The South African League, a political organisation which sprang up out of, and owed its origin to, the race hatred which the Jameson Raid had called into being, and at the head of which Mr. Rhodes himself stands (a fact which places Capitalistic influence in a very clear light), began towards the latter part of last year to agitate against the Government in the most unheard-of way.

The individuals who stood at the head of this institution in Johannesburg were such that very little attention was paid to the League.  It was, however, soon clearly shown that not only was the movement strongly assisted by the Capitalists, and strongly supported all along the mines, but that there was a close relationship in a mysterious way with Cape Town and London.  The events of the last few months have brought this out very clearly.  Meetings were arranged, memorials to Her Majesty about grievances were drawn up, and an active propaganda was preached in the Press; this all proved in a convincing way that a carefully planned campaign had been organised against the Republic.

As the Government of the South African Republic has set forth the trend of the agitation as well as the connection of the British Government with it in an official despatch, it is desirable to quote the language itself:—­[42] “But this Government wishes to go further.  Even in regard to those Uitlanders who are British subjects it is a small minority which, under the pretext of imaginary grievances, promotes a secret propaganda of race hatred, and uses the Republic as a basis for fomenting a revolutionary movement against this Government.  Ministers of Her Majesty have so trenchantly expressed the truth about this minority that this Government wishes to quote the very words of these Ministers, with the object of bringing the actual truth to the knowledge of Her Majesty’s Government, as well as to that of the whole world, and not for the purpose of making groundless accusations.”

“The following words are those of the Ministers of the Cape Colony, who are well acquainted with local conditions, and fully qualified to arrive at a conclusion":—­

“In the opinion of Ministers the persistent action, both beyond and within this Colony, of the political body styling itself the South African League in endeavouring to foment and excite, not to smooth and allay ill-will between the two principal European races inhabiting South Africa, is well illustrated by these resolutions, the exaggerated and aggravated terms of which disclose the spirit which informs and inspires them.”

“His Excellency’s Ministers are one in their earnest desire to do all in their power to aid and further a policy of peaceful progress throughout South Africa, and they cannot but regard it as an unwise propagandism, hostile to the true interests of the Empire, including this Colony as an integral part, that every possible occasion should be seized by the League and its promoters for an attempt to magnify into greater events minor incidents, when occurring in the South African Republic, with a prospect thereby of making racial antagonism more acute, or of rendering less smooth the relations between Her Majesty’s Government or the Government of this Colony and that Republic.”