The affairs of the Transvaal rose into prominent notice towards the close of 1895. Commercial enterprise had for some time been actively directed towards South Africa, notably by the British South Africa Company, at the head of which was Mr. Cecil Rhodes, the Premier of the Cape Colony, who had been sworn a member of Her Majesty's Privy Council. Miners and settlers in general poured into the Transvaal to the number of 60,000, converting the quiet village of Johannesburg into a large and busy town. The Transvaal Government viewed this movement with no favour; the industry of the Boer population was chiefly a pastoral one, and President Krüger steadily refused to comply with the claim of the new-comers to rights of citizenship. The Uitlanders, as the new settlers were called, numbered three to one of the native Boers, and were paying nine-tenths of the taxation: meetings, summoned to protest against the action of the President and Volksraad, were prohibited; a deaf ear was turned to all petitions for redress, and, at last, a movement was started to obtain by compulsion what was refused by law. A force of all arms, commanded by Dr. Jameson, and comprising several officers in the British service, invaded the Transvaal in the expectation of a concerted rising in Johannesburg. This did not take place: after a smart encounter with the Boers, the English force surrendered on January 1, 1896. The principal officers were put on their trial under the Foreign Enlistment Act, and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, and, in some instances, to forfeiture of their commissions. The claim for indemnity put forward by the Government of the South African Republic has not yet been settled. A Select Committee of the House of Commons was appointed to investigate the origin and conduct of what has become known as the "Johannesburg movement," and its enquiry is still proceeding. Perhaps the most important result of the Transvaal raid will prove to be the insight suddenly afforded into the true sentiments of the German Government towards Great Britain. The numerous bonds uniting the German and British Courts, added to the racial sympathies existing between the two nations, had given rise to the belief that the policy of Germany was more friendly towards Great Britain than that of some of the other great Powers. This belief was rudely dispelled by a message from the German Emperor to President Krüger encouraging him in resistance in any dispute that might arise with the British Government. [Illustration: A. Major White. B. Dr. Jameson. C. Capt. Coventry. D. Sir J. Willoughby. _R. Caton Woodville._} {_By permission of the Artist, and of Messrs. Graves, publishers of the Photogravure._ DR. JAMESON'S RAID: THE LAST STAND OF THE INVADERS, NEAR KRUGERSDORP, January 2, 1896.] [Sidenote: The Venezuelan Dispute.]