H. Robinson sent order to stop hostilities,
Dec. 31.

#1896.#--Dr. Jameson's party, outnumbered and without resources,
defeated by Boers near Krugersdorp, Jan. 1.

Fight at Vlakfontein, and surrender of Jameson, Jan. 2.

Johannesburg surrendered unconditionally by advice of British
Government, Jan. 2.

Dr. Jameson and other prisoners handed over to Sir H. Robinson, Jan.
7.

#1897.#--Judicial Crisis in South African Republic.

Annexation of Zululand to Natal.

#1899.#--Petition of Uitlanders to the Queen, May 24.

Conference, at Bloemfontein, between Sir A. Milner and Kruger, May
30. Terminated without result, June 6.

British Despatch to Transvaal, setting forth demands for immediate
acceptance, Sept. 8.

Unsatisfactory reply, Sept. 16.

Troops despatched to Natal, Sept. and Oct.

Insulting Boer Ultimatum, making war inevitable, Oct. 9.

Orange Free State joins with the Transvaal.

[Illustration: MAP OF THE BOER REPUBLICS.]

[Illustration: GENERAL MAP OF BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA]

SOUTH AFRICA AND THE TRANSVAAL WAR

INTRODUCTION

The Transvaal War--like a gigantic picture--cannot be considered at
close quarters. To fully appreciate the situation, and all that it
embraces, the critic must stand at a suitable distance. He must gaze
not merely with the eye of to-day, or even of the whole nineteenth
century, but with his mind educated to the strange conditions of
earlier civilisation. For in these conditions will be found the root
of the widespread mischief--the answer to many a riddle which
superficial observers have been unable to comprehend. The racial
hatred between Boer and Briton is not a thing of new growth; it has
expanded with the expansion of the Boer settlers themselves. In
fact, on the Boer side, it is the only thing independent of British
enterprise which has grown and expanded since the Dutch first set
foot in the Cape. This took place in 1652. Then, Jan Van Riebeck, of
the Dutch East India Company, first established an European
settlement, and a few years later the burghers began life as
cattle-breeders, agriculturists, and itinerant traders. These
original Cape Colonists were descendants of Dutchmen of the lower
classes, men of peasant stamp, who were joined in 1689 by a
contingent of Huguenot refugees. The Boers, or peasants, of that day
were men of fine type, a blend between the gipsy and the evangelist.
They were nomadic in their taste, lawless, and impatie