lves apart.

"Hosts of our countrymen, attracted by the wealth of the Transvaal, had
settled there and invested their money, and these were specially bitter
at the manner in which they had been left to the tender mercies of the
Boers.

"There is no doubt about it that had we marshalled our forces and
crushed the enemy then and there, we should have removed a dangerous
thorn from our side. But we were too magnanimous, and we shall have to
pay for it.

"And now to tell you, in as few words as possible, what has happened
since.

"In 1885 gold was discovered in this country, and as with the goldfields
of America, thousands flocked to participate in the wealth to be
obtained. Towns sprang up in every direction, and Johannesburg became a
golden city, the heart of the mining industry. Here, at the present day
there are some 100,000 of us more or less, and in the whole of the
Transvaal there are quite 180,000 Uitlanders, or outsiders, as we are
called. We found the mines, we have opened them, and it is our money
which has worked them and erected the splendid stamps with which to
crush the ore.

"I may tell you that we are a cosmopolitan lot, for amongst us are all
nationalities; and in addition we are a strictly business class of men.
We have come here to make money, and we invest it in the mines or in the
country, for the Transvaal teems with natural riches. Here beneath our
feet we have the gold-bearing quartz, and close at hand there are
excellent coal-mines. There is iron ore in abundance, with coal
alongside it to work it with. Lead, copper, and other metals are to be
found in plenty, and if that were not all, the land has not a rival for
grazing purposes. It is the best corn-producing country known, and in
addition it is blessed with a wonderful climate, which at this altitude
makes it a splendid health resort.

"But do you think our friends the Boers recognise all these things?
Certainly not. They always were and always will be, in the main,
ignorant and illiterate farmers, stubbornly opposed to progress. Even
the best amongst them have, till quite recently, been unable to write an
ordinary letter, and all the public appointments, save the president's
chair and the seats in the all-powerful Volksraad, are filled by
salaried clerks recruited from the Afrikanders of Dutch stock, or from
the Dutchmen of Holland itself.

"These men are under the president and his autocratic government, and I
will, if I ca