e rate for the 52 m. of railway
from the Vaal river to Johannesburg was raised by the Netherlands
railway to no less a sum than 8d. per ton per mile. It is quite evident
from the action which President Kruger subsequently took in the matter
that this charge was put on with his approval, and with the object of
compelling traffic to be brought to the Transvaal by the Delagoa route,
instead of as heretofore by the colonial railway. In order to compete
against this very high rate, the merchants of Johannesburg began
removing their goods from the Vaal river by waggon. Thereupon President
Kruger arbitrarily closed the drifts (fords) on the Vaal river, and thus
prevented through waggon traffic, causing an enormous block of waggons
on the banks of the Vaal. A protest was then made by the Cape government
against the action of the Transvaal, on the ground that it was a breach
of the London Convention. President Kruger took no notice of this
remonstrance, and an appeal was made to the imperial government;
whereupon the latter entered into an agreement with the Cape government,
to the effect that if the Cape would bear half the cost of any
expedition which should be necessary, assist with troops, and give full
use of the Cape railway for military purposes if required, a protest
should be sent to President Kruger on the subject. These terms were
accepted by Rhodes and his colleagues, of whom Mr W.P. Schreiner was
one, and a protest was then sent by Mr Chamberlain stating that the
government would regard the closing of the drifts as a breach of the
London Convention, and as an unfriendly action calling for the gravest
remonstrance. President Kruger at once reopened the drifts, and
undertook that he would issue no further proclamation on the subject
except after consultation with the imperial government.

On the 29th of December 1895 Dr Jameson (q.v.) made his famous raid into
the Transvaal, and Rhodes's complicity in this movement compelled him to
resign the premiership of Cape Colony in January 1896, the vacant post
being taken by Sir Gordon Sprigg. As Rhodes's complicity in the raid
became known, there naturally arose a strong feeling of resentment and
astonishment among his colleagues in the Cape ministry, who had been
kept in complete ignorance of his connexion with any such scheme. Mr
Hofmeyr and the Bond were loud in their denunciation of him, nor can it
be denied that the circumstances of the raid greatly embittered against
En