Rhodes, consequent upon the Raid, had thrown him into the arms of the
Bond. Some of the more striking incidents in Mr. Merriman's political
career have been already mentioned.[59] Fifteen years ago more
Imperialist than Rhodes, he was soon to show himself more Bondsman
than the Bond. Once the resolute, almost inspired, castigator of the
separatist aims of that organisation, he was now in close and
sympathetic association with the leaders of Afrikander nationalism in
the Republics and the Cape Colony. The denunciations of "capitalism"
and "capitalists" with which he now regaled his Afrikander allies, had
an ill savour in the mouth of the man who had tried to amalgamate the
Diamond Mines at Kimberley--failing where Rhodes and Beit afterwards
succeeded--and who, attracted by the magnet of gold discovery, for a
short time had acted as manager of the Langlaagte Estate and Mr. J. B.
Robinson's interests at Johannesburg. With political principles thus
unstable and a mind strangely sensitive to any emotional appeal, it is
not surprising that Mr. Merriman displayed the proverbial enthusiasm
of the convert in his new political creed. His original perception of
the imprudence and administrative incompetency of President Krueger's
_regime_ was rapidly obliterated by a growing partizanship, which in
turn gave place to an unreasoning sympathy with the Boer cause,
combined with a bitter antipathy against all who were concerned,
whether in a civil or military capacity, in giving effect to the
intervention of the Imperial Government on behalf of the British
industrial community in the Transvaal. Mr. J. W. Sauer was destined to
exhibit his political convictions in a manner so demonstrative that
his words and acts, as recorded in the sequel, will leave the reader
in no doubt as to the reality of his sympathy with the Boer and
Afrikander cause. For the moment, therefore, it is sufficient to
notice that, although he shared Mr. Merriman's present abhorrence of
"capitalism" and "capitalists," he was for many years of his life a
promoter and director of mining and other companies.

[Footnote 59: See pp. 61, 69, and 93.]

Of the two Bondsmen in the Cabinet, Mr. Herholdt was a member of the
Legislative Council, and a Dutch farmer of moderate views and good
repute; while Dr. Te Water was the friend and confidant of Mr.
Hofmeyr, and, as such, the intermediary between the Bond and the
Afrikander nationalists in the Free State and in the