published broadcast by the newspapers of the United Kingdom. One evening journal in London gravely informed its readers that it had received from a most trustworthy source intelligence of a reliable nature that Dr Jameson had defeated the Boers, reached Johannesburg and set up a provisional government. I mention this rumour, not because of any particular importance that attached either to it or the paper in which it appeared, but simply as an example in point of the manner in which the Press of England lost its head at a critical period, and determined to accentuate and exacerbate the feeling against the Boers, which was entirely the outcome of prejudice and ignorance. Certainly, as I have said, there were some laudable exceptions to this fanning of the flame of excitement, which undoubtedly prevailed among the public for many days during an extremely critical period.

I have said much about the trend of public opinion in this country, and in respect of the manner in which the so-called organs of public opinion led the public on a false scent. There was, however, one man in this country, a noble and heroic figure, with whose opinions and actions I have not always been in agreement, but whose general course of conduct, both in political and private life, has ever obtained my profound admiration and respect. I refer to that venerable statesman, the Right Honourable W. E. Gladstone, one of the noblest figures of the nineteenth century, a man who has always raised his voice, in season and out of season, on behalf of the poor, the

oppressed, the down-trodden, and in the interests of truth and justice. It was, therefore, with considerable feelings of pleasure that, when excitement in regard to matters in the Transvaal was almost at its height, that I read the following interesting letter from the pen of the aged statesman :—

"DEAR SIR,—I have always thought the Transvaal had rather peculiar claims upon us, and I am much pleased with what I see thus far of Kruger's conduct. But we are not out of the wood yet, and I am not entitled to interfere. As at present advised, however, I am alike surprised and disgusted at the outrage committed on the Republic; and even if the Uitlanders were the main cause, that is no answer to those whose territory was invaded and their peace disturbed by armed invasion. Your very faithful and obedient,

"January 17, 1896."

"W. E. GLADSTONE.

Needless to say, Mr Gladstone's letter gave considerable satisfaction to President Kruger and the Government of the Transvaal, and had no little effect in bringing about the better state of feeling which, I believe, now exists between the Boer population and the Uitlanders. The sympathy expressed by Her Majesty the Queen in reference to the terrible dynamite explosion in Johannesburg also caused considerable satisfaction. In fact, I believe, and I have good reason for saying so, that if Lord

Their

Salisbury's Government deals with President Kruger on just and upright lines, respects the independence of the Transvaal and promises to conserve it, there is every prospect of not only friendly, but cordial, feelings springing up between the Dutch and English races, not in the Transvaal only, but in South Africa. As General Joubert, in thanking the Orange Free State burghers, remarked, there is a great future before South Africa if it is only united. cause, said the General, was the cause of the South African people, who would achieve their end by combining all who are under a different rule into one nation. This combination, I may remark, was the aim of Lord Carnarvon, Sir Bartle Frere, and many other eminent statesmen and administrators. It is the hope of every man who has the welfare of South Africa at heart, and I believe in my soul that the psychological moment has almost arrived when such a consummation can be effected.

I have alluded in this chapter to the fictitious and exaggerated reports that appeared in many newspapers published in this country in regard to matters in the Transvaal. When all else failed, we had the old, old stories about Boer atrocities which, as Mr Froude showed in his book, Oceana, were stale garbage, and when investigated, had always been proved to be absolutely false. However, they were once again published here in the month of January 1896, but it is pleasing to be able to state that so soon as they were published and the intelligence was transmitted to the Cape, Sir J. Gordon Sprigg, Mr J.

Hofmeyr, Mr J. Merriman, Mr W. P. Schreiner, Mr J. W. Sauer, Sir J. Sivewright, Sir T. Upington, Mr Te. Water, Mr David Graaf, and other prominent persons, signed the following declaration for publication in London :

"The telegrams sent to the London papers giving accounts of outrages perpetrated by Boers on British subjects are regarded here as mischievous fictions, and are deplored by all Africans as calculated further to embitter race feeling and to retard a peaceful settlement."

CHAPTER XII

LETTERS ON THE TRANSVAAL QUESTION

SHORTLY after the invasion of the Transvaal by the Chartered Company's force under Dr Jameson, I found public opinion here in England so utterly adrift in regard to the true facts of the case, as between Boers and Uitlanders, that I deemed it necessary, in the interests of truth and justice, to address several letters to the Press in order, if possible, to correct prevalent misconceptions. These letters, if I may make bold to say so, served, I believe, a useful purpose in directing attention to the fact, which had apparently been entirely disregarded, that the Boers had something, and a very considerable amount, to urge on their behalf, and that the "Transvaal Question" was by no means the one-sided matter the Press of this country had deluded the public into believing it to be. I reproduce the letters I refer to for the information of my readers :