It is not too much to say that the vast majority of people in Europe and America are indebted to Dr. Jameson for any knowledge which they may have acquired of the Transvaal and its Uitlander problem.  Theirs is a disordered knowledge, and perhaps it is not unnatural that they should in a manner share the illusion of the worthy sailor who, after attending divine service, assaulted the first Israelite he met because he had only just heard of the Crucifixion.  A number of worthy people are still disposed to excuse many things in the Transvaal because of the extreme provocation given by the Jameson Raid.  The restrictions upon English education are considered to be ’not unnatural when one remembers the violent attempt to swamp the Dutch.’  The excessive armaments are held to be ’entirely justifiable considering what has happened.’  The building of forts is ’an ordinary precaution.’  The prohibiting of public meetings is ’quite wrong, of course, but can you wonder at it?’ Many of these worthy people will, no doubt, learn with pained surprise that all these things were among the causes which led to the Reform movement of 1895-6, and are not the consequences of that movement as they erroneously suppose.  The Press Law and Public Meetings Act had been passed; arms had been imported and ordered in tens of thousands; machine guns and quantities of ammunition also; forts were being built;{42} the suppression of all private schools had been advocated by Dr. Mansvelt—­all long, long before the Jameson Raid.  So also had the republican propaganda been at work, but it had not caught on outside the two Republics.

Difficult as his task might appear, Mr. Kruger had now command of the two great persuasive forces—­money and sentiment.  With the money he pushed on the forts, and imported immense quantities of big guns, small arms, and ammunition—­far in excess of what could possibly be used by the whole of the Boer population of the Transvaal after making every allowance for spare arms in reserve; and such an extraordinary supply was not unnaturally believed to be designed for the use of others outside the Transvaal.  More than this, an army of emissaries, agents, and spies in the pay of the Transvaal Government were spread about the Free State, Cape Colony, and Natal.  Newspapers were supported in different parts of South Africa and a considerable amount of money was spent upon the Press in France and Germany.

It would be absurd to suggest and it would be unjust to let it be inferred that all those who were drawn into sympathy with the Boers supported or were even cognizant of President Kruger’s ultimate aim.  It is an everyday experience that the scope of work and ambition expands as one progresses.  Whether the strong man really sees his ultimate goal and tackles with magnificent courage the innumerable and seemingly insurmountable obstacles which lie between him and it, or whether in the wisdom and mercy of Providence there is such an adjustment of courage and foresight as prevents him from seeing more than he is able to face, who can say?  But what is beyond all doubt is that, given the one strong man who does know his mind, he will lead as the Pied Piper led, and there is no thought in his following to ask the whither and the why.