hat might have been done by England through Rhodes had the latter
consented to sweep away those men around him who were self-interested.

But Rhodes preferred to maintain his waiting attitude, whilst trying at
the same time to accumulate as many proofs as possible that people wanted
him to assert himself at last. It was the fact that these proofs were
denied to him at the very minute when he imagined he held them already in
his hands which led to his suddenly turning once more against the persons
he had been almost on the point of propitiating. It led him to begin the
movement for the suspension of the Constitution in Cape Colony, out of
which he expected so much and which he intended to use as his principal
weapon against the enemies whom he suspected. That was the last great
political venture in his life; it failed, but merciful Providence allowed
him not to see the utter collapse of his latest house of cards.

CHAPTER XVI.

UNDER MARTIAL LAW

It may be useful, or at any rate of interest, before I lay my pen aside,
to refer to several things which, at the time they occurred, caused
torrents of ink to flow both in England and in South Africa.

The most important, perhaps, was the application of martial law in Cape
Colony. I must repeat that I hold no brief for England. My affection and
admiration for her does not go to the extent of remaining absolutely blind
to faults she has made in the past, and perhaps is making in the present.
I will not deny that martial law, which, unfortunately, is a necessity in
wartime, was sometimes applied with severity in South Africa. But the
odium rests principally on the loyalists; their spiteful information in
many cases induced British officers to treat as rebels people who had
never even dreamt of rebellion.

It must not be forgotten that those to whom was entrusted the application
of martial law had perforce to rely on local residents, whom they could
not possibly suspect of using these officers to satisfy private
animosities of further private interests. These British officers had never
been used to see suspicion reign as master, or to watch a perfectly
conscious twisting of the truth in order to condemn, or even destroy,
innocent people. A young and probably inexperienced officer sent into a
small place like Aliwal North or Uitenhage, for instance, found himself
obliged to rely for information as to the loyalty of the inhabitants on
some adventurer who, through capita