uninterrupted continuation of fine sunny weather. On occasions there
would be spells of boisterous weather with a rather sudden and inclement
decrease of temperature, brought on by cold south-east winds; if these
are accompanied with rain in winter, which, however, rarely happens, it
would sometimes turn to sleet or even snow, or else to hard freezing at
night. The snow would, however, thaw with the warmth of the sun, and so
restore the temperature as before. The bracing quality of the climate
mostly consists just in those variations of cool nights and warm days,
and the occasional days of comparatively cold, boisterous weather. The
latter must indeed be provided against, for even in December--that is to
say, in the middle of summer--it would be imprudent to travel without
great-coats as well as waterproofs, so as to be protected against
unexpected changes, from say, 100° in the sun, almost suddenly to 40°
with a driving wind, accompanied perhaps with rain. Such transitions are
trying in the open, even if one is well clad, and the blustering weather
is sometimes so severe, if it happens in winter or early spring, as to
approach the character of a blizzard. One such lasted about thirty hours
in the early spring of 1881. It swept over the entire South African
plateaux and destroyed great numbers of sheep and cattle. These fell
exhausted in their flight before they could reach some sheltering hills
or ravines. In situations where such protections from the cold
south-east wind were far apart the veldt was on the following day found
strewn with their carcases, and upon the still more extensive and
unbroken plains antelopes even perished in enormous numbers simply from
exhaustion in trying to escape and find shelter from the cold wind.
I will just describe one of those occurrences, the severest in my
experience and well remembered by the Free State and the Transvaal
Boers--it was, I think, in 1881. One sunny day, early in August (spring
time), at a place about twenty miles east of Reddersburg, in the Orange
Free State, the wind veered to the south-east, and by afternoon had
begun to blow fairly hard and cold, about 35° Fahrenheit--that is to
say, about 35° below the temperature of a few hours previously. I had
managed to get some milch cows driven near to the kraal, where there
would have been very fair shelter for them, but luckily, as the sequel
proved, they refused to enter, and rushed past in a scared way, just
snatching up one mouthful of forage which had been thrown down to entice
them to stay, and making off as hard as they could. The wind did not
abate till the day after, when tales kept pouring in of terrible losses
of sheep and cattle killed by the cold wind; sheep in open plains had
suffered most, and cattle which had been kraaled were nearly all dead,
whilst the herds of cattle and horses which had been left grazing out
had been driven away and were also believed to have died. At the farm of
a certain Andries Bester, near by, some seventy head of cattle in very
good condition were found dead, piled up to the level of one of the
kraal walls, showing the struggle which some thirty others had in
escaping over the mound of dead cattle to the outside of the kraal.
The next day all those thirty head were found grazing some fifteen miles
westwards under the lee of hills near Reddersburg, where they had found
safe shelter. Everybody's cattle were recovered which had not been
kraaled, including mine. This was the case as well with cattle which had
been tethered to their transport wagons and which succeeded in breaking
loose, whilst the rest were found dead where they had been tied.
There was no possibility of restraining cattle or horses from
stampeding--they did it from the instinct of self-preservation, for,
whilst running with the wind, its force of driving cold was
proportionately lessened, and some loss of heat was made good by the
exertion of running, which they had to keep up till in safe shelter of
hills or ravines.
Had such a cold storm overtaken an army or patrol, the situation would
have been exactly similar, and would have been an ordeal even to
experienced Boers or Colonial farmers, and if an enemy had been located
near Reddersburg, all the cattle and horses would simply have fallen
into his lap.
The obvious safeguard would be a rug for each horse and mule, and for
oxen the erection of a shelter against the wind, consisting of all
available wagons and stores, or else, if practicable, to move at once to
a sheltered locality and always provide a good reserve supply of forage
or other provender. That sort of boisterous, cold weather continues
sometimes, with more or less severity, two or three days. The want of
food and inclemency besides would result in killing the weak cattle and
weaken the rest so as to be incapable of work for some days after. The
difficulty consists in that such inclement changes occur so suddenly,
and that their severity and duration cannot be forecasted.
Upon other much less severe occasions entire gangs of 20-50 Kaffirs,
travelling from the warm north to the diamond-fields or gold-mines, and
not sufficiently provided with blankets, would be found at their camping
places huddled together, nearly all numbed to death. The months when
such surprise weather is most liable to occur are from "July to
October," before and during the earlier spring rains. It is then, and
even up to December at times, that the Drakensberg and other mountains
resume their snow-capped winter decorations for some days. There is a
saying which fairly well applies to the high-veldt climate, _i.e._, that
cold and inclement weather is not met with until well in towards summer,
especially about the time of spring rains, and that hot weather of any
considerable continuance mostly occurs in spring. This will be
understood upon considering that the midsummer months, December to
February, are cooled by very frequent and copious rains, whilst the heat
accumulates more during the preceding sunny spring months, which are
interrupted at rarer intervals by short showers only.
Upon the whole, and despite the few eccentricities mentioned, the high
veldt is favoured with a climate which, for genial comfort all the year
round, exempt from prolonged winter rigours and excessive summer heat,
is not found anywhere else in the world, or only in rare privileged
spots. It is withal most healthy, promoting the highest possible
physical development and even longevity.
Under such favoured conditions the hand of man only is needed in
providing good habitations, planting trees, in the culture of the soil,
and some irrigation labour, to transform nearly every little farm within
five to ten years from a bare pastoral monotony to a really idyllic
spot. There are many such already in Basutoland, the Orange Free State,
and the Transvaal, as well as in the Cape Colonies and Natal--veritable
Eden-like places, as it were bits dropped from heaven. With a
continuance of peace these could be multiplied to any extent each year,
thus rendering those sparsely inhabited tracts the most beautiful areas
in the world, with a prosperous self-sustaining population, quite apart
from considerations of mineral wealth.
The foregoing description of the high-veldt climate points to clothing
composed of woollen fabrics as the only _rational and safe_ attire for
men travelling or taking the field. No constitution could be expected to
hold out against the ever-changing temperature and weather if depending
upon being clad, for example, in a cotton suit; this would only do on
warm days for men who are certain of being safely housed at night and
sheltered during rainy weather. Horses and mules in the open should be
provided with woollen rugs during winter and spring.
BOER PREPAREDNESS FOR WAR
The ultimatum cabled to England had no sooner expired at 5 p.m. on the
11th October last than the same evening and on the very next and
succeeding days appeared, published all over the Orange Free State and
the Transvaal, "Government Gazettes extraordinary," filling scores of
pages, comprising proclamations of martial law, and the hundred and one
enactments and provisions regulating that new condition. Their preambles
stated: Whereas in secret session on such and such dates (that is to
say, months previous) the honourable First Volksraad had passed this or
that law--or whereas the two Volksraads, assembled in secret session,
had authorized the Government to frame such and such laws, to come into
force immediately after publication. This shows at least a studious
purpose months beforehand to be in complete readiness, for it obviously
took no little time to prepare all those laws, and have them ready in
type for despatch and publication as had been done. It accords with the
assumption that war had been predetermined, and this is further
confirmed by numerous statements, publicly made by Volksraad members,
and also by President Steyn's famous and now historic message to
President Krüger some short time before, in the laconic and oracular
words, "We are ready."
That the Afrikaner Bond had been for years past preparing for its _coup
d'état_ is further shown by the following incidents which can be
substantiated by the writer:--
During the days of the Jameson raid a very prominent Transvaal Boer,
holding office and who had two sons at the scene of the disturbance,
remarked at a public place in conversation with other burghers:--
"England just wants to annex the Transvaal, and no doubt the Orange Free
State too. This we know; but what she does not know is, that we can at
this moment reverse the tale--we can seize in one day Cape Town, Port
Elizabeth, East London, and Durban, and within a very short time turn
every Englishman out of the Colonies, out of the land which England has
robbed us of."
Those words were spoken by a Bond man who is known to rarely speak in
public. When asked by a Uitlander how it could be done, he relapsed into
his usual prudent reticence, and merely remarked grimly, "We can do it."
But for subsequent revelations and the present sequel those words would
have been forgotten, and were at the time attributed by some to mere
boastful exuberance.
In July last the topic was discussed by some Boers at the house of a
highly placed military official, about the five per cent. tax upon the
profits of the gold industry. One said it should be raised to
twenty-five per cent. for the benefit of the burgher estate. That
official, who, by the way, had just returned from a gathering of country
officials at Pretoria, sententiously replied "that it was no more a
question of any tribute, but of taking the mines altogether out of the
capitalists' hands"; and when another burgher interposed a doubt as to
the fairness of such a proceeding, that official continued by saying,
"Fairness indeed! it is we who have submitted to unfairness only too
long--_ons wil nou Engelse schiet_ (we want now to go on the battue of
Englishmen)."
When the Transvaal Government had secured the assent of both Volksraads
to the seven years' franchise measure it was thought desirable, as a
matter of form and to gain time, to defer the formal passing of the law
until after it had been referred to the burghers. This was not done till
August last. A large section of the people were known to be against
extending the franchise, but the Government had no misgivings about the
result, counting upon the persuasive influence of the Volksraad members
who were to preside at the plebiscite meetings, and had before been
drilled up to their task. Their success was as desired, and the measure
became law in due course. Those meetings in the different districts and
wards of the State were characterised by almost uniform proceedings, so
that the description of one of them can serve for all.
The burghers assembled on the appointed day at the local Government
Office. The Landdrost, or chief official of the ward, took the chair.
There were four Volksraad members, who each in turn recommended the
adoption of the seven years' franchise measure. The burghers were
invited to express their views. The majority appeared dead against it,
but were gradually appeased, and they finally assented to a motion of
approval presented by the chairman, which also conveyed full confidence
in the Government and their representatives to deal with the enactment
and to modify it as they might consider appropriate.
One of the burghers had in his speech stated in passionate terms that no
dictation on the part of Uitlanders could be tolerated; they must either
obey the laws or leave the State. The function and prerogative of making
laws belonged to the burghers. They had been ill-used enough by the
English; it would be still worse, he said, if they were invested with
legislative rights. "On the contrary, it is the Boer nation which is
entitled to supremacy, not only in the Transvaal but right to the sea.
The Cape Colonies," he continued, "are ours by divine right, and so is
Natal, and no Afrikaner may rest until we are reinstated." General
approbation and stamping of feet followed that passionately rendered
speech. Not a word of restraint or censure from any of the four
Volksraad members. Some of these had addressed the meeting already, and
the others in turn followed. Their speeches had one import, viz.,
"Burghers! The Government and the two Volksraads have carefully and
prayerfully weighed this seven years' franchise measure. You may safely
approve of it; it can result in no harm; it will strengthen our cause.
We know that England wants our land because of the gold in it; but this
law will contribute to thwart her, though it will not avert war. We were
a small nation when our fathers trekked to this side of the Orange
River; we have become united and strong since. It will be soon seen that
our people have to be reckoned with among the other nations of the
earth; we have right on our side, and, with God's help, we are certain
to prevail. Burghers, you may trust us as your representatives; we are
all of one mind with you; you may safely approve of the proposed
franchise law, and leave possible modifications in the hands of the
Government." Then followed tumultuous approval from the great majority,
motions of confidence and of thanks. Those burgher meetings were
convened during July and August.
* * * * *
President Krüger is famous for employing clever and original similes in
order to illustrate a policy as he wants his people to understand it.
It has already been noted that the Franchise Law of 1890 excluded
Uitlanders from full burgher rights until after twenty-one years'
probation. The reduction to seven years was proclaimed to be a
concession to meet Mr. Chamberlain's demand. The simile, as addressed to
the Volksraad and published in the journals, ran as follows:--
"First my coat was demanded of me, which I gave; next were asked my
boots, vest, and trousers. I surrendered these as well; and now, as I
stand in my bare shirt, my limbs are wanted besides."
The people were thus led to be unanimous in the resolve to oppose any
further concession, and to view Sir Alfred Milner's unconditional
insistence for a five years' franchise as a conclusive proof that
England in reality wanted no less than the country itself. In this way
the Boer mind was designedly fashioned into the conviction that war was
inevitable, and that both President and people were absolved from all
responsibility in it. Had the offered franchise of seven years and the
subsequent one of five years been honestly meant, there should, indeed,
have been little difficulty for adjusting in the one case the difference
of two years; but it being so surrounded by impossible trammels that
what purported to be an egg proved more like a stone, and even that was
not intended to be given, it was a mere subterfuge to gain time for
carrying out Bond designs.
ALLIANCE OF ORANGE FREE STATE WITH TRANSVAAL--SUZERAINTY
SQUABBLE--ARMAMENTS BEFORE JAMESON RAID
The project of alliance between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State
had been mooted before 1890. After that came conferences between the
respective Presidents and delegates for closer union as it was then
styled. Mr. John G. Fraser, one of the noblest and most distinguished
Orange Free State statesmen, was conspicuous among the few opponents.
His arguments against federation were so logical and conclusive that it
seemed for a while that the idea would have to be renounced. Among other
grounds adduced against that alliance was the fact that England
possessed claims of suzerainty over the Transvaal, and, the Orange Free
State itself being entirely independent, the incongruity and
incompatibility were obvious of joining a vassal State. There was
trouble if not danger lurking behind it, if such two States were to join
in an actual federation. Whatever was desirable for mutual advantage
might be attained without offensive and defensive alliance. The two
Governments, however, knew how to manipulate matters. The closer union
scheme was carried through before the Jameson incursion, and soon after
that event an offensive and defensive alliance completed the federation.
The Afrikaner Bond then had advanced another important stage.
Mr. John G. Fraser's persistent objections to federation, upon the
ground that the Transvaal stood under British suzerainty, had given that
question a prominence operating against the Afrikaner Bond project,
viz., that of gaining a strong Power as ally to its cause. It was felt
that no Power could, with decency, enter into a connection with that
State while such a claim was maintained. To overcome that obstacle the
Transvaal Government proceeded to raise a controversy with England,
taking up the position of repudiating the claim of suzerainty, and
averring the complete independence of the State, subject only to the one
clause _re_ treaties with foreign nations. Another object would be
gained, viz., of diverting England from Bond aims by that and similar
controversies. To make a show of sincerity about it all, the opinions
(foregathered, of course) of certain eminent jurists in England and
Holland were obtained, who refuted the claim in elaborate disquisitions
and with that readiness of apparent conviction so peculiar to some
advocates' affected faith in their clients' cause. Thus England was
decoyed into a protracted tournament of words and phrases without any
practical result, but gratifying and inspiring no doubt to certain
well-paid _soi-disant_ champions of the principle defined as the
"_perfection of justice_," who revel in a display of forensic erudition,
which, however, only illustrates to the unedified lay mind how speech is
adaptable to veil inward conviction, and how a mass of rhetoric can be
employed to justify the breach of simple and well-understood
engagements.
It continues to be clumsily insisted upon in official and paid Press
organs how the need of providing Transvaal armaments became realized
only with that Anglo-capitalistic plot of 1895-96 against Boer
independence, and that, in fact, Dr. Jameson was worthy of the Boer
nation's lasting gratitude for opening their eyes to their helplessly
unarmed and unprepared condition up to that time. In those papers it is
declared with unblushing inexactness how the Transvaal at that epoch
possessed only two hundred and fifty inefficient and ill-equipped
artillerists, with only a few cannons of various antiquated types, and
how the burgher element had, up to that time, continued unarmed and in
unsuspecting insecurity. To stamp these misstatements as false, it needs
only to be considered that from the time of the Boer trek in 1835-38
every Boer had been a hunter and guerilla soldier possessed of the best
firearms then extant, ready at any sacrifice to provide still more
effective weapons as inventions in arms of precision in turn progressed.
His passion to be well armed only equalled that of his love for land.
From 1881 every Transvaal and Orange Free State Boer without exception
had, and was obliged to have, his Martini-Henry rifle. The Government
arsenals were supplied with reserves of that up to recently unsurpassed
weapon and with large stores of ammunition. The authorities supplied
that rifle at £4 each, and even gratis in the case of indigent burghers.
At the frequent reviews (_wapenschouwingen_) each burgher had to appear
mounted, with his Martini-Henry rifle and thirty rounds ammunition. To
maintain proficiency in rifle practice, prizes and honours were
distributed at Government expense in each ward, whilst there was plenty
of private emulation encouraged among young and old in the science of
sharp-shooting, the Governments of both Republics contributing
ammunition at below cost price.
In about 1893 the Transvaal Government introduced about 10,000 new
rifles of the Guede pattern, firing a steel-pointed bullet, but the
issue did not become general, as the Martini-Henry rifle continued to be
held more effective for game and for war. The Mauser rifle was only
provided, after long hesitation and much diffidence, for its
rapid-firing quality in war, whereas for game it is still considered
inferior to the larger bored Martini-Henry.
On the occasion of the Jameson incursion, the Transvaal had in readiness
extensive parks of the most modern quick-firing Maxims and Nordenfeldts
of various calibres, and breech-loading field artillery of the Krupp
make. The Orange Free State hurried to their assistance with similar
artillery, each burgher armed with a Martini-Henry rifle. Besides all
that, there was the dynamite and explosives factory equipped to
manufacture all sorts of modern ammunition as it does now, and this is
why President Krüger described that factory as one of the corner-stones
of Boer independence. In the face of these facts it is a most singular
departure to say that the Transvaal only thought of arming when becoming
alarmed for the future by the Jameson attempt, and that statement could
only have been intended to mislead the uninformed at a distance. "_Qui
s'excuse s'accuse_" is applicable in this as well as in other ruses for
hiding those sinister Bond aims and to pose as the guileless and
victimized Boer nation. It was just the other way about--it was England
who was unprepared and exposed to imminent risk of aggression on the
part of the Boer combination.
What had amazed and actually exasperated many Boers was the ludicrously
puny attempt made by Jameson and the Johannesburg revolutionary concert.
It was at the time thought that the invasion of some 700 men was only a
first installment, and that much larger developments were in preparation
to attack the State. It was for that reason that only a few batteries of
artillery were despatched at a late moment to Doornkop under Commandant
Trichaart to operate against Jameson's party, while the bulk was held in
reserve with an extensive mobilization of burghers to resist other
supposed opposition of an altogether more formidable but yet undefined
character. When nothing further transpired, the feeling uppermost with
the people was unbounded derision at that impotent fiasco, and a
loathing contempt for the cowering Johannesburg rabble who betrayed and
sacrificed the insensate doctor. It was loudly asserted that the
combined forces of the two Republics were competent to resist an
invasion a hundred times stronger than the one so foolishly attempted;
but, with cooler counsels, it was resolved to adopt the appealing
attitude of the deeply injured party who miraculously and providentially
escaped a great national peril. Upon these lines the raid incident
afforded an immense advantage to Afrikaner Bond tactics, and an impulse
to Bond propaganda which enormously increased Boer partisanship,
inflicting at the same time a fatal check upon the diplomacy of England
and upon the essential peace-preserving measures for safeguarding her
South African interests. The circumstances, however, served to embolden
many hitherto undecided sympathisers into openly declared and vehement
Boer partisans, revealing the singular spectacle, among English people
even, of a morbid cult apparently ready to sacrifice their nation just
to vindicate their judicial dicta about Boer innocence and to parade
their own darling sense of shocked and violated national honour.
Quite other and more emphatic terms apply to the revolting sewerage such
as the socialistic platform and other purulent nurseries for breeding
wilful and hypocritical abettors, at so much a score, of misguided and
treason-hatching Afrikanerdom.
THE TRANSVAAL DYNAMITE AND EXPLOSIVES MONOPOLY
The factory pertaining to this enterprise, situated near Pretoria, is
recognised to be the most extensive and best equipped of its kind in
existence. It is capable of turning out all the dynamite and similar
blasting material needed for the gold and other mines of the State, also
every description of explosive needed for modern ammunition.