THE REVOLT OF THE UlTL ANDERS 
367 
authorities by the government of the Transvaal and their subse- 
quent trial in London need not be dwelt upon. The leader was 
condemned to fifteen months in prison, without special privileges, 
but he was shortl}^ afterwiu’d granted the status of a first-class 
misdemeanant as an act of clemency. So far as I could learn, 
the sentences passed on the raiders were regarded in the Trans- 
vaal as adequate but not excessive. The share of Mr Cecil Rhodes 
and of the Chartered Company in responsibility for the raid is 
still to be investigated. 
Quiet once more reigns in the Transvaal. The Uitlanders are 
again pressing for reforms, but there is no thought of revolt. The 
Burghers are now alive to the need of reforms, and as tliey seem 
amdhing but vindictive, I believe they will gradually concede 
what a sense of justice demands. 
The Reformers, though veiy able men in their own professions, 
have been mere puppets in the hands of men whose designs were 
much larger and more dubious than the correction of the Uitland- 
ers’ grievances. The honest sorene.ss of the foreigners over their 
wrongs was taken advantage of to excite them to a rebellion not 
justified b}^ the provocation. The Transvaal government showed 
little business ability in giving or tolerating even a shadow of 
excuse for rebellion, but in the active contest which followed it 
displayed an astuteness for wdiich the ability of its enemies was 
no match. The union of South Africa under British hegemony, 
for which Mr Rhodes has labored so persistently, seems further 
off than ever. The Transvaal burghers are substantially Dutch ; 
so are the citizens of the Free State; so, too, are four-fifths of 
the Cape Colonists. The bond of S3unpathy betweeqthe Boers 
throughout South Africa has been drawn much closer during 
the past few months. The Africander League in Cape Colony, 
which aims at “Africa for the Africanders ”, i. e., ])ractically for 
the Boers, is much .stronger than it was, and the wliole race now 
sees in the Transvaal, which is arming to tlie teeth, an intel- 
lectual abilit}’’ to cope with the larger questions of politics which 
has not hitherto been availalfie. It seems toda}' as if the posi- 
tion of the South African Republic in this region were verv much 
like that of Prussia in the divided (Jermany of fort3’^-ono vears 
ago. The whole c<mntry is in a state of tension, and a blunder- 
ing policy on the part of the Paramount Power might have un- 
usually serious consecpiences. 'I'lius South Africa will prol)ablv 
command a larger measure of interest and attention from the 
world henceforth than hitherto. 
