By Princess Catherine Radziwill (Catherine Kolb-Danvin)
Cassell & Co Ltd, 1918
Contents
Chapter 1 - CECIL RHODES AND SIR ALFRED MILNER
Chapter 2 - THE FOUNDATIONS OF FORTUNE
Chapter 3 - A COMPLEX PERSONALITY
Chapter 4 - MRS. VAN KOOPMAN
Chapter 5 - RHODES AND THE RAID
Chapter 6 - THE AFTERMATH OF THE RAID
Chapter 7 - RHODES AND THE AFRIKANDER BOND
Chapter 8 - THE INFLUENCE OF SIR ALFRED MILNER
Chapter 9 - THE OPENING OF THE NEW CENTURY
Chapter 10 - AN ESTIMATE OF SIR ALFRED MILNER
Chapter 11 - CROSS CURRENTS
Chapter 12 - THE CONCENTRATION CAMPS
Chapter 13 - THE PRISONERS' CAMPS
Chapter 14 - IN FLIGHT FROM THE RAND
Chapter 15 - DEALING WITH THE REFUGEES
Chapter 16 - UNDER MARTIAL LAW
Chapter 17 - CONCLUSION
Illustrations
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Introduction
The recent death of Sir Starr Jameson reminded the public of the South African War, which was such an engrossing subject to the British public at the close of the 'nineties and the first years of the present century. Yet though it may seem quite out of date to reopen the question when so many more important matters occupy attention, the relationship between South Africa and England is no small matter. It has also had its influence on actual events, if only by proving to the world the talent which Great Britain has displayed in the administration of her vast Colonies and the tact with which British statesmen have contrived to convert their foes of the day before into friends, sincere, devoted and true.
No other country in the world could have achieved such a success as did England in the complicated and singularly difficult task of making itself popular among nations whose independence it had destroyed.
The secret of this wonderful performance lies principally in the care which England has exercised to secure the welfare of the annexed population, and to do nothing [x] likely to keep them in remembrance of the subordinate position into which they had been reduced. England never crushes those whom it subdues. Its inbred talent for colonisation has invariably led it along the right path in regard to its colonial development. Even in cases where Britain made the weight of its rule rather heavy for the people whom it had conquered, there still developed among them a desire to remain federated to the British Empire, and also a conviction that union, though it might be unpleasant to their personal feelings and sympathies, was, after all, the best thing which could have happened to them in regard to their material interests.
Prosperity has invariably attended British rule wherever it has found scope to develop itself, and at the present hour British patriotism is far more demonstrative in India, Australia or South Africa than it is in England itself. The sentiments thus strongly expressed impart a certain zealotism to their feelings, which constitutes a strong link with the Mother Country. In any hour of national danger or calamity this trait provides her with the enthusiastic help of her children from across the seas.
The Englishman, generally quiet at home and even subdued in the presence of strangers, is exuberant in the Colonies; he likes to shout his patriotism upon every [xi] possible occasion, even when it would be better to refrain. It is an aggressive patriotism which sometimes is quite uncouth in its manifestations, but it is real patriotism, disinterested and devoid of any mercenary or personal motives.
It is impossible to know what England is if one has not had the opportunity of visiting her Dominions oversea. It is just as impossible to judge of Englishmen when one has only seen them at home amid the comforts of the easy and pleasant existence which one enjoys in Merrie England, and only there. It is not the country Squires, whose homes are such a definite feature of English life; nor the aristocratic members of the Peerage, with their influence and their wealth; nor even the political men who sit in St. Stephen's, who have spread abroad the fame and might and power of England. But it is these modest pioneers of "nations yet to be" who, in the wilds and deserts of South Africa, Australia and Asia, have demonstrated the realities of English civilisation and the English spirit of freedom.
In the hour of danger we have seen all these members of the great Mother Country rush to its help. The spectacle has been an inspiring one, and in the case of South Africa especially it has been unique, inasmuch as it has been predicted far and wide that the memory of the Boer War would never die out, and that loyalty [xii] to Great Britain would never be found in the vast African veldt. Facts have belied this rash assertion, and the world has seldom witnessed a more impressive vindication of the triumph of true Imperialism than that presented by Generals Botha and Smuts. As the leader of a whole nation, General Botha defended its independence against aggression, yet became the faithful, devoted servant and the true adherent of the people whom he had fought a few years before, putting at their disposal the weight of his powerful personality and the strength of his influence over his partisans and countrymen.
CATHERINE RADZIWILL.
December, 1917.