was bound to put an end to the corruption of
the Transvaal Republic. They would have preferred infinitely to let things
remain in the condition into which they had drifted since the Raid,
because they understood that a strong British Government would be
interested in putting an end to the abuses which had transformed the Rand
into an annexe of the Stock Exchange of almost every European capital.
But, as the war had broken out, they preferred that it should end, in the
establishment of a regular administration which could neither be bought
nor persuaded to serve interests in preference to the public. They did not
relish the possible triumph of a single man, backed by a powerful
financial company, with whom they had never lived upon particularly
affectionate terms.

Rather than see South Africa continue under the influence which had
hitherto held it in grip, the magnates preferred to associate themselves
with Sir Alfred Milner to bring about as soon as possible a Federation of
the different South African States, where there would be no place for the
ambition of a single individual, and where the domination of one financial
company would become an impossibility. These magnates were reasonable
people after all, quite content, after they had taken the cream, to allow
others to drink. The fever for gold had left them. The fact was that these
people were not at all anxious to remain at Johannesburg; they preferred
to gather dividends in London rather than to toil in South Africa; the
merry, merry days of the Rand had come to an end.

Altogether, indeed, things were beginning to slow down at Johannesburg, in
spite of the fictitious agitation by the Rhodesian party. The war had come
as a relief to everybody, and afforded the magnates the opportunity which
they had been longing for, to enforce order and economy upon a stringent
scale in their mines and to begin modelling their concerns after a
European fashion, closing the door upon adventurers and cutting off the
"financial fringe." The times when new fields of exploitation were
discovered every day were at an end; the treasures which the Transvaal
contained in the way of precious metals and stones had all been located;
and very few surprises could be expected in that direction. It was time
for the pioneers to retire upon their laurels and to give to themselves,
as well as to their fortunes, the sedate appearance which they required in
order to be able to take a place amid the m