outh Africa, and that
the portion of it which remained under the British flag should be
absorbed by that which was outside it. So widespread and deep-seated was
this ambition, that it was evident that Great Britain must, sooner or
later, either yield to it or else sustain her position by force of arms.
She was prepared to give Dutch citizens within her borders the vote, the
power of making their own laws, complete religious and political
freedom, and everything which their British comrades could have, without
any distinction whatever; but when it came to hauling down the flag, it
was certainly time that a stand should be made.

How this came about cannot be expressed more clearly than in the words
of Paul Botha, who, as I have already said, was a voortrekker like
Kruger himself, and a Boer of the Boers, save that he seems to have been
a man with wider and more liberal views than his fellows. He was member
for Kroonstadt in the Free State Raad.

'I am convinced,' he says, 'that Kruger's influence completely changed
the character of the Afrikander Bond--an organisation which I believe
Hofmeyr started at the Cape with the legitimate purpose of securing
certain political privileges, but which, under Kruger's henchmen--Sauer,
Merriman, Te Water, and others--raised unrest in the Cape Colony.

'This successful anti-British policy of Kruger created a number of
imitators--Steyn, Fischer, Esselen, Smuts, and numerous other young
educated Africanders of the Transvaal, Orange Free State, and the Cape
Colony, who, misled by his successes, ambitiously hoped by the same
means to raise themselves to the same pinnacle.

'Krugerism under them developed into a reign of terror. If you were
anti-Kruger you were stigmatised as "Engelschgezind," and a traitor to
your people, unworthy of a hearing. I have suffered bitterly from this
taunt, especially under Steyn's _regime_. The more hostile you were to
England the greater patriot you were accounted.

'This gang, which I wish to be clearly understood was spread over the
whole of South Africa, the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and the
Cape Colony, used the Bond, the press, and the pulpit to further its
schemes.

'Reitz, whom I believe to have been an honest enthusiast, set himself up
as second sponsor to the Bond and voiced the doctrine of this gang:
"Africa for the Africanders. Sweep the English into the sea." With an
alluring cry like this, it will be readily understood how easy it w