J. E. C. Bodley

“ The strong feeling among the Cape Dutch against President Kruger's railway policy shows that without giving up any of their Africander sentiment, they will not allow it to interfere with the progress and interests of the colony. President Brand's life was one that the welfare of the British empire could ill spare, and his disappearance at this moment, it cannot be denied, makes the situation in South Africa one of gravity. Fortunately, however, the men who in recent days have had chief influence at the Cape believe that the only possible policy is one of complete co-operation with the Boers. ”

“ Conspicuous among the buildings was seen the Presidency, a massive modern edifice, the government offices like a substantial Hôtel de Ville, and the twin spires of the Dutch Reformed Church resembling those of the cathedral of Châlons. The interior of the town is not disappointing. The quiet, verdant streets have a certain decorous picturesqueness, branching from a vast place, in the centre of which stands a square-towered market-house. ”

“ For all that it is by far the best, in fact, the only good, house in South Africa, containing a fine suite of apartments, which includes a handsome ballroom; and the housing of the president of the Free State is in the highest degree creditable to its government when compared with the straitened dwellings of our governors at the Cape and Natal. ”

“ If he could be the successor of his friend, Sir John Brand, it would be a happy arrangement for South Africa. The president's death at the present moment seems to be an almost irreparable misfortune; but there are not wanting men devoted to the British empire, who in the past worked with him, and who are ready to persevere in working for the principle which he laid down in a letter to the administrator of the Cape on the eve of the disasters of 1881, "To promote good-will and the cordial co-operation of all parts of South Africa for the general welfare." ”

“ The president of the South African Republic, with all his uncouthness, is an extremely astute person, and the line taken by the Boer deputies at Pretoria has probably been forced upon him. It cannot he doubted that the death of President Brand will strengthen the hands of the retrograde party in the Transvaal, who will now look for support to the section in the Free State which was kept in order by his personal influence. The Dutch farmers in South Africa, especially those who live far from the coast, are as a body opposed to railways. ”

“ The excellent shops are thoroughly British, the British coinage is the only currency, and newspapers, both friendly and Anglophobe, are published in English. When the railway reaches Bloemfontein, it will possibly become a great health resort for English people, as its climate has a wonderfully beneficial effect on consumptives who can survive the shaking of the present means of conveyance; and invalids who succeed in arriving find something which is a rare curiosity in South Africa, and which does not exist in the Old Colony from Cape Town to Kimberley — a decent inn. ”

“ Thus, step by step, the colonies and states of South Africa would be drawn closer to each other and gradually prepared for the realization of the bright ideal that smiles upon us in the future, a United South Africa. ”

“ Sir Henry Torrens, who has been lately called to govern another dependency, and during his command of the forces in South Africa had temporarily to administer the Cape government at a crisis which his tact prevented from becoming serious, also appreciated the necessity of an understanding with the Dutch. Of active politicians the greatest power in South Africa is Mr. Hofmeyr, the leader of the Dutch party, and none who know him can doubt his loyalty and devotion to the empire which the death of Sir John Brand has made all the more valuable. ”

“ It can be readily understood that the progress and prosperity of the Orange Free State lie near my heart, and that the nearer my term of office draws to a period the stronger is my desire to apply and advise every means by which the great interest of the State can he advanced, and I should accuse myself of being unfaithful to my duty did I not urge again, with all the earnestness and emphasis the subject demands, how necessary, yes, how indispensable is the construction of railways for this State. ”

“ Probably the Free State would have never been able to keep in order the turbulent population, hot all who are conversant with the early history of Kimberley know well what would have resulted had President Brand's influence been hostile to British interests. Lord Carnarvon, who was secretary of state for the colonies, was at that period intimately associated with the president, writes to me as follows: "At any time I should have heard of Sir John Brand's death with great concern, but at the present critical conjuncture of affairs in South Africa I look upon it as a great calamity. ”

“ As Sir John Brand expressed it to me, "They are aristocratic, and cling to a life connected with the soil, shrinking from modern commercial enterprise." The telegrams from the Cape seem to show that almost daily changes are taking place in the phases of the railway policy of the continent. ”

“ Before the fatal day of Laing's Nek he issued a proclamation enjoining strict neutrality on the burghers and inhabitants of the Free State. Not a word in his despatches shows the slightest bias in favor of the Boers. Sir Evelyn Wood telegraphs to him, "I gratefully acknowledge your honor's continuous efforts in the cause of peace;" and a few days after Majuba, in a message to the president, he refers to the unfortunate Sir George Colley as "our common friend." President Brand not only telegraphed and wrote, but afterwards undertook perilous journeys through the floods in the same cause ”

“ President Kruger then came to Bloemfontein at the head of a deputation which had for its aim an alliance between the two republics, binding the Free-State burghers to aid the Transvaal government in the case of any disturbance with the diggers, and binding the Free State government for ten years not to allow the colonies to construct a line through their territory to the Transvaal. ”