The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-06
ItMEsoN's GREAT FAUX PAS.
MN STORY OF NOW HE MADE
TROUBLE IN THE TRANsvAAL.

with the intehHoh VI SNhS ~
+be Men Whom He Intended to
ueln. He Precipitated Matters In
scb n Manner AS to Ruin Every
,odx Connected With TIA De-
ean<e of the Reform Committee of
IL. Transvaal who Sought to
throw of the BOer Yoke.
Vow York, Sept. 5.-Richard Harding
,.,-is has written an interesting article
:. 5afense of Mr.. John Hays Hammond.
.be American engineer, who was most
a.+ive member Of the reform committee
~ johannesburg at the time of the noto-
rious Transvaal raid last winter. 1t was
.loimed that Mr.. Hammond had'been one
g those who invited jameson to enter
johannesburg, and who had then left him
=, ernt his way there unsupported. Mr..
1,o,.is endeavors to show that these
-,arras were unmerited. Mr. Hammond
md his friends kept silence during the
.uios that Jameson and his lieutenants
might enjoy all the benefit OF pubic SYM
.,atbv that he could have. Jameson, ne
sa,s lis paying for his adventure like a
nan And in time, having paid for 1t in full,
he will come out again, as picturesque
4aure and. with great mass of the Brit
isb nublic, as popular hero as he was
hen he won Matabeleland and admins
.orod that troublous territory in the in
forests of the Chartered Company, ana
later made his iIl-considered and ill-star-
rod invasion of the Transvaal."
They. however, wish now to clear their
chris of the charge of deserving their ally
in time of need and of cowardice.
The letter deals largely with the causes
that led to the raid, which were to be
found in the fact of the refusal OF the
government to allow the rights of free cit
izenship to the immigrants who had spent
their money in developing the country,
and who had cast their lot with the
Transvaal when it's laws were favorable
10 immigration; the fact that the govern
ment sold to monopolies the right OF trans
portation and prevented any attempt on
the part of the miners to estaDllsh new
transportation lines, even closing the
fords so that the wagon trains could not
he run. and taking control of the sale or
dvnamite. and in hundreds of other ways
annoying them, increasing their taxes ana
depressing them to the full extent or IT'S
power.
The spirit of discomfort caused by these
grievances grew SLOWLY anu SIOWS0 AlSS4A
when it first found expression in the form
of perfectly constitutional agitations In
May, 1894, 1900 Uitlanders petitioned the
Volksraad for the rights of franchise, and
ii is on record in the minutes of that legis-
lative body that this petition was recelV-
ed with jeers and laughter. That, in ITSELF
was not soothing to the petitioners, espec-
tally as it came from the representatives
of those of the inhabitants who were in
the minority for even at that time the
UJitlanders greatly outnumered the origi-
nal settlers of the Transvaal. Two months
later another petition, signed this time by
$500 inhabitants, was received by the
Volksraad in the same manner, one of its
members, indeed, going so far as to rise
and say: IF you want the franchise, why
sedont you fight for it?'
His invitation was accepted later, when
the inhabitants of Johannesbu burg, finding
there was no help to be obtained through
the sacred right of petition" organized
the reform committee and prepared them
selves to take what they wanted by a
revolution and the use of arms.
mo one Denies" he says, that their
purpose was to change the laws of the
country, or that they struggled arms into
johannesburg to accomplish that purpose,
If it could not be accomplished by any
other means. But that they intended to up
set the republic, do not believe any more
than believe that they intended to turn
the Transvaal into a British dependency
or to raise the British flag as 1t was re-
peatedly stated at the time they had
meant to do"
In regard to Mr.. Cecil Rhodes connection
with he matter, Mr. Davis says: Cecil
Rhodes, as one of those most largely m
terested, was proportionately interested in
seeing labor made cheaper, transportation
made easier, and those men in office who
were interested in the Mines instead of
the Beers, who were not. AS a matter of
fact Mr. Cecil Rhodes interest in the con-
solidated gold fields was but one-fifteenth
OF its profits, so it was not money, but the
development of his cherished plan for a
combination Of all of the South African
republics that moved him.
he denies that the revolution was plot
TO sieze the gold fields or that the men in
terested in it were the puppets of Cecil
Rhodes. There were," he says, "other big
men in the revolution besides Cecil Rhodes,
and 1t was perfectly we'll agreed among
these men that no flag but that of the
Iransvaal republic was to be raised when
me revolution began, and whatever the
hngllshmen may have wished, the Ger
mans, Afrikanders, and those of the Beers
VINO were In sympathy with the revolution,
ana the Americans, which latter composed
ohe-siXth of the reform committee, formed
d majority which certainly had no inten-
queen, and, as a matter of history the
Iransvaal flag fioated over the gold fields
building, which was the headquarters of
Inc reVolutionists from the first to the last.
personally, am convinced, after having
talked with the men who were at the head
VI thls revolution, that the greater part
oil them as honesty believed that they
We're acting for the best good of the coun-
try IN trying to overthrow the Boer gov
eminent as did the revolutionists of 1776
IN our own country, or as do the rebels in
CUBA at the present day.
DIX weeks before the Jameson raid the
reform committee had mapped out their
pan OF action. They had spent f70,0 900
|SooVW in provisions, which they expect
ca would outlast a two months seige;
lney mad arranged that the water supply
oi johannesburg could not be cut off from
ene outside, and they had ordered rifles
anu Maxim guns and were smuggling
mem across the border. This was the
most Difficult part OF their work, for guns
are as strictly prohibited to Ultlanders in
johannesburg as are public meetings, and
every one who owned a rife was a marked
nan IN consequence. 1t is well to remem-
Der Der this for it is not as though Johannes