The Boer and Hollander classes, however, are strenuously resisting all proposals of compromise, and demand the punishment of the leaders in the recent uprising.

A new phase was given to the question the first week in February by the publication of a dispatch from Mr. Chamberlain to Sir Hercules Robinson for presentation to President Krüger, in which, as a method of dealing with the grievances of British subjects in the Transvaal, the colonial secretary suggested a scheme of reforms that included the granting of autonomy to the residents of the Rand. The suggestions are contained in the following paragraphs of the dispatch:

44

Basing myself upon the expressed desire of President Krüger to grant municipal government to Johannesburg, I suggest, for his consideration, as one way of meeting the difficulty, that the whole of the Rand district, from end to end, should be erected into something more than a municipality as that word is ordinarily understood: that, in fact, it should have a modified local autonomy, with powers of legislation on purely local questions, and subject to the veto of the presi dent and executive council; and that this power of legislation should include the power of assessing and levying its own taxation, subject to the payment to the republican government of an annual tribute of an amount to be fixed at once and revised at intervals, so as to meet the case of a diminution or increase in the mining industry.

As regards judicial matters in such a scheme, the Rand, like the eastern provinces and the Kimberley district of the Cape Colony, migl t have a superior court of its own. It would, of course, be a feature of this scheme that the autonomous body should have the control of its civil police, its public education, its mine management, and all other matters affecting its internal economy and well-being. The central government would be entitled to maintain all reasonable safeguards against the fomenting of a revolutionary movement or the storage of arms for treasonable purposes within the district.

"Those living in, and there enjoying a share in the government of, the autonomous district, would not, in my view, be entitled to a voice in the general legislature or the central executive, or the presidential election. The burghers would thus be relieved of what is evidently a haunting fear to many of them-although I believe an unfounded one-that the first use which the enfranchised newcomers would make of their privileges would be to upset the republican form of government. Relieved of this apprehension, I should suppose that there would not be many of them who would refuse to deal with the grievances of the comparatively few Uitlanders outside the Rand on those liberal principles which characterized the earlier legislation of the republic."

Mr. Chamberlain added that he would be glad if President Krüger could come to England to discuss the matter.

The Boer government was incensed at the publication. of this dispatch without its being first submitted to President Krüger. They regarded it as an unwarranted interference in matters entirely within the jurisdiction of the Transvaal government. In fact, a second crisis seemed

Vol. 6, 5,

imminent; but all immediate danger was promptly averted by Mr. Chamberlain's announcement in the house of commons of his readiness to abandon his home-rule proposal for the Rand, and to ask President Krüger to suggest an alternative. However, the president's contemplated visit to England was indefinitely postponed; and it is said that the volksraad is not likely to assent to his going to London except on condition that the convention of 1884 be so amended as to recognize the absolute independence of the Transvaal. It is the avowed determination of the British government to persist in its efforts to secure equal rights for its subjects in the republic. It is also the avowed determination of the German government, as stated in the Reichstag by Foreign Minister von Bieberstein, to "uphold the status quo of Delagoa bay, and also the rights involved in the ownership of the German railways, and the maintenance of the South African republic as guaranteed by the treaty of 1884." These facts are sufficient to show not only that the situation in the Transvaal is very much complicated, but that the possibility of a clash between Great Britain and Germany is by no means entirely averted. The outlook, moreover, is not rendered less ominous by the conclusion, in March, of a new offensive and defensive alliance between the Transvaal and the Orange Free State, and by the fact that the Boers of the Free State and of Cape Colony are said to be arming, while there has recently been a large influx of Germans into the police and artillery of the Transvaal.

The Matabele Uprising. The South African situation was further complicated, near the end of March, by a formidable uprising of the Matabeles. The last revolt of these warlike natives, it will be remembered, was subdued after a sharp campaign conducted by Dr. Jameson in the latter part of 1893 (Vol. 3, pp. 616 and 836). The present absence of Dr. Jameson in England, the withdrawal of part of the chartered company's police, and the political complications with which Great Britain now finds herself confronted in South Africa, have created an opportunity for another uprising, of which the Matabeles (possibly under the instigation of anti-British intriguers) have availed themselves. At the end of March the revolt, which included the well-armed native police force of 350, was rapidly spreading. The stronghold of the Matabeles was in the Matoppo hills, southeast of Buluwayo, though bands of marauding natives appeared in many other directions from that place. Many of the white settlers were mur

dered, and much anxiety was felt for the safety of the garrison and people of Buluwayo, to which point forces were being sent by the British with all possible dispatch. The government of the Transvaal offered to Sir Hercules Robinson the assistance of the burgher forces for the protection of women and children in the disturbed region.

JAMESON, DR. LEANDER STARR, was born in Scotland in 1853, son of R. W. Jameson, writer to the Edinburgh Signet. He was educated at Godolphin School and at University College Hospital, Lon don, Eng., from which he qualified as M. R. C. S. in 1875; and in the same year he took his M. B. at London University, at which he also obtained the degree of M. D. two years later. Then he went to South Africa and had a first-class practice at Kimberley. It was there that Mr. Rhodes first met him. Mr. Rhodes was attacked by a dangerous illness, and was nursed day and night by Dr. Jameson, whose treatment and care undoubtedly saved Mr. Rhodes's life. When the operations of the chartered company were endangered by the action of Lobengula, Dr. Jameson undertook the risky task of visiting the chief. Lobengula was ill at the time, and Dr. Jameson succeeded in curing him, and so obtained the concession which he desired, and permission for the pioneer force to inarch through Mashonaland. Then, having been previously made administrator of Mashonaland, Dr. Jameson, in March, 1893, announced an important discovery of new gold fields not far from Fort Salisbury. A few months later the country was disturbed by the incursion of a Matabele impi which Lobengula had dispatched to punish a Mashona chief for stealing cattle. The impi were ordered to leave by the whites, and as they refused they were attacked, and some thirty or forty were killed. The raids of the Matabele were repeated, and at last they fired on the white police near Fort Victoria, and followed this up by attacking a patrol of the Bechuanaland border police. The chartered company's forces then began to advance against Lobengula, who was himself disinclined for war, but was urged on by his young braves to defy the white men. Dr. Jameson was in command of 2,000 men of the company's troops, and the war was brought to a speedy conclusion. Dr. Jameson reached Buluwayo to find it practically destroyed, and shortly afterward Lobengula was captured. Since then Buluwayo has be come a flourishing town, and it was there that Dr. Jameson lived for some time.

RHODES, RT. HON. CECIL J., ex-premier of Cape Colony, was born in 1853, son of Rev. Francis William Rhodes, rector of Bishop's Stortford, Eng. At an early age he showed symptoms of tuberculosis, and sought a change of climate at the Cape. In 1870 he took part in the first rush" to the diamond discoveries then recently made in Griqualand West. There he met Mr. C. D. Rudd, who had also gone to South Africa to repair a constitution which had broken down in training at Cambridge. The two men formed a lasting friendship. Both are now directors of the Consolidated Goldfields, one of the most important gold-mining trusts. But the two young partners really founded their fortunes on some contracts in De Beers Mines. Gradually they acquired claims which grew ultimately into the De Beers Mining Company. In the meantime Mr. Cecil Rhodes came home and went to Oriel College, Oxford, where he was graduated B. A., proceeding to his M. A. degree in 1881. Returning to the Cape, Mr.

Rhodes soon began to take an active interest in the politics of the colony. Elected to the legislative assembly as member for West Barkly in 1881, he has represented that constituency ever since. In 1884 he was made treasurer of Cape Colony, and later in the same year he was appointed deputy commissioner of Bechuanaland. In 1890 he became premier in succession to Sir J. Gordon Sprigg, and commissioner of crown lands and public works of Cape Colony; and since 1894 he had been premier and minister of native affairs. In February, 1895, he became a member of the imperial privy council. His aims have been definitely avowed as the welding of the varied European races occupying South Africa into one great colonial nationality. "United South Africa" has been the rallying cry of his policy. His sphere of influence stretches from Cape Town to Tanganyika, and from the Atlantic to the Indian ocean. The work to which he has specially devoted himself in the country bearing his name-Rhodesia -is briefly summarized as follows, by the London Times:

"Such a development of material resources, combined with improvement in social surroundings, as shall attract a large white population. The work of the administrator, operating in harmony with his (Mr. Rhodes's) conception. will be so to organize the conditions under which the growing population of the country can be received and governed as to enable the influx to take place with a minimum of distress and friction and to initiate the establishment of a great English community of the future under institutions as nearly as possible approximating to what experience has approved to be best in the institutions by which they are governed at home."

A writer in the Graphic of November 11, 1893, says:

"Though reputed to be immensely rich, Mr. Cecil Rhodes lives with the greatest simplicity, and his personal expenses are said not to exceed £500 a year. His home is a comfortable but unpretentious building called The Grange,' and is situated at Rondebosch, near Cape Town."

The story of the granting of a royal charter to the British South Africa Company in 1889, affords an example of his indomitable determination. His gift of £10,000 to the Irish home rule party in 1891 excited much comment; for Mr. Rhodes is an imperialist, and was, therefore, hardly expected to sympathize with Mr. Parnell. The result of his policy in South Africa has been that the Cape ministry has become almost absolute.

ABYSSINIA AND THE SOUDAN.

Italian Defeat at Adowa. From December 20, 1895, till January 23, 1896, Makale, or Makalla (Vol. 5, p. 955), was the principal theatre of action in Italy's war with Abyssinia. The place was strongly fortified, though all the engineering work had not been completed when the siege began: in particular, access to the wells was precarious. The garrison numbered 1,200 men under command of Colonel Galliano. After the repulse of December 20 the Abyssinians renewed the attack every two or three days: more than once they suffered heavy loss in attempting to carry the place by assault. King Menelek was present during

the siege to witness their bravery. The armament of the fortress was insufficient, only four cannon being available; and ammunition and rations were short. The Abyssinians, intrenched on the neighboring heights, cut off the garrison. from their water supply. When further resistance was hopeless, the commandant accepted the terms of surrender offered by Menelek. The garrison, taking all their arms and equipment, were permitted to march out and unmolested to rejoin the main body of the Italian army at Adigrat.

The fall of Makale left the way open for Menelek to advance against General Baratieri at Adigrat, or to interrupt the Italian commander's line of communication with Massowah. But before his army began to move from Makale, King Menelek sent an envoy to the Italian camp