To obtain their object, viz., the old one of blackening the people of the Transvaal and its Government, no expense of either money or truth was spared. But they overreached themselves. The more they _lied_ the more their lies were exposed and proved to be untrue. To-day the _Times_ would publish some telegram from Johannesburg, telling of some imaginary wrong perpetrated by the Transvaal Government, but the next day the assertion would be disproved by some authority not to be denied. In short, so apparent was the untruth of their statements, that the public soon learned to discredit all statements coming from newspapers known to be Chartered. Even Mr Chamberlain felt constrained to warn the public to accept with caution these interested wires from Johannesburg. We shall see farther on how the Transvaal Government triumphed against all these truth-ignoring libellers. CHAPTER XXII OUT OF EVIL CAME GREAT GOOD TO THE TRANSVAAL Verily, never was the saying realised to a fuller extent, that ‘out of evil cometh good,’ than was the case with the Transvaal after the events of January 1896. On New Year’s Day Stephen Joubert thought that never was his country and people in greater peril than they then were. And even though he hoped and trusted that they would at least escape the extreme peril of national suppression and total loss of freedom, yet he dared hardly hope that this great evil would bring forth great good. He hardly hoped for the Transvaal to retain the full prestige and strength that she possessed before the crisis. How great must his joy now be, in common with his fellow-countrymen, to find his country’s power, prestige and good name doubled and trebled since New Year’s Day. First of all, he read with joy the cables announcing that his country possessed the sympathy and goodwill of all the nations of the civilised world. He saw that Germany, France and Russia, especially the former, were determined to see the Transvaal’s independence maintained. He saw that the German Emperor sent a cable of congratulation to President Kruger that left no doubt of his opinion. Indeed, his opinion was expressed so plainly that England feared German interference, and sent a flying squadron to Delagoa Bay, to prevent Germany from landing troops at that port to aid the Transvaal--_a fool’s errand_. Transvaal never asked for German or any European aid!