themselves. Accordingly,
notices were sent out summoning the burghers of the Transvaal to
attend a mass meeting on the 18th March, at a place about thirty miles
from Pretoria. Emissaries were also sent to native chiefs, to excite
them to follow Cetywayo's example, and massacre all the English within
reach, of whom a man called Solomon Prinsloo was one of the most
active. The natives, however, notwithstanding the threats used towards
them, one and all declined the invitation.

It must not be supposed that all the Boers who attended these meetings
did so of their own free will; on the contrary, a very large number
came under compulsion, since they found that the English authorities
were powerless to give them protection. The recalcitrants were
threatened with all sorts of pains and penalties if they did not
attend, a favourite menace being that they should be made "biltong" of
when the country was given back (i.e., be cut into strips and hung in
the sun to dry). Few, luckily for themselves, were brave enough to
tempt fortune by refusing to come, but those who did, have had to
leave the country since the war. Whatever were the means employed, the
result was an armed meeting of about 3000 Boers, who evidently meant
mischief.

Just about this time a corps had been raised in Pretoria, composed,
for the most part, of gentlemen, and known as the Pretoria Horse; for
the purpose of proceeding to the Zulu border, where cavalry,
especially cavalry acquainted with the country, was earnestly needed.
In the emergency of the times officials were allowed to join this
corps, a permission of which I availed myself, and was elected one of
the lieutenants.[*] The corps was not, after all, allowed to go to
Zululand on account of the threatening aspect adopted by the Boers,
against whom it was retained for service. In my capacity as an officer
of the corps I was sent out with a small body of picked men, all good
riders and light weights, to keep up a constant communication between
the Boer camp and the Administrator, and found the work both
interesting and exciting. My head-quarters were at an inn about
twenty-five miles from Pretoria, to which our agents in the meeting
used to come every evening and report how matters were proceeding,
whereupon, if the road was clear, I despatched a letter to head-
quarters; or, if I feared that the messengers would be caught /en
route/ by Boer patrols and searched, I substituted different coloured
ribbons according to what I wished to convey. There was a relief
hidden in the trees or rocks every six miles, all day and most of the
night, whose business it was to take the despatch or ribbon and gallop
on with it to the next station, in which way we used to get the
despatches into town in about an hour and a quarter.

[*] It is customary in South African volunteer forces to allow the
    members to elect their own officers, provided the men elected are
    such as the Government approves. This is done, so that the corps
    may not afterwards be able to declare that they have no confidence
    in their officers in action, or to grumble at their treatment by
    them.

On one or two occasions the Boers came to the inn and threatened to
shoot us, but as our orders were to do nothing unless our lives were
actually in danger, we took no notice. The officer who came out to
relieve me had not, however, been there more than a day or two before
he and all his troopers, were hunted back into Pretoria by a large mob
of armed Boers whom they only escaped by very hard riding.

Meanwhile the Boers were by degrees drawing nearer and nearer to the
town, till at last they pitched their laagers within six miles, and
practically besieged it. All business was stopped, the houses were
loopholed and fortified, and advantageous positions were occupied by
the military and the various volunteer corps. The building, normally
in the occupation of the Government mules, fell to the lot of the
Pretoria Horse, and, though it was undoubtedly a post of honour, I
honestly declare that I have no wish to sleep for another month in a
mule stable that has not been cleaned out for several years. However,
by sinking a well, and erecting bastions and a staging for sharp-
shooters, we converted it into an excellent fortress, though it would
not have been of much use against artillery. Our patrols used to be
out all night, since we chiefly feared a night attack, and generally
every preparation was made to resist the onset that was hourly
expected, and I believe that it was that state of preparedness that
alone prevented it.

Whilst this meeting was going on, and when matters had come to a point
that seemed to render war inevitable, Sir B. Frere arrived at Pretoria
and had several interviews with the Boer leaders, at which they
persisted in demanding their independence, and nothing short of it.
After a great deal of talk the meeting finally broke up without any
actual appeal to arms, though it had, during its continuance, assumed
many of the rights of government, such as stopping post-carts and
individuals, and sending armed patrols about the country. The
principal reason of its break-up was that the Zulu war was now drawing
to a close, and the leaders saw that there would soon be plenty of
troops available to suppress any attempt at revolt, but they also saw
to what lengths they could go with impunity. They had for a period of
nearly two months been allowed to throw the whole country into
confusion, to openly violate the laws, and to intimidate and threaten
Her Majesty's loyal subjects with war and death. The lesson was not
lost on them; but they postponed action till a more favourable
opportunity offered.

Sir Bartle Frere before his departure took an opportunity at a public
dinner given him at Potchefstroom of assuring the loyal inhabitants of
the country that the Transvaal would never be given back.

Meanwhile a new Pharaoh had arisen in Egypt, in the shape of Sir G.
Wolseley, and on the 29th June 1879 we find him communicating the fact
to Sir O. Lanyon in very plain language, telling him that he
disapproved of his course of action with regard to Secocoeni, and that
"in future you will please take orders only from me."

As soon as Sir Garnet had completed his arrangements for the
pacification of Zululand, he proceeded to Pretoria, and having caused
himself to be sworn in as Governor, set vigorously to work. I must say
that in his dealings with the Transvaal he showed great judgment and a
keen appreciation of what the country needed, namely, strong
government; the fact of the matter being, I suppose, that being very
popular with the Home authorities he felt that he could more or less
command their support in what he did, a satisfaction not given to most
governors, who never know but that they may be thrown overboard in
emergency, in lighten the ship.

One of his first acts was to issue a proclamation, stating that
"Whereas it appears that, notwithstanding repeated assurances of the
contrary given by Her Majesty's representatives in this territory,
uncertainty or misapprehension exists amongst some of Her Majesty's
subjects as to the intention of Her Majesty's Government regarding the
maintenance of British rule and sovereignty over the territory of the
Transvaal: and whereas it is expedient that all grounds for such
uncertainty or misapprehension should be removed once and for all
beyond doubt or question: now therefore I do hereby proclaim and make
known, in the name and on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, that it is
the will and determination of Her Majesty's Government that this
Transvaal territory shall be, /and shall continue to be for ever/, an
integral portion of Her Majesty's dominions in South Africa."

Alas! Sir G. Wolseley's estimate of the value of a solemn pledge thus
made in the name of Her Majesty, whose word has hitherto been held to
be sacred, differed greatly to that of Mr. Gladstone and his
Government.

Sir Garnet Wolseley's operations against Secocoeni proved eminently
successful, and were the best arranged bit of native warfare that I
have yet heard of in South Africa. One blow was struck, and only one,
but that was crushing. Of course the secret of his success lay in the
fact that he had an abundance of force; but it was not ensured by that
alone, good management being very requisite in an affair of the sort,
especially where native allies have to be dealt with. The cost of the
expedition, not counting other Secocoeni war expenditure, amounted to
over 300,000 pounds, all of which is now lost to this country.

Another step in the right direction undertaken by Sir Garnet was the
establishment of an Executive Council and also of a Legislative
Council, for the establishment of which Letters Patent were sent from
Downing Street in November 1880.

Meanwhile the Boers, paying no attention to the latter proclamation,
for they guessed that it, like other proclamations in the Transvaal,
would be a mere /brutum fulmen/, had assembled for another mass
meeting, at which they went forward a step, and declared a Government
which was to treat with the English authorities. They had now learnt
that they could do what they liked with perfect impunity, provided
they did not take the extreme course of massacring the English. They
had yet to learn that they might even do that. At the termination of
this meeting, a vote of thanks was passed to "Mr. Leonard Courtney of
London, and other members of the British Parliament." It was wise of
the Boer leaders to cultivate Mr. Courtney of London. As a result of
this meeting, Pretorius, one of the principal leaders, and Bok, the
secretary, were arrested on a charge of treason, and underwent a
preliminary examination; but as the Secretary of State, Sir M. Hicks
Beach, looked rather timidly on the proceeding, and the local
authorities were doubtful of securing a verdict, the prosecution was
abandoned, and necessarily did more harm than good, being looked upon
as another proof of the impotence of the Government.

Shortly afterwards, Sir G. Wolseley changed his tactics, and, instead
of attempting to imprison Pretorius, offered him a seat on the
Executive Council, with a salary attached. This was a much more
sensible way of dealing with him, and he at once rose to the bait,
stating his willingness to join the Government after a while, but that
he could not publicly do so at the moment lest he should lose his
influence with those who were to be brought round through him. It does
not, however, appear that Mr. Pretorius ever did actually join the
Executive, probably because he found public opinion too strong to
allow him to do so.

In December 1879, a new light broke upon the Boers, for, in the
previous month Mr. Gladstone had been delivering his noted attack on
the policy of the Conservative Government. Those Mid-Lothian speeches
did harm, it is said, in many parts of the world; but I venture to
think that they have proved more mischievous in South Africa than
anywhere else; at any rate, they have borne fruit sooner. It is not to
be supposed that Mr. Gladstone really cared anything about the
Transvaal or its independence when he was denouncing the hideous
outrage that had been perpetrated by the Conservative Government in
annexing it. On the contrary, as he acquiesced in the Annexation at
the time (when Lord Kimberley stated that it was evidently
unavoidable), and declined to rescind it when he came into power, it
is to be supposed that he really approved of it, or at the least
looked on it as a necessary evil. However this may be, any stick will
do to beat a dog with, and the Transvaal was a convenient point on
which to attack the Government. He probably neither knew nor cared
what effect his reckless words might have on ignorant Boers thousands
of miles away; and yet, humanly speaking, many a man would have been
alive and strong to-day, whose bones now whiten the African Veldt, had
those words never been spoken. Then, for the first time, the Boers
learnt that, if they played their cards properly and put on sufficient
pressure, they would, in the event of the Liberal party coming to
office, have little difficulty in coercing it as they wished.

There was a fair chance at the time of the utterance of the Mid-
Lothian speeches that the agitation would, by degrees, die away; Sir
G. Wolseley had succeeded in winning over Pretorius, and the Boers in
general were sick of mass meetings. Indeed, a memorial was addressed
to Sir G. Wolseley by a number of Boers in the Potchefstroom district,
protesting against the maintenance of the movement against Her
Majesty's rule, which, considering the great amount of intimidation
exercised by the malcontents, may be looked upon as a favourable sign.

But when it slowly came to be understood among the Boers that a great
English Minister had openly espoused their cause, and that he would
perhaps soon be all-powerful, the moral gain to them was incalculable.
They could now go to the doubting ones and say,--we must be right
about the matter, because, putting our own feelings out of the
question, the great Gladstone says we are. We find the committee of
the Boer malcontents, at their meeting in March 1880, reading a letter
to Mr. Gladstone, "in which he was thanked for the great sympathy
shown to their fate," and a hope expressed that, if he succeeded in
getting power, he would not forget them. In fact, a charming unanimity
prevailed between our great Minister and the Boer rebels, for their
interests were the same, the overthrow of the Conservative Government.
If, however, every leader of the Opposition were to intrigue, or
countenance intrigues with those who are seeking to undermine the
authority of Her Majesty, whether they be Boers or Irishmen, in order
to help himself to power, the country might suffer in the long run.

But whatever feelings may have prompted Her Majesty's opposition, the
Home Government, and their agent, Sir Garnet Wolseley, blew no
uncertain blast, if we may judge from their words and actions. Thus we
find Sir Garnet speaking as follows at a banquet given in his honour
at Pretoria:--

"I am told that these men (the Boers) are told to keep on agitating in
this way, for a change of Government in England may give them again
the old order of things. Nothing can show greater ignorance of English
politics than such an idea; I tell you that there is no Government,
Whig or Tory, Liberal, Conservative, or Radical, /who would dare under
any circumstances to give back this country/. They would not dare,
because the English people would not allow them. To give back the
country, what would it mean? To give it back to external danger, to
the danger of attack by hostile tribes on its frontier, and who, if
the English Government were removed for one day, would make themselves
felt the next. Not an official of Government paid for months; it would
mean national bankruptcy. No taxes being paid, the same thing
recurring again which had existed before would mean danger without,
anarchy and civil war within, every possible misery; the strangulation
of trade, and the destruction of property."

It is very amusing to read this passage by the light of after events.
On other occasions Sir Garnet Wolseley will probably not be quite so
confident as to the future when it is to be controlled by a Radical
Government.

This explicit and straightforward statement of Sir Garnet's produced a
great effect on the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal, which was
heightened by the publication of the following telegram from the
Secretary of State:--"You may fully confirm explicit statements made
from the time to time as to inability of Her Majesty's Government to
entertain /any proposal/ for withdrawal of the Queen's sovereignty."

On the faith of these declarations many Englishmen migrated to the
Transvaal and settled there, whilst those who were in the country now
invested all their means, being confident that they would not lose
their property through its being returned to the Boers. The excitement
produced by Mr. Gladstone's speeches began to quiet down and be
forgotten for the time, arrear taxes were paid up by the malcontents,
and generally the aspect of affairs was such, in Sir Garnet Wolseley's
opinion, as justified him in writing, in April 1880, to the Secretary
of State expressing his belief that the agitation was dying out.[*]
Indeed, so sanguine was he on that point that he is reported to have
advised the withdrawal of the cavalry regiment stationed in the
territory, a piece of economy that was one of the immediate causes of
the revolt.

The reader will remember the financial condition of the country at the
time of the Annexation, which was one of utter bankruptcy. After three
years of British rule, however, we find, notwithstanding the constant
agitation that had been kept up, that the total revenue receipts for
the first quarter of 1879 and 1880 amounted to 22,773 pounds, and
44,982 pounds respectively. That is to say, that, during the last year
of British rule, the revenue of the country more than doubled itself,
and amounted to about 160,000 pounds a-year, taking the quarterly
returns at the low average of 40,000 pounds. It must, however, be
remembered that this sum would have been very largely increased in
subsequent years, most probably doubled. At any rate the revenue would
have been amply sufficient to make the province one of the most
prosperous in South Africa, and to have enabled it to shortly repay
all debts due to the British Government, and further to provide for
its own defence. Trade also, which in April 1877, was completely
paralysed, had increased enormously. So early as the middle of 1879,
the Committee of the Transvaal Chamber of Commerce pointed out, in a
resolution adopted by them, that the trade of the country had in two
years, risen from almost nothing to the considerable sum of two
millions sterling per annum, and that it was entirely in the hands of
those favourable to British rule. They also pointed out that more than
half the land tax was paid by Englishmen, or other Europeans adverse
to Boer Government. Land, too, had risen greatly in value, of which I
can give the following instance. About a year after the Annexation I,
together with a friend, bought a little property on the outskirts of
Pretoria, which, with a cottage we put up on it, cost some 300 pounds.
Just before the rebellion we fortunately determined to sell it, and
had no difficulty in getting 650 pounds for it. I do not believe that
it would now fetch a fifty pound note.

[*] In Blue Book No. (C. 2866) of September 1881, which is descriptive
    of various events connected with the Boer rising, is published, as
    an appendix, a despatch from Sir Garnet Wolseley, dated October
    1879. This despatch declares the writer's opinion that the Boer
    discontent is on the increase. Its publication thus--/apropos des
    bottes/--nearly two years after it was written, is rather an
    amusing incident. It certainly gives one the idea that Sir Garnet
    Wolseley, fearing that his reputation for infallibility might be
    attacked by scoffers for not having foreseen the Boer rebellion,
    and perhaps uneasily conscious of other despatches very different
    in tenor and subsequent in date: and, mindful of the withdrawal of
    the cavalry regiment by his advice, had caused it to be tacked on
    to the Blue Book as a documentary "I told you so," and a proof
    that, whoever else was blinded, he foresaw. It contains, however,
    the following remarkable passage:--"Even were it not impossible,
    for many other reasons, to contemplate a withdrawal of our
    authority from the Transvaal, the position of insecurity in which
    we should leave this loyal and important section of the community
    (the English inhabitants), by exposing them to the certain
    retaliation of the Boers, would constitute, in my opinion, an
    insuperable obstacle to retrocession. Subjected to the same
    danger, moreover, would be those of the Boers, whose superior
    intelligence and courageous character has rendered them loyal to
    our Government."

    As the Government took the trouble to publish the despatch, it is
    a pity that they did not think fit to pay more attention to its
    contents.

I cannot conclude this chapter better than by drawing attention to a
charming specimen of the correspondence between the Boer leaders and
their friend Mr. Courtney. The letter in question, which is dated 26th
June, purports to be written by Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, but it is
obvious that it owes its origin to some member or members of the Dutch
party at the Cape, from whence, indeed, it is written. This is
rendered evident both by its general style, and also by the use of
such terms as "Satrap," and by references to Napoleon III. and
Cayenne, about whom Messrs. Kruger and Joubert know no more than they
do of Peru and the Incas.

After alluding to former letters, the writers blow a blast of triumph
over the downfall of the Conservative Government, and then make a
savage attack on the reputation of Sir Bartle Frere. The "stubborn
Satrap" is throughout described as a liar, and every bad motive
imputed to him. Really, the fact that Mr. Courtney should encourage
such epistles as this is enough to give colour to the boast made by
some of the leading Boers, after the war, that they had been
encouraged to rebel by a member of the British Government.

At the end of this letter, and on the same page of the Blue Book, is
printed the telegram recalling Sir Bartle Frere, dated 1st August
1880. It really reads as though the second document was consequent to
the first. One thing is very clear, the feelings of Her Majesty's new
Government towards Sir Bartle Frere differed only in the method of
their expression, from those set forth by the Boer leaders in their
letter to Mr. Courtney, whilst their object, namely, to be rid of him,
was undoubtedly identical with that of the Dutch party in South
Africa.



                              CHAPTER V

                          THE BOER REBELLION

  Accession of Mr. Gladstone to power--His letters to the Boer
  leaders and the loyals--His refusal to rescind the annexation--The
  Boers encouraged by prominent members of the Radical party--The
  Bezuidenhout incident--Despatch of troops to Potchefstroom--Mass
  meeting of the 8th December 1880--Appointment of the Triumvirate
  and declaration of the republic--Despatch of Boer proclamation to
  Sir O. Lanyon--His reply--Outbreak of hostilities at Potchefstroom
  --Defence of the court-house by Major Clarke--The massacre of the
  detachment of the 94th under Colonel Anstruther--Dr. Ward--The
  Boer rejoicings--The Transvaal placed under martial law--
  Abandonment of their homes by the people of Pretoria--Sir Owen
  Lanyon's admirable defence organisation--Second proclamation
  issued by the Boers--Its complete falsehood--Life at Pretoria
  during the siege--Murders of natives by the Boers--Loyal conduct
  of the native chiefs--Difficulty of preventing them from attacking
  the Boers--Occupation of Lang's Nek by the Boers--Sir George
  Colley's departure to Newcastle--The condition of that town--The
  attack on Lang's Nek--Its desperate nature--Effect of victory on
  the Boers--The battle at the Ingogo--Our defeat--Sufferings of the
  wounded--Major Essex--Advance of the Boers into Natal--Constant
  alarms--Expected attack on Newcastle--Its unorganised and
  indefensible condition--Arrival of the reinforcements and retreat
  of the Boers to the Nek--Despatch of General Wood to bring up more
  reinforcements--Majuba Hill--Our disaster, and death of Sir George
  Colley--Cause of our defeat--A Boer version of the disaster--Sir
  George Colley's tactics.

When the Liberal ministry became an accomplished fact instead of a
happy possibility, Mr. Gladstone did not find it convenient to adopt
the line of policy with reference to the Transvaal, that might have
been expected from his utterances whilst leader of the Opposition. On
the contrary, he declared in Parliament that the Annexation could not
be cancelled, and on the 8th June 1880 we find him, in answer to a
Boer petition, written with the object of inducing him to act up to
the spirit of his words and rescind the Annexation, writing thus:--
"Looking to all circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of
South Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of
disorders which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the
Transvaal, but to the whole of South Africa, our judgment is, that the
/Queen cannot be advised to relinquish her sovereignty over the
Transvaal;/ but, consistently with the maintenance of that
sovereignty, we desire that the white inhabitants of the Transvaal
should, without prejudice to the rest of the population, enjoy the
fullest liberty to manage their local affairs. We believe that this
liberty may be most easily and promptly conceded to the Transvaal as a
member of a South African confederation."

Unless words have lost their signification, this passage certainly
means that the Transvaal must remain a British colony, but that
England will be prepared to grant it responsible government, more
especially if it will consent to a confederation scheme. Mr.
Gladstone, however, in a communication dated 1st June 1881, and
addressed to the unfortunate Transvaal loyals, for whom he expresses
"respect and sympathy," interprets his meaning thus: "It is stated, as
I observe, that a promise was given to me that the Transvaal should
never be given back. There is no mention of the terms or date of this
promise. If the reference be to my letter, of 8th June 1880, to
Messrs. Kruger and Joubert, I do not think the language of that letter
justifies the description given. Nor am I sure in what manner or to
what degree the fullest liberty to manage their local affairs, which I
then said Her Majesty's Government desired to confer on the white
population of the Transvaal, differs from the settlement now about
being made in its bearing on the interests of those whom your
Committee represents."

Such twisting of the meaning of words would, in a private person, be
called dishonest. It will also occur to most people that Mr. Gladstone
might have spared the deeply wronged and loyal subjects of Her Majesty
whom he was addressing, the taunt he levels at them in the second
paragraph I have quoted. If asked, he would no doubt say that he had
not the slightest intention of laughing at them; but when he
deliberately tells them that it makes no difference to their interests
whether they remain Her Majesty's subjects under a responsible
Government, or become the servants of men who were but lately in arms
against them and Her Majesty's authority, he is either mocking them,
or offering an insult to their understandings.

By way of comment on his remarks, I may add that he had, in a letter
replying to a petition from these same loyal inhabitants, addressed to
him in May 1880, informed them that he had already told the Boer
representatives that the Annexation could not be rescinded. Although
Mr. Gladstone is undoubtedly the greatest living master of the art of
getting two distinct and opposite sets of meanings out of one set of
words, it would try even his ingenuity to make out, to the
satisfaction of an impartial mind, that he never gave any pledge about
the retention of the Transvaal.

Indeed, it is from other considerations clear that he had no intention
of giving up the country to the Boers, whose cause he appears to have
taken up solely for electioneering purposes. Had he meant to do so, he
would have carried out his intention on succeeding to office, and,
indeed, as things have turned out, it is deeply to be regretted that
he did not; for, bad as such a step would have been, it would at any
rate have had a better appearance than our ultimate surrender after
three defeats. It would also have then been possible to secure the
repayment of some of the money owing to this country, and to provide
for the proper treatment of the natives, and the compensation of the
loyal inhabitants who could no longer live there: since it must
naturally have been easier to make terms with the Boers before they
had defeated our troops.

On the other hand, we should have missed the grandest and most soul-
stirring display of radical theories, practically applied, that has as
yet lightened the darkness of this country. But although Mr. Gladstone
gave his official decision against returning the country, there seems
to be little doubt that communications on the subject were kept up
with the Boer leaders through some prominent members of the Radical
party, whom, it was said, went so far as to urge the Boers to take up
arms against us. When Mr. White came to this country on behalf of the
loyalists, after the surrender, he stated that this was so at a public
meeting, and said further that he had in his possession proofs of his
statements. He even went so far as to name the gentleman he accused,
and to challenge him to deny it. I have not been able to gather that
Mr. White's statements were contradicted.

However this may be, after a pause, agitation in the Transvaal
suddenly recommenced with redoubled vigour. It began through a man
named Bezuidenhout, who refused to pay his taxes. Thereupon a waggon
was seized in execution under the authority of the court and put up to
auction, but its sale was prevented by a crowd of rebel Boers, who
kicked the auctioneer off the waggon and dragged the vehicle away.
This was on the 11th November 1880. When this intelligence reached
Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon sent down a few companies of the 21st
Regiment, under the command of Major Thornhill, to support the
Landdrost in arresting the rioters, and appointed Captain Raaf,
C.M.G., to act as special messenger to the Landdrost's Court at
Potchefstroom, with authority to enrol special constables to assist
him to carry out the arrests. On arrival at Potchefstroom Captain Raaf
found that, without an armed force, it was quite impossible to effect
any arrest. On the 26th November Sir Owen Lanyon, realising the
gravity of the situation, telegraphed to Sir George Colley, asking
that the 58th Regiment should be sent back to the Transvaal. Sir
George replied that he could ill spare it on account of "daily
expected outbreak of Pondos and possible appeal for help from Cape
Colony," and that the Government must be supported by the loyal
inhabitants.

It will be seen that the Boers had, with some astuteness, chosen a
very favourable time to commence operations. The hands of the Cape
Government were full with the Basutu war, so no help could be expected
from it. Sir G. Wolseley had sent away the only cavalry regiment that
remained in the country, and lastly, Sir Owen Lanyon had quite
recently allowed a body of 300 trained volunteers, mostly, if not
altogether, drawn from among the loyalists, to be raised for service
in the Basutu war, a serious drain upon the resources of a country so
sparsely populated as the Transvaal.

Meanwhile a mass meeting had been convened by the Boers for the 8th
January to consider Mr. Gladstone's letter, but the Bezuidenhout
incident had the effect of putting forward the date of assembly by a
month, and it was announced that it would be held on the 8th December.
Subsequently the date was shifted to the 15th, and then back again to
the 8th. Every effort was made, by threats of future vengeance, to
secure the presence of as many burghers as possible; attempts were
also made to persuade the native chiefs to send representatives, and
to promise to join in an attack on the English. These entirely failed.
The meeting was held at a place called Paarde Kraal, and resulted in
the sudden declaration of the Republic and the appointment of the
famous triumvirate Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius. It then moved into
Heidelberg, a little town about sixty miles from Pretoria, and on the
16th December the Republic was formally proclaimed in a long
proclamation, containing a summary of the events of the few preceding
years, and declaring the arrangements the malcontents were willing to
make with the English authorities. The terms offered in this document
are almost identical with those finally accepted by Her Majesty's
Government, with the exception that in the proclamation of the 16th
December the Boer leaders declare their willingness to enter into
confederation, and to guide their native policy by general rules
adopted in concurrence "with the Colonies and States of South Africa."
This was a more liberal offer than that which we ultimately agreed to,
but then the circumstances had changed.

This proclamation was forwarded to Sir Owen Lanyon with a covering
letter, in which the following words occur:--"We declare in the most
solemn manner that we have no desire to spill blood, and that from our
side we do not wish war. It lies in your hands to force us to appeal
to arms in self-defence. . . . . We expect your answer within twice
twenty-four hours."

I beg to direct particular attention to these paragraphs, as they have
a considerable interest in view of what followed.

The letter and proclamation reached Government House, Pretoria, at
10.30 on the evening of Friday the 17th December. Sir Owen Lanyon's
proclamation, written in reply, was handed to the messenger at noon on
Sunday, 19th December, or within about thirty-six hours of his
arrival, and could hardly have reached the rebel camp, sixty miles
off, before dawn the next day, the 20th December, on which day, at
about one o'clock, a detachment of the 94th was ambushed and destroyed
on the road between Middelburg and Pretoria, about eighty miles off,
by a force despatched from Heidelburg for that purpose some days
before. On the 16th December, or the /same day/ on which the
Triumvirate had despatched the proclamation to Pretoria containing
their terms, and expressing in the most solemn manner that they had no
desire to shed blood, a large Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom.

So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to
avoid bloodshed.

The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its
preamble the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty,
including that of having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal
native inhabitants throughout the province to take up arms against Her
Majesty's Government," announced that matters had now been put into
the hands of the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised
pardon to all who would disperse to their homes.

It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of
the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom
as a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is,
or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated
before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil
authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer
of noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the
district.

Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain
Raaf, to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed.
Those of the townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many
business relations with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too
little faith in the stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's
utterances, to allow them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the
outbreak, between seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to
firms in Potchefstroom by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient
to account for their lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent
events have shown that the Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in
their generation.

On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and
took possession of the printing-office in order to print the
proclamation already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to
enter the office and see the leaders, but without success.

On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and
the fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the
war, and they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to
Clarke by Lieutenant-Colonel Winsloe, 21st Regiment, now commanding at
the fort which he afterwards defended so gallantly, that he was to
commence firing. Clarke was in the Landdrost's office on the Market
Square with a force of about twenty soldiers under Captain Falls and
twenty civilians under Captain Raaf, C.M.G., a position but ill-suited
for defensive purposes, from whence fire was accordingly opened, the
Boers taking up positions in the surrounding houses commanding the
office. Shortly after the commencement of the fighting, Captain Falls
was shot dead whilst talking to Major Clarke, the latter having a
narrow escape, a bullet grazing his head just above the ear. The
fighting continued during the 17th and till the morning of the 18th,
when the Boers succeeded in firing the roof, which was of thatch, by
throwing fire-balls on to it. Major Clarke then addressed the men,
telling them that, though personally he did not care about his own
life, he did not see that they could serve any useful purpose by being
burned alive, so he should surrender, which he did, with a loss of
about six killed and wounded. The camp meanwhile had repulsed with
loss the attack made on it, and was never again directly attacked.

Whilst these events were in progress at Potchefstroom, a much more
awful tragedy was in preparation on the road between Middelburg and
Pretoria.

On the 23rd November Colonel Bellairs, at the request of Sir Owen
Lanyon, directed a concentration on Pretoria of most of the few
soldiers that there were in the territory, in view of the disturbed
condition of the country. In accordance with these orders, Colonel
Anstruther marched from Lydenburg, a town about 180 miles from
Pretoria, on the 5th December, with the headquarters and two companies
of the 94th Regiment, being a total of 264 men, three women, and two
children, and the disproportionately large train of thirty-four ox-
waggons, or an ox-waggon capable of carrying five thousand pounds'
weight to every eight persons. And here I may remark that it is this
enormous amount of baggage, without which it appears to be impossible
to move the smallest body of men, that renders infantry regiments
almost useless for service in South Africa except for garrisoning
purposes. Both Zulus and Boers can get over the ground at thrice the
pace possible to the unfortunate soldier, and both races despise them
accordingly. The Zulus call our infantry "pack oxen." In this
particular instance, Colonel Anstruther's defeat, or rather,
annihilation, is to a very great extent referable to his enormous
baggage train; since, in the first place, had he not lost valuable
days in collecting more waggons, he would have been safe in Pretoria
before danger arose. It must also be acknowledged that his
arrangements on the line of march were somewhat reckless, though it
can hardly be said that he was ignorant of his danger. Thus we find
that Colonel Bellairs wrote to Colonel Anstruther, warning him of the
probability of an attack, and impressing on him the necessity of
keeping a good look-out, the letter being received and acknowledged by
the latter on the 17th December.

To this warning was added a still more impressive one, that came to my
knowledge privately. A gentleman well known to me received, on the
morning after the troops had passed through the town of Middelburg on
their way to Pretoria, a visit from an old Boer with whom he was on
friendly terms, who had purposely come to tell him that a large patrol
was out to ambush the troops on the Pretoria road. My informant having
convinced himself of the truth of the statement, at once rode after
the soldiers, and catching them up some distance from Middelburg, told
Colonel Anstruther what he had heard, imploring him, he said, with all
the energy he could command, to take better precautions against
surprise. The Colonel, however, laughed at his fears, and told him
that if the Boers came "he would frighten them away with the big
drum."

At one o'clock on Sunday, the 20th December, the column was marching
along about a mile and a half from a place known as Bronker's Spruit,
and thirty-eight miles from Pretoria, when suddenly a large number of
mounted Boers were seen in loose formation on the left side of the
road. The band was playing at the time, and the column was extended
over more than half a mile, the rear-guard being about a hundred yards
behind the last waggon. The band stopped playing on seeing the Boers,
and the troops halted, when a man was seen advancing with a white
flag, whom Colonel Anstruther went out to meet, accompanied by
Conductor Egerton, a civilian. They met about one hundred and fifty
yards from the column, and the man gave Colonel Anstruther a letter,
which announced the establishment of the South African Republic,
stated that until they heard Lanyon's reply to their proclamation they
did not know if they were at war or not; that, consequently, they
could not allow any movements of troops which would be taken as a
declaration of war. This letter was signed by Joubert, one of the
Triumvirate. Colonel Anstruther replied that he was ordered to
Pretoria, and to Pretoria he must go.

Whilst this conference was going on, the Boers, of whom there were
quite five hundred, had gradually closed round the column, and took up
positions behind rocks and trees which afforded them excellent cover,
whilst the troops were on a bare plain, and before Colonel Anstruther
reached his men a murderous fire was poured in upon them from all
sides. The fire was hotly returned by the soldiers. Most of the
officers were struck down by the first volley, having, no doubt, been
picked out by the marksmen. The firing lasted about fifteen minutes,
and at the end of that time seven out of the nine officers were down
killed and wounded; an eighth (Captain Elliot), one of two who escaped
untouched, being reserved for an even more awful fate. The majority of
the men were also down, and had the hail of lead continued much longer
it is clear that nobody would have been left. Colonel Anstruther, who
was lying badly wounded in five places, seeing what a hopeless state
affairs were in, ordered the bugler to sound the cease firing, and
surrendered. One of the three officers who were not much hurt was,
most providentially, Dr. Ward, who had but a slight wound in the
thigh; all the others, except Captain Elliot and one lieutenant, were
either killed or died from the effects of their wounds. There were
altogether 56 killed and 101 wounded, including a woman, Mrs. Fox.
Twenty more afterwards died of their wounds. The Boer loss appears to
have been very small.

After the fight Conductor Egerton, with a sergeant, was allowed to
walk into Pretoria to obtain medical assistance, the Boers refusing to
give him a horse, or even to allow him to use his own. The Boer leader
also left Dr. Ward eighteen men and a few stores for the wounded, with
which he made shift as best he could. Nobody can read this gentleman's
report without being much impressed with the way in which, though
wounded himself, he got through his terrible task of, without
assistance, attending to the wants of 101 sufferers. Beginning the
task at two P.M., it took him till six the next morning before he had
seen the last man. It is to be hoped that his services have met with
some recognition. Dr. Ward remained near the scene of the massacre
with his wounded men till the declaration of peace, when he brought
them down to Maritzburg, having experienced great difficulty in
obtaining food for them during so many weeks.

This is a short account of what I must, with reluctance, call a most
cruel and carefully planned massacre. I may mention that a Zulu
driver, who was with the rear-guard, and escaped into Natal, stated
that the Boers shot all the wounded men who formed that body. His
statement was to a certain extent borne out by the evidence of one of
the survivors, who stated that all the bodies found in that part of
the field (nearly three-quarters of a mile away from the head of the
column), had a bullet hole through the head or breast in addition to
their other wounds.

The Administrator in the Transvaal in council thus comments on the
occurrence in an official minute:--"The surrounding and gradual
hemming in under a flag of truce of a force, and the selection of
spots from which to direct their fire, as in the case of the
unprovoked attack by the rebels upon Colonel Anstruther's force, is a
proceeding of which very few like incidents can be mentioned in the
annals of civilised warfare."

The Boer leaders, however, were highly elated at their success, and
celebrated it in a proclamation of which the following is an
extract:--"Inexpressible is the gratitude of the burghers for this
blessing conferred on them. Thankful to the brave General F. Joubert
and his men who have upheld the honour of the Republic on the
battlefield. Bowed down in the dust before Almighty God, who had thus
stood by them, and, with a loss of over a hundred of the enemy, only
allowed two of ours to be killed."

In view of the circumstances of the treacherous hemming in and
destruction of this small body of unprepared men, most people would
think this language rather high-flown, not to say blasphemous.

On the news of this disaster reaching Pretoria, Sir Owen Lanyon issued
a proclamation placing the country under martial law. As the town was
large, straggling, and incapable of defence, all the inhabitants,
amounting to over four thousand souls, were ordered up to camp, where
the best arrangements possible were made for their convenience. In
these quarters they remained for three months, driven from their
comfortable homes, and cheerfully enduring all the hardships, want,
and discomforts consequence on their position, whilst they waited in
patience for the appearance of that relieving column that never came.
People in England hardly understand what these men and women went
through because they chose to remain loyal. Let them suppose that all
the inhabitants of an ordinary English town, with the exception of the
class known as poor people, which can hardly be said to exist in a
colony, were at an hour's notice ordered--all, the aged, and the sick,
delicate women, and tiny children--to leave their homes to the mercy
of the enemy, and crowd up in a little space under shelter of a fort,
with nothing but canvas tents or sheds to cover them from the fierce
summer suns and rains, and the coarsest rations to feed them; whilst
the husbands and brothers were daily engaged with a cunning and
dangerous enemy, and sometimes brought home wounded or dead. They
will, then, have some idea of what was gone through by the loyal
people of Pretoria, in their weak confidence in the good faith of the
English Government.

The arrangements made for the defence of the town were so ably and
energetically carried out by Sir Owen Lanyon, assisted by the military
officers, that no attack upon it was ever attempted. It seems to me
that the organisation that could provide for the penning up of four
thousand people for months, and carry it out without the occurrence of
a single unpleasantness or expression of discontent, must have had
something remarkable about it. Of course, it would have been
impossible without the most loyal co-operation on the part of those
concerned. Indeed, everybody in the town lent a helping hand; judges
served out rations, members of the Executive inspected nuisances, and
so forth. There was only one instance of "striking;" and then, of all
people in the world, it was the five civil doctors who, thinking it a
favourable opportunity to fleece the Government, combined to demand
five guineas a-day each for their services. I am glad to say that they
did not succeed in their attempt at extortion.

On the 23d December, the Boer leaders issued a second proclamation in
reply to that of Sir O. Lanyon of the 18th, which is characterised by
an utter absence of regard for the truth, being, in fact, nothing but
a tissue of impudent falsehoods. It accuses Sir O. Lanyon of having
bombarded women and children, of arming natives against the Boers, and
of firing on the Boers without declaring war. Not one of these
accusations has any foundation in fact, as the Boers well knew; but
they also knew that Sir Owen, being shut up in Pretoria, was not in a
position to rebut their charges, which they hoped might, to some
extent, be believed, and create sympathy for them in other parts of
the world. This was the reason for the issue of the proclamation,
which well portrays the character of its framers.

Life at Pretoria was varied by occasional sorties against the Boer
laagers, situated at different points in the neighbourhood, generally
about six or eight miles from the town. These expeditions were carried
out with considerable success, though with some loss, the heaviest
incurred being when the Boers, having treacherously hoisted the white
flag, opened a heavy fire on the Pretoria forces, as soon as they,
beguiled into confidence, emerged from their cover. In the course of
the war, one in every four of the Pretoria mounted volunteers was
killed or wounded.

But perhaps the most serious of all the difficulties the Government
had to meet, was that of keeping the natives in check. As has before
been stated they were devotedly attached to our rule, and, during the
three years of its continuance, had undergone what was to them a
strange experience, they had neither been murdered, beaten, or
enslaved. Naturally they were in no hurry to return to the old order
of things, in which murder, flogging, and slavery were events of
everyday occurrence. Nor did the behaviour of the Boers on the
outbreak of the war tend to reconcile them to any such idea. Thus we
find that the farmers had pressed a number of natives from Waterberg
into one of their laagers (Zwart Koppies); two of them tried to run
away, a Boer saw them and shot them both. Again, on the 7th January a
native reported to the authorities at Pretoria that he and some others
were returning from the Diamond Fields driving some sheep. A Boer came
and asked them to sell the sheep. They refused, whereupon he went
away, but returning with some other Dutchmen fired on the Kafirs,
killing one.

On the 2d January information reached Pretoria that on the 26th
December some Boers fired on some natives who were resting outside
Potchefstroom and killed three; the rest fled, whereupon the Boers
took the cattle they had with them.

On the 11th January some men, who had been sent from Pretoria with
despatches for Standerton, were taken prisoners. Whilst prisoners they
saw ten men returning from the Fields stopped by the Boers and ordered
to come to the laager. They refused and ran away, were fired on, five
being killed and one getting his arm broken.

These are a few instances of the treatment meted out to the
unfortunate natives, taken at haphazard from the official reports.
There are plenty more of the same nature if anybody cares to read
them.

As soon as the news of the rising reached them, every chief of any
importance sent in to offer aid to Government, and many of them,
especially Montsoia, our old ally in the Keate Award district, took
the loyals of the neighbourhood under their protection. Several took
charge of Government property and cattle during the disturbances, and
one had four or five thousand pounds in gold, the product of a
recently collected tax given him to take care of by the Commissioner
of his district, who was afraid that the money would be seized by the
Boers. In every instance the property entrusted to their charge was
returned intact. The loyalty of all the native chiefs under very
trying circumstances (for the Boers were constantly attempting to
cajole or frighten them into joining them) is a remarkable proof of
the great affection of the Kafirs, more especially those of the Basutu
tribes, who love peace better than war, for the Queen's rule. The
Government of Pretoria need only have spoken one word, to set an
enormous number of armed men in motion against the Boers, with the
most serious results to the latter. Any other Government in the world
would, in its extremity, have spoken that word, but, fortunately for
the Boers, it is against English principles to set black against white
under any circumstances.

Besides the main garrison at Pretoria there were forts defended by
soldiery and loyals at the following places:--Potchefstroom,
Rustenburg, Lydenburg, Marabastad, and Wakkerstroom, none of which
were taken by the Boers.[*]

[*] Colonel Winsloe, however, being short of provisions, was beguiled
    by the fraudulent representations and acts of the Boer commander
    into surrendering the fort at Potchefstroom during the armistice.

One of the first acts of the Triumvirate was to despatch a large force
from Heidelberg with orders to advance into Natal Territory, and seize
the pass over the Drakensberg known as Lang's Nek, so as to dispute
the advance of any relieving column. This movement was promptly
executed, and strong Boer troops patrolled Natal country almost up to
Newcastle.

The news of the outbreak, followed as it was by that of the Bronker's
Spruit massacre, and Captain Elliot's murder, created a great
excitement in Natal. All available soldiers were at once despatched up
country, together with a naval brigade, who, on arrival at Newcastle,
brought up the strength of the Imperial troops of all arms to about a
thousand men. On the 10th January Sir George Colley left Maritzburg to
join the force at Newcastle, but at this time nobody dreamt that he
meant to attack the Nek with such an insignificant column. It was
known that the loyals and troops who were shut up in the various towns
in the Transvaal had sufficient provisions to last for some months,
and that there was therefore nothing to necessitate a forlorn hope.
Indeed the possibility of Sir George Colley attempting to enter the
Transvaal was not even speculated upon until just before his advance,
it being generally considered as out of the question.

The best illustration I can give of the feeling that existed about the
matter is to quote my own case. I had been so unfortunate as to land
in Natal with my wife and servants just as the Transvaal troubles
began, my intention being to proceed to a place I had near Newcastle.
For some weeks I remained in Maritzburg, but finding that the troops
were to concentrate on Newcastle, and being besides heartily wearied
of the great expense and discomfort of hotel life in that town, I
determined to go on up country, looking on it as being as safe as any
place in the Colony. Of course the possibility of Sir George attacking
the Nek before the arrival of the reinforcements did not enter into my
calculations, as I thought it a venture that no sensible man would
undertake. On the day of my start, however, there was a rumour about
the town that the General was going to attack the Boer position.
Though I did not believe it, I thought it as well to go and ask the
Colonial Secretary, Colonel Mitchell, privately, if there was any
truth in it, adding that if there was, as I had a pretty intimate
knowledge of the Boers and their shooting powers, and what the
inevitable result of such a move would be, I should certainly prefer,
as I had ladies with me, to remain where I was. Colonel Mitchell told
me frankly that he knew no more about Sir George's plans than I did;
but he added I might be sure that so able and prudent a soldier would
not do anything rash. His remark concurred with my own opinion; so I
started, and on arrival at Newcastle a week later was met by the
intelligence that Sir George had advanced that morning to attack the
Nek. To return was almost impossible, since both horses and travellers
were pretty nearly knocked up. Also, anybody who has travelled with
his family in summer-time over the awful track of alternate slough and
boulders between Maritzburg and Newcastle, known in the Colony as a
road, will understand, that at the time, the adventurous voyagers
would far rather risk being shot than face a return journey.

The only thing to do under the circumstances was to await the course
of events, which were now about to develop themselves with startling
rapidity. The little town of Newcastle was at this time an odd sight,
and remained so all through the war. The hotels were crowded to
overflowing with refugees, and on every spare patch of land were
erected tents, mud huts, canvas houses, and every kind of covering
that could be utilised under the pressure of necessity, to house the
many homeless families who had succeeded in effecting their escape
from the Transvaal, many of whom were reduced to great straits.

On the morning of the 28th January, anybody listening attentively in
the neighbourhood of Newcastle could hear the distant boom of heavy
guns. We were not kept long in suspense, for in the afternoon news
arrived that Sir George had attacked the Nek, and failed with heavy
loss. The excitement in the town was intense, for, in addition to
other considerations, the 58th Regiment, which had suffered most, had
been quartered there for some time, and both the officers and men were
personally known to the inhabitants.

The story of the fight is well known, and needs little repetition, and
a sad story it is. The Boers, who at that time were some 2000 strong,
were posted and entrenched on steep hills, against which Sir George
Colley hurled a few hundred soldiers. It was a forlorn hope, but so
gallant was the charge, especially that of the mounted squadron led by
Major Bronlow, that at one time it nearly succeeded. But nothing could
stand under the withering fire from the Boer schanses, and as regards
the foot soldiers, they never had a chance. Colonel Deane tried to
take them up the hill with a rush, with the result that by the time
they reached the top, some of the men were actually sick from
exhaustion, and none could hold a rifle steady. There on the bare
hill-top, they crouched and lay, while the pitiless fire from redoubt
and rock lashed them like hail, till at last human nature could bear
it no longer, and what was left of them retired slowly down the slope.
But for many, that gallant charge was their last earthly action. As
they charged they fell, and where they fell they were afterwards
buried. The casualties, killed and wounded, amounted to 195, which,
considering the small number of troops engaged in the actual attack,
is enormously heavy, and shows more plainly than words can tell, the
desperate nature of the undertaking. Amongst the killed were Colonel
Deane, Major Poole, Major Hingeston, and Lieutenant Elwes. Major Essex
was the only staff officer engaged who escaped, the same officer who
was one of the fortunate four who lived through Isandhlwana. On this
occasion his usual good fortune attended him, for though his horse was
killed and his helmet knocked off, he was not touched. The Boer loss
was very trivial.

Sir George Colley, in his admirably lucid despatch about this
occurrence addressed to the Secretary of State for War, does not enter
much into the question as to the motives that prompted him to attack,
simply stating that his object was to relieve the besieged towns. He
does not appear to have taken into consideration, what was obvious to
anybody who knew the country and the Boers, that even if he had
succeeded in forcing the Nek, in itself almost an impossibility, he
could never have operated with any success in the Transvaal with so
small a column, without cavalry, and with an enormous train of
waggons. He would have been harassed day and night by the Boer
skirmishers, his supplies cut off, and his advance made practically
impossible. Also the Nek would have been re-occupied behind him, since
he could not have detached sufficient men to hold it, and in all
probability Newcastle, his base of supplies, would have fallen into
the hands of the enemy.

The moral effect of our defeat on the Boers was very great. Up to this
time there had been many secret doubts amongst a large section of them
as to what the upshot of an encounter with the troops might be; and
with this party, in the same way that defeat, or even the anxiety of
waiting to be attacked, would have turned the scale one way, victory
turned it the other. It gave them unbounded confidence in their own
superiority, and infused a spirit of cohesion and mutual reliance into
their ranks which had before been wanting. Waverers wavered no longer,
but gave a loyal adherence to the good cause, and, what was still more
acceptable, large numbers of volunteers,--whatever President Brand may
say to the contrary,--poured in from the Orange Free State.

What Sir George Colley's motive was in making so rash a move is, of
course, quite inexplicable to the outside observer. It was said at the
time in Natal that he was a man with a theory: namely, that small
bodies of men properly handled were as useful and as likely to obtain
the object in view as a large force. Whether or no this was so, I am
not prepared to say; but it is undoubtedly the case that very clever
men have sometimes very odd theories, and it may be that he was a
striking instance in point.

For some days after the battle at Lang's Nek affairs were quiet, and
it was hoped that they would remain so till the arrival of the
reinforcements, which were on their way out. The hope proved a vain
one. On the 7th February it was reported that the escort proceeding
from Newcastle to the General's camp with the post, a distance of
about eighteen miles, had been fired on and forced to return.

On the 8th, about mid-day, we were all startled by the sound of
fighting, proceeding apparently from a hill known as Scheins Hoogte,
about ten miles from Newcastle. It was not know that the General
contemplated any move, and everybody was entirely at a loss to know
what was going on, the general idea being, however, that the camp near
Lang's Nek had been abandoned, and that Sir George was retiring on
Newcastle.

The firing grew hotter and hotter, till at last it was perfectly
continuous, the cannon evidently being discharged as quickly as they
could be loaded, whilst their dull booming was accompanied by the
unceasing crash and roll of the musketry. Towards three o'clock the
firing slackened, and we thought it was all over, one way or the
other, but about five o'clock it broke out again with increased
vigour. At dusk it finally ceased. About this time some Kafirs came to
my house and told us that an English force was hemmed in on a hill
this side of the Ingogo River, that they were fighting bravely, but
that "their arms were tired," adding that they thought they would be
all killed at night.

Needless to say we spent that night with heavy hearts, expecting every
minute to hear the firing begin again, and ignorant of what fate had
befallen our poor soldiers on the hill. Morning put an end to our
suspense, and we then learnt that we had suffered what, under the
circumstances, amounted to a crushing defeat. It appears that Sir
George had moved out with a force of five companies of the 60th
Regiment, two guns, and a few mounted men, to, in his own words,
"patrol the road, and meet and escort some waggons expected from
Newcastle." As soon as he passed the Ingogo he was surrounded by a
body of Boers sent after him from Lang's Nek, on a small triangular
plateau, and sharply assailed on all sides. With a break of about two
hours, from three to five, the assault was kept up till nightfall,
with very bad results so far as we were concerned, seeing that out of
a body of about 500 men, over 150 were killed and wounded. The
reinforcements sent for from the camp apparently did not come into
action. For some unexplained reason the Boers did not follow up their
attack that night, perhaps because they did not think it possible that
our troops could effect their escape back to the camp, and considered
that the next morning would be soon enough to return and finish the
business. The General, however, determined to get back, and scratch
teams of such mules, riding-horses, and oxen as had lived through the
day being harnessed to the guns, the dispirited and exhausted
survivors of the force managed to ford the Ingogo, now swollen by rain
which had fallen in the afternoon, poor Lieutenant Wilkinson, the
Adjutant of the 60th, losing his life in the operation, and to
struggle through the dense darkness back to camp.

On the hill-top they had lately held, the dead lay thick. There, too,
exposed to the driving rain and bitter wind lay the wounded, many of
whom would be dead before the rising of the morrow's sun. It must,
indeed, have been a sight never to be forgotten by those who saw it.
The night--I remember well--was cold and rainy, the great expanses of
hill and plain being sometimes lit by the broken gleams of an
uncertain moon, and sometimes plunged into intensest darkness by the
passing of a heavy cloud. Now and again flashes of lightning threw
every crag and outline into vivid relief, and the deep muttering of
distant thunder made the wild gloom more solemn. Then a gust of icy
wind would come tearing down the valleys to be followed by a pelting
thunder shower--and thus the night wore away.

When one reflects what discomfort, and even danger, an ordinary
healthy person would suffer if left after a hard day's work to lie all
night in the rain and wind on the top of a stony mountain, without
food, or even water to assuage his thirst, it becomes to some degree
possible to realise what the sufferings of our wounded after the
battle of Ingogo must have been. Those who survived were next day
taken to the hospital at Newcastle.

What Sir George Colley's real object was in exposing himself to the
attack has never transpired. It can hardly have been to clear the
road, as he says in his despatch, because the road was not held by the
enemy, but only visited occasionally by their patrols. The result of
the battle was to make the Boers, whose losses were trifling, more
confident than ever, and to greatly depress our soldiers. Sir George
had now lost between three and four hundred men, out of his column of
little over a thousand, which was thereby entirely crippled. Of his
staff Officers Major Essex now alone survived, his usual good fortune
having carried him safe through the battle of Ingogo. What makes his
repeated escapes the more remarkable is that he was generally to be
found in the heaviest firing. A man so fortunate as Major Essex ought
to be rewarded for his good fortune if for no other reason, though, if
reports are true, there would be no need to fall back on that to find
grounds on which to advance a soldier who has always borne himself so
well.

Another result of the Ingogo battle was that the Boers, knowing that
we had no force to cut them off, and always secure of a retreat into
the Free State, passed round Newcastle in Free State Territory, and
descended from fifteen hundred to two thousand strong into Natal for
the purpose of destroying the reinforcements which were now on their
way up under General Wood. This was on the 11th of February, and from
that date till the 18th, the upper districts of Natal were in the
hands of the enemy, who cut the telegraph wires, looted waggons, stole
herds of cattle and horses, and otherwise amused themselves at the
expense of Her Majesty's subjects in Natal.

It was a very anxious time for those who knew what Boers are capable
of, and had women and children to protect, and who were never sure if
their houses would be left standing over their heads from one day to
another.

Every night we were obliged to place out Kafirs as scouts to give us
timely warning of the approach of marauding parties, and to sleep with
loaded rifles close to our hands, and sometimes, when things looked
very black, in our clothes, with horses ready saddled in the stable.
Nor were our fears groundless, for one day a patrol of some five
hundred Boers encamped on the next place, which by the way belonged to
a Dutchman, and stole all the stock on it, the property of an
Englishman. They also intercepted a train of waggons, destroyed the
contents, and burnt them. Numerous were the false alarms it was our
evil fortune to experience. For instance, one night I was sitting in
the drawing-room reading, about eleven o'clock, with a door leading on
to the verandah slightly ajar, for the night was warm, when suddenly I
heard myself called by name in a muffled voice, and asked if the place
was in the possession of the Boers. Looking towards the door I saw a
full-cocked revolver coming round the corner, and on opening it in
some alarm, I could indistinctly discern a line of armed figures in a
crouching attitude stretching along the verandah into the garden
beyond. It turned out to be a patrol of the mounted police, who had
received information that a large number of Boers had seized the place
and had come to ascertain the truth of the report. As we gathered from
them that the Boers were certainly near, we did not pass a very
comfortable night.

Meanwhile, we were daily expecting to hear that the troops had been
attacked along the line of march, and knowing the nature of the
country and the many opportunities it affords for ambuscading and
destroying one of our straggling columns encumbered with innumerable
waggons, we had the worst fears for the result. At length a report
reached us to the effect that the reinforcements were expected on the
morrow, and that they were not going to cross the Ingagaan at the
ordinary drift, which was much commanded by hills, but at a lower
drift on our own place, about three miles from Newcastle, which was
only slightly commanded. We also heard that it was the intention of
the Boers to attack them at this point and to fall back on my house
and the hills beyond. Accordingly, we thought it about time to
retreat, and securing a few valuables such as plate, we made our way
into the town, leaving the house and its contents to take their
chance. At Newcastle an attack was daily expected, if for no other
reason, to obtain possession of the stores collected there.

The defences of the place were, however, in a wretched condition, no
proper outlook was kept, and there was an utter want of effective
organisation. The military element at the camp had enough to do to
look after itself, and did not concern itself with the safety of the
town; and the mounted police--a Colonial force paid by the Colony--had
been withdrawn from the little forts round Newcastle, as the General
wanted them for other purposes, and a message sent that the town must
defend its own forts. There were, it is true, a large number of able-
bodied men in the place who were willing to fight, but they had no
organisation. The very laager was not finished until the danger was
past.

Then there was a large party who were for surrendering the town to the
Boers, because if they fought it might afterwards injure their trade.
With this section of the population the feeling of patriotism was
strong, no doubt, but that of pocket was stronger. I am convinced that
the Boers would have found the capture of Newcastle an easy task, and
I confess that what I then saw did not inspire me with great hopes of
the safety of the Colony when it gets responsible government, and has
to depend for protection on burgher forces. Colonial volunteer forces
are, I think, as good troops as any in the world; but an unorganised
colonial mob, pulled this way and that by different sentiments and
interests, is as useless as any other mob, with the difference that it
is more impatient of control.

For some unknown reason the Boer leaders providentially changed their
minds about attacking the reinforcements, and their men were withdrawn
to the Nek as swiftly and silently as they had been advanced, and on
the 17th February the reinforcements marched into Newcastle to the
very great relief of the inhabitants, who had been equally anxious for
their own safety and that of the troops. Personally, I was never in my
life more pleased to see Her Majesty's uniform; and we were equally
rejoiced on returning home to find that nothing had been injured.
After this we had quiet for a while.

On the 21st February, we heard that two fresh regiments had been sent
up to the camp at Lang's Nek, and that General Wood had been ordered
down country by Sir George Colley to bring up more reinforcements.
This item of news caused much surprise, as nobody could understand,
why, now that the road was clear, and that there was little chance of
its being again blocked, a General should be sent down to do work,
which could, to all appearance, have been equally well done by the
Officers in command of the reinforcing regiments, with the assistance
of their transport riders. It was, however, understood that an
agreement had been entered into between the two Generals, that no
offensive operations should be undertaken till Wood returned.

With the exception of occasional scares, there was no further
excitement till Sunday the 27th February, when, whilst sitting on the
verandah after lunch, I thought I heard the sound of distant
artillery. Others present differed with me, thinking the sound was
caused by thunder, but as I adhered to my opinion, we determined to
ride into town and see. On arrival there, we found the place full of
rumours, from which we gathered that some fresh disaster had occurred:
and that messages were pouring down the wires from Mount Prospect
camp. We then went on to camp, thinking that we should learn more
there, but they knew nothing about it, several officers asking us what
new "shave" we had got hold of. A considerable number of troops had
been marched from Newcastle that morning to go to Mount Prospect, but
when it was realised that something had occurred, they were stopped,
and marched back again. Bit by bit we managed to gather the truth. At
first we heard that our men had made a most gallant resistance on the
hill, mowing down the advancing enemy by hundreds, till at last, their
ammunition failing, they fought with their bayonets, using stones and
meat tins as missiles. I wish that our subsequent information had been
to the same effect.

It appears that on the evening of the 26th, Sir George Colley, after
mess, suddenly gave orders for a force of a little over six hundred
men, consisting of detachments from no less than three different
regiments, the 58th, 60th, 92d, and the Naval Brigade, to be got ready
for an expedition, without revealing his plans to anybody, until late
in the afternoon: and then without more ado, marched them up to the
top of Majuba--a great square-topped mountain to the right of, and
commanding the Boer position at Lang's Nek. The troops reached the top
about three in the morning, after a somewhat exhausting climb, and
were stationed at different points of the plateau in a scientific way.
Whilst the darkness lasted, they could, by the glittering of the
watch-fires, trace from this point of vantage the position of the Boer
laagers that lay 2000 yards beneath them, whilst the dawn of day
revealed every detail of the defensive works, and showed the country
lying at their feet like a map.

On arrival at the top, it was represented to the General that a rough
entrenchment should be thrown up, but he would not allow it to be done
on account of the men being wearied with their marching up. This was a
fatal mistake. Behind an entrenchment, however slight, one would think
that 600 English soldiers might have defied the whole Boer army, and
much more the 200 or 300 men by whom they were hunted down Majuba. It
appears that about 10.15 A.M. Colonel Steward and Major Fraser again
went to General Colley "to arrange to start the sailors on an
entrenchment" . . . "Finding the ground so exposed, the General did
not give orders to entrench."

As soon as the Boers found out that the hill was in the occupation of
the English, their first idea was to leave the Nek, and they began to
inspan with that object, but discovering that there were no guns
commanding them, they changed their mind, and set to work to storm the
hill instead. As far as I have been able to gather, the number of
Boers who took the mountain was about 300, or possibly 400; I do not
think there were more than that. The Boers themselves declare solemnly
that they were only 100 strong, but this I do not believe. They slowly
advanced up the hill till about 11.30, when the real attack began, the
Dutchmen coming on more rapidly and confidently, and shooting with
ever-increasing accuracy, as they found our fire quite ineffective.

About a quarter to one, our men retreated to the last ridge, and
General Colley was shot through the head. After this, the retreat
became a rout, and the soldiers rushed pell-mell down the precipitous
sides of the hill, the Boers knocking them over by the score as they
went, till they were out of range. A few were also, I heard, killed by
the shells from the guns that were advanced from the camp to cover the
retreat, but as this does not appear in the reports, perhaps it is not
true. Our loss was about 200 killed and wounded, including Sir George
Colley, Drs. Landon and Cornish, and Commander Romilly, who was shot
with an explosive bullet, and died after some days' suffering. When
the wounded Commander was being carried to a more sheltered spot, it
was with great difficulty that the Boers were prevented from
massacring him as he lay, they being under the impression that he was
Sir Garnet Wolseley. As was the case at Ingogo, the wounded were left
on the battlefield all night in very inclement weather, to which some
of them succumbed. It is worthy of note that after the fight was over,
they were treated with considerable kindness by the Boers.

Not being a soldier, of course I cannot venture to give any military
reasons as to how it was, that what was after all a considerable
force, was so easily driven from a position of great natural strength;
but I think I may, without presumption, state my opinion was to the
real cause, which was the villanous shooting of the British soldier.
Though the troops did not, as was said at the time, run short of
ammunition, it is clear that they fired away a great many rounds at
men who, in storming the hill, must necessarily have exposed
themselves more or less, of whom they managed to hit--certainly not
more than six or seven,--which was the outside of the Boer casualties.
From this it is clear that they can neither judge distance nor hit a
moving object, nor did they probably know that when shooting down hill
it is necessary to aim low. Such shooting as the English soldier is
capable of may be very well when he has an army to aim at, but it is
useless in guerilla warfare against a foe skilled in the use of the
rifle and the art of taking shelter.

A couple of months after the storming of Majuba, I, together with a
friend, had a conversation with a Boer, a volunteer from the Free
State in the late war, and one of the detachment that stormed Majuba,
who gave us a circumstantial account of the attack with the greatest
willingness. He said that when it was discovered that the English had
possession of the mountain, they thought that the game was up, but
after a while bolder counsels prevailed, and volunteers were called
for to storm the hill. Only seventy men could be found to perform the
duty, of whom he was one. They started up the mountain in fear and
trembling, but soon found that every shot passed over their heads, and
went on with greater boldness. Only three men, he declared, were hit
on the Boer side; one was killed, one was hit in the arm, and he
himself was the third, getting his face grazed by a bullet, of which
he showed us the scar. He stated that the first to reach the top ridge
was a boy of twelve, and that as soon as the troops saw them they
fled, when, he said, he paid them out for having nearly killed him,
knocking them over one after another "like bucks" as they ran down the
hill, adding that it was "alter lecker" (very nice). He asked us how
many men we had lost during the war, and when we told him about seven
hundred killed and wounded, laughed in our faces, saying he knew that
our dead amounted to several thousands. On our assuring him that this
was not the case, he replied, "Well, don't let's talk of it any more,
because we are good friends now, and if we go on you will lie, and I
shall lie, and then we shall get angry. The war is over now, and I
don't want to quarrel with the English; if one of them takes off his
hat to me I always acknowledge it." He did not mean any harm in
talking thus; it is what Englishmen have to put up with now in South
Africa; the Boers have beaten us, and act accordingly.

This man also told us that the majority of the rifles they picked up
were sighted for 400 yards, whereas the latter part of the fighting
had been carried on within 200.

Sir George Colley's death was much lamented in the Colony, where he
was deservedly popular; indeed, anybody who had the honour of knowing
that kind-hearted gentleman, could not do otherwise than deeply regret
his untimely end. What his motive was in occupying Majuba in the way
he did, has never, so far as I am aware, transpired. The move, in
itself, would have been an excellent one, had it been made in force,
or accompanied by a direct attack on the Nek--but, as undertaken,
seems to have been objectless. There were, of course, many rumours as
to the motives that prompted his action, of which the most probable
seems to be that, being aware of what the Home Government intended to
do with reference to the Transvaal, he determined to strike a blow to
try and establish British Supremacy first, knowing how mischievous any
apparent surrender would be. Whatever his faults may have been as a
General, he was a brave man, and had the honour of his country much at
heart.

It was also said by soldiers who saw him the night the troops marched
up Majuba, that the General was "not himself," and it was hinted that
continual anxiety and the chagrin of failure had told upon his mind.
As against this, however, must be set the fact that his telegrams to
the Secretary of State for War, the last of which he must have
despatched only about half-an-hour before he was shot, are cool and
collected, and written in the same unconcerned tone,--as though he
were a critical spectator of an interesting scene--that characterises
all his communications, more especially his despatches. They at any
rate give no evidence of shaken nerve or unduly excited brain, nor can
I see that any action of his with reference to the occupation of
Majuba is out of keeping with the details of his generalship upon
other occasions. He was always confident to rashness, and possessed by
the idea that every man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and
as brave as he was himself. Indeed most people will think, that so far
from its being a rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad
generalship as it seems, was a wiser move than either the attack on
the Nek or the Ingogo fiasco.

But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understand by a
civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an
elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military
science, of which, it is said, he was a great student.



                              CHAPTER VI

                  THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL

  The Queen's Speech--President Brand and Lord Kimberley--Sir Henry
  de Villiers--Sir George Colley's plan--Paul Kruger's offer--Sir
  George Colley's remonstrance--Complimentary telegrams--Effect of
  Majuba on the Boers and English Government--Collapse of the
  Government--Reasons of the Surrender--Professional sentimentalists
  --The Transvaal Independence Committee--Conclusion of the
  armistice--The preliminary peace--Reception of the news in Natal--
  Newcastle after the declaration of peace--Exodus of the loyal
  inhabitants of the Transvaal--The value of property in Pretoria--
  The Transvaal officials dismissed--The Royal Commission--Mode of
  trial of persons accused of atrocities--Decision of the Commission
  and its results--The severance of territory question--Arguments
  /pro/ and /con/--Opinion of Sir E. Wood--Humility of the
  Commissioners and its cause--Their decision on the Keate award
  question--The Montsoia difficulty--The compensation and financial
  clauses of the report of the Commission--The duties of the British
  Resident--Sir E. Wood's dissent from the report of the Commission
  --Signing of the Convention--Burial of the Union Jack--The native
  side of the question--Interview between the Commissioners and the
  native chiefs--Their opinion of the surrender--Objections of the
  Boer Volksraad to the Convention--Mr. Gladstone temporises--The
  ratification--Its insolent tone--Mr. Hudson, the British Resident
  --The Boer festival--The results of the Convention--The larger
  issue of the matter--Its effect on the Transvaal--Its moral
  aspects--Its effect on the native mind.

When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through
the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to
vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already
briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end
by force of arms: and I now propose to follow the course of the
diplomatic negotiations entered into by the Ministry with the same
object.

As soon as the hostilities in the Transvaal took a positive form,
causing great dismay among the Home authorities, whose paths, as we
all know, are the paths of peace--at any price; and whilst, in the
first confusion of calamity, they knew not where to turn, President
Brand stepped upon the scene in the character of "Our Mutual Friend,"
and, by the Government at any rate, was rapturously welcomed.

This gentleman has for many years been at the head of the Government
of the Orange Free State, whose fortunes he had directed with
considerable ability. He is a man of natural talent and kind-hearted
disposition, and has the advancement of the Boer cause in South Africa
much at heart. The rising in the Transvaal was an event that gave him
a great and threefold opportunity: first, of interfering with the
genuinely benevolent object of checking bloodshed; secondly, of
advancing the Dutch cause throughout South Africa under the cloak of
amiable neutrality, and striking a dangerous blow at British supremacy
over the Dutch and British prestige with the natives; and, thirdly, of
putting the English Government under a lasting obligation to him. Of
this opportunity he has availed himself to the utmost in each
particular.

So soon as things began to look serious, Mr. Brand put himself into
active telegraphic communication with the various British authorities
with the view of preventing bloodshed by inducing the English
Government to accede to the Boer demands. He was also earnest in his
declarations that the Free State was not supporting the Transvaal;
which, considering that it was practically the insurgent base of
supplies, where they had retired their women, children, and cattle,
and that it furnished them with a large number of volunteers, was
perhaps straining the truth.

About this time also we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing to Mr. Brand
that "if /only/ the Transvaal Boers will desist from armed opposition
to the Queen's authority," he thinks some arrangement might be made.
This is the first indication made public of what was passing in the
minds of Her Majesty's Government, on whom its radical supporters were
now beginning to put the screw, to induce or threaten them into
submitting to the Boer demands.

Again, on the 11th January, the President telegraphed to Lord
Kimberley through the Orange Free State Consul in London, suggesting
that Sir H. de Villiers, the Chief Justice at the Cape, should be
appointed a Commissioner to go to the Transvaal to settle matters.
Oddly enough, about the same time the same proposition emanated from
the Dutch party in the Cape Colony, headed by Mr. Hofmeyer, a
coincidence that inclines one to the opinion that these friends of the
Boers had some further reason for thus urging Sir Henry de Villiers'
appointment as Commissioner beyond his apparent fitness for the post,
of which his high reputation as a lawyer and in his private capacity
was a sufficient guarantee.

The explanation is not hard to find, the fact being that, rightly or
wrongly, Sir Henry de Villiers, who is himself of Dutch descent, is
noted throughout South Africa for his sympathies with the Boer cause,
and both President Brand and the Dutch party in the Cape shrewdly
suspected, that, if the settling of differences were left to his
discretion, the Boers and their interests would receive very gentle
handling. The course of action adopted by him, when he became a member
of the Royal Commission, went far to support this view, for it will be
noticed in the Report of the Commissioners that in every single point
he appears to have taken the Boer side of the contention. Indeed so
blind was he to their faults, that he would not even admit that the
horrible Potchefstroom murders and atrocities, which are condemned
both by Sir H. Robinson and Sir Evelyn Wood in language as strong as
the formal terms of a report will allow, were acts contrary to the
rules of civilised warfare. If those acts had been perpetrated by
Englishmen on Boers, or even on natives, I venture to think Sir Henry
de Villiers would have looked at them in a very different light.

In the same telegram in which President Brand recommends the
appointment of Sir Henry de Villiers, he states that the allegations
made by the Triumvirate in the proclamation in which they accused Sir
Owen Lanyon of committing various atrocities, deserve to be
investigated, as they maintain that the collision was commenced by the
authorities. Nobody knew better than Mr. Brand that any English
official would be quite incapable of the conduct ascribed to Sir Owen
Lanyon, whilst, even if the collision had been commenced by the
authorities, which as it happened it was not, they would under the
circumstances have been amply justified in so commencing it. This
remark by President Brand in his telegram was merely an attempt to
throw an air of probability over a series of slanderous falsehoods.

Messages of this nature continued to pour along the wires from day to
day, but the tone of those from the Colonial Office grew gradually
humbler; thus we find Lord Kimberley telegraphing on the 8th February,
that if the Boers would desist from armed opposition all reasonable
guarantees would be given as to their treatment after submission, and
that a scheme would be framed for the "permanent friendly settlement
of difficulties." It will be seen that the Government had already
begun to water the meaning of their declaration that they would
vindicate Her Majesty's authority. No doubt Mr. Chamberlain, Mr.
Courtney, and their followers, had given another turn to the Radical
screw.

It is, however, clear that at this time no idea of the real aims of
the Government had entered into the mind of Sir George Colley, since
on the 7th February he telegraphed home a plan which he proposed to
adopt on entering the Transvaal, which included a suggestion that he
should grant a complete amnesty only to those Boers who would sign a
declaration of loyalty.

In answer to this he was ordered to do nothing of the sort, but to
promise protection to everybody and refer everything home.

Then came the battle of Ingogo, which checked for the time the flow of
telegrams, or rather varied their nature, for those despatched during
the next few days deal with the question of reinforcements. On the
13th February, however, negotiations were reopened by Paul Kruger, one
of the Triumvirate, who offered, if all the troops were ordered to
withdraw from the Transvaal to give them a free passage through the
Nek, to disperse the Boers and to consent to the appointment of a
Commission.

The offer was jumped at by Lord Kimberley, who, without making
reference to the question of withdrawing the soldiers, offered, if
only the Boers would disperse, to appoint a Commission with extensive
powers to develop the "permanent friendly settlement" scheme. The
telegram ends thus: "Add, that if this proposal is accepted, you now
are authorised to agree to suspension of hostilities on our part."
This message was sent to General Wood, because the Boers had stopped
the communications with Colley. On the 19th, Sir George Colley replies
in these words, which show his astonishment at the policy adopted by
the Home Government, and which, in the opinion of most people, redound
to his credit--

"Latter part of your telegram to Wood not understood. There can be no
hostilities if no resistance is made, but am I to leave Lang's Nek in
Natal territory in Boer occupation, and our garrisons isolated and
short of provisions, or occupy former and relieve latter?" Lord
Kimberley hastens to reply that the garrisons must be left free to
provision themselves, "but we do not mean that you should march to the
relief of garrisons or occupy Lang's Nek, if an arrangement proceeds."

It will be seen that the definition of what vindication of Her
Majesty's authority consisted grew broader and broader; it now
included the right of the Boers to continue to occupy their positions
in the Colony of Natal.

Meanwhile the daily fire of complimentary messages was being kept up
between President Brand and Lord Kimberley, who alternatively gave
"sincere thanks to Lord Kimberley" and "fully appreciated the friendly
spirit" of President Brand, till on the 21st February the latter
telegraphs through Colley: "Hope of amicable settlement by
negotiation, but this will be greatly facilitated if somebody on spot
and friendly disposed to both, could by personal communication with
both endeavour to smooth difficulties. Offers his services to Her
Majesty's Government, and Kruger and Pretorius and Joubert are
willing." Needless to say his services were accepted.

Presently, however, on 27th February, Sir George Colley made his last
move, and took possession of Majuba. His defeat and death had the
effect of causing another temporary check in the peace negotiations,
whilst Sir Frederick Roberts with ample reinforcements was despatched
to Natal. It had the further effect of increasing the haughtiness of
the Boer leaders, and infusing a corresponding spirit of pliability or
generosity into the negotiations of Her Majesty's Government.

Thus on 2d March, the Boers, through President Brand and Sir Evelyn
Wood, inform the Secretary of State for the Colonies, that they are
willing to negotiate, but decline to submit or cease opposition. Sir
Evelyn Wood, who evidently did not at all like the line of policy
adopted by the Government, telegraphed that he thought the best thing
to do would be for him to engage the Boers, and disperse them /vi et
armis/, without any guarantees, "considering the disasters we have
sustained," and that he should, "if absolutely necessary," be
empowered to promise life and property to the leaders, but that they
should be banished from the country. In answer to this telegram, Lord
Kimberley informs him that Her Majesty's Government will amnesty
/everybody/ except those who have committed acts contrary to the rules
of civilised warfare, and that they will agree to anything, and
appoint a Commission to carry out the details, and "be ready for
friendly communications with /any persons/ appointed by the Boers."

Thus was Her Majesty's authority finally re-established in the
Transvaal.

It was not a very grand climax, nor the kind of arrangement to which
Englishmen are accustomed, but perhaps, considering the circumstances,
and the well-known predilections of those who made the settlement, it
was as much as could be expected.

The action of the Government must not be considered, as though they
were unfettered in their judgment; it can never be supposed that they
acted as they did, because they thought such action right or even
wise, for that would be to set them down as men of a very low order of
intelligence, which they certainly are not.

It is clear that no set of sensible men, who had after much
consideration given their decision that under all the circumstances,
the Transvaal must remain British territory, and who, on a revolt
subsequently breaking out in that territory, had declared that Her
Majesty's rule must be upheld, would have, putting aside all other
circumstances, deliberately stultified themselves by almost
unconditionally, and of their own free will, abandoning the country,
and all Her Majesty's subjects living in it. That would be to pay a
poor tribute to their understanding, since it is clear that if reasons
existed for retaining the Transvaal before the war, as they were
satisfied there did, those reasons would exist with still greater
force after a war had been undertaken and three crushing defeats
sustained, which if left unavenged must, as they knew, have a most
disastrous effect on our prestige throughout the South African
continent.

I prefer to believe that the Government was coerced into acting as it
did by Radical pressure, both from outside, and from its immediate
supporters in the House, and that it had to choose between making an
unconventional surrender in the Transvaal and losing the support of a
very powerful party. Under these circumstances it, being Liberal in
politics, naturally followed its instincts, and chose surrender.

If such a policy was bad in itself, and necessarily mischievous in its
consequences, so much the worse for those who suffered by it; it was
clear that the Government could not be expected to lose votes in order
to forward the true interests of countries so far off as the South
African Colonies, which had had the misfortune to be made a party
question of, and must take the consequences.

There is no doubt that the interest brought to bear on the Government
was very considerable, for not only had they to deal with their own
supporters, and with the shadowy caucus that was ready to let the lash
of its displeasure descend even on the august person of Mr. Gladstone,
should he show signs of letting slip so rich an opportunity for the
vindication of the holiest principles of advanced Radicalism, but also
with the hydra-headed crowd of visionaries and professional
sentimentalists who swarm in this country, and who are always ready to
take up any cause, from that of Jumbo, or of a murderer, to that of
oppressed peoples, such as the Bulgarians, or the Transvaal Boers.

These gentlemen, burning with zeal, and filled with that confidence
which proverbially results from the hasty assimilation of imperfect
and erroneous information, found in the Transvaal question a great
opportunity of making a noise: and--as in a disturbed farmyard the
bray of the domestic donkey, ringing loud and clear among the
utterances of more intelligent animals, overwhelms and extinguishes
them--so, and with like effect, amongst the confused sound of various
English opinions about the Boer rising, rose the trumpet-note of the
Transvaal Independence Committee and its supporters.

As we have seen, they did not sound in vain.

On the 6th of March an armistice with the Boers had been entered into
by Sir Evelyn Wood, which was several times prolonged, up to the 21st
March, when Sir Evelyn Wood concluded a preliminary peace with the
Boer leaders, which, under certain conditions, guaranteed the
restoration of the country within six months, and left all other
points to be decided by a Royal Commission.

The news of this peace was at first received in the Colony in the
silence of astonishment. Personally, I remember, I would not believe
that it was true. It seemed to us, who had been witnesses of what had
passed, and knew what it all meant, something so utterly incredible
that we thought there must be a mistake.

If there had been any one redeeming circumstance about it, if the
English arms had gained a single decisive victory, it might have been
so, but it was hard for Englishmen, just at first, to understand that
not only had the Transvaal been to all appearance wrested from them by
force of arms, but that they were henceforth to be subject, as they
well knew would be the case, to the coarse insults of victorious
Boers, and the sarcasms of keener-witted Kafirs.

People in England seem to fancy that when men go to the Colonies they
lose all sense of pride in their country, and think of nothing but
their own advantage. I do not think that this is the case, indeed, I
believe that, individual for individual, there exists a greater sense
of loyalty, and a deeper pride in their nationality, and in the proud
name of England, among Colonists, than among Englishmen proper.
Certainly the humiliation of the Transvaal surrender was more keenly
felt in South Africa than it was at home; but, perhaps, the
impossibility of imposing upon people in that country with the farrago
of nonsense about blood-guiltiness and national morality, which was
made such adroit use of at home, may have made the difference.

I know that personally I would not have believed it possible that I
could feel any public event so keenly as I did this; indeed, I quickly
made up my mind that if the peace was confirmed, the neighbourhood of
the Transvaal would be no fit or comfortable residence for an
Englishman, and that I would, at any cost, leave the country,--which I
accordingly did.

Newcastle was a curious sight the night after the peace was declared,
every hotel and bar was crowded with refugees, who were trying to
relieve their feelings, by cursing the name of Gladstone, with a
vigour, originality, and earnestness, that I have never heard
equalled; and declaring in ironical terms how proud they were to be
citizens of England--a country that always kept its word. Then they
set to work with many demonstrations of contempt to burn the effigy of
the Right Honourable Gentleman at the head of Her Majesty's
Government, an example, by the way, that was followed throughout South
Africa.

Even Sir Evelyn Wood, who is very popular in the Colony, was hissed as
he walked through the town, and great surprise was expressed that a
soldier who came out expressly to fight the Boers, should consent to
become the medium of communication in such a dirty business. And,
indeed, there was some excuse for all this bitterness, for the news
meant ruin to very many.

But if people in Natal and at the Cape received the news with
astonishment, how shall I describe its effect upon the unfortunate
loyal inhabitants in the Transvaal, on whom it burst like a
thunderbolt?

They did not say much however, and indeed, there was nothing to be
said, they simply began to pack up such things as they could carry
with them, and to leave the country, which they well knew would
henceforth be utterly untenable for Englishmen or English
sympathisers. In a few weeks they came pouring down through Newcastle
by hundreds; it was the most melancholy exodus that can be imagined.
There were people of all classes, officials, gentlefolk, work-people,
and loyal Boers, but they had a connecting link; they had all been
loyal, and they were all ruined.

Most of these people had gone to the Transvaal since it became a
British Colony, and invested all they had in it, and now their capital
was lost and their labour rendered abortive; indeed, many of them whom
one had known as well to do in the Transvaal, came down to Natal
hardly knowing how they would feed their families next week.

It must be understood that so soon as the Queen's sovereignty was
withdrawn the value of landed and house property in the Transvaal went
down to nothing, and has remained there ever since. Thus a fair-sized
house in Pretoria brought in a rental varying from ten to twenty
pounds a month during British occupation, but after the declaration of
peace, owners of houses were glad to get people to live in them to
keep them from falling into ruin. Those who owned land or had invested
money in businesses suffered in the same way; their property remains,
neither profitable or saleable, and they themselves are precluded by
their nationality from living on it, the art of "Boycotting" not being
peculiar to Ireland.

Nor were they the only sufferers, the officials, many of whom had
taken to the Government service as a permanent profession, in which
they expected to pass their lives, were suddenly dismissed, mostly
with a small gratuity, which would about suffice to pay their debts,
and told to find their living as best they could. It was indeed a case
of /vae victis/,--woe to the conquered loyalists.[*]

[*] The following extract is clipped from a recent issue of the
    "Transvaal Advertiser." It describes the present condition of
    Pretoria:--

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

The Commission appointed by Her Majesty's Government consisted of Sir
Hercules Robinson, Sir Henry de Villiers, and Sir Evelyn Wood,
President Brand being also present in his capacity of friend of both
parties, and to their discretion were left the settlement of all
outstanding questions. Amongst these, were the mode of trial of those
persons who had been guilty of acts contrary to the rules of civilised
warfare, the question of severance of territory from the Transvaal on
the Eastern boundary, the settlement of the boundary in the Keate-
Award districts, the compensation for losses sustained during the war,
the functions of the British Resident, and other matters. Their place
of meeting was at Newcastle in Natal, and from thence they proceeded
to Pretoria.

The first question of importance that came before the Commission was
the mode of trial to be adopted in the cases of those persons accused
of acts contrary to the usages of civilised warfare, such as murder.
The Attorney-General for the Transvaal strongly advised that a special
Tribunal should be constituted to try these cases, principally because
"after a civil war in which all the inhabitants of a country, with
very few exceptions, have taken part, a jury of fair and impartial
men, truly unbiassed, will be very difficult to get together." It is
satisfactory to know that the Commissioners gave this somewhat obvious
fact "their grave consideration," which, according to their Report,
resulted in their determining to let the cases go before the ordinary
court, and be tried by a jury, because in referring them to a
specially constituted court which would have done equal justice
without fear or favour, "the British Government would have made for
itself, among the Dutch population of South Africa, a name for
vindictive oppression, which no generosity in other affairs could
efface."

There is more in this determination of the Commissioners, or rather of
the majority of them--for Sir E. Wood, to his credit be it said,
refused to agree in their decision--than meets the eye, the fact of
the matter being that it was privately well known to them, that,
though the Boer leaders might be willing to allow a few of the
murderers to undergo the form of a trial, neither they nor the Boers
themselves, meant to permit the farce to go any further. Had the men
been tried by a special tribunal they would in all probability have
been condemned to death, and then would have come the awkward question
of carrying out the sentence on individuals whose deeds were looked
on, if not with general approval, at any rate without aversion by the
great mass of their countrymen. In short, it would probably have
become necessary either to reprieve them or to fight the Boers again,
since it was very certain that they would not have allowed them to be
hung. Therefore the majority of the Commissioners, finding themselves
face to face with a dead wall, determined to slip round it instead of
boldly climbing it, by referring the cases to the Transvaal High
Court, cheerfully confident of what the result must be.

After all, the matter was, much cry about little wool, for of all the
crimes committed by the Boers--a list of some of which will be found
in the Appendix to this book--in only three cases were a proportion of
the perpetrators produced and put through the form of trial. Those
three were, the dastardly murder of Captain Elliot, who was shot by
his Boer escort while crossing the Vaal river on parole; the murder of
a man named Malcolm, who was kicked to death in his own house by
Boers, who afterwards put a bullet through his head to make the job
"look better;" and the murder of a doctor named Barber, who was shot
by his escort on the border of the Free State. A few of the men
concerned in the first two of these crimes were tried in Pretoria: and
it was currently reported at that time, that in order to make their
acquittal certain our Attorney-General received instructions not to
exercise his right of challenging jurors on behalf of the Crown.
Whether or not this is true I am not prepared to say, but I believe it
is a fact that he did not exercise that right, though the counsel of
the prisoners availed themselves of it freely, with the result that in
Elliot's case, the jury was composed of eight Boers and one German,
nine being the full South African jury. The necessary result followed;
in both cases the prisoners were acquitted in the teeth of the
evidence. Barber's murderers were tried in the Free State, and were,
as might be expected, acquitted.

Thus it will be seen that of all the perpetrators of murder and other
crimes during the course of the war not one was brought to justice.

The offence for which their victims died was, in nearly every case,
that they had served, were serving, or were loyal to Her Majesty the
Queen. In no single case has England exacted retribution for the
murder of her servants and citizens; but nobody can read through the
long list of these dastardly slaughters without feeling that they will
not go unavenged. The innocent blood that has been shed on behalf of
this country, and the tears of children and widows now appeal to a
higher tribunal than that of Mr. Gladstone's Government, and assuredly
they will not appeal in vain.

The next point of importance dealt with by the Commission was the
question whether or no any territory should be severed from the
Transvaal, and kept under English rule for the benefit of the native
inhabitants. Lord Kimberley, acting under pressure put upon him by
members of the Aborigines Protection Society, instructed the
Commission to consider the advisability of severing the districts of
Lydenburg and Zoutpansberg, and also a strip of territory bordering on
Zululand and Swazieland from the Transvaal, so as to place the
inhabitants of the first two districts out of danger of maltreatment
by the Boers, and to interpose a buffer between Zulus, and Swazies,
and Boer aggression, and /vice versa/.

The Boer leaders had, it must be remembered, acquiesced in the
principle of such a separation in the preliminary peace signed by Sir
Evelyn Wood and themselves. The majority of the Commission, however
(Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting), finally decided against the retention of
either of these districts, a decision which I think was a wise one,
though I arrive at that conclusion on very different grounds to those
adopted by the majority of the Commission.

Personally, I cannot see that it is the duty of England to play
policeman to the whole world. To have retained these native districts
would have been to make ourselves responsible for their good
government, and to have guaranteed them against Boer encroachment,
which I do not think that we were called upon to do. It is surely not
incumbent upon us, having given up the Transvaal to the Boers, to
undertake the management of the most troublesome part of it, the Zulu
border. Besides, bad as the abandonment of the Transvaal is, I think
that if it was to be done at all, it was best to do it thoroughly,
since to have kept some natives under our protection, and to have
handed over the rest to the tender mercies of the Boers, would only be
to render our injustice more obvious, whilst weakening the power of
the natives themselves to combine in self-defence; since those under
our protection would naturally have little sympathy with their more
unfortunate brethren--their interests and circumstances being
different.

The Commission do not seem to have considered the question from these
points of view, but putting them on one side, there are many other
considerations connected with it, which are ably summed up in their
Report. Amongst these is the danger of disturbances commenced between
Zulus or Swazies and Boers, spreading into Natal, and the probability
of the fomenting of disturbances amongst the Zulus by Boers. The great
argument for the retention of some territory, if only as a symbol that
the English had not been driven out of the country, is, however, set
forth in the forty-sixth paragraph of the Report, which runs as
follows:--"The moral considerations that determine the actions of
civilised Governments are not easily understood by barbarians, in
whose eyes successful force is alone the sign of superiority, and it
appeared possible that the surrender by the British Crown of one of
its possessions to those who had been in arms against it, might be
looked upon by the natives in no other way than as a token of the
defeat and decay of the British Power, and that thus a serious shock
might be given to British authority in South Africa, and the capacity
of Great Britain to govern and direct the vast native population
within and without her South African dominions--a capacity resting
largely on the renown of her name--might be dangerously impaired."

These words coming from so unexpected a source do not, though couched
in such mild language, hide the startling importance of the question
discussed. On the contrary, they accurately and with double weight
convey the sense and gist of the most damning argument against the
policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and
proceeding from their own carefully chosen commissioners, can hardly
have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues.

The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the
arguments advanced by the Boers against the retention of any
territory, which appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental
character, since we are informed that "the people, it seemed certain,
would not have valued the restoration of a mutilated country.
Sentiment in a great measure had led them to insurrection, and the
force of such it was impossible to disregard." Sir E. Wood in his
dissent, states, that he cannot even agree with the premises of his
colleagues' argument, since he is convinced that it was not sentiment
that had led to the outbreak, but a "general and rooted aversion to
taxation." If he had added, and a hatred not only of English rule, but
of all rule, he would have stated the complete cause of the Transvaal
rebellion. In the next paragraph of the Report, however, we find the
real cause of the pliability of the Commission in the matter, which is
the same that influenced them in their decision about the mode of
trial of the murderers and other questions:--they feared that the
people would appeal to arms if they decided against their wishes.

Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this
Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating
with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a
beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well
knew that this was not the case, but whatever the Boer leaders may
have said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to
look at the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country
back, said they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated
the English we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being
that we got it because we defeated the English. This was their tone,
and it is not therefore surprising that whenever the Commission
threatened to decide anything against them, they, with a smile, let it
know that if it did, they would be under the painful necessity of
re-occupying Lang's Nek. It was never necessary to repeat the threat,
since the majority of the Commission would thereupon speedily find a
way to meet the views of the Boer representatives.

Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus correctly sums up the matter:--
"To contend that the Royal Commission ought not to decide contrary to
the wishes of the Boers, because such decision might not be accepted,
is to deny to the Commission the very power of decision that it was
agreed should be left in its hands." Exactly so. But it is evident
that the Commission knew its place, and so far from attempting to
exercise any "power of decision," it was quite content with such
concessions as it could obtain by means of bargaining. Thus, as an
additional reason against the retention of any territory, it is urged
that if this territory was retained "the majority of your
Commissioners . . . would have found themselves in no favourable
position for obtaining the concurrence of the Boer leaders as to other
matters." In fact, Her Majesty's Commission appointed, or supposed to
be appointed, to do Her Majesty's will and pleasure, shook in its
shoes before men who had lately been rebels in arms against Her
authority, and humbly submitted itself to their dicta.

The majority of the Commission went on to express their opinion, that
by giving away about the retention of territory they would be able to
obtain better terms for the natives generally, and larger powers for
the British Resident. But, as Sir Evelyn Wood points out in his
Report, they did nothing of the sort, the terms of the agreement about
the Resident and other native matters being all consequent on and
included in the first agreement of peace. Besides, they seem to have
overlooked the fact that such concessions as they did obtain are only
on paper, and practically worthless, whilst all /bona fide/ advantages
remained with the Boers.

The decision of the Commissioners in the question of the Keate Award,
which next came under their consideration, appears to have been a
judicious one, being founded on the very careful Report of Colonel
Moysey, R.E., who had been for many months collecting information on
the spot. The Keate Award Territory is a region lying to the south-
west of the Transvaal, and was, like many other districts in that
country, originally in the possession of natives, of the Baralong and
Batlapin tribes. Individual Boers having, however, /more suo/ taken
possession of tracts of land in the district, difficulties speedily
arose between their Government and the native chiefs, and in 1871 Mr.
Keate, Lieutenant-Governor of Natal, was by mutual consent called in
to arbitrate on the matter. His decision was entirely in favour of the
natives, and was accordingly promptly and characteristically
repudiated by the Boer Volksraad. From that time till the rebellion
the question remained unsettled, and was indeed a very thorny one to
deal with. The Commission, acting on the principle /in medio
tutissimus ibis/, drew a line through the midst of the disputed
territory, or, in other words, set aside Mr. Keate's award and
interpreted the dispute in favour of the Boers.

This decision was accepted by all parties at the time, but it has not
resulted in the maintenance of peace. The principal Chief, Montsoia,
is an old ally and staunch friend of the English, a fact which the
Boers were not able to forget or forgive, and they appear to have
stirred up rival Chiefs to attack him, and to have allowed volunteers
from the Transvaal to assist them. Montsoia has also enlisted some
white volunteers, and several fights have taken place, in which the
loss of life has been considerable. Whether or no the Transvaal
Government is directly concerned it is impossible to say, but from the
fact that cannon are said to have been used against Montsoia it would
appear that it is, since private individuals do not, as a rule, own
Armstrong guns.[*]

[*] I beg to refer any reader interested in this matter to the letter
    of "Transvaal" to the "Standard," which I have republished in the
    Appendix to this book.

Amongst the questions remaining for the consideration of the
Commissioners was that of what compensation should be given for losses
during the war. Of course, the great bulk of the losses sustained were
of an indirect nature, resulting from the necessary and enormous
depreciation in the value of land and other property, consequent on
the retrocession. Into this matter the Home Government declined to
enter, thereby saving its pocket at the price of its honour, since it
was upon English guarantees that the country would remain a British
possession, that the majority of the unfortunate loyals invested their
money in it. It was, however, agreed by the Commission (Sir H. de
Villiers dissenting) that the Boers should be liable for compensation
in cases where loss had been sustained through commandeering seizure,
confiscation, destruction, or damage of property. The sums awarded
under these heads have already amounted to about 110,000 pounds, which
sum has been defrayed by the Imperial Government, the Boer authorities
stating that they were not in a position to pay it.

In connection with this matter, I will pass to the Financial clauses
of the Report. When the country was annexed, the public debt amounted
to 301,727 pounds. Under British rule this debt was liquidated to the
extent of 150,000 pounds, but the total was brought up by a
Parliamentary grant, a loan from the Standard Bank, and sundries to
390,404 pounds, which represented the public debt of the Transvaal on
the 31st December 1880. This was further increased by moneys advanced
by the Standard Bank and English Exchequer during the war, and till
the 8th August 1881, during which time the country yielded no revenue,
to 457,393 pounds. To this must be added an estimated sum of 200,000
pounds for compensation charges, pension allowances, &c., and a
further sum of 383,000 pounds, the cost of the successful expedition
against Secocoeni, that of the unsuccessful one being left out of
account, bringing up the total public debt to over a million, of which
about 800,000 pounds is owing to this country.

This sum, with the characteristic liberality that distinguished them
in their dealings with the Boers, but which was not so marked where
loyals were concerned, the Commissioners (Sir Evelyn Wood dissenting)
reduced by a stroke of the pen to 265,000 pounds, thus entirely
remitting an approximate sum of 500,000 pounds, or 600,000 pounds. To
the sum of 265,000 pounds still owing, must be added say another
150,000 pounds for sums lately advanced to pay the compensation
claims, bringing up the actual amount now owing to England to
something under half a million, of which I say with confidence she
will never see a single 10,000 pounds. As this contingency was not
contemplated, or if contemplated, not alluded to by the Royal
Commission, provision was made for a sinking fund, by means of which
the debt, which is a second charge on the revenues of the States, is
to be extinguished in twenty-five years.

It is a strange instance of the proverbial irony of fate, that whilst
the representatives of the Imperial Government were thus showering
gifts of hundreds of thousands of pounds upon men who had spurned the
benefits of Her Majesty's rule, made war upon her forces, and murdered
her subjects, no such consideration was extended to those who had
remained loyal to her throne. Their claims for compensation were
passed by unheeded; and looking from the windows of the room in which
they sat in Newcastle, the members of the Commission might have seen
them flocking down from a country that could no longer be their home;
those that were rich among them made poor, and those that were poor
reduced to destitution.

The only other point which it will be necessary for me to touch on in
connection with this Report is the duties of the British Resident and
his relations to the natives. He was to be invested as representative
of the Suzerain with functions for securing the execution of the terms
of peace as regards: (1.) The control of the foreign relations of the
State; (2.) The control of the frontier affairs of the State; and (3.)
The protection of the interests of the natives in the State.

As regards the first of these points, it was arranged that the
interests of subjects of the Transvaal should be left in the hands of
Her Majesty's representatives abroad. Since Boers are, of all people
in the world, the most stay-at-home, our ambassadors and consuls are
not likely to be troubled much on their account. With reference to the
second point, the Commission made stipulations that would be admirable
if there were any probability of their being acted up to. The Resident
is to report any encroachment on native territory by Boers to the High
Commissioner, and when the Resident and the Boer Government differ,
the decision of the Suzerain is to be final. This is a charming way of
settling difficulties, but the Commission forgets to specify how the
Suzerain's decision is to be enforced. After what has happened, it can
hardly have relied on awe of the name of England to bring about the
desired obedience!

But besides thus using his beneficent authority to prevent subjects of
the Transvaal from trespassing on their neighbour's land, the Resident
is to exercise a general supervision over the interests of all the
natives in the country. Considering that they number about a million,
and are scattered over a territory larger than France, one would think
that this duty alone would have taken up the time of any ordinary man;
and, indeed, Sir Evelyn Wood was in favour of the appointment of sub-
residents to assist him. The majority of the Commission refused,
however, to listen to any such suggestion--believing, they said, "that
the least possible interference with the independent Government of the
State would be the wisest." Quite so, but I suppose it never occurred
to them to ask the natives what their views of the matter were! The
Resident was also to be a member of a Native Location Committee, which
was at some future time, to provide land for natives to live on.

In perusing this Report it is easy to follow with more or less
accuracy the individual bent of its framers. Sir Hercules Robinson
figures throughout as a man who has got a disagreeable business to
carry out, in obedience to instructions that admit of no trifling
with, and who has set himself to do the best he can for his country,
and those who suffer through his country's policy, whilst obeying
those instructions. He has evidently choked down his feelings and
opinions as an individual, and turned himself into an official
machine, merely registering in detail the will of Lord Kimberley. With
Sir Henry de Villiers the case is very different, one feels throughout
that the task is to him a congenial one, and that the Boer cause has
in him an excellent friend. Indeed, had he been an advocate of their
cause instead of a member of the Commission, he could not have
espoused their side on every occasion with greater zeal. According to
him they were always in the right, and in them he could find no guile.
Mr. Hofmeyer and President Brand exercised a wise discretion from
their own point of view, when they urged his appointment as Special
Commissioner. I now come to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was in the position
of an independent Englishman, neither prejudiced in favour of the
Boers, or the reverse, and on whom, as a military man, Lord Kimberley
would find it difficult to put the official screw. The results of his
happy position are obvious in the paper attached to the end of the
Report, and signed by him, in which he totally and entirely differs
from the majority of the Commission on every point of importance. Most
people will think that this very outspoke and forcible dissent deducts
somewhat from the value of the Report, and throws a shadow of doubt on
the wisdom of its provisions.

The formal document of agreement between Her Majesty's Government and
the Boer leaders, commonly known as the Convention, was signed by both
parties at Pretoria on the afternoon of the 3d August 1881, in the
same room in which, nearly four years before, the Annexation
Proclamation was signed by Sir T. Shepstone.

Whilst this business was being transacted in Government House, a
curious ceremony was going on just outside, and within sight of the
windows. This was the ceremonious burial of the Union Jack, which was
followed to the grave by a crowd of about 2000 loyalists and native
chiefs. On the outside of the coffin was written the word "Resurgam,"
and an eloquent oration was delivered over the grave. Such
demonstrations are, no doubt, foolish enough, but they are not
entirely without political significance.

But a more unpleasant duty awaited the Commissioners than that of
attaching their signatures to a document,--consisting of the necessity
of conveying Her Majesty's decision as to the retrocession, to about a
hundred native Chiefs, until now Her Majesty's subjects, who had been
gathered together to hear it. It must be borne in mind that the
natives had not been consulted as to the disposal of the country,
although they outnumber the white people in the proportion of twenty
to one, and that, beyond some worthless paper stipulations, nothing
had been done for their interests.

Personally, I must plead guilty to what I know is by many, especially
by those who are attached to the Boer cause, considered as folly if
not worse, namely, a sufficient interest in the natives, and sympathy
with their sufferings to bring me to the conclusion, that in acting
thus we have inflicted a cruel injustice upon them. It seems to me,
that as they were the original owners of the soil, they were entitled
to some consideration in the question of its disposal, and
consequently and incidentally, of their own. I am aware that it is
generally considered that the white man has a right to the black man's
possessions and land, and that it is his high and holy mission to
exterminate the wretched native and take his place. But with this
conclusion I venture to differ. So far as my own experience of natives
has gone, I have found that in all the essential qualities of mind and
body, they very much resemble white men, with the exception that they
are, as a race, quicker-witted, more honest, and braver, than the
ordinary run of white men. Of them might be aptly quoted the speech
Shakespeare puts into Shylock's mouth: "Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not
a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" In the
same way I ask, Has a native no feelings or affections? does he not
suffer when his parents are shot, or his children stolen, or when he
is driven a wanderer from his home? Does he not know fear, feel pain,
affection, hate and gratitude? Most certainly he does; and this being
so, I cannot believe that the Almighty, who made both white and black,
gave to the one race the right or mission of exterminating, or even of
robbing or maltreating the other, and calling the process the advance
of civilisation. It seems to me, that on only one condition, if at
all, have we the right to take the black man's land; and that is, that
we provide them with an equal and a just Government, and allow no
maltreatment of them, either as individuals or tribes: but, on the
contrary, do our best to elevate them, and wean them from savage
customs. Otherwise, the practice is surely undefensible.

I am aware, however, that with the exception of a small class, these
are sentiments which are not shared by the great majority of the
public, either at home or abroad. Indeed, it can be plainly seen how
little sympathy they command, from the fact that but scanty
remonstrance was raised at the treatment meted out to our native
subjects in the Transvaal, when they were, to the number of nearly a
million, handed over from the peace, justice, and security, that on
the whole characterise our rule, to a state of things, and
possibilities of wrong and suffering which I will not try to describe.

To the chiefs thus assembled Sir Hercules Robinson, as President of
the Royal Commission, read a statement, and then retired, refusing to
allow them to speak in answer. The statement informed the natives that
"Her Majesty's Government, with that sense of justice which befits a
great and powerful nation," had returned the country to the Boers,
"whose representatives, Messrs. Kruger, Pretorius, and Joubert, I
now," said Sir Hercules, "have much pleasure in introducing to you."
If reports are true, the native Chiefs had, many of them personally,
and all of them by reputation, already the advantage of a very
intimate acquaintance with all three of these gentlemen, so that an
introduction was somewhat superfluous.

Sir Hercules went on to explain to them that locations would be
allotted to them at some future time; that a British Resident would be
appointed, whose especial charge they would be, but that they must
bear in mind that he was not the ruler of the country, but the
Government, "subject to Her Majesty's suzerain rights." Natives were,
no doubt, expected to know by intuition what suzerain rights are. The
statement then goes on to give them good advice as to the advantages
of indulging in manual labour when asked to do so by the Boers, and
generally to show them how bright and happy is the future that lies
before them. Lest they should be too elated by such good tidings, they
are, however, reminded that it will be necessary to retain the law
relating to passes, which is, in the hands of a people like the Boers,
about as unjust a regulation as a dominant race can invent for the
oppression of a subject people, and had, in the old days of the
Republic, been productive of much hardship. The statement winds up by
assuring them that their "interests will never be forgotten or
neglected by Her Majesty's Government." Having read the document the
Commission hastily withdrew, and after their withdrawal the Chiefs
were "allowed" to state their opinions to the Secretary for Native
Affairs.

In availing themselves of this permission, it is noticeable that no
allusion was made to all the advantages they were to reap under the
Convention, nor did they seem to attach much importance to the
appointment of the British Resident. On the contrary, all their
attention was given to the great fact that the country had been ceded
to the Boers, and that they were no longer the Queen's subjects. We
are told, in Mr. Shepstone's Report, that they "got very excited," and
"asked whether it was thought that they had no feelings or hearts,
that they were thus treated as a stick or piece of tobacco, which
could be passed from hand to hand without question." Umgombarie, a
Zoutpansberg Chief, said, "I am Umgombarie. I have fought with the
Boers, and have many wounds, and they know that what I say is true.
. . . I will never consent to place myself under their rule. I belong
to the English Government. I am not a man who eats with both sides of
his jaw at once; I only use one side. I am English, I have said."
Silamba said, "I belong to the English. I will never return under the
Boers. You see me, a man of my rank and position, is it right that
such as I should be seized and laid on the ground and flogged, as has
been done to me and other chiefs?"

Sinkanhla said: "We hear and yet do not hear, we cannot understand. We
are troubling you, Chief, by talking in this way; we hear the Chiefs
say that the Queen took the country because the people of the country
wished it, and again that the majority of the owners of the country
did not wish their rule, and that therefore the country was given
back. We should like to have the man pointed out from among us black
people who objects to the rule of the Queen. We are the real owners of
the country; we were here when the Boers came, and without asking
leave, settled down and treated us in every way badly. The English
Government then came and took the country; we have now had four years
of rest and peaceful and just rule. We have been called here to-day,
and are told that the country, our country, has been given to the
Boers by the Queen. This is a thing which surprises us. Did the
country, then, belong to the Boers? Did it not belong to our fathers
and forefathers before us, long before the Boers came here? We have
heard that the Boers' country is at the Cape. If the Queen wishes to
give them their land, why does she not give them back the Cape?"

I have quoted this speech at length, because, although made by a
despised native, it sets forth their case more powerfully and in
happier language than I can do.

Umyethile said: "We have no heart for talking. I have returned to the
country from Sechelis, where I had to fly from Boer oppression. Our
hearts are black and heavy with grief to-day at the news told us, we
are in agony, our intestines are twisting and writhing inside of us,
just as you see a snake do when it is struck on the head. . . . We do
not know what has become of us, but we feel dead; it may be that the
Lord may change the nature of the Boers, and that we will not be
treated like dogs and beasts of burden as formerly, but we have no
hope of such a change, and we leave you with heavy hearts and great
apprehension as to the future." In his Report, Mr. Shepstone (the
Secretary for Native Affairs) says: "One chief, Jan Sibilo, who has
been, he informed me, personally threatened with death by the Boers
after the English leave, could not restrain his feelings, but cried
like a child."

I have nothing to add to these extracts, which are taken from many
such statements. They are the very words of the persons most
concerned, and will speak for themselves.

The Convention was signed on the 3d August 1881, and was to be
formally ratified by a Volksraad or Parliament of the Burghers within
three months of that date, in default of which it was to fall to the
ground and become null and void.

Anybody who has followed the course of affairs with reference to the
retrocession of the Transvaal, or who has even taken the trouble to
read through this brief history, will probably come to the conclusion
that, under all the circumstances, the Boers had got more than they
could reasonably expect. Not so, however, the Boers themselves. On the
28th September the newly-elected Volksraad referred the Convention to
a General Committee to report on, and on the 30th September the Report
was presented. On the 3d October a telegram was despatched through the
British Resident to "His Excellency W. E. Gladstone," in which the
Volksraad states that the Convention is not acceptable--

(1.) Because it is in conflict with the Sand River Treaty of 1852.

(2.) Because it violates the peace agreement entered into with Sir
Evelyn Wood, in confidence of which the Boers laid down their arms.

The Volksraad consequently declared that modifications were desirable,
and that certain articles /must/ be altered.

To begin with, they declare that the "conduct of foreign relations
does not appertain to the Suzerain, only supervision," and that the
articles bearing on these points must consequently be modified. They
next attack the native question, stating that "the Suzerain has not
the right to interfere with our Legislature," and state that they
cannot agree to Article 3, which gives the Suzerain a right of veto on
Legislation connected with the natives, to Article 13, by virtue of
which natives are to be allowed to acquire land, and to the last part
of Article 26, by which it is provided that whites of alien race
living in the Transvaal shall not be taxed in excess of the taxes
imposed on Transvaal citizens.

They further declare that it is "infra dignitatem" for the President
of the Transvaal to be a member of a Commission. This refers to the
Native Location Commission, on which he is, in the terms of the
Convention, to sit, together with the British Resident, and a third
person jointly appointed.

They next declare that the amount of the debt for which the Commission
has made them liable should be modified. Considering that England had
already made them a present of from 600,000 pounds to 800,000 pounds,
this is a most barefaced demand. Finally, they state that "Articles
15, 16, 26, and 27, are superfluous, and only calculated to wound our
sense of honour" (sic).

Article 15 enacts that no slavery or apprenticeship shall be
tolerated.

Article 16 provides for religious toleration.

Article 26 provides for the free movement, trading, and residence of
all persons, other than natives, conforming themselves to the laws of
the Transvaal.

Article 27 gives to all the right of free access to the Courts of
Justice.

Putting the "sense of honour" of the Transvaal Volksraad out of the
question, past experience has but too plainly proved that these
Articles are by no means superfluous.

In reply to this message, Sir Hercules Robinson telegraphs to the
British Resident on the 21st October in the following words:--

"Having forwarded Volksraad Resolution of 15th to Earl of Kimberley, I
am desired to instruct you in reply to repeat to the Triumvirate that
Her Majesty's Government cannot entertain any proposals for a
modification of the Convention /until after it has been ratified/, and
the necessity for further concession proved by experience."

I wish to draw particular attention to the last part of this message,
which is extremely typical of the line of policy adopted throughout in
the Transvaal business. The English Government dared not make any
further concession to the Boers, because they felt that they had
already strained the temper of the country almost to breaking in the
matter. On the other hand, they were afraid that if they did not do
something, the Boers would tear up the Convention, and they would find
themselves face to face with the old difficulty. Under these
circumstances, they have fallen back upon their temporising and
un-English policy, which leaves them a back-door to escape through,
whatever turn things take. Should the Boers now suddenly turn round
and declare, which is extremely probable, that they repudiate their
debt to us, or that they are sick of the presence of a British
Resident, the Government will be able to announce that "the necessity
for further concession" has now been "proved by experience," and thus
escape the difficulty. In short, this telegram has deprived the
Convention of whatever finality it may have possessed, and made it, as
a document, as worthless as it is as a practical settlement. That this
is the view taken of it by the Boers themselves, is proved by the text
of the Ratification which followed on the receipt of this telegram.

The tone of this document throughout is, in my opinion, considering
from whom it came, and against whom it is directed, very insolent. And
it amply confirms what I have previously said, that the Boers looked
upon themselves as a victorious people making terms with those they
have conquered. The Ratification leads off thus: "The Volksraad is not
satisfied with this Convention, and considers that the members of the
Triumvirate performed a fervent act of love for the Fatherland when
they upon their own responsibility signed such an unsatisfactory state
document." This is damning with faint praise indeed. It then goes on
to recite the various points of object, stating that the answers from
the English Government proved that they were well founded. "The
English Government," it says, "acknowledges indirectly by this answer
(the telegram of 21st October, quoted above) that the difficulties
raised by the Volksraad are neither fictitious nor unfounded, inasmuch
/as it desires from us the concession/ that we, the Volksraad, shall
submit it to a practical test." It will be observed that English is
here represented as begging the favour of a trial of her conditions
from the Volksraad of the Transvaal Boers. The Ratification is in
these words: "Therefore it is that the Raad here unanimously resolves
not to go into further discussion of the Convention, /and maintaining
all objections to the Convention/ as made before the Royal Commission
or stated in the Raad, and for the purpose of showing to everybody
that the love of peace and unity inspires us, /for the time and
provisionally/ submitting the articles of the Convention to a
practical test, /hereby complying with the request of the English
Government/ contained in the telegram of the 13th October 1881,
proceeds to ratify the Convention."

It would have been interesting to have seen how such a Ratification as
this, which is no Ratification but an insult, would have been accepted
by Lord Beaconsfield. I think that within twenty-four hours of its
arrival in Downing Street, the Boer Volksraad would have received a
startling answer. But Lord Beaconsfield is dead, and by his successor
it was received with all due thankfulness and humility. His words,
however, on this subject still remain to us, and even his great rival
might have done well to listen to them. It was in the course of what
was, I believe, the last speech he made in the House of Lords, that
speaking about the Transvaal rising, he warned the Government that it
was a very dangerous thing to make peace with rebellious subjects in
arms against the authority of the Queen. The warning passed unheeded,
and the peace was made in the way I have described.

As regards the Convention itself, it will be obvious to the reader
that the Boers have not any intention of acting up to its provisions,
mild as they are, if they can possibly avoid them, whilst, on the
other hand, there is no force at hand to punish their disregard or
breach. It is all very well to create a Resident with extensive
powers; but how is he to enforce his decisions? What is he to do if
his awards are laughed at and made a mockery of, as they are and will
be? The position of Mr. Hudson at Pretoria is even worse than that of
Mr. Osborn in Zululand. For instance, the Convention specifies in the
first article that the Transvaal is to be known as the Transvaal
State. The Boer Government have, however, thought fit to adopt the
name of "South African Republic" in all public documents. Mr. Hudson
was accordingly directed to remonstrate, which he did in a feeble way;
his remonstrance was politely acknowledged, but the country is still
officially called the South African Republic, the Convention and Mr.
Hudson's remonstrations notwithstanding. Mr. Hudson, however, appears
to be better suited to the position than would have been the case had
an Englishman, pure and simple, been appointed, since it is evident
that things that would have struck the latter as insults to the Queen
he represented, and his country generally, are not so understood by
him. In fact, he admirably represents his official superiors in his
capacity of swallowing rebuffs, and when smitten on one cheek
delightedly offering the other.

Thus we find him attending a Boer meeting of thanksgiving for the
success that had waited on their arms and the recognition of their
independence, where most people will consider he was out of place. To
this meeting, thus graced by his presence, an address was presented by
a branch of the Africander Bond, a powerful institution, having for
its object the total uprootal of English rule and English customs in
South Africa, to which he must have listened with pleasure. In it he,
in common with other members of the meeting, is informed that "you
took up the sword and struck the Briton with such force" that "the
Britons through fear revived that sense of justice to which they could
not be brought by petitions," and that the "day will soon come that we
shall enter with you on one arena for the entire independence of South
Africa," i.e., independence from English rule.

On the following day the Government gave a dinner, to which all those
who had done good service during the late hostilities were invited,
the British Resident being apparently the only Englishman asked.
Amongst the other celebrities present I notice the name of Buskes.
This man, who is an educated Hollander, was the moving spirit of the
Potchefstroom atrocities; indeed, so dark is his reputation that the
Royal Commission refused to transact business with him, or to admit
him into their presence. Mr. Hudson was not so particular. And now
comes the most extraordinary part of the episode. At the dinner it was
necessary that the health of Her Majesty as Suzerain should be
proposed, and with studied insolence this was done last of all the
leading political toasts, and immediately after that of the
Triumvirate. Notwithstanding this fact, and that the toast was couched
by Mr. Joubert, who stated that "he would not attempt to explain what
a Suzerain was," in what appear to be semi-ironical terms, we find
that Mr. Hudson "begged to tender his thanks to the Honourable Mr.
Joubert for the kind way in which he proposed the toast."

It may please Mr. Hudson to see the name of the Queen thus
metaphorically dragged in triumph at the chariot wheels of the
Triumvirate, but it is satisfactory to know that the spectacle is not
appreciated in England: since, on a question in the House of Lords, by
the Earl of Carnarvon, who characterised it as a deliberate insult,
Lord Kimberley replied that the British Resident had been instructed
that in future he was not to attend public demonstrations unless he
had previously informed himself that the name of Her Majesty would be
treated with proper respect. Let us hope that this official reprimand
will have its effect, and that Mr. Hudson will learn therefrom that
there is such a thing as /trop de zele/--even in a good cause.

The Convention is now a thing of the past, the appropriate rewards
have been lavishly distributed to its framers, and President Brand has
at last prevailed upon the Volksraad of the Orange Free State to allow
him to become a Knight Grand Cross of Saint Michael and Saint George,
--the same prize looked forward to by our most distinguished public
servants at the close of the devotion of their life to the service of
their country. But its results are yet to come--though it would be
difficult to forecast the details of their development. One thing,
however, is clear: the signing of that document signalised an entirely
new departure in South African affairs, and brought us within a
measurable distance of the abandonment, for the present at any rate,
of the supremacy of English rule in South Africa.

This is the larger issue of the matter, and it is already bearing
fruit. Emboldened by their success in the Transvaal, the Dutch party
at the Cape are demanding, and the demand is to be granted, that the
Dutch tongue be admitted /pari passu/ with English, as the official
language in the Law Courts and the House of Assembly. When a country
thus consents to use a foreign tongue equally with its own, it is a
sure sign that those who speak it are rising to power. But "the Party"
looks higher than this, and openly aims at throwing off English rule
altogether, and declaring South Africa a great Dutch republic. The
course of events is favourable to their aspiration. Responsible
Government is to be granted to Natal, which country not being strong
enough to stand alone in the face of the many dangers that surround
her, will be driven into the arms of the Dutch party to save herself
from destruction. It will be useless for her to look for help from
England, and any feelings of repugnance she may feel to Boer rule will
soon be choked by necessity, and a mutual interest. It is, however,
possible that some unforeseen event, such as the advent to power of a
strong Conservative Ministry, may check the tide that now sets so
strongly in favour of Dutch supremacy.

It seems to me, however, to be a question worthy of the consideration
of those who at present direct the destinies of the Empire, whether it
would not be wise, as they have gone so far, to go a little further
and favour a scheme for the total abandonment of South Africa,
retaining only Table Bay. If they do not, it is now quite within the
bounds of sober possibility that they may one day have to face a fresh
Transvaal rebellion, only on a ten times larger scale, and might find
it difficult to retain even Table Bay. If, on the other hand, they do,
I believe that all the White States in South Africa will confederate
of their own free-will, under the pressure of the necessity for common
action, and the Dutch element being preponderant, at once set to work
to exterminate the natives on general principles, in much the same
way, and from much the same motives that a cook exterminates black
beetles, because she thinks them ugly, and to clear the kitchen.

I need hardly say that such a policy is not one that commands my
sympathy, but Her Majesty's Government having put their hand to the
plough, it is worth their while to consider it. It would at any rate
be in perfect accordance with their declared sentiments, and command
an enthusiastic support from their followers.

As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession,
namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than
evil. The act is, I believe, quite without precedent in our history,
and it is difficult to see, looking at it from those high grounds of
national morality assumed by the Government, what greater arguments
can be advanced in its favour, than could be found to support the
abandonment of,--let us say,--Ireland. Indeed a certain parallel
undoubtedly exists between the circumstances of the two countries.
Ireland was, like the Transvaal, annexed, though a long time ago, and
has continually agitated for its freedom. The Irish hate us, so did
the Boers. In Ireland, Englishmen are being shot, and England is
running the awful risk of bloodguiltiness, as it did in the Transvaal.
In Ireland, smouldering revolution is being fanned into flame by Mr.
Gladstone's speeches and acts, as it was in the Transvaal. In Ireland,
as in the Transvaal, there exists a strong loyal class that receives
insults instead of support from the Government, and whose property, as
was the case there, is taken from them without compensation, to be
flung as a sop to stop the mouths of the Queen's enemies. And so I
might go on, finding many such similarities of circumstances, but my
parallel, like most parallels, must break down at last. Thus--it
mattered little to England whether or no she let the Transvaal go, but
to let Ireland go would be more than even Mr. Gladstone dare attempt.

Somehow, if you follow these things far enough, you always come to
vulgar first principles. The difference between the case of the
Transvaal and that of Ireland is a difference not of justice but of
cause, for both causes are equally unjust or just according as they
are viewed, but of mere common expediency. Judging from the elevated
standpoint of the national morality theory however, which, as we know,
soars above such truisms as the foolish statement that force is a
remedy, or that if you wish to retain your prestige you must not allow
defeats to pass unavenged, I cannot see why, if it was righteous to
abandon the Transvaal, it would not be equally righteous to abandon
Ireland!

As for the Transvaal, that country is not to be congratulated on its
success, for it has destroyed all its hopes of permanent peace, has
ruined its trade and credit, and has driven away the most useful and
productive class in the community. The Boers, elated by their success
in arms, will be little likely to settle down to peaceable
occupations, and still less likely to pay their taxes, which, indeed,
I hear they are already refusing to do. They have learnt how easily
even a powerful Government can be upset, and the lesson is not likely
to be forgotten, for want of repetition to their own weak one.

Already the Transvaal Government hardly knows which way to turn for
funds, and is, perhaps fortunately for itself, quite unable to borrow,
through want of credit.

As regards the native question, I agree with Mr. H. Shepstone, who, in
his Report on this subject, says that he does not believe that the
natives will inaugurate any action against the Boers, so long as the
latter do not try to collect taxes, or otherwise interfere with them.
But if the Boer Government is to continue to exist, it will be bound
to raise taxes from the natives, since it cannot collect much from its
white subjects. The first general attempt of the sort will be the
signal for active resistance on the part of the natives, whom, if they
act without concert, the Boers will be able to crush in detail, though
with considerable loss. If, on the other hand, they should have
happened, during the last few years, to have learnt the advantages of
combination, as is quite possible, perhaps they will crush the Boers.

The only thing that is at present certain about the matter is that
there will be bloodshed, and that before long. For instance, the
Montsoia difficulty in the Keate Award has in it the possibilities of
a serious war, and there are plenty such difficulties ready to spring
into life within and without the Transvaal.

In all human probability it will take but a small lapse of time for
the Transvaal to find itself in the identical position from which we
relieved it by the Annexation.

What course events will then take it is impossible to say. It may be
found desirable to re-annex the country, though, in my opinion, that
would be, after all that has passed, an unfortunate step; its
inhabitants may be cut up piecemeal by a combined movement of native
tribes, as they would have been, had they not been rescued by the
English Government in 1877, or it is possible that the Orange Free
State may consent to take the Transvaal under its wing: who can say?
There is only one thing that our recently abandoned possession can
count on for certain, and that is trouble, both from its white
subjects, and the natives, who hate the Boers with a bitter and a
well-earned hatred.

The whole question, can, so far as its moral aspect is concerned, be
summed up in a few words.

Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its
execution,--which I certainly maintain it was--it received the
unreserved sanction of the Home Authorities, and the relations of
Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations
involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of
England and every individual of the motley population of the
Transvaal. Nor was this change an empty form, for, to the largest
proportion of that population, this transfer of allegiance brought
with it a priceless and a vital boon. To them it meant--freedom and
justice--for where, on any portion of this globe over which the
British ensign floats, does the law even wink at cruelty or wrong?

A few years passed away, and a small number of the Queen's subjects in
the Transvaal rose in rebellion against Her authority, and inflicted
some reverses on Her arms. Thereupon, in spite of the reiterated
pledges given to the contrary--partly under stress of defeat, and
partly in obedience to the pressure of "advanced views"--the country
was abandoned, and the vast majority who had remained faithful to the
Crown, was handed to the cruel despotism of the minority who had
rebelled against it.

Such an act of treachery to those to whom we were bound with double
chains--by the strong ties of a common citizenship, and by those
claims to England's protection from violence and wrong which have
hitherto been wont to command it, even where there was no duty to
fulfil, and no authority to vindicate--stands--I believe--without
parallel on our records, and marks a new departure in our history.

I cannot end these pages without expressing my admiration of the
extremely able way in which the Boers managed their revolt, when once
they felt that, having undertaken the thing, it was a question of life
and death with them. It shows that they have good stuff in them
somewhere, which, under the firm but just rule of Her Majesty, might
have been much developed, and it makes it the more sad that they
should have been led to throw off that rule, and have been allowed to
do so by an English Government.

In conclusion, there is one point that I must touch on, and that is
the effect of the retrocession on the native mind, which I can only
describe as most disastrous. The danger alluded to in the Report of
the Royal Commission has been most amply realised, and the prevailing
belief in the steadfastness of our policy, and the inviolability of
our plighted word, which has hitherto been the great secret of our
hold on the Kafirs, has been rudely shaken. The motives that
influenced, or are said to have influenced, the Government in their
act, are naturally quite unintelligible to savages, however clever,
who do believe that force is a remedy, and who have seen the
inhabitants of a country ruled by England, defeat English soldiers and
take possession of it, whilst those who remained loyal to England were
driven out of it. It will not be wonderful if some of them, say the
natives of Natal, deduce therefrom conclusions unfavourable to
loyalty, and evince a desire to try the same experiment.

It is, however, unprofitable to speculate on the future, which must be
left to unfold itself.

The curtain is, so far as this country is concerned, down for the
moment on the South African stage; when it rises again, there is but
too much reason to fear that it will reveal a state of confusion,
which, unless it is more wisely and consistently dealt with in the
future than it has been in the past, may develop into chaos.




                               APPENDIX



                                  I

                  THE POTCHEFSTROOM ATROCITIES, &C.

There were more murders and acts of cruelty committed during the war
at Potchefstroom, where the behaviour of the Boers was throughout both
deceitful and savage, than at any other place.

When the fighting commenced a number of ladies and children, the wives
and children of English residents, took refuge in the fort. Shortly
after it had been invested they applied to be allowed to return to
their homes in the town till the war was over. The request was refused
by the Boer commander, who said that as they had gone there, they
might stop and "perish" there. One poor lady, the wife of a gentleman
well known in the Transvaal, was badly wounded by having the point of
a stake, which had been cut in two by a bullet, driven into her side.
She was at the time in a state of pregnancy, and died some days
afterwards in great agony. Her little sister was shot through the
throat, and several other women and children suffered from bullet
wounds, and fever arising from their being obliged to live for months
exposed to rain and heat, with insufficient food.

The moving spirit of all the Potchefstroom atrocities was a cruel
wretch of the name of Buskes, a well-educated man, who, as an advocate
of the High Court, had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen.

One deponent swears that he saw this Buskes wearing Captain Fall's
diamond ring, which he had taken from Sergeant Ritchie, to whom it was
handed to be sent to England, and also that he had possessed himself
of the carriages and other goods belonging to prisoners taken by the
Boers.[*] Another deponent (whose name is omitted in the Blue Book for
precautionary reasons) swears, "That on the next night the patrol
again came to my house accompanied by one Buskes, who was secretary of
the Boer Committee, and again asked where my wife and daughter were. I
replied, in bed; and Buskes then said, 'I must see for myself.' I
refused to allow him, and he forced me, with a loaded gun held to my
breast, to open the curtains of the bed, when he pulled the bedclothes
half off my wife, and altogether off my daughter. I then told him if I
had a gun I would shoot him. He placed a loaded gun at my breast, when
my wife sprang out of bed and got between us."

[*] Buskes was afterwards forced to deliver up the ring.

I remember hearing at the time that this Buskes (who is a good
musician) took one of his victims, who was on the way to execution,
into the chapel and played the "Dead March in Saul," or some such
piece, over him on the organ.

After the capture of the Court House a good many Englishmen fell into
the hands of the Boers. Most of these were sentenced to hard labour
and deprivation of "civil rights." The sentence was enforced by making
them work in the trenches under a heavy fire from the fort. One poor
fellow, F. W. Finlay by name, got his head blown off by a shell from
his own friends in the fort, and several loyal Kafirs suffered the
same fate. After these events the remaining prisoners refused to
return to the trenches till they had been "tamed" by being thrashed
with the butt end of guns, and by threats of receiving twenty-five
lashes each.

But their fate, bad as it was, was not so awful as that suffered by
Dr. Woite and J. Van der Linden.

Dr. Woite had attended the Boer meeting which was held before the
outbreak, and written a letter from thence to Major Clarke, in which
he had described the talk of the Boers as silly bluster. He was not a
paid spy. This letter was, unfortunately for him, found in Major
Clarke's pocket-book, and because of it he was put through a form of
trial, taken out and shot dead, all on the same day. He left a wife
and large family, who afterwards found their way to Natal in a
destitute condition.

The case of Van der Linden is somewhat similar. He was one of Raaf's
Volunteers, and as such had taken the oath of allegiance to the Queen.
In the execution of his duty he made a report to his commanding
officer about the Boer meeting, and which afterwards fell into the
hands of the Boers. On this he was put through the form of trial, and,
though in the service of the Queen, was found guilty of treason and
condemned to death. One of his judges, a little less stony-hearted
than the rest, pointed out that "when the prisoner committed the crime
martial law had not yet been proclaimed, nor the State," but it
availed him nothing. He was taken out and shot.

A Kafir named Carolus was also put through the form of trial and shot,
for no crime at all that I can discover.

Ten unarmed Kafir drivers, who had been sent away from the fort, were
shot down in cold blood by a party of Boers. Several witnesses depose
to having seen their remains lying together close to Potchefstroom.

Various other Kafirs were shot. None of the perpetrators of these
crimes were brought to justice. The Royal Commission comments on these
acts as follows:--

"In regard to the deaths of Woite, Van de Linden, and Carolus, the
Boer leaders do not deny the fact that those men had been executed,
but sought to justify it. The majority of your Commissioners felt
bound to record their opinion that the taking of the lives of these
men was an act contrary to the rules of civilised warfare. Sir H. de
Villiers was of opinion that the executions in these cases, having
been ordered by properly constituted Court Martial of the Boers'
forces after due trial, did not fall under the cognisance of your
Commissioners.

"Upon the case of William Finlay the majority of your Commissioners
felt bound to record the opinion that the sacrifice of Finlay's life,
through forced labour under fire in the trenches, was an act contrary
to the rules of civilised warfare. /Sir H. de Villiers did not feel
justified by the facts of the case in joining in this expression of
opinion/ (sic). As to the case of the Kafir Andries, your
Commissioners decided that, although the shooting of this man appeared
to them, from the information laid before them, to be not in
accordance with the rules of civilised warfare, under all the
circumstances of the case, it was not desirable to insist upon a
prosecution.

"The majority of your Commissioners, although feeling it a duty to
record emphatically their disapproval of the acts that resulted in the
deaths of Woite, Van der Linden, Finlay, and Carolus, yet found it
impossible to bring to justice the persons guilty of these acts."

It will be observed that Sir H. de Villiers does not express any
disapproval, emphatic or otherwise, of these wicked murders.

But Potchefstroom did not enjoy a monopoly of murder.

In December 1880, Captain Elliot, who was a survivor from the Bronker
Spruit massacre, and Captain Lambart, who had been taken prisoner by
the Boers whilst bringing remounts from the Free State, were released
from Heidelberg on parole on condition that they left the country. An
escort of two men brought them to a drift of the Vaal river, where
they refused to cross, because they could not get their cart through,
the river being in flood. The escort then returned to Heidelberg and
reported that the officers would not cross. A civil note was then sent
back to Captains Elliot and Lambart, signed by P. J. Joubert, telling
them "to pass the Vaal river immediately by the road that will be
shown to you." What secret orders, if any, were sent with this letter
has never transpired; but I decline to believe that, either in this or
in Barber's case, the Boer escort took upon themselves the
responsibility of murdering their prisoners, without authority of some
kind for the deed.

The men despatched from Heidelberg with the letter found Lambert and
Elliot wandering about and trying to find the way to Standerton. They
presented the letter, and took them towards a drift in the Vaal.
Shortly before they got there the prisoners noticed that their escort
had been reinforced. It would be interesting to know, if these extra
men were not sent to assist in the murder, how and why they turned up
as they did and joined themselves to the escort. The prisoners were
taken to an old and disused drift of the Vaal river and told to cross.
It was now dark, and the river was much swollen with rain; in fact,
impassable for the cart and horses. Captains Elliot and Lambart begged
to be allowed to outspan till the next morning, but were told that
they must cross, which they accordingly attempted to do. A few yards
from the bank the cart stuck on a rock, and whilst in this position
the Boer escort poured a volley into it. Poor Elliot was instantly
killed, one bullet fracturing his skull, another passing through the
back, a third shattering the right thigh, and a fourth breaking the
left wrist. The cart was also riddled, but, strange to say, Captain
Lambert was untouched, and succeeded in swimming to the further bank,
the Boers firing at him whenever the flashes of lightning revealed his
whereabouts. After sticking some time in the mud of the bank he
managed to effect his escape, and next day reached the house of an
Englishman called Groom, living in the Free State, and from thence
made his way to Natal.

Two of the murderers were put through a form of trial, after the
conclusion of peace, and acquitted.

The case of the murder of Dr. Barber is of a somewhat similar
character to that of Elliot, except that there is in this case a
curious piece of indirect evidence that seems to connect the murder
directly with Piet Joubert, one of the Triumvirate.

In the month of February 1881, two Englishmen came to the Boer laager
at Lang's Nek to offer their services as doctors. Their names were Dr.
Barber, who was well known to the Boers, and his assistant, Mr. Walter
Dyas, and they came, not from Natal, but the Orange Free State. On
arrival at the Boer camp they were at first well received, but after a
little while seized, searched, and tied up all night to a disselboom
(pole of a waggon). Next morning they were told to mount their horses,
and started from the camp escorted by two men who were to take them
over the Free State line.

When they reached the Free State line the Boers told them to get off
their horses, which they were ordered to bring back to the camp. They
did so, bade good-day to their escort, and started to walk on towards
their destination. When they had gone about forty yards Dyas heard the
report of a rifle, and Barber called out, "My God, I am shot!" and
fell dead.

Dyas went down on his hands and knees and saw one of the escort
deliberately aim at him. He then jumped up, and ran dodging from right
to left, trying to avoid the bullet. Presently the man fired, and he
felt himself struck through the thigh. He fell with his face to the
men, and saw his would-be assassin put a fresh cartridge into his
rifle and aim at him. Turning his face to the ground he awaited his
death, but the bullet whizzed past his head. He then saw the men take
the horses and go away, thinking they had finished him. After waiting
a while he managed to get up, and struggled to a house not far off,
where he was kindly treated and remained till he recovered.

Some time after this occurrence a Hottentot, named Allan Smith, made a
statement at Newcastle, from which it appears that he had been taken
prisoner by the Boers and made to work for them. One night he saw
Barber and Dyas tied to the disselboom, and overheard the following,
which I will give in his own words:--

"I went to a fire where some Boers were sitting; among them was a low-
sized man, moderately stout, with a dark-brown full beard, apparently
about thirty-five years of age. I do not know his name. /He was
telling his comrades that he had brought an order from Piet Joubert/
to Viljoen, to take the two prisoners to the Free State line /and
shoot them there/. He said, in the course of conversation, 'Piet
Joubert het gevraacht waarom was de mensche neet dood geschiet toen
hulle bijde eerste laager gekom het.' ('Piet Joubert asked why were
the men not shot when they came to the first laager.') They then saw
me at the fire, and one of them said, 'You must not talk before that
fellow; he understands what you say, and will tell everybody.'

"Next morning Viljoen told me to go away, and gave me a pass into the
Free State. He said (in Dutch), 'you must not drive for any Englishmen
again. If we catch you doing so we will shoot you, and if you do not
go away quick, and we catch you hanging about when we bring the two
men to the line, we will shoot you too.'"

Dyas, who escaped, made an affidavit with reference to this statement
in which he says, "I have read the foregoing affidavit of Allan Smith,
and I say that the person described in the third paragraph thereof as
bringing orders from Piet Joubert to Viljoen, corresponds with one of
the Boers who took Dr. Barber and myself to the Free State, and to the
best of my belief he is the man who shot Dr. Barber."

The actual murderers were put on their trial in the Free State, and,
of course, acquitted. In his examination at the trial, Allan Smith
says, "It was a young man who said that Joubert had given orders that
Barber had to be shot. . . . It was not at night, but in the morning
early, when the young man spoke about Piet Joubert's order."

Most people will gather, from what I have quoted, that there exists a
certain connection between the dastardly murder of Dr. Barber (and the
attempted murder of Mr. Dyas), and Piet Joubert, one of that "able"
Triumvirate of which Mr. Gladstone speaks so highly.

I shall only allude to one more murder, though more are reported to
have occurred, amongst them--that of Mr. Malcolm, who was kicked to
death by Boers,--and that is Mr. Green's.

Mr. Green was an English gold-digger, and was travelling along the
main road to his home at Spitzcop. The road passed close by the
military camp at Lydenburg, into which he was called. On coming out he
went to a Boer patrol with a flag of truce, and whilst talking to them
was shot dead. The Rev. J. Thorne, the English clergyman at Lydenburg,
describes this murder in an affidavit in the following words:--

"That I was the clergyman who got together a party of Englishmen and
brought down the body of Mr. Green who was murdered by the Boers and
buried it. I have ascertained the circumstances of the murder, which
were as follows:--Mr. Green was on his way to the gold-fields. As he
was passing the fort, he was called in by the officers, and sent out
again with a message to the Boer commandant. Immediately on leaving
the camp, he went to the Boer guard opposite with a flag of truce in
his hand; while parleying with the Boers, who proposed to make a
prisoner of him, he was shot through the head."

No prosecution was instituted in this case. Mr. Green left a wife and
children in a destitute condition.



                                  II

             PLEDGES GIVEN BY MR. GLADSTONE'S GOVERNMENT
                      AS TO THE RETENTION OF THE
                    TRANSVAAL AS A BRITISH COLONY

The following extracts from the speeches, despatches, and telegrams of
members of the present Government, with reference to the proposed
retrocession of the Transvaal, are not without interest:--

During the month of May 1880, Lord Kimberley despatched a telegram to
Sir Bartle Frere, in which the following words occur: "/Under no
circumstances can the Queen's authority in the Transvaal be
relinquished./"

In a despatch dated 20th May, and addressed to Sir Bartle Frere, Lord
Kimberley says, "That the sovereignty of the Queen in the Transvaal
could not be relinquished."

In a speech in the House of Lords on the 24th May 1880, Lord Kimberley
said:--

"There was a still stronger reason than that for not 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 effect of our now reversing our policy would be to leave the
province in a state of anarchy, and possibly to cause an internecine
war. For such a risk he could not make himself responsible. The number
of the natives in the Transvaal was estimated at about 800,000, and
that of the whites less than 50,0000. 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 question, came to the conclusion /that we could not relinquish the
Transvaal/. Nothing could be more unfortunate than uncertainty in
respect to such a matter."

On the 8th June 1880, Mr. Gladstone, in reply to a Boer memorial,
wrote as follows:--

"It is undoubtedly a matter for much regret that it should, since the
Annexation, have appeared that so large a number of the population of
Dutch origin in the Transvaal are opposed to the annexation of that
territory, but it is impossible 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/. Looking to
all the circumstances, both of the Transvaal and the rest of South
Africa, and to the necessity of preventing a renewal of disorders,
which might lead to disastrous consequences, not only to the Transvaal
but to the whole of South Africa, /our judgment is that the Queen
cannot be advised to relinquish the Transvaal/."

Her Majesty's Speech, delivered in Parliament on the 6th January 1881,
contains the following words: "A rising in the Transvaal has recently
imposed upon me the duty of /vindicating my authority/."

These extracts are rather curious reading in face of the policy
adopted by the Government, after our troops had been defeated.



                                 III

                       THE CASE OF INDABEZIMBI

This is a case which came under my own notice. The complainant is now
a tenant of my own. When Indabezimbi appeared before Mr. Cochrane and
myself, his appearance fully bore out his description of the assault
made upon him. We did everything in our power to help him to recover
his son and his property, but without effect. The matter was fully
reported to Sir Hercules Robinson and Sir E. Wood, and a question was
asked on the subject in the House of Commons. I append Mr. Courtney's
answer. This case, which is perfectly authentic, will prove
instructive reading, as showing the treatment the Kafir must expect at
the hands of the Boer, now that he is no longer protected by us. It
must be remembered that the vast majority of such incidents are never
heard of. The Kafirs suffer, and are still. The assault and robbery of
Indabezimbi took place in Natal territory.


                       Statement of Indabezimbi

"I used to work on Mr. Robson's son's place, and on his death I went
to Meyer's (in the Utrecht district of the Transvaal) about a year
ago. I took all my property with me. There lived on the farm old Isaac
Meyer, Solomon Meyer, who died during the war, young Isaac Meyer, Jan
Meyer, Martinus Meyer, also a man called Cornelius, a 'bijwooner,' who
loved in Solomon's place after he died.

"According to custom, I sent my son to work for old Isaac Meyer, as I
lived on his place. When the war began all the Meyer family moved
further into the Transvaal, my son going with them as herd. I went up
to Klip River with them as driver, where the river forms the boundary
between the Free State and Transvaal. I returned at once, leaving my
son with the Meyers. He was a small boy about twelve years of age. At
the termination of the war the Meyers sent for me to drive them down.
I met them a day's journey this side of Klip River. I asked them where
my son was. Old Isaac Meyer told me he had sent him to look for
horses; he did not return; and another boy was sent who brought the
horses. The horses were found close by. No one went to look for my
son. I asked old Isaac Meyer for leave to go and offer a reward
amongst the Kafirs for my son. He refused, saying I must drive him
home, and then he would give me a pass to come back and look for him.
On our arrival at the farm I and my wife again applied to old Isaac
Meyer to be allowed to go and see about my son. He refused, saying I
must first shear the sheep. I replied that he well knew that I could
not shear sheep. I said, 'How can I work when my heart is sore for my
son?' Meyer said again that I must wait awhile as the rivers were
full. I said how could that matter, seeing that both in coming and
going with the waggons we crossed no rivers? As he refused me a pass,
I started without one to seek my son. On arrival at Mavovo's kraal I
met my brother, who told me that I must go no further, or the Boers
would shoot me. Having no pass I returned. On my return my wives told
me that the Meyers had come every morning to look for me with guns to
shoot me, telling them that 'it was now no longer the days for
sjamboking (flogging with hide whips) the natives, but the days for
shooting them.' On hearing this I collected my goods, and by morning
had everything on the Natal side of the Buffalo River--on Natal
ground. About mid-day Martinus Meyer overtook us by Degaza's kraal and
asked me what I was doing on the Natal side of the river. I told him I
was leaving for Natal, because I found it altogether too hot for me in
the Transvaal. He said that if I came back he would make everything
comfortable. I refused. He then attacked me with a knobkerrie, and
would have killed me had not one of my wives, seeing that I was badly
hurt, knocked him down with a piece of iron. Martinus then mounted his
horse and galloped off. I then got on my horse and fled. My wives hid
themselves. In the afternoon there came to the waggon Jan Meyer,
Martinus Meyer, young Isaac Meyer, and the man called Cornelius. They
hunted all about for us with the object of shooting us, as they told
Degaza's Kafirs. My wives then saw them inspan the waggon and take
everything away. I had a waggon, twelve oxen, four cows, and a mare,
also a box containing two hundred pounds in gold, a telescope,
clothes, and other things. My wives found the box broken on the ground
and all the contents gone. Forty sacks of grain belonging to me were
also taken. I was robbed of everything I had, with the exception of
the horse I escaped on. The waggon was one I hired from my brother (a
relation); the oxen were my own brother's. Eighty pounds of the money
I got from the Standard Bank in Newcastle for oxen sold to the owner
of the store on the Ingagane Drift. The rest I had accumulated in fees
from doctoring. I am a doctor amongst my own people. I come now to ask
you to allow me to settle on your land as a refugee.

                                      "(Signed)       Indabezimbi,
                                                       his X mark.

"This statement was made by Indabezimbi at Hilldrop, Newcastle, Natal,
on the Seventeenth of August, Eighteen hundred and eighty-one, in the
presence of the undersigned witnesses.

                                 "(Signed)      H. Rider Haggard.
                                                A. H. D. Cochrane.
                                                J. H. Gay Roberts.

"N.B.--The outrage of which Indabezimbi has here given an account
occurred within a week of the present date, August 17th, 1881."


         Statement of the woman Nongena, Wife of Indabezimbi

"My master's name is Isaac Meyer; he lives in the Transvaal, south of
Utrecht. We have lived on the farm about a year. On the farm lived
also Jan Meyer, Martinus Meyer, and young Isaac Meyer, sons of old
Isaac Meyer. There was also another man on the farm, whose name I do
not know. When the waggon went up with the Meyers' family to the
centre of the Transvaal, when the late war broke out, my husband drove
old Isaac Meyer's waggon, and my son Ungazaan also went to drive on
stock. After my husband had driven the waggon to its destination in
the Transvaal he returned to the kraal, leaving his son Ungazaan with
the Meyers. After the war was over my husband was sent for by the
Meyers to drive back the waggons. On arrival of the Meyers at the farm
I found my husband had returned, but my son was left behind. I asked
my master where my son was; my master replied, 'He did not know, he
had sent to boy to bring up horses, but he had not brought them.'
Another boy was sent who brought the horses. He said he had not seen
the boy Ungazaan since he left to look for the horses, as they had
left the place the morning after the boy was missing. My husband asked
for a pass to go back and look for the boy; Meyer refused, and my
husband went without one to look for Ungazaan, my son. He returned
without the boy, owing, he said, to the want of a pass. My husband
dared not go into the country without a pass. During my husband's
absence, the three sons of old Isaac Meyer, namely, Martinus, Jan, and
Isaac, came every morning to search for my husband, saying, 'We will
kill him, he leaves our work to go without our leave for look for the
boy.' They came once with sjamboks, but afterwards with guns, saying
they would kill him if they found him. On hearing this my husband
said, 'We cannot then stay here longer.' He then went at once and
borrowed a waggon and twelve oxen, and during the night we packed the
waggon three times, and took three loads across the Buffalo River to
Degaza's kraal, which is on Natal ground, forty sacks of grain, 200
pounds in a box, with clothes and other things, also mats and skins,
and four head of cattle and a horse. All these things were at Degaza's
kraal before sunrise the next morning. The Induna Kabane, at the
magistrate's office at Newcastle, knows of the money, and from whence
it came. All the money is our money.

"About mid-day on the day after the night we moved, Martinus came on
horseback to us at Degaza's kraal, and I saw him beating my husband
with a kerrie; he hit him also in the mouth with his fist. He hit my
husband on the head with a kerrie; he beat my husband on the foot when
he was trying to creep away in a hut, and would have killed him had
not one of his wives named Camgagaan hit Martinus on the head with a
piece of iron. Martinus, on recovery, rode away; my husband also fled
on a horse.

"I with the other wives fled, and hid ourselves close by in the grass
and stones. Presently we saw from our own hiding-place three white
men, armed with guns, seeking for us. Their names were Martinus Meyer,
Jan Meyer, and Isaac Meyer, all three sons of old Isaac Meyer. They
sought us in vain. From our hiding-place we heard the waggon driven
away; and later, when we went back to Degaza's kraal, they told us
that the Meyers had inspanned the waggon, and had returned with it to
the Transvaal side of the Buffalo River. The names of those who saw
the Boers go away with the waggon are Gangtovo, Capaches, Nomatonga,
Nomamane, and others. The Boers took away on the waggon that night all
the last load we had brought over from the Transvaal, together with
all our clothes; and some of the sacks first brought over were loaded
up, all our cattle were taken, and our box was broken, and the 200
pounds taken away. We found the pieces of the box on the ground when
we came from our hiding-place. We then fled. The people at Degaza's
kraal told us that the Boers had said that they would return, and take
away that which they were forced to leave behind when they took the
first load. We have since heard from Degaza that the Boers came back
again and took what remained of our property at Degaza's kraal. Degaza
saw the Boers take the things himself.

"This is all I know of the facts. The assaults and robbery took place,
as near as I can say, about fourteen days ago."

                                    (Signed)            Nongena,
                                                       her X mark.

Gagaoola, also wife of Indabezimbi, states:--"I have heard all that
Nongena has told you. Her words are true; I was present when the
assault and robbery took place."

                                    (Signed)            Gagaoola,
                                                       her X mark.

These statements were made to us at Hilldrop, Newcastle, Natal, on the
Twenty-second of August, Eighteen hundred and eighty-one.

                                                A. H. D. Cochrane.
                                                H. Rider Haggard.

                                    (Signed)              Ayah,
                                                       her X mark,
                                                      Interpreter.


                             Indabezimbi

"Mr. Alderman Fowler asked the Under Secretary of State for the
Colonies, whether the British Resident at Pretoria had brought under
the notice of the Transvaal Government the circumstances of an outrage
committed in August last, by a party of Boers, on the person and
property of a Kafir named Indabezimbi, who was at that time residing
in Natal; and whether any steps had been taken by the authorities of
the Transvaal either to institute a judicial inquiry into the matter,
or to surrender the offenders to the Government of Natal.

"Mr. Courtney.--On the 13th of October the British Resident reported
that, according to promise, the Government has caused an investigation
to be made at Utrecht, and informed him that the result was somewhat
to invalidate the statement of Indabezimbi; but that the documents
connected with the investigation at Utrecht would speedily be
forwarded to him with a view to correspondence through him with the
Natal Government. No further communication has been received. It must
be observed that, in the absence of any extradition convention, a
judicial inquiry in this case is practically impossible, the outrage,
whatever it was, having been committed in Natal, and the offenders
being in the Transvaal. Her Majesty's Government are taking active
steps to re-establish a system of extradition, in pursuance of Article
29, of the Convention. The despatches on this subject will be given to
Parliament when the correspondence is completed."



                                  IV

                         A BOER ADVERTISEMENT

It may be interesting to Englishmen to know what treatment is meted
out to such of their fellow-countrymen as have been bold enough, or
forced by necessity, to remain in the Transvaal since the
retrocession. The following is a translation of an advertisement
recently published in the "Volkstem," a Transvaal paper, and is a fair
sample of what "loyalists" have to expect.


                               "WARNING

 "We, the undersigned Burghers of the Ward Aapies river, hereby warn
  all loyal persons who have registered themselves with the British
  Resident, that they are not to come into our houses, or into our
  farms, and still less to offer to shake hands. They can greet us
  at a distance on the road /like Kafirs/, and those who act
  contrary to this notice can expect the result."


Presumably "the result" that the Englishman who takes the liberty to
offer to shake hands with a Boer can expect, is to be beaten or
murdered. This notice is signed by the Justice of the Peace or "Veld
Cornet" of the district. Anybody who knows the estimation in which a
Kafir is held by the Boers will understand its peculiar insolence.



                                  V

                "TRANSVAAL'S" LETTER TO THE "STANDARD"

The following letter appeared in the issue of the "Standard" of the
31st May 1882, and is dated Pretoria, 27th April. It is signed
"Transvaal," probably because the author, were he to put his name at
the foot of so candid a document, would find himself in much the same
position as that occupied at the present moment by an Irish landlord
who has outraged the susceptibilities of the Land League. He would be
rigorously "boycotted," and might, in the event of any disturbance, be
made into a target. The Transvaal Boers are very sensitive to
criticism, especially where their native policy is concerned. I take
the liberty to reprint the letter here, partly because I feel sure
that I will be forwarding the wishes of the writer by assisting to
give publicity to his facts, and partly on account of the striking and
recent confirmation it affords, on every point, to my remarks on the
same subject:--

"Sir,--In calling your attention to what is going on on the south-
western border of the Transvaal, I may possibly tell you of some
things which you may already have heard of, for in the present
isolated condition of the country, without telegraphs, and with a very
imperfect postal system, added to the jealousy of the Boer Government
in keeping their actions secret from the outside world, it is not only
very difficult to get at the truth of what is happening, but the
people in one portion of the country are in many cases totally
ignorant of what is going on in another. Nevertheless, I feel it
incumbent on me to call the attention of the English people, through
your widely circulating journal, to what has come under my observation
with reference to the disgraceful native war which is, and has been,
raging on the south-west border of this country.

"During the late Boer war, you may be aware of the fact that a very
large number, if not all, of the natives, were strongly in favour of
the English Government, and only awaited the signal from it to rush
upon their old oppressors. But the natives, although forbidden by the
English Government from joining with them against the Boers (it is
hardly necessary to say that had it not been for this the war would
have had a very different ending), nevertheless afforded an asylum and
protection to the lives and property of refugee Englishmen and
loyalists. Notable among these natives was a Chief named Montsiou,
whose tribe is situated just outside the borders of the Transvaal to
the south-west. This Chief and his people received numbers of refugees
who fled to them for protection from the rapacity of the Boers, and
watched over them and their property throughout the war. For this
offence the Boers swore to be revenged on him, and hardly was the war
finished when they commenced commandeering in the Potchefstroom
district, under the pretence of protecting their borders, but with the
ostensible purpose of inflicting chastisement on this loyal Chief;
and, the better to effect their purpose, they allied themselves with a
neighbouring Chief, who had some old grudge against him, and, by
promises of assistance and hopes of plunder, induced him to commence a
war, under cover of which they could join, and thus effect the purpose
they had in view.

"The Chiefs whom the Boers had instigated to harass Montsiou got the
worst of it, and the action of the Boers, who were actively
commandeering in the Potchefstroom (district?), under Commandant
Cronge, was brought to the notice of the Royal Commission through
complaints made by loyal Boers, and resulted in an inquiry into the
subject, which showed that his opponent was the aggressor, and was
acting under the advice of and assistance from the Boers. The Royal
Commission managed to patch matters up, but no sooner were their
labours over, and the country fairly handed over to the Boers, than
Moshete and Masouw, instigated by the Boers, commenced again harassing
Montsiou, with the avowed purpose of bringing on a war, and so far
succeeded as to oblige Montsiou to take up arms in self-defence.

"From that time forward the war has gone on increasing in dimensions,
until other Chiefs have been drawn into it, and the Boer volunteers
fighting against Montsiou and Monkoroane are almost equal in numbers
to the natives. The Boers, while doing all they can to crush Montsiou
on account of the protection he afforded loyalists during the late war
against the English Government, are careful not to do it in an
official way, because that might cause trouble with England, whereas,
by aiding and assisting it privately, they could do quite as much
without incurring responsibility. You may naturally ask how I know all
this, and what proofs I can advance in support of it. Some time after
the Royal Commission had left the country, and the war had commenced
again, Piet Joubert, who is Commandant-General, went down to the
border with the object of putting an end to the war. This, I presume,
he did for the sake of appearances, for it is well known that he
entertains a strong hatred against those natives who in any way showed
a partiality for British rule; and when it is remembered that Piet
Joubert's journey did not result in a cessation of hostilities, but in
an increase, and that ever since his journey the war has increased in
area and in numbers, and that in no single instance has a Boer
volunteer been prevented from crossing the border, or ammunition for
use against Montsiou been stopped, the sincerity of his intentions may
well be doubted.

"Then, again, officers in the Boer Jagers went about Pretoria
endeavouring to obtain volunteers to fight against Montsiou, saying
that they were to have some months' leave from the Government, and
that subscriptions would be raised to assist those men who had no
private means. This took place almost immediately after Piet Joubert's
return from the border, and while he was in Pretoria, and the general
opinion was that he was at the bottom of it; but as it became rather
more public than was intended, the British Resident was obliged to
take notice of it, and the result was that the Boers, though in
general treating the British Resident with little consideration,
thought it wisest to carry on their operations in a more private
manner, more especially as their object could be attained quite as
effectually in this way.

"While the Boers are assisting Moshete and Masouw by every means in
their power, with the sole object of crushing Montsiou and Monkoroane,
another loyal Chief, the Colonial Government, no doubt under
instructions from home, are doing their best to prevent volunteers or
ammunition reaching them, and have already rested men in Kimberley,
who have been trying to raise volunteers to go to their assistance.

"The result of this is, that the loyal Chiefs are suffering under a
double disadvantage; for while their enemies are receiving every
assistance, they are blockaded on all sides, and, through the action
of the English Government in preventing them obtaining assistance, are
rapidly falling a prey to the Boers. Those only who know anything of
the Boer method of warfare against natives will know what this means;
and in spite of the Boer Government doing all they can to keep things
secret, horrible tales of the cruelties perpetrated by them leak out
occasionally.

"It seems to me a disgraceful thing, and a stain on the honour of
England, that these loyal Chiefs and their tribes should be robbed,
plundered, and shot down like dogs, simply because they afforded
protection to the lives and property of Englishmen during the late
war, and yet these things are going on and are being perpetrated on
the border of England's Colonies. If England will not step in and
insist on the Boers putting a stop to this murderous war, then in
God's name let her not prevent these poor natives from obtaining
ammunition and assistance to enable them to defend their country. They
succoured our countrymen, and if we cannot succour them, the least we
can do is not to interfere to prevent them from protecting themselves!

"Of course, it suits the Boer Government to make out that they have
nothing to do with the war, and cannot prevent Boer Volunteers from
fighting these Chiefs; and so long as the English Government rests
satisfied with these answers, so long will this disgraceful state of
things go on. Let the English Government be firm, however, and insist
on the Boers taking no part in this war, and it will cease--a sure
proof that the Boer Government have the power to stop it if they have
the will.

"Not only are the Boers wreaking vengeance upon Montsiou and
Monkoroane, but a friend of theirs, a Chief of the name of Kalafin,
whose tribe is situated in the Zeerust district, Transvaal, has been
robbed by them of everything he possessed. This Chief had English
sympathies; and as he presumed to build a wall round his town he gave
the Boers the excuse they wanted. He was ordered to take the wall
down, which he did, at the same time proving that he only built it to
prevent his cattle straying among the huts. He was then ordered to
come to Pretoria, which he did accordingly. He was then ordered to pay
a fine of three thousand cattle, which fine he paid. No sooner was
this done than the Boers, bent on his ruin, raised the fine to ten
thousand head. The poor Chief in vain pleaded his inability to pay. It
was the old story of the wolf and the lamb. Because he couldn't pay,
the Boers construed it into an act of disobedience, and at once
ordered their men to go in and take everything he possessed. This
tribe is small and weak, which the Boers well knew. Eye-witnesses of
what followed say it was a heartrending sight. The women, with
children in their arms, pleaded in vain to the Boers to leave them
something or they would starve, but the latter only jeered at them.
What these poor people will do God only knows, for the Boers stripped
them of every living thing they possessed, and with the proceeds of
this robbery the Boer Government intend to replenish their coffers.

"The British Resident, Mr. Hudson, it is believed, shuts his eyes to
many things. No doubt his is a difficult position to fill; and
doubtless he is aware that, if he reports everything to the English
Government, the Boers have it in their power to make his position
anything but a pleasant one. In any case, the English portion of the
community here, while admitting his good qualities socially, have
little confidence in him officially.

"My object in writing this letter, however, is not so much to show
what a disgraceful state the Government is in, as to try and awaken
sympathy in the breasts of my countrymen for the cause of these loyal
Chiefs. While the Government are writing despatches to the British
Resident, these Chiefs and their people are being ruined past
remedying."



                                  VI

                    A VISIT TO THE CHIEF SECOCOENI[*]

[*] This paper was written just before the Annexation of the Transvaal
    in 1877.

Towards the end of March I had occasion to visit the Basuto chief
Secocoeni, in his native stronghold beyond the Loolu Berg, a range to
the north-east of Pretoria, about 250 miles away; and as this journey
was typical of travelling in the wilds of South Africa, an account of
it may prove interesting.

It is perhaps necessary to explain, for the benefit of those who are
not acquainted with South African politics, that Secocoeni is the
chieftain who has been at war with the late Transvaal Republic, who
drove back its forces, capturing some 7000 head of cattle. It is from
this raid that the present state of affairs has arisen; so that this
obscure chief, with his 9000 warriors, has materially affected the
future destinies of South Africa. Negotiations of peace had been set
on foot, and it was in connection with these delicate matters that the
journey was to be undertaken.

"Going to Secocoeni at this time of year! Ah!" said one gentleman.
"Well, look here. I sent five natives through that country in this
same month (March) last year; out of those five, three died of the
fever, and the other two just got through with their lives. I only
tell you, you know, that you may take precautions. This is a bad fever
year." However, fever or no fever, we had to go. As it was necessary
to travel rapidly, we could only take four riding-horses, three for
ourselves and the fourth for a Zulu named "Lankiboy," who also led a
pack-horse, and carried an enormous "knob-kerry," or shillelagh, stuck
in his button-hole, as though it were a wedding-bouquet.

Behind our saddles were fastened our saddle-bags, containing a change
of clothing, and in front we strapped a rug and a mackintosh. Our
commissariat consisted of four tins of potted ham, and our medicine-
chest of some quinine, Cockle's pills, and a roll of sticking-plaster,
which, with a revolver and a hunting-knife or two, completed our
equipment.

We knew little of our route save that our destination lay due east, so
due east we steered. After riding for about twenty miles, and crossing
the Mahaliesburg range, that stretches away north for hundreds of
miles, we came to a Boer's house, where we off-saddled to feed our
horses. It must be understood that the Boers were the one certain
difficulty, and one of the possible dangers, to be encountered on our
road, for at no time are they are pleasant people to deal with, and
just now they are remarkably unpleasant towards Englishmen.

For instance, at this first house, we managed to get some forage for
our horses, before our scowling host found out who we were, but not a
bit could we get to eat. "Have you no bread, myn Heer?" "We have no
bread to spare." "Have you any eggs?" "We have no eggs." "Can you let
us have some milk?" "Susan, have you got any milk to give these carles
(fellows)?" Finally, we succeeded in buying three cups of milk for a
shilling, "as a favour," and that is all we got from sunrise to
sunset.

Riding, on empty stomachs, for another sixty miles over the plains, we
came to a Boer's house where we had to sleep. Just before we reached
the door, I noticed what I have often seen since, some graves in a
row, with heaps of stones piled over them. It appears that these
people do not care about bring buried in consecrated ground, their
only anxiety being to be put in a coffin, and they are generally laid
to rest near to their doors. There is neither railing nor headstone,
and no trees or flowers, those green emblematic garments with which
civilised people try to hide the ugliness of death. I remember once
seeing several graves within two or three yards of the public road, so
that in a year or so the waggons will be rumbling over the heads of
those who lie beneath.

When you ride up to a Boer's house, the etiquette is to wait until
some member of the family asks you to off-saddle, and then you must go
in and shake hands with every one, a most disagreeable custom. None of
the women--who are very plain--rise to meet one, they just hold out
their hands. This house was a fair specimen of the sort of habitation
indulged in by the ordinary Boer. The main room was about eighteen
feet square, with that kind of door which allows the upper half to
open whilst the lower remains shut, such as is used in stables in
England. The flooring is made of cow-dung, into which peach stones are
trodden at the threshold, in order to prevent its wearing away. The
furniture consists of a deal table and some chairs, rather nearly made
of strips of hide fastened to a wooden frame. There is no ceiling, but
only beams, to which are fastened strips of "biltong," or game's
flesh, dried in the sun. Out of this room open one or two more, in
which the whole family sleep, without much attempt at privacy.

Sitting about the room were two or three young mothers, without
stockings and nursing babies; in the corner, on a chair, made twice as
large as any of the others, reposed the mother of the family, a woman
of large size. The whole house was pervaded by a sickly odour, like
that of a vault, whilst the grime and filth of it baffle description.
And this was the place we had to eat and sleep in. However, there was
no help for it; the only thing to do was to light one's pipe, and
smoke. After an hour or so, supper was put upon the table, consisting
of a bowl full of boiled bones, a small stack of mealie cobs, and, be
it added, some good bread-and-butter. The eating arrangements of these
people are certainly very trying. The other day we had to eat our
dinner in a Boer's house, with a reeking ox-hide, just torn from the
animal, lying on the floor beside us, together with portions of the
poor beast's head whose flesh we were eating. However, on this
occasion we were spared the ox-hide, and, being very hungry, managed
to put up with the other discomforts. After a long grace our suppers
were served out to us. I remember I got an enormous bone with but
little flesh on it, which, if I may form an opinion from its great
size and from a rapid anatomical survey, must have been the tibia of
an ox. A young Boer sat opposite to me--a wonderful fellow. He got
through several mealie cobs (and large ones too) whilst I was eating
half a one. His method was peculiar, and shows what practice can do.
He shoved a mealie cob into his mouth, gave it a bite and a wrench,
just like one of those patent American threshing machines, brought the
cob out perfectly clear of grain, and took another. After the supper
was over, we had another long grace ending with: "voor spijze en drunk
de Heer ik dank" (for food and drink the Lord I thank).

After supper we went outside in order to escape the feet-washing
ceremony (all in the same water) which this "simple pastoral people"
are said to indulge in, and which they might expect the "uitlander"
(stranger) to enter into with enthusiasm. When we came back, we found
that the women--who, by-the-by, do not eat till the men have finished
--had done their meal, and gone to bed, having first made us up a
luxurious couch on the floor, consisting of a filthy feather-bed, and
an equally filthy blanket. My heart misgave me when I looked at that
bed. It may have been fancy, but once or twice I thought it moved.
However, there was no choice, unless we chose to sit up all night; so
in we got, looking for all the world like three big sun-burned dolls
put to bed by some little girl. I, as the youngest, blew out the
light, and then!--from every side /they/ came. Up one's arms, up one's
legs, down one's back they scampered, till life became a burden. Sleep
was impossible; one could only lie awake and calculate the bites per
minute, and the quantity of blood one would lose before daybreak. Cold
as it was, I would have turned out and slept in the veldt, only my rug
was over my two companions as well as myself, so I could not take it.
I have slept in a good many different places, and in very fairly
uncomfortable places, but I never had such a night before.

At the first grey dawn of morning the old "frau" came stumbling out of
the bedroom, and sat down without ceremony in her big chair. Waiting
till she thought that we had reached a sufficiently advanced stage in
our toilette--and her idea of what that was must have been a strange
one--she shouted out to her daughters that they could "com," and in
they all came. Very glad were we when we had paid our bill, which was
a heavy one, and were in the saddle once more, riding through the cold
morning mist that lay in masses on all the ridges of the hills like
snow on mountains.

It was needful to start early, for we had more than sixty miles to
cover, and our ponies had done a good journey the day before. The work
that one can get out of these ponies is marvellous. There was my pony,
"Mettle," who had my eleven stone to carry, to say nothing of the
saddle, heavy saddle-bags, and a roll of rugs, who came in at the end
of his journey as fresh as paint. We cantered easily over the great
high-veldt prairies, now and then passing clumps of trees, outposts of
the bush-veldt. These enormous plains, notwithstanding their dreary
vastness, have a wild beauty of their own. The grass is what is called
sour grass, and has a peculiar blue tinge, but stock do not like it so
well as the low-veldt grass, which is sweeter, and fattens them more
quickly, though it does not put them in such good fettle. The rock
here is all white sandstone, and thinly overlaps an enormous bed of
coal, cropping up from beneath the water-washed surface. At this time
of year there are very few beasts or birds of any sort to be seen,
though in the winter the veldt is one moving mass of "trek" or
migratory game.

Our destination that day was Botsabelo, the most important mission-
station, and one of the very few successful ones, in South-Eastern
Africa. As we neared it, the country gradually broke into hills of
peculiar and beautiful formation, which rendered the last two hours of
our ride, in the dark, through an unknown country, rather a difficult
job. However, we stumbled through streams, and over boulders, and
about nine o'clock were lucky enough to come right upon the station,
where we were most kindly received by Dr. Merensky. The station itself
stands on the brow of a hill surrounded by gardens and orchards;
beneath it lie slope and mountain, stream and valley, over which are
dotted numbers of kraals, to say nothing of three or four substantial
houses occupied by the assistant missionary and German artisans. Near
Dr. Merensky's house stands the church, by far the best I have seen in
the Transvaal, and there is also a store with some well-built
workshops around it. All the neighbouring country belongs to the
station, which is, in fact, like a small independent State, 40,000
acres in extent. On a hill-top overshadowing the station, are placed
the fortifications, consisting of thick walls running in a circle with
upstanding towers, in which stand one or two cannon; but it all
reminds one more of an old Norman keep, with its village clustered in
its protecting shadow, than of a modern mission establishment.

Dr. Merensky commenced his labours in Secocoeni's country, but was
forced to fly from thence by night, with his wife and new-born baby,
to escape being murdered by that Chief's orders, who, like most Kafir
potentates, has an intense aversion to missionaries. Twelve years ago
he established this station, and, gathering his scattered converts
around him, defied Secocoeni to drive him thence. Twice that Chief has
sent out a force to sweep him away, and murder his people, and twice
they have come and looked, and, like false Sextus, turned back again.
The Boers, too, have more than once threatened to destroy him, for it
is unpleasant to them to have so intelligent a witness in their midst,
but they have never dared to try. The place is really impregnable to
Basutus and Boers; Zulus might carry it, with their grand steady rush,
but it would be at a terrible sacrifice of life. In fact, Dr. Merensky
has been forced, by the pressure of circumstances, to teach his men
the use of a rifle, as well as the truths of Christianity; to trust in
God, but also to "keep their powder dry." At a few minutes' notice he
can turn out 200 well-armed natives, ready for offence or defence; and
the existence of such a stronghold is of great advantage to the few
English in the neighbourhood, for the Boers know well that should they
attack them they might draw down the vengeance of Dr. Merensky's
formidable body of Christian soldiers.

We only passed one night at Botsabelo, and next morning went on to
Middelburg, or Nazareth, which is an hour's ride from the station.
Here, too, we met with a warm welcome from the handful of English
residents, but we were eager to push on as rapidly as possible, for
our kind friends told us that it would be impossible to proceed to
Secocoeni's on horseback, because of the deadly nature of the country
for horses. So we had to hire an ox-waggon, which they provisioned for
us, and, much to our disgust (as we were pressed for time), were
obliged to fall back on that dilatory method of travelling.

We decided that we would take the three oldest and least valuable
horses with us, in order to proceed with them from Fort Weeber, which
was our next point, to Secocoeni's town, whither waggons could not
reach. Few English readers are aware that there is a mysterious
disease among horses in South Africa, peculiar to the country, called
"horse-sickness." During the autumn season it carries off thousands of
horses annually, though some are good and others bad years--a bad
fever year being generally a bad horse-sickness year also, and /vice
versa/. A curious feature about it is, that as the veldt gets "tamed,"
that is, fed off by domesticated animals, the sickness gradually
disappears. No cure has yet been discovered for it, and very few
horses pull through--perhaps, five per cent. These are called "salted
horses," and are very valuable; as, although they are not proof
against the disease, they are not so liable to take it. A salted horse
may be known by the peculiar looseness and roughness of his skin, and
also by a certain unmistakable air of depression, as though he felt
that the responsibilities of life pressed very heavily upon him. He is
like a man who has dearly bought his experience; he can never forget
the terrible lesson taught in the buying.

On the fourth day from our start we left Middelburg, and, taking a
north-east course from this outpost of civilisation, overtook the
waggon, and camped, after a twenty miles' trek, just on the edge of
the bush-veldt. We had two young Boers to drive our waggons--terrible
louts. However, they understood how to drive a waggon, and whilst one
of them drove, the other would sit for hours, with a vacant stare on
his face, thinking. It is a solemn fact that, from the time we left
Middelburg till the time we returned, neither of those fellows
touched water, that is, to wash themselves. The only luxury in the
shape of comforts of the toilette which they allowed themselves was a
comb with a brass back, carefully tied to the roof of the waggon with
two strips of ox-hide thick enough to have held a hundredweight of
lead. I don't think they ever used it--it was too great a luxury for
general use--but they would occasionally untie it and look at it. Our
own outfit in the waggon was necessarily scanty, consisting of a few
iron pots and plates, a kettle, some green blankets, a lantern, and an
old anti-friction grease-can used for water, which gave it a fine
flavour of waggon-wheels. We also had a "cartle," or wooden frame,
across which were stretched strips of hide fitted into the waggon
about two feet above the floor, and intended to sleep on; but the less
said about that the better.

After we left the great high-veldt plains, over which the fresh breeze
was sweeping, we dropped down into a beautiful bush-clad valley with
mountains on either side. It was like making a sudden descent into the
tropics. Not a breath of wind stirred the trees, and the sun shone
with a steady burning heat. Scarcely a sound broke the silence, save
the murmur of the river we crossed and recrossed, the occasional pipe
of a bird, and the melancholy cry, half sigh, half bark, of an old
baboon, who was swinging himself along, indignant at our presence.

If the sights and sounds were beautiful, the sun was hot, and the road
fearful, and we were indeed glad when we reached "Whitehead's Cobalt
Mine," and were most kindly received by the gentlemen who superintend
the works. The house used to belong to some Boer, who had deserted the
place, but left behind him a beautiful orchard of orange and peach
trees. The place is very feverish and unhealthy, and the white ants so
troublesome that everything has to be stood in sardine tins full of
ashes.

On our way from the house we went to see the cobalt mine, which is on
a hillside a mile away. It has only been established about three
years, and has existed hitherto under the greatest difficulties as
regards labour, transport, machinery, danger from surrounding native
tribes, &c.; but it has already, the proprietor informed me, reduced
the price of cobalt--the blue dye used to colour such things as the
willow-pattern plates--by one-half in the English market, bringing it
down from somewhere about 140 pounds to 80 pounds a ton. We were very
much astonished to see the amount of work which had been done, as we
expected to find a pit such as the Kafirs work for copper, but instead
of that there was a large slanting shaft quite a hundred yards long,
to say nothing of various openings out of it following branch leads of
ore. There is also a vertical shaft one hundred feet deep, through
which the ore comes up, and by which one can ascend and descend in a
bucket. After we emerged from this awful hole, we went into another, a
drive running straight into the mountain for more than three hundred
feet, following a vein of black oxide of cobalt, which is much more
valuable than the ore; and, though the vein is rarely more than a foot
in thickness, pays very well. Leaving the mine, we rode on past some
old Kafir copper-workings--circular pits--which must have been
abandoned, to judge from their appearance, a hundred years ago, till
we came to the banks of the great "Olifants'" or "Elephants'" river.
This magnificent stream, though it is unnavigable owing to frequent
rapids, has stretches miles long, down which a man-of-war could steam,
and after its junction with the Elands' River it grows larger and
larger till, pursuing a north-east course, it at length falls into the
mighty Limpopo. It is a very majestic but somewhat sluggish stream,
and its water is not very good. You cannot see the river till you are
right upon it, owing to the great trees with which its steep banks are
fringed, and in the early morning it is quite hidden from bank to bank
by a dense mass of billows of white mist, indescribably strange to
look upon.

But, beautiful as this country is, it is most unhealthy for man and
beast. The close odour, the long creeping lines of mist, the rich rank
vegetation, the steady heat of day and night, all say one word,
"fever," and fever of the most virulent type. The traveller through
this sort of country is conscious of a latent fear lest he should some
day begin to feel hot when he ought to be cold, and cold when he ought
to be hot, and so be stricken down, to rise prematurely old, or
perhaps to die, and be buried in a lonely grave covered with stones to
keep off the jackals. We were travelling in the very worst fever-
month, March, when the summer vegetation is commencing to rot, and
throw off its poisonous steam. What saved us here and afterwards, at
Secocoeni's, was our temperate living, hard exercise, and plenty of
quinine and tobacco-smoke.

All the country through which we were passing is good game-veldt, but
we saw very little and killed nothing. This was chiefly owing to the
fact that we did not dare go out of hearing of the waggon-wheels, for
fear of getting lost in the bush, a thing very easily done. A few
years back this veldt swarmed with big game, with elephants and
giraffes, and they are even now occasionally seen. We managed now and
again to get a glimpse of some of the beautiful "Impala" buck, or of a
small lot of blue wilderbeestes vanishing between the trees, like a
troop of wild horses. There are still plenty of lions about, but we
did not hear any: whether it was that they had gone to the high-veldt
after the cattle, or that they do not roar so much in summer, I do not
know. Perhaps it is as well that we did not, for the roar of a lion is
very generally followed by what the Dutch call a "skrech." After
roaring once or twice to wake the cattle up, and make them generally
uneasy, the lion stations himself about twenty yards to the windward
of the waggon. The oxen get wind of him and promptly "skrech," that
is, break their rims and run madly into the veldt. This is just what
the lion wants, for now he can pick out a fat ox and quietly approach
him from the other side till he is within springing distance. He then
jumps upon him, crushes his neck with one bite, and eats him at his
leisure.

And so we trekked on through the sunrise, through the burning mid-day
and glowing sunsets, steering by the sun and making our own road; now
through tambouki grass higher than the oxen, and now through dense
bush, till at length, one day, we said good-bye to the Olifants' just
where the Elands' River flows into it, and turned our faces eastward.
This course soon brought us on to higher ground and away from the
mimosa, which loves the low, hot valleys, into the region of the sugar
bush, which thrives upon the hill-sides. This sugar bush is a very
handsome and peculiar plant, with soft thick leaves, standing about
twenty feet high. It bears a brush-like flower, each of which in the
Cape Colony contains half a teaspoonful of delicious honey; but,
curiously enough, though in other respects the tree is precisely
similar, this is not the case in the Transvaal or Natal. At the proper
season the Cape farmers go out with buckets and shake the flowers till
they have collected sufficient honey to last them for the winter, a
honey more fragrant than that made by bees.

After a long ride over the open, which must once have been thickly
populated, to judge from the number of remains of kraals, we came at
length to Fort Weeber. The fort is very badly situated in the hollow
of a plain, and so surrounded by fine hills that it is entirely
commanded. It consists of a single sod wall about two feet thick and
five high, capped with loose stones, whilst at two of the corners
stand, on raised platforms, a six-pounder and a three-pounder
Whitworth gun. Inside the wall are built rows of mud huts, which are
occupied by the garrison, leaving an open square, in the midst of
which is placed the magazine. We found the garrison in a wretched
condition. They have not received any pay except Government "good-
fors" (promissory notes, generally known as "good-for-nothings"), so
they are in a state of abject poverty; whilst they are rendered
harmless as regards offensive operations, by the death, from horse-
sickness, of eighty-two of the ninety horses they owned. However, the
officers and garrison gave us a very grand reception. As we rode up,
they fired a salute of twelve guns, and then, after we had dismounted
and been received by the officers, we were taken through a lane made
by the garrison drawn up in a double line, and, just as we got to the
middle, "bang" went the eighty rifles over our heads. Then an address
was read (the volunteers are great people for addresses), but a more
practical welcome soon followed in the shape of a good dinner.

Next morning we started, a party of seven, including the interpreter,
to ride over the Loolu Berg to Secocoeni's, a distance of about
thirty-eight miles.

For the first five miles we passed through the most curious granite
formation, a succession of small hills entirely composed of rounded
boulders of granite, weighing from five to 1000 tons, and looking
exactly like piles of gigantic snow-balls hurled together by some
mighty hand. The granite formation prevails in all this part of the
country, and individual boulders sometimes take very curious shapes;
for instance, in the bush-veldt we passed a great column towering high
above the trees, composed of six boulders getting smaller and smaller
from the base up, and each accurately balanced on the one beneath it.
Then we crossed the range of hills which overlooks the fort, and
passing Secocoeni's old kraal where he used to live before he
retreated to his fastnesses, we arrived at a great alluvial valley
nine miles broad, on the other side of which rises the Loolu. It was
on this plain that the only real fight between the volunteers and
Secocoeni's men took place, when the former managed to get between the
Basutus and the hills, and shot them down like game, killing over 200
men. Leaving the battle-field, where the skeletons still lie, a little
to our right, we crossed the plain and came to the foot of the Loolu,
all along the base of which stand neat villages inhabited by
Secocoeni's people. Some of these villages have been burnt by the
volunteers, and the remainder are entirely deserted, their inhabitants
having built fresh huts among the rocks in almost inaccessible places.
The appearance of these white huts peeping out all over the black
rocks was very curious, and reminded one of the Swiss chalets.

By the stream that runs along past the villages we off-saddled, as
both ourselves and our horses were nearly exhausted by the burning
heat; but as there was not much time to lose, after a short rest we
started off again, and rode on over a bed of magnetic iron lying on
the ground in great lumps of almost pure metal, until we came to a
stretch of what looked remarkably like gold-bearing quartz, and then
to a limestone formation. The whole country is evidently rich beyond
measure in minerals. All this time we were passing through scenery
inexpressibly wild and grand, and when we had arrived at the highest
spot of the pass, it reached a climax of savage beauty. About forty
miles in front of us towered up another magnificent range of blue-
tinged mountains known as the Blue Berg, whilst all around us rose
great bush-clad hills, opening away in every direction towards
gorgeous-coloured valleys. The scene was so grand and solemn that I do
not think it lies in the power of words to describe it.

Here we had to dismount to descend a most fearful precipitous path
consisting of boulders piled together in the wildest confusion, from
one to another of which we had to jump, driving the horses before us.
Half-way down we off-saddled to rest ourselves, and as we did so we
noticed that the gall was running from one of the horses' noses. We
knew too well what was the matter, and so left him there to die during
the night. This horse was by far the finest we had with us, and his
owner used to boast that the poor beast had often carried him, a heavy
man, from his house to Pretoria, a distance of nearly ninety miles, in
one day. He was also a "salted" horse. It is a curious thing that the
sickness generally kills the best horses first.

After a short rest we started on again, and at the end of another hour
reached the bottom of the pass. From thence we rode along a gulley,
that alternately narrowed and widened, till at length it brought us
right on to Secocoeni's beautiful, fever-stricken home.

All three of us had seen a good deal of scenery in different parts of
the world, and one of the party was intimately acquainted with the
finest spots in South Africa, but we were forced to admit that we had
never seen anything half so lovely as Secocoeni's valley. We had seen
grander views, indeed the scene from the top of the pass was grander,
but never anything that so nearly approached perfection in detail.
Beautiful it was, beautiful beyond measure, but it was the sort of
beauty under whose veil are hidden fever and death. And so we pushed
on, through the still hot eventide, till at length we came to the
gates of the town, where we found "Makurupiji," Secocoeni's "mouth" or
prime minister, who had evidently been informed of our coming by his
spies waiting to receive us.[*]

[*] Makurupiji committed suicide after the town had been stormed,
    preferring death to imprisonment.

Conducted by this grandee, we went on past the Chief's kraals, down to
the town, whence flocked men, women, and children, to look on the
white lords; all in a primitive state of dress, consisting of a strip
of skin tied round the middle, and the women with their hair powdered
with some preparation of iron, which gave it a metallic blue tinge.

At length we stopped just opposite a beautiful fortified kopje[*]
perforated by secret caves where the ammunition of the tribe is
hidden. No stranger is allowed to enter these caves, or even to ascend
the kopje, though they do not object to one's inspecting some of the
other fortifications. Dismounting from our wearied horses, we passed
through a cattle kraal and came into the presence of "Swasi,"
Secocoeni's uncle, a fat old fellow who was busily engaged in braying
a skin. Nearly every male Basutu one meets, be he high or low, is
braying a hide of some sort, either by rubbing or by masticating it.
It is a curious sight to come across some twenty of these fellows,
every one of them twisting or chewing away.

[*] Afterwards stormed in the attack on Secocoeni's town by Sir Garnet
    Wolseley.

Swasi was a sort of master of the household; his duty it was to
receive strangers and see that they were properly looked after; so,
after shaking hands with us furiously (he was a wonderful fellow to
shake hands), he conducted us to our hut. It stood in a good-sized
courtyard beautifully paved with a sort of concrete of limestone which
looked very clean and white, and surrounded by a hedge of reeds and
sticks tightly tied together, inside which ran a slightly raised
bench, also made of limestone. The hut itself was neatly thatched, the
thatch projecting several feet, so as to form a covering to a narrow
verandah that ran all round it. Inside it was commodious, and
ornamented after the Egyptian style with straight and spiral lines,
painted on with some kind of red ochre, and floored with a polished
substance. Certainly these huts are as much superior to those of the
Zulus as those who dwell in them are inferior to that fine race. What
the Basutus gain in art and handiness they lose in manliness and
gentlemanly feeling.

We had just laid ourselves down on the grass mats in the courtyard--
for it was too hot to go into the hut--thoroughly exhausted with our
day's work and the heat, when in came two men, each of them dragging a
fine indigenous sheep. They were accompanied by Makurupiji, who
brought us a message from Secocoeni to the effect that he, the Chief,
sent to greet us, the great Chiefs; that he sent us also a morsel to
eat, lest we should be hungry in his house. It was but a morsel--it
should have been an ox, for great Chiefs should eat much meat--but he
himself was pinched with hunger, his belt was drawn very tight by the
Boers. He was poor, and so his gift was poor; still, he would see if
to-morrow he could find a beast that had something besides the skin on
its bones, that he might offer it to us. After this magniloquent
address the poor animals were trundled out by the other gate to have
their throats cut.

After getting some supper and taking our quinine, we turned in and
slept that night in the best way that the heat would let us, rising
next morning with the vain hope of getting a bathe. Of all the
discomforts we experienced at Secocoeni's, the scarcity and badness of
the water was the worst. Bad water, when you are in a hotbed of fever,
is a terrible privation. And so we had to go unwashed, with the
exception of having a little water poured over our hands out of
gourds. We must have presented a curious sight at breakfast that
morning. Before us knelt a sturdy Kafir, holding a stick in each hand,
on which were respectively speared a leg and a side of mutton, from
which we cut off great hunks with our hunting-knives, and, taking them
in our fingers, devoured them like beasts of prey. If we got a bit we
did not like, our mode of dispensing of it was simple and effective.
We threw it to one of the natives standing round us, among whom was
the heir-apparent, who promptly gobbled it up.

Breakfast finished, a message came from Secocoeni asking for spirits
to drink. But we were not to be taken in in this way, for we knew well
that if we sent the Chief spirits we should get no business done that
day, and we did not care to run the risk of fever by stopping longer
than we could help; so we sent back a message to the effect that
business must come first and spirits afterwards. The head men, who
brought this message, said that they could perfectly understand our
objection, as far as Secocoeni and ourselves were concerned, since we
had to talk, but as they had only to sit still and listen there could
be no possible objection to their having something to drink. This
argument was ingenious, but we did not see the force of it, as our
stock of spirits, which we had brought more for medicine than anything
else, was very limited. Still, we were obliged to promise them a "tot"
after the talking was over, in order to keep them civil.

Our message had the desired effect, for presently Secocoeni sent to
say that it was now time to talk, and that his head men would lead us
to him. So we started up, accompanied by "Makurupiji," "Swasi," and
"Galook," the general of his forces, a fat fellow with a face exactly
like a pig. The sun beat down with such tremendous force that, though
we had only three-quarters of a mile to walk, we felt quite tired by
the time we reached the Chief's kraals. Passing through several cattle
kraals, we came to a shed under which sat the heir-apparent dressed in
a gorgeous blanket with his court around him. Leaving him, we entered
an inner cattle kraal, where, in one corner, stood a large, roughly-
built shed, under the shade of which squatted over a hundred of the
head men of the tribe, gathered together by Secocoeni to "witness."[*]

[*] As each chief came up to the meeting-place he would pass before
    the enclosure where Secocoeni was sitting and salute him, by
    softly striking the hands together, and saying something that
    sounded like "Marema."

Opening out of this kraal was the chief's private enclosure, where
stood his huts. As we drew near, Secocoeni, who had inspired such
terror into the bold Burghers of the Republic, the chief of nine
thousand warriors, the husband of sixty-four wives, the father of a
hundred children, rose from the ox-hide on which he was seated, under
the shade of a tree, and came to the gate to meet us. And a queer
sight this potentate was as he stood there shaking hands through the
gate. Of middle age, about forty-five years of age, rather fat, with a
flat nose, and small, twinkling, black eyes, he presented an entirely
hideous and semi-repulsive appearance. His dress consisted of a cotton
blanket over which was thrown a tiger-skin kaross, and on his head was
stuck an enormous old white felt hat, such as the Boers wear, and
known as a "wilderbeeste chaser."

After we had been duly introduced, he retreated to his ox-hide, and we
went and squatted down among the head men. Secocoeni took no active
part in the proceedings that followed; he sat in his enclosure and
occasionally shouted out some instructions to Makurupiji, who was
literally his "mouth," speaking for him and making use of the pronoun
"I." During the four hours or so that we were there Secocoeni never
stopped chewing an intoxicating green leaf, very much resembling that
of the pomegranate, of which he occasionally sent us some.

After the business of the Commission had come to an end, and some of
our party started on their homeward journey, we were detained by
Secocoeni, who wished to see us privately. He sent for us to his
private enclosure, and we sat down on his ox-hide with him and one or
two head men. It was very curious to see this wily old savage shoving
a handful of leaves into his mouth, and giving his head a shake, and
then making some shrewd remark which went straight to the bottom of
whatever question was in hand. At length we bade Secocoeni good-bye,
having promised to deliver all his respectful messages to our chief,
and, thoroughly wearied, arrived at our own hut. Tired as we were, we
thought it would be better to start for the fort at once, rather than
risk the fever for another night. So we made up our minds to a long
moonlight ride, and, saddling up, got out of Secocoeni's town about
3.30 P.M., having looked our last upon this beautiful fever-trap,
which only wants water scenery to make it absolutely perfect. Half-way
up, we saw the poor horse we had left sick the day before, lying dead,
with dry foam all round his mouth, and half his skin taken off by some
passing Basutu. A couple of hundred yards farther on we found another
dying, left by the party who had started before us. It was in truth a
valley of the shadow of death. Luckily our horses lasted us back to
the fort, but one died there, and the other two are dead since.

Beautiful as was the scene by day, in the light of the full moon it
was yet more surpassingly lovely. It was solemn, weird. Every valley
became a mysterious deep, and every hill, stone, and tree shone with
that cold pale lustre which the moon alone can throw. Silence reigned,
the silence of the dead, broken only once or twice by the wild
whistling challenge of one of Secocoeni's warriors as he came bounding
down the rocks, to see who we were that passed. The effect of the
fires by the huts, perched among the rocks at the entrance to the
pass, was very strange and beautiful, reminding one of the midnight
fires of the Gnomes in the fairy tales.

And so we rode on, hour after hour, through the night, till we well-
nigh fell asleep in our saddles, and at length, about two o'clock in
the morning, we reached the waggons to find the young Boers fast
asleep in our bed. We kicked them out, and, after swallowing some
biscuits, tumbled in ourselves for the few hours' rest which we so
sadly needed.

On the following morning, Thursday, two of the party bade farewell to
our hosts at the fort and started on one of the quickest possible
treks, leaving our companion to proceed across country to the fort
established by President Burgers, or "Porocororo," as the Basutus call
him, at Steelport.

We returned to Middelburg by an entirely different route from that by
which we came. Leaving the valley of the Olifants to our right, we
trekked along the high-veldt, and thus avoided all the fever country.
Roughly speaking, we had about 120 miles of country to get over to
reach Middelburg, and we determined to do this in three days and two
nights, so as to get in on the Saturday night, as we were much pressed
for time. Now, according to English ideas, it is no great thing to
travel 120 miles in three days; but it is six days' journey in an ox-
waggon over bad country, and we were going to do it in half that time
by doubling the speed.

Of course, to do this we had to trek night and day. For instance, on
the first day we inspanned at 10.30 A.M. and trekked till within an
hour of sundown; at sundown we inspanned, and with one outspan trekked
till sunrise; outspanned for two hours, and on again, being seventeen
and a half hours under the yoke out of the twenty-four, and covering
fifty-five miles. Of course, one cannot do this sort of travelling for
more than two or three days without killing the oxen; as it was,
towards the end, as soon as the yokes were lifted off, the poor beasts
dropped down as though they were shot, and most of them went lame.
Another great disadvantage is that one suffers very much from want of
sleep. The jolting of the springless machine, as it lumbered over
rocks a foot high and through deep spruits or streams, brought our
heads down with such a fearful jar on the saddle-bags that we used for
pillows, that all sleep was soon knocked out of them; or, even if we
were lucky enough to be crossing a stretch of tolerably smooth ground,
there was a swaying motion that rubbed one's face up and down till the
skin was nearly worn through, polishing the saddle-bags to such an
extent that we might almost have used them for looking-glasses as well
as pillows.

At Secocoeni's kraal we had engaged two boys to carry our packs as far
as the fort, who, on their arrival, were so well satisfied with the
way in which we treated them that they requested to be allowed to
proceed with us. These young barbarians, who went respectively by the
names of "Nojoke" and "Scowl," as being the nearest approach in
English to their Sisutu names, were the greatest possible source of
amusement to us, with their curious ways.[*] I never saw such fellows
to sleep; it is a positive fact that Nojoke used frequently to take
his rest coiled up like a boa constrictor in a box at the end of the
waggon, in which box stood three iron pots with their sharp legs
sticking up. On those legs he peacefully slumbered when the waggon was
going over ground that prohibited our even stopping in it. "Scowl" was
not a nice boy to look at, for his naked back was simply cut to pieces
and covered with huge weals, of which everybody, doubtless, thought we
were the cause. On inquiring how he came to get such a tremendous
thrashing, it turned out that these Basutus have a custom of sending
young men of a certain age[+] out in couples, each armed with a good
"sjambok" (a whip cut from the hide of a sea-cow), to thrash one
another till one gives in, and that it was in one of these encounters
that the intelligent Scowl got so lacerated; but, as he remarked with
a grin, "/My back is nothing, the chiefs should see that of the other
boy."

[*] Of these two lads, Nojoke subsequently turned out worthless, and
    went to the Diamond Fields, whilst Scowl became an excellent
    servant, until he took to wearing a black coat, and turned
    Christian, when he shortly afterwards developed into a drunkard
    and a thief.

[+] The age of puberty.

We spent one night at Middelburg, and next morning, bidding adieu to
our kind English friends, started for Pretoria, taking care to end our
first day's journey at a house where an Englishman lived, so as to
ensure a clean shakedown. Here we discovered that the horse I was
riding (the sole survivor of the five we had started with) had got the
sickness, and so we had to leave him and hire another. This horse, by
the by, recovered, which is the only instance of an animal's
conquering the disease which has yet come under my observation. We
hired the new horse from a Boer, who charged us exactly three times
its proper price, and then preached us a sermon quite a quarter of an
hour long on his hospitality, his kindness of heart, and his
willingness to help strangers. I must tell you that, just as we were
going to sleep the night before, a stranger had come and asked for a
shakedown, which was given to him in the same room. We had risen
before daybreak, and my companion was expatiating to me, in clear and
forcible language, on the hypocrisy and scoundrelism of this Boer,
when suddenly a sleepy voice out of the darkness murmured thickly, "I
say, stranger, guess you shouldn't lose your temper; guess that 'ere
Boer is acting after the manner of human natur'." And then the owner
of the voice turned over and went to sleep again.

We had over sixty miles to ride that day, and it must have been about
eight o'clock at night, on the sixteenth day of our journey, when we
reached Pretoria and rode straight up to our camp, where we were
heartily greeted. I am sure that some of our friends must have felt a
little disappointed at seeing us arrive healthy and fat, without a
sign of fever, after all their melancholy predictions. It would not
have been "human natur'" if they had not. When we got to the camp, I
called out to Masooku, my Zulu servant, to come and take the horses.
Next moment I heard a rush and a scuttle in the tent like the
scrimmage in a rabbit-burrow when one puts in the ferrets, and Masooku
shouted out in Zulu, "He has come back! by Chaka's head, I swear it!
It is his voice, his own voice, that calls me; my father's, my
chief's!"

And so ended one of the hardest and most interesting journeys
imaginable--a journey in which the risk only added to the pleasure.
Still, I should not care to make it again at the same time of year.



                                 VII

                           A ZULU WAR-DANCE

In all that world-wide empire which the spirit of the English
colonisation has conquered from out of the realms of the distant and
unknown, and added year by year to the English dominions, it is
doubtful whether there be any one spot of corresponding area,
presenting so many large questions, social and political, as the
colony of Natal. Wrested some thirty years ago from the patriarchal
Boers, and peopled by a few scattered scores of adventurous emigrants,
Natal has with hard toil gained for itself a precarious foothold
hardly yet to be called an existence. Known chiefly to the outside
world as the sudden birthplace of those tremendous polemical missiles
which battered so fiercely, some few years ago, against the walls of
the English Church, it is now attracting attention to the shape and
proportion of that unsolved riddle of the future, the Native Question.
In those former days of rude and hand-to-mouth legislation, when the
certain evil of the day had to be met and dealt with before the
possible evil of the morrow, the seeds of great political trouble were
planted in the young colony, seeds whose fruit is fast ripening before
our eyes.

When the strong aggressive hand of England has grasped some fresh
portion of the earth's surface, there is yet a spirit of justice in
her heart and head which prompts the question, among the first of such
demands, as to how best and most fairly to deal by the natives of the
newly-acquired land. In earlier times, when steam was not, and
telegraphs and special correspondents were equally unknown agencies
for getting at the truth of things, this question was more easily
answered across a width of dividing ocean or continent. Then distant
action might be prompt and sharp on emergency, and no one would be the
wiser. But of late years, owing to these results of civilisation,
harsh measures have, by the mere pressure of public opinion, and
without consideration of their necessity in the eyes of the colonists,
been set aside as impracticable and inhuman. In the case of Natal,
most of the early questions of possession and right were settled,
sword in hand, by the pioneer Dutch, who, after a space of terrible
warfare, drove back the Zulus over the Tugela, and finally took
possession of the land. But they did not hold it long. The same
hateful invading Englishman, with his new ideas and his higher forms
of civilisation, who had caused them to quit the "Old Colony," the
land of their birth, came and drove them, /vi et armis/, from the land
of their adoption. And it was not long before these same English
became lords of this red African soil, from the coast up to the
Drakensberg. Still there were difficulties; for although the new-
comers might be lords of the soil, there remained yet a remnant, and a
very troublesome remnant, of its original and natural masters:
shattered fragments of the Zulu power in Natal, men who had once swept
over the country in the army of Chaka the Terrible, Chaka of the Short
Spear, but who had remained behind in the fair new land, when Chaka's
raids had been checked by the white man and his deadly weapons.
Remnants, too, of conquered aboriginal tribes, who had found even
Chaka's rule easier than that of their own chieftains, swelled the
amount to a total of some 100,000 souls.

One of the first acts of the English Government, when it took up the
reins, was to allot to each of these constituent fragments a large
portion of the land. This might perhaps have been short-sighted
legislation, but it arose from the necessity of the moment. According
to even the then received ideas of colonisation and its duties, it was
hardly possible--danger apart--to drive all the natives over the
frontier, so they were allowed to stay and share the rights and
privileges of British subjects. But the evil did not stop there. Ere
long some political refugees, defeated in battle, fled before the
avenging hand of the conqueror, and craved place and protection from
the Government of Natal. It was granted; and the principle once
established, body after body of men poured in: for, in stepping over
the boundary line, they left the regions of ruin and terrible death,
and entered those of peace, security, and plenty.

Thus it is that the native population of Natal, fed from within and
without, has in thirty years increased enormously in number. Secluded
from the outside world in his location, the native has lived in peace
and watched his cattle grow upon a thousand hills. His wealth has
become great and his wives many. He no longer dreads swift "death by
order of the king," or by word of the witch-doctor. No "impi," or
native regiment, can now sweep down on him and "eat him up," that is,
carry off his cattle, put his kraal to the flames, and himself, his
people, his wives, and children to the assegai. For the first time in
the story of the great Kafir race, he can, when he rises in the
morning, be sure that he will not sleep that night, stiff, in a bloody
grave. He has tasted the blessings of peace and security, and what is
the consequence? He has increased and multiplied until his numbers are
as grains of sand on the sea-shore. Overlapping the borders of his
location, he squats on private lands, he advances like a great tidal
wave, he cries aloud for room, more room. This is the trouble which
stares us in the face, looming larger and more distinct year by year;
the great over-growing problem which thoughtful men fear must one day
find a sudden and violent solution. Thus it comes to pass that there
hangs low on the horizon of South Africa the dark cloud of the Native
Question. How and when it will burst no man can pretend to say, but
some time and in some way burst it must, unless means of dispersing it
can be found.

There is now at work among the Kafir population the same motive power
which has raised in turn all white nations, and, having built them up
to a certain height, has then set to work to sap them until they have
fallen--the power of civilisation. Hand in hand the missionary and the
trader have penetrated the locations. The efforts of the teacher have
met with but a partial success. "A Christian may be a good man in his
way, but he is a Zulu spoiled," said Cetywayo, King of the Zulus, when
arguing the question of Christianity with the Secretary for Native
Affairs; and such is, not altogether wrongly, the general feeling of
the natives. With the traders it has been different. Some have dealt
honestly--and more, it is to be feared, dishonestly--not only with
those with whom they have had dealings, but with their fellow-subjects
and their Government. It is these men chiefly who have, in defiance of
the law, supplied the natives with those two great modern elements of
danger and destruction, the gin-bottle and the rifle. The first is as
yet injurious only to the recipients, but it will surely react on
those who have taught them its use; the danger of possessing the rifle
may come home to us any day and at any moment.

Civilisation, it would seem, when applied to black races, produces
effects diametrically opposite to those we are accustomed to observe
in white nations: it debases before it can elevate; and as regards the
Kafirs it is doubtful, and remains to be proved, whether it has much
power to elevate them at all. Take the average Zulu warrior, and it
will be found that, in his natural state, his vices are largely
counter-balanced by his good qualities. In times of peace he is a
simple, pastoral man, leading a good-humoured easy life with his wives
and his cattle, perfectly indolent and perfectly happy. He is a kind
husband and a kinder father; he never disowns his poor relations; his
hospitality is extended alike to white and black; he is open in his
dealings and faithful to his word, and his honesty is a proverb in the
land. True, if war breaks out and the thirst for slaughter comes upon
him, he turns into a different man. When the fierce savage spirit is
once aroused, blood alone will cool it. But even then he has virtues.
If he is cruel, he is brave in the battle; if he is reckless of the
lives of others, he regards not his own; and when death comes, he
meets it without fear, and goes to the spirits of his fathers boldly,
as a warrior should. And now reverse the picture, and see him in the
dawning light of that civilisation which, by intellect and by nature,
he is some five centuries behind. See him, ignoring its hidden
virtues, eagerly seize and graft its most prominent vices on to his
own besetting sins. Behold him by degrees adding cunning to his
cruelty, avarice to his love of possession, replacing his bravery by
coarse bombast and insolence, and his truth by lies. Behold him
inflaming all his passions with the maddening drink of the white man,
and then follow him through many degrees of degradation until he falls
into crime and ends in a jail. Such are, in only too many instances,
the consequences of this partial civilisation, and they are not even
counterbalanced, except in individual cases, by the attempt to learn
the truths of a creed which he cannot, does not, pretend to
understand. And if this be the result in the comparatively few
individuals who have been brought under these influences, it may be
fair to argue that it will differ only in degree, not in kind, when
the same influences are brought to bear on the same material in
corresponding proportions. Whatever may or may not be the effects of
our partial civilisation when imperfectly and spasmodically applied to
the vast native population of South Africa, one thing must, in course
of time, result from it. The old customs, the old forms, the old
feelings, must each in turn die away. The outer expression of these
will die first, and it will not be long before the very memory of them
will fade out of the barbaric heart. The rifle must replace, and,
indeed, actually has replaced, the assegai and the shield, and
portions of the cast-off uniforms of all the armies of Europe are to
be seen where, until lately, the bronze-like form of the Kafir warrior
went naked as on the day he was born. But so long as native customs
and ceremonies still linger in some of the more distant locations, so
long will they exercise a certain attraction for dwellers amid tamer
scenes. It is therefore from a belief in the magnetism of contrast
that the highly-civilised reader is invited to come to where he can
still meet the barbarian face to face and witness that wild ceremony,
half jest, half grim earnest--a Zulu war dance.

It was the good fortune of the writer of this sketch to find himself,
some years ago, travelling through the up-country districts of Natal,
in the company of certain high officials of the English Government.
The journey dragged slowly enough by waggon, and some monotonous weeks
had passed before we pitched our camp, one drizzling gusty night, on a
high plateau, surrounded by still loftier hills. A wild and dismal
place it looked in the growing dusk of an autumn evening, nor was it
more suggestively cheerful when we rode away from it next morning in
the sunshine, leaving the waggons to follow slowly. Our faces were set
towards a great mountain, towering high above its fellows, called
Pagadi's Kop--Pagadi being a powerful chief who had fled from the
Zulus in the early days of the colony, and had ever since dwelt
loyally and peacefully here in this wild place, beneath the protection
of the Crown. Messengers had been duly sent to inform him that he was
to receive the honour of a visit, for your true savage never likes to
be taken by surprise. Other swift-footed runners had come back with
the present of a goat, and the respectful answer, so Oriental in its
phraseology, that "Pagadi was old, he was infirm, yet he would arise
and come to greet his lords." Every mile or so of our slow progress a
fresh messenger would spring up before us suddenly, as though he had
started out of the earth at our feet, and prefixing his greeting with
the royal salute, given with up-raised arm, "Bayete! Bayete!"--a
salutation only accorded to Zulu royalty, to the governors of the
different provinces, and to Sir T. Shepstone, the Secretary for Native
Affairs--he would deliver his message or his news and fall into the
rear. Presently came one saying, "Pagadi is very old and weak; Pagadi
is weary; let his lords forgive him if he meet them not this day.
To-morrow, when the sun is high, he will come to their place of
encampment and greet his lords and hold festival before them. But let
his lords, the white lords of all the land from the Great Mountain to
the Black Water, go up to his kraal, and let them take the biggest hut
and drink of the strongest beer. There his son, the chief that is to
be, and all his wives, shall greet them; let his lords be honoured by
Pagadi, through them." An acknowledgment was sent, and we still rode
on, beginning the ascent of the formidable stronghold, on the flat top
of which was placed the chief's kraal. A hard and stiff climb it was,
up a bridle path with far more resemblance to a staircase than a road.
But if the road was bad, the scenery and the vegetation were wild and
beautiful in the extreme. Now we came to a deep "kloof" or cleft in
the steep mountain-side, at the bottom of which, half hidden by the
masses of ferns and rich rank greenery, trickled a little stream; now
to an open space of rough ground, covered only with huge, weather-
washed boulders. A little further on lay a Kafir mealie-garden, where
the tall green stalks were fairly bent to the ground by the weight of
the corn-laden heads, and beyond that, again, a park-like slope of
grassy veldt. And ever, when we looked behind us, the vast undulating
plain over which we had come stretched away in its mysterious silence,
till it blended at length with the soft blue horizon.

At last, after much hard and steady climbing, we reached the top and
stood upon a perfectly level space ten or twelve acres in extent,
exactly in the centre of which was placed the chief's kraal. Before we
dismounted we rode to the extreme western edge of the plateau, to look
at one of the most perfectly lovely views it is possible to imagine.
It was like coming face to face with great primeval Nature, not Nature
as we civilised people know her, smiling in corn-fields, waving in
well-ordered woods, but Nature as she was on the morrow of the
Creation. There, to our left, cold and grey and grand, rose the great
peak, flinging its dark shadow far beyond its base. Two thousand feet
and more beneath us lay the valley of the Mooi river, with the broad
tranquil stream flashing silver through its midst. Over against us
rose another range of towering hills, with sudden openings in their
blue depths through which could be seen the splendid distances of a
champaign country. Immediately at our feet, and seeming to girdle the
great gaunt peak, lay a deep valley, through which the Little
Bushman's River forced its shining way. All around rose the great
bush-clad hills, so green, so bright in the glorious streaming
sunlight, and yet so awfully devoid of life, so solemnly silent. It
was indeed a sight never to be forgotten, this wide panoramic out-
look, with its towering hills, its smiling valleys, its flashing
streams, its all-pervading sunlight, and its deep sad silence. But it
was not always so lifeless and so still. Some few years ago those
hills, those plains, those rivers were teeming each with their various
creatures. But a short time since, and standing here at eventide, the
traveller could have seen herds of elephants cooling themselves yonder
after their day's travel, whilst the black-headed white-tusked sea-cow
rose and plunged in the pool below. That bush-clad hill was the
favourite haunt of droves of buffaloes and elands, and on that plain
swarmed thousands upon thousands of springbok and of quagga, of
hartebeest and of oribi. All alien life must cease before the white
man, and so these wild denizens of forest, stream, and plain have
passed away never to return.

Turning at length from the contemplation of a scene so new and so
surprising, we entered the stockade of the kraal. These kraals consist
of a stout outer palisade, and then, at some distance from the first,
a second enclosure, between which the cattle are driven at night, or
in case of danger. At the outer entrance we were met by the chief's
eldest son, a finely-built man, who greeted us with much respect and
conducted us through rows of huts to the dwelling-places of the
chief's family, fenced off from the rest by a hedge of Tambouki grass.
In the centre of these stood Pagadi's hut, which was larger and more
finely woven and thatched than the rest. It is impossible to describe
these huts better than by saying that they resemble enormous straw
beehives of the old-fashioned pattern. In front of the hut were
grouped a dozen or so of women clad in that airiest of costumes, a
string of beads. They were Pagadi's wives, and ranged from the first
shrivelled-up wife of his youth to the plump young damsel bought last
month. The spokeswoman of the party, however, was not one of the
wives, but a daughter of Pagadi's, a handsome girl, tall, and
splendidly formed, with a finely-cut face. This prepossessing young
lady entreated her lords to enter, which they did, in a very unlordly
way, on their hands and knees. So soon as the eye became accustomed to
the cool darkness of the hut, it was sufficiently interesting to
notice the rude attempts at comfort with which it was set forth. The
flooring, of a mixture of clay and cow-dung, looked exactly like black
marble, so smooth and polished had it been made, and on its shining,
level surface couches of buckskin and gay blankets were spread in an
orderly fashion. Some little three-legged wooden sleeping-pillows and
a few cooking-pots made up its sole furniture besides. In one corner
rested a bundle of assegais and war-shields, and opposite the door
were ranged several large calabashes full of "twala" or native beer.
The chief's son and all the women followed us into the hut. The ladies
sat themselves down demurely in a double row opposite to us, but the
young chieftain crouched in a distant corner apart and played with his
assegais. We partook of the beer and exchanged compliments, almost
Oriental in their dignified courtesy, in the soft and liquid Zulu
language, but not for long, for we still had far to ride. The stars
were shining in southern glory before we reached the place of our
night's encampment, and supper and bed were even more than usually
welcome. There is a pleasure in the canvas-sheltered meal, in the
after-pipe and evening talk of the things of the day that has been and
those of the day to come, here, amid these wild surroundings, which is
unfelt and unknown in scenes of greater comfort and higher
civilisation. There is a sense of freshness and freedom in the wind-
swept waggon-bed that is not to be exchanged for the softest couch in
the most luxurious chamber. And when at length the morning comes,
sweet in the scent of flowers, and glad in the voice of birds, it
finds us ready to greet it, not hiding it from us with canopy and
blind, as is the way of cities.

The scene of the coming spectacle of this bright new day lies spread
before us, and certainly no spot could have been better chosen for
dramatic effect. In front of the waggons is a large, flat, open space,
backed by bold rising ground with jutting crags and dotted clumps of
luxuriant vegetation. All around spreads the dense thorn-bush,
allowing but of one way of approach, from the left. During the morning
we could hear snatches of distant chants growing louder and louder as
time wore on, and could catch glimpses of wild figures threading the
thorns, warriors hastening to the meeting-place. All through the past
night the farmers for miles around had been aroused by the loud
insistent cries of the chief's messengers as they flitted far and
wide, stopping but a moment wherever one of their tribe sojourned, and
bidding him come, and bring plume and shield, for Pagadi had need of
him. This day, we may be sure, the herds are left untended, the
mealie-heads ungathered, for the herdsmen and the reapers have come
hither to answer to the summons of their chief. Little reck they
whether it be for festival or war; he needs them, and has called them,
and that is enough. Higher and higher rose the fitful distant chant,
but no one could be seen. Suddenly there stood before us a creature, a
woman, who, save for the colour of her skin, might have been the
original of any one of Macbeth's "weird sisters." Little, withered,
and bent nearly double by age, her activity was yet past
comprehension. Clad in a strange jumble of snake-skins, feathers,
furs, and bones, a forked wand in her outstretched hand, she rushed to
and fro before the little group of white men. Her eyes gleamed like
those of a hawk through her matted hair, and the genuineness of her
frantic excitement was evident by the quivering flesh and working
face, and the wild, spasmodic words she spoke. The spirit at least of
her rapid utterances may thus be rendered:--

"Ou, ou, ou, ai, ai, ai. Oh, ye warriors that shall dance before the
great ones of the earth, come! Oh, ye dyers of spears, ye plumed
suckers of blood, come! I, the Isanusi, I, the witch-finder, I, the
wise woman, I, the seer of strange sights, I, the reader of dark
thoughts, call ye! Come, ye fierce ones; come, ye brave ones, come,
and do honour to the white lords! Ah, I hear ye! Ah, I smell ye! Ah, I
see ye; ye come, ye come!"

Hardly had her invocation trailed off into the "Ou, ou, ou, ai, ai,
ai," with which it had opened, when there rushed over the edge of the
hill, hard by, another figure scarcely less wild, but not so repulsive
in appearance. This last was a finely-built warrior arrayed in the
full panoply of savage war. With his right hand he grasped his spears,
and on his left hung his large black ox-hide shield, lined on its
inner side with spare assegais. From the "man's" ring round his head
arose a single tall grey plume, robbed from the Kafir crane. His broad
shoulders were bare, and beneath the arm-pits was fastened a short
garment of strips of skin, intermixed with ox-tails of different
colours. From his waist hung a rude kilt made chiefly of goat's hair,
whilst round the calf of the right leg was fixed a short fringe of
black ox-tails. As he stood before us with lifted weapon and
outstretched shield, his plume bending to the breeze, and his savage
aspect made more savage still by the graceful, statuesque pose, the
dilated eye and warlike mould of the set features, as he stood there,
an emblem and a type of the times and the things which are passing
away, his feet resting on ground which he held on sufferance, and his
hands grasping weapons impotent as a child's toy against those of the
white man,--he who was the rightful lord of all,--what reflections did
he not induce, what a moral did he not teach!

The warrior left us little time, however, for either reflections or
deductions, for, striking his shield with his assegai, he rapidly
poured forth this salutation:--

"Bayete, Bayete, O chief from the olden times, O lords and chief of
chiefs! Pagadi, the son of Masingorano, the great chief, the leader of
brave ones, the son of Ulubako, greets you. Pagadi is humble before
you; he comes with warrior and with shield, but he comes to lay them
at your feet. O father of chiefs, son of the great Queen over the
water, is it permitted that Pagad' approach you? Ou, I see it is, your
face is pleasant; Bayete, Bayete!"

He ends, and, saluting again, springs forward, and, flying hither and
thither, chants the praises of his chief. "Pagadi," he says, "Pagad',
chief and father of the Amocuna, is coming. Pagad', the brave in
battle, the wise in council, the slayer of warriors; Pagad' who slew
the tiger in the night time; Pagadi, the rich in cattle, the husband
of many wives, the father of many children. Pagad' is coming, but not
alone; he comes surrounded with his children, his warriors. He comes
like a king at the head of his brave children. Pagadi's soldiers are
coming; his soldiers who know well how to fight; his soldiers and his
captains who make the hearts of brave men to sink down; his shakers of
spears; his quaffers of blood. Pagad' and his soldiers are coming;
tremble all ye, ou, ou, ou!"

As the last words die on his lips the air is filled with a deep,
murmuring sound like distant thunder; it swells and rolls, and finally
passes away to give place to the noise of the rushing of many feet.
Over the brow of the hill dashes a compact body of warriors, running
swiftly in lines of four, with their captain at their head, all clad
in the same wild garb as the herald. Each bears a snow-white shield
carried on the slant, and above each warrior's head rises a grey
heron's plume. These are the advance-guard, formed of the "greys" or
veteran troops. As they come into full view the shields heave and
fall, and then from every throat bursts the war-song of the Zulus.
Passing us swiftly, they take up their position in a double line on
our right, and stand there solemnly chanting all the while. Another
rush of feet, and another company flits over the hill towards us, but
they bear coal-black shields, and the drooping plumes are black as
night; they fall into position next the firstcomers, and take up the
chant. Now they come faster and faster, but all through the same gap
in the bush. The red shields, the dun shields, the mottled shields,
the yellow shields, follow each other in quick but regular succession,
till at length there stands before us a body of some five hundred men,
presenting, in their savage dress, their various shields and flashing
spears, as wild a spectacle as it is possible to conceive.

But it is not our eyes only that are astonished, for from each of
those five hundred throats there swells a chant never to be forgotten.
From company to company it passes, that wild, characteristic song, so
touching in its simple grandeur, so expressive in its deep, pathetic
volume. The white men who listened had heard the song of choirs
ringing down resounding aisles, they had been thrilled by the roll of
oratorios pealing in melody, beautiful and complex, through the
grandest of man's theatres, but never till now had they heard music of
voices so weird, so soft and yet so savage, so simple and yet so all-
expressive of the fiercest passions known to the human heart. Hark!
now it dies; lower and lower it sinks, it grows faint, despairing:
"Why does he not come, our chief, our lord? Why does he not welcome
his singers? Ah! see, they come, the heralds of our lord! our chief is
coming to cheer his praisers, our chief is coming to lead his
warriors." Again it rises and swells louder and louder, a song of
victory and triumph. It rolls against the mountains, it beats against
the ground: "He is coming, he is here, attended by his chosen. Now we
shall go forth to slay; now shall we taste of the battle." Higher yet
and higher, till at length the chief, Pagadi, swathed in war-garments
of splendid furs, preceded by runners and accompanied by picked
warriors, creeps slowly up. He is old and tottering, and of an
unwieldy bulk. Two attendants support him, whilst a third bears his
shield, and a fourth (oh bathos!) a cane-bottomed chair. One moment
the old man stands and surveys his warriors and listens to the
familiar war-cry. As he stands, his face is lit with the light of
battle, the light of remembered days. The tottering figure straightens
itself, the feeble hand becomes strong once more. With a shout, the
old man shakes off his supporters and grasps his shield, and then,
forgetting his weakness and his years, he rushes to his chieftain's
place in the centre of his men. And as he comes the chant grows yet
louder, the time yet faster, till it rises, and rings, and rolls, no
longer a chant, but a war-cry, a paean of power. Pagadi stops and
raises his hand, and the place is filled with a silence that may be
felt. But not for long. The next moment five hundred shields are
tossed aloft, five hundred spears flash in the sunshine, and with a
sudden roar, forth springs the royal salute, "Bayete!"

The chief draws back and gives directions to his /indunas/, his
thinkers, his wise ones, men distinguished from their fellows by the
absence of shield and plume; the /indunas/ pass on the orders to the
captains, and at once the so-called dance begins. First they manoeuvre
a little in absolute silence, and changing their position with
wonderful precision and rapidity; but as their blood warms there comes
a sound as of the hissing of ten thousand snakes, and they charge and
charge again. A pause, and the company of "greys" on our right,
throwing itself into open order, flits past us like so many vultures
to precipitate itself with a wild, whistling cry on an opposing body
which rushed to meet it. They join issue, they grapple; on them swoops
another company, then another and another, until nothing is to be
distinguished except a mass of wild faces heaving; of changing forms
rolling and writhing, twisting and turning, and, to all appearances,
killing and being killed, whilst the whole air is pervaded with a
shrill, savage sibillation. It is not always the same cry; now it is
the snorting of a troop of buffaloes, now the shriek of the eagle as
he seizes his prey, anon the terrible cry of the "night-prowler," the
lion, and now--more thrilling than all--the piercing wail of a woman.
But whatever the cry, the cadence rises and falls in perfect time and
unanimity; no two mix with one another so as to mar the effect of
each.

Again the combatants draw back and pause, and then forth from the
ranks springs a chosen warrior, and hurls himself on an imaginary foe.
He darts hither and thither with wild activity, he bounds five feet
into the air like a panther, he twists through the grass like a snake,
and, finally, making a tremendous effort, he seems to slay his airy
opponent, and sinks exhausted to the ground. The onlookers mark their
approval or disapproval of the dancer's feats by the rising and
falling of the strange whistling noise which, without the slightest
apparent movement of face or lip, issues from each mouth. Warrior
after warrior comes forth in turn from the ranks and does battle with
his invisible foe, and receives his meed of applause. The last warrior
to spring forward with a wild yell is the future chief, Pagadi's son
and successor, our friend of yesterday. He stands, with his shield in
one hand and his lifted battle-axe--borne by him alone--in the other,
looking proudly around, and rattling his lion-claw necklets, whilst
from every side bursts forth a storm of sibillating applause, not from
the soldiers only, but from the old men, women, and children. Through
all his fierce pantomimic dance it continues, and when he has ended it
redoubles, then dies away, but only to burst out again and again with
unquenchable enthusiasm.

In order, probably, to give the warriors a brief breathing space,
another song is now set up, and it is marvellous the accuracy and
knowledge of melody with which the parts are sung, like a glee of
catch, the time being kept by a conductor, who rushes from rank to
rank beating time with a wand. Yet it is hardly like chanting, rather
like a weird, sobbing melody, with tones in it which range from the
deepest bass to the shrillest treble. It ends in a long sigh, and then
follows a scene, a tumult, a melee, which hardly admits of a
description in words. The warriors engage in a mimic combat, once more
they charge, retreat, conquer, and are defeated, all in turns. In
front of them, exciting them to new exertions, with word and gesture,
undulate in a graceful dance of their own the "intombis," the young
beauties of the tribe, with green branches in their hands, and all
their store of savage finery glittering on their shapely limbs. Some
of these maidens are really handsome, and round them again dance the
children, armed with mimic spears and shields. Wild as seems the
confusion, through it all, even the moments of highest excitement,
some sort of rough order is maintained; more, it would seem, by mutual
sounds than by word of command or sense of discipline.

Even a Zulu warrior must, sooner or later, grow weary, and at length
the signal is given for the dance to end. The companies are drawn up
in order again, and receive the praise and thanks of those in whose
honour they had been called together. To these compliments they reply
in a novel and imposing fashion. At a given signal each man begins to
softly tap his ox-hide shield with the handle of his spear, producing
a sound somewhat resembling the murmur of the distant sea. By slow
degrees it grows louder and louder, till at length it rolls and
re-echoes from the hills like thunder, and comes to its conclusion
with a fierce, quick rattle. This is the royal war-salute of the
Zulus, and is but rarely to be heard. One more sonorous salute with
voice and hand, and then the warriors disappear as they came, dropping
swiftly and silently over the brow of the hill in companies. In a few
moments no sign or vestige of dance or dancers remained, save, before
our eyes, the well-trodden ground, a few lingering girls laden with
large calabashes of beer, and in our ears some distant dying snatches
of chants. The singers were on their joyful way to slay and devour the
oxen provided as a stimulus and reward for them by their chief's
liberality.

When the last dusky figure had topped the rising ground over which the
homeward path lay, and had stood out for an instant against the
flaming background of the western sun, and then dropped, as it were,
back into its native darkness beyond those gates of fire, the old
chief drew near. He had divested himself of his heavy war-dress, and
sat down amicably amongst us.

"Ah," he said, taking the hand of Sir Theophilus Shepstone, and
addressing him by his native name, "Ah! t'Sompseu, t'Sompseu, the
seasons are many since first I held this your hand. Then we two were
young, and life lay bright before us, and now you have grown great,
and are growing grey, and I have grown very old! I have eaten the corn
of my time, till only the cob is left for me to suck, and, /ow/, it is
bitter. But it is well that I should grasp this your hand once more,
oh, holder of the Spirit of Chaka,[*] before I sit down and sleep with
my fathers. /Ow/, I am glad."

[*] The reader must bear in mind that the Zulu warrior is buried
    sitting and in full war-dress. Chaka, or T'chaka, was the founder
    of the Zulu power.

Imposing as was this old-time war-dance, it is not difficult to
imagine the heights to which its savage grandeur must have swelled
when it was held--as was the custom at each new year--at the kraal of
Cetywayo, King of the Zulus. Then 30,000 warriors took part in it, and
a tragic interest was added to the fierce spectacle by the slaughter
of many men. It was, in fact, a great political opportunity for
getting rid of the "irreconcilable" element from council and field.
Then, in the moment of wildest enthusiasm, the witch-finder darted
forward and lightly touched with a switch some doomed man, sitting, it
may be, quietly among the spectators, or capering with his fellow-
soldiers. Instantly he was led away, and his place knew him no more.

Throughout the whole performance there was one remarkable and genuine
feature, the strong personal attachment of each member of the tribe to
its chief--not only to the fine old chief, Pagadi, their leader in
former years, but to the head and leader for the years to come.

It must be remembered that this system of chieftainship and its
attendant law is, to all the social bearings of South African native
life, what the tree is to its branches; it has grown through long,
long ages amid a people slow to forget old traditions, and equally
slow to receive new ideas; dependent on it are all the native's
customs, all his keen ideas of right and justice; in it lies embodied
his history of the past, and from it springs his hope for the future.
Surely even the most uncompromising of those marching under the banner
of civilisation must hesitate before they condemn this deep-rooted
system to instant uprootal.[*] The various influences of the white man
have eaten into the native system as rust into iron, and their action
will never cease till all be destroyed. The bulwarks of barbarism, its
minor customs and minor laws, are gone, or exist only in name; but its
two great principles, polygamy and chieftainship, yet flourish and are
strong. Time will undo his work, and find for these also a place among
forgotten things. And it is the undoubted duty of us English, who
absorb people and territories in the high name of civilisation, to be
true to our principles and our aim, and aid the great destroyer by any
and every safe and justifiable means. But between the legitimate means
and the rash, miscalculating uprootal of customs and principles, which
are not the less venerable and good in their way because they do not
accord with our own present ideas, there is a great gulf fixed. Such
an uprootal might precipitate an outburst of the very evils it aims at
destroying.

[*] I do not wish the remarks in this paper, which was written some
    years ago, to be taken as representing my present views on the
    Natal native question, formed after a longer and more intimate
    acquaintance with its peculiarities, for which I beg to refer the
    reader to the chapter on Natal.--Author.

What the ultimate effect of our policy will be, when the leaven has
leavened the whole, when the floodgates are lifted, and this vast
native population (which, contrary to all ordinary precedent, does
/not/ melt away before the sun of the white man's power) is let loose
in its indolent thousands, unrestrained, save by the bonds of
civilised law, who can presume to say? But this is not for present
consideration. Subject to due precautions, the path of progress must
of necessity be followed, and the results of such following left in
the balancing hands of Fate and the future.





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