but went against the
Ministry on the "no confidence" motion.]

[Sidenote: The general election, 1898.]

The election which ensued was fought with great determination and no
little bitterness. Both the Progressive party and the Bond were
supplied with ample funds; the former had the purse of Mr. Rhodes and
other Englishmen to draw upon, while the latter was subsidised by
President Krueger and his agents from the revenues of the
Transvaal.[41] Mr. Schreiner's election utterances were studiously
moderate; indeed, his letter of thanks to the electors of the
Malmesbury division, by whom he was returned to Parliament, contained
a reference to "the noble empire which was theirs, and to which they
belonged." But such pronouncements by no means represented the
sentiment of the party with which he had identified himself. The
objects of the Afrikander party, as presented in their most attractive
form by _Ons Land_, were to overthrow Rhodes and all his works, to
oppose the "Chartered clique" and "the influence of Mammon in
politics," and to secure a "pure administration" and "the cultivation
of friendly relations with the neighbouring states:" in other words,
to give every possible encouragement to the Transvaal in the
diplomatic struggle with Great Britain. The Dutch press in general
preached the creed of Afrikander nationalism without disguise. The
under-current of anti-British feeling which prevailed among the Dutch
population may be understood from the fact that the following frank
appeal from a republican nationalist to the Cape Afrikanders was
published in the columns of _Ons Land_:

[Footnote 41: Mr. Rhodes was opposed at Barkly West by a
candidate financed from Pretoria.]

"When one considers the state of affairs in the Cape Colony, it
must be confessed the future does not appear too rosy. The
majority of the Afrikander nation in the Cape Colony still go
bent under the English yoke. The free section of the two
Republics is very small compared to that portion subject to the
stranger, and, whatever may be our private opinion, one thing at
least is certain, namely, that without the assistance of the Cape
Colonial Afrikanders the Afrikander cause is lost. The two
Republics by themselves, surrounded as they are by the stranger
[_i.e._ British] are unable to continue the fight. One day the
question of who is to be master will have to be referre