PREPARATIONS FOR DEFENCE
Ever since the Jameson raid both the Boers and the Uitlanders have
realized that a peaceful solution of the differences between the two is
possible but highly improbable. The Uitlanders refused to concede
anything to the Boer, and asked for concessions that implied a virtual
abandonment of their country to the English, whom they have always
detested. The Boers themselves have not been unmindful of the
inevitable war with their powerful antagonist, and, not unlike the tiny
ant of the African desert, which fortifies its abode against the
anticipated attack of wild beasts, have made of their country a
veritable arsenal.
Probably no inland country in the world is half so well prepared for war
at any time as that little Government, which can boast of having less
than thirty thousand voters. The military preparation has been so
enormous that Great Britain has been compelled, according to the
colonial secretary's statement to the British Parliament, to expend two
and a half million dollars annually in South Africa in order to keep
pace with the Boers. Four years ago, when the Transvaal Government
learned that the Uitlanders of Johannesburg were planning a revolution,
it commenced the military preparations which have ever since continued
with unabating vigour. German experts were employed to formulate plans
for the defence of the country, and European artillerists were secured
to teach the arts of modern warfare to the men at the head of the Boer
army. Several Americans of military training became the instructors in
the national military school at Pretoria; and even the women and
children became imbued with the necessity of warlike preparation, and
learned the use of arms. Several million pounds were annually spent in
Europe in the purchase of the armament required by the plans formulated
by the experts, and the whole country was placed on a war footing.
Every important strategic position was made as impregnable as modern
skill and arms could make it, and every farmer's cottage was supplied
with arms and ammunition, so that the volunteer army might be mobilized
in a day.
In order to demonstrate the extent to which the military preparation has
been carried, it is only necessary to give an account of the defences of
Pretoria and Johannesburg, the two principal cities of the country.
Pretoria, being the capital, and naturally the chief point of attack by
the enemy, has been prepared to resist the onslaught of any number of
men, and is in a condition to withstand a siege of three years. The
city lies in the centre of a square, at each corner of which is a lofty
hill surmounted by a strong fort, which commands the valleys and the
surrounding country. Each of the four forts has four heavy cannon, four
French guns of fifteen miles range, and thirty heavy Gatling guns.
Besides this extraordinary protection, the city has fifty light Gatling
guns which can be drawn by mules to any point on the hills where an
attack may be made. Three large warehouses are filled with ammunition,
and the large armory is packed to the eaves with Mauser, Martini-Henry,
and Wesley-Richards rifles. Two extensive refrigerators, with a
capacity of two thousand oxen each, are ample provision against a siege
of many months. It is difficult to compute the total expenditures for
war material by the Boer Government during the last four years, but the
following official announcement of expenses for one year will serve to
give an idea of the vastness of the preparations that the Government has
been compelled to make in order to guard the safety of the country:
War-Office salaries . . . . . . . . . $262,310
War purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,717,550
Johannesburg revolt . . . . . . . . . 800,000
Public works . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,650,000
----------
$9,429,860
Johannesburg has extensive fortifications around it, but the Boers will
use them for other purposes than those of self-protection. The forts at
the Golden City were erected for the purpose of quelling any revolution
of the Uitlanders, who constitute almost entirely the population of the
city.
One of the forts is situated on a small eminence about half a mile north
of the business part, and commands the entire city with its guns. Two
years were consumed in building the fortification and in placing the
armament in position. Its guns can rake not only every street of the
city, but ten of the principal mine works as well, and the damage that
their fire could cause is incalculable. Another fort, almost as strong
as the one in Johannesburg, is situated a mile east of the city, and
overshadows the railway and the principal highway to Johannesburg. The
residents of the city are greatly in fear of underground works, which
they have been led to believe were constructed since the raid. Vast
quantities of earth were taken out of the Johannesburg fort, and for
such a length of time did the work continue that the Uitlanders decided
that the Boers were undermining the city, and protested to the
Government against such a course. As soon as war is declared and the
women and children have been removed from the city, Johannesburg will be
rent with shot and shell. The Boers have announced their intention of
doing this, and the Uitlanders, anticipating it, seek safety in flight
whenever there are rumours of war, as thousands did immediately before
and after the Jameson affair.
The approaches to the mountain passes on the border have been fortified
with vast quantities of German and French ordnance, and equipped with
garrisons of men born or trained in Europe. The approaches to Laing's
Nek, near the Natal border, which have several times been the battle
ground of the English and Boer forces, have been prepared to resist an
invading army from Natal. Much attention has been directed to the
preparations in that part of the republic, because the British
commanders will find it easier to transfer forces from the port of
Durban, which is three hundred and six miles from the Transvaal border,
while Cape Town is almost a thousand miles distant.
But the Pretorian Government has made many provisions for war other than
those enumerated. It has made alliances and friends that will be of
equal worth in the event of an attack by England. The Orange Free
State, whose existence is as gravely imperilled as that of the
Transvaal, will fight hand-in-hand with its neighbour, just as it was
prepared to do at the time of the Jameson raid, when almost every Free
State burgher lay armed on the south bank of the Vaal River, awaiting
the summons for assistance from the Kruger Government. In the event of
war the two Governments will be as one, and, in anticipation of the
struggle of the Boers against the British, the Free State Government has
been expending vast sums of money every year in strengthening the
country's defences. At the same time that the Free State is being
prepared for war, its Government officials are striving hard to prevent
a conflict, and are attempting to conciliate the two principals in the
strife by suggesting that concessions be made by both. The Free State
is not so populous as the Transvaal, and consequently can not place as
many men in the field, but the ten thousand burghers who will answer the
call to arms will be an acceptable addition to the Boer forces.
The element of doubt enters into the question of what the Boers and
their co-religionists of Cape Colony and Natal will do in the event of
war. The Dutch of Cape Colony are the majority of the population, and,
although loyal British subjects under ordinary circumstances, are
opposed to English interference in the Transvaal's affairs. Those of
Natal, while not so great in numbers, are equally friendly with the
Transvaal Boers, and would undoubtedly recall some of their old
grievances against the British Government as sufficient reason to join
the Boers in war.
In Cape Colony there is an organization called the Afrikander Bond which
recently has gained control of the politics of the colony, and which
will undoubtedly be supreme for many years to come. The motto of the
organization is "South Africa for South Africans," and its doctrine is
that South Africa shall be served first and Great Britain afterward.
Its members, who are chiefly Dutch, believe their first duty is to
assist the development of the resources of their own country by proper
protective tariffs and stringent legislation in native affairs, and they
regard legislation with a view to British interests as of secondary
importance. The Bond has been very amicably inclined toward its
Afrikander kinsmen in the Transvaal, especially since the Jameson raid,
and every sign of impending trouble between England and the Boers widens
the chasm between the English and Afrikanders of South Africa. The
Dutch approve of President Kruger's course in dealing with the franchise
problems, and if hostilities break out it would be not the least
incompatible with their natures to assist their Transvaal and Free State
kinsmen even at the risk of plunging the whole of South Africa into a
civil war. W. P. Schreiner, the Premier of Cape Colony, is the leading
member of the Bond, and with him he has associated the majority of the
leading men in the colony. Under ordinary conditions their loyalty to
Great Britain is undoubted, but whether they could resist the influence
of their friends in the Bond if it should decide to cast its fortunes
with the Boers in case of war is another matter.
Of such vast importance is the continued loyalty of the Dutch of the two
colonies that upon it depends practically the future control of the Cape
by the British Government. Being in the majority as three to two, and
almost in supreme control of the local government, the Dutch of Cape
Colony are in an excellent position to secede from the empire, as they
have already threatened to do, in which event England would be obliged
to fight almost the united population of the whites if she desired to
retain control of the country. With this in mind, it is no wonder that
Mr. Chamberlain declared that England had reached a critical turning
point in the history of the empire.
The uncertainty of the situation is increased by the doubtful stand
which the native races are taking in the dispute. Neither England nor
the Boers has the positive assurance of support from any of the tribes,
which outnumber the whites as ten to one; but it will not be an
unwarranted opinion to place the majority of the native tribes on the
side of the Boers. The native races are always eager to be the friends
of the paramount power, and England's many defeats in South Africa
during recent years have not assisted in gaining for it that prestige.
When England enters upon a war with the Transvaal the natives will
probably follow the example of the Matabele natives, who rebelled
against the English immediately after Jameson and his men were defeated
by the Boers, because they believed a conquered nation could offer no
resistance. The Boers, having won the last battle, are considered by the
natives to be the paramount power, and it is always an easy matter to
induce a subjected people to ally itself with a supposedly powerful one.
The Zulus, still stinging under the defeat which they received from the
British less than twenty years ago, might gather their war parties and,
with the thousands of guns they have been allowed to buy, attempt to
secure revenge. The Basutos, east of the Orange Free State, now the
most powerful and the only undefeated nation in the country, would
hardly allow a war to be fought unless they participated in it, even if
only to demonstrate to the white man that they still retain their
old-time courage and ability. The million and a half natives in Cape
Colony, and the equal number in the Transvaal, have complained of so
many alleged grievances at the hands of their respective governments
that they might be presumed to rise against them, though it is never
possible to determine the trend of the African negro's mind. What the
various tribes would do in such an emergency can be answered only by the
chiefs themselves, and they will not speak until the time for action is
at hand. Perhaps when that time does arrive there may be a realization
of the natives' dream--that a great leader will come from the north who
will organize all the various tribes into one grand army and with it
drive the hated white men into the sea.
It is impossible to secure accurate statistics in regard to the military
strength of the various colonies, states, and tribes in the country, but
the following table gives a fair idea of the number of men who are
liable to military duty:
Dutch. English. Native.
Cape Colony 20,000 10,000 177,000
Natal 7,000 5,000 100,000
Orange Free State 10,000 ...... 30,000
Transvaal 30,000 20,000 140,000
Rhodesia ...... 2,000 25,000
Swaziland and Basutoland ...... ...... 30,000
------ ------ -------
Total 67,000 37,000 570,000
To him who delights in forming possible coalitions and war situations
this table offers vast opportunities. Probably no other country can
offer such a vast number of possibilities for compacts between nations,
races, and tribes as is presented in South Africa. There all the
natives may unite against the whites, or a part of them against a part
of the whites, while whites and natives may unite against a similar
combination. The possibilities are boundless; the probabilities are
uncertain.
The Pretorian Government has had an extensive secret service for several
years, and this has been of inestimable value in securing the support of
the natives as well as the friendship of many whites, both in South
Africa and abroad. The several thousand Irishmen in South Africa have
been organized into a secret compact, and have been and will continue to
be of great value to the Boers. The head of the organization is a man
who is one of President Kruger's best friends, and his lieutenants are
working even as far away as America. The sympathy of the majority of
the Americans in the Transvaal is with the Boer cause, and, although the
American consul-general at Cape Town has cautioned them to remain
neutral, they will not stand idly by and watch the defeat of a cause
which they believe to be as just as that for which their forefathers
fought at Bunker Hill and Lexington.
But the Boers do not rely upon external assistance to win their battles
for them. When it becomes necessary to defend their liberty and their
country they reverently place their trust in Providence and their
rifles. Their forefathers' battles were won with such confidence, and
the later generations have been similarly successful under like
conditions. The rifle is the young Boer's primer and the grandfather's
testament. It is the Boers' avenger of wrong and the upholder of right.
That their confidence in their rifles has not been misapplied has been
demonstrated at Laing's Nek, Majuba Hill, Doornkop, and in battles with
natives.
The natural opportunities provided by Nature which in former years were
responsible for the confidence which the Boers reposed in their rifles
may have disappeared with the approach of advancing civilization, but
the Boer of to-day is as dangerous an adversary with a gun as his father
was in the wars with the Zulus and the Matabeles half a century ago. The
buck, rhinoceros, elephant, and hippopotamus are not as numerous now as
then, but the Boer has devised other means by which he may perfect
himself in marksmanship. Shooting is one of the main diversions of the
Boer, and prizes are offered for the best results in contests. It is
customary to mark out a ring, about two hundred and fifty feet in
diameter, in the centre of which a small stuffed figure resembling a
bird is attached to a pole. The marksmen stand on the outside of the
circle and fire in turn at the target. A more curious target, and one
that taxes the ability of the marksman, is in more general use
throughout the country. A hole sufficiently deep to retain a
turkey-cock is dug in a level plot of ground, and over this is placed a
piece of canvas which contains a small hole through which the bird can
extend and withdraw its head. At a distance of three hundred feet the
bird's head is a target by no means easily hit.
Military men are accustomed to sneer at the lack of generalship of the
Boer forces, but in only one of the battles in which they have engaged
the British forces have the trained military men and leaders been able
to cope with them. In the battle of Boomplaats, fought in 1848, the
English officers can claim their only victory over the Boers, who were
armed with flintlocks, while the British forces had heavy artillery. In
almost all the encounters that have taken place the Boer forces were not
as large as those of the enemy, yet the records show that many more
casualties were inflicted than received by them. In the chief
engagements the appended statistics show that the Boers had only a small
percentage of their men in the casualty list, while the British losses
were much greater.
MEN ENGAGED. CASUALTIES.
BATTLES. British. Boer. British. Boer.
Laing's Nek 400 550 190 24
Ingogo 300 250 142 17
Majuba Hill 600 150 280 5
Bronkhorst 250 300 120 1
Jameson raid 600 400 100 5
It is hardly fair to assume that the Boers' advantages in these battles
were gained without the assistance of capable generals when it is taken
into consideration that there is a military axiom which places the value
of an army relatively with the ability of its commanders. The Boers may
exaggerate when they assert that one of their soldiers is the equal in
fighting ability of five British soldiers, but the results of the
various battles show that they have some slight foundation for their
theory.
The regular British force in South Africa is comparatively small, but it
would require less than a month to transport one hundred thousand
trained soldiers from India and England and place them on the scene of
action. Several regiments of trained soldiers are always stationed in
different parts of the country near the Transvaal border, and at brief
notice they could be placed on Boer territory. Charlestown, Ladysmith,
and Pietermaritzburg, in Natal, have been British military headquarters
for many years, and during the last three years they have been
strengthened by the addition of several regular regiments. The British
Colonial Office has been making preparations for several years for a
conflict. Every point in the country has been strengthened, and all the
foreign powers whose interests in the country might lead them to
interfere in behalf of the Boers have been placated. Germany has been
taken from the British zone of danger by favourable treaties; France is
fearful to try interference alone; and Portugal, the only other nation
interested, is too weak and too deeply in England's debt to raise her
voice against anything that may be done.
By leasing the town of Lorenzo Marques from the Portuguese Government,
Great Britain has acquired one of the best strategic points in South
Africa. The lease, the terms of which are unannounced, was the
culmination of much diplomatic dickering, in which the interests of
Germany and the South African Republic were arrayed against those of
England and Portugal. There is no doubt that England made the lease
only in order to gain an advantage over President Kruger, and to prevent
him from further fortifying his country with munitions of war imported
by way of Lorenzo Marques and Delagoa Bay. England gains a commercial
advantage too, but it is hardly likely that she would care to add the
worst fever-hole in Africa to her territory simply to please the few of
her merchants who have business interests in the town. Since the Jameson
raid the Boers have been purchasing vast quantities of guns and
ammunition in Europe for the purpose of preparing themselves for any
similar emergency. Delagoa Bay alone was an open port to the Transvaal,
every other port in South Africa being under English dominion and
consequently closed to the importation of war material. Lorenzo
Marques, the natural port of the Transvaal, is only a short distance
from the eastern border of that country, and is connected with Pretoria
and Johannesburg by a railway. It was over this railway that the Boers
were able to carry the guns and ammunition with which to fortify their
country, and England could not raise a finger to prevent the little
republic from doing as it pleased. Hardly a month has passed since the
raid that the Transvaal authorities did not receive a large consignment
of guns and powder from Germany and France by way of Lorenzo Marques.
England could do nothing more than have several detectives at the docks
to take an inventory of the munitions as they passed in transit.
The transfer of Lorenzo Marques to the British will put an effectual bar
to any further importation of guns into the Transvaal, and will
practically prevent any foreign assistance from reaching the Boers in
the event of another war. Both Germany and England tried for many years
to induce Portugal to sell Delagoa Bay, but being the debtor of both to
a great extent, the sale could not be made to one without arousing the
enmity of the other. Eighteen or twenty years ago Portugal would have
sold her sovereign right over the port to Mr. Gladstone's Government for
sixty thousand dollars, but that was before Delagoa Bay had any
commercial or political importance. Since then Germany became the
political champion of the Transvaal, and blocked all the schemes of
England to isolate the inland country by cutting off its only neutral
connection with the sea. Recently, however, Germany has been
disappointed by the Transvaal Republic, and one of the results is the
present cordial relations between the Teutons and the Anglo-Saxons in
South African affairs.
The English press and people in South Africa have always asserted that
by isolating the Transvaal from the sea the Boers could be starved into
submission in case of a war. As soon as the lease becomes effective, Mr.
Kruger's country will be completely surrounded by English territory, at
least in such a way that nothing can be taken into the Transvaal without
first passing through an English port, and no foreign power will be able
to send forces to the aid of the Boers unless they are first landed on
British soil. It is doubtful whether any nation would incur such a
grave responsibility for the sake of securing Boer favour.
Both the Transvaal and England are fully prepared for war, and diplomacy
only can postpone its coming. The Uitlanders' present demands may be
conceded, but others that will follow may not fare so well. A coveted
country will always be the object of attacks by a stronger power, and
the aggressor generally succeeds in securing from the weaker victim
whatever he desires. Whether British soldiers will be obliged to fight
the Boers alone in order to gratify the wishes of their Government, or
whether the enemy will be almost the entire white and black population
of South Africa, will not be definitely known until the British troop
ships start for Cape Town and Durban.
[Illustration: Cape Town and Table Mountain.]
Whichever enemy it will be, the British Government will attack, and will
pursue in no half-hearted or half-prepared manner, as it has done in
previous campaigns in the country. The Boers will be able to resist and
to prolong the campaign to perhaps eight months or a year, but they will
finally be obliterated from among the nations of the earth. It will
cost the British Empire much treasure and many lives, but it will
satisfy those who caused it--the politicians and speculators.