Origin Of The Anglo-Boer War Revealed - free ebook by C. H. Thomas

The Conspiracy of the 19th Century Unmasked

of Belfast Transvaal formerly Orange Free State Burgher SECOND EDITION LONDON: HODDER AND STOUGHTON 27 PATERNOSTER ROW MCM Butler &amp; Tanner The Selwood Printing Works Frome and London...

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NOTICE

The present book had been intended for publication in South Africa before the end of 1899, with the object of laying bare the wicked and delusive aims of the Afrikaner Bond combination, to which the Anglo-Boer war alone is attributable, and to counteract its disastrous influences so far as then still possible. But until quite lately circumstances had conspired so as to prevent the writer from leaving the Transvaal, and when he at last obtained the required passport to Lourenço Marques he was the

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CURSORY HISTORY OF THE BOER NATION

The two principal elements of the Boer nation were the settlers of the Dutch trading company at the Cape of Good Hope, sturdy farmers and tradesmen belonging to the proletarian class of Holland, and a subsequent contingent of French Huguenot refugees and their families who joined as colonists soon after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. I mention below the names still existing which form a large proportion of the present Boer nation of Huguenot descent:— Men of the best French stock, noted

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PROSPERITY OF BOERS AND POLITICAL RELATIONS WITH ENGLAND UP TO 1881

A period of about twenty-five years following the establishment of the Orange Free State and Transvaal Republics was marked with much progress and prosperity in the Cape Colonies and Natal, both Republics also having cause to rejoice over similar advancement. The evil influence which aimed at rending good relations between Boer and English became more apparent after 1881. During the preceding era the two races actually had been in a fair way towards friendly assimilation. Mutual appreciation was

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TRANSVAAL HISTORY—SUZERAINTY

The references made to the history of the Transvaal so far reach up to the rehabilitation of its independence and the convention of 1881. Some of the conditions of that treaty, especially the subordinate position imposed by the suzerainty clause, were found to be repugnant to the burghers. Delegates were therefore commissioned to proceed to England in order to get the treaty so altered as to place the State into the status provided by the Sand River convention, which conceded absolute independen

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MONSTER PETITION—JAMESON INCURSION—ARMAMENTS

It was at this stage in May, 1894, that a monster petition with some 25,000 signatures was presented to the Volksraad, setting forth the entire position, and praying for a commission to be appointed to examine the merits of the Uitlander complaints, and to frame a programme of reforms, the interests of the mining community needing such in a most urgent degree, not only for the sake of its own prosperity, but for the welfare of the entire State. A commission was indeed appointed, who reported in

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BLOEMFONTEIN FRANCHISE CONFERENCE—BOER ULTIMATUM

Capitalists had already begun to feel nervous about the final security of their investments; operations and credit became restricted, fresh projects were abandoned and a persistent withdrawal of capital set in. Trade and prosperity were progressively waning, accompanied with still more ominous portents for the Uitlanders' future. It all meant a very extensive weeding out of investments under enormous losses, except such as stood in relation with dividend-paying mines. England, though apparently

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BOER LANGUAGE

We come now to the topic of language, which will be found relevant, showing Hollander and Bond influence in using that also as a hostile weapon. What the Boers still speak is a vernacular or dialect so far removed from High Dutch as to be unintelligible to the uninitiated Hollander. It took its form from the dialects brought to the Cape of Good Hope by unlettered Dutch colonists and a large admixture of locally produced idioms, with a slight trace of the structure of the French language in expre

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PACIFIC POLICY OF GREAT BRITAIN

During the period of, say, twenty-five years after the inception of the Afrikaner Bond, and while its organization and development were secretly kept at full pace with occurring events, the British Government consistently and openly pursued the policy of bringing about the unification of South Africa. Mr. Froude, a speaker of rare gifts, was sent to lecture upon the topic: this was in about 1873. The Colonial Governor, Sir Bartle Frere, strenuously advocated that union. The lines suggested were

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BOND PRESS PROPAGANDA—SECRET SERVICE—TRADE RIVALRIES

The Bond leaders in Holland and South Africa had at an early stage acted upon Stuart Mill's recognised saying, "that conviction in a cause is of more potent avail than mere interest in it." Among those leaders there was no lack of men of erudition and of psychological science, than whom no one knew better the prime importance of ensuring uniformity of convictions among the Boers and their partisans, and that the public mind needs to be framed and trained so as to view the Boer cause as just and

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PORTUGUESE TERRITORY—TRANSVAAL LOW VELDT—MALARIA—HORSE SICKNESS

Between the north-eastern borders of the Transvaal and the coast lies the Portuguese colony Mozambique. Its frontier railway station, Ressario Garcia, is near that of the Transvaal, viz., Komati poort, which is 53 miles from Delagoa Bay. A low-lying country extends from the coast about 100 to 200 miles inland, and is tropical. Except some elevated spots, the whole of it is almost uninhabitable in summer by whites on account of malaria. During some specially bad seasons natives even succumb to th

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CLIMATE AND TOPOGRAPHY

From the tropical Zambesi regions and the torrid Kalahari plains, down to the 34th parallel at Cape point, a great diversity of climatic conditions is met with. To the north and north-east are the steaming, death-breeding low lands, abounding with dank virgin forests and scrubby stretches; and to the north-west extend the arid, sandy, and stony levels. There are the temperate and fruitful inland reaches along the southern and south-eastern littoral, and again further inward the vast plateaux at

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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, mont

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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 ground

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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. Its equipments include ateliers and laboratories under the conduct of eminent scientists and men of most advanced technical proficiency. The site is a farm na

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BOND FIGHTING STRENGTH IN BEGINNING OF 1899

102,000 highly efficient, and 42,000 partly trained. The mounts are docile, hardy and nimble, with large reserves available. The above includes 500 Johannesburg Mounted Police, a picked body of men armed with carbine, revolver, and sabre....

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BOER CONSERVATISM

Rudyard Kipling truly said "the Boers are the most conservative people on earth." Habits and views which had prevailed two hundred years ago with their forefathers are still tenaciously preserved by them. We see this in matters of language, religion, in certain antipathies, and even in attire. They are justly famed for hospitality, not only amongst themselves, but also towards strangers, and a very pleasing trait, no doubt handed down from the seigneurial Huguenots, is the genial politeness whic

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AN OLD FREE STATER'S ADMONITION

The doctrines of the Afrikaner Bond coterie have been so assiduously and deeply instilled into the Boer mind that demonstrations are utterly futile in shaking the national conviction of the divinely approved justice of his cause. The first occasion when I saw this illustrated, and also the people's unreasoning adherence to their leaders' opinions, happened about ten years ago at burgher meetings which had been convened to discuss the then projected law for restraining Uitlanders from admission t

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MODUS VIVENDI SUGGESTED BY OLD FREE STATER

As is known, the conference between Sir Alfred Milner and President Krüger, assisted by President Steyn, took place at Bloemfontein during the first days of June last (1899), and resulted in the refusal to a demand of a five years' franchise made on behalf of the Transvaal Uitlanders, which refusal was some time later modified by enacting a law admitting them to full burgher rights after a probation of seven years, but coupled with restrictive forms and conditions which made that measure unaccep

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MR. CHAMBERLAIN'S POLICY TO AVERT WAR

Seeing that twenty years of patient, loyal endeavours and friendly conciliatory proceedings following upon the rehabilitation of the Transvaal independence had utterly failed in advancing the object of uniting the English and Boer races, and that instead the existing gulf was ever widening through the spread of those fell Afrikaner Bond doctrines, it had become imperative, on the part of British statesmen, to employ special efforts to overcome the serious menace hanging over South Africa. The cr

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AFRIKANER BOND GUILT IN GRADATIONS

The promiscuous details and incidents, together with the circumstantial and primâ facie evidence thus far adduced in arraigning the Afrikaner Bond combination, point mostly to conditions existent before the war broke out. We had the smoke before the conflagration—it is a wonder how people could manage to ignore the menace. Now the war torch is over us in its full luridness. Ordinary fires, if not kindled, originate either from accident, spontaneous combustion, or incendiarism. With war the origi

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ENGLAND'S NATIVE AND COLONIAL POLICY

Until the earlier parts of this nineteenth century England has been conspicuous among other nations in tolerating slavery in some of her possessions, and in permitting her people to engage in systematic man-hunts, with the accompanying atrocities and horrors of a regular slave trade. Manifestations of national abhorrence and condemnation of that inhuman traffic and of slavery in general appeared during the first quarter of this century. The nation hid its shame and contrition in acts towards rem

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PHYSIQUE AND HABITS

We have noted in former pages that the Boers' ancestry some two centuries ago was composed of about two-thirds of sturdy Dutch peasants, artizans, etc., while the other third consisted mostly of French Huguenots. It is known that the immigrant class, though generally somewhat poor, are uniformly men and women endowed with an adventurous, self-reliant spirit and with unimpaired health. Naturally none but robust persons were permitted to join the Dutch settlement at the Cape of Good Hope. We see i

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PRESIDENT KRÜGER

Stephanus Johannes Paulus Krüger is about the most accessible President on record. Every morning—except Sundays and holidays, after family worship, that is to say, from 5.30 in summer and 6 in winter to 8 o'clock—he gives audience to Boer and Uitlander, rich or poor alike, and also on each afternoon, from 4 to 6 and even later. His residence in the west end of Church Street, Pretoria, is quite an ordinary modest building of the bungalow type. The only distinction observable is two crouching lion

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PEACE ADJUSTMENTS

Upon this topic a few remarks may be placed under the assumption that the arch enemy's triumph in the present war will be circumscribed by the havoc and the bereavements created by it, and by the forfeiture inflicted upon the poor deluded Boers of their special heirlooms. One of the considerations would be the war cost and its recoupment, and another important one is the measures needful to prevent a repetition of a Bond revolt. As to the war indemnity: it is well understood on all hands that th

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