[1884-1886 A.D.] African Republic (1) will have full liberty, with their families, to enter, travel, or reside in any part of the South African Republic; (2) they will be entitled to hire or possess houses, manufactories, warehouses, shops, and premises; (3) they may carry on their commerce either in person or by any agents whom they may think fit to employ; (4) they will not be subject, in respect of their persons or property or in respect of their commerce or industry, to any taxes, whether general or local, other than those which are or may be imposed upon citizens of the said republic."

As the freebooters continued their operations in Bechuanaland, Sir Hercules Robinson despatched the Reverend J. Mackenzie to adjust matters and if necessary "to order the ejectment of the persons now trespassing at Rooi Grond." Mr. Mackenzie met with but partial success, and Mr. Rhodes was sent to succeed him, but the latter equally failed to bring about a settlement. Meanwhile President Kruger "provisionally" proclaimed and ordained, "in the interests of humanity," that the territory in dispute should be under the protection of the South African Republic. Public protests were made in Cape Town and throughout the colony against this last act of aggression, and in October, 1884, Sir Charles Warren was despatched by the British government to "pacificate" and "hold the country" pending further instructions. Thereupon President Kruger withdrew his proclamation. Sir Charles Warren subsequently broke up the freebooters' two states, and occupied the country without a shot being fired. The expedition cost Great Britain a million and a half, but the attempt at further extension westwards was foiled.

At the eastern border a similar policy was followed by the Boers, and in this instance with more success. Following up the downfall of the Zulu power after the British conquest in 1879, several parties of Boers began intriguing with the petty chiefs, and in January, 1883, in the presence of ten thousand Zulus, they proclaimed Dinizulu, the son of Cettiwayo, to be king of Zululand. As a "reward" for their services to the Zulus, the Boers then took over from them a tract of country in which they established a new republic. Encouraged by success, the Boer claims were extended until at the end of 1885 they claimed about three fourths of the whole Zulu territory. In 1886 the new republic, with limits considerably narrowed, was recognised by Great Britain, and the territory became incorporated with the Transvaal in 1888. Their eastern boundary, in the teeth of the spirit of the conventions and with but scant observance of the latter, was by this means eventually 'considerably extended. A similar policy eventually brought Swaziland almost entirely under their dominion.

Meanwhile, events occurring within the state augured ill for the future of the country. In 1884 a concession to a number of Hollander and German capitalists of all rights to make railways in the state led to the formation of the Netherlands Railway Company. This company, which was not actually floated till 1887, was destined to exercise a disastrous influence upon the fortunes of the state. Gold digging, which had commenced with the discovery in 1869 of the Zoutpansberg and Lydenburg gold fields, had hitherto enjoyed in the Transvaal but a precarious existence. In 1883 the discovery of Moodie's Reef near the Kaap valley led to a considerable influx of diggers and prospectors. In 1886 the Rand gold fields, which had just been discovered, were proclaimed and Johannesburg was founded. From that time the gold industry made steady progress until the Rand gold mines proved the richest and most productive gold field in the world. As the industry prospered, so did the European population increase. The revenue of the state went up by leaps and bounds. In 1882 it was £177,407; in 1889, £1,577,445; in 1896,

[1886-1892 A.D.]

£3,912,095. At the end of 1886 Johannesburg consisted of a few stores and some few thousand inhabitants. In October, 1896, the sanitary board census estimated the population as 107,078, of whom 50,907 were Europeans. The wealth which was pouring into the Boer state coffers exceeded the wildest dreams of President Kruger and his followers. Land went up in value, and the Boers eventually parted with a third of the whole land area of the country to Uitlander purchasers. Yet in spite of the wealth which the industry of the Uitlanders was bringing both to the state and to individuals, a policy of rigid political exclusion and restriction was adopted towards them.

An attempt was made in 1888, after the conference held between Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, and Natal, to induce the Transvaal to enter the customs. union. Kruger would have none of it. His design at this time was ultimately to bring the whole of the external trade of the state, which was growing yearly as the gold industry developed, through Delagoa Bay and over the Netherlands Railway. In 1888 Sir John Brand, president of the Free State, died. He was succeeded in 1889 by Mr. Reitz. President Kruger now induced the Free State to agree to a treaty whereby each state bound itself to help the other whenever the independence of either should be threatened or assailed, unless the cause of quarrel was, in the eyes of the state called in to assist, an unjust one. This was the thin end of the wedge, which in Brand's time President Kruger had never been able to insert into the affairs of the Free State.

KRUGER AND THE UITLANDER GRIEVANCES

President Kruger now turned his attention to finding a seaport, and was only prevented from doing so by the British annexation of Tongaland, which barred his progress in that direction. In 1890 a feeling of considerable irritation had grown up among the Uitlanders at the various monopolies, but particularly at the dynamite monopoly, which pressed solely and with peculiar severity upon gold miners. Requests for some consideration in the matter of the franchise, and also for a more liberal commercial policy in the matter of railways, dynamite, and customs dues, began to be made. In response Kruger resorted to the most sweeping alteration in the franchise law. He enacted that the period of qualification for the full franchise should now be raised to ten years instead of five. He at the same time instituted what was called a second chamber, the franchise qualifications for which were certainly less, but which was not endowed with any real power. During this year Kruger visited Johannesburg, and what was known as "the flag incident" occurred. He had by this time rendered himself somewhat unpopular, and in the evening the Transvaal flag, which flew over the landdrost's house, was pulled down. This incensed Kruger so much that for many years he continued to quote it as a reason why no consideration could be granted to the Uitlanders.

In 1892 the Uitlanders began to feel that if they were to obtain any redress for their grievances some combined constitutional action was called for, and the first reform movement began. The Transvaal National Union was formed. This consisted at the outset chiefly of mercantile and professional men and artisans. The mining men, especially the heads of the larger houses, did not care at this juncture to run the risk of political agitation. The objects of this body were avowed from the outset. They desired equal rights for all citizens in the state, the abolition of monopolies and abuses, together with the maintenance of the state's independence. In the furthering of this policy

[1892-1895 A.D.] the Uitlander leader, Mr. John Tudhope, an ex-minister in the Cape government, was supported by Mr. Charles Leonard and his brother Mr. James Leonard, who at one time had distinguished himself as attorney-general of Cape Colony.

Both the Leonards, as well as many of their followers, were South Africans by birth. They, in common with the great bulk of the Uitlanders, recognised that the state had acquired its independence, and had every right to have that independence respected. They neither sought nor desired to see it abolished. But they asserted that a narrow and retrogressive policy, such as Kruger was following, was the very thing to endanger that independence. The soundness of these views and the legitimacy of Uitlander aspirations were recognised by a few of the most enlightened men among the Boer officials at Pretoria. Some prominent burghers even spoke at Uitlander meetings in favour of the Uitlander requests. At a later date Chief Justice Kotze when on circuit warned the Boers that in its retrogressive action the Boer government was undermining the grond wet or constitution of the state. It soon became evident that one course, and only one, lay open to President Kruger if he desired to avert a catastrophe. It was to meet in a friendly spirit those men who had by their industry converted a poor pastoral country into a rich industrial one, who represented more than half the inhabitants, who paid more than three fourths of the revenue, and who were anxious to join him as citizens, with the rights of citizenship. He chose a course diametrically opposite. In an interview accorded to seven delegates from the National Union, who visited him in 1892, with regard to reforms, he told Mr. Charles Leonard to "go back and tell your people that I shall never give them anything. I shall never change my policy. And now let the storm burst.'

In 1894 there occurred an incident which not only incensed the Uitlanders to fury, but called for British intervention. A number of British subjects resident in the Transvaal, in spite of their having no political status, were commandeered for compulsory service to suppress a native rising. This led to a protest, and eventually a visit to Pretoria, from Sir Henry Loch. President Kruger at length agreed to extend "most favoured nation" privileges to British subjects in reference to compulsory military service, and five British subjects who had been sent as prisoners to the front were released. Following this incident came a further alteration in the franchise law, making the franchise practically impossible to obtain. The Delagoa Bay Railway now being completed, Kruger determined to take steps to bring the Rand traffic over it. The Netherlands Railway began by putting a prohibitive tariff on goods from the Vaal river. Not to be coerced in this manner, the Rand merchants proceeded to bring their goods on from the Vaal by wagon. Kruger then closed the drifts (or fords) on the river by which the wagons crossed. He only reopened them after the receipt of what was tantamount to an ultimatum on the subject from Great Britain.

At this time the Uitlanders formed a majority of the population, owned half the land and nine tenths of the property, and they were at least entitled to a hearing. When in August, 1895, they forwarded one of their many petitions praying for redress of their grievances and an extension of the franchise, their petition with over thirty-five thousand signatures was rejected with jeers and insult. In September a combined meeting of the chambers of mines and commerce was held at Johannesburg, and a letter on various matters of the greatest importance to the mining industry and community at Johannesburg was addressed to the Boer executive. It was never vouchsafed an answer. Men of any spirit among the Uitlanders were exasperated beyond

[1895 A.D.]

measure. Their position was humiliating. What the next step should be was freely discussed. It was easy to propound the question, impossible to answer it. Some urged an appeal to the imperial government; but others, especially men of colonial birth and experience, objected that they would be leaning on a broken reed. That men who had still the memory of Majuba in their hearts should have felt misgiving is not to be wondered at.

THE JAMESON RAID AND ITS CONSEQUENCES (1895 A.D.)

At this juncture came overtures to the leading Uitlanders from Cecil Rhodes and Doctor Jameson, leading to the Jameson raid. To one or two men this scheme, subsequently known as the Jameson plan, had been revealed earlier in the year, but to the majority even of the small group of leaders it was not known till October or November, 1895. The proposition came in a tempting hour. Mr. Rhodes and Doctor Jameson, after considerable deliberation, came to the conclusion that they might advantageously intervene between Kruger and the Uitlanders. They induced Mr. Alfred Beit, who was an old personal friend of Mr. Rhodes, and also largely interested in the Rand gold mines, to adopt this view and to lend his co-operation. They then submitted their scheme to some of the Uitlander leaders. Between them it was arranged that Doctor Jameson should gather a force of eight hundred men on the Transvaal border; that the Uitlanders should continue their agitation; and that, should no satisfactory concession be obtained from President Kruger, a combined movement of armed forces should be made against the Transvaal government. The arsenal at Pretoria was to be seized; the Uitlanders in Johannesburg were to rise and hold the town. Jameson was to make a rapid march to Johannesburg. The various movements were to be started simultaneously. Meanwhile, in order to give President Kruger a final chance of making concessions with a good grace, and for the purpose of stating the Uitlander case to the world, Charles Leonard, as chairman of the National Union, issued a historic manifesto, which concluded as follows:

"We have now only two questions to consider: (1) What do we want? (2) How shall we get it? I have stated plainly what our grievances are, and I shall answer with equal directness the question, What do we want? We want: (1) the establishment of this republic as a true republic; (2) a grond wet or constitution which shall be framed by competent persons selected by representatives of the whole people and framed on lines laid down by them a constitution which shall be safeguarded against hasty alterations; (3) an equitable franchise law, and fair representation; (4) equality of the Dutch and English languages; (5) responsibility to the heads of the great departments of the legislature; (6) removal of religious disabilities; (7) independence of the courts of justice, with adequate and secured remuneration of the judges; (8) liberal and comprehensive education; (9) efficient civil service, with adequate provision for pay and pension; (10) free trade in South African products. That is what we want. There now remains the question which is to be put before you at the meeting of the 6th of January, viz., How shall we get it? To this question I shall expect from you an answer in plain terms according to your deliberate judgment."

The Jameson conspiracy fared no worse and no better than the great majority of conspiracies in history. It failed in its immediate object. Doctor Jameson did not obtain more than five hundred men. Johannesburg had the greatest difficulty in smuggling in and distributing the rifles with which the insurgents were to be armed. The scheme to seize the Pretoria fort had to

[1895-1896 A.D.] be abandoned, as at the time fixed Pretoria was thronged with Boers. Finally, to make confusion worse confounded, Doctor Jameson, becoming impatient of delay, in spite of receiving direct messages from the leaders at Johannesburg telling him on no account to move, marched into the Transvaal on the day which had been provisionally decided on.

The policy of delay in the execution of the plot which the Uitlander leaders found themselves compelled to adopt was determined by a variety of causes. Apart from the difficulty of obtaining arms, a serious question arose at the eleventh hour which filled some of the Uitlanders with mistrust. The reform leaders in the Transvaal, down to and including the Johannesburg rising, had always recognised as a cardinal principle the due observance and maintenance of the independence of the state. From Cape Town it was now hinted that the movement in which Doctor Jameson was to co-operate should, in Mr. Rhodes' view, be carried out under the British flag. A meeting of Uitlander leaders was hastily summoned on December 25th. Two messengers were that night despatched to interview Cecil Rhodes, who then gave the assurance that he approved of the republican flag. Meanwhile, on December 29, Doctor Jameson had started, and the news of his having done so reached Johannesburg from outside sources. A number of leading citizens were at once formed into a reform committee. In the absence of Charles Leonard, who had been sent as one of the delegates to Cape Town to interview Cecil Rhodes, Lionel Phillips, a partner in Messrs. Eckstein and Company, the largest mining firm on the Rand, was elected chairman. Mr. Phillips had been for three years in succession chairman of the chamber of mines, and he had persistently for several years endeavoured to induce President Kruger to take a reasonable view of the requirements of the industry. He was a man of marked ability and energy, and enjoyed the confidence of the great majority of the Uitlanders.

Under the supervision of the reform committee, such arms as had been smuggled in were now distributed, and Colonel Frank Rhodes, a brother of Cecil, was given charge of the armed men. The canteens were closed in the towns and along the mines. A large body of police was enrolled, and order was maintained throughout the town. On January 2nd, 1896, Doctor Jameson, who found himself at Doornkop in a position surrounded by Boers, surrendered. Doctor Jameson and his men were conveyed to Pretoria as prisoners, and subsequently handed over to the high commissioner. The whole of the reform committee (with the exception of a few who fled the country) were arrested on a charge of high treason and imprisoned in Pretoria; they were then brought up for preliminary examination in the Raadzaal, and committed for trial. In April, at the trial, the four leaders - Lionel Phillips, Colonel Frank Rhodes, J. H. Hammond, and George Farrar, who in conjunction with Charles Leonard had made the arrangements with Doctor Jameson were sentenced to death, the sentence being after some months' imprisonment commuted to a fine of £25,000 each. The rest of the committee were each sentenced to two years' imprisonment, £2,000 fine, or another year's imprisonment, and three years' banishment. This sentence, after a month's incarceration, was also commuted. The fine was exacted, and the prisoners, with the exception of Woolls Sampson and Karri Davis, were liberated on undertaking to abstain from politics for three years in lieu of banishment. Messrs. Sampson and Davis, refusing to appeal to the executive for a reconsideration of their sentence, were retained for over a year.

Sir Hercules Robinson was unfortunately in feeble health at the time, and having reached Pretoria on the 4th of January, he had to conduct negotiations under great physical disadvantage. He had no sooner learned of the raid in