years diminish the interest in that land,
which in the past has been the object of such engrossing attention; and
that at the present time, when the impending Federation of South Africa
has at length crowned the hopes of those patriots who have laboured
patiently and hopefully to bring about this great result, it might be
appropriate to recall those days when Englishmen, who had made South
Africa their home, had much to contend with, even before the fierce
struggle to keep "the flag flying" in the years of 1899-1902.

During that period, which commenced after the disaster at Majuba Hill,
"equal rights" were a golden dream which only the most optimistic ever
hoped to see realized. From then onwards, as old colonists have so often
told me, the Boers brought up the younger generation in the belief that
the "Roinek"[1] was a coward, and in consequence their arrogance in the
country districts became wellnigh intolerable, while at the Cape the
Bond party grew so strong it bid fair to elbow out the English
altogether. Now, while the country is still young, the fair prospect
opens out of Briton and Boer living in amity and peace together, and
mutually supplying, in the government of their vast inheritance, such
elements as are wanting in the character of each.

My first visit to South Africa was a short one, and took place at the
end of 1895. During the foregoing summer everyone's attention had been
directed to the Transvaal, and more especially towards the Rand, by
reason of the unprecedented and, as it turned out, totally unwarranted
rise in the gold-mining shares of that district; in this boom, people
both at home and in Johannesburg madly gambled, and large fortunes were
quickly made by those who had foresight enough not to hold on too long.
For already the political horizon was darkening, and the wrongs of the
"Uitlanders," real and apparent as they were, became a parrot-cry, which
waxed and waned, but never died away, till the ultimatum of President
Kruger, in October, 1899, brought matters to a climax.

We sailed from Southampton in December, 1895, in the _Tantallon Castle_,
then one of the most modern and up-to-date of the Castle liners. The
ship was crowded to its utmost capacity, and among the passengers, as I
afterwards learned, were many deeply concerned in the plotting which was
known to be going on at Johannesburg, either to extort concessions from
President Kruger, or, failing this, to remove him altogether. I k