the matter of the
franchise had been considered as a sufficient justification for Her
Majesty's Government to endeavour to swallow up the Republics, and it
reminded the Afrikanders that God would assuredly defend the right.

The manifesto was signed "Francois Willem Reitz, Secretary of State." It
created a profound sensation, and a million copies were printed in Dutch
and English.

By this time General Viljoen, in command of the Free State artillery,
was marching towards Albertina, and a party of Boers was encroaching on
the Natal border near Berg. Newcastle was warned that a state of war had
begun. It was abandoned by the British, and taken possession of by the
Boers, while Mafeking held itself in readiness to withstand the enemy.
At Sandspruit the Boers were scattered in various camps over a wide
area, and on the Portuguese border the Barberton and Lydenburg
commandoes were concentrating. Terrified refugees were still fleeing to
the Cape in such large numbers that it was almost impossible to find
accommodation for them, and large sums of money were being subscribed
both there and in Great Britain for the relief of the unhappy exiles.
Mr. Rhodes, as usual, gave munificently in aid of the sufferers, and Sir
Alfred Milner exerted himself to save the unhappy victims of British and
Boer disagreement from destitution. The treatment that these poor
persons received from the Boers in the course of their journey caused
intense indignation, and profound sympathy was felt for the homeless
ones who thus suddenly had been cast adrift from domestic comfort to
complete poverty.

It was now believed that, following the precedent of 1881, an attempt
would be made to isolate Mafeking and Kimberley, and carry on irregular
sieges at these places. The enemy's forces on the northern frontier of
Natal were estimated at some 13,000 men, while at Mafeking and Kimberley
they were supposed to number some three thousand each. On the east, the
seaport of Lorenzo Marques now sprung into great importance, and the
supposed neutralisation of the harbour was effected.

On the 11th of October Mr. Coningham Greene, the British Agent in
Pretoria, left that place for Cape Town; and on the 14th General Sir
Redvers Buller, as Commander-in-chief of the British forces engaged
against the Boer Republics, started from England. The state of war had
commenced in earnest. The Boers in hot haste began to issue further
Proclamations, and President Steyn continue