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A well-known resident of Johannesburg had ridden out to ascertain news of Dr. Jameson, and, arriving as the surrender took place, thrust his way among the Boers until he reached the Doctor, where he was arrested by the Boer authorities as a spy. Being a burgher of the State who had been resident in the Transvaal for some sixteen or seventeen years, he was recognized and rather harshly treated.
But the Republican movement made no further headway than this because British subjects formed the large majority of the Uitlanders. They had, it is true, a great grievance against the Imperial Government; but against the Transvaal Government they had one greater still; and it would take a great deal to kill the passionate loyalty of the British South African.
It would have concentrated before him north of the Vaal all the Boer forces which could not be crushed on the spot, and have left the resources of the Transvaal for some time untouched: free communication with the outer world by way of the neutral port of Lorenzo Marques, the treasury of the Johannesburg gold mines upon which the enemy could draw, and the railway and mining workshops in which munitions of war could be manufactured.
Altogether there is little doubt that the Transvaal is the richest of all the South African states, and had it remained under English rule it would, with the aid of English enterprise and capital, have become a very wealthy and prosperous country. However there is little chance of that now.
As regards the smaller and more immediate issue of the retrocession, namely, its effect on the Transvaal itself, it cannot be other than evil.
When I arrived there, I found that the last of the Transvaal commandos had already retreated through the town and made for the north. I at once sent orders to the burghers, whom I had just left, to abandon their positions, and to prepare themselves to depart by train to Rhenosterriviersbrug. At Kroonstad there was not a single burgher left.
In reply to the German Consul in Pretoria, the Secretary of State telegraphed a similar statement, adding: 'Impress energetically upon the Transvaal Government that it must most scrupulously avoid any provocation if it wishes to retain German sympathy. Another little light on the inside history is that afforded by Mr.
In fact, the difficulties of the war made it evident that, once peace was proclaimed, public opinion at home would demand that the Transvaal, together with the Orange Free State, should be annexed to the British Empire in view of a future federation of the whole of South Africa, about which the English Press was already beginning to speak.
Whether or no the Annexation was a necessity at the moment of its execution, which I certainly maintain it was it received the unreserved sanction of the Home Authorities, and the relations of Sovereign and subject, with all the many and mutual obligations involved in that connection, were established between the Queen of England and every individual of the motley population of the Transvaal.
He was accused of civilizing "through the medium of fire and sword" by the same English journals which are now extolling the prowess of the British arms in Caffraria and the newly-annexed Transvaal!
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