South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 8): From the Foundation of Cape Colony to the Boer Ultimatum of 9th Oct. 1899Creswicke, Louis
History
South Africa and the Transvaal War, Vol. 1 (of 8): From the Foundation of Cape Colony to the Boer Ultimatum of 9th Oct. 1899
Creswicke, Louis
South African War, 1899-1902; Transvaal (South Africa) -- History
Dr. Jameson, as we all know, was sent with his comrades to England
to be dealt with by the laws of his country. He and his officers
were tried and convicted under the Foreign Enlistment Act. Much
sympathy was shown him by the vast British public, and little for
the Reformers, who, whatever their part in the affair, had to suffer
most. They endured mental torture, and bodily discomfort of all
kinds--discomfort so acute that it brought on some active illness,
and caused one to commit suicide. A Judge from the Orange Free
State--Judge Gregorowski--who took an unctious joy in the
proceedings, was imported to try them, and he revived or unearthed
an old Roman Dutch law of treason for the purpose of sentencing them
to death. This sentence was fortunately not carried out, but it
served to keep the Reformers and all connected with them in a state
of agonised suspense. Besides these sufferers from the effects of
the Raid, there were others. Mr. Rhodes is said to have exclaimed,
"I have been the friend of Jameson for twenty years and now he has
ruined me!" The statement was somewhat exaggerated, but there is no
doubt that Mr. Rhodes, besides having to resign the posts he
occupied, lost much of the sympathy of the Cape Dutch. The
Uitlanders, also, who had previously enjoyed this sympathy now
forfeited it, all the Dutch being inclined to quote the impulsive
act of Dr. Jameson as an example of British treachery, and to look
upon Mr. Kruger in the light of a hero. Indeed, many of the British,
who took merely an outsider's interest in the state of affairs,
laboured under the impression that Mr. Kruger was a simple-minded,
long-suffering, and magnanimous person. They did not trouble
themselves to go deeply into the incessant annoyances and
injustices that for many years had harried the lot of the Uitlanders
and caused them at last to lose patience and revolt against
oppression. Even now there are people who lean to the belief that
the coarse nut of Boer character may possess a sound kernel, people
who prefer to hug that belief rather than inform themselves by
reading what Mr. Rider Haggard, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and other
well-informed men have to say on the subject.
When all efforts to work upon Mr. Kruger failed, the wives of the
unhappy men applied to "Tante Sanne," as the President's wife is
called, and begged her intervention. She said, "Yes, I will do all I
can for you; I am very sorry for you all, although I know that none
of you thought of me that night when we heard Jameson had crossed
the border, and we were afraid the President would have to go out
and fight, and when they went and caught his white horse that he has
not ridden for eight years. But all the same I am sorry for you
all."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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