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[1901-1902 A.D.] by Broadwood at Reitz by a few minutes; and on July 20th the aged wife of the ex-president died in Pretoria. August was an important month, as in it Kitchener promulgated a proclamation, formally threatening the Boer leaders who should not surrender with permanent banishment from South Africa: this proclamation, though supported by the home government, unfortunately had very little effect. Kitchener also received letters from the Boer leaders, showing that they were still determined to keep the field.

September showed some slight improvement in the situation in Cape Colony, when General (later Sir John) French was in supreme command. On the 5th, Scobell captured Lotter, who was subsequently executed for murder; though this was rather balanced a few days later by Smut's attack on the 17th Lancers. Botha made a desperate effort to reinvade Natal, but his plans were rendered abortive by his failure to reduce the posts of Mount Prospect and Fort Itala, which he attacked on September 26th. De la Rey was also defeated in the west, in an attack upon Colonel Kekewich's camp at Moedville. Desultory fighting continued till the close of the year, the balance of success being with the British, though on October 30th Colonel Benson's column had been defeated by Botha at Brakenlaagte, in the southeastern Transvaal. Affairs again took an unsatisfactory turn in Cape Colony, and on October 8th the whole colony was placed under martial law. f

[This period of the war was full of such incidents as General De Wet thus simply describes.]

"When we had crossed the river," he says, "I received a report from my scouts that there were about twenty of the enemy in a strong schanze on a kopje, which was about half an hour's march further up stream. I gave orders that a veldtcornet and twenty-five men, among whom was one of my staff, Willem Pretorius, should go and capture the schanze. The veldtcornet preferred not to approach beyond a certain distance, and consequently Willem Pretorius and four other men were left to do the work. Willem climbed the hill from one side, and the others, dividing into two, climbed it from the other side at two different points. They were met by a severe fire from the fort, but when they got to close quarters up went the white flag, and the English shouted 'We surrender!'

"Thus Willem Pretorius and four burghers captured twenty prisoners and a like number of horses, saddles, bridles, rifles and bandoliers, not to mention some three thousand cartridges. When the veldtcornet at last arrived with his twenty men, he certainly proved himself very useful in carrying away the booty!"

But in December matters improved, and General Bruce Hamilton's column, by a series of night marches, practically blotted out the resistance in the eastern Transvaal. The corps of National Scouts (burghers who had come over) was inaugurated, and matters so far mended in Johannesburg that the stock exchange reopened. By the end of the year the blockhouse system was complete, but this phase of the war was destined to close badly, as De Wet on Christmas Eve captured the whole of Colonel Firman's Yeomanry camp at Tweefontein, Orange River Colony.

THE "DRIVES"

With 1902 the last phase of this protracted struggle commenced. The blockhouse system was practically finished, and Kitchener determined upon a new means of harassing the enemy, who still had a total of about twentyfive thousand men in the field. But the blockhouses had already begun to

[graphic]

Copyright, 1902, by Photographische Gesellschaft HIS MAJESTY KING EDWARD VII DISTRIBUTING THE WAR MEDALS TO THE SOUTH AFRICAN VOLUNTEERS (From the painting by Ernest Crofts, R. A.)

[1902-1906 A.D.]

serve the purpose for which they were designed. In the past the mobile columns, of which there were over sixty in the field, had always been bound to the railway for supply; now convoys could be pushed out to them along whatever blockhouse line they touched.

During January and February this system was continued with alternate successes and disasters. In March De la Rey performed a gallant feat of arms by capturing Paris' column and Lord Methuen; but the great drive in the western Transvaal proved to the Boers the futility of prolonging the struggle. On March 23d representatives came into Pretoria, six weeks were spent in negotiation, and then a monster meeting of delegates, under the presidency of General Kemp, was held at Vereeniging.

PEACE

As a result of this conference a peace was ratified at Pretoria on May 31st, and the South African War was a history of the past. The terms of peace may be condensed into the following points: (1) surrender of all burghers in the field, with all arms and munitions of war; (2) all burghers duly declaring themselves subjects of King Edward VII to be repatriated; (3) no burghers who should surrender to be deprived of either their liberty or property; (4) no proceedings to be taken against burghers for any legitimate acts of war during the period of hostilities; (5) the Dutch language to be taught in public schools on the request of parents, and to be allowed in courts of law; (6) sporting rifles to be allowed upon the taking out of licences; (7) the military adminis tration to be superseded by civil administration as soon as possible, the civil administration to lead up to self-government; (8) the question of the native franchise not to be considered until after the introduction of self-government; (9) landed property not to be subjected to any special tax to defray the cost of the war; (10) a cor.mission to be formed to facilitate the repatriation of the burghers. A grant of £3,000,000 to be given as compensation for the destruction of farms. These terms were signed on behalf of the British government by Lord Milner and Lord Kitchener; on behalf of the Orange Free State by Messrs. J. Brebner, C. R. de Wet, C. Olivier, and Judge J. B. M. Hertzog; on behalf of the Transvaal government, by Messrs. S. W. Burger, F. W. Reitz, Louis Botha, J. H. De la Rey, Lucas Meyer, and Krogh.

In the whole war the British lost 5,774 killed and 22,829 wounded, while the Boers lost about 4,000 killed. The number of Boer prisoners in the hands of the British at the end of the war was about 40,000.

The story of the Transvaal since the war can be told in few words. The work of repatriation proceeded rapidly, and a new government, consisting of an executive and legislative council, a supreme court, and a lieutenantgovernor, all appointive, was established. In 1904 the home government decided that the time had come when an elective element could be introduced; and in April, 1905, the draft of a new constitution was issued. Before this constitution, which did not concede full local government, was inaugurated, the liberal party came into control in England, and, much to the satisfaction of the Boers, announced that a responsible government would be established. Owing to the scarcity of labour for working the mines, an ordinance allowing the introduction of non-Europeans under contract was passed in 1904, and in the same year and in 1905 many thousands of Chinese were brought in. This policy aroused opposition, especially among the liberals in England, and the new liberal ministry suspended the introduction of these persons until the colony could decide upon the question for itself.

[1497-1843 A.D.] On July 31st, 1906, the new British parliament took up the question of granting a constitution to the Transvaal colony, and later in the year a new constitution was put in operation. It provides for universal manhood suffrage on a qualification of six months' residence; for an election every five years; and for an elective second chamber modelled on that of Cape Colony. In the first election the Boers, aided in many constituencies by the English Nationalists, who opposed the grasping policy of the mine owners, gained a majority of the seats. General Botha became the first premier and entered upon his duties in a way that gave bright promise for future harmony. Despite the opposition of the mine owners, steps were taken to exclude the Chinese and to repatriate those already in the colony at the expiration of their contracts. An education bill has also been adopted, and the colony has presented to King Edward the famous Cullinan diamond.a

NATAL

The country which forms the colony of Natal was discovered by Vasco da Gama, who sighted the bluff headland at the entrance to the bay forming the present port at Durban, on Christmas Day in 1497, and so named the country Terra Natalis. From that date little is recorded until the survivors of the crew of the Dutch ship Stavenisse, wrecked on the coast in 1686, gave their report of the country and its inhabitants. In 1721 the Dutch formed a settlement, but it was soon abandoned. Subsequently, about 1810, it would seem that Chaka, chief of the Amazulu, swept with his warriors through the whole of Natal and the adjoining territories, destroying all males, and making booty of the cattle and women. One tribe, the Amatuli, however, after offering resistance to the invader, retreated into the dense bush near the bluff and were amongst the few aborigines when the British took possession of the country. In 1824 Lieutenant Farewell and about twenty companions landed in Natal with the view of colonising it, and for that purpose entered into a treaty with Chaka. Some four years after their arrival, however, Chaka was murdered by his brother Dingaan, and the settlement was broken up. In 1835 another British officer, Captain Allen Gardner, got permission from Dingaan to introduce missionaries into the country, and at once formed the township of Durban, at the port where there were still a few English settlers. In 1837 several Dutch farmers made an exodus from the Cape Colony, and one of their leaders, Peter Retief, with the assistance of the reverend Mr. Owen, who had been for some time a resident missionary at Dingaan's own head kraal, obtained from Dingaan a cession of the whole territory of Natal. Immediately after the conclusion of the treaty Retief and his followers were treacherously murdered, and the attempt was made to extirpate the Boers throughout the length and breadth of the land. The latter with their firearms eventually proved more than a match for their numerous assailants, and joining Mpanda, who had rebelled against his brother Dingaan, utterly routed Dingaan's army on the banks of the White Umvolozi in 1840, and drove him to the Amaswazi country, where he was shortly after assassinated. Natal became a British colony on August 8th, 1843, and, owing no doubt to the fame of the security and protection to be found under the British flag, large accessions were at once made to the native population by refugees from the several surrounding tribes. Since 1843 the colony has made rapid progress; the native tribes as a rule have been loyal, and, although occasional reports from Zululand have alarmed the colonists, it has very seldom been found necessary to send out the volunteer forces on commando. Any tendency to

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