782 



SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLIC. 



withdrawn; that all re-enforcements that had 

 arrived since June 1 should be removed from 

 South Africa on the agreement that no attack 

 within a period of time to be agreed upon should 

 be made by the Republic on British possessions 

 during further negotiations, and that the armed 

 burghers should be withdrawn from the borders; 

 and" that . the British troops on the high seas 

 should not be landed in South Africa. An affirma- 

 tive answer was demanded within forty-eight 

 hours; otherwise, the action of the British Gov- 

 ernment would be regarded as a formal declara- 

 tion of war, and if any further movement of 

 troops in the direction of the frontier took place 

 in the interval that also would be regarded as a 

 declaration of war. Mr. Chamberlain replied by 

 telegraph on the night of Oct. 10 that the condi- 

 tions demanded were such as the British Govern- 

 ment deemed it impossible to discuss. In answer 

 to inquiries made by Sir Alfred Milner, President 

 Steyn formally stated that the Orange Free State 

 would make common cause with the Transvaal. 



An interchange of telegrams had taken place 

 between Sir Alfred Milner and President Steyn, 

 who suggested when the High Commissioner 

 said that the Imperial Government desired to 

 prevent action on the part of the Transvaal Gov- 

 ernment that would make a pacific solution im- 

 possible that the threatening movement of British 

 troops should be stopped. He offered his services 

 as mediator, expressing his conviction that two 

 years' difference in the franchise could easily be 

 bridged over if peace were desired, but that con- 

 tinued warlike movements could only result in 

 war. Sir Alfred Milner resented any suggestion 

 about the disposition of imperial troops, and re- 

 torted with a reference to the grave fact that 

 both republics were placing their forces on a war 

 footing. President Steyn replied that the Trans- 

 vaal had armed because an alien and hostile popu- 

 lation in its midst was stirring up hatred under 

 the incitement of organizations that for political 

 and financial reasons desired to undermine the 

 independence of the state; the Free State, which 

 had everything to lose and nothing to gain by a 

 rupture, would only call out the burghers when 

 convinced that the British troops menaced the 

 independence of the Transvaal, which the Orange 

 Free State was bound to assist. . 



On Oct. 1, and again on Oct. 5, when President 

 Steyn asked what the fresh British proposals 

 W 7 ere, the Colonial Secretary replied that they 

 were not ready. On Oct. 9 the mobilization of an 

 army corps was ordered. 



After the refusal of the British Government to 

 comply with the Boer ultimatum, President Steyn 

 issued a proclamation calling upon the burghers 

 to rise against the oppressor and the violator of 

 rights, charging the British Government with 

 shameless breaking of treaties, violation of inter- 

 national justice, and transgression of laws on 

 feigned pretexts; with having for years past 

 placed troops on the frontiers of the sister re- 

 public to encourage revolutionary disturbance and 

 compel the Republic by fear to accede to demands 

 involving the loss of the independence of the 

 country as a self-governing sovereign state. No 

 gratitude had been shown for the magnanimity 

 exhibited, at the request of the British Govern- 

 ment, to British subjects who had forfeited their 

 lives and property under the laws of the Republic, 

 and no feeling of shame had prevented the British 

 Government, after gold mines of immense value 

 had been discovered, from making claims the con- 

 sequence of which, if allowed, would be that those 

 who, or whose forefathers, had saved the country 

 from barbarism and won it for civilization would 



lose that control over the interests of the country 

 to which they were justly entitled according to 

 divine and human laws.* President Steyn de- 

 nounced the unfounded claim of paramountcy 

 over the whole of South Africa", affecting even the 

 Orange Free State, and the policy of Great Brit- 

 ain which had denied to the South African Re- 

 public its original position in respect to foreign 

 affairs. The conventions had been perverted from 

 their original intentions and been used as a means 

 for the practice of tyranny and of injustice and 

 for the support of a revolutionary propaganda. 

 The experience of the Orange Free State made it 

 clear that the solemn promises and agreements 

 of Great Britain could not be relied on, for when 

 the burghers had overcome a barbarous black 

 tribe on the eastern frontiers, the British Govern- 

 ment had unjustly and unlawfully intervened ; 

 and when diamond's were discovered in a |>ortion 

 of the territory of the Free State the dominion 

 over this district had been forcibly appropriated 

 by Great Britain, contrary to existing treaties. 



When the forty-eight hours of the ultimatum 

 expired and military operations began the Cape 

 Parliament closed it's session, and Sir Alfred Mil 

 ner issued a proclamation warning the Cape Col- 

 onists of the penalties of treason. This was conn 

 tersigned by Premier Sehreiner, who appealed to 

 the members of Parliament to endeavor to save 

 the colony from being involved in the vortex of 

 war, and* instructed the field cornets to try t< 

 calm the people. But many of the Cape EUTBMM 

 had already supplied themselves with rifles and 

 ammunition. 



The Investment of Ladysmith. Two days 

 before the dispatch of the Boer ultimatum the 

 mobilization of a field force for scr\ ice in South 

 Africa was ordered by the commander in chief of 

 the British army with the approval of tin- ft 

 tary of State for War. The increase of the force 

 in Natal by 10,000 men had been ordered nearly 

 a month before, and Sir Rcdvcis Bullcr \va- ap- 

 pointed to conduct the expected campa^ii. 

 Troop ships began to leave in tin- middle of Sep- 

 tember, when Sir George White left with his 

 staff to take command of the troops in Natal, 

 which, with the re-enforcements from England, 

 amounted to a division, consisting of 18,000 offi- 

 cers and men. In Cape Colony a!-o the garrison 

 had been gradually strengthened, especially with 

 engineers, artillery, and railroad troops; and 

 troops had been moved toward the frontier of the 

 Orange Free State to protect the railroad and 

 garrison Kimlerley. where fortifications were be- 

 ing constructed. The defenders, consisting of a 

 British battalion and volunteers, numbered 2,500 

 men. Cecil Rhodes went to the threatened dia- 

 mond mines. The ramparts were mounted with 

 Maxims and heavy guns, more of which were a-i 

 in the De Beers workshops. The railroad officials 

 for a long period had been preparing for the 

 emergency by eliminating Afrikanders from the 

 service and employing loyal Englishmen, who 

 thus had time to become thoroughly familiar 

 with the tracks. Col. Robert Baden-Powell had 

 been engaged in recruiting and training a for< of 

 about 1.000 Cape volunteers for the defense of 

 Rhodesia and Bechuanaland. with which he went 

 to Mafeking, the headquarters of the Bechuaua- 

 land border police. The Indian military authori- 

 ties thought they could spare 12,000 men from 

 the European army in India, but not more witli 

 safety, and of this contingent 5,800 embarked for 

 South Africa on Sept. 18 and subsequent dates. 



The mobilization of the Transvaal Boers \\a- 

 ordered on Sept. 25. The distribution of Mauser 

 rifles and cartridges was completed in three days, 



