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Page 4
England at once declared that she had had no hand in the matter, and asked
that Dr. Jameson and the rest of the prisoners might be sent to her, to be
dealt with according to her laws.
After some delay President Kr�ger agreed to do this, and the remnant of
the famous raiders was shipped to England.
On their arrival they were tried for breaking the laws, and the officers
and Dr. Jameson were sentenced to various terms of imprisonment, varying
from five to fifteen months.
This ended the matter as far as Dr. Jameson was concerned--but not for the
Government.
The Boers presented a claim to the British Government for damages
sustained by them from the raid. Their claim is for $8,000,000.
They ask three millions for material damage, which means the cost of the
men and arms they used to defeat the raiders, and five millions for "moral
and intellectual damage," which means wounded feelings and general
annoyance.
There was much amusement in the British Parliament when the claim was
made, and the members laughed heartily at the idea of moral and
intellectual damage.
In the same way that we manage these matters in our Senate, the affair was
referred to a committee.
This committee has to inquire into the matter, see if the claim is a just
one, and whether England ought really to pay money to the South African
Republic.
It is this committee which is sitting in Westminster Hall.
All London was interested when Mr. Cecil Rhodes was called before it and
put on the stand as a witness. Mr. Rhodes was the Prime Minister of Cape
Colony, and resigned his position when the trouble came about the Raid.
He is perhaps the most important man in all South Africa. It is his desire
to bring the whole of this territory under English rule, and it is thought
that this ambition was at the root of the Jameson Raid, and that Cecil
Rhodes is really the person who is responsible for it.
It is also whispered that the English Government looks favorably upon his
plans, and that the Raid was only a part of a deep-laid scheme to
overthrow the Boer Government, and seize the Transvaal for England.
The Boers evidently believe this side of the story, for at the opening of
their Parliament the other day, Oom Paul, the valiant old President,
stated that it was the object of the enemy to destroy the Republic, but
that the Boers must rely upon the help of God. He closed his speech with
the solemn words:
"The Lord will not forsake His people!"
Mr. Cecil Rhodes has been asked by the Committee of Inquiry to explain the
trouble in South Africa, and he has done so at great length.
His explanation is, however, a trifle funny to fair-minded persons who
believe that the old maxim, "What is mine is mine, and what is thine is
thine," should be strictly obeyed.
Mr. Rhodes has made a long complaint against the Boers for not allowing
strangers and foreigners to help them govern their own country. He has
pictured the woes of the Uitlanders because they are not allowed to
govern, and because their children are not taught English in the schools,
and moreover, because they are made to pay heavy taxes for the gold they
mine and carry away. They have still another grievance. Any favor that the
Boers show at all is shown to Germans, and not to Englishmen. The Boers
will not allow any of the products of Cape Colony within their borders,
but prefer to do their trading with Germany. A dreadful offence truly,
that they choose their own markets!
The Commission has heard Mr. Rhodes with great seriousness and a good deal
of sympathy.
So far, strange to say, it does not seem to have occurred to any member of
the august assembly which is making the inquiry, that the Uitlanders are
mere squatters in the Transvaal, and that if they don't like the ways of
the country they are visiting, there is nothing to prevent them from
packing up their traps, and going back whence they came.
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