the
16th December, or the _same day_ on which the Triumvirate had despatched
the proclamation to Pretoria containing their terms, and expressing in
the most solemn manner that they had no desire to shed blood, a large
Boer force was attacking Potchefstroom.

So much then for the sincerity of the professions of their desire to
avoid bloodshed.

The proclamation sent by Sir O. Lanyon in reply recited in its preamble
the various acts of which the rebels had been guilty, including that
of having "wickedly sought to incite the said loyal native inhabitants
throughout the province to take up arms against Her Majesty's
Government," announced that matters had now been put into the hands of
the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, and promised pardon to all
who would disperse to their homes.

It was at Potchefstroom, which town had all along been the nursery of
the rebellion, that actual hostilities first broke out. Potchefstroom as
a town is much more Boer in its sympathies than Pretoria, which is,
or rather was, almost purely English. Sir Owen Lanyon had, as stated
before, sent a small body of soldiers thither to support the civil
authorities, and had also appointed Major Clarke, C.M.G., an officer
of noted coolness and ability, to act as Special Commissioner for the
district.

Major Clarke's first step was to try, in conjunction with Captain Raaf,
to raise a corps of volunteers, in which he totally failed. Those of the
townsfolk who were not Boers at heart had too many business relations
with the surrounding farmers, and perhaps too little faith in the
stability of English rule after Mr. Gladstone's utterances, to allow
them to indulge in patriotism. At the time of the outbreak, between
seventy and eighty thousand sterling was owing to firms in Potchefstroom
by neighbouring Boers, a sum amply sufficient to account for their
lukewarmness in the English cause. Subsequent events have shown that the
Potchefstroom shopkeepers were wise in their generation.

On the 15th December a large number of Boers came into the town and took
possession of the printing-office in order to print the proclamation
already alluded to. Major Clarke made two attempts to enter the office
and see the leaders, but without success.

On the 16th a Boer patrol fired on some of the mounted infantry, and the
fire was returned. These were the first shots fired during the war, and
they were fired by Boers. Orders were thereupon signalled to Clarke by