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[Illustration: LIEUTENANTS MELVILL and COGHILL (24th REGIMENT) DYING
TO SAVE THE QUEEN'S COLOURS.
An Incident at the Battle of Isandlwana.
Painting by C. E. Fripp.]
SOUTH AFRICA
AND THE
TRANSVAAL WAR
BY
LOUIS CRESWICKE
AUTHOR OF "ROXANE," ETC.
WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS
IN SIX VOLUMES
VOL. I.--FROM THE FOUNDATION OF CAPE COLONY TO
THE BOER ULTIMATUM OF 9TH OCT. 1899
EDINBURGH: T. C. & E. C. JACK
1900
PREFATORY NOTE
In writing this volume my aim has been to present an unvarnished
tale of the circumstances--extending over nearly half a
century--which have brought about the present crisis in South
Africa. Consequently, it has been necessary to collate the opinions
of the best authorities on the subject. My acknowledgments are due
to the distinguished authors herein quoted for much valuable
information, throwing light on the complications that have been
accumulating so long, and that owe their origin to political
blundering and cosmopolitan scheming rather than to the racial
antagonism between Briton and Boer.
L. C.
CONTENTS--VOL. I.
PAGE
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE ix
INTRODUCTION 1
CHAPTER I
PAGE
THE GROWTH OF THE TRANSVAAL 13
THE BOER CHARACTER 15
SOME DOMESTIC TRAITS 18
CHAPTER II
PAGE
THE ORANGE FREE STATE 24
THE GRONDWET 26
TRANSVAAL DISSENSIONS 29
ZULU DISTURBANCES 30
THE POLITICAL WEB 33
THE WEB THICKENING 36
THE ZULU WAR 38
ISANDLWANA 40
AFFAIRS AT HOME 43
TOWARDS ULUNDI 49
THE VICTORY 57
CHAPTER III
PAGE
SIR GARNET WOLSELEY AT PRETORIA 62
GLADSTONE OUT OF OFFICE AND IN OFFICE 65
COMMENCEMENT OF REBELLION 69
THE FATE OF CAPTAIN ELLIOT 73
LAING'S NEK 77
INGOGO 84
MAJUBA 86
THE SIEGE OF PRETORIA 95
RETROCESSION 99
THE BETRAYED LOYALISTS 101
CHAPTER IV
PAGE
THE CONVENTIONS 106
MR. KRUGER 110
GERMANS AND UITLANDERS 114
CHAPTER V
PAGE
MR. RHODES 118
RHODESIA--UNCIVILISED 120
RHODESIA--CIVILISED 124
GOLD 127
DIAMONDS 131
CHAPTER VI
PAGE
THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY 136
ACCUMULATED AGGRAVATIONS 138
MONOPOLIES AND ABUSES 143
THE FRANCHISE 146
THE REFORM MOVEMENT 149
THE CRITICAL MOMENT 153
THE RAID 156
AFTER DOORNKOP 172
THE FATE OF THE MISCREANTS 177
THE ULTIMATUM 178
APPENDIX--CONVENTIONS OF 1881 AND 1884 191, 197
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS--Vol. I.
1. _COLOURED PLATES_
PAGE
DYING TO SAVE THE QUEEN'S
COLOURS. An Incident of the Battle
of Isandlwana. By C. E. Fripp _Frontispiece_
COLONEL OF THE 10TH HUSSARS
(H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES) 16
2ND DRAGOONS (ROYAL SCOTS GREYS) 32
OFFICER OF THE 16TH LANCERS 64
DRUM-MAJOR AND DRUMMERS, COLDSTREAM
GUARDS 80
COLOUR-SERGEANT AND PRIVATE,
THE SCOTS GUARDS 104
SERGEANT AND BUGLER, 1ST ARGYLE
AND SUTHERLAND HIGHLANDERS 140
COLOUR-SERGEANT AND PRIVATE (IN
KHAKI), GLOUCESTER REGIMENT 172
2. _FULL-PAGE PLATES_
PAGE
CAPE TOWN, DEVIL'S PEAK, TABLE
MOUNTAIN, AND LION'S HEAD,
FROM TABLE BAY 10
A KAFFIR KRAAL IN THE TRANSVAAL 20
BLOEMFONTEIN, FROM THE SOUTH 26
THE DEFENCE OF RORKE'S DRIFT.
By Alphonse de Neuville 42
THE BATTLE OF ULUNDI: THE FINAL
RUSH OF THE ZULUS. By R. Caton
Woodville 58
THE ORANGE RIVER AT NORVAL'S
PONT 74
THE BATTLE OF MAJUBA HILL. By
R. Caton Woodville 90
WHERE COLLEY FELL. Rough Cairn
of Stones on Majuba Hill 92
THE MATABELE WAR--DEFENDING
A LAAGER. By R. Caton Woodville 118
"TO THE MEMORY OF BRAVE MEN."
The Last Stand of Major Wilson on
The Shangani River, 1893. By Allan
Stewart 124
A MATABELE RAID IN MASHONALAND.
By W. Small 128
KIMBERLEY, AS SEEN FROM THE
ROCK SHAFT 132
PRETORIA, FROM THE EAST. 138
SOUTH AFRICAN NATIVES--BOUND
FOR THE GOLDFIELDS 148
JAMESON'S LAST STAND--THE BATTLE
OF DOORNKOP, 2nd January 1896.
By R. Caton Woodville 160
JOHANNESBURG, FROM THE NORTH. 166
3. _FULL-PAGE PORTRAITS_
PAGE
SIR HENRY BARTLE FRERE, Bart 48
GENERAL SIR EVELYN WOOD, G.C.B.,
V.C. 96
PAUL KRUGER, PRESIDENT OF THE
TRANSVAAL REPUBLIC 112
RIGHT HON. CECIL JOHN RHODES,
P.C. 144
DR. LEANDER STARR JAMESON 152
RIGHT HON. JOSEPH CHAMBERLAIN,
M.P., Secretary for the Colonies 176
SIR ALFRED MILNER, K.C.B., High
Commissioner for South Africa 184
VISCOUNT WOLSELEY, Commander-in-chief
of the British Army 188
4. _MAPS_
PAGE
MAP OF BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA _At Front_
MAP OF THE BOER REPUBLICS "
MAP OF ZULULAND AND THE ADJOINING
PORTIONS OF NATAL 41
MAP OF COUNTRY ROUND LAING'S
NEK AND MAJUBA HILL 81
PLAN OF DISPOSITION OF FORCES
ON TOP OF MAJUBA HILL 89
MAP OF MATABELELAND 121
MAP ILLUSTRATING THE JAMESON
RAID 163
CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE--VOL. I.
#1851.#--First Basuto war.
#1852.#--Sand River Convention, granting independence to Transvaal
Boers.
#1853.#--Province of British Kaffraria created.
Introduction of representative government in Cape Colony.
#1854.#--Convention of Bloemfontein and Treaty of Aliwal, granting
independence to Orange Free State.
Free State abandoned to Dutch.
#1855.#--Establishment of a Constitution for South African Republic;
not completed till 1858.
#1856.#--Natal created a separate Colony. 2000 German legion and
2000 German labourers arrived.
#1858.#--War between Orange Free State and Basutos.
#1859.#--First railway constructed.
#1865.#--British Kaffraria incorporated with Cape Colony.
War between Free State and Basutos.
#1867.#--First discovery of diamonds near Orange River.
First discovery of gold in Transvaal.
#1868.#--Annexation of Basutoland.
#1869.#--Discovery of diamonds near Lower Vaal River, where
Kimberley now stands.
Commercial Treaty concluded between Portuguese Government and the
South African Republic, which led to British claims to Delagoa Bay.
#1871.#--Annexation of Griqualand West (Diamond Fields). Basutoland
added to Cape.
#1872.#--Responsible Government granted to Cape Colony.
Cetchwayo succeeds his father, Panda, as king in Zululand.
#1872-75.#--Delagoa Bay arbitration.
#1874.#--Ichaboe and Penguin Islands annexed.
#1875.#--Delagoa Bay award.
#1875-80.#--Lord Carnarvon's scheme for making the different
colonies and states of South Africa into a confederation with common
administration and common legislation in national matters.
#1876.#--Fingoland, Idutywa Reserve, and No-Man's-Land annexed.
Acceptance by Free State of L90,000 for Griqualand West.
Khama, Chief of Bamangwato, seeks British protection against Boer
aggressions.
#1877.#--Annexation of Transvaal by Sir T. Shepstone, after the
country had been reduced to a state of anarchy by misgovernment.
#1877-78.#--Gaika and Gealika rebellion.
#1878.#--Walfish Bay proclaimed a British possession.
#1879.#--Zulu war. Transvaal declared a Crown Colony.
#1880.#--Basuto war. Sekukuni campaign.
Boer protest against British rule at a mass meeting held in December
at Paardekraal (now Krugersdorp).
They seize Heidelberg.
South African Republic established.
December 16.--Kruger, Joubert, and Pretorius proclaimed South
African Republic by hoisting flag on Dingaan's Day. Kruger made
President on December 17. British treacherously surrounded at
Bronkhurst Spruit, December 20, when about 250 of 94th Regiment,
after losing nearly all their men, surrendered. Colonel Bellairs
besieged in Potchefstroom, but Boers retire when shelled. December
29.
--Captain Elliot treacherously murdered while fording the Vaal.
#1880-81.#--Reinforcements sent out December and January.
Griqualand West incorporated with the Cape.
#1881.#--Transvaal rebellion. Pretoria Convention, creating
"Transvaal State" under British suzerainty.
Sir George Colley takes command of our troops, January. His attack
on Laing's Nek repulsed with heavy loss. Colonel Deane and Majors
Poole and Hingiston killed.
#1881.#--Severe engagement near Ingogo River, Feb. 8. British
repulsed after 12 hours under fire. Sir E. Wood joined Colley with
reinforcements. Orange Free State neutrality declared. Colley and
Majuba Hill, Feb. 27; Colley killed with 3 officers and 82 men; 122
men taken prisoners.
Sir F. (now Lord) Roberts sent out, Feb. 28.
Armistice proposed by Boers, March 5; accepted March 23.
Peace proclaimed, March 21.
Potchefstroom surrendered with honours of war in ignorance of
armistice, April.
Commission appointed to carry out Treaty of Peace, April 5.
Convention agreed to, ceding all territory to Transvaal, with the
Queen as suzerain, and a British resident at Pretoria, Aug. 8.
Convention ratified, Oct. 25.
Evacuation of Transvaal by British troops began on Nov. 18.
#1884.#--London Convention restoring to the Transvaal the title of
"South African Republic."
Annexation of Damaraland by Germany.
Boer Republics of Stellaland and Goshen set up in Bechuanaland.
Boers seize and annex Montsioaland; sanctioned by proclamation;
withdrawn on remonstrance.
Ultimatum by Sir H. Robinson, requiring protection of frontiers.
British annexation of Southern, and protectorate of Northern
Bechuanaland.
Basutoland made independent.
Port St. John annexed.
British flag hoisted in Lucia Bay, Zululand (ceded to England in
1843, by Panda).
#1884-85.#--Sir Charles Warren's expedition.
#1885.#--Annexation of Bechuanaland to Cape Colony.
#1885.#--British protectorate over Khama's country proclaimed as far
as Matabeleland.
Discovery of great goldfields in Witwatersrandt, Transvaal.
#1886.#--Opening of principal goldfields in Transvaal.
British Government put a stop to Boer raids into Zululand, and
confined them to a territory of nearly 3000 square miles; to be
known as the "New Republic."
#1887.#--British annexation of the rest of Zululand.
British treaty with Tonga chiefs, in which they undertook not to
make treaties with any other power.
#1888.#--"New Republic" annexed to South African Republic.
Treaty concluded between British and Lo Bengula, the Matabele king,
in which he undertook not to cede territory to, or treat with, any
foreign power without British consent.
#1889.#--Charter granted to British South Africa Company.
#1890.#--First Swaziland Convention, giving Boers certain rights to
a railway to the coast.
British and German "spheres of influence" defined by formal
agreement.
#1891.#--Southern boundary of Portuguese territory fixed by treaty
with Great Britain.
#1893.#--Responsible government granted to Natal.
Matabele war.
#1894.#--Malaboch war.
Question of "commandeering" British subjects raised in South African
Republic.
Second Swaziland Convention, placing Swaziland under Boer control.
Annexation of Amatongaland.
Annexation of Pondoland.
British subjects exempted from military service by Transvaal
Government, June 24.
Protest by British Government against closing the Vaal Drifts, as
contrary to Convention; Nov. 3. Agreed to Nov. 8.
#1895.#--Crown Colony of Bechuanaland annexed to Cape Colony.
Proclamation of Reform movement by Uitlanders in Johannesburg
(National Union), Dec. 26.
Jameson Raid--he crossed the frontier with a force from Pitsani
Pitlogo, Dec. 29.
Sir H. Robinson telegraphed to Jameson to retire, Dec. 30.
Mr. Chamberlain and Sir H. Robinson sent order to stop hostilities,
Dec. 31.
#1896.#--Dr. Jameson's party, outnumbered and without resources,
defeated by Boers near Krugersdorp, Jan. 1.
Fight at Vlakfontein, and surrender of Jameson, Jan. 2.
Johannesburg surrendered unconditionally by advice of British
Government, Jan. 2.
Dr. Jameson and other prisoners handed over to Sir H. Robinson, Jan.
7.
#1897.#--Judicial Crisis in South African Republic.
Annexation of Zululand to Natal.
#1899.#--Petition of Uitlanders to the Queen, May 24.
Conference, at Bloemfontein, between Sir A. Milner and Kruger, May
30. Terminated without result, June 6.
British Despatch to Transvaal, setting forth demands for immediate
acceptance, Sept. 8.
Unsatisfactory reply, Sept. 16.
Troops despatched to Natal, Sept. and Oct.
Insulting Boer Ultimatum, making war inevitable, Oct. 9.
Orange Free State joins with the Transvaal.
[Illustration: MAP OF THE BOER REPUBLICS.]
[Illustration: GENERAL MAP OF BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA]
SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR
INTRODUCTION
The Transvaal War--like a gigantic picture--cannot be considered at
close quarters. To fully appreciate the situation, and all that it
embraces, the critic must stand at a suitable distance. He must gaze
not merely with the eye of to-day, or even of the whole nineteenth
century, but with his mind educated to the strange conditions of
earlier civilisation. For in these conditions will be found the root
of the widespread mischief--the answer to many a riddle which
superficial observers have been unable to comprehend. The racial
hatred between Boer and Briton is not a thing of new growth; it has
expanded with the expansion of the Boer settlers themselves. In
fact, on the Boer side, it is the only thing independent of British
enterprise which has grown and expanded since the Dutch first set
foot in the Cape. This took place in 1652. Then, Jan Van Riebeck, of
the Dutch East India Company, first established an European
settlement, and a few years later the burghers began life as
cattle-breeders, agriculturists, and itinerant traders. These
original Cape Colonists were descendants of Dutchmen of the lower
classes, men of peasant stamp, who were joined in 1689 by a
contingent of Huguenot refugees. The Boers, or peasants, of that day
were men of fine type, a blend between the gipsy and the evangelist.
They were nomadic in their taste, lawless, and impatient of
restrictions, bigoted though devout, and inspired in all and through
all by an unconquerable love of independence. With manners they had
nothing to do, with progress still less. Isolation from the
civilised world, and contact with Bushmen, Hottentots, and Kaffirs,
kept them from advancing with the times. Their slaves outnumbered
themselves, and their treatment of these makes anything but
enlivening reading. From all accounts the Boer went about with the
Bible in one hand and the _sjambok_ in the other, instructing
himself assiduously with the Word, while asserting himself liberally
with the deed. Yet he was a first-rate sporting man, a shrewd
trafficker, and at times an energetic tiller of the soil. The early
settlements were Rondebosch, Stellenbosch, and Drakenstein, in the
valley of the Berg River. Here the Dutch community laboured, and
smoked, and married, multiplying itself with amazing rapidity, and
expanding well beyond the original limits.
Dutch domination at the Cape lasted for 143 years after the landing
of Van Riebeck, but gradually internal dissensions among the
settlers resulted in absolute revolt. Meanwhile the Dutch in Europe
had lost their political prestige, and the country was overrun by a
Prussian army commissioned to support the House of Orange. In 1793,
in a war against allied England and Holland, France gained the day,
and a Republic was set up under French protection, thereby rendering
Holland and her colonies of necessity antagonistic to Great Britain.
After this the fortunes of the Cape were fluctuating. In 1795
Admiral Elphinstone and General Craig brought about the surrender of
the colony to Great Britain. Later on it was returned to the
Batavian Republic at the Peace of Amiens, only to be afterwards
recaptured by Sir David Baird in 1806. Finally, in 1814, our claim
to the Cape and other Dutch colonies was recognised on payment of
the sum of L6,000,000 sterling.
Now for the first time began the real emigration of the British.
They settled at Bathurst, near Algoa Bay, but though their numbers
gradually swelled, they never equalled the number of the inhabitants
of Dutch origin.
At this time South Africa was an ideal place for the pioneer. The
scenery was magnificent. There were mountain gorges or kloofs,
roaring cataracts, vast plains, and verdant tracts of succulent
grasses. There was big game enough to delight the heart of a race of
Nimrods. Lions, elephants, hippopotami, rhinoceroses, antelopes, and
birds of all kinds, offered horns, hides, tusks, and feathers to the
adventurous sportsman. All these things the nomadic Boer had
hitherto freely enjoyed, plying now his rifle, now his plough, and
taking little thought for the morrow or for the moving world outside
the narrow circle of his family experiences. With the appearance of
British paramountcy at the Cape came a hint of law and order, of
progress and its accompaniment--taxation. The bare whisper of
discipline of any kind was sufficient to send the truculent Boer
trekking away to the far freedom of the veldt. Quantities of them
took to their lumbering tented waggons, drawn by long teams of oxen,
and put a safe distance between themselves and the new-comers. All
they wanted was a free home, conducted in their own gipsy
fashion--their kraals by the river, their camp fires, their flocks
and herds, and immunity from the vexation of monopolies and taxes.
And here at once will be seen how the seeds sprang up of a rooted
antagonism between Boer and Briton that nothing can ever remove, and
no diplomacy can smooth away. The Boer nature naturally inclines to
a sluggish content, while the British one invariably pants for
advance. The temperamental tug of war, therefore, has been one that
has grown stronger and stronger with the progress of years. The
principles of give and take have been tried, but they have failed.
Reciprocity is not in the nature of the Boer, and without
reciprocity society and States are at a standstill. The Boer is
accredited with the primitive virtues, innocence, sturdiness,
contentment. If he has these, he has also the defects of his
qualities. He is crafty, stubborn, and narrow, and intolerant of
everything beyond the limits of his native comprehension.
Innovations of any kind are sufficient to fill him with suspicion,
and those started by the British in their first efforts at Cape
government were as gall and wormwood to his untrammelled taste.
These efforts, it must be owned, were not altogether happy. There
was first a rearrangement of local governments and of the Law
Courts; then, in 1827, followed a decree that English should be the
official language. As at that time not more than one colonist in
seven was British, the new arrangement was calculated to make
confusion worse confounded! The disgust of the Cape Dutch may be
imagined! The finishing touch came in 1834. By the abolition of
slavery--humane though its object was--the Cape colonists were
exceedingly hard hit; and though the owners of slaves were
compensated to the tune of a million and a quarter (the slaves were
valued at three millions sterling), they continued to maintain a
simmering resentment. Added to this came the intervention of the
missionaries, who attempted to instil into the Boer mind a sense of
the equality, in the sight of Heaven, of the black and the white
races.
At this time 12,000 Kaffirs had crossed over the border and invaded
the settlements, dealing death and destruction wherever they went.
They were finally repulsed by the British, and Sir Benjamin D'Urban,
the Governor at the Cape, proclaimed the annexation of the country
beyond the Keiskamma, on the eastern boundary of the Colony, as far
as the Kei. But no sooner had he accomplished this diplomatic move
in his wise discretion, than orders came from the British Government
to the effect that the land was to be restored to the Kaffirs and
the frontier boundary moved back to its original place--Keiskamma.
Sir Benjamin D'Urban carried out these orders much to his disgust,
for he deemed the annexation of the province to be necessary to the
peace of all the surrounding districts. But this was neither the
first nor the last occasion in the history of Cape government on
which men of practical experience have had to give way before wise
heads in Downing Street arm-chairs.
This action on the part of the Government was as the last straw to
the overladen camel. The patience of the Dutch Boers broke down. The
introduction of a foreign and incomprehensible tongue, the abolition
of slavery, and finally the restoration to the despised Kaffirs of a
conquered province, were indignities past bearing. There was a
general exodus. Off to the neighbourhood of the Orange and the Vaal
Rivers lumbered the long waggon trains drawn by innumerable oxen,
bearing, to pastures new and undefiled by the British, the irate
Boers and their household gods. It was a pathetic departure, this
voluntary exile into strange and unknown regions. The first
pioneers, after a long and wearisome journey to Delagoa Bay, fell
sick and retraced their steps to Natal only to die. The next great
company started forth in the winter of 1836. Some went to the
districts between the Orange and the Vaal Rivers--the district now
known as the Orange Free State; others went into the country north
of the Vaal River--the district now called the Transvaal; while
others again went beyond the mountains to the district now named
Natal. Here the Boer hoped to lead a new and a peaceful life, to
encamp himself by some river course with his kraal for his sheep and
his goats, the wide veldt for his carpet, and the blue dome of
heaven or the canvas of his waggon for his untaxed roof. But his
hopes were of short duration. The poor trekker--to use the vulgar
phrase--had fallen out of the frying-pan into the fire. He had fled
from the "British tyrant" only to encounter the Matabele Zulu
savage. A terrible feud between the Bantu tribes was then causing
much violence and blood-spilling, and the Zulu chief Moselekalse,
having driven the Bechuanas beyond the Limpopo, had established the
kingdom of the Matabele. With this chief, the Boer Potgieter and a
party of burghers, on exploration intent, came suddenly into
collision. Some of the Boers fled, the rest were promptly massacred.
Those who remained alive made plans for self-defence. They lashed
their waggons together to form a laager, and within it placed their
women and children in partial safety. They then gave the warriors of
Moselekalse a warm reception. The fight was maintained with great
energy, the Zulus raining assegais over the waggons, while the Boers
returned the compliment with their firearms. For these they had
plenty of ammunition, and relays of guns were loaded and handed out
gallantly by their women from within the laager. The Boers were
victorious. Their aim was true, their pluck enormous, and after a
sharp engagement the enemy were forced to retire. The savages were
not vanquished, however, till terrible damage had been inflicted on
the laager. Not content with the loss of many of their number, their
sheep and their cattle, the plucky Boers started forth to punish the
Matabele. Though few in number the burghers had the advantage of
rifles, and succeeded in triumphing over the enemy and establishing
themselves at Winburg, on the Vet River, to west of Harrismith.
Later on the Boer farmers prepared to trek into Natal. They had
prospected the place and found it entirely suited to their
agricultural needs. Water and game were plentiful, and the whole
country was fertile as a garden. Here they proposed to settle down.
At Port Natal--now known by the name of Durban--was a party of
Englishmen with whom the Boer explorers got on friendly terms. Both
Englishmen and Boers were aware that the district was under Zulu
sway, and it was decided that the chief, Dingaan, should be
interviewed as to the approaching settlement of the Boers. The wily
Zulu received his late enemies with every show of amity. He offered
them refreshments, he made entertainments for their amusement. He
finally agreed to cede such territory as was demanded by the Boers,
provided they would secure to him certain cattle that had been
stolen from him by a chief named Sikonyela. This the Boers agreed to
do. They promptly travelled to see Sikonyela, and by threats,
persuasions, or other mysterious means, extracted from him his
ill-gotten gains. With the restored cattle the whole party of Boers
then passed on their way from Drakensberg to Natal, full of the hope
of finally making a settlement in a region so well suited to their
pastoral instincts.
On again visiting the chief Dingaan, they were again received with
honour. More festivities were arranged, and the date of the signing
of the treaty was fixed for the 4th of February 1838.
The day came. The burghers arrived in the customary picturesqueness
of woollen shirts, round hats, rough coats, and leathern
veldt-broeks. Dingaan, amiable to excess, insisted that they should
accompany him to his kraal, and there make a formal leave-taking.
They were requested to leave their arms outside as an earnest of
good faith, and, with some suspicion, they acceded. Their reception
was splendid. Their health was drunk, the calabash passed round, and
then--then, at a given signal from the chief, the Zulu hordes rushed
in, fully armed and raging. In less time than it takes to describe
the deed, the defenceless company of Boer farmers were slaughtered
in cold blood--slaughtered before they could lift even a fist in
self-defence! This horrible act of treachery served to do away at
one fell swoop with the whole Boer party. Their bones, piled in a
heap without the kraal, alone remained to tell to their kindred the
tale of their undoing. The Zulus then proceeded in their tens of
thousands to attack the nearest encampment, and cut down all who
came in their way. Men--women--children--they spared none. The
tidings being carried to the outer encampments of the Boers, they
prepared themselves for the worst. They and their gallant _vrows_,
who fought with as cool and obstinate a courage as their husbands,
resisted the onslaught staunchly and successfully; but they paid
dearly for their boldness. Their cattle were demolished, and their
numbers were miserably thinned. Some thought of retiring from Natal;
some contemplated revenge.
The pathetic state of the Boers attracted the sympathy of the
Englishmen then in Natal, and they joined hands. Potgieter and Uys
then commanded a force, and marched out on the enemy, but
unfortunately fell into an ambush and were slain. Among the dead
were the commandant Uys and his son.
Then the Englishmen, not to be behindhand in the fray, came to the
rescue. Though there were but seventeen of them, they went out
accompanied by 1500 Hottentots to meet the enemy. They followed the
retreating savages beyond the Tugela, when suddenly they found
themselves face to face with a fierce multitude of 70,000 Zulus. A
conflict of the most terrible kind ensued: a conflict the more
terrible because at the same time so heroic and so hopeless. From
this appalling fight only four Englishmen escaped. These had
succeeded in cutting their way through the enemy; the rest had been
surrounded, and died fighting valiantly, and were almost buried
among the dead bodies of their antagonists.
But this was not to be the finale of the Boer resistance to the wild
Zulu. The above tragic engagement between the Englishmen and Zulus
took place in April 1838. By December of the same year they had
gathered themselves under the banner of their fine leader Andries
Pretorius, a farmer from the district of Graff Reinet, and started
forth again to meet the treacherous Dingaan, and pay him the debt
they owed him.
A word or two of this Pretorius, after whom the now notable town of
Pretoria was named. He was a born leader of men: he was a Cromwell
in his way. At that date he was forty years of age, in the prime of
strength and manhood. He was tall, and vigorous in mind as well as
in body, calm and deliberating in counsel, but prompt and fiery in
action. His descent is traced from one Johannes Pretorius, son of a
clergyman at Goeree in South Holland, one of the very early
settlers--a pious and worthy man, whose piety and worth had been
inherited by several generations. Like the rest of his countrymen,
Pretorius would brook no control. Though he was indubitably brave
and immensely capable, he had the conservative instincts of his
race. He shrunk from all innovations, he disliked everything
connected with civilisation that might in the smallest degree
interfere with the personal liberty of the individual. Freedom was
as the very breath of his nostrils, and here was the great link
between this really exceptional man and the body of his pastoral
followers.
Pretorius, bent on the punishment of the treachery of Dingaan, set
out, as has been said, with his expedition in the winter of 1838.
This expedition has been named by the Boers the Win Commando. He had
but three small pieces of cannon and a force composed of about four
hundred white men and some native auxiliaries, yet the admirable
tactics of Pretorius, the stout hearts and fine shooting of his
followers, combined to bring about a victory over the Zulus. These
were totally routed, and lost one third of their number.
The bravery and splendid persistence of the Boers filled all hearts
with admiration, particularly when, after several well-directed
attacks, they eventually succeeded in utterly breaking the Zulu
power. Dingaan was dethroned and driven into exile, and his kraal
and property burnt. A Christian burial service was read over the
place where lay the bones of the assassinated Retief and his
companions. The date, the 16th December 1838, on which the Zulu
power met its first check from white men, is one ever remembered in
Boer history. It goes by the name of Dingaan's Day, and is annually
celebrated with great rejoicings throughout the Transvaal.
The Boers had now succeeded in inspiring wholesome awe in the heart
of Panda, the new chieftain who occupied the place once held by his
brother, the exiled Dingaan. He was not a person of bellicose
disposition, and thinking discretion the better part of valour, was
ready enough to swear to keep peace with his late enemies. In these
circumstances the Boers with prayer and thanksgiving were able to
pursue the promptings of their long-checked ambition. Soon several
hundreds of waggons drawn by long teams of oxen came lumbering into
Natal, for the purpose of establishing there the Republic, which had
so often been planned out in imagination and never yet found any but
an abortive existence. This ideal State was eventually formed and
called the Republic of Natalia, and it enjoyed for several years an
independent existence.
As Natal became the first cause of armed conflict between the
British and the Boers, its then position in regard to the
authorities at the Cape may as well be reviewed. Though the new
Republic maintained its perfectly independent existence, its
inhabitants were still mentioned by the Governor of Cape Colony as
British subjects. It must be remembered that prior to the
occupation of Natal by the Boers, and the formation of their
cherished Republic, the Governor of Cape Colony had issued a
proclamation announcing his intention of occupying Natal later on,
and stating that the emigrants--who were then making active
preparations for the attack of Dingaan--- were British subjects. In
Great Britain, however, the authorities had not yet decided to
follow the advice so often given by their representatives at the
Cape. They were still declaring it inexpedient to extend their
territory, and likewise their responsibilities, in South Africa. But
the incursion of the Boers in the neighbourhood of Port Natal put a
new complexion on affairs. The British Government began to open its
eyes to the value of a seaport, with two good harbours on the South
African coast, as a colonial possession. It could not fail to
recognise also that the members of the new State were already bitter
foes to the British and their ways; and that it would be dangerous
to allow them to establish themselves as an independent power on the
coast, and entirely throw off their duty of allegiance. Accordingly
Sir George Napier, the then Governor of the Cape, sent troops to
occupy Natal. He remained undecided as to the mode of dealing with
the emigrant Boers, however, for, while declaring them British
subjects, he yet was not prepared to afford them protection from
attacks of the natives. It is scarcely surprising that this
half-and-half paternity of the Government failed to satisfy the men
whose kith and kin had fallen in their numbers at Weenen and the
Hill of Blood, and the consequent disaffection of the Boers grew
deeper as signs of British authority increased.
But at first, in the rest of their territory outside Natal the Boer
Government remained unmolested. Their district was bounded by the
sea and the Drakenberg mountains, the Tugela and Umzimubu Rivers,
and there for a time things went well. Pretorius was Commandant
General in Natal, Potgieter Chief Commandant in the allied Western
Districts. The legislative power was in the hands of a Volksraad of
twenty-four members, whose ways were more vacillating and erratic
than advantageous. "Every man for himself and God for all" seemed to
be the convenient motto of this assembly, except perhaps on urgent
occasions, when Pretorius and Potgieter were called upon as joint
dictators to settle some knotty problem relating to external
affairs.
At the close of 1840 this Volksraad commenced negotiations with the
Cape Government with a view to getting their independence formally
recognised. The Governor at the Cape was again in the old quandary.
While he personally desired to put an end to troubles from within
and without by establishing a strong government over the whole
country, he was crippled by the Ministry at home, which was
consistent in maintaining its policy of inconsistency, and tried to
maintain its hold on the Cape, while steadily refusing to increase
Great Britain's responsibility in South Africa.
The demands of the Volksraad (presented in January 1841) were
scarcely acceptable at headquarters. The nature of them is
interesting, and shows the then attitude of people who described
themselves as "willing and desirous to enter into a perpetual
alliance with the Government of Her Majesty."
They bargained that the Republic of Natalia was to be acknowledged
as a free and independent State, in close alliance with the British
Government. If attacked by sea by any other power, Great Britain
might interpose either by negotiation or arms. If Great Britain were
at war, however, the Republic was to remain neutral. Wine, strong
liquors, and articles "prejudicial to this Republic," were to be
taxed more highly than other things, which would be taxed as for a
British Colony. British subjects residing in the Republic would have
equal protection, and the same taxes as burghers, while in case of
war every assistance would be given to a British or Colonial force
marching through the territory. The slave trade would not be
permitted, and every facility for the propagation of the Gospel
among the neighbouring tribes would be afforded. The Republic
guaranteed to make no hostile movements against natives in the
direction of the Colony without permission of the Governor, unless
circumstances of violence, or the inroad of tribes, rendered
immediate action obligatory.
There were other clauses of less importance which need not be
specified. Suffice it to say, that while these terms were being
considered, a cattle and slave-stealing Boer raid, headed by
Pretorius, took place. The excuse for the proceeding was the lifting
of certain of their own cattle, but the action served as an object
lesson for those in power at the Cape. The Volksraad was politely
informed that the Boers were still British subjects, and a letter
from the Home Government to Sir George Napier was received, stating
that Her Majesty "could not acknowledge a portion of her own
subjects as an independent Republic, but that on their receiving a
military force from the Colony, their trade would be placed on the
footing of the trade of a British possession." But the Boers flouted
authority--they refused to accept the situation. They put forth a
proclamation appealing against the oppression of man and to the
justice of God, with all the fervour of the Old Testament Christians
they were.
The arrogance of Pretorius and his crew had now so seriously
increased that Sir George Napier, seeing danger ahead, decided to
establish a camp near the border of the State, and Durban was
occupied. Captain Smith, in command of some three hundred men, made
a rapid march across country to Natal, merely to be informed that
the Boers had placed themselves under the protection of Holland.
It may be noted that when this statement reached the ears of the
King of Holland, he emphatically repudiated it. He addressed the
British Government, saying "that the disloyal communication of the
emigrant farmers had been repelled with indignation, and that the
King of Holland had taken every possible step to mark his
disapproval of the unjustifiable use made of his name by the
individuals referred to." Captain Smith, who fortunately had not
been imposed upon by what the Boers considered their neat ruse, made
preparations to attack them. But he overestimated his own or
underrated his adversary's strength. He fell into ambush and lost
heavily. He was then driven to entrench himself in Durban. One of
his men managed to escape, however, and by riding to Grahamstown
through dangerous country, contrived to convey the intelligence of
Captain Smith's misfortune, and to bring reinforcements to his aid.
These reinforcements arrived in Durban harbour on the 25th of June
1842. At sight of the British frigate and the goodly display of
redcoats, the Boers, who had been besieging Captain Smith for a
month with three guns and six hundred men, made good their escape,
leaving Pretorius no alternative but to make terms. Thus Natal
became a British possession.
In 1844 the place was declared to be a dependency of Cape Colony.
Many of the emigrants admitted themselves to be British subjects and
remained there, but the great majority took to their waggons and
lumbered back across the Drakenberg to their old settling-place.
There the original Voortrekkers had scattered themselves on both
sides of the Vaal River, and helped to found the Transvaal and the
Orange Free State. As may be imagined at this juncture, the natural
hostility to the British, which has now become part of the Boer
character, was growing apace. The voluntary exiles from Natal, on
moving to the north of the Orange River, determined to evade the
British, and proclaim the whole of that locality an independent
Republic. The authorities at the Cape, however, frustrated the new
struggle for independence. They laid claim for Great Britain to the
whole territory east of E. long. 22 deg. and south of S. lat. 25 deg., with
the exception of the land already owned by Portugal or by friendly
native chiefs.
[Illustration: CAPE TOWN, DEVIL'S PEAK, TABLE MOUNTAIN, AND LION'S
HEAD FROM TABLE BAY.
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen]
It may be remembered that one of the causes of the great Trek was
the restoration of their province to Kaffirs, thereby according
to the blacks an independence that was not enjoyed by the Boers.
No astonishment, therefore, will be felt at the exasperation of the
Boers when they found that the Cape Government had entered into
treaties with the Griquas--treaties which seemed to them to promise
more freedom to the savage than was accorded to themselves.
Grievances of many kinds--some real and some ridiculous--continued
daily to occur. Things serious and things trivial were liable to
cause them equal indignation. According to Livingstone, the ignorant
followers of Potgieter--who were posted at Magaliesberg, a thousand
miles from the Cape--were moved to wrath merely by the arrival of
Herschel's great telescope at the Cape Observatory! What right, said
they, had the Government to erect that huge instrument at the Cape
for the purpose of seeing what they were doing behind the Kashan
mountains?
But of just grievances they had several, and these Pretorius, as
spokesman of his people, wished to lay before the Governor at the
Cape. Sir Henry Pottinger, who occupied that post in 1847,
unfortunately declined the interview; consequently affairs went from
bad to worse. In the end of the year Sir Henry Smith arrived as
Governor of the colony, and great things were expected of him. He
knew the native races, he knew the Boers, and they both knew him.
Pretorius, who was arranging a final emigration from Natal, was
summoned to confer with the new Governor. Sir Henry wished to gauge
the feelings of the farmers prior to issuing a proclamation (dated
February 3, 1848), declaring the Queen's sovereignty over the whole
country between the Orange and Vaal Rivers to eastward of the
Quathlamba Mountains. According to Pretorius, the conference was an
unsatisfactory one. He assured the Governor that his people would
never consent to it. Sir Henry Smith nevertheless considered himself
justified in taking the step, and the Home Government, whose policy
it had been to consolidate the peaceful native States along the
border, eventually coincided with his view.
No sooner was the proclamation generally known than the horde of
Pretorius' followers flew to arms. They swept southward, driving
every British official beyond the Orange River. Major Warden, the
Resident at Bloemfontein, where a British fort and garrison had been
placed some two years before, was forced to capitulate.
Sir Harry Smith, on becoming acquainted with the news, at once
offered a thousand pounds for the arrest of Pretorius. He also began
a march to the front. The Governor thought that he had but to come,
see, and conquer; but he was mistaken. He had tough work before him.
The Boers, about a thousand strong, had entrenched themselves in a
formidable position. They were superior in point of numbers, horses,
and guns to Sir Harry's forces; but he pursued his way, nothing
daunted. He stormed the position, and, after a hard fight, scattered
the enemy. They fled from Boomplaats, where the engagement had taken
place, and hastened back across the Vaal to their native haunts. The
date of the battle was the 29th of August 1848, and the father of
President Kruger is said to have been the first man to fire a shot
at the British on that occasion!
After this period various dissensions arose in the Boer camp between
Pretorius, who styled himself "Chief of the whole united emigrant
force," and Potgieter, who looked upon himself somewhat in the light
of a rival. While these worthies fell out Sir Harry Smith saw the
annexation carried through, and the territory of the modern Free
State was united to Cape Colony, under the title of the Orange River
Sovereignty. The contumacious Boers took themselves off with their
leader across the Vaal, and fresh European settlers came in and
established themselves in the fertile plains that were deserted. For
some time after this things prospered, and Sir Harry saw before him
the prospect of a new self-governing Dutch colony, which would
resemble and equal those of Natal and the Cape. But he reckoned
without his host, and all that he had taken the trouble to do was
ultimately undone. In 1852 the Government at home declared its
policy to be the ultimate abandonment of the Orange River
Sovereignty. For this pusillanimous policy there were several
reasons, the greatest being a fear of a Basuto rising and the
trouble it would entail. The British Government therefore decided to
maintain its rights over the Transvaal no further, and by the Sand
River Convention, signed on the 17th of January 1852, the emigrant
farmers beyond the Vaal River were given the right to manage their
own affairs, subject only to the condition that they should neither
permit nor encourage slavery.
About this time commenced the threatened rise of the Basutos in the
neighbourhood of the Orange River territory. The Basutos are a
branch of the Bechuana race, who had been formed by their chiefs
Motlume and Moshesh into a powerful nation, which could hold its own
against Boer or Zulu. With this race the Home Government desired to
have nothing to do, and the Colonial Office, viewing the political
game as not worth the candle, definitely withdrew from the Orange
River Sovereignty, leaving the Free State to come into being, and
devise its own plans for overawing its enemies on the other side of
the border. Accordingly, in 1854, Sir Harry Smith's programme of
annexation was entirely wiped out, British sovereignty renounced,
and the Orange Free State left to become a Republic and take care of
itself!
CHAPTER I
THE GROWTH OF THE TRANSVAAL
Fifty years ago there was no Transvaal. To-day its area is rather
larger than Great Britain. It extends over some 75,000,000 acres.
Originally, at the time of the great Trek, a small portion of land
was seized from natives who fled before the pioneers, and settled in
what is now known as Matabeleland. Other Boers soon joined their
comrades, and, by applying the steady policy of "grab and hold" (a
policy that, unfortunately, has not been imitated by ourselves),
they gained strip on strip and acre on acre of land till the
Transvaal became the vast province it now is. It expanded first into
a portion of Zululand; later on, lapped over into Swaziland. By
degrees it encroached on the British boundaries, and most probably
would have gone on encroaching had not active steps been taken to
save the north from the invaders.
The original _Voertrekkers_, or pioneers, came in three detachments.
British-born subjects, but discontented with British civilisation,
they moved on from Natal, whence they were chased by the Union Jack,
and settled themselves first in land captured from King Umziligatze,
secondly in Lydenburg and Dekaap, and thirdly in the Zulu country.
The history of this Zululand expansion remains to be told. At
present it is interesting to follow the geographical growth of the
state which has become so troublesome, and whose self-assertion has
increased according to its size.
Originally each Boer was entitled to a farm with a minimum of 6000
acres of the "Transvaal," and this custom of apportioning 6000-acre
farms lasted as long as the Kaffir lands lasted. The Boers, always
working on the principle that "God helps those who help themselves,"
helped themselves freely, sometimes with bloodshed and sometimes
without, until they became owners of vast tracts of country, whose
boundaries had never been discussed, far less fixed.
Land was apparently cheap at that time, for trustworthy authorities
declare that it was purchasable at from a farthing to a penny per
acre.
The area of the Transvaal before the Boers began to migrate there
has been eloquently described as the hunter's Arcadia. Mr. Gordon
Cumming gives a graphic account of the scene:--
"It was truly a fair and boundless prospect. Beautifully wooded
plains and mountains stretched away on every side to an amazing
distance, until the vision was lost among the faint blue outlines of
the distant mountain ranges. Throughout all this country, and vast
tracts beyond, I had the satisfaction to reflect that a never-ending
succession of herds of every species of noble game which the hunter
need desire pastured there in undisturbed security; and as I gazed I
felt that it was all my own, and that I at length possessed the
undisputed sway over a forest, in comparison with which the tame and
herded narrow bounds of the wealthiest European sportsman sink into
utter insignificance."
The number of elephants and lesser game bagged by Mr. Gordon Cumming
after this touching meditation fully bore out his hopes.
But the most interesting account of the Transvaal, before the
invasion of white men, is to be found in Captain William Cornwallis
Harris's account of his expedition into the interior of South Africa
in the years 1836 and 1837. He paints the new country in colours
lively and alluring:--
"Instead of the dreary waste over which we had lately passed, we
might now imagine ourselves in an extensive park. A lawn, level as a
billiard-table, was everywhere spread with a soft carpet of
luxuriant green grass, spangled with flowers, and shaded by
spreading _mokaalas_--a large species of acacia which forms the
favourite food of the giraffe. The gaudy yellow blossoms with which
these remarkable trees were covered yielded an aromatic and
overpowering perfume--while small troops of striped quaggas, or wild
asses, and of brindled gnoos ... enlivened the scene.
"I turned off the road," he continues, "in pursuit of a troop of
brindled gnoos, and presently came upon another, which was followed
by a third still larger--then by a vast herd of zebras, and again by
more gnoos, with sassaybys and hartebeests pouring down from every
quarter, until the landscape literally presented the appearance of a
moving mass of game."
Further on he describes the extensive and romantic valley of the
Limpopo, "which strongly contrasts with its own solitude, and with
the arid lands which must be traversed to arrive within its limits;
Dame Nature has doubtless been unusually lavish of her gifts. A bold
mountain landscape is chequered by innumerable rivulets abounding in
fish, and watering a soil rich in luxurious vegetation. Forests,
producing timber of the finest growth, are tenanted by a multitude
of birds, which, if not generally musical, are all gorgeously
attired; and the meadows throughout are decked with blossoming
geraniums, and with an endless profusion of the gayest flowers,
fancifully distributed in almost artificial _parterres_. Let the
foreground of this picture, which is by no means extravagantly
drawn, be filled in by the animal creation roaming in a state of
undisturbed freedom, such as I have attempted to describe, and this
hunter's paradise will surely not require to be coloured by the
feelings of an enthusiastic sportsman to stand out in striking
relief from amongst the loveliest spots in the universe."
A recent traveller discourses pathetically over the changes that
have come over the country, which at that time was described as "the
Zoological Gardens turned out to graze." He says the lawyer and
financier thrive where in recent years the lion and the leopard
fought for food, and townships have sprung up on spots where living
Boers have formerly shot big game.
As an instance of the truth of this lament, one may make some
quotations from Mr. Campbell's valuable article, "The Transvaal, Old
and New." He says, "The advent of British folk and British gold and
brains led to a change, and land, by reason of British purchases,
became more valuable, and beacons and boundaries became necessary."
Here we may see the thin end of the wedge. We may picture the first
lawyer and the first financier advancing with Arcadia parchment and
bank-note in hand.
The Boers steadily sold their best and surplus lands, and these the
British as steadily bought, till the value rose from their original
price of one penny an acre to half-a-crown, and then five shillings.
Subsequently, in many cases, as much as ten, and even twenty
shillings an acre was offered for ordinary raw arable land. But of
that time too much has to be said to be recounted here.
THE BOER CHARACTER
In discussing the events of the past with a view to obtaining light
on the development of the present, it is needful, and indeed just,
to inquire into the character of the Boers as a race. It is a
complex character, with multitudinous lights and shades, so subtle
and yet so marked, that they are difficult to define accurately. It
is therefore necessary that the opinions of many writers on the
subject of the Boer temperament should be taken--of writers who have
made it their business to look upon the subject with the eye of the
historian rather than the eye of the advocate, and who may be
trusted to have given their verdict without passion or favour.
But regarding one fact connected with the case, all writers of
practical experience are inclined to agree. They declare that the
Boer of the past was a very much finer fellow than the Boer of the
present--finer morally and physically; and that in his obstinate
determination to resist the march of progress he has allowed himself
to suffer deterioration. The reason for this deterioration is not
difficult to comprehend. In the first place, as we all know, nothing
in creation stands still. We must advance, or we go back. Both in
moral and in mental qualities we must maintain our vitality, or
practically ossify!
The Boer, from having been essentially a sporting man and a free and
a robust tiller of the soil, has come under the influence of
schemers, who have played upon his natural avarice, and polished his
inherent cunning, till these qualities have expanded to the
detriment of those earlier qualities for which the Boer of to-day
still gets credit, but which are fast dying out of the national
character.
In one respect there has been little change. In the matter of his
native piety he remains as he was. The Boer, if one may use a phrase
recently coined by Lord Rosebery, is an "Old Testament Christian."
No one can describe his race better than the writer who says of the
original settlers in 1652, that "they are a mixture in religion of
the old Israelite and the Scotch Covenanter." There is some question
about Boer hypocrisy, and Dr. Theal says on the subject, "Where side
by side with expressions of gratitude to the Creator are found
schemes for robbing and enslaving natives, the genuineness of their
religion may be doubted." But it must be remembered that in bygone
centuries the world's morality differed much from that of the
present day, and therefore the Boer, who has not progressed in
proportion to the world at large, can scarcely be judged by the
ethics of the world at large. To be just, we must look at him as a
being apart, and place him always in the frame of the seventeenth
century. Some historians declare that the Boer borrowed from the
French refugees much religious sentiment. Other authorities--and
these, considering the Boer disinclination to expansion, seem to be
right--declare that under the French influence he deteriorated.
[Illustration: COLONEL of the 10th HUSSARS.
(H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES.)
Photo by Gregory & Co., London.]
He was by nature bloodthirsty and cruel, but these qualities always
found for themselves a comfortable apology in the Old Testament. The
Boer prided himself on his likeness to the Israelite of old, and his
enemies to the Canaanite, whom it was doing God a service to
destroy. He kept all the rites of the Church with rigid punctuality.
He partook of the Communion (the Nachtmaal) once every three months,
and the whole community gathered together from great distances to
share it. The observances were made the occasion for rejoicing and
merrymaking, for the holding of fairs, the transfer of cattle,
the driving of bargains in hide or ivory, or other goods necessary
to traders. He has been described by a friend of his people "as,
according to his own lights, a citizen pioneer, a rough,
God-fearing, honest, homely, uneducated Philistine."
The opinion of his ancient enemy, Cetchwayo, differs, however, from
this estimate. Sir Frederick Godson has told us that this potentate
informed his brother, who was his captor, that the Boers were "a
mean, treacherous people, people who trusted no one, not even each
other, and their word was not to be trusted." He had had ample
opportunities of forming a judgment by experience. And there are
many of us nowadays who are inclined to agree with him. Cetchwayo
further asserted that "the British were making the greatest mistake
they ever made in befriending them; for if they had not rescued the
Boers from him, he would very soon have eaten them all up."
As regards the military organisation of the Boers, it may be
described as similar to that of the Republic of Greece or that of
mediaeval England. Every man, from the age of sixteen to sixty,
considered himself a soldier. Every man, when the country demanded
his services, was ready to get under arms--to protect his hearth and
home in the face of a common enemy.
The country was divided into districts, and these districts were
subdivided into wards. To each of these wards was appointed a
field-cornet, who had military duties when a commando was called
out. The officer who took the chief command of the field-cornets was
styled the commandant. This arrangement first originated in the
early days of their emigration to the Cape, when the natives,
lawless and inimical, were perpetually bursting out without rhyme or
reason. Naturally prompt defence became necessary. To many people
the Boer appears to be a "first-class fighting man." Certainly he is
determined, obstinate, and, in his peculiar fashion, brave. But
there are others who can recall events in the battle with Dingaan,
in the tragedy of Majuba Hill, which scarcely add to the honour of
the Boer as a soldier. It has been said that the Boer prefers to do
his fighting without risking his skin, but this may be somewhat
unjust. He is ready enough to risk his skin, but he is equally ready
that some one shall pay for the risk, and he makes him pay by fair
means if he can--if not, by foul.
However, Livingstone knew his man, and thus it was that he wrote of
him: "The Boers have generally manifested a marked antipathy to
anything but 'long shot' warfare, and sidling away in their
emigrations towards the more effeminate Bechuanas, have left their
quarrels with the Kaffirs to be settled by the English, and their
wars to be paid for by English gold." Obviously their methods of
warfare were, to say the least of it, curious. Sometimes they would
drive a battalion of friendly natives or slaves in front of them,
and shoot down their enemies from behind the shelter of these
advanced guards. Occasionally they employed a method similar to that
used against the Zulus of Dingaan. According to Livingstone's essay,
written in 1853, and not published till after his death, "the Boers
approach the Zulus to within 300 or 400 yards, then fire, and retire
to a considerable distance and reload their guns. The Zulus pursuing
have by this time come sufficiently near to receive another
discharge from the Boers, who again retire as before. This process
soon tires out the fleetest warriors, and except through an
accident, or the stumbling of a horse or its rider's drunkenness, no
Boer ever stands a chance of falling into their hands. The Boers
report of themselves that they behaved with great bravery on the
occasion." In fact they said that they had killed from 3000 to 5000
Zulus, with the loss to themselves of only six men. Mr. Fisher, in
his book on "The Transvaal and the Boers," avers that in the
subsequent war with the Griquas--who, being the bastard children of
the Boers, possess many of their peculiarities--the two opposing
parties kept at such ludicrous distances that the springboks quietly
grazing on the plains between were frequently shot instead of the
combatants.
SOME DOMESTIC TRAITS
For the domestic character of the Boer we will consult the
Scandinavian traveller Sparrmann, who gives us one of the earliest
sketches of the Boer "at home." Though the illusion that the
industrious and cleanly Hollander was merely transplanted from one
soil to another is somewhat dispelled, the picture is generally
acknowledged to be a true one.
"It is hardly to be conceived," he wrote in 1776, "with what little
trouble the Boer gets into order a field of a moderate size ... so
that ... he may be almost said to make the cultivation of it, for
the bread he stands in need of for himself and his family, a mere
matter of amusement.... With pleasure, but without the least trouble
to himself, he sees the herds and flocks which constitute his riches
daily and considerably increasing. These are driven to pasture and
home again by a few Hottentots or slaves, who likewise make the
butter; so that it is almost only with the milking that the farmer,
together with his wife and children, concern themselves at all. To
do this business, however, he has no occasion to rise before seven
or eight o'clock in the morning.... That they (the Boers) might not
put their arms and bodies out of the easy and commodious posture in
which they had laid them on the couch when they were taking their
afternoon _siesta_, they have been known to receive travellers lying
quite still and motionless, excepting that they have very civilly
pointed out the road by moving their foot to the right or left....
Among a set of beings so devoted to their ease, one might naturally
expect to meet with a variety of the most commodious easy-chairs and
sofas; but the truth is, that they find it much more commodious to
avoid the trouble of inventing and making them.... Nor did the
inhabitants exhibit much less simplicity and moderation; or, to
speak more properly, slovenliness and penury in their dress than in
their furniture.... The distance at which they are from the Cape
may, indeed, be some excuse for their having no other earthenware or
china in their houses but what was cracked or broken; but this,
methinks, should not prevent them being in possession of more than
one or two old pewter pots, and some few plates of the same metal;
so that two people are frequently obliged to eat out of one dish,
besides using it for every different article of food that comes upon
the table. Each guest must bring his knife with him, and for forks
they frequently make use of their fingers. The most wealthy farmer
here is considered as being well dressed in a jacket of home-made
cloth, or something of the kind made of any other coarse cloth,
breeches of undressed leather, woollen stockings, a striped
waistcoat, a cotton handkerchief about his neck, a coarse calico
shirt, Hottentot field-shoes, or else leathern shoes with brass
buckles, and a coarse hat. Indeed, it is not in dress, but in the
number and thriving condition of their cattle, and chiefly in the
stoutness of their draught oxen, that these peasants vie with each
other. It is likewise by activity and manly actions, and by other
qualities that render a man fit for the married state, and the
rearing of a family, that the youth chiefly obtain the esteem of the
fair sex.... A plain close cap and a coarse cotton gown, virtue and
good housewifery, are looked upon by the fair sex as sufficient
ornaments for their persons; a flirting disposition, coquetry and
paint would have very little effect in making conquests of young men
brought up in so hardy a manner, and who have had so homely and
artless an education as the youth in this place. In short, here, if
anywhere in the world, one may lead an innocent, virtuous, and happy
life."
When viewing this study of rustic indolence, we must remember also
the conditions under which it was found. The natural fertility of
the country, the demoralising influence of slave-owning, the great
heat of the climate, were responsible for the change that so soon
came over the primitive Dutch character. Dr. Theal's account of the
Boer adds colour to the picture given by the Swede, and shows us
that a certain sense of refinement was lurking in the stolid and
not too picturesque disposition:--
"The amusements of the people were few.... Those who possessed
numerous slaves usually had three or four of them trained to the use
of the violin, the blacks being peculiarly gifted with an ear for
music, and easily learning to play by sound. They had thus the means
at hand of amusing themselves with dancing, and of entertaining
visitors with music. The branches of widely extended families were
constantly exchanging visits with each other. A farmer would make
his waggon ready regularly every year, when half the household or
more would leave home, and spend a week or two with each relative,
often being absent a couple of months. Birthday anniversaries of
aged people were celebrated by the assembling of their descendants,
frequently to the number of eighty or a hundred, at the residence of
the patriarch, when a feast was prepared for their entertainment.
These different reunions were naturally productive of great
pleasure, and tended to cement the friendship and love of those who
otherwise might seldom see each other. The life led by the people
when at home was exceedingly tame. The mistress of the house, who
moved about but little, issued orders to slaves or Hottentot females
concerning the work of the household. If the weather was chilly or
damp, she rested her feet on a little box filled with live coals,
while beside her stood a coffee-kettle never empty. The head of the
family usually inspected his flocks morning and evening, and passed
the remainder of the day, like his helpmate, in the enjoyment of
ease. When repose itself became wearisome, he mounted his horse,
and, with an attendant to carry his gun, set off in pursuit of some
of the wild animals with which the country then abounded. The
children had few games, and, though strong and healthy, were far
from sprightly."
[Illustration: A KAFFIR KRAAL IN THE TRANSVAAL.
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]
A dislike for the English seems to have been felt by the Cape Dutch
very early. This dislike later hostilities must have heightened; but
as far back as 1816 we learn that even shrewd and sensible farmers
were heard to declaim against our methods of scientific agriculture,
and resist all efforts at its introduction into their work. One of
them, when informed of the saving of time and labour that certain
implements would effect, answered with characteristic conservatism.
"What," said he, "would you have us do? Our only concern is to fill
our bellies, to get good clothes and houses, to say to one slave,
'Do this,' and to another, 'Do that,' and to sit idle ourselves and
be waited upon. As to our tillage, or building, or planting, our
forefathers did so and so and were satisfied, and why should not we
do the same? The English want us to use their ploughs instead of our
heavy wooden ones, and recommend other implements of husbandry
than those we have been used to; but we like our old things best."
This preference for the old instead of the new has been the rock on
which friendship between Briton and Boer has split. All ideas of
reform have been met with suspicion--a kind of suspicion that,
though now confined to the Boers, was very prevalent in Europe a
hundred years ago. The present writer in extreme youth met here, in
advanced England, a grandam of ninety (the mother of a very
distinguished politician), who stated that she could "never make a
friend of a man who took a bath." It will be seen by this how
prejudice may become a matter of habit all the world over.
Mr. Nixon tells a story of an equally conservative Boer. This worthy
went to a store at Kimberley with bundles of tobacco for sale. The
Boer carefully weighed them out with some scales of his own that
were evidently an heirloom. The storekeeper reweighed the bundles,
remarking on the antiquity of the scales, and observing that they
gave short weight. He suggested the use of the store scales as the
standard for computing the price, which was to be fixed at so much a
pound. But the Boer would not hear of it. "No," said he, "these were
my father's scales, and he was a wise man and was never cheated, and
I won't use anybody else's." The storekeeper dryly remarked that he
did not desire to press the matter, since he found himself a gainer
by L12 in consequence of the Boer's conservative instincts!
Many writers urge that the Boer is naturally uncivil, that he lacks
the true feeling of hospitality. The original Boer, before he was
seized with a hatred for the British, was more justly speaking
lacking in civility than what we term uncivil. He knew nothing of
the art of being obliging to his fellow-creatures, merely because
they were his fellow-creatures. He would entertain a stranger, and
ask nothing in return, but he would do so without courtesy, and
would put himself out of the way for no one. The traveller might
take him or leave him, conform to his hours and habits entirely,
and, to use the vulgar phrase, "like them or lump them" as his
temperament might decide. "Africanus," who, in his book on "The
Transvaal Boers," writes of them with judgment and without
prejudice, gives a very true sketch, which exactly describes the
strange blend of piety, indolence, ignorance, and ferocity which we
are endeavouring to study. He says--
"The Dutch farmer is in some respects very unlike his supposed
counterpart in England. His pursuits are pastoral, not agricultural,
for in most parts of South Africa the want of irrigation renders the
cultivation of cereals impossible. His idea of a 'farm' is a tract
of at least 6000 acres, over which his flocks and herds can move
from one pasture to another. His labourers are all natives, and
though, before the advent of storekeepers, he used often to make his
own clothes, boots (veld-schoen), and harness, he looks on actual
farm-work as a menial pursuit. He was, and is, wont to pass whole
days in the saddle, but, to an English eye, his horses seem unkempt
and often ill-used. The magnificent herds of game which wandered
over South Africa sixty years ago tempted him to become a keen
sportsman, but he has never shown much 'sporting instinct,' and the
Boer is responsible for the wanton destruction of the African fauna.
The unsophisticated Boer is a curious blend of hospitality and
avarice; he would welcome the passing stranger, and entertain him to
the best of his ability, but he seized any opportunity of making
money, and the discovery that hides and skins were marketable
induced him to slaughter antelopes without the slightest
forethought. That the Boer is no longer hospitable is very largely
due to the way in which his hospitality has been abused by stray
pedlars and ne'er-do-wells of various kinds. He still retains a
sincere and primitive piety, but his belief that he is a member of
the chosen people has sometimes tended to antinomianism rather than
to strict morality. His contempt and dislike for the Kaffir has
preserved the Dutch stock from taint of black blood, and although
there is a large Eur-African population, it has sprung partly from
the old days of domestic slavery, partly from the laxity induced by
the recent influx of low-class Europeans. The Boer has a strong
national feeling, and although not exactly daring as a rule, he is
perfectly ready to risk his life in what he believes to be a good
cause. He fights better behind cover than in the open, and has a
profound contempt for soldiers who expose themselves unnecessarily.
At the same time, he is capable at times of embarking on a forlorn
hope. As regards his private character, his notions of honesty and
of truth are lax. But then, from bitter experience, he assumes that
the stranger will try to cheat him, and it is not surprising that he
should consider a certain amount of _finesse_ justifiable. He is
comparatively free from that drunkenness which is the besetting vice
of the low-class Englishman in Africa.
"Although he is incredibly ignorant, and very self-satisfied, it is
somewhat irritating to notice the way in which the town-bred
Englishman is apt to depreciate him. It is not so certain as the
latter thinks that an ignorant peasant is necessarily a lower type
of man than a 'smart' and vicious shop-boy.
"The most unpleasing trait in the Boer character is his callousness,
amounting to brutality, in the case of natives and of animals."
It must always be remembered that in discussing the early Boer we
are discussing the peasant, and that neither his ignorance nor other
shortcomings must be viewed in comparison with the failings of
persons of a higher social grade. When the Boers left the Cape
Colony they had no knowledge of what the word education meant. The
state of public education in 1837 was deplorable. There were
missionary schools and a few desultory teachers, who had in very few
cases the mental or the moral qualities to fit them for the task of
instruction. The most they did was to teach the young idea how to
read or scribble its name. For this they received trifling fees, but
doubtless these fees were no more trifling than the services
rendered. Such free schools as existed, and were nominally supported
by Government, were so indifferently managed that they were treated
with contempt, even by the farmers. So long as they could thumb out
their favourite passages of the Psalms, and sign what few documents
they required, they were content. Of their ignorance they were even
inclined to be proud. Their own notions of geography and history
seemed to them infinitely preferable to any that might be offered,
and in this state of blissful ignorance they trekked away from Cape
Colony to learn no more. When they started forth, some, it is
averred, imagined by steadily working north they would reach
Jerusalem; others, covered with faith, and armed with gospel and
sjambok, sincerely believed that eventually they would reach the
Promised Land.