A Womans Part in a Revolution

A Woman's Part in a Revolution

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Natalie Harris Hammond
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Title: A Woman's Part in a Revolution
Author: Natalie Harris Hammond
Release Date: February 19, 2005 [eBook #15109]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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WOMAN'S
PART IN A REVOLUTION***
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A WOMAN'S

PART IN A REVOLUTION
by
MRS. JOHN HAYS HAMMOND
Longmans, Green, and Co. 39 Paternoster Row London New York and
Bombay

1897

PREFACE
To the American Public, whose sympathy was my chief support
through days of bitter trial, this book is gratefully dedicated. My
personal experience forms the subject of my story. The causes of the
Revolt in Johannesburg, and the ensuing political questions, are but
lightly touched upon, in deference to the silence enforced upon my
husband as one of the terms of his liberation by the Boer Government.
NATALIE HAMMOND.
BOUGHTON: BICKLEY, KENT. February, 1897.

A WOMAN'S

PART IN A REVOLUTION
I hope I may be able to tell the truth always, and to see it aright
according to the eyes which God Almighty gives me.--THACKERAY.
I.
Totsey the terrier lay blinking in the hot African sun, while Cecilia
Rhodes, the house kitten, languished in a cigar box wrapped about with
twine to represent bars of iron. Above her meek face was a large label
marked 'African Lion.' Her captor, my young son Jack, was out again
among the flower-beds in quest of other big game, armed with my
riding-crop. The canvas awnings flapped gently in the cool breeze.
Every now and then a fan-like arm of one of the large Madeira chairs
would catch the impetus and go speeding down the wide red-tiled
verandah. I looked up from the little garment which I was making,
upon this quiet picture. It was the last restful moment I was to know for
many long months--such months of suffering and agonised
apprehension as God in His mercy sends to few women.
David, my husband's black coachman, drove rapidly through the gate,
and, coming up to me, handed me a letter. It was from his master and
briefly written. Jameson had crossed the Border; Johannesburg was

filled with strange people, and he thought it wise for me to move with
our family and servants into town. Rooms had been secured for us at
Heath's Hotel, and he would meet us that night at dinner. This
summons was not entirely unexpected. For many months the political
kettle had been simmering. Johannesburg had grown tired of sending
petitions in to the Government to be answered by promises which were
never redeemed. An appalling death-rate of fifty-six in each thousand,
directly traceable to lack of proper sanitation, resulting from bad
government, spurred the general discontent, and a number of
representative citizens, unwilling longer to wait upon gods and
Government, finding all attempts to obtain redress of their grievances
by constitutional means ineffectual, determined to enforce their
demands for right by arms if necessary. As arms for the Uitlander under
the law of the Transvaal could only be obtained by a permit, guns and
ammunition were smuggled into the country, hidden away in oil tanks
and coal cars.
My husband had vast interests in his charge; many million pounds
sterling had been invested at his instance in the mining industry of the
country, and, actuated by a sense of duty and responsibility to those
who had confided in him, he felt in honour bound to take an active part
in the movement, for the protection and preservation of the property
placed under his control.
My leaving for the Cape, in case affairs should assume a dangerous
phase, was frequently discussed between us, but I could not make up
my mind to leave my husband, feeling that the separation would be
more trying than if I remained, even should a conflict be forced upon us.
In addition to my wish to be with him, I knew that many of his staff
had their wives and children in Johannesburg, and would be unable to
send them away, and for me, the wife of their chief, 'to bundle to the
rear' would subject my husband, as well as myself, to harsh, and not
unjust, criticism.
The Leonard Manifesto was published December 26th, setting forth the
demands of the Uitlander.
'We want,' it reads:

'1. The establishment of this Republic as a true Republic.
'2. A Grondwet or constitution