nders in agitating for
sweeping changes in the Constitution and in administration.

The events of December, 1895, changed the face of things swiftly and
decisively in all these communities.

In Cape Colony Dutch feeling, which as a political force was almost
expiring, revived at once. The unexpected attack on the Transvaal
evolved an outburst of sympathy for it, in which the faults of its
government were forgotten. Mr. Rhodes retired from office. The
reconstructed Ministry which succeeded fell in 1898, and a new Ministry
supported by the Africander Bond came into power after a general
election. Its majority was narrow, and was accused of not fairly
representing the country, owing to the nature of the electoral areas. A
Redistribution Bill was passed by a species of compromise, and in the
elections to the new constituencies which followed the Dutch party
slightly increased its majority, and kept its Cabinet (in which,
however, men of Dutch blood are a minority) in power. Party feeling,
both inside and outside the legislature, became, and has remained,
extremely strong on both sides. The English generally have rallied to
and acclaim Mr. Rhodes, whose connection with Dr. Jameson's expedition
has made him the special object of Dutch hostility. There is, according
to the reports which reach England, no longer any moderating third
party: all are violent partisans. Nevertheless--and this is a remarkable
and most encouraging fact--this violence did not diminish the warmth
with which the whole Assembly testified its loyalty and affection
towards the Queen on the occasion of the completion of the sixtieth year
of her reign in 1897. And the Bond Ministry of Mr. Schreiner proposed
and carried by a unanimous vote a grant of L30,000 per annum as a
contribution by the Colony to the naval defence of the Empire, leaving
the application of this sum to the unfettered discretion of the British
Admiralty.

In the Orange Free State the explosion of Dutch sentiment was still
stronger. Its first result was seen in the election of a President. In
November, 1895, two candidates for the vacant office had come forward,
and their chances were deemed to be nearly equal. When the news of the
Jameson expedition was received, the chance of the candidate of British
stock vanished. Since then, though there was not (so far as I gather)
down till the last few weeks any indication of hostility to Britain,
much less any social friction within the State, a