A Century of Wrong | Page 6

is a short Military Report on the Transvaal, printed in
India in August last, which was found most interesting. The white
population is given at 288,000, of whom the Outlanders number 80,000,
and of the Outlanders 30,000 are given as of British descent--which
figures the authorities regard as much nearer the truth than Mr.
Chamberlain's statements made in the House of Commons.

One report estimates that 4,000 Cape and Natal Colonists would side
with the Republics in case of war, and that the small armament of the
Transvaal consists of 62,950 rifles, and that the Boers would prove not
so mobile or such good marksmen as in the War of Independence.
Further, the British did not think much of the Johannesburg and
Pretoria forts.
A further secret Report styled "Military Notes on the Dutch Republics
of South Africa," and numbers of other papers, not yet examined, were
also found, and are to be forwarded to Pretoria.
The Free State burghers are now more than ever convinced that it was
the right policy for them to fight along with the Transvaal, and they say,
since they have seen the reports, that they will fight with, if possible,
more determination than ever.
It may be contended, no doubt, upon our part that these private reports
were none other than those which every Government receives from its
military attachés, but it must be admitted that their discovery at the
present moment is most inopportune for those who wish to persuade
the Free State that they can rely upon the assertions of Great Britain
that no design was made upon their independence. If at this moment the
portfolios of a German Staff Officer were to fall into the hands of an
English correspondent, and detailed plans for invading England were to
be published in all the newspapers as having been drawn up by German
officers told off for that purpose, it would not altogether tend to
reassure us as to the good intentions of our Imperial neighbour. How
much more serious must be the publication of these documents seized
at Dundee upon a people which is actually at war.
The concluding chapter of Mr. Reitz's eloquent impeachment of the
conduct of Great Britain in South Africa is devoted to a delineation of
what he calls Capitalistic Jingoism. It is probable that a great many
who will read with scant sympathy his narrative of the grievances of his
countrymen in the earlier part, of the century will revel in the invective
which he hurls against Mr. Rhodes and the Capitalists of the Rand. If
happier times return to South Africa, Mr. Reitz may yet find the

mistake he has made in confounding Mr. Rhodes with the mere
dividend-earning crew, who brought about this war in order to diminish
the cost of crushing gold by five or six shillings a ton. In the realisation
of the ideal of Africa for the Africanders Mr. Rhodes might be more
helpful to Mr. Reitz and the Dutch of South Africa than any other
living man. Whether it is possible for them to forget and forgive the
future alone will show. But at present it seems rather as if Mr. Reitz
sees nothing between Africanderism and Capitalistic Jingoism but war
to the death.
Mr. Reitz breaks off his narrative at the point immediately before the
Ultimatum. Those curious politicians who begin their survey of the war
from the launching of that declaration will, therefore, find nothing in A
Century of Wrong to interest them. But those who take a fresh and
intelligent view of a long and complicated historical controversy will
welcome the authoritative exposition of the causes which, in the
opinion of the authors of the Ultimatum, justified, and, indeed,
necessitated that decisive step. To what Mr. Reitz has said it is only
necessary to add one fact.
The Ultimatum was dated October 9th. It was the natural response to
the menace with which the British Government had favoured them
three days previous, when on October 6th they issued the formal notice
calling out the Reserves for the avowed object of making war upon the
South African Republic.
Whether they were right or wrong, it is impossible to withhold a tribute
of admiration and sympathy for the little States which confront the
onslaughts of their Imperial foe with such heroic fortitude and serene
courage. As Dr. Max Nordau remarks in the North American Review
for December:--
The fact that a tiny people faces death without hesitation to defend its
independence against an enemy fabulously superior in number, or to
die in the attempt, presents an aspect of moral beauty which no soul,
attuned to higher things, will disregard. Even friends and admirers of
England--yea, even the English themselves--strongly sense the pathos
in the situation of the Dutch Boers, who feel convinced