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Transvaal
As a result of this conference articles of peace were signed at Pretoria on the 31st of May, and the South African war was a history of the past. Peace of Vereeniging.The terms of peace may be condensed into the following points: (1) Surrender of all burghers in the field, with all arms and munitions of war; (2) all burghers duly declaring themselves subjects of King Edward VII. to be repatriated; (3) no burghers who should surrender to be deprived of either their liberty or property; (4) no proceedings to be taken against burghers for any legitimate acts of war during the period of hostilities; (5) the Dutch language to be taught in public schools on the request of parents, and to be allowed in courts of law; (6) sporting rifles to be allowed upon the taking out of licences; (7) the military administration to be superseded by civil administration as soon as possible, the civil administration to lead up to self-government; (8) the question of the native franchise not to be considered until after the introduction of self-government; (9) landed property not to be subjected to any special tax to defray the cost of the war; (10) a commission to be formed to facilitate the repatriation of the burghers, a grant of £3,000,000 being given as compensation for the destruction of farms.
In the whole war the British lost 5774 killed and 22,829 wounded, while the Boers lost about 4000 killed. The number of Boer prisoners in the hands of the British at the end of the war was about 40,000.
F. From the Annexation to 1911.—On the 4th of July 1900, a month after the occupation of Pretoria, a commission was issued to Lord Roberts authorizing him to annex the Transvaal. The proclamation of annexation was dated the 1st of September. Lord Roberts held the post of administrator of the colony until his departure for England in December following, when he was succeeded by Sir Alfred Milner, the high commissioner. It was not, however, until March 1901 that Milner, who resigned his governorship of Cape Colony, arrived at Pretoria to inaugurate a civil administration.[1] Hostilities were still proceeding, but in the areas under control Lord Milner (who was raised to the peerage in May) speedily set the machinery of government in motion. The civil administration of justice began in April; in October a reformed judicial system, with Sir J. Rose Innes as chief justice, was put into operation; in 1902 this was followed by the establishment of a supreme court. Besides law, the important departments of finance and mines were organized, and steps taken to remedy the grievances of the commercial and mining classes. Sir David Barbour, who had presided over a commission to inquire into the concessions granted by the late republic, presented a valuable report in June, and suggested a tax of 10% on the profits of the gold mining industry, a suggestion carried out a year later (June 1902). Meantime Johannesburg had been given a town council, and some of the gold mines permitted to restart crushing (May 1901). In November of 1901 the main body of the Uitlanders were allowed to return to the Rand. They had fled the country immediately before the outbreak of war and had been living at the seaports. The Work of Reconstruction.While thus caring for the urban areas the administration was equally alive to the needs of the country districts. A commission which had been appointed to inquire into schemes of land settlement reported in June, and this was followed by the creation of a land board in December 1901. Lord Milner cherished the ideal of racial fusion by the establishment of British settlers on a large scale. He also recognized the necessity, if agriculture was to be developed, of an extensive system of irrigation, and Sir William Willcocks, formerly of the Egyptian Irrigation Department, was engaged to draw up a comprehensive scheme, having in view also the needs of the gold mines. Another department taken in hand was that of education; and the success which attended the opening of schools in the refugee camps was most striking. At the time the articles of peace were signed at Pretoria, more than 17,000 Boer children were being educated in these camps under the supervision of Mr E. B. Sargant.
This work of reconstruction was carried out in face of many difficulties other than those inherent to the undertaking. More than one plot on the part of Boers who had taken the oath of allegiance was hatched in Johannesburg, the most serious, perhaps, being that of Brocksma, formerly third public prosecutor under the republic. On the 15th of September 1901 Brocksma and several others were arrested as spies and conspirators. Letters to Dr Leyds and to Dr Krause of a treasonable character were found in Brocksma’s possession, and being found guilty of high treason he was shot (30th of September). Krause, who was then in London, was arrested, tried and convicted for attempting to incite to murder, and sentenced to imprisonment. In November another conspiracy, to seize Johannesburg with the help of General De la Rey, was discovered and frustrated. More injurious than plots of this nature was the political agitation carried on in Cape Colony and in Great Britain. This agitation was directed with particular virulence against the high commissioner, whose recall, it was asserted, would remove the chief obstacle to peace. Mr J. X. Merriman and Mr J. W. Sauer came to England in the summer of 1901 on a mission from the Cape Africanders, and received much encouragement from Radical politicians. Nevertheless, much had been done to establish order and restart commerce by the time peace was made.
After the signature of the articles of peace the work of reconstruction was accelerated. The end of the military government was signalled by the assumption (on the 21st of June) by Lord Milner of the title of governor of the Transvaal and by the creation of an executive council. The Boer leaders unreservedly accepted British sovereignty. Generals Botha, De Wet and De la Rey, however, paid a visit to England (August–September, 1902) in an unsuccessful endeavour to get the terms of peace modified in their favour; they received little encouragement from a tour they made on the continent of Europe. On their return to South Africa the Boer generals and their colleagues aided to some extent in the work of resettlement, but the seats offered to the Boers on the executive council were declined. The work of repatriation and resettlement was carried out by commissioners acting in conjunction with a central advisory committee at Pretoria. These supplied the people with food, shelter, stock and implements. The burgher and native concentration camps were rapidly broken up; by December 1902 only 7600 out of 70,000 were left in the burgher camps.
At this period Mr Chamberlain determined to visit South Africa and use his personal influence to help forward the settlement of the country. After the almost total cessation of commerce during the war, there was in the last half of 1902 and the beginning of 1903 a great impetus to trade. When Mr Chamberlain reached the Transvaal in January 1903 the feeling among the British section of the community was optimistic. Mr Chamberlain was well received by the Boer leaders; it was, however, to the Rand magnates that he turned for financial help. That large sums were imperatively needed to accomplish the work of reconstruction was apparent. An agreement was reached whereby a loan of £35,000,000, guaranteed by the imperial government, was to be raised for the benefit of the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony; a further loan of £30,000,000 was to be issued in instalments of £10,000,000 and paid into the British exchequer as the Transvaal’s contribution towards the cost of the war. The first instalment of this loan, to be issued in 1904, was guaranteed by the great mining firms of Johannesburg. With the proceeds of the first loan the debt of the South African Republic was paid off, the Transvaal and the Orange River Colony railways were bought by the state, and new railways and other public works were undertaken. The £3,000,000 granted by the articles of peace, and other considerable sums, besides £7,000,000 from the loan, were expended on repatriation and compensation.
The efforts made by the administration to restore the Boers to the land, to develop the material resources of the country,
- ↑ Milner became at the same time administrator of Orange River Colony. Several of the reforms adopted for the Transvaal applied to or affected the sister colony. (See Orange Free State.)
