strict, which he represented in the Volksraad of 1897. In the war of
1899 he served at first under Lucas Meyer in northern Natal, but soon
rose to higher commands. He was in command of the Boers at the battles
of Colenso and Spion Kop, and these victories earned him so great a
reputation that on the death of P.J. Joubert, Botha was made
commander-in-chief of the Transvaal Boers. His capacity was again
demonstrated in the action of Belfast-Dalmanutha (August 23-28, 1900),
and after the fall of Pretoria he reorganized the Boer resistance with a
view to prolonged guerrilla warfare. In this task, and in the subsequent
operations of the war, he was aided by his able lieutenants de la Rey
and de Wet. The success of his measures was seen in the steady
resistance offered by the Boers to the very close of the three years'
war. He was the chief representative of his countrymen in the peace
negotiations of 1902, after which, with de Wet and de la Rey, he visited
Europe in order to raise funds to enable the Boers to resume their
former avocations. In the period of reconstruction under British rule,
General Botha, who was still looked upon as the leader of the Boer
people, took a prominent part in politics, advocating always measures
which he considered as tending to the maintenance of peace and good
order and the re-establishment of prosperity in the Transvaal. After the
grant of self-government to the Transvaal in 1907, General Botha was
called upon by Lord Selborne to form a government, and in the spring of
the same year he took part in the conference of colonial premiers held
in London. During his visit to England on this occasion General Botha
declared the whole-hearted adhesion of the Transvaal to the British
empire, and his intention to work for the welfare of the country
regardless of racial differences. (See TRANSVAAL: _History_.)

BOTHNIA, GULF OF, the northern part of the Baltic Sea (q.v.). The name
is preserved from the former territory of Bothnia, of which the western
part is now included in Sweden, the eastern in Finland.

BOTHWELL, JAMES HEPBURN, 4TH EARL OF, duke of Orkney and Shetland (c.
1536-1578), husband of Mary, queen of Scots, son of Patrick, 3rd earl of
Bothwell, and of Agnes, daughter of Henry, Lord Sinclair, was born about
1536. His father, Patrick, the 3rd earl (c. 1512-1556), was the only son
of Adam, the 2nd earl, who was killed at Flodden, and the grandson of
Patrick (d. c. 1508), 3rd Lord H