The reader may be able to assess the degrees of guilt of each category—of the Republican Boer aspirant for land, the Colonial Boer rebel seeking his particular profit, the accomplices who for ambitious ends lead the first two, and the insidious Hollander intriguers who seduced and actuated all in order to seize the lion's share of the spoliation.

To sum up, the respective rewards which lured them all are: Plunder for the Boers and rebels, laurels and "fat" places for the Bond leaders, and a substantial harvest for entire Holland, with paeans of praise for the coterie and Dr. Leyds from a grateful people for successfully restoring the good fortunes of the Dutch nation, and for effecting a retributive vendetta upon England, all under world-wide, gloating acclaims of gratified and vindictive jealousy.

The Hollander coterie may plead patriotism which pointed to the duty of using the tempting opportunity presented in South Africa in saving Holland from national submersion and political extinction by means of the Boer nation, but against this stands the unparalleled vileness of expedients and the treacherous deceptions employed to attain that object. It involved the wholesale seduction of one section of that nation into sedition and rebellion against a most beneficent and just Government under which they prospered and enjoyed the highest conceivable degree of liberty and even special privileges, and of pitting the other section into hostility and war against a Power which meant nothing else than peace and amity towards them, thus placing both into a position of risk to forfeit all their prosperity, apart from the inevitable horrors of a war evoked by their rapacious and murderous Hollander malice.

The Bond scientists in Holland had fully persevered in their craftily laid programme. After having succeeded in producing race hatred between Boer and English, the next step had been to convince the Boer leaders and the people of the inevitableness of a contest for ensuring the supremacy of the Afrikaners, coupled with the absolute necessity of the complete expulsion of the entire British element. As arguments were adduced that the British element had proved itself unassimilable and irreconcilable, its retention in South Africa would necessitate continuous provisions to keep it in a state of subjection. The existence of such conditions would be inconsistent and incompatible with the true ideal liberty as intended for the whole of South Africa, and which must be linked with all-round equality and fraternity. The presence of a British factor would be an unsurmountable bar to that consummation, hence the necessity of its total removal.

The Bond leaders are the next in guilt; with these the incentive is principally ambition, which, by degrees, became mis-shaped into a specious patriotism. It is known how an ardently desired object pursued for a long period is apt to so monopolize and infatuate the mind as to totally vitiate and pervert the sense of discernment between right and wrong, both as to the legitimacy of the object and the means to be employed for its attainment. As the realization remains deferred and the efforts are increased, the object from being considered legitimate is by degrees invested with merit, a halo of virtue is added to the aspect, its pursuit is viewed as a duty by fair or by questionable means, the end justifying the latter. All, it is said, is fair in love and warfare. This diagnosis appears particularly applicable to President Krueger and State Secretary F.W. Reitz, both men of sincere piety (perhaps also to Mr. Schreiner), who would have abandoned their project and renounced and repudiated the Afrikaner Bond if ever they had doubted its legitimacy of principle. So also with most of the other Boer leaders and their clergy too. The agencies must have been exceedingly subtle, and the jugglery and artifice superhuman, to operate such processes of reasoning, such deception and aberration in honest-minded and even godly persons.

As to the bulk of the Boer people, they are simply led by their chiefs and superiors, in whom they repose unquestioning confidence. They go unreasoningly with the stream of opinion under the firm belief that all is divinely sanctioned, including rebellion and violence, and blindly obey their call, considering their cause analogous to that of the Jews of old, who were enjoined to spoil the Egyptians and then to pass over and conquer their land of promise. No papal bull of indulgence ever freed people's consciences more than the Boer people now feel in regard to the warfare in which they are engaged.



RESUME

The Boers in the Cape Colonies have been prospering in a marked degree since the British accession in 1814, enjoying ideal liberty and good government upon perfect equality with the English colonists.

The people of the Orange Free State fared equally well under best relations with the British Government up to the outbreak of the present war.

In the Transvaal the Boers were more handicapped, being furthest removed from profitable Cape connections, and having to cope with powerful hostile tribes within their border. The most redoubtable, under Secoecoenie, was subdued during the British occupation in 1878. Then followed the short war of 1880, with the voluntary retrocession and peace of January, 1881. All appeared to progress remarkably well for about ten years after, until the irrational treatment by the Boers of British subjects in the Transvaal furnished the first cause of friction, and engendered at last the Johannesburg crisis with the Jameson incursion, followed by four years' vain attempts on the part of England to bring about satisfactory and peaceful relations.

The Afrikaner Bond had been inaugurated some thirty years ago, under the mask of a constitutional organization, professing loyalty to England; that body had succeeded in hiding its object, which was no less than the expulsion from South Africa of all that is English, and which object was brutally avowed since the outbreak of the war by declarations in the Press and by incendiary speeches of Colonial Bond leaders and members of the Cape Parliament.

The British Government did not view very seriously the information it received regarding the Bond menace until the definite action of the Transvaal Government partially opened its eyes prior to the Johannesburg revolt. The hope was, however, still clung to in an undefined way that patience and forbearance would yet overcome Boer prejudice and disperse racial antipathies, and with characteristic self-confidence as well, things were allowed to drift rather out of hand.

The two Republics had been de facto allied some time before the Johannesburg crisis in 1895. Both were then already provided with very abundant armaments of up-to-date types, with equipments and preparations far and away above any conceivable needs except indeed for a coup d'etat against British supremacy and to sustain a Colonial revolt.

On the occasion of the Jameson incursion the Orange Free State promptly appeared near the scene with best equipped mounted Boer commandoes and artillery to assist the Transvaal if needed.

Before 1881 and some time subsequently there had been continued progress towards the assimilation of the English and Boer races in South Africa. This was marred by Afrikaner Bond doctrines and intrigues proceeding from a Hollander coterie, the formula being "Afrika voor de Afrikaners"—the aims including the usurpation of British authority in the Colonies, supremacy of the Boer nation under one great Republican federation, and an affiliated status with Holland which should restore that people, all to the prejudice of England, to a political and economic significance and power surpassing its former epoch of European and Colonial eminence. As to the incentives to the Boer nation, these were principally the plunder of capital investments and land conquests, which the people had learnt to consider legitimate and in fact incumbent as a duty to themselves and descendants.

The means employed in that conspiracy were a subtle, so to say, occult propaganda to seduce a simple people to false convictions, to induce the creation of gigantic armaments, a secret service employing at a vast cost journalism, emissaries, and agencies, to gain partisans and allies outside South Africa, the Transvaal mint to coin the sinews of war from the appropriation of the mines and their output, the dynamite factory (that Bond corner-stone for manufacturing ammunition[11]), a system of immigration from Holland towards supplanting the English factor and to introduce auxiliaries. Other such means were: laws for admitting auxiliaries to immediate full burgher rights and privilege to carry arms, from which Uitlanders were rigorously excluded, the rabid campaign proscribing the English language and fostering High Dutch instead (which was much less understood by the entire Boer people, and much harder for them to learn than English). To the above list of devices came the exhaustive efforts to obtain an independent seaport for the Transvaal, first at St. Lucia Bay, then at Delagoa Bay (ostensibly with a German syndicate, and since by subsidizing Portugal or suborning Portuguese notables and officials).

The climax of duplicity is reached when it is averred that the pursuit of such an organized programme during the past twenty years and more had meant peace only, never a thought of conquest, as Ambassador Leyds so innocently declared after failing to gain abroad the hoped-for support for the monstrous Bond enormity.

The Afrikaner Bond leaders would have preferred the war to have been deferred a little longer—preferably to a moment when England might be embroiled elsewhere. It was also thought of importance that the Transvaal should first realize the auriferous "underground rights" situated around the Johannesburg mines, which Government asset was expected to net at least fifty million pounds sterling. The sales had already been advertised, and were in preparation when the outbreak of the war intervened. Upon the word "ready," flashed from Bloemfontein, followed at once the fateful Pretoria ultimatum. The proceeds of those underground rights must now come in afterwards to defray the war bill.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 11: President Krueger's reference to that factory is well known, styling it as one of the corner-stones of Boer independence.]



THE BOERS' NATIVE POLICY

Boer views regarding coloured peoples are those retained from Dutch practices of a hundred and more years ago, when the Cape of Good Hope still belonged to that nation. Servitude, if not absolute slavery, was then generally recognised as the proper status for coloured aborigines, and that principle of differentiation continues to be upheld and applied in a modified form, it must be admitted, in all the Colonial possessions of Holland. The authority for this stand is sought from ancient biblical history, where the descendants of Ham appear marked out for servitude, and from that basis it is interpreted that people so marked are not designed for tuition or evangelization until after they have been subjugated. According to such a doctrine the injunction to preach the Gospel to every creature would be limited to civilized whites, and might only be extended to such coloured peoples who have been fitted, as is said, for the reception of the Christian faith by being placed under the subserviency of whites, as their sponsors if not their actual masters, and requiring mundane tuition and education as essential bases to precede conversion.

For the refutation of such monstrous doctrines it may be urged that, according to Scripture, savage as well as cultured peoples have a consciousness of guilt towards the Divine Judge. The object of the Gospel is to end the history of the culprit as such and to place him upon a new standing—"the wind bloweth as it listeth": a new birth operated by the acceptance of the Gospel proclamation addressed to every creature, black as well as white. Growth and moral amendment properly "follow" that spiritual birth; neither is conceivable before, except purely human education, which is incapable of effecting a change, and in fact tends only to fortify the natural man in his implacable hostility against the newly implanted element, each lusting against the other.[12]

History records how the Spanish and other early explorers operated with the aborigines in the regions discovered by them. The territories with their inhabitants were declared possessions accruing to their respective sovereigns, whose main policy was the exploitation of all the wealth possible. The aborigines were dispossessed, treated as conquered peoples, and forced to do the exploiting labour. No other results could follow than the gradual diminution and final exhaustion of all the wealth and the partial, if not total, extinction of the aboriginal races.

What retribution overtook those nations is also on record. Those enslaved peoples were forced to accept the religion of their conquerors. Can true converts be made to order by constraint, motives of self-interest, or by baptizing them en bloc? What else but deepest aversion and mistrust could a religion inspire which is professed and taught by a people who practise spoliation, murder, and other descriptions of wickedness abhorrent even to a savage mind? The aborigines would daily behold their own land and possessions enjoyed by usurpers and "would be teachers," who subjected them besides to slavery and abject misery. Could the religion of such teachers ever find favour with their victims? How could doctrines of righteousness and love be understood when so glaringly violated by their preceptors?

It presents a sad paradox to see that the Boers, who are in many respects consistently religious and even exemplary, could uphold principles which place coloured people out of caste, not only in regard to political rights but also as to the common religious standing before the Creator. It would be unjust to charge the Boers with actually barbarous practices towards the natives—what they do enforce is their submission to the condition of servants.

The Boer people ever chafed against the restraining action of the British Government as to their practice of slavery, and they have not hesitated either to exhibit their hostility to missionary enterprise. The confiscation of Protestant mission sites in the Orange Free State is one of the instances; another was exemplified in a raid perpetrated about forty years ago by the Transvaal Boers upon the inoffensive Bechuana tribe, whose chief and many of his people had accepted the Christian faith through the teaching of Moffat, David Livingstone, and other evangelists. The pretext for that raid was a lying report that that Bechuana chief had bartered some 400 guns from traders to fight the Boers with. The Boers sent an ultimatum requiring the surrender of those weapons. Despite the protestation of the chief and his people that not more than eight guns had been bartered for hunting, which had later proved true, a commando was sent against them under Commandant Paul Krueger, now President Krueger. Many of the natives were slain, their villages burnt, their cattle seized, and great numbers of the tribe taken captive for distribution as servants among the Boer farmers in the Transvaal. That raid was further signalized by the total destruction of Moffat's mission station—church, school buildings, and industrial shops. These, after being looted, were all consigned to the flames, as also the missionary dwellings, among which was that of David Livingstone, with his furniture, books, and belongings. There are abundant records, besides that of the Bechuana nation, that barbarous and idolatrous peoples are amenable to Christianity without the prior influences of civilization or individual education, or that they should be subjugated first, as the Boers would have it. What indeed is of immense aid for moral and economic advancement is the operation of civilized and liberal governmental authority, repressing slavery, under which proprietary rights and justice are equally afforded to black and white, and where the Gospel might have a free course without constraint and without inducements of material advantages.

It seemed that such conditions were on the eve of eventuating for the rescue and disenthralment of darkest Africa. This is what Moffat, Livingstone, Coillard, and many other devoted servants of the Gospel had prayed for all their lives, what has been and still is the burden of the prayers (no doubt all inspired) of millions of Christians. The interior is no more a blank on the map. Much is done for the suppression of slavery. The whole continent is parcelled out among different nations, who have assumed the task of civilizing their respective spheres. The world's energy and capital stand available for the object, and it appeared that many souls were being seriously aroused to the responsibility of obeying the charge pronounced in Ezekiel xxxiii. 1-11. But sinister influences have not failed in attempts to bar beneficent dispensations. We have seen fanaticism resulting in the fierce revolt of Mahdism in the north, and are now awaiting the issue of the war brought on by Afrikaner Bondism in the south.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 12: Another has aptly illustrated the change by comparing such a man's new condition to a hotel that has come under totally different and perfectly new management and controlling proprietorship.]



ENGLAND'S NATIVE AND COLONIAL POLICY

Until the earlier parts of this nineteenth century England has been conspicuous among other nations in tolerating slavery in some of her possessions, and in permitting her people to engage in systematic man-hunts, with the accompanying atrocities and horrors of a regular slave trade. Manifestations of national abhorrence and condemnation of that inhuman traffic and of slavery in general appeared during the first quarter of this century. The nation hid its shame and contrition in acts towards remedying its share of the evil committed. These took the shape of expending some twenty million pounds sterling towards the emancipation of slaves and various other costly measures to repress the trade in human beings, and in proclaiming personal freedom for all slaves in her dominions. The desire to do justice to coloured races was further exemplified in the adoption, dating some fifty years back, of a totally altered colonial and native policy. Up to then the practice with all colonizing Powers had been to utilize their foreign dominions as preserves for financial exploitation, involving the most crying injustice to aborigines. The departure then effected consisted in a policy of just laws instead, directed to ensure to those people equitable treatment and a recognition of their rights to fixed property and to a position before the law equal with that of white inhabitants. The revenues produced by the Colonies were thenceforward all to be devoted to the advancement of their own local prosperity. Free trade followed that regime of liberty and equity, and, as intended, such Colonial dominions began to partake of the character and were constituted off-shoots of the mother country, with a like status of liberty and enjoying the benefit of British protection at the same time. Many were the auguries that the experiment would result in political and economic failure, but the good results to all concerned proved to be so far-reaching as to startle even its most sanguine advocates. The extension of privileges and rights operated upon the natives as a magical incentive to labour and emulation for the improvement of their economic condition; people who had before preferred an indolent, semi-nomadic existence betook themselves more to agricultural and sedentary habits, living in much greater comfort and steadily increasing in wealth.

Civilization went on apace, and with it the moral improvement of the aborigines, paving the way as well for the spread of Christianity. All this was accompanied with an immense and ever-advancing expansion of trade with England and the recognition of British prestige as a successful colonizing power.

Numerous other principalities courted the privilege of coming under the aegis of the English flag, their potentates and people readily submitting to the abolition of practices which were not in accord with humane and civilized usages and eager to share the benefits and advancement of civilization which were enjoyed under British rule. In not a few instances it was, however, not feasible to extend the protectorate so coveted.

While other nations were engaged in wars during the past half-century, England had opportunities to largely expand and consolidate her Colonial dominions. At the same time British trade, industries and shipping advanced with gigantic strides, and that nation has since gained the foremost rank as a commercial and Colonial empire, governing over the choicest portions of the globe some four hundred millions of loyal and contented subjects, who enjoy liberty and a degree of prosperity unequalled elsewhere as yet, the whole being protected by a navy which constitutes England as champion on sea as well.

All this national success and example of liberal government have had a salutary influence upon the rest of the world in evoking wholesome competition and emulation. But another and very untoward effect is that widespread and deep-rooted envy and jealousy have also been aroused, which on occasion are apt to develop into pretexts for actual hostility, or hostile partisanship as is now the case.

What signalises the beneficent reign of Queen Victoria more than anything else is the peculiarly devoted manner in which that august lady has personally acquitted herself of her duty and responsibility in regard to the elevation and rehabilitation of the hitherto socially enslaved condition of womanhood in her Indian empire; for it is well known how the philosophic religions of the East have been subtly adapted for establishing the political and social pre-eminence of certain classes of a population over its majority, at the same time dooming womanhood generally to the lowest rank of drudges, perpetual contempt and ignorance, refusing them education (as had been done in the case of the Roman slaves)—specially despised if without a husband, and if a widow, immolated at last upon her husband's funeral pyre.

Step by step, by means of strenuous and disinterested exertions, employing prestige and encouragements, by legislation and otherwise, a breach was effected which bids fair to break down that caste-fenced and chained thraldom, and to raise over a hundred millions of her humble subject sisters from unnatural degradation to occupy the honourable and responsible rank assigned by the Creator to woman as man's social help, meet for him, and to whom honour is due as to the weaker vessel. Millions of women have already found emancipation and recognition of their right position, to man's reciprocal joy and to the felicity of their families. Their sons and daughters in turn now form armies to complete the mission of liberty so zealously inaugurated by their beloved Empress, their own peculiar star of India.

Maybe this and similar earnests evinced during that noble Queen's reign, among which the shelter afforded to the Jewish people, will come into remembrance in mitigation of visitations deserved by the nation for its previous complicity in the hideous traffic in African souls of men.

It throws a light upon the credulity and simplicity of the bulk of the poor deluded peasant Boers when, in the face of most genial rule and almost an excess of liberty and privileges, Bond artifice could succeed in conjuring up contrary notions, and to poison them into the monstrous belief that they, the Boers, were an oppressed people, whose downfall was designed by rapacious England, and that no other remedy existed for preserving independence, religion and homes than to expel that wicked English people from African soil. This is, then, what Bond artifice effected in the absence of actual cause and in order to dissimulate its own nefarious objects. It was the work of twenty years' sedulously applied deception and calumnious machinations.

The Hollander coterie has at last succeeded in its ardently desired purpose of pitting the Boer nation against England, and to bring about the present war. What is even more astounding is the success of those villainous artificers upon intelligent partisans of the Boer cause outside of Africa and in England even.



OCCULT OPERATIONS AND AGENCIES

Will it be considered the mere fancy of enthusiasts, which admits the thought of occult forces of a sinister kind set in array to overturn beneficent dispensations, that the evil one, the father of lies, has been active in all this marring of peace? Had that personage or evil principle, if this term is more acceptable, not scored with his malignant skill of deception 6,000 years ago, and been walking up and down his domain ever since, intent upon undoing redemptive provisions and counteracting all endeavours to ameliorate the miseries of humanity? His malice would seem discernible against the Boer nation, the people who continued in the simple faith which had been kept by their ancestors despite the persecutions heaped upon them in France and by the oppressor of Holland; he must have viewed with growing rage the designs of a gracious Providence surrounding that very people with the blessings of security and peace and accumulations of unparalleled riches, all construable as in compensation for the sacrifices so willingly submitted to by their forefathers and for their own fidelity to the faith. Would he tamely brook that—and not bend on all his artifices to reverse those provisions and to divert those rich dispensations in favour of his own devotees instead, or else rather cause them to be devoured by wasting war? He has so far succeeded in instigating the Boer nation to acts which involve the forfeiture of their special heirlooms. He would also thwart the programme of the world's nations for the civilization of Central Africa, and would gratify his malice against the people to whom is largely attributable the spread of governmental principles of equity and liberty. He would seek to stamp with failure those hitherto successful and self-rewarding methods, and so strike an effective blow against their further adoption as being goody-goody, weak and inefficient.

We see civilized humanity congested with over-population, excess of energy and of production and suffering from a plethora of capital, the entire condition rife on the one hand with prodigal waste and on the other fraught with the cruel want of toiling and jostling millions vainly fighting for space and the most modest means of existence—conditions which presage an inevitable and universal crash unless checked by a Malthusian or else by a beneficent and humane remedy. We know the right remedy for at least staving off the impending universal crisis lies in the manifold opportunities of creating outlets. These exist to the full in the vast fallow regions of Africa, and in the scope for industries and commerce in Asia and elsewhere. Each well-devised colonizing scheme, every railway built, and every other new investment would afford improved employment and relieve the general strain; every true convert gained by the spread of Christianity would become an obedient and reliable unit towards the menaced stability of authorized Governments. We see capital impelled to vast enterprises, as it were by secret forces;[13] we are aware of the activity of nations singly and in co-operation in promoting and sustaining such projects. All those efforts and outlets would serve as safety-valves for the discontent of the ill-provided masses, and their success would render them governable at a lesser cost, and even admit the reduction of standing armies and other objects treated by the recent Peace Conference at the Hague. The essential thing, indeed, is peace, and that in turn would consolidate security and progress. But the enemy is interested exactly the other way. His ascendancy is coincident, not with the mitigation of the conditions of human existence, but in accentuating the misery of the masses, driving them to desperation and to embrace illogic and deceptive maxims of socialism and violent anarchy. It is with those forces that he intends to uproot and usurp divinely instituted authority expressly set up to repress evil and to protect person and property. He wants by licence and not liberty to hasten the advent of that murderous political power prophetically depicted with the statue standing upon feet of clay and iron: supreme authority vested in the world's proletariat in unstable and uncohesive union with militarism, Satan himself the actual lawless animator.[14] As to the scope for outlets in the East, it is more restricted to industries and commerce, but those enterprises, however brilliantly promising, are fraught with the risks incidental to hostile rivalries and political complications, while in Africa the openings are at least as vast and inviting immigration on a huge scale as well, but all with much greater security, inasmuch as the spheres of operation are definitely apportioned to various nations, and where in the nature of things the success of each would be promoted by joint-solidarity, and thus afford a guarantee for the peaceable and prosperous development of the whole continent. Our common enemy would fain frustrate it all with his Afrikaner Bond device, and then finally gloat over the accomplished ruin of his deluded Boer victims.

Africa has for some thousands of years been the enemy's favourite and undisturbed haunt for his gory orgies, for the hecatombs of millions of immolated victims each year, the teeming recruiting preserve for his contingents.

Is he likely to surrender it all to an invading beneficent operation? Will he not rather continue a most determined and desperate resistance and oppose the most advanced of his subtle devices? The malignant power of his agencies is ever and anon manifest—if restrained in one direction his sway is doubly asserted in another. While the Boer war is proceeding a diversion upon a large scale is being effected in Asia which may result in deferring progress in Africa, or history may be brought to repeat itself by the production of some African Attila or Grenseric or a Saladin or another Moselikatse or Mahdi, whose overrunning hordes will efface all the good work thus far done and restore conditions in accord with his murderous sway, whilst at the same time revelling over the ominous developments looming in Europe and America for the production of giant strikes and other imminent socialistic outbursts which could all be prevented, or at least staved off for a long time, if the existing immense spheres for civilizing outlets could only be peaceably utilized.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 13: One of those enterprises is the railway which is to connect the Cape with Cairo.]

[Footnote 14: Pro-Boer Propaganda is persisting in designating England as answering to that prophetic image destined to signal destruction.]



RELIGION

The old voortrekkers who emigrated from the Cape Colony all belonged to the Dutch Reformed Protestant persuasion. With very little learning, the Bible, catechism, and the orthodox "psalm and hymn-book" constituted their sole means for building up their faith. The scope of their education was likewise limited to these simple aids during their chequered wanderings for nearly twenty years, proving ample, however, in preserving themselves and children from the tendencies of receding into barbarism. The Bible was the recognised reference and guide in private and public affairs, and it is so still. It is, indeed, notable with what wisdom and prudence those simple people managed to frame their treaties with native potentates, their conventions with the Portuguese and the British Governments, and, finally, in compiling their own constitutions. Their experiences teem with incidents of extreme sufferings, dangers, and reverses, and also with many signal deliverances, which all operated in deepening religious fervour and dependence upon the Almighty.

Their vicissitudes led them to make analogous comparisons with ancient Jewish history. This practice resulted in some erroneous conceptions, notably in regard to their relations with aborigines and general native policy, as referred to in previous chapters. It also imperceptibly fostered sentiments confounding legality with grace, and the by-product of that subtle corrupting leaven which is apt to see a splint in the eye of another whilst unmindful of the beam in one's own.

Upon the whole, the religious status of the Boers may be fairly compared to that of the old American pilgrim fathers, only much less intolerant, fairly strict sabbatarians, and jealous in maintaining national and individual morality. About forty years ago a small group seceded from the Dutch Reformed Church and formed a separate connection under the name of "Enkel gereformende Kerk" (simply reformed Church), more generally known under the sobriquet of "Doppers." This cult is identical with the parent Church, and differs only in a somewhat stricter church discipline and the rejection of the hymns from the common psalm and hymn-book upon the ground that many of them are tainted with dangerously anti-scriptural doctrine.[15] These Doppers are really very worthy people, but noted for their strong conservatism and adherence to old habits and customs, even in the matter of dress. President Krueger is one of their prominent members and so is General Piet Cronje.

The devotional habits of the Boers form one of their national characteristics. The family collect at dawn for morning worship, led by the parent or else by the tutor—it consists of a hymn, Scripture-reading, and prayer—similarly before retiring at night, devout grace before and after each meal. These practices are not relaxed when travelling with their wagons or when in the field. On Sundays an extra (forenoon) service is added. Strangers and travellers receiving hospitality are always courteously and unostentatiously admitted to those family devotions. One may thus meet with one or more wagons camped in the wilderness and find a cluster of men, women, and children engaged in happy devotions and singing psalms or hymns in the familiar old "Herrenhut" melodies, or one may come upon a scene where men just returned to camp, begrimed and still perspiring from a day's hunt or battle, join with husky voices an already assembled group in the customary service.

Such practices of piety cannot fail to have a salutary effect upon the young, nor can it be with justice said that the bulk of the people are inconsistent in their conduct, though formality and insincerity are sadly frequent enough, and in late years a decadence in seriousness and an increase of frivolity instead have marked the present epoch, especially among those who are exposed to the pernicious influences and contaminations incidental to town life. The old Free Stater mentioned before expressed the expectation that the present war and trials will tend to check that declension, and in that way prove to have a compensating character for good. During my frequent travels it had been my privilege as a guest to make the acquaintance of numerous truly Christian Boer families, both well-to-do and poor. On one occasion I had to accept the hospitality at a farmhouse of one named Brits,[16] nicknamed "vuil" or dirty Brits. This was an old blind widower; his household was composed, besides himself, of an old brother, also a widower, and the family of a son-in-law. After the evening meal the service was led by the blind man, the daughter reading some chapters in the Bible indicated by him. The two old men and I occupied separate cots in one small side room. Happening to wake up at dawn the following morning, I saw those old men sit up facing each other, with their feet upon the floor, and begin their morning hymn of praise, after which the house resounded with younger voices from the other end with a similar song. I do not call to mind any special untidiness at that poor blind man's house to warrant his sobriquet; my recollections are, on the contrary, of the happiest, and I mentally called him clean Brits, clean every whit. In another part of the country I was privileged to meet with a family, which included a grown-up blind daughter,' who had St. John's Gospel in raised letters. While reading with her fingers her upturned face would shine with joy when repeating some of the salient, consoling, and sustaining verses. And how common are the records among those simple Boers of happy and triumphant death-bed scenes of old and young, softening the grief of the bereaved believers. Frivolous education and advanced surroundings are accountable for a certain waning of the original habits of serious piety; this is to some extent more the case among the Cape Colonial and Orange Free State Boers, the declension appearing greatest with those residing in or in close proximity to towns. Among the men of exemplary and consistent piety in the Transvaal are conspicuous: President Krueger, State Secretary Reitz, Commandant-General Joubert, General Piet Cronje, and others holding highest positions, and also many of the Volksraad members, including the late General Kock.

Upon the occasion when the Transvaal Executive, with the assembled Volksraads, finally determined upon war, and the momentous matter had been considered of handing over the passports to Mr. Greene, the British agent, just before signing them, President Krueger was observed occupied in silent prayer for a few moments, while many of the others bowed their heads similarly engaged, after which the documents were firmly completed. When the first commandoes were about to depart for the field, the President addressed a farewell to the burghers, assuring them that God's aid could confidently be implored for their just cause; he also quoted part of the Verse, "Whosoever shall seek to save his life shall lose it," intending it as an exhortation for the timorous, warning them of the greater danger incurred by retreat or flight than when maintaining a manful stand. (The reader will know that the above quotation does not complete the verse, the rest being, "But whosoever shall lose his life for my sake or for the Gospel shall preserve it.")

It points to the operation of most persevering and subtle agencies and potent illusions that could mislead and carry away the chief men and the most intelligent of the Boer nation so far as to engender the erroneous convictions which caused them to court the present war and to consider it just. As to the bulk of the people, they are in turn led astray by their leaders' example and opinions as victims of the general delusion.

These convictions, together with the acceptance of Afrikaner Bond doctrines, have developed into quite a national infatuation, a kind of Boer Koran, invested with similar fanaticism. Analogies are assumed as existing between the case of the Israelites brought by Moses through the wilderness, and led by Joshua into the conquered possession of their promised Canaan. Following those prototypes, Paul Krueger is held as having guided the Boer nation thus far through the mazes of political troubles, and so also is General Joubert,[17] now their leader in the conquest, South Africa in its entirety being considered as rightfully belonging to them. The Orange River stands for Jordan, dividing as yet the possessions of the people, and the analogy only needs completion by a Pisgah for President Krueger. That such hallucinations have taken deep root appears from the fact that the wife of President Krueger dreamt of the accomplishment of such a typical history, and that her husband had died at an early stage of the conquest. Such complete faith is attached to the prophetic import of that dream that the President was prevailed upon to permit its publication in full detail some time in November last. The President's death was anticipated within two months after. (I am far from referring to those incidents in a mocking mood, but rather to show the intense sincerity of Boer convictions, confounding the Christian's exalted calling with one which is temporal; and I fancy that those very Boers, if equally well instructed, might sadly eclipse some of us who have the privilege and also the responsibility of enjoying correct teaching.)

The writer has endeavoured to represent in a true light both the character of the Boer nation and its responsibility in regard to the origin of the present deplorable war. The reader will be able to judge whether that people is wilfully guilty, or whether the circumstances admit of generous, mitigating condonement, always considered apart from that horrible Hollander element which has been the root and instigating cause of all the evil.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 15: Some readers will recognise the significance, the protective competence, the keen and reliable instinct which enable untutored believers to discern and detect doctrinal leaven insidiously concealed in the garb of worship.]

[Footnote 16: At Modder River, on the road between Bloemfontein and Kimberley.]

[Footnote 17: At the time, December, 1899, when this was intended for publication.]



PHYSIQUE AND HABITS

We have noted in former pages that the Boers' ancestry some two centuries ago was composed of about two-thirds of sturdy Dutch peasants, artizans, etc., while the other third consisted mostly of French Huguenots.

It is known that the immigrant class, though generally somewhat poor, are uniformly men and women endowed with an adventurous, self-reliant spirit and with unimpaired health. Naturally none but robust persons were permitted to join the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope.

We see in that combination the patient, resolute quality prevailing in Holland and the more ardent, vivacious, and chivalrous character found with the French people. The Huguenot refugees belonged undisputably to the cream of that impulsive nation—intellectual, educated, and fearless—whilst both portions were pervaded with deep-rooted religious fervour and habituated to moral and temperate lives.

Those combined qualities and habits would naturally be transmitted to the progeny; prosperity and splendid climatic conditions tended still further to develop a virile physique of first order. The moral and physical standards were maintained by the practice of men and women marrying early in life, and by occupations which required the people to pass most of their time in the open. Educationally, there was unavoidably some retrogression, but there is always plenty of scope in the existence of colonists in a new country for the exercise of a vigorous mind in the study of nature, in overcoming difficulties and in cultivating the faculty of resourcefulness.

Whilst missing the intellectual benefits of advanced civilization, the people escaped the dangers of its vitiating tendencies, thus preserving a healthy mental calibre as well as robust physical health. In addition may be mentioned a very notable fecundal power, which accounts for the phenomenally rapid increase of the people. All those conditions have continued to be maintained with the successive generations up to now.

Those who joined in the exodus north of the Orange River in 1835 and the years following comprised the most indomitable and best endowed of that stalwart race. Twenty years of a nomadic life after that and until they got somewhat settled down served to weed out the weaklings among them; since then their mode of life accorded well to keep up the highest physical standard, not pampered with many comforts, inured to hardships and to out-of-door exercise, with a diet consisting very largely of meat and venison, coupled with energetic exercise of mind and body (the women sharing in the less arduous duties). All this constituted a regimen and training which did not fail to keep the people in a constant condition of high efficiency and equipoise for the performance of tasks and for surmounting difficulties needing more than usual strength, endurance, and fortitude.

The rough labour all over South Africa is done mostly by Kaffirs and other coloured people. A Boer farmer will have from two to ten or more Kaffirs (men and women) employed for out-of-door work and for domestic drudgery. Often absent from home on hunting trips and sometimes on commando, the men entrust their work on such occasions (as is now the case during the present war) to the care of their wives and daughters, assisted by some younger sons, if the family includes any, or else simply with the aid of Kaffir servants. Sometimes they are without any such help, when they take a pride in doing it alone.

Girls as well as boys learn to ride on horseback when quite young. It is quite a usual thing to see women riding astride fashion, collecting sheep and cattle, or driving their horse carts and spiders (carriages), unattended by males, over distances of over twenty and thirty miles—women spanning in ox-teams to their travelling wagons, driving them with long whips on journeys occupying one or more days. During the Kaffir wars the Boers used to trek (travel) in bodies with their wagons, which would serve to form a laager or fort, their families and belongings being placed in the centre. During an attack the women would attend to the men's wants, reload their rifles, and even take a more active part in repelling the enemy, many of them being also crack shots. The above-stated efficient and hardy habits with men and women apply more to the people in the two Republics, and particularly so to those of the Transvaal, while the Colonial Boers on the whole have had no such experience, but instead have lived in uninterrupted peace and comfort for generations, and may be classed with farmers of any other well-governed and protected country or colony. The Boer farmers in the northern portions of the Cape Colony, however, approximate to those of the Orange Free State in hardy habits and ability to fend for themselves when in difficulty. But with the Transvaal Boers the training incident to wars, hunting, and nomadic movements has been more sustained, and they are thus in best form and fitness of efficiency compared with all the rest.

In the Orange Free State nearly every man above fifty years of age has had the experience of the three years' Basuto war in 1865-67, and almost all above forty are very expert huntsmen and crack shots. Quite a good number have also taken part in the Transvaal war against the English in 1880; the rest have been trained by the elder veterans, and, though not so well seasoned, are good horsemen, expert with the rifle, and competent in the field. As to the Transvaalers, the men have all had plenty of field practice before the previous war with England and since, in subduing formidable Kaffir rebellions, the last being the operations against the Magato chief, which terminated just before the outbreak of the present Anglo-Boer war.

Besides this, game had continued longer in abundance in the Transvaal, and is still hunted with success in the northern low veldt and in the adjacent Portuguese territory. Added to this, the young Boers in the Cape Colony, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal have been encouraged to attain proficiency in rifle practice and competence in the field, ostensibly for the gratification of keeping up old traditions, but in reality to be prepared for the struggle against England meditated by the Afrikaner Bond.

About thirty odd years ago the Orange Free State and Transvaal were still swarming with all sorts of game. Venison was the staple diet. Lions and leopards also infested those States, but these and the game have been pretty well extirpated since, except in some of the lower parts of the Transvaal. In the earlier days ammunition was costly and hard to procure, and the use had to be husbanded accordingly. It became thus a practice never to pull a trigger unless with intense aim and the certainty of an effective shot. A man would go out stalking for an hour or so with perhaps but one or two charges, and would rarely fail in bringing home the kind of game wanted—either a springbock, blesbock, or wildebeest (gnu). In hunting lions, the lads would form part of the company for the purpose of being taught. The boys would learn that if a lion meant to attack he would approach to within twenty or thirty yards, and then straighten himself up before making the final charge. It was during that short halt that the disabling or killing shot would have to be delivered. Father and son would then be standing ready—the son to fire first; if unsuccessful, the animal would be brought down by the father. If there were a larger party and the lions numerous, the lessons would be learnt so much better by way of emulation. The boys soon realized that a lion, means business only when he advances silently and with smoothed gait, but that bristling up and roaring is a sure prelude to his skulking off. What we read of the terror-inspiring roar is to the Boer stripling pure romance and non-sense; but what he does realize is that he must hit the animal in a vital spot at the right moment or else run the risk of being clawed and bitten. The confidence, however, which he has in his gun gives him all the requisite nerve, and mishaps are of very rare occurrence. Those lion hunts used to be very profitable, not only for the valuable skins, but especially when a number of young cubs were also caught, which would realize considerably high prices from menagerie purveyors.

At the age of about eight years a boy would be taught to ride on horseback; when twelve years old he would be an expert horseman and a deadly rifle shot as well; at sixteen he would be able to perform all farm duties and rank with pride and confidence as an efficient burgher to take the field against any enemy. His brain is not addled with school lore, but is thoroughly versed and taught from nature's book. Hardened to the fatigue of long rides over unfamiliar country in search of stray cattle, the Boer youth has often to subsist upon a bit of dried biltong (junked beef or venison), endure at intervals scorching heat and drenching rains, swim rivers, and pass the night with a stone for a pillow and his saddle as the only shelter, while his horse, securely hobbled, feeds upon the grass around. Never will he lose his way; if landmarks fail him and clouds hide moon and stars, he is guided by wind, the run of water or his horse's instincts. Accustomed to wide horizons, he can promptly distinguish objects at a distance, which, to an ordinarily good eyesight, would need careful scanning through a field-glass.

He is expert in finding and following any trail, and can promptly tell the imprint from whatever animal it might be, or of whatever human origin; an ideal scout and unsurpassed as a pioneer. When travelling over roadless country the Boer's instinct will direct him in tracing the most practicable route for his wagons, and with his experience he can foretell what kind of topography he will in succession have to traverse, avoiding unnegotiable spots and unnecessary detours, and when about to halt, a surveying gaze will locate the safest and most suitable position for his temporary camp. Such capacities serve with obvious advantage in defensive and offensive war tactics. Prompt in seizing an advantage and in avoiding danger, he has also learnt to be an adept in ruses to decoy and mislead an enemy, and as for self-help and resourcefulness, there is hardly a situation or difficulty conceivable which will not be successfully surmounted. The usual Boer can also fend for himself and cope with the minor perplexities of every-day life in the field, which would strand a less initiated man. He can cook, bake bread, mend clothes, make boots, repair saddles, harness, and vehicles, and is full of expedients and able to make shift. Most of them know how to shoe their horses, whilst many of them are expert also in working wood and metals and similar handicrafts. In short, the Boers make ideal scouts and are unique as colonizing pioneers. In their nomadic wanderings and frequent wars, the Boers have gained much useful experience in tactics, strategy, and in the wiles of diplomacy too. They also learnt to adopt methods of organization, of cohesion, combined action, and a certain amount of discipline among themselves.

They elect as subordinate and chief leaders men whose abilities and influence have commended them for such responsible appointments. Before committing themselves to any very important step these leaders would first confer with the people, who in turn would generally be easily swayed to their opinions, and who found by experience that it was safest to follow their judgment. It thus also became a habit to leave the main thinking over to those leaders, which enhanced unanimity and led to a self-imposed obedience and discipline recognised as necessary for the common welfare and also indispensable for common safety.

So prevalent had the practice become of deferring to the opinions of their leaders that it engendered an apathy among the people against considering political and public matters which were not altogether of engrossing importance. Public meetings would be poorly attended, and at elections not half the votes were recorded. "Let the elected heads see to it; they are paid for doing the controlling and thinking work"—that used to be the general feeling. But during the past twenty years public interest has by degrees been successfully aroused by the activities of the Afrikaner Bond; the former apathy and distaste to the consideration of public concerns have given place to a more lively identification even with politics, but the tendency of being swayed by men of influence of their own kind remains unchanged.

The Boers are great smokers—tobacco appears to have no hurtful effects whatever upon them, but seems rather to serve as a grateful sedative. The first thing offered on meeting a Boer is his tobacco pouch, and if one is a guest at his house, this is followed by one or more cups of coffee. This is drunk by men and women in large quantities, often without sugar, but very weak. The people are justly famed for cordial hospitality to strangers, and the pleasing tact and unostentatious correct politeness met with from the most ordinary and uneducated Boer are only accountable for on the theory that that particular culture of manners has been transmitted from his noble French ancestry of a couple of hundred years ago.

In stature the men near the average of six feet (say five feet ten inches)—full-bearded, brawny-limbed, and of stalwart build, suggesting a homeric capacity for aggression and resistance. They present a standard of sturdy and active manhood, which would have delighted the critical eye of Frederick the Great for the formation of his very best regiments. What is really singular is the infinitesimally small proportion of ineffective and sickly men found left behind when all the commandoes are called out, and also the considerable number of hale old men above sixty who voluntarily join the field. And when the hardy training and general high efficiency are considered down to the youth of sixteen, one may estimate the formidableness of such a foe, all well mounted on tough and nimble horses, well provisioned and provided with the best weapons extant, guided by very competent chiefs and European advisers—withal self-reliant and conscious of a superior aggressive and defensive capability for repeating their splendid ancestral records of prowess. Add to this inbred patriotism stimulated to an enthusiasm approaching fanaticism by a mind fashioned to the belief that their war is against an unjust usurper destined to be overthrown; it all sums up a long way towards balancing numerical inferiority and inexperience in the science of modern warfare. As to military science, they are apt to become quickly tutored into proficiency by daily observation and experience, and by the coaching of the numerous military officers who have joined their ranks.

Another advantage upon the Boer side consists in complete acclimatization and perfect knowledge of the country. Lastly, but by no means less important, is the rational practice of always going as light and unencumbered as at all possible, preferably with stripped saddle, and to subsist mostly upon meat when in the field, both serving to enhance staying power and to provide a reserve of stamina and of energy for occasions of supreme effort, which often decide the fate of battle against combatants, however courageous, who are fagged out with marching on foot, and through being overladen with accoutrements and pack and a lumbersome diet as well. What can such panting, unsteadied men do in conflict with Boers who are fresh and in well-preserved form, and whose steady sharp-shooting simply results in Calvaries for their opponents, however brave, disciplined and well equipped they may be?

Yet to be noted is the small commissariat needed for Boer horses and mules. These are accustomed to subsist altogether on grass, and when it is plentiful, during summer and fall, to keep in good condition, working six to ten hours daily, if only allowed to graze during the rest of the time. They are then usually knee-haltered, i.e., one foreleg tied to the halter, with about eighteen inches space between. A few feeds of dry mealies (maize) will be amply supplementary when the pasture is inferior, or if the animals have to be picketed much.

As said before, alcoholism does not prevail among the Boers, and any tendency to it is sedulously checked by legislation and public reprobation. President Krueger is an absolute abstainer from intoxicants, and even at banquets he will sip water only when joining in a toast. His contention is that the effects generally go beyond a harmlessly exhilarating point; the action of alcohol unbalances the nervous equilibrium, producing in most cases an excitement above the normal level, followed by a corresponding depressive reaction below it, creating an appetite for repeating the potation, with exactly similar and progressively aggravated results. Then man's moral standard and general efficiency and dignity become impaired, to the serious damage of his own welfare and involving the common weal as well. When at the outbreak of the war the sale of intoxicants became totally prohibited the measure was received with willing submission and hailed with general approval, which speaks volumes for the burgher population and without doubt also tends to preserve their efficiency and stamina.



PRESIDENT KRUeGER

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Krueger is about the most accessible President on record. Every morning—except Sundays and holidays, after family worship, that is to say, from 5.30 in summer and 6 in winter to 8 o'clock—he gives audience to Boer and Uitlander, rich or poor alike, and also on each afternoon, from 4 to 6 and even later. His residence in the west end of Church Street, Pretoria, is quite an ordinary modest building of the bungalow type. The only distinction observable is two crouching lion figures, life size, on pedestals about three feet high, at the balustrade entrance to the front verandah. A lawn of about thirty feet across extends to the street limit, where at a very unpretentious gate two armed burgher guards are constantly stationed. These will receive an intending visitor's name, an unarmed domestic guard will then come forward, who, after a short scrutiny, if the person is a stranger, will report to the President and will immediately return to conduct you to that dignitary, who may be sitting under the front verandah or in the adjoining reception-room. There the President will readily shake hands and point to a chair, rather near by because he is slightly hard of hearing, the domestic guard standing or sitting between, but a good way back. By his questions and final remarks one feels assured that the topic introduced has been attentively listened to and fully grasped. While conversing, other audience-seekers would drop in, and, while waiting their turn, coffee would usually be served to all. The manners observed are devoid of any stiffness of etiquette, but rather marked with a cordial decorum approaching intimacy, most assuring to the simplest and humblest visitor.

The only leisure the President enjoys is the interval from 12 to 2, between his official labours at the Government buildings, which are about half a mile distant from his house. He drives there and back in a modest carriage attended by a guard of mounted policemen. His Honour is invariably dressed in black cloth, with the usual tall silk hat. Six feet high, with a slight stoop, broad shouldered, deep-chested, with well-developed limbs, arms rather long, the President presents a stately, burly figure, portly without obesity. When younger he was noted, as something like a Ulysses, for personal strength and prowess as well as for sagacity. Although seventy-five years old now, Mr. Krueger has still a remarkably hale bearing and an intellect of undiminished quality. His eyesight, however, has been suffering of late, rendering the attendance of an oculist necessary. His Honour is in his fifth term of presidency, and has held the office twenty-two years. His salary is L8,000 per annum, of which he probably does not expend L1,000, his habits being exceedingly simple and frugal, Mrs. Krueger being equally conservative and thrifty, preferring rather to expend money for her children and in unostentatious benevolence than in superfluities.

President Krueger is an exemplary Christian, an earnest student of the Bible since his youth, ever ready to employ his gifts to strengthen the faith of his people and to maintain their religious standard. He often occupies the pulpit, and on other occasions gives exhorting discourses. Upon the completion of the imposing Johannesburg synagogue his Honour was requested to preside at its dedication. It was an impressive function, and withal so anomalous and unrabbinical a departure—the head of the State, a devout Christian, opening the edifice for Jewish worship and addressing a discourse to the thousands of assembled Israelites. In his zeal and concern Mr. Krueger could not refrain from adverting to their blessed Messiah, the God-man of Jewish stock, rejected through ignorance by their forefathers, exalted since, but who loved His people nevertheless, as typified by Joseph's narrative when he revealed himself to his brethren in Egypt. He adjured them to a prayerful reading of their Old Testament, and he invoked God's mercy to remove the veil which obscured from their eyes their own and also the Gentiles' glorious Immanuel. The ceremony was concluded with perfect decorum, despite the surprise that the address had drifted into an impassioned Gospel sermon.

This grand old Boer is the very personification of noble patriotism and devoted concern for the welfare of his nation. While admiring and loving the man, what sorrow on the one side and indignant execration on the other do not overwhelm one, seeing that such a pattern and leader of men should have become the victim of that heartless Hollander coterie! One cannot but marvel at the same time at the alert skill and wily patience which must have been employed during the many years past to hold President Krueger with State Secretary Keitz and President Steyn in the Afrikaner Bond leash ready to let loose with unshaken convictions upon the supreme contest designed for them and their people by the machinations intended for upraising Holland at the risk of immolating the victimized Boer nation.



PEACE ADJUSTMENTS

Upon this topic a few remarks may be placed under the assumption that the arch enemy's triumph in the present war will be circumscribed by the havoc and the bereavements created by it, and by the forfeiture inflicted upon the poor deluded Boers of their special heirlooms. One of the considerations would be the war cost and its recoupment, and another important one is the measures needful to prevent a repetition of a Bond revolt.

As to the war indemnity: it is well understood on all hands that the supremacy of Great Britain, when once established as the result of the war, will greatly enhance the value of all existing capital investments—10 to 50 per cent., and many even 100 per cent. It is not to be denied that capitalism has evinced decided eagerness that English supremacy should be asserted, and it is in a manner amenable together with the Afrikaner Bond, for secretly striving to bring about the contest each independently in its own way, but without the least concert with each other. It appears therefore equitable that capital should become contributable to the cost of the war which will eventually result in so largely enhancing its invested values.

A tax of 2-1/2 per cent. upon the aggregate investment values and a royalty upon the mining industries of 25 per cent. of the net profits would appear reasonable.

The 2-1/2 per cent. tax might bring a sum of ....... 15 millions

The royalty could be reckoned at capitalized value ............................................ 50 "

The confiscations might reach ...................... 10 "

And the underground rights around the Johannesburg mines might realize .............................. 50 "

Thus together 125 millions, possibly not sufficient to cover the entire war cost if pensions are to be included. It is a sad reflection to note that the entire wealth which constituted the national heirloom of the Transvaal will have been wasted, and comes far short to cover the actual war expenditure. In regard to preventive measures against another Bond war, nothing appears clearer than the necessity of applying the lex talionis upon the Hollander element in South Africa (though not in that inhuman fashion as was practised upon the English refugees before and at the commencement of the war).

Whilst not so guilty to the same extent of enormity as the coterie in Holland, who devised all the Bond mischief at a safe distance, the Hollanders in South Africa were nevertheless their eager abettors and sedulous henchmen. It will be remembered that the Bond cry had been "Drive the English into the sea, out of Africa," and that the first earnest in carrying out that fiat was practised some months before the outbreak of the war upon the unaggressive coloured British subjects, traders, merchants, etc., whose removal from their residences and businesses to ghettos outside the towns practically compassed their ruin and expulsion from the Transvaal. This was followed, first by a voluntary and afterwards by the forced exodus of Uitlanders at the rate of thousands per day—men, women, and children packed in uncleansed coal and cattle trucks, together with Coolies, Kaffirs, and Hottentots, and hustled over the Portuguese border, dumped down at that death-trap Komati Poort if unable to pay the railway fare for fifty-three miles further to Delagoa Bay. Those refugees were obliged to abandon or sacrifice their belongings—they had no time allowed to realize them; it meant their financial ruin.

That Hollander element comprises the most insidious menace, and, like a cancer, must be unsparingly excised from South Africa, unless encouragement is intended to be given for an attempt to go one better next time, with a repetition, or rather an aggravation, of the horrors of war and the cost in life and treasure, turning the sub-continent into a second vast Algeria, with perhaps such another "Abd El Kadr" to subdue, and without any reserve asset, as now, to fall back upon towards reimbursing the expense. Their expulsion should, however, not be effected without giving some fair notice affording them time for the realization of their estates. As to the Dutch language, it will not entail any excessive hardship if it is equally banished as an official language, seeing that English is on the whole not more unfamiliar to the bulk of the Boer people than pure High Dutch is, and seeing that the dual right was accorded to Dutch as an official language under this almost inconceivable feature, that it admittedly had yet to be learnt to become of any practical use or utility other than as an instrument for keeping the races apart and to facilitate the Bond objects of usurpation and revolt.

FINIS