covery of the gold fields, and to implore
them to define, without delay, the position of the foreign element which
was certain to move toward Johannesburg as soon as the news of the riches
contained in that region became public property.

If the English Government had considered the matter at once the
complications which arose as soon as companies began to be formed would
have been less acute. The directors of these concerns imagined themselves
to be entitled to displace local government, and took all executive power
into their own hands. This would never have happened if firm governmental
action had been promptly taken. The example of Kimberley ought to have
opened the eyes of the Mother Country, and measures should have been taken
to prevent the purely commercial domain of the gold fields from assuming
such strident political activities, and little by little dominating not
only the Transvaal Republic, but also the rest of South Africa.

Mrs. van Koopman had cherished a great affection for Rhodes. Her age--she
was in the sixties--gave an almost maternal character to the tenderness
with which she viewed him. He had made her his confidante, telling her all
that he meant to do for the welfare of the land which she loved so dearly.
She thought he looked upon South Africa with the same feelings of
admiration as she did.

The strength of her belief led Mrs. van Koopman to interest all her
friends in the career of the young Englishman, who appealed to her
imagination as the embodiment of all that was great and good. Her
enthusiasm endowed him with many qualities that he did not possess, and
magnified those which he really had. When he consulted her as to his
future plans she entered closely into their details, discussed with him
their chances of success, advised him and used all her influence, which
was great, in winning him friends and adherents. She trusted him fully,
and, on his part, whenever he returned to Cape Town after one of his
yearly visits to Kimberley, or after a few months spent in the solitudes
of Rhodesia, his first visit was always to the old and gentle lady, who
welcomed him with open arms, words of affection, and sincere as well as
devoted sympathy. She had always refused to listen to disparagement of her
favourite, and would never allow any of the gruesome details connected
with the annexation of Rhodesia to be recited in her presence.

In Mrs. van Koopman's eyes there was only a glorious side to the Rho