Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1897-02-17
RHODES TESTIFlES
Before the Parliamentary Committee as
to His TRANSACTIONS in the
Transvaal Movements.

London, Feb. 16.-The parliamentary
committee recently appointed by the
house of commons to investigate into the
causes and circumstances of the troubles
in the Transvaal began its sitting to-
day. The committee room was crowded
with privileged persons, among whom
was the prince of Wales, who showed
great interest in the proceedings.
Cecil Rhodes. formerly prime minister
of the Cape Colony and the active direc-
tor of the affairs of the British South
Africa company, was sworn and took the
stand as the first witness examined.
Mr.. Rhodes read q long statement detail
ing the occurrences in British South At
RIGA and the Transvaal prior to the raid
led by DR.. Jameson into the Boer terri
tory and dwelt at some length upon the
general feeling which had arisen as q
consequence of the corrupt management
of the Transvaal government and Its
refusal to concede the rights of the
Uitlanders He was in sympathy with
the Uitlanders in their grievances and to
assist a movement designed to sustain
for them their constitutional rights he
had placed on the Transvaal frontier I'M
der the orders of DR.. Jameson force
of troops with instructions to act should
certain events arise.
Mr. Rhodes admitted that he had not
communicated to the directors of the
chartered company notice Of all his
actions, which, however, were made In
perfect good faith and under the in
fluence of his belief that it was the in
tention of the Transvaal government to
introduce into the Boer republic the in
fluence of foreign power.
At this point Sir William Harcourt In
terrupted Mr.. Rhodes, and asked:
WAS your object to overthrow the
Transvaal government"
Mr.. Rhodes replied that the overthrow
of the government was not his object, but
merely to bring about a change. He adj
mitted the probability of his having done
wrong in placing DR.. Jameson with his
men on the frontier, but Jameson's in
vasion of the Transvaal. he was not re-
sponsible for. as Jameson had gone into
the Boer territory without his (Rhodeso
authority.
Witness was asked whether he had in
formed the British high commissioner
in South Africa, Sir Hercules Robinson,
(now Lord Rosemead), of his designs and
replied he had not.
Sir William Harcourt asked why he
had not informed the British high COM
missioner and Mr.. Rhodes answered:
"You had better get the answer to that
question from Lord Rosemead.'
Mr.. Rhodes would not say that the
measures he had taken had brought
about the revolution in the Transvaal.
He admitted, however, that he had sup
plled some OF the 1unuS used III preparing
and carrying out Janeson's raids, but
he could not say who supplied the rest.
He denied that he had pressed the Jo-
hannesburgers into acts of insurrection.
What pressure there may have been
was not from the outside, but from with
in. 1t was impossible, he said, that the
present state of things in Johannesburg
and other parts of the Transvaal should
continue. The people would not cease
their agitation until they obtained their
civil rights.
The examination of Mr. Rhodes occu-
pied the entire sitting, and the committee
adjourned until Friday.