The Message Was Not An Ultimatum, But
It Foreshadowed An Ultimatum In The Future.
In the meantime, upon September 21st the Raad of the Orange Free
State had met, and it became more
And more evident that this
republic, with whom we had no possible quarrel, but, on the
contrary, for whom we had a great deal of friendship and
admiration, intended to throw in its weight against Great Britain.
Some time before, an offensive and defensive alliance had been
concluded between the two States, which must, until the secret
history of these events comes to be written, appear to have been a
singularly rash and unprofitable bargain for the smaller one. She
had nothing to fear from Great Britain, since she had been
voluntarily turned into an independent republic by her and had
lived in peace with her for forty years. Her laws were as liberal
as our own. But by this suicidal treaty she agreed to share the
fortunes of a State which was deliberately courting war by its
persistently unfriendly attitude, and whose reactionary and narrow
legislation would, one might imagine, have alienated the sympathy
of her progressive neighbour. There may have been ambitions like
those already quoted from the report of Dr. Reitz's conversation,
or there may have been a complete hallucination as to the
comparative strength of the two combatants and the probable future
of South Africa; but however that may be, the treaty was made, and
the time had come to test how far it would hold.
The tone of President Steyn at the meeting of the Raad, and the
support which he received from the majority of his burghers, showed
unmistakably that the two republics would act as one. In his
opening speech Steyn declared uncompromisingly against the British
contention, and declared that his State was bound to the Transvaal
by everything which was near and dear. Among the obvious military
precautions which could no longer be neglected by the British
Government was the sending of some small force to protect the long
and exposed line of railway which lies just outside the Transvaal
border from Kimberley to Rhodesia. Sir Alfred Milner communicated
with President Steyn as to this movement of troops, pointing out
that it was in no way directed against the Free State. Sir Alfred
Milner added that the Imperial Government was still hopeful of a
friendly settlement with the Transvaal, but if this hope were
disappointed they looked to the Orange Free State to preserve
strict neutrality and to prevent military intervention by any of
its citizens. They undertook that in that case the integrity of the
Free State frontier would be strictly preserved. Finally, he stated
that there was absolutely no cause to disturb the good relations
between the Free State and Great Britain, since we were animated by
the most friendly intentions towards them. To this the President
returned a somewhat ungracious answer, to the effect that he
disapproved of our action towards the Transvaal, and that he
regretted the movement of troops, which would be considered a
menace by the burghers. A subsequent resolution of the Free State
Raad, ending with the words, 'Come what may, the Free State will
honestly and faithfully fulfill its obligations towards the
Transvaal by virtue of the political alliance existing between the
two republics,' showed how impossible it was that this country,
formed by ourselves and without a shadow of a cause of quarrel with
us, could be saved from being drawn into the whirlpool. Everywhere,
from over both borders, came the news of martial preparations.
Already at the end of September troops and armed burghers were
gathering upon the frontier, and the most incredulous were
beginning at last to understand that the shadow of a great war was
really falling across them. Artillery, war munitions, and stores
were being accumulated at Volksrust upon the Natal border, showing
where the storm might be expected to break. On the last day of
September, twenty-six military trains were reported to have left
Pretoria and Johannesburg for that point. At the same time news
came of a concentration at Malmani, upon the Bechuanaland border,
threatening the railway line and the British town of Mafeking, a
name destined before long to be familiar to the world.
On October 3rd there occurred what was in truth an act of war,
although the British Government, patient to the verge of weakness,
refused to regard it as such, and continued to draw up their final
state paper. The mail train from the Transvaal to Cape Town was
stopped at Vereeniging, and the week's shipment of gold for
England, amounting to about half a million pounds, was taken by the
Boer Government. In a debate at Cape Town upon the same day the
Africander Minister of the Interior admitted that as many as 404
trucks had passed from the Government line over the frontier and
had not been returned. Taken in conjunction with the passage of
arms and cartridges through the Cape to Pretoria and Bloemfontein,
this incident aroused the deepest indignation among the Colonial
English and the British public, which was increased by the reports
of the difficulty which border towns, such as Kimberley and
Vryburg, had had in getting cannon for their own defence. The Raads
had been dissolved, and the old President's last words had been a
statement that war was certain, and a stern invocation of the Lord
as final arbiter. England was ready less obtrusively but no less
heartily to refer the quarrel to the same dread Judge.
On October 2nd President Steyn informed Sir Alfred Milner that he
had deemed it necessary to call out the Free State burghers - that
is, to mobilise his forces. Sir A. Milner wrote regretting these
preparations, and declaring that he did not yet despair of peace,
for he was sure that any reasonable proposal would be favourably
considered by her Majesty's Government. Steyn's reply was that
there was no use in negotiating unless the stream of British
reinforcements ceased coming into South Africa.
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