Natal Naval Volunteers . . . . . . . . . . . 150Natal Carbineers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465Natal Mounted Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . 200Border Mounted Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . 270Umvoti Mounted Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . 130Natal Field Battery . . . . . . . . . . . . 120Natal Royal Rifles . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145Durban Light Infantry . . . . . . . . . . . 400Medical Staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7Veterinary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Natal Mounted Police (Europeans) . . . . . . 649Thorneycroft's Mounted Infantry . . . . . . 500Bethune's Mounted Infantry . . . . . . . . . 500Imperial Light Infantry . . . . . . . . . . 1,000Imperial Light Horse . . . . . . . . . . . . 500Colonial Scouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500Ambulance Bearers (1st Section) . . . . . . 1,000Ambulance Bearers (2d Section) . . . . . . . 600Total . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7,139
Cape Colony Forces
Cape Colony, with its larger population, had, however, greater local dangers to face from possible rebels, and men were anxious to organize for local defence as well as for service at the front. But at the same date as the above figures are given for Natal the mother Colony had ten thousand men at the disposal of the General commanding the forces. They included the Kaffrarian Rifles, with 600 men; the Queenstown Rifles, 200 men; the Port Elizabeth Guards, 520 men; the Grahamstown Rifles, 310 men; the Cape Town Volunteers, 3,000 men; the Kimberley Volunteers, 200 men; and the Protectorate Regiment, 800 men. Of Mounted Infantry there were the Cape Mounted Rifles, 800 men; Brabant's Horse, 800 men; Cape Police, 600 men; Kaffrarian Mounted Infantry, 100 men; Frontier Mounted Rifles, 200 men; Diamond Fields' Horse, 400 men; Mafeking Mounted Infantry, 500 men; South African Light Horse, 800 men; Grahamstown Horse, 120 men; Rimington's Scouts, 350 men.
Future of the Colonies
Such was the remarkable military development, in a Colonial sense, which has arisen out of the Transvaal trouble of 1899 and the ensuing war. Its result is in the womb of the future, but there can be little doubt as to the important effect which the evidences of loyalty and unity thus produced must have, not only upon the constitution of the Empire, but upon itsprestigeand practical power. The day, indeed, is not far distant when the Colonies will have their full share in the Councils as well as in the defence of British dominions. The voice of Canada in the control of matters affecting the British West Indies and Newfoundland and Alaska, or other American interests touching the Empire, will be then as fully understood by foreign nations to be a great and permanent factor as will be that of Australasia in matters connected with the Indian Empire, the New Caledonia question, or the islands of the Pacific generally. A new and greater power in the world's history is, in fact, being born amid the throes of South African warfare, and the incoming century must witness developments in this connection even more marvellous than those of the one which is passing.
PART II.
OF VOL. I.
TROUBLE BETWEEN GREAT BRITAINAND THE BOERSINCLUDING THE WAR OF 1899-1900
BY
MURAT HALSTEAD
GENERAL SIR REDVERS BULLER, C.B. (From Photo, Charles Knight, Aldershot). MAJOR GEN'L SIR W. S. SYMONDS (From Photo, Cowell, Simla)GENERAL SIR REDVERS BULLER, C.B. (From Photo, Charles Knight, Aldershot).MAJOR GEN'L SIR W. S. SYMONDS (From Photo, Cowell, Simla)
BOERS HELIOGRAPHING ON THE NATAL FRONTIERBOERS HELIOGRAPHING ON THE NATAL FRONTIER
The Origin of the Recent War
The origin of the war breaking out in the later months of the last year of the nineteenth century between the Boers and the British may be traced to the famous defeat of the latter at Majuba Hill in 1881, the influence of which was intensified by the failure of the Jameson Raid, that had a good cause, but was irresponsible and disorderly. The Boers were entirely persuaded by these incidental successes of their army that they could always get the better of those they called intruders into their own country, which they had made a long journey to find and shed a great deal of blood of the natives to conquer. Their preference in the two pilgrimages away from the Cape country was to become herdsmen, raising cattle, shooting game, farming in a rude way, and enjoying the right to which they attached great importance to hold property in man. The first chief objection they had to the English, who superseded the Dutch at the Cape, was that they had prejudices against human servitude, and the slaveholders were sensitive as to interference with their high privileges and thought themselves greatly aggrieved that their scriptural institution was disapproved. It is true the Boers established a civilization immensely superior to barbarism of the natives, but they indulged all the passions of slaveholders, and were but little advanced in civilization. Something akin to semi-barbarism seemed the normal condition of Africa for countless centuries, and the light dawned gradually in South Africa from the occupancy of territory by the Dutch, the Portuguese and the English successively, and it may be fairly said that broad daylight came with the English, who in the lower regions of the Dark Continent were the stronger and the more persevering antagonists of barbarous peoples and made the greatest advancements to civilization. It was the nerveless policy of dealing with South Africans following the British defeat at Majuba Hill that produced in the Boers contempt for English military capacity and the personal courage of English speaking people, and led them to enter upon the policy of restriction of English speaking immigrants that appeared in great numbers after the discoveries of diamond mines and gold mines, assuming indeed that new comers had no rights, civil or military, as citizens or squatters, that the Boers were bound to respect.Boers' Policy Against ImmigrantsSo distinct was the impression the Boers made of their exclusive policy to govern the immense territory upon which they had settled for the purpose of raising cattle and ruling the natives, that the circulars sent abroad in the United States by the enemies of England to form public opinion favorable to the presumption of the Boers, presented the specific complaint urged on behalf of the Transvaal people and government that the British would not cease to be subjects of their "Empire," and must not be allowed a share in local government, because in the gold country they were three times as numerous as the Boers themselves. It seems reasonable to say the English had as good a right to improve upon the Transvaal methods of aiding the good works of progressive humanity beyond the Boer limitations as the Boers had to take grazing land and game and forests from the original savages. The Boers made war upon the savagry and therefore upon the natives and were intolerant in the extreme in their exactions. There were between the original African tribes and their earliest invaders many wars and constant rumors of wars, and bloodshed frequently and profusely. When the diamond and gold mines that interested the whole world were discovered, it was as righteous to work them as it was for the Boers to open farms where there had been only hunting grounds. The great cause of South African advancement demanded British organization then just as it had required Boer enterprise in the beginning.
The Centre of the Diamond Mine Country
It should be well understood for the location of influential events that the city of Kimberley is the center of the diamond mine country. The Boers do not seem to have had the spirit of adventure, the breadth of understanding and the executive faculty to interest themselves largely in the development of the unparalleled riches found under their feet. They parted with the farms containing gold in such quantity that they are believed to be the Ophir Land of Solomon, of which the Bible contains a specific and most interesting account, and they, disgusted with the discovery of this wealth, that they had the shrewdness to see threatened their supremacy, were resentful toward the immigrants—the gold and diamond seekers that poured into the Transvaal impetuously, as the Americans crossed the deserts and the mountains to possess California fifty years before.
Characteristics of the Boers
The Boers are people whose hardihood, bravery, manliness, high spirit, marksmanship with the rifle, attachment to the soil, and content as farmers, fortified with solemn appreciation of religious duty, compel respect, but they are at fault in their attitude of determined obstruction of progress in the Dark Continent that is chiefly committed to the English. They interfere not merely with the people who have found and worked the most productive mines of diamonds and gold ever known, they have held those who have done in Africa what the Americans did in their acquisitiveness in Mexico in contempt, and in the name of a "free republic" have been apostles of class and personal tyranny and ruthless in regard to the rights of those who have enriched their country and the world with their adventurous industry—with their organization of prospecting, engineering machinery, chemistry, transportation and mastery of the elements and forces that have in great and good works in Europe and America crowded a millennium into the nineteenth century.
It is easy to assert that as people cannot eat precious stones and metals, the things that are most beautiful and costly are less useful than corn and potatoes, and yet the human race for several thousand years has attached importance to the sands and rocks that have yielded diamonds in Golconda and Brazil and gold in California and Australia; and it is a record and tradition that the gold of California gave the nations of the earth "Californian good times," a phrase that was historical and an inspiration, and significant of the prosperity of the people of the generation that had its enjoyment. The diamond cannot be converted into food save by exchange, for the dust of the ground stone is rather imperishable than palatable and nourishing, but it is "a thing of beauty" that is "a joy forever;" and even if the prejudices of the Boers were inflamed against the most beautiful and enduring forms of value, that should not commend them as heroes of civilization; and it does not prove their Republicanism to refuse the rights of self-government to a people certainly among the most enlightened on the earth because they are in the majority in the great and flourishing communities, where they founded splendid cities, opened railroads and established a commerce additional to the world's wealth of more than one hundred millions of dollars a year. Whatever may be said to the contrary, these achievements should command the respect of all nations and peoples.
Antagonism to English Rule
The English speaking inhabitants of the gold and diamond country of Africa are treated as hostiles by the Boers who were the first settlers and slaughtered the natives, and the English are held out of favor because they are so numerous and prosperous, and, it may be added, so superior in their intelligence and elevated in their purposes and resolute in their determinations, that the Boers must keep them disarmed and deny them the ballot and all consideration in local affairs. The English offense is that they have made the country flourish, have built cities in deserts, spanned rivers and penetrated mountains with roads of steel. These improvements may be bad for the peculiar civilization and hardy endowments of the Boers, but do not seem to vindicate the belligerent rancher in his ferocious antagonism to those who are leading in their day and generation those affairs that are working out the betterment of the race of man. There are boundaries that must be removed for the broad benefits of the general welfare of mankind that the forces of the age may overcome the most stubborn resistance to the triumphant processes by which civilization spreads abroad and acquires stability.
It is the semi-barbarous theory that gold and diamond hunters are offenders against liberty, that it is the holy duty of the Boers as cattle drivers and stalkers of game, to reduce intrusive English speaking people to a subordination down to the level of the native tribes, so that they may not become masters over the aristocracy of the African cowboys. What better title is there anywhere for self-government than a people in the majority? This is most obvious where racial questions arise, and there is more and more declared the rights of men under the sanction and rule of the majority to govern themselves. A higher civilization, greater property and educational qualifications and the output of "wealth beyond the dreams of avarice," are incidental to and co-operate with majority government in South Africa. But all this on behalf of Boerdom is denied.
The English have possessed a great quantity of land in Africa, and they are justified by the establishment of comparative peace under stable form of government, by the increase of prosperity of the people, irrespective of race or previous condition of servitude or of shades of color. The ancient despotism at the Cape which was a prohibition of progress, for it was the tyranny of an absolute monopoly, has been swept away; and there has been growth in human liberty as well as augmentation of wealth and comfort, and there is white light on the dismal shores of the Dark Continent.
English Government in South Africa
It has been the English policy to form a federation of colonies pressing by steady and encouraged advancement of the sovereign rights of intelligent people, forming states in South Africa. The objection to this first urged is that the British have insisted upon the flag of the Empire over the movement. That flag has not prevented the wonderful growth of Australia, for that world newly risen from the seas has become of imperial proportions. Under that flag in this new world are more remarkable experiments undertaken, testing the theories of municipal socialism and industrial unity than in any other part of the globe. Under the same flag the population of India has doubled. The inference is that it would not blast the bloom of Africa.
The racial complications on South Africa demand for the greatest good of the people at large (and we include in that phrase the greatest number of people) that the best form the rule of the land can take is that of British supremacy—this positively for an indefinite period of transition. It has been the British policy to set apart for natives a vast tract of good land, and that would seem to be better and more human than to devote them to extermination, unless they themselves insist upon exterminating others. In Natal over 500 miles of railroads have been constructed. These roads connect with harbors at Cape Town and Durban. The improvement of the country has turned out to the advantage of the military operations of the British. Good roads are a great help to a people, but, it must be admitted, they do favor the rapid movement of masses of armed men in these days as they did in those of the Romans.
A Few Telling Statistics
Consider the simple statistics of the productions of the territory contested between the British and the Boers. The yield of the diamond mines in 1897 was valued at $21,676,776, and the gold of the White Water range region in 1899, if the output continued as in September, was closely estimated at $76,647,375, putting that territory at the head of the gold producing regions of the world. With order, security for industry and its varied fruits, fair play for men of all races, the gold yield by the Transvaal would speedily equal one hundred millions annually. It is the result of an investigation by the use of the drills and the chemistry of experts that there is a certainty in the soil of an amount of gold equal to 3,500 millions of dollars, and probably a great deal more; and this addition to the metal that is the world's standard of value in the greater commercial and military transactions would, according to the logic of all examples in history, be a guarantee of good times for those identified with all the productive industries in the shops and on the farms. The yield of diamonds will be equal to the demands of trade, whatever it is. The store of them in the soil about Kimberley seems to be inexhaustible. It is these tremendous endowments of nature in the heart of South Africa that caused the immigration there, and has aroused the cupidity and excited the ambition of the Boers, causing them to array themselves against the growth of communities whose importance has been increasing so fast as to threaten the rule of the caste that has held the Transvaal with an iron hand.
A Plea Unworthy of Consideration
The very plea of the Boers that the English speaking people are too numerous to trust with the right of suffrage and too rich to be allowed a share of self-government, and that the discovery and developments of mines of gold and diamonds, the most concentrated and attractive forms of the wealth of Nature, is unworthy not only of deference but of consideration. It is opposed to the spirit and substance of the surprising realizations of the century that have made it the most memorable epoch in the history of man in the appropriation of the resources of the earth he inherits. Never until now has mankind had the labor and capital, the courage, the machinery, the intelligence, or the tools provided by marvelous inventions—the conquering capacity to give the gigantic continent of Africa—nearly 12,000,000 square miles—into the hands of the people who need room for industry, thus making an addition to the good land available for the lucrative employment of countless millions through the coming ages.
A Magnificent Project
There is one people, and one only on earth, that has the ability and the purpose, the will and the force, the experience and the energy to make this gift to mankind, and that power is the British Empire. Whatever the resources or the ambition or the faculties of other great nations, none with the exception of Great Britain is so situated as to make it possible to do this. British influence and territory, from the Cape of Good Hope to the mouth of the Nile, are interrupted by a space less than 600 miles, and 480 miles of that are navigable water! The British have thousands of miles of railroad there now, and the work to pierce Africa with lines of steel, on the lines of longitude, is under way. Less than the cost of the war caused by the obstruction of English enterprise in Africa by the boorishness of the Boers would have completed a safe and magnificent highway from Cape Town to Alexandria. After all, war will not stop, but will promote that project. The study of the war history will so advertise the marvels of Africa that the money will be found to build the road and its branches from the Mediterranean to the South Sea, and that speedily; and this will be recorded as one of the mightiest works of man—one that profoundly interests all nations and all races.
England cannot Give up Africa
England cannot afford to give up Egypt or South Africa, and, of course, will not do it, for there she fights for India, and for every form and feature of her imperialism. The world could not afford to have her give up Africa. If she was weak enough to be willing to do it, that weakness would mark her decline and declare her fall. The British Empire is the chosen instrument of Providence that rough-hews the ends of the earth, and that includes the conquest of Africa, for the sake of mankind. That Empire is the only one that has the enabling equipment to do the work, and the advancement will be the achievement of one of the proudest and most beneficent of all victories of men for man.
A great deal of the journalism of the world is wickedly and wretchedly wrong and extremely misleading in its treatment of this superb and lofty theme. The Boers have been cruelly deceived by interludes of feebleness displayed in the government of England, permitting a halting interference with the perpetuation of the policy that has made the British Empire what it is. It was this unfaithfulness that sacrificed Gordon at Khartoum. It is the same sort of moral malady, a choice of that which is inadequate, that would have surrendered the Philippines to an impostor and prevented the expansion of American commerce in Asia.
The Boers are men of strength and generously sustained with many virtues, but they have had the misfortune to be trained in narrow ways and are forced by deplorable circumstances of environment to fight for a cause without hope, for it is one that is against the courses of the stars and the irresistible currents of the forward movements of our generation—against the mastery of the world by man for man's own sake. This awful war is the bitter fruit of a want of candor among the nations and the races that have enlightenment, and of the incapacity of the obstructionists in South Africa to resist the blandishments of the crude vanity and the criminality of the tyranny that is based upon the ignorance whose violent presumption sheds the blood of heroes, but may not change the majestic progress of the twentieth century, in which all the living nations and vital people, the Boers and the British, shall participate—for it is duty and destiny.
Opinions of the Canadians
The substantial unanimity of the Colonial people in the support of the British Empire in asserting the rights of British civilization in South Africa as imperative, is an impressive circumstance and shows the solidity of the people of English speech—when the intense advocacy of the independent nationality of Ireland is eliminated—in support of the African policy of the British government. In the Dominion the contention between the party of the Administration and that of the Opposition is whether the one or the other has been the more zealous and practical friends of the Empire. There is not as much diversity of opinion and heat of political friction in British Africa over the continuance of the colonial system, supplemented by conquest, if needful, in the African crisis of the Empire, as there is in the United States in applying to the Philippine Archipelago, the great principles of the fathers that the Republic shall grow continuously as the generations come and go. The people of the United States, however, can better afford to refrain from accepting the goods the gods have provided for them in Asiatic waters and for the expansion and cultivation of our commerce with Asia and the increase of our puissance on the Pacific—than England can to be balked, beaten and discredited in Africa, which is the land of the great hereafter of Europeans, next to Europe itself.
The people of the United States can put aside their sublime opportunity of gaining at a stroke advantages on the greater ocean of the globe, that any other people would consider it irrational and suicidal to abandon, and yet go on, though it would be a collapse of ambition for Americans to acquiesce in conservative stagnation instead of moving on ever westward. They have possessions on and in the Pacific, including the states of California, Oregon and Washington, the territory of Alaska and the Aleutian, Hawaiian and Philippine Islands, greater than any other people. Why should they be bounded in enterprise in the way all the stars have led, any more than eastward whence comes the light of day? England can no more consent to give up Africa than yield India, Egypt, Malta, Gibraltar, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Wight. Indeed the greater growth of England's hereafter is in Africa, or the end of her greatness and the grave of her glory is there.
MURAT HALSTEAD.
Lord Rosebery's Reflections
The Earl of Rosebery, under date of October 11, 1899, wrote that he could speak "without touching politics, for a situation had been created beyond party polemics, and it was needless to discuss how we could best have attained our simple and reasonable object of rescuing our fellow-countrymen in the Transvaal from intolerable conditions of subjection and injustice, and of securing equal rights for the white races in South Africa, for an ultimatum has been addressed to Great Britain by the South African Republic which is in itself a declaration of war."
Lord Rosebery continued that the people would close their ranks and relegate party controversy to a more convenient season, and there was in addition this to say: "Without attempting to judge the policy which concluded a peace after the reverse at Majuba Hill, I am bound to state my profound conviction that there is no conceivable Government in this country which could repeat it."
In a speech at Bath, unveiling the mural tablets to the Earl of Chatham and William Pitt, Mr. Gladstone's brilliant lieutenant and successor said of the Boer ultimatum, it was such as, he thought, the proudest empire in the world would have hesitated about sending. But since the commencement of the war the Boers had engaged in the strange policy of issuing decrees of annexation of British territory, which were, apparently, desirable additions to the Republic of the Transvaal.
Lord Rosebery's Speech at Bath
There had been a great misunderstanding about the Majuba Hill transaction. It was a mere skirmish, and concurrently with that there was an attempt on the part of the then Government to settle peaceably the issue in the Transvaal. Now, whatever they might think of the result of that attempt, the thing in itself was a sublime experiment. Mr. Gladstone, with his overpowering conviction of the might and power of England, thought that she could do things which other nations could not do, and, therefore, endeavored to treat with the Boers after the reverse which took place. We knew how Mr. Gladstone's magnanimity was rewarded. He (Lord Rosebery) felt a deep misgiving at the time in respect to this course of policy, and his fears had been realized in the result. The Boers had regarded that magnanimity as a proof of weakness, and they rewarded Mr. Gladstone's magnanimity with a deliberate and constant encroachment on the terms of the settlement. Then there came the discovery of gold. If they might judge from all that they had read, the income secured by the discovery of gold produced great corruption in the Transvaal. The bill of salaries—public salaries in the Transvaal—amounted, on a calculation, to about £40 a head of the population, and it could not but be considered that that was a liberal allowance for the working of so simple a republican Government. The Jameson raid was not merely a deplorable incident from a diplomatic point of view, but it was also the symptom of a deplorable state of things. They might be quite certain that no English gentleman would have engaged in what might be called a filibustering raid had it not been for the strong cry of distress that proceeded from within the Transvaal.
But it was unfortunate from many points of view. In the first place, it gave the Transvaal Government very much the best of the argument. They had then a great grievance to complain of, and we in those circumstances could not urge those grievances of which our subjects had to complain. In the meantime, almost all the taxation of the country was drawn from our fellow-countrymen—the very people who were not subjects of the Transvaal. Our fellow-subjects combined in vain for the most elementary form of education. They were losing face, so to speak, in the eyes of the natives and of the world at large. And the most important element of all was beginning to attract attention—which was that with the money derived from the gold the Transvaal Government was gradually piling up a great military power, armed to the teeth. That was a standing menace to to our dominion. If it had continued we should have had to consider whether we who rule so many nations were to become a subject nation in our turn in South Africa; and had we become a subject nation, or remained even in the position in which we were, it was scarcely possible to doubt that we should have lost South Africa itself.
The Sting of Majuba Hill
Nothing has happened showing more distinctly than Lord Rosebery's utterance, the sting that has rankled in England of the unfortunate campaign that closed in the surrender at Majuba Hill; and the history of that event, with the influential circumstances before and after, has been obscured rather than cleared by the strenuous spirit of controversy on both sides. Every point is contested except the defeat of the British. The Boers claim that 120 of their riflemen assailed the British soldiers and made prisoners of them, though they were 600 strong. The British version is that they were caught in an untenable position and overwhelming forces, outnumbering them four to one, were their assailants. There is bitter feeling in the British Army on the relative responsibilities of disaster, and the reinforcements sent from England, arriving at Cape Town soon after the battle were in a desperate state of dissatisfaction with the peacemaking that followed, and felt themselves not only aggrieved but insulted.The Gordon Highlanders at Majuba HillA despatch from Bombay about the embarkation to take part in the present Boer and British war of the Gordon Highlanders, contained the following: "The stern, grim Highlanders were curiously quiet. Every Englishman who saw them knew the reason. The Gordons are one of the finest regiments in the army. They have a splendid fighting record. But in the last Boer war a strong detachment of the Second Battery broke and turned on the bloody hill of Majuba. It was an inexplicable occurrence, for the men were bronzed veterans who had just fought their way through Afghanistan and made the famous march with Lord Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar. The regiment has brooded over the stain for nineteen years. No man has ever dared to mention Majuba before a Gordon Highlander. Everyone who saw them embark this morning knew what their rigid faces portended. Their chance had come. This time there would be no mistake. Highlanders have long memories and the 'Gay Gordons' are in the mood to allow themselves to be hewn to pieces rather than take a single step backward before the Boers or any other foe."
An Eyewitness About Majuba Hill
John Boyd of Galt, who was of the Gordon Highlanders Regiment for 21 years, regards this as a "foul aspersion." He says of his old regiment:
"Its reputation can dispense with both personality and egotism. Its deeds speak for themselves, and at Majuba Hill the bonnie Gordons upheld their honor and glory. I was there, and I know that I speak truth. As distinctly as if the events took place yesterday, I remember all that occurred on that awful night, when 121 Gordon Highlanders braved thousands of enemies in ambush. I am not exaggerating. Hundreds of Boers were concealed on the hill, while 2000 lay hidden across the nek, and pitted against such overwhelming odds were 100 Highlanders, and barely 300 other troops.
"And the writer of that London dispatch says that we 'broke and turned'; that, in short, we retreated. Let me tell you that of the 121 Gordons, 60 were killed or wounded, and 27 were taken prisoners. And these men who fought against fate, yet who—I solemnly declare—stood their ground to the last, are accused of showing the white feather. Dead men tell no tales, nor can they defend themselves from such calumnies. But how, I ask, could they play the craven when one-half were stark and stiff, dying, as they had lived, for their country? And of the handful who escaped the Boers and their bullets all were on the hill when morning broke. I was one, with a wounded comrade at my side.
"I am not in the habit of talking of what I have or have not done, nor do I proclaim from the housetops the Gordons' enviable past. But I was with them at Majuba Hill; in spirit I am with them now; and the man who says that the Ninety-second ever disgraced its colors or its Queen, does the regiment a grievous wrong, and himself a greater one."
The claims of Great Britain to sovereignty in the Orange Free State were withdrawn in 1854, and this seemed to give additional force to the annexation of the Transvaal in 1877, and that, it must be admitted, was in a sense a mistake, because it was done under the impression that the Boers really desired it. That was evidently an error when the time came for the fulfillment of the policy, but what amount of demagogy occurred in the meantime to change the sentiments of the ruling class of the Transvaal is a matter of doubt; and there are other difficulties that do not necessarily enter into the consideration of the subject.
Proclamation of President Steyn
The proclamation of President Steyn of the Orange Free State entering unreservedly into an alliance, defensive and offensive, with the Transvaal Boers, states with vehemence the principles contended for and the attitude assumed in antagonism with the British during the present conflict. President Steyn said that the Orange Free State was bound "with the sister republic not only by ties of blood, of sympathy and of common interests, but also by formal treaty, which has been necessitated by circumstances. This treaty demands of us that we assist her if she should be unjustly attacked, which we unfortunately for a long time have had too much reason to expect;" and President Steyn added:
What the Proclamation Charges
"Our own unfortunate experiences in the past have also made it sufficiently clear to us that we cannot rely on the most solemn promises and agreements of Great Britain when she has at her helm a Government prepared to trample on treaties, to look for feigned pretext for every violation of good faith by her committed. This is proved among other things by the unjust and unlawful British intervention after we had overcome an armed and barbarous black tribe on our eastern frontier, as also by the forcible appropriation of the dominion over part of our territory where the discovery of diamonds had caused the desire for this appropriation, although contrary to existing treaties. The desire and intention to trample on our rights as an independent and sovereign nation, notwithstanding a solemn convention existing between this State and Great Britain, have also been more than once and are now again shown by the present Government by giving expressions in public documents to an unfounded claim of paramountcy over the whole of South Africa, and therefore also over this State."
ADVANCE OF THE GORDONS AGAINST THE BOERS AT ELANDSLAAGTE, OCTOBER 21, 1899. THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE--THE DEVONS, MANCHESTERS AND GORDONS CHARGING BOER GUNSADVANCE OF THE GORDONS AGAINST THE BOERS AT ELANDSLAAGTE,OCTOBER 21, 1899.THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE—THE DEVONS, MANCHESTERS AND GORDONSCHARGING BOER GUNS
A COLUMN OF THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE MARCHING TO MAFEKING. THE ILL-FATED TENTH MULE BATTERY CAPTURED BY THE BOERS (From Photo by H. Johnstone)A COLUMN OF THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE MARCHING TO MAFEKING.THE ILL-FATED TENTH MULE BATTERY CAPTURED BY THE BOERS(From Photo by H. Johnstone)
The Orange proclamation charges that it is the discovery of gold mines in the country that causes the claims made upon the Republic, and adds:
"The consequence of these claims would be, moreover, that the greater part of the power will be placed in the hands of those who, foreigners by birth, enjoy the privilege of depriving the country of its chief treasure while they have never shown any loyalty to a foreign government. Besides, the inevitable consequence of the acceptance of these claims would be that the independence of the country as a self-governing, independent sovereign republic would be irreparably lost."
Boers not Capable of Modern Mining
This statement does not seem to be made in the fullness of candor. The Transvaal people are not capable of working gold mines by the modern methods. They are essentially the masters of cattle ranches and of farming in an extensive and rather rude way. Their country is much like Western Kansas, New Mexico and Colorado in some respects; and the interest they have taken in the gold mines has been not to get the gold by digging for it. They have neither capital nor labor to put into the mining operations, but they have insisted upon their pre-eminence in authority and profited through the taxation of the gold product and of the accumulations of property by the British, and held the immigrants to the gold region to be intrusive and a disagreeable and troublesome people who must be subordinated, because they were adequate in the business of mining, the methods of which have become exceedingly complicated. Unquestionably the Boers have got more gold than they would have acquired if they had worked the mines for themselves. The NewcastleChronicle, one of the most important provincial papers of England, because it is assuredly representative of the public opinion of the country, says plainly in reply to the proclamations of the Boers and of the President of the Orange State:
Newcastle "Chronicle" on the War
"We are fighting to prevent men of British blood from being treated as 'helots' on British territory by a sordid oligarchy which British arms saved from extinction and British generosity endowed with autonomy.
"We are at war for the purpose of preventing our brethren in South Africa from being taxed without representation; from being placed under the control of courts whose judges take their orders from a corrupt Executive; from being refused the right to carry arms while their oppressors flourish theirs with insolent brutality; from being compelled to contribute to schools in which English is treated as a foreign tongue; in short, from being denied the elementary rights of self-government in territory undoubtedly British.
"We ask no privilege for ourselves that we would not give to the Boers, but we will not submit to be ostracized and domineered over in our own dominions.
"We cherish no revengeful feelings.
"The British flag is the herald of mercy as well as might.
"But we will have justice for our countrymen and control of our own Empire, come what may."
The language of President Steyn as to gold mines is: "The British Government, now that gold mines of immense value have been discovered in the country, make claims on the republic, the consequences of which, if allowed, will be that those who or whose forefathers have saved the country from barbarism and have won it for civilization with their blood and tears, will lose their control over the interests of the country to which they were justly entitled according to divine and human laws."
The First Right to the Transvaal Gold
The British resent as the greatest injustice the accusation that they are fighting expressly for the diamond and gold mines, that, indeed, are already the property of the English speaking people who discovered and developed them. As the claim of proprietorship is made by President Steyn, it amounts to the announcement of the confiscation of this property if the Almighty, whom they call upon so familiarly, gives them the victory they solicit in their prayers. If we must go back to the beginning, the aborigines have the first right to the precious stones and metals, if the rights of discovery, investment and labor are to be absolutely disregarded. There is an unyielding spirit on both sides, and war has been in the air and unavoidable ever since that English aberration which the Earl of Roseberry called the "sublime experiment of Mr. Gladstone in magnanimity" after the Majuba Hill defeat of the British. There is no question that the fight must be fought out. The issues are racial and radical.
The war that ended in the magnanimous policy after the defeat at Majuba Hill began with the Boer's resistance to taxation. They are as determined not to be taxed by others without representation as they are to tax others and refuse representation, because they have the power to do it or make war. Having subjugated and in a great measure enslaved the natives, it seems to be the temper and the passion of their lives to treat the English as inferiors and forbid them to exercise local authority, or assert that they have rights beyond those of paying for being on the ground.
The Broukhorst Spruit Affair
The first of the war, when the English assumed to have annexed the Transvaal, was caused by the seizure of a Boer wagon. A great wagon and a string of oxen are to the Boer almost sacred objects, and his sense of propriety of an immense structure on wheels drawn by ten long-horned oxen, propelled with a whip, the handle as long as a fishing pole, is something extraordinary. The Boers rose at once and took the wagon from the Sheriff, resisting what the Uitlanders have been resenting. They had suspected trouble was ahead and prepared for it, collecting ammunition and storing it in their wagons. A portion of the Ninety-fourth British Regulars was stationed at Leydenburg, north and east of Pretoria, and ordered to go to that city, The Boers came to the warlike resolution to oppose the march of the British, and ordered them to halt, with the placid purpose of discussing an accommodation, but the commander of the detachment of the Ninety-fourth had his orders and proceeded. A fight ensued, and the British, after suffering severe losses, were surrounded and surrendered. This was the Broukhorst Spruit affair.
The Laing's Nek
Mr. Gladstone was at the time too deeply interested in Irish affairs to give much attention to those in Africa, and Sir George Colley, who had been appointed High Commander over the Transvaal and Natal, took charge of the leading responsibilities. Sir George had visited Pretoria in 1875, and thought public opinion favorable to British rule over the Transvaal. When he heard of the Boers fighting for their wagons to be free, he collected available troops and led them into the difficult country encountered in advancing from Natal to the Transvaal. The Boer forces upon Natal territory commanded the pass across Laing's Nek. In January, 1881, Sir George attacked the pass and fought on the precise plan followed by the British officers in the present war. First he used the artillery, shelling the Burghers, followed it up by an infantry attack straight in front, while the mounted men made flank diversions. The Boers stood shelling as well then as recently, met the assaults in front with a deadly fire, and soon stood off the mounted men, endeavoring to turn the flanks. The Boers were very successful in picking off the gunners of Sir George's artillery, and his attacks proved failures all around.
Majuba Hill
The Burghers thought the British would have to surrender, but they managed by great exertions to recross the Ingogo River and returned to their camp at Mount Prospect. Both sides were of the judgment after the conflict that serious business was on hand, and there was an informal and perhaps an involuntary suspension of hostilities, with a great deal of talk about making peace. Sir Evelyn Wood was on his way to take command, and Sir George Colley concluding not to wait for him, made a rush for the summit of Majuba on the night of February 26th, 1881, and, dragging artillery, reached the table-land at the top, after excessive exertion. The plateau contains about four acres, curiously surrounded by a confusion of rocks, and in the center is a considerable depression. It seemed that the capture of the mountain was a decisive success, as the British forces had turned the position of their enemy. The Boers were greatly surprised, their camp was overlooked by the English. One doesn't always have an advantage over an enemy when he gets into a high place, and it happened that the ground was well suited to the peculiar tactics of the Boers. Instead of retreating, there was a call for volunteers to attack the British, and the matchless riflemen of the Transvaal were ardent and energetic in undertaking the seemingly desperate but really rather simple task before them. They took shelter behind the rocks, and, by rushes and dodges reached the fringe of stones that were like a framing beam around the plateau of four acres at the top with the depression in it, and then it appeared the British were entrapped in their position that they had sought, believing that it was one that commanded the situation. The fringe of rocks became a ring of fire. Sir George was killed and his troops defeated as decidedly as Braddock's regulars were by the French and Indians near Pittsburg.
The camp of Sir George at Mount Prospect is distinguished now for the cypress trees that surround his grave. After his fall there was no intelligent resistance by his forces. They were simply shot down by the Boers from their ambuscade in the tumbled rocks, until the slaughter was terminated by a surrender.[1]
Terms of Settlement
This called Mr. Gladstone's attention to the conditions in South Africa, and it was his understanding that the majesty of England was so great that she could afford to do anything that he thought was right. The President of the Orange Free State became useful as a mediator, and terms of settlement, to which Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Kruger, then Vice President of the Transvaal, with some minor disagreements omitted, were signed on the 24th of March, subject to ratification by the Transvaal Volksraad; and Sir Frederick Roberts, with reinforcements, met peace men at Cape Town. Mr. Kruger, Pretorius and Joubert had a good deal of trouble to carry the terms of settlement in the Boers' representative Assembly, for they had conceived ideas of sovereignty, and their successes appeared to warrant them in extensive assertions of themselves. They were very pressing for further concessions from Mr. Gladstone, and had a list of points of their dissatisfaction with the protocol that had been signed. The leading objection they made was the reference of foreign affairs to British supervision; Mr. Gladstone, however, insisted upon that. It was the Boers' idea the British should have nothing to do with the Transvaal, that there was to be no interference in any form with the legislation of the country, whether it was about foreign or domestic affairs. The negotiations were terminated by a continuation of the truce, and the gold discoveries and increasing importance of the Uitlanders caused a succession of difficulties and exasperations, culminating at last in the Jameson Raid, and, after an intermission of disquietude, the war that is on.
When the death of Sir George Colley, the High Commissioner in Southeastern Africa, occurred on Majuba Hill, it developed upon Sir Evelyn Wood to become Governor of Natal, and his Chief of Staff was Sir Redvers Buller. It was a very distasteful task that Sir Evelyn Wood and Sir Redvers Buller had, to talk peace in the shadow of British defeat, but they did their duty in that respect. In the course of the adjustments Sir Redvers and Mr. Kruger, President of the Transvaal, met personally, but the negotiations were fruitless until President Rand, of the Orange Free State, exerted his mediating capacity and won great reputation as a peacemaker.
[1] The British force at Majuba Hill numbered 554, of whom three companies, 180 rifles, were of the 92nd Highlanders, two companies, 170 rifles, of the 58th Regulars, two companies, 140 rifles, of the 60th, and 64 rifles of the Naval Brigade. The men carried 70 rounds of ammunition, three days rations, great coats and blankets. General Colley made this move hastily, and if he had perfected any plan in connection with it, it was never known except that when he found the top of the hill was greatly exposed to the fire of the Boers, and that they had the advantage of position, he repeatedly said to the men that he only wanted them to hold it "for three days." He said to one of the officers that he meant to return to the camp at Mount Prospect. The idea upon which he acted seemed to be that his position on top of Majuba Hill gave him command of the pass through which he desired to make his way, and he meant to return to the camp and conduct in person the movement which he believed to be feasible when he called upon the detachment he accompanied up the hill to make the desperate effort to get there. The plateau he had fancied was a place of security and command, was larger than he expected. It was nearly a mile in circumference, and as soon as the Boer riflemen took their positions to attack the British it was shown to be utterly untenable and the fight from first to last was a massacre of the British. The story that artillery was taken up the mountain is a mistake; 200 men were detached to keep open communication with Camp Prospect, leaving 354 to make the fearful climb and place themselves in a helpless situation exposed to the Boer marksmen in possession of piles of rocks from which they could pick off their enemies. The heart of the position was searched by a rifle fire from a ridge at the northwest angle. There was time after reaching the top of the hill to have used the rocks to throw up a barricade and shelter some of the men, but it was the order of Sir George Colley, the Commander, that the troops should rest, and they were resting when the fire and slaughter began. Major Wright says that when the first shot was discharged by the British, it was ordered by General Colley; the Boers galloped back to their camp with the news. Immediately all the camps were like wasps' nests disturbed, and it really was an imposing sight to see, that Sunday morning, all turn out, fires lighted for breakfast, and then a morning hymn sung; after which all the wagons were inspanned, and the Boers turned out for battle. A storming party of about 200 men immediately rode under the second ridge. By crossing round under the naval brigade's position they could do it without being seen. There they left their horses, and climbed up right under the hill, where we could not see them without going to the very edge of the hill, and exposing ourselves entirely to the fire from the two ridges. In this position we remained till about twelve noon, the Boers climbing towards us step by step, and I may almost say unsuspected by any but Hamilton and myself, who could see them. Twice I went to the General and told him we couldn't hold our position with so few men if any serious attack were made. All he said was, 'Hold the place three days.'"
The Commander of the Boers, General Schmidt, told Major Douglas and Captain Cunyngham that he "had 2000 rifles in the attack." The regimental records of the Gordon Highlanders contain this:
"About one P.M.," says Wright, "we saw some heads appearing over the top. The 92nd rushed forward in a body and drove them for the moment back—we lost about fifty killed and wounded. Then, strange to say, the word to 'cease fire' came distinctly to where Hay and I were, and immediately after, 'retire.' We all ran back to the ridge in the middle of the hill, which allowed the Boers to gain the hill. Then came the murder! In the meantime more Boers came up, round where the navy men were, and began to fire into the hospital, and so took us in rear. Hamilton and I both went to the General and asked to be allowed to charge."
"Wait," he said, "send a volley or two first; I will give the order!"
"Hamilton then said to me, 'Let's call on the 92nd, and charge on our own account. Are you ready, Harry?'"
"I answered, 'Yes,' drew my sword and laid it beside me."
"Macgregor (I think it was he) came up then and said, 'We've got to die now.'
"Just then I heard the General say, 'Retire in as orderly a manner as you can,' when they all jumped up and ran to the rear. Hay and I and two men of ours remained where we were, all using rifles and firing our best.
"Macdonald still held his position and would not budge, neither would we. About a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes after the retirement, no firing had been going on from the rest of our troops, which neither Hay nor I could understand, as we thought by 'retiring' it was meant to hold the brow on the east side, where the 58th were posted.
"We were now being sorely pressed, hiding our bodies behind stones, and for another five minutes the unequal combat went on. Then Hay said, 'The battle 's over; we can't fight a multitude; let's try and get away.'
"So off we four started in the direction which the others had previously taken, under a most awful volley from the Boers on the navy side and the ridge where we had been latterly firing at the enemy only twenty yards distant. Both the men were killed. Hay was shot in the leg and arm, and I was hit in the foot and turned head over heels. I had to crawl on my stomach a yard or two back to get my rifle, and so lost Hay, who got under cover somewhere."
General Colley was killed soon after giving the order to fire, by a bullet that struck just over his right eye and 'made an enormous hole at the back of his head.' The Highland account is that the General was waving a white handkerchief when shot down. It is presumed he had despaired of success or of withdrawing the men, and was anxious to save them by surrender. His movement had been so venturesome and so awkwardly handled that when the General fell there was a great deal needing explanation of the strategy of the operation and no one living knew anything about it. It has been thought that General Colley, already beaten twice by the Boers, was dazed upon realizing that his expedition was a murderous failure; and it is believed that while endeavoring to take care of the men, he exposed himself purposely to secure death."
Of the Highlanders in the fight (two companies) 33 were killed and 63 wounded. Colonel Napier says:
"Although stationed some miles from Majuba Hill, I was able, with the aid of a telescope, to see some portions of the engagement, and I afterwards made a careful study of the ground and positions occupied. The disaster was the result of a series of inexcusable blunders in the art and practice of war. In the first place, there was nothing to gain and everything to lose by premature action. There was no question of the enemy being reinforced, taking the offensive, or even shifting their position; while, on the other hand, General Colley's strength might have been doubled within twenty-four hours' notice by moving up troops from Newcastle. In fact, General Wood had himself gone down to Newcastle to bring up other regiments, and it was during his absence that the Majuba disaster occurred. Moreover, it was almost universally known in camp that General Wood had desired that no offensive movement was to be undertaken by his second in command till his return. General Colley staked his all in occupying a position the extent and nature of which were unknown to him, while its distance from Laing's Nek deprived it of any value, it being out of rifle range of the Boer lines. The General had neglected to provide himself with mule guns, which might have been used from Majuba heights with good effect as a covering fire to an infantry attack from below. As it was, General Colley, after a hard and exhausting night march, found himself in an untenable position, with a handful of men, composed of detachments of four distinct corps. He had actually lost his supports and separated himself from his reserve ammunition. When day came no systematic steps were taken either to hold the hill or effect a retreat, although he had four or five hours of daylight before an attack commenced."
Birth, Education Etc.
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the Transvaal—the other side of the Vaal River, is the name of the country—was born in the Cape Colony, October 10th, 1825. It is the commendation of the naturalist Mr. Distant, that Mr. Kruger has a "very large amount of natural wisdom," which is the softer way of saying that he is not an educated man, but one of the statesmen of Nature. He is, on the authority already quoted, "undistinguished in appearance," but has "a prodigious memory;" and "a weakness in resisting flattery and adulation which is not good for him," because, as his will is so pronounced and his authority so absolute, he is perpetually surrounded by the representatives of the rascalities in a strange variety of "concessions." The flattering description of this historical personage is that he is "very pious and self-reliant, which is provocative of bigotry and hot temper," and he is also "a rough diplomat of no mean rank."
A Story Picture of President Kruger
In Fitzpatrick's "The Transvaal from Within" we find this strongly drawn picture of Mr. Kruger:
"To an English nobleman, who in the course of an interview remarked, 'My father was a Minister of England, and twice Viceroy of Ireland,' the old Dutchman answered, 'And my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was a shepherd, and is—a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be right and good for his people, and it may not; but it is sure that he realizes that to educate would be to emancipate, to broaden their views would be to break down the defences of their prejudices, to let in the new leaven would be to spoil the old bread, to give unto all men the rights of men would be to swamp forever the party which is to him greater than the State. When one thinks on the one-century history of this people, much is seen that accounts for their extraordinary love of isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much, too, that draws to them a world of sympathy. And when one realizes the old Dopper President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of civilization, from which his people have fled for generations—trying to fight both Fate and Nature—standing up to stem a tide as resistless as the eternal sea—one sees the pathos of the picture. But this is as another generation may see it. To-day we are too close—so close that the meaner details, the blots and flaws, are all most plainly visible; the corruption, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity—all the unlovely touches that will by and by be forgotten, sponged away by the gentle hand of Time, when only the picturesque will remain."
Paul Kruger at ten Years
In 1836 a company of trekkers about 300 strong, the second that crossed the Orange River, was under the command of Hendrick Potgeiter and attacked by native warriors, twenty-five trekkers were killed, but the main body were warned and forming a laager of wagons with barricades of thorn bushes. They were able to beat off the assailants. Paul Kruger, a boy of ten years, was one of the defenders.
Henry M. Stanley, M.P., the famous African explorer, writing at Pretoria in November, 1897, gives a graphic sketch of President Kruger, "fully dressed in the usual black suit and little old-fashioned top hat, smoking on the veranda of his house." This was the first glimpse Mr. Stanley had of the great ruler upon whom he was calling, and the historical correspondent was shown into the spacious saloon, finding opposite to him "a large and coarse oil painting" of Kruger. Stanley says in his striking and unreserved way:
Not a Bad Likeness of President Kruger
"The history of the painting I do not know, but as it is permitted to be hung so prominently in the reception room, it is to be presumed that the President and his friends regard it as a faithful likeness, and are consequently proud of it. This small fact proved to be the ABC of my study of the man of destiny of South Africa. It was clear that neither Kruger nor his friends knew anything of art, for the picture was an exaggerated reproduction of every defect in the President's homely features, the low, narrow, unintellectual brow, over small eyes, and heavy, massive expanse of face beneath. The man himself was almost beautiful in comparison with the monster on the canvas, and I really could not help pitying him for his innocent admiration of a thing that ought to be cast into the fire. But presently the President spoke—a mouthful of strange guttural sounds—in a voice that was like a loud gurgle, and as the great jaws and cheeks and mouth heaved and opened, I stole a glance at the picture, and it did not seem to me then as if the painter had libeled the man. At any rate, the explosive dialect so expanded the cheeks and widened the mouth, that I perceived some resemblance to the brutal picture."
Mr. Stanley made his call, according to information about the habits of the great natural statesman, very early, but the President of the South African Republic had already prepared himself for the day by reading a chapter of the Bible, and when he remarked to his visitor, "What I have said shall be done," Stanley naively remarks he discovered in the manner of the words, "When I learned how he had been engaged, I knew he had been infected with the style of the Pentateuch," adding, "He has fully arrived at that stage of life that made Mr. Gladstone so impossible in the Cabinet. There is abundance of life and vitality in the President, but he is so choleric that he is unable to brook opposition. Any expression suggesting him to be mistaken in his views or policy arouses his temper, the thunderous gurgle is emitted, the right arm swings powerfully about, while the eyes become considerably buried under the upper eyelids, I suppose from the photograph of him now on sale at Pretoria, which represents his eyes looking upward, he fancies this to be his impressive gaze. He receives a stranger with the air of a pedagogue about to impress a new pupil, and methodically starts to inculcate the principles of true statesmanship; but soon heats himself with the dissertation, and breaks out in the strong masterful style which his friends say is such a picturesque feature in his character, and his critics call the 'humbug pose'. If by the latter is meant the repetition of stale platitudes, and the reiteration of promises which will never be carried out, I fear I must agree with the critics."
His Appearance and Manners
Mr. Stanley continues: "In appearance he is only a sullen, brutal-looking concierge, dressed in old-fashioned, ill-made black clothes. He appears to know absolutely nothing outside of burgherdom; he has neither manners nor taste; his only literature seems to be limited to the Bible; he has no intrinsic excellence of character that should appeal to the admiration of the public; but what he does know, he knows well. He knows the simplicity of his rude and bearded brethren of the veldt; he can play upon their fears and their creed, with perfect effect, and it is in the nature of his ill-conditioned personality to say 'no.' All the rest has fallen to him because he is so stubborn, so unyielding, and others so vacillating and so pitifully weak.
The Boer of Boers
"I do not suppose there are any people in the world so well represented by a single prominent man as the Boers of South Africa are by Mr. Kruger. He is pre-eminently the Boer of Boers in character, in intellect, and in disposition, and that is one reason why he has such absolute control over his people. His obstinacy—and no man with a face like his could be otherwise—his people call strength. Age and its infirmities have intensified it. His reserve—born of self-pride, consciousness of force—limited ambitions, and self-reliance, they call a diplomatic gift. His disposition, morose from birth, isolation fostered by contact with his kind, is unyielding and selfish, and has been hardened by contempt of the verbose weaklings who have measured themselves against him."
Mr. Howard C. Hillegas is a singularly specific writer, and in his instructive volume, "Oom Paul's People," is careful to say, and it is a point worth making, that the President is "less than five feet seven inches in height, body large and fat, legs thin and short, eyebrows bushy, white and projecting half an inch. * * * When he smiles the big fat circles above his cheeks are pushed upward, and shut his small gray eyes from view. When pleased the President generally laughs hilariously, and then his eyes remain closed for the greater part of a minute. Mr. Kruger's nose and mouth are the chief features of his face. Both are more extensive than his large face demands, but they are such marvels in their own peculiar way as to be distinguishing marks. The bridge of the nose grows wide as it goes outward from the point between the eyes, and before it reaches the tip it has a gentle upheaval. Then it spreads out on either side, and covers fully two inches of area above his upper lip. It is not attractive, but in that it follows the general condition of his facial landscape.
"The mouth is wide and ungainly. The constant use of a heavy pipe has caused a deep depression on the left side of his lower lip, and gives the whole mouth the appearance of being unbalanced. His chin is large and prominent, and his ears correspond relatively in size and symmetry with his face. When in repose his features are not pleasant to look upon, but when lighted up by a smile they become rather attractive, and generally cause his laughter to be contagious among his hearers.
"The thin line of beard which runs from ear to ear combines with the hair on his head in forming what is not unlike a white halo around the President's face. The lines in the man's face are deep, irregular, and very numerous."
His Daily Life and Family
It is said this great man takes particular care of his health which is an affair of international importance. He rises at half-past five and drinks several cups of "intensely black coffee," and smokes several "full pipes of very strong tobacco," reads the Bible for half an hour, and goes to work.
Mrs. Kruger is the President's second wife, the niece of his first wife. The first wife had one child, who is dead, and the second wife is the mother of sixteen children, nine of whom are dead. Two sons are living, one acting as the President's private secretary, the other one in a responsible government position, and the President has a son-in-law, Captain Elopp, described as several times a millionaire, living in a $250,000 house.
In his proclamation after the Jameson Raid, President Kruger said: "I am inexpressibly thankful to God that the despicable and treacherous incursion into my country has been prevented, and the independence of the republic saved, through the courage and bravery of my burghers."
The famous telegram from the Emperor of Germany to Oom Paul is highly prized by the President. It is considered a priceless treasure, and runs as follows:
"Received January 3rd, 1896. "From William I.R., Berlin.
"To President Kruger, Pretoria.
"I tender you my sincere congratulations that, without appealing to the help of friendly powers, you and your people have been successful in opposing with your own forces the armed bands that have broken into your country to disturb the peace, in restoring order, and in maintaining the independence of your country against attacks from without. "WILLIAM I.R."
President Kruger's Grand Passion
President Kruger's grand passion is hatred of the British, and he holds them in such distrust and contempt that he refuses to see the accredited correspondents of the principal London newspapers, but will see an American newspaper man, emphasizing the reason why by the statement that "they do not lie" about him and that the English do, and he desires Americans to hear the inside of things from himself. The first thing he asked the author of "Oom Paul's People," himself an American newspaper correspondent, whose valuable letters were published by Appleton & Company, was, "Have you any English blood in your veins?" This was delivered in the Boerish dialect, and the correspondent had been told the President always opened a conversation by inquiring as to the health of the person introduced, and this time he got the answer back that the English blood was abundant and good. This was considered a portentous joke, and struck Oom Paul as extraordinarily funny. The story of the expression of his delight is useful in its disclosure of character. Then the correspondent was informed the old statesman was in a better humor than he had been seen for some time, and that anything could be got out of him. An extremely interesting conversation followed.
The majority of the people of the United States have accepted the newspaper celebration of President Kruger as a wonder in courage, diplomacy, integrity, piety, and all that makes up excellent manhood. The record of his duplicity, cunning, evasiveness and crooked selfishness is practically excluded from those journals, and even headlines that approximate to the truth are confined to a few papers that care for international commentary. It is supposed that our local market for intelligence desires a constant flavor of Boerdom.
Fair Summaries of Both Sides
The collection of historical matter—"The Transvaal from Within"—is in terms and tone very persuasive that it has unusual merit as truthful—giving from the records fair summaries of both sides of disputed questions, whether they are commercial, political, racial or personal. The author is Mr. J. P. Fitzpatrick, the publisher Mr. William Heineman, London, and the work is brought well up to date. It opens with a note that shows a spirit of consideration for all that is admirable; and it is the desire of the author of this book that it should apply thoroughly. We quote:
"It has been found impossible to avoid in this book more or less pointed reference to certain nationalities in certain connections; for instance, such expressions as 'the Boers,' 'the Cape Dutch,' 'the Hollanders,' 'the Germans,' are used. The writer desires to say once and for all that unless the contrary is obviously and deliberately indicated, the distinctions between nationalities are intended in the political sense only and not in the racial sense, and if by mischance there should be found something in these pages which seems offensive, he begs the more indulgent interpretation on the ground of a very earnest desire to remove and not to accentuate race distinctions."
A HUMANE AND DARING DEED. Lieutenant L. R. Pomeroy, when retiring to shelter at the battle of Ladysmith, November 3, 1890, saw a wounded and dismounted trooper needing help; and regardless of bullets and shells flying around, assisted his comrade to mount behind him and carried him to safety. Such are the deeds that win the Victoria Cross.A HUMANE AND DARING DEED.Lieutenant L. R. Pomeroy, when retiring to shelter at the battle of Ladysmith,November 3, 1890, saw a wounded and dismounted trooper needing help;and regardless of bullets and shells flying around, assisted his comradeto mount behind him and carried him to safety.Such are the deeds that win theVictoria Cross.
BATTLE OF LADYSMITH--TERRIBLE DASH OF HORSE ARTILLERY RUSHING TO TAKE UP A NEW POSITIONBATTLE OF LADYSMITH—TERRIBLE DASH OF HORSE ARTILLERYRUSHING TO TAKE UP A NEW POSITION