South Africa and the Transvaal War Volume I Part 13

The various claimants, notably the Griqua Captain, Nicholas Waterboer, commenced disputes regarding the valuable portion of the Free State territory, and finally it was decided to submit to British arbitration. President Brand refused the offer, but President M. W. Pretorius of the South African Republic, who had grievances against the Barolong, Batlapin, and Griqua tribes, agreed. A Court was appointed, the Governor of Natal acting as umpire. The interests involved were many, and on the subject of their rights the various claimants seemed somewhat hazy. The Free State was not represented, and the umpire, acting on the evidence of Mr. Arnot (the agent of Nicholas Waterboer) gave judgment against the South African Republic, and allowed the claim of the Griqua Captain, including in the award the tract claimed by him in the Free State. The complicated situation is thus described by Mr. Bryce in his "Impressions of South Africa":--

"As Waterboer had before the award offered his territory to the British Government, the country was forthwith erected into a Crown Colony, under the name of Griqualand West. This was in 1871. The Free State, whose case had not been stated, much less argued, before the umpire, protested, and was after a time able to appeal to a judgment delivered by a British Court, which found that Waterboer had never enjoyed any right to the territory. However, the new Colony had by this time been set up, and the British flag displayed.

The British Government, without either admitting or denying the Free State t.i.tle, declared that a district in which it was difficult to keep order amid a turbulent and shifting population ought to be under the control of a strong power, and offered the Free State a sum of 90,000 in settlement of whatever claim it might possess. The acceptance by the Free State, in 1876, of this sum closed the controversy, though a sense of injustice continued to rankle in the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of some of the citizens of the Republic. Amicable relations have subsisted ever since between it and Cape Colony, and the control of the British Government over the Basutos has secured for it peace in the quarter which was formerly most disturbed.

"These two cases show how various are the causes, and how mixed the motives, which press a great power forward even against the wishes of its statesmen. The Basutos were declared British subjects, partly out of a sympathetic wish to rescue and protect them, partly because policy required the acquisition of a country naturally strong, and holding an important strategical position. Griqualand West, taken in the belief that Waterboer had a good t.i.tle to it, was retained after this belief had been dispelled, partly perhaps because a population had crowded into it which consisted mainly of British subjects, and was not easily controllable by a small State, but mainly because Colonial feeling refused to part with a region of such exceptional mineral wealth. And the retention of Griqualand West caused, before long, the acquisition of Bechua.n.a.land, which in its turn naturally led to that northward extension of British influence which has carried the Union Jack to the sh.o.r.es of Lake Tanganyika."

[Ill.u.s.tration: KIMBERLEY, AS SEEN FROM THE ROCK SHAFT.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]

Griqualand West, whose capital is the salubrious Kimberley, was settled in 1833 by the Griquas or Baastards, a tribe of Dutch Hottentot half-breeds. As we have seen, the territory was claimed by the chief, Waterboer, and his claim was allowed by the Governor of Natal. When he subsequently ceded his rights, the province was annexed to Cape Colony, but with independent jurisdiction. In 1881 it became an integral part of Cape Colony. Griqualand East comprises No-Man's-Land, the Gatberg and St. John's River territory, under eight subordinate magistrates.

A word, before pa.s.sing on, of Kimberley. This town, hitherto known as the City of Diamonds, has now the distinction of being the casket where Mr. Rhodes, with the price of 5000 on his head, was incarcerated. Its real birth dates from 1869-70, when all the world rushed out to win fortune from its soil. Happily at that time Mr.

Cecil Rhodes happened to be in the neighbourhood. With his usual gift of foresight, he recognised that some process of amalgamating the various conflicting claims and interests, and merging them in one huge whole, would be necessary if the value of diamonds was to be kept up. He invented a scheme, and succeeded--the great corporation, the De Beers Consolidated Mining Company, limited the output of diamonds to an annual amount such as Europe and the United States were able to take at a price high enough to leave an adequate profit. This arrangement has, in a measure, had the effect of depopulating the place. At least it has thinned it of the crowd of adventurers who previously infested the region and struggled to maintain an independent existence there. In the absence of these loafers the town is civilised, and comparatively refined. There are groves of gum-trees to promote shade, and thickets of p.r.i.c.kly pear, which have ever a rural, though touch-me-not aspect. The low-storeyed houses, built bungalow-wise, have an air of capaciousness and ease; and further out, in Kenilworth, there are comfortable dwellings, surrounded with trees, and suggestive of a certain suburban picturesqueness. This region owes its cheerful and well-ordered aspect entirely to Mr. Rhodes, who is at the same time the parent and the apostle of all progress in South Africa.

The diamonds have their home in beds of clay, which are usually covered with calcareous rock. These beds are the remains of mud pits, due to volcanic action. Mr. Bryce, in his "Impressions of South Africa, says:--

"Some of the mines are worked to the depth of 1200 feet by shafts and subterranean galleries. Some are open, and these, particularly that called the Wesselton Mine, are an interesting sight. This deep hollow, one-third of a mile in circ.u.mference and 100 feet deep, enclosed by a strong fence of barbed wire, is filled by a swarm of active Kaffir workmen, cleaving the 'hard blue' with pickaxes, piling it up on barrows, and carrying it off to the wide fields, where it is left exposed to the sun, and, during three months, to the rain. Having been thus subjected to a natural decomposition, it is the more readily brought by the pickaxe into smaller fragments before being sent to the mills, where it is crushed, pulverised, and finally washed to get at the stones. Nowhere in the world does the hidden wealth of the soil and the element of chance in its discovery strike one so forcibly as here, where you are shown a piece of ground a few acres in extent, and are told, 'Out of this pit diamonds of the value of 12,000,000 have been taken.' Twenty-six years ago the ground might have been bought for 50."

To encourage honesty in the miner good wages are given, and ten per cent. is allowed to finders of valuable stones who voluntarily deliver these to the overseer. Apropos of this subject, Mr. Bryce relates an amusing tale, which, if not true, is certainly _ben trovato_: "I heard from a missionary an anecdote of a Basuto who, after his return from Kimberley, was describing how, on one occasion, his eye fell on a valuable diamond in the clay he was breaking into fragments. While he was endeavouring to pick it up he perceived the overseer approaching, and, having it by this time in his hand, was for a moment terribly frightened, the punishment for theft being very severe. The overseer, however, pa.s.sed on. 'And then,' said the Basuto, 'I knew that there was indeed a G.o.d, for He had preserved me.'"

Before leaving the subject of diamonds, it may be interesting to note the material increase of the products of the mines year by year. The following is a table of statistics of the De Beers Consolidated Mines, Limited, since its formation, 1st April 1888:--

TABLE OF STATISTICS.

[Transcriber's Note: In order to fit into the limits required by Project Gutenberg, this table has been split into three parts.]

+----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------+ Year Ending Number Number Number of Amount Realised of Loads of Loads Carats of by Sale of Blue of Blue Diamonds of Diamonds. Hoisted. Washed. Found +----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+--------------- { March 31, 1889, s. d. { prior to 944,706 712,263 914,121 901,818 0 5 { consolidation De Beers { March 31, 1890 2,192,226 1,251,245 1,450,605 2,330,179 16 3 and { March 31, 1891 1,978,153 2,029,588 2,020,515 2,974,670 9 0 Kimberley{ [A]June 30, 1892 3,338,553 3,239,134 3,035,481 3,931,542 11 1 Mines { June 30, 1893 3,090,183 2,108,626 2,229,805 3,239,389 8 6 { June 30, 1894 2,999,431 2,577,460 2,308,463-1/2 2,820,172 3 9 { June 30, 1895 2,525,717 2,854,817 2,435,541-1/2 3,105,957 15 8 { June 30, 1896 2,698,109 2,597,026 2,363,437-3/4 3,165,382 1 4 { June 30, 1897 2,515,889 3,011,288 2,769,422-3/4 3,722,099 3 3 Premier Mine June 30, 1897 271,777 ... ... ... De Beers and Kimberley Mines June 30, 1898 3,332,688 3,259,692 2,603,250 3,451,214 15 3 Premier Mine June 30, 1898 1,146,984 691,722 189,356-1/4 196,659 18 8 +----------+----------------+---------+---------+-------------+---------------+

+----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+ Year Ending Number Amount Amount Cost of of Carats Realised Realised Production per Load per Carat per Load. per Load of Blue. Sold. +----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+ { March 31, 1889, { prior to s. d. s. d. s. d. { consolidation 1.283 19 8-3/4 25 3-3/4 9 10-1/2 De Beers { March 31, 1890 1.15 32 6-3/4 37 2-3/4 8 10-1/2 and { March 31, 1891 .99 29 6 29 3-3/4 8 8 Kimberley{ [A]June 30, 1892 .92 25 6 23 5 7 4.3 Mines { June 30, 1893 1.05 29 0.6 30 6 6 11.6 { June 30, 1894 .89 24 5.2 21 10.6 6 6.8 { June 30, 1895 .85 25 6 21 8 6 10.8 { June 30, 1896 .91 26 9.4 24 4.5 7 0.1 { June 30, 1897 .92 26 10.6 24 8.6 7 4.3 Premier Mine June 30, 1897 ... ... ... ... De Beers and Kimberley Mines June 30, 1898 .80 26 6.2 21 2.1 6 7.4 Premier Mine June 30, 1898 .27 20 9.3 5 8.2 2 7.1 +----------+----------------+---------+-----------+-----------+----------+

+----------+----------------+----------+---------------------------------+ Year Ending Number of Loads DIVIDENDS PAID. of Blue on Floors at+------------------+--------------+ Close of Year, Amount. Equal to exclusive of Lumps +----------+----------------+----------+------------------+--------------+ { March 31, 1889, { prior to s. d. { consolidation 476,403 188,329 10 0 5 per cent. De Beers { March 31, 1890 1,576,821 789,682 0 0 20 " and { March 31, 1891 1,525,386 789,791 0 0 20 " Kimberley{ [A]June 30, 1892 1,624,805 1,382,134 5 0 35 " Mines { June 30, 1893 2,606,362 987,238 15 0 25 " { June 30, 1894 3,028,333 987,238 15 0 25 " { June 30, 1895 2,699,233 987,238 15 0 25 " { June 30, 1896 2,800,316 1,579,582 0 0 40 " { June 30, 1897 2,304,917 1,579,582 0 0 40 " Premier Mine June 30, 1897 271,777 ... ... De Beers and Kimberley Mines June 30, 1898 2,377,913 } } Premier } 1,579,582 0 0 40 per cent. Mine June 30, 1898 727,039 } +----------+----------------+----------+------------------+--------------+

[A] These figures are for a period of fifteen months. Add 10 per cent. for other products.

CHAPTER VI

THE TRANSVAAL OF TO-DAY

We have dealt with the exodus of the trekkers, and with the land that subsequently became the Transvaal. It behoves us now to discuss the difference between that primitive pastoral region of the early century and the busy country that may, for distinction sake, be styled the Transvaal of to-day.

Modern geographers apply the name of the Transvaal to the tract of country between the Limpopo River on the north, and the Vaal River on the south. It is bounded on the east by the Lobombo, and the Drakenberg Mountains, which run parallel to the Natal coast, and on the west by British Bechua.n.a.land. On the east lie Portuguese Territory and British Zululand, on the north Rhodesia, on the west British Bechua.n.a.land, and on the south the Orange Free State and Natal. The important rivers are the Limpopo or Crocodile River, so named in compliment to its reptile inhabitants, and the Vaal, a tributary of the Orange River. This rises among the Drakenberg Mountains, and, curving, flows west as a boundary between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. The Limpopo rises between Johannesburg and Pretoria, and sprays out north-east, north-west, east, and south-east, reaching the sea in the neighbourhood of Delagoa Bay.

After leaving the Transvaal, owing to the presence of a cataract, it is however unsuitable for purposes of navigation. The district of the Transvaal varies in height from 2000 to 8000 feet above the level of the sea. The Hooge Veld, the uplands of the Drakenberg Mountains, rises from 4000 to 8000 feet above the sea, and between them and the outer slopes of the Lobombo range is a vast tract of some 20,000 square miles of arable land, called the Banken Veld. It furnishes a splendid grazing ground, and corn grows in profusion.

The Bosch Veld or Bush Country comprises the centre of the country, and runs west into Bechua.n.a.land. This district is largely infested with the tsetse fly, an insect whose sting means death to almost all domestic animals. Besides this, it is the home of malaria and other fevers. The Hooge Veld, which has a drier, colder, and more healthy climate, is largely used for breeding cattle, and as a grazing ground for sheep and oxen. It is here that, in later days, the gold-mining activity proceeds, as almost everywhere there are believed to be rich auriferous deposits. Its mineral deposits have been the attraction of the Transvaal, for the coal-fields invited the attention of some of the first speculators. In fact, the first railway line of the district ran between Johannesburg and a colliery.

Besides coal may be found silver, copper, and lead. But the great attraction, GOLD, has for the last ten years lured all the money from the pockets of the enterprising. Other metals, such as cinnabar, iron, and tin are, for the nonce, like Gray's violet, "born to blush unseen," until some ingenious person discovers in them a subtle attraction.

To show the financial changes which have come over the country within the last ten years, Mr. Campbell, late Vice-President of the Chamber of Mines, Johannesburg, has written a valuable article. In it he gives us the following agrarian position in the Transvaal of the present by areas and by values:--

AREAS.

Per cent.

Boers' own land 65 British 35 --- 100

But land is valuable not by area merely, but by intrinsic value, and the Boers have sold much of their best land, and taken British gold for it, and when we come to the figures in the Government Dues Office at Pretoria, we have--

VALUE.

Per cent.

Boers' 33 British 67 --- 100

The net deductions in the Dues Offices are, that the whole of the farms and private lands in the Transvaal, under the mere Boer occupancy, are valued by the outside world at 933,200, whereas to-day, by the addition of the British buyer and holder, they are now valued by the world at ten millions sterling! In figures given above, all land occupied for mining or town sites is excluded.

The current yield of gold is computed at the rate of seventeen and a half millions sterling per annum. This is the vitalising source of African trade and African progress. It pays the interest on nearly all South African Railways, is responsible for a large portion of the costs of Government in the Cape Colony, Orange States, Natal as well as Pretoria. And yet the working bees--the white British community of Johannesburg--who have helped to enrich the hive containing the whole of South African interests, have been neglected, if not betrayed, by the Mother Country. They have been deprived of arms, of liberties,--they have suffered insult and disdain, and Great Britain, until forced to do so, has moved not a finger in their defence. The Transvaal, one of the richest districts of the world, merely wants good and sustained government--a government that will grant to all respectable white men free and equal rights. When this shall come to pa.s.s, its splendid resources will be developed. The Indian Ocean trade will be supplied with steam coal. The country will sustain itself, and will also export food stuffs, and trade in iron, hide, wool, tin, and quant.i.ties of other things, whose value has. .h.i.therto been ignored. All that is needed is a dignified acceptance of British responsibilities. South Africa was bought by the paramount Power nearly an hundred years ago, and has since then been administered--if not entirely wisely and well--at least administered, by that Power. British sweat has rained on the country, British muscle has toiled in the country, British blood has flowed in streams over its face, and British bones are mixed with the shifting grains of its sand. It now remains for British sovereignty to wield its sceptre and make its presence felt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PRETORIA FROM THE EAST.

Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.]

ACc.u.mULATED AGGRAVATIONS

Since it is impossible to enter into all the intricacies of foreign political relations with the Transvaal, we will return to the Uitlanders. They became more and more unwelcome as their numbers increased. Many Acts were pa.s.sed, each serving to render more impossible their chances of obtaining the franchise. The fact was that Mr. Kruger, having brought his State to a condition of bankruptcy almost identical with that which existed when Sir T.

Shepstone annexed the Transvaal, was struggling to carry on a divided scheme, that of grabbing with both hands from the Uitlander financialists, while endeavouring to maintain with close-fisted obstinacy the exclusiveness, irresponsibility, and bigotry of the primitive trekker. He knew that if he granted full political rights to the outsiders he would no longer be master of his own misguided house. He said as much, and pointed out that were he to do so there would be no alternative but to haul down his flag. This being the case, there was no resource but to transform the so-called free Republic into an absolute oligarchy. Much has been said of the "Russian despot," but this century can present no more complete spectacle of despotism than that of Mr. Kruger. The Emperor of Russia, autocrat as he is, is guided by the traditions of his empire and the machinations of his ministers, but Mr. Kruger has allowed himself to be reasoned with and influenced by none, and his word has been in reality the only form of law or justice on which the Uitlanders have had to rely. Such system of government as there was was corrupt. Smuggling flourished under the very eye of the officials, and the Field Cornets, whose business it was to act as petty justices, collect taxes, and register arrivals of new-comers, kept their books in a manner more in accord with their personal convenience than with accuracy. Hence, when it came to the question of the naturalisation of the Uitlanders, the books which should have recorded their registration were either withheld or missing.

Settlers in the Transvaal between the years 1882 and 1890, owing to this irregularity, were debarred from proving their registration as the law required. Speaking of this period, Mr. Fitzpatrick, in "The Transvaal from Within," says:--

"In the country districts justice was not a commodity intended for the Britisher. Many cases of gross abuse, and several of actual murder occurred, and in 1885 the case of Mr. Jas. Donaldson, then residing on a farm in Lydenburg--lately one of the Reform prisoners--was mentioned in the House of Commons, and became the subject of a demand by the Imperial Government for reparation and punishment. He had been ordered by two Boers (one of whom was in the habit of boasting that he had shot an unarmed Englishman in Lydenburg since the war, and would shoot others) to abstain from collecting hut taxes on his own farm; and on refusing had been attacked by them. After beating them off single-handed, he was later on again attacked by his former a.s.sailants, reinforced by three others. They bound him with reims (thongs), kicked and beat him with sjamboks (raw-hide whips) and clubs, stoned him, and left him unconscious and so disfigured that he was thought to be dead when found some hours later. On receipt of the Imperial Government's representations, the men were arrested, tried, and fined. The fines were stated to have been remitted at once by Government, but in the civil action which followed Mr. Donaldson received 500 damages. The incident had a distinctly beneficial effect, and nothing more was heard of the maltreatment of defenceless men simply because they were Britishers."

Nevertheless the hostility between the two races was growing apace, and every ambition of the Uitlanders was promptly nipped in the bud.

Reforms were at first mildly suggested. Bridges and roads were required, also a remission of certain taxes, but suggestions, even agitations, were in vain. In regard to the franchise question--the crying question of the decade--Mr. Kruger turned an ear more and more deaf. There are none so deaf as those whose ears are stopped up with the cotton-wool of their own bigotry. This bigotry it is almost impossible for enlightened persons to understand. As an instance of the almost fanatical ignorance and prejudice with which the Uitlanders had to contend, we may quote the letter of Mr. Kruger when requested to allow his name to be used as a patron of a ball to be given in honour of her Majesty's birthday. He replied:--

"SIR,--In reply to your favour of the 12th inst., requesting me to ask his Honour the State President to consent to his name being used as a patron of a ball to be given at Johannesburg on the 26th inst., I have been instructed to inform you that his Honour considers a ball as Baal's service, for which reason the Lord ordered Moses to kill all offenders; and as it is therefore contrary to his Honour's principles, his Honour cannot consent to the misuse of his name in such connection.--I have, &c.,

"F. ELOFF, _Private Secretary_."

On another occasion, when the question of locust extermination came before the first Raad, the worthies to whom the conduct of the State was confided showed a condition of benighted simplicity that can scarcely be credited.

"_July 21._--Mr. Roos said locusts were a plague, as in the days of King Pharaoh, sent by G.o.d, and the country would a.s.suredly be loaded with shame and obloquy if it tried to raise its hand against the mighty hand of the Almighty.

"Messrs. Declerq and Steenkamp spoke in the same strain, quoting largely from the Scriptures.

"The Chairman related a true story of a man whose farm was always spared by the locusts, until one day he caused some to be killed.

His farm was then devastated.