Native Life in South Africa Part 39

"The unG.o.dly policy of Botha has gone on long enough; the South African Dutch are going to stand as one man to crush this unholy scandal.

Some of my friends have advised me to wait a little longer until England has received a bigger knock, but it is beneath me and my people to kick a dead dog. England has got her hands full enough.

I hate the lies which are continually being spread to the effect that thousands of Australians, Canadians and Indians can be sent to fight us.

Where will England get them from? She has enough to fight her own battles.

"I am going through the town to take the following six articles, viz., horses, saddles, bridles, halters, arms and ammunition, and if anybody should refuse to hand to my men these articles, if they should be found in their possession, I will give him a thrashing with a sjambok. I now order the storekeepers to go and open their shops and I will select men to go round and take whatever I require apart from the above articles, and they will give receipts for what they take; and if they do not open their shops willingly I will open them in another way.

My advice to you English is to remain quiet in your houses and not interfere with my men, and if you don't, beware when I come back!

I have got my eight sons and sons-in-law here with me, and the only people left on my farm are my wife and daughter.

Anybody can go and see if they like, and I request the Magistrate to give them any help they may require, if he will do so."

Mr. Wessel Wessels, a famous "Free" State politician, having taken possession of Harrismith in the name of General De Wet, was alleged to have had the audacity to send letters to Chief Ntsane Mopedi, of the Harrismith district, and to the Paramount Chief of Basutoland, informing them that, with the a.s.sistance of the Germans, the Boers were going to drive away the English and re-proclaim a Dutch Republic in South Africa; and requesting those chiefs to remain neutral while the annihilation of the English was in progress.

Only in case the English should arm the Indians, were they to mobilize their warriors (the Basutos) on the side of the Boer-German combination.

Dit is ver weg na Tippererie, Dit is ver om te gaan; Dit is ver weg na Tippererie, Om my hart se punt te zien.

Goen dag, Pikadillie Vaarwel, Lester-squeer; Dit is ver, ver weg na Tippererie Maar my hart le net daar.

"Tipperary" in Cape Dutch.

The Dutch, like other people, also had a prophet. Many stories were told since the outbreak of the war by the seer, Van Rensburg, and among other visions credited to him he was said to have dreamt of the impending "removal of the British yoke from the necks of Afrikanders", and the forthcoming expulsion from South Africa of the English people and their flag, with the aid of Germany.

Whatever might be said about what the prophet Van Rensburg had foretold in other respects, the prophecies attributed to him in regard to the European War resemble other war prophecies (credited to French, Russian, and German women), in that the wish, it seems, is often father to the thought.

The lower middle-cla.s.s Boers attach great weight to the guesses of native bonethrowers. It is strange sometimes when a Malay charmer is prosecuted for imposing on the public to find Dutch witnesses giving evidence of the healing powers possessed by the accused and emphasizing the absurdity of prosecuting a man who benefited them and their relatives more than many a certificated medical man.

Moreover, the forecasts credited to Van Rensburg seemed to have found ample corroboration in the cabled newspaper accounts of the rapid advance of the armies of General Von Kluck through Belgium towards Paris, and in the minds of such gullible patriots as the South African Boers this telegraphic war news acted like manure on a fertile field.

== The Seer Van Rensburg*

-- * "U.G. No. 10-'15".

The seer was Nicolas van Rensburg, of Lichtenburg, a simple and illiterate farmer. He was a prophet not without honour in his own country. On many occasions he had given proof positive of the possession of extraordinary powers of prevision, so men said and believed. It would be out of place here to give examples of the many telepathic forecasts (or happy guesses) with which he was credited. It is certain that he had a great hold on the imagination of thousands of his people. During the Anglo-Boer War some commandos, when Van Rensburg was in their lager, neglected all precautions. If "Oom Niklaas" declared that the English were not in the neighbourhood, it was a waste of energy to post sentries and keep a look out.

His reputation had, strangely enough, not diminished since the war.

This was perhaps due to several causes. He had never attempted to exploit his "gift" and impressed most of those who came in contact with him with his apparent sincerity. If he duped others, it seemed he also duped himself. Moreover, and this was perhaps the secret of his continued success, his "visions" were invariably symbolic and mysterious; they possessed an adaptability of character that was truly Delphic. Indeed, his hearers were compelled to put their own interpretation upon his visions. The seer seldom pretended to understand or explain them himself.

General De la Rey took a great interest in the seer, who had belonged to his commandos during the Anglo-Boer War. Van Rensburg again had the greatest admiration for General De la Rey, and had frequently hinted to his circle that great things were in store for the General.

One of his visions had been well known to General De la Rey and his friends for some years. The seer had beheld the number 15 on a dark cloud, from which blood issued, and then General De la Rey returning home without his hat. Immediately afterwards came a carriage covered with flowers.* What these things portended, Van Rensburg could not say.

He believed that they signified some high honour for the General. . . .

-- * General De la Rey was accidentally shot on the night of September 15.

The last house he stayed in was No. 15, and the funeral train that brought his body to Lichtenburg had a carriage full of floral tributes.

When the war at last broke out, the effect in Lichtenburg was instantaneous.

The prophecies of Van Rensburg were eagerly recalled, and it was remembered that he had foretold a day on which the independence of the Transvaal would be restored. One officer actually called up his men to be in readiness on Sunday, August 9, as that would be the day on which the prophecy would be fulfilled. After this, too, certain individuals could be seen daily cleaning their rifles and cartridges in order to be ready for THE DAY. Several men in this district claimed to be in regular communication with German South-West Africa before August, 1914.

Within a week of the declaration of war between England and Germany the district was further profoundly stirred by the news (now become generally known) that a great meeting of local burghers was to be held at Treurfontein on August 15, and that certain local officers were commandeering their burghers to come to this meeting armed and fully equipped for active service. . . .

The meeting was to be addressed by General De la Rey, and it was generally believed that the a.s.sembled burghers would march on Potchefstroom immediately after the meeting.

The prophecies of Van Rensburg had a great deal to do with the excitement which had been produced locally. The strange vision of the number 15, which had long been common knowledge, was now discussed with intense interest.

The 15, it was said, signified August 15, the day of the meeting.

That would be THE DAY, which had been so long expected -- the day of liberation. Van Rensburg was now the oracle.

His prophecies with regard to the great war had been signally fulfilled.

Germany was at grips with England, and her triumph was looked upon as inevitable.

The day had arrived to strike a blow for their lost independence.

Van Rensburg a.s.sured his following that the Union Government was "finished".

Not a shot would be fired. The revolution would be complete and bloodless.

Between the 10th and the 15th the plotters in Lichtenburg were actively preparing for the day. There is evidence that German secret agents were working in concert with them.

The 15th would mark the beginning of a new era. When doubters asked how they could be so certain that the 15 signified a day of the month -- and of the month of August in particular -- they were scornfully if illogically told that "in G.o.d's time a month sooner or later made no difference."

The Government had been informed by its local supporters of these alarming preparations. It was quite clear that an attempt was to be made on the 15th to start a rebellion. Everything would depend on the meeting which was to be addressed by General De la Rey.

General De la Rey's position in the Western Transvaal was unique.

He possessed an unrivalled influence and was looked up to as the uncrowned King of the West. His att.i.tude at the meeting would sway the ma.s.s of his adherents and decide the question of peace or war.

General Botha summoned General De la Rey to Pretoria some days before the meeting, and was able to persuade him to use his best endeavours to calm the excited feelings which had been aroused and to use his influence to see that no untoward incidents should occur.

On Sat.u.r.day, the 15th, the great meeting was held. About 800 burghers were present. General De la Rey addressed them and explained the situation in Europe. He exhorted his audience to remain cool and calm and to await events. After the address "a strange and unusual silence"

was observed. A resolution was pa.s.sed unanimously expressing complete confidence in the Government to act in the best interests of South Africa in the present world-crisis. The address seemed to have had a very good effect. The burghers appeared to have taken their leader's advice to heart, as they dispersed quietly to their homes.

All danger of a rebellious movement had apparently been averted, but only for a time.

The Potchefstroom 'Herald' tells a story of what it describes as "the inner history of a d.a.m.nable plot", and of how near Potchefstroom* was to falling into the hands of the rebels through the treachery of Beyers and his accomplices on the night of September 15, which was the date on which the late General De la Rey was killed.

-- * The old capital of Transvaal where General De Wet and General Kemp held the dramatic meeting on October 2, 1914.

== It is unquestionable (says the 'Herald') that Beyers, who was forced to admit that he was on his way to Potchefstroom when the accident happened, was to have started an attempt to overthrow the Government with the aid of the men, over 2,000 in number, who had just finished their period of three weeks' training in the Active Citizen Camp at Potchefstroom. Both he and Kemp had resigned their positions, and, knowing the treacherous mission upon which he was setting out that night as the emissary of the German enemy, little wonder was it that at Langlaagte Beyers cowered with fear, and lost his nerve entirely, because he thought his own arrest was at hand.

Continuing the account, the paper says: On the morning parade on Tuesday morning the rebel Colonels Bezuidenhout and k.o.c.k had each addressed their men in an attempt to imbue them with a spirit of revolt against their own Government.

All the Dutch-speaking Afrikanders were advised not to volunteer for German South-West; that was the job of the Englishman.

The officers plainly said that they had no intention of doing their duty: they had other fish to fry. And they permitted the few volunteers who stood out in spite of them to be jeered at by the "neutrals".

The disgrace of that early morning parade scene must for ever be upon the traitors concerned. It was certain that dastardly influences were at work, but thanks to the sterling loyalty of certain men from among the Dutch population, the plans of the conspirators were more or less known, and arrangements were made to checkmate them.

All honour to these true patriots who took a big risk for the safety of the country.

That evening a meeting of Britishers took place in Potchefstroom to discuss the situation (says the 'Herald'), and it was agreed that its seriousness was such as to necessitate direct communication with General s.m.u.ts, which was duly carried out. For one thing, practically all Britishers were unarmed. How critical was the position, or how near Potchefstroom was to complete disaster, was not then fully realized. On that night, too, there was another and more sinister meeting in the town. It was at a certain house in Berg Street, where a number of residents, male and female, who can be named, expected the arrival of the chief conspirator. Then, too, at the Defence Force headquarters Kemp had stored a quant.i.ty of ammunition that was altogether out of proportion to the requirements of his district, and during the week there had been frequent communications with the Lichtenburg "prophet". Beyers had arranged to reach the Defence Force at 3 a.m., where motor-cars waited.

Later he was to have marched upon the town with all the armed men he could bring under his influence, knowing full well, by previous arrangement, that he could rely on the aid of rebels within Potchefstroom itself. So intense was the feeling of danger in camp that night that loyal officers slept with loaded revolvers at hand and all the spare ammunition under the beds. The Union Jack was to be supplanted and the new Republic was to be declared with the Vierkleur flying -- or would it have been the German flag?

That was the morning of September 16, and as showing the concerted character of the traitorous plans, it should be noted that the proclamation signed by the Governor-General of German South-West Africa, the "sc.r.a.p of paper" used as a sop for the Boers, was dated for the self-same day.

Plot Providentially Thwarted

But the motor-car tragedy in the dark at Langlaagte was the second blow to this criminal plot (continues the paper), and when Beyers, trembling and unnerved, spoke through the telephone at midnight on September 15, telling of the fatal shot, and that his journey had been cut short, those who had waited in the camp and in the town knew that, for the time being at any rate, the little game was up.

Kemp, of course, at once tried to withdraw his resignation, but luckily General s.m.u.ts gave the snub direct. Already the names of local men to be terrorized, and even shot, were in the mouths of the irreconcilables -- skulking cowards for the most part -- of whom more must yet be written in the interests of public morality.

That night Potchefstroom might easily have fallen into the hands of the rebel crew, sharing the fate of the Free State towns or worse, and loyalists, both English and Dutch, must thank an ever-watchful Providence for being saved from a position of ignominy and humiliation.