h attitude, and enlisted
wide-spread sympathy for the Boers. Under the leadership of Dr.
Jameson, a gentleman closely associated with Cecil Rhodes in the South
African Chartered Company, an attempt was made to overthrow the Kruger
Government, and, to obtain by force the redress denied by peaceable
means.

When a revolt rises to the plane of a revolution it becomes
respectable. The "Jameson Raid" never reached that elevation. In less
than four days the entire force had surrendered and the leaders were
under arrest. The attempt upon Johannesburg, and the acts of violence
attending it, were denounced in unmeasured terms by the British
Government. Dr. Jameson and his chief abettors were tried in England,
and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment; four other prominent
leaders--one of them an American--had sentence of death passed upon
them by a judge from the Orange Free State, which was finally remitted
upon the payment of a large sum to the South African Republic. England
{184} did her best to rehabilitate her name in the estimation of the
world; and when the deplorable affair was over, it had done immense
injury to the English cause, and benefited not a little that of the
Republic.

Diplomatic negotiations were then resumed; Sir Alfred Milner presenting
the British view, urged the propriety of granting to foreign-born
residents the franchise; also the abolishment of certain monopolies
which pressed heavily upon the miners, and last, but not least, that
the sovereignty of Great Britain over the Transvaal, receive official
recognition.

This latter President Kruger flatly rejected, upon the ground that the
question of sovereignty had already been disposed of in 1884, when
Great Britain virtually abandoned the claim by omitting the word
_Suzerain_, or any reference to what it implied, from the amended
agreement; offering at the same time to submit the other demands to
arbitration.

On October 9, 1899, while Mr. Chamberlain was preparing new proposals,
an {185} ultimatum was received from President Kruger, demanding an
affirmative answer within forty-eight hours; failing in which, it would
be considered a virtual declaration of war. Sir Alfred Milner replied:
"You will inform your Government that the conditions demanded are such
as Her Majesty's Government deem it impossible to discuss."

On the afternoon of October 11th, the war had commenced, with General
Buller in command of the British forces, and Gener