it was not long before the British took Natal. This occurred in the year 1842. Those Dutch who found themselves unbearably aggravated by this acquisition to the British domain, determined to rid themselves again of the rule of the hateful Briton, and, in 1843, took up their Trek again. Some of them took a westerly direction and settled in what is now known as the Orange Free State, across the Drakenberg, while others moved north across the Vaal into what is now called the Transvaal. Here the discontented Dutch undertook to establish themselves and enjoy that mode of life in which they had the greatest pleasure. These trekkers had no very great love for agricultural pursuits, but preferred to engage in the cattle industry, in which each burgher was allowed something like 3,000 acres of land. They preferred to settle upon these great ranches, sometimes at a considerable distance from their neighbors, and thus enjoy the solitude in which they seemed to have found the greatest satisfaction. They felt at last free from British dominion. But it was not long before they found themselves in a war with the surrounding native tribes, especially with the Zulus. The Dutch had always been stern and severe in their treatment of the negroes, and had meted out prompt and swift punishment for any encroachment upon their rights and privileges as they understood them. For miles around, the negro races were held in awe, and their frequent attempts to overcome the Dutch had proved utterly futile. The Dutch were excellent marksmen, having been trained for generations and from their youth to hunt. But in their new home, they finally found themselves so hard pressed that they were obliged to appeal to their English neighbors for assistance, and in 1877, after the sought for aid was furnished, the Transvaal was annexed to Great Britain. As soon as the dangers of the Zulus were removed, feelings of restlessness began to arise among the Dutch, and in 1881, the Dutch revolted against Great Britain and finally secured an independent government in all internal affairs, at the same time, they accepted the suzerainty of Great Britain. That is, all questions which had to do with the foreign policy of the little State must be referred to the Queen for her approval. During this revolt the celebrated battle of Majuba Hill took place, in which the English went down in overwhelming defeat. It was a remarkable battle, remarkable for several reasons.

In the first place, it demonstrated very clearly

that the Dutch were strategists of no mean order; and, in the second place, they proved themselves to be most excellent warriors. They are perhaps the best marksmen in the world. Whenever an Englishman was seen to lift his head above the rocks, he was killed, and, after the battle, an examination of the field was had, and it was discovered that a very large percentage of the English were shot through the head.

At the same time there arose in the minds of the Dutch the idea that they were unconquerable. At this time, Mr. Gladstone was in power, and he concluded to withdraw from any further contest with these Boers, and their liberty was finally accorded to them, in the year 1884, in what was known as the London Convention. Gladstone was a great home-ruler. He was never noted for a vigorous foreign policy, and to carry out the principles of home rule and to extend the franchise to English subjects, it became necessary, in his mind, to hold aloft the standard of liberty everywhere. What he would do for the unfortunate peasant who twenty years ago in England did not possess the franchise, he would aim, in some measure, to do abroad. To hold foreign peoples in arbitrary subjection was inconsistent with the advocacy of those great principles of universal franchise which it was his glory to advocate.

The Dutch would now have been permitted to get along in their own indifferent way, and lead the life most congenial to them, had it not been for some geological accidents by which the great gold fields of the Transvaal were opened. In 1886, came the discovery of gold in great quantities. With the discovery of gold came a great influx of population, especially English, and Johannesburg became a great mining center in which tens of thousands of people took up their abode. In the course of time the Uitlanders, as the Boers called them, became more numerous than the Dutch themselves. Especially was this true of the voting population which is said to be in a proportion of two to one, in favor of the foreigners. The Uitlanders, very naturally, found obstacles in matters of government, and undertook to remove them. In the first place, they would naturally be free traders, desiring to secure their necessaries as cheaply as possible. On the other hand, the Dutch maintained a high tariff, not simply for the purpose of encouraging any industries which they had in view, but for the pur

pose of raising as much revenue as possible. The administration of justice, indeed all affairs relating to the government, were carried on in the Dutch language. Such a condition of affairs as this has, perhaps, never existed in the history of the world, a condition in which a majority of the people, superior in all that relates to civil progress and material prosperity, should become subject to an unprogressive race. The Uitlanders preferred to consider themselves colonists, entitled to the same rights and privileges as the Boers. The Boers, on the other hand, contended that they were a separate and distinct nationality; that the colonization period was past, and that they occupied the same position as the great nations of the earth. The Uitlanders contended that their position was analogous to tens of thousands who inhabited the United States, in colonial times, and who were admitted to all the rights and political privileges of the people, on the ground that they were colonists.

Strained relations, therefore, continued to develop as early as 1890, and there has been a constant demand for fuller political recognition on the part of the Uitlanders, and a stolid resistance on the part of the Boers. Such a relationship inverts all our theories of political equality, and subjects a progressive race to restraints and political servitude which they very naturally resent. If the Uitlanders were admitted to the full political rights of the Boers, then the latter must become the inferior and subordinate race, notwithstanding they regarded it as their own country in which they were entitled to all the prerogatives of an independent nation. In these strained relations, the utmost care was not taken on either side. Difficulties naturally arose, and a multitude of grievances were finally set forth by the Uitlanders, and the mother government was petitioned to intercede in their behalf.

In the midst of these contentions, there was a very strong inclination on the part of the Boers to take up another trek. They would go north into the Matabele land. They would go where they would be free to enjoy their own institutions, and their own quiet, undisturbed lives without any interference from the English. At the time they were evolving the idea of another migration in their minds, Europe was busily engaged in partitioning Africa among the great powers. The Matabele land, on the north of the Transvaal, had already attracted the great millionaire and South African promoter, Mr. Cecil Rhodes. He saw that the land was rich in its

mineral and agricultural resources, and urged upon the English government the necessity of establishing a form of government and of promoting colonization schemes. To his proposal England turned a deaf ear. But Rhodes was not to be baffled. He applied to England for a charter, and incorporated an enormous company with a capital of some ten millions of dollars. English settlers were invited into the country, mining and prospecting were carried on, and the natives were crowded back as the demands and resources of the country made it imperative that the English should have a fuller sway. It thus happened that the Boers of the Transvaal became, so to speak, hemmed in. The English government possessed colonies, now, to the south, and the chartered company owned an immense country to the north, a country which has subsequently been known as Rhodesia, in honor of the president of the chartered company, Mr. Cecil Rhodes. The Matabeles in time became troublesome, and Mr. Rhodes found it necessary to enlist a number of soldiers, more than eleven hundred, under the leadership of Dr. Jameson. The Matabeles were driven back, and Jameson and his soldiers were masters of the situation. Mr. Rhodes now conceived the idea of forcing England to assume the attitude of a protectorate over her subjects in the Transvaal. An issue was to be made, and, after a crisis had been engineered, it was believed that England would be forced to intercede in the interest of peace and the protection of her snbjects against the aggressions of the Boers. The Uitlanders, at Johannesburg, were constantly holding meetings, and were arousing public sentiment, and the agitation among them became very general. They had shipped arms into the country, and in some measure prepared themselves for an uprising. Word was sent to Dr. Jameson that the Uitlanders were now prepared to strike for their liberty. He was to take the initiative, on the north, and invade the Boer country, while they would attack the government of the Boers, on the south. The appeal to Dr. Jameson was for immediate action. He was made to believe that the war was on; and, without any instructions from Mr. Rhodes, though he acted in consonance with the plans which Mr. Rhodes intended should be ultimately carried out, he rushed with his force into the Boer country. Jameson and his men were at once cut off by the strategy of the Boers who took them prisoners after a number had been killed in the contest. Jameson had

been made the dupe of the Uitlanders, the agitators in Johannesburg, who, after inducing him to make these aggressive movements, left him entirely to himself. The raid thus became a ridiculous failure, and Jameson and his fellow-troopers became, throughout the would, largely the objects of ridicule. The trial and punishment of the offenders clearly indicated that while England did not endorse it, she looked very charitably upon it, and the fifteen months imprisonment of Dr. Jameson clearly demonstrated that England was disposed to condone, as much as possible, such a gross national offense.

This failure, on the part of the raiders, and Uitlanders of Johannesburgh, turned the tide for awhile in favor of the Dutch. The raid occurred in 1896, and for more than three years the Boers became masters of the situation. But the agitation grew greater. The political conditions were not only burdensome to the English, but they became well nigh intolerable. They were surrounded by Boer soldiers who patroled the entire country round about, and created a feeling among the Uitlanders that they were somewhat subject to a quasi or sort of military government. The English government, however, declared constantly its intention to maintain a conciliatory policy toward South Africa and to regain the reforms desired by friendly means. These assurances were given out by Mr. Chamberlain as late as March, the present year. A change, however, was made in the appointment of a high Commissioner to South Africa, when Sir Alfred Milner was appointed to that office. It became at once manifest to the Dutch, when he took up the agitation with the newspapers, that he evidently had a mission. His telegraphic dispatches were of the jingo type, and he became, not a concilatory factor, but, an agitator himself on the side of the Uitlanders. The Boers felt at once that in him, Mr. Chamberlain was showing his hand, and that he was determined to create a crisis which would make a conflict imperative. The Dutch became now more resentful than ever. The animosity toward the English was intense, and the feeling of resistance became wellnigh universal. The paramount question through all the discussions leading up to the present war was that of the franchise. If the Dutch made the franchise universal and admitted on easy terms the Uitlanders to its full enjoyment, they simply surrendered their national identity. It was not easy to hit upon a compromise, although the