CAPE COLONY AND SOUTH AFRICA. 



103 



the active and aggressive element in the National 

 l"nion. really were willing to renounce their British 

 allegiance to become full burghers of the South Afri- 

 can Republic. It has been the practice to grant full 

 citizenship hy special act to all who were command- 

 ered and served in any nat ive war. Very few English 

 residents have ever availed themselves of the privi- 

 lege when it was offered ; they objected to being com- 

 niandered. and only recently had secured through 

 their Government exemption from military service. 

 Few Englishmen intended to become permanent resi- 

 dents of the Transvaal. They expected, when their 

 fortune was made, to return to their own country. 

 Many Germans, on the other hand, had done mili- 

 tary service, and been admitted in consequence to 

 full citizenship. The Germans, a large proportion 

 of the Americans, and many of the Australians also 

 held aloof from the agitation of the National Union. 

 The disregard shown by the President and the 

 Volksraad to their claims and complaints exasper- 

 ated the members of the National Union and im- 

 pelled the young and hot-headed ones to revolution- 

 ary projects. Many of them obtained rifles and 

 talked loudly of obtaining their rights by force. 

 The young Englishmen regarded the fighting qual- 

 ities of the sober and religious Boers with contempt, 

 declaring that they had not the pluck to face men 

 of their courage and determination. They looked 

 for aid and encouragement to the persons identified 

 with the British South African Company, the rep- 

 resentative of British imperialism and supremacy. 

 Some of the leaders of the National Union were 

 long in communication with the chiefs of the Char- 

 tered Company and imperialists in Kimberley. 

 The question of taking up arms in earnest caused 

 serious dissensions in the Uitlander community. A 

 great majority were opposed to violence, for the 

 reason that it would disturb business, endanger 

 property, and perhaps impel the Transvaal authori- 

 ties to put in force the law ordering the confisca- 

 tion of the property of mine proprietors who rebel 

 against the Government. The monopolies of which 

 the miners complained were a more tangible griev- 

 ance than the denial of political rights. The liquor 

 trust gave the complete control of all the liquor sold 

 in the Rand to a single firm, which manufactured 

 a poisonous quality of whisky and had the right to 

 open canteens and sell it to the Kaffir laborers any- 

 where among the mines, for the land belongs to the 

 Government. The consequence was that the Kaffir 

 boys were constantly drinking and were unfit for 

 work a third of the time. To this cause many fear- 

 ful accidents in the mines were due. Another 

 monopoly under the protection of the Government 

 was the sale of dynamite, which was given to a 

 single firm on the condition that it should be manu- 

 factured in the country. The cniirrxxion/nnre did not 

 manufacture it in the Transvaal, but bought inferior 

 German dynamite, which was sold to the mine 

 operators for four times the price for which they could 

 import a better quality from Europe. The Nether- 

 lands Railroad Company was the cause of the worst 

 complaints, and the target for the hardest abuse. 

 The company charged very heavy rates, from 3f7. to 

 Is. per ton per mile, for carrying coal. The English 

 mine owners demanded that the Government should 

 cancel the charter and allow them to build railroads 

 for themselves. President Kriiger stood loyally by 

 the company, which had built the line before the 

 discoveries of gold. When the railroad that reaches 

 Johannesburg in a direct line from the Cape was 

 unable to handle the accumulated freight, and it 

 became necessary to ship it by the longer route, the 

 Uitlanders organized a service of ox-carts, and to 

 prevent their depriving the railroad of its monopoly 

 of traffic and the Government of its revenue from 

 the railroad the authorities closed the drifts, or 



fords, but opened them again in compliance with a 

 peremptory demand from the British Government. 



A Reform Committee was organized, which formed 

 a definite plan for bringing matters to a focus, and 

 extracting the desired reforms from the Transvaal 

 Government by force, or a show of force, if peace- 

 ful means should fail. They spent ?0.<iOO for pro- 

 visions, enough to outlast a two months' siege, or- 

 dered rifles and Maxim guns, which were gradually 

 smuggled across the border, and made arrange- 

 ments for overpowering the small Boer garrisons 

 and seizing the forts. Communication was con- 

 stantly held with Dr. Jameson, who was a personal 

 friend of the members of the Reform Committee. 

 It was prearranged that, in case they were driven 

 to rise in arms, he was to come to their aid with 

 1,600 trained men, bringing 1,500 extra rifles that 

 they should send to Maf eking. A letter conveying 

 their appeal was sent to him by way of Cape Town, 

 which would furnish the ostensible' motive for the 

 invasion of the Matabeleland forces, and might be 

 produced whenever the fitting moment arrived, for 

 the date was purposely omitted ; but it was clearly 

 understood that they were not to move until a tele- 

 graphic summons was sent to Jameson. 



The letter, signed by five members of the Reform 

 Committee Charles Leonard. Francis Rhodes, Lio- 

 nel Phillips, John Hays Hammond, and George 

 Farrar ran as follows : 



" The position of matters in this state has be- 

 come so critical that we are assured that at no dis- 

 tant period there will be conflict between the 

 Government and the Uitlander population. It is 

 scarcely necessary for us to recapitulate what is 

 now matter of history. Suffice it to say that the 

 position of thousands of Englishmen and" others is 

 rapidly becoming intolerable. Not satisfied with 

 making the Uitlander population, pay virtually the 

 whole of the revenue of the country while denying 

 them representation, the policy of the Government 

 has been steadily to encroach upon the liberty of 

 the subject and to undermine the security for prop- 

 erty to such an extent as to cause a very deep- 

 seated sense of discontent and danger. A foreign 

 corporation of Hollanders is to a considerable ex- 

 tent controlling our destinies, and in conjunction 

 with the Boer leaders endeavoring to cast them in 

 a mold which is wholly foreign to the genius of the 

 people. Every public act betrays the most positive 

 hostility, not only to everything English, but to the 

 neighboring states as well. In short, the internal 

 policy of the Government is such as to have roused 

 into antagonism to it not only practically the whole 

 body of Uitlanders but a large number of the Boers, 

 while its external policy has exasperated the neigh- 

 boring states, causing the possibility of great 

 danger to the peace and independence of this 

 Republic. 



" Public feeling is in a condition of smoldering 

 discontent. All the petitions of the people have 

 been refused with a greater or less degree of con- 

 tempt, and in the debate on the franchise petitions 

 signed by nearly -40.000 people one member chal- 

 lenged the Uitlanders to fight for the rights they 

 asked for, and not a single member spoke against 

 him. Not to go into detail, we may say that the 

 Government has called into existence all the ele- 

 ments necessary for armed conflict. The one desire 

 of the people here is for fair play, the maintenance 

 of their independence, and the preservation of those 

 public liberties without which life is not worth 

 having. The Government denies these things, and 

 violates the national sense of Englishmen at every 

 turn. What we have to consider is. what will be 

 the condition of things here in the event of con- 

 flict? Thousands of unarmed men, women, and 

 children of our race will be at the mercv of well- 



