CHAPTER XXI

THE CHARTERED PRESS AGAIN--JONAH!

And who were the people for whom Mr Chamberlain was asking Home Rule? For people who ever since they entered the country have openly abused the Government, have tried in every way to abuse the freedom and liberty they enjoy in this country, by libelling and traducing the people and Government of the country. People who stood up in open rebellion against the Government, people who did not scruple to call in a band of foreign freebooters to help them to raise an unjust revolution. A people whose leaders openly declared that they had thirty thousand rifles to carry on the rebellion, and when they had solemnly promised to give up all arms gave up two thousand five hundred. Who did those leaders deceive? Did they deceive their followers when they declared they possessed thirty thousand rifles? or did they deceive the Government when they declared they possessed only two thousand five hundred?

These people had come to the Transvaal to make money. They had made fabulous fortunes out of Transvaal soil. And to show their gratitude to the Government of the country, who had fostered them and protected their industry, and had done everything possible to please them and prosper them, they evinced their gratitude by maturing the vilest plot known to history to overthrow this Government. This much for the rebels. On the other hand, the people for whom Mr Chamberlain asked Home Rule, ridiculed his proposal and would have no more of his home rule than they wanted of Downing Street rule. Those who were not satisfied with the Boer rule simply wanted to rule themselves, not only in Johannesburg, but the whole country. If they could not get the franchise, by which they could get to rule the whole country, then they would not have any rule at all other than they have now.

Then what would Mr Chamberlain do with the large proportion, if not the majority, of the inhabitants of Johannesburg, who are, and have always been satisfied with the present Government. _They_ would have no other Government than their own legitimate Government. But the whole proposal is so ridiculous that it would be foolish to discuss it further here. We shall proceed with our story. The utter ridiculousness of giving Home Rule to Johannesburg must be apparent to everyone who knows the state of affairs, and those who do not know have only to read this story to the end and they will see for themselves what the Jingo element in Johannesburg is composed of.

Now as regards the reception of Mr Chamberlain’s Home Rule Despatch. We have already stated that the _people_ of Johannesburg ridiculed it. But the Jingoes received it with joy.

‘Now at last,’ thought they, ‘England is committed; and either the South African Republic must knuckle under and do as the Secretary of State demands, or--fight Great Britain; once more “Rule Britannia” is sung with gusto. Mr Chamberlain has restarted, or very nearly so, the gassing and warlike talk of Jingoism. It will not be his fault if the peace is not broken once more.’

Now what will the Government of the South African Republic do? Will it brave the anger of the British Lion? or will it knuckle down and beg?

No! Once more the calm, manly and firm old man, the President of the Transvaal, stands to his guns, and fearlessly sends the Secretary of State for the Colonies of Great Britain a dignified, friendly, but _firm_ reply, in which the assertions of Mr Chamberlain are fairly refuted, and the right of England to interfere in the internal affairs of the South African Republic totally and distinctly denied.

At last the Jingoes rejoice, and many a firm friend of the Republic holds his breath in anticipation of disaster to its liberties. The President has thrown down the gauntlet, and England cannot but take it up and force the Transvaal at the point of the bayonet to accede to its unjust demands, or maybe to take away its freedom from the Transvaal altogether. Many began to make their preparations anew for the great struggle they thought they saw inevitable. But what was the surprise to many, disappointment to some, and joy to others, when the cables brought the news that England had quietly and tamely received President Kruger’s lesson in etiquette to Mr Chamberlain, and calm request to ‘mind your own business.’ Such was indeed the case, for Mr Chamberlain declared, in the House of Commons, that he had no intention to press the acceptance of his _suggestion_ on President Kruger. Once more PEACE seemed possible and probable. Once more the rival factions argued their various contentions with a calmer and more dignified spirit. Only the Chartered Press in South Africa and in England raged louder and louder as peace became probable. It seemed as if Mr Rhodes was aware that the only hope he had for his actions to be passed over or condoned was in war--war at any price, was consequently the cry of the Chartered Press. For if war with Great Britain brought to a successful issue Mr Rhodes’ scheme, viz., the suppression of the Transvaal Republic, then Mr Rhodes might reasonably hope that no inquiry would be held as to what part he had in the plot. Such an inquiry must be averted at any price if possible; for such an inquiry meant that light will be thrown on many a dark deed and conspiracy in the past life of the arch conspirator and his partners and subordinates. Such an inquiry would show that the trusted high official, Privy Councillor to the Queen, and Prime Minister of an important British colony, managing director of a large territory (ruled under a British Charter), had betrayed his trust in every case, and had brought dishonour upon his Queen and country; and would bring to the light of day the names of partners in the plot, never suspected, or, if suspected, only whispered as yet.

To avert such an inquiry then, all the influence of _gold_, power, position and birth, of Rhodes and his friends were brought to bear on newspapers, great and small; on Government officials, and even the ministry in power in England, to avert the dreaded inquiry--honour and truth even were sacrificed. Mr Rhodes totally denied all complicity in the plot--at first. But in spite of his denial, all his actions proved his guilt. His consciousness of guilt forced him to at once resign his premiership of the Cape Colony. Then he slunk off to England to avoid the reproachful looks of his betrayed fellow-ministers, and trusting friends, and also to set in motion his hireling Press in England, to defend or to justify, by hook or crook, his actions, and patch up his wrecked reputation. But even in England his guilty conscience would not let him rest; again he slunk off to the wilderness of Rhodesia that time. But to avoid meeting his duped friends in Cape Town again, he went _via_ the Red Sea this time. But the steamer that bore him refused to carry such political guilt, and cast him like a Jonah forth to proceed as best he might. Arrived in Rhodesia again, his advent seemed to be the signal for a native rebellion; a rebellion which is raging to this day (30th June 1896), and the consequences of which no one can foresee, except that there seems to be a probability of many more innocents being lost, in addition to the hundreds already lost, in the struggle against the natives by the inhabitants--a struggle that was caused solely through Mr Rhodes allowing the police forces, which ought to have protected the country, to be sent on a filibustering expedition against a friendly neighbour--a neighbour who, after being attacked in a cowardly and dastardly way by the Chartered Company, offered to fight the company’s battles against the Matabele out of sheer generosity and pity for the innocent inhabitants; but more of this anon.

Mr Rhodes’ absence in Rhodesia did not prevent his agents from continuing the newspaper fight against the Transvaal Government and people. Mr Rhodes’ actions were excused in a hundred different ways. Some denied his complicity in the plot altogether; while others, forced to admit his guilt, said he did it to lay bare some fancied plot between the Transvaal and Germany. In short, so many contradictory excuses emanated from the Rhodesian Press and party that one excuse confounded the other; but every impartial observer could see that these excuses, one and all, were rotten to the core. There being no defence that would stand the light of day, the Chartered combination of hireling newspapers, headed by the _Times_ of London, saw that all they could do was to abuse the other side, viz., the enemies of Mr Rhodes and his company, and thus find an excuse in the bad (?) administration of the South African Republic Government, giving forth that Mr Rhodes sought to bring a better (?) government into existence in the Transvaal.

To obtain their object, viz., the old one of blackening the people of the Transvaal and its Government, no expense of either money or truth was spared. But they overreached themselves. The more they _lied_ the more their lies were exposed and proved to be untrue. To-day the _Times_ would publish some telegram from Johannesburg, telling of some imaginary wrong perpetrated by the Transvaal Government, but the next day the assertion would be disproved by some authority not to be denied. In short, so apparent was the untruth of their statements, that the public soon learned to discredit all statements coming from newspapers known to be Chartered. Even Mr Chamberlain felt constrained to warn the public to accept with caution these interested wires from Johannesburg.

We shall see farther on how the Transvaal Government triumphed against all these truth-ignoring libellers.