88 



CAPE COLONY AND BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA. 



tions from home, and Commandant-General 

 Jonbert, had arranged an armistice, procured 

 through the intermediation of President Brand, 

 of the Orange River Republic, to allow time 

 for Kruger and the Boer authorities to con- 

 sider terms of peace which the Imperial Gov- 

 ernment offered. Under the terms of the ar- 

 mistice the English were permitted to provision 

 their beleaguered garrisons in Potchefstroom, 

 Pretoria, Wakkerstroom, and Standerton with 

 a week's rations. Before the supply -train 

 reached Potc-hefstroom, the garrison surren- 

 dered, March 21st, giving up their guns and 

 departing on parole for Natal. The withhold- 

 ing from the besieged force knowledge of the 

 approach of succor was adjudged a violation 

 of the armistice, and it was agreed to allow 

 the fort to be reoccupied, to restore the status 

 quo ante. 



The strongest sympathy with the Boers and 

 indignation at the course of Great Britain pre- 

 vailed among the entire Dutch population 

 of South Africa. It was this state of feel- 

 ing which was advanced as the reason for 

 taking vengeance upon the insurgents. The 

 apprehensions caused by the known tension 

 among the old families were augmented by a 

 manifesto of Kruger, which said that, whether 

 the Boers were now successful or not, the 

 struggle would lead to the redemption of the 

 colonies from the British yoke, and independ- 

 ence, like that achieved by the American colo- 

 nies, when " Africa will be for the Afrikander 

 from the Zambesi to Martin's Bay." The peo- 

 ple of Holland and Belgium manifested publicly 

 their sense of England's injustice, and a large 

 section of the British public expressed the 

 same sentiment. Public men in Germany, in 

 France, and in other Continental countries set 

 their names to memorials pleading for the be- 

 stowal of independence upon the Transvaal. 



The negotiations with the Boers were con- 

 cluded by their acceptance of the terms of 

 peace, March 21st, subject to their final agree- 

 ment in the decisions of a royal commission 

 settling the details of boundaries and questions 

 of the rights of natives. The commission was 

 to consist of Sir Hercules Robinson, Governor 

 of Cape Colony and High Commissioner for 

 South Africa, President, and Sir Henry De 

 Villiers, Chief-Justice of the Cape, and Sir 

 Evelyn Wood, associate members. The Boers 

 agreed to withdraw from Laing's Neck and 

 disperse to their homes. The English garrisons 

 should remain as they were pending the final 

 settlement, but no troops or munitions of war 

 were to be sent into the Transvaal. The main 

 principles of the treaty were that the Boers 

 should enjoy complete independence in making 

 and administering their own laws ; but the 

 right to regulate and superintend their rela- 

 tions with the native population, which num- 

 bers nearly 700,000, the adjustment of frontier 

 questions with the resident and neighboring 

 tribes, and the control of foreign relations, 

 were reserved by the Imperial Government, 



represented by the High Commissioner in Cape 

 Town, and in the Transvaal by a resident 

 imperial agent. This peculiar form of a pro- 

 tectorate was defined under the new term of 

 the suzerainty of the Queen. The determina- 

 tion of the rights and claims of the natives and 

 of provisions for the protection of native in- 

 terests was the task imposed upon the com- 

 missioners, who immediately commenced their 

 labors. They were also empowered by the 

 terms of the settlement to decide the question 

 of the severance from the Transvaal of por- 

 tions of the territory in the east and northeast 

 settled by natives, and thus separate the Zooloo 

 and Swazi districts from the Transvaal. The 

 last proposition was loudly condemned by the 

 Boer people. After the conclusion of this pre- 

 liminary settlement, the Boers departed for 

 their farms. The British commander, General 

 Wood, did not decrease his armaments, but 

 prepared vigorously for the case of a renewal 

 of the war. 



After many difficulties and compromises a 

 convention was settled between the Boer au- 

 thorities and the commissioners on the 8th of 

 August. The Transvaal Government under- 

 took the debt of 425,893, payable in twenty- 

 seven years, at 4J per cent interest, on account 

 of the liabilities which the British Government 

 had assumed at the annexation, and the ex- 

 penses of Secocoeni's war. The Boers and the 

 British each agreed to reimburse sufferers of 

 damages through the military operations. The 

 convention was ratified by the Volksraad in, 

 October. 



The Cape Parliament met March 25th. The 

 Premier of Cape Colony, Gordon Sprigg, the 

 author of the Basuto war, was nearly removed 

 from office in April by a vote of censure, for 

 raising, on his own responsibility, a loan of 

 1,250,000, for the prosecution of that unfor- 

 tunate military essay, and for the other war 

 expenditures of the colony. The war itself 

 was not condemned by either the West or the 

 East colonists, the Afrikander or the English 

 section of the community. Mr. Sprigg repre- 

 sented more especially the English element, as 

 opposed to the Dutch, and the aggressive spirit 

 of the former Imperial Government. He had 

 been called upon by Sir Bartle Frere three 

 years before to succeed Molteno, who had been 

 arbitrarily dismissed while still backed by a 

 parliamentary majority. Upon a subsequent 

 renewal of Mr. Scanlan's motion, Mr. Sprigg 

 resigned. A new ministry was formed, com- 

 posed of Mr. Molteno, the Prime Minister 

 whom Sir Bartle Frere had removed, Colonial 

 Secretary; Mr. Hutton, Treasurer- General ; 

 Mr. Scanlan, Attorney-General and Premier; 

 Mr. Merriman, Commissioner of Crown Lands 

 and Public Works ; Mr. Sauer, Secretary for 

 Native Affairs ; Mr. Hoflmeyer, without a port- 

 folio. 



In the budget of the Cape Treasurer the 

 revenue of the colony for 1881 is estimated at 

 2,968,210, and the expenditure at 2,852,083. 



