The record-union., 1897-07-15
ENGLAND'S ENUMERATION.

The judgment pronounced in Amer
lea upon the Jameson raid towards
johannesburg, when the Beers so sig
nally defeated the invaders, was, and
ever since has been that the British
Government was behind the whole af-
fair; that Jameson was merely cats
paw and that Rhodes acted with full
knowledge of the Chartered Company,
with secret understanding with the Co
lonial Government of the Cape, and
that it in turn was simply following
the secret commands of the Home Sec
retary for the Colonies, in London's
big official building.
1t was the general judgment that
England had set out to take the Trans
vaal. and especially the mining dis
tricts, by peaceful means, if possible,
by forcible ones if no others would
avail There will still remain people
who will hold to this belief and to the
conclusion that the Cape movers We're
but instruments in the hands of the
British Cabinet, and that now they
and Rhodes are made scapegoats to
cover the confusion Of the British Gov
ernment.
That England was not only primarily
responsible for the raid and the butch
cry in which it resulted, but that she
was cognizant of all that the raiders
contemplated and did, and gave their
acts her approval, was the expressed
belief Of the Record Union" 1t was
not shaken by the findings in the case
of Jameson, who though having the
blood of the dead raiders and Beers
on his hands. was let off with mere
formal punishment, while 1t seemed as
If Rhodes himself would escape even
criticism.
Now. however, comes a report and
a minority supplement of the same
tenor. but broader, of the Parliament
ary Committee or Commission of in
quiry, and just as far as it it is pos
Eible for that committee to go it wipes
clean the escutcheon of the British
nation so far as the Jameson raid was
concerned, and fixes the responsibility
where it belongs.
In the light of that important re-
port which appeared in the Record
Union yesterday morning there must
be a modification OF public Judgment
and verdict Of acquittal for England.
or else we must still hold that that
nation is playing a double part, and
making Rhodes the buffer between it
and popular indignation. We are not
inclined to entertain so much of unchar-
itableness, and must modify our judg
ment in the light of the new develop
ments, though we shall maintain that
the oose-at-the-ends policy of the Brit
ish in investing local authority at the
Cape settlements with such broad
powers, and its quiesence when it
should have seen and known what the
rest of the world knew was going on,
make it guilty at least of gross negli-
gence-
The English Home Officer knew that
q demand for independence or the con-
cession of privileges the Beers would
not grant, had gone up from the aliens
in johannesburg: that two-thirds of
these aliens are English; that they
were holding secret and open meetings,
and We're arming; that jameson had
gathered an armed force and was men
acing the frontier; that the Colonial
Governor and the head of the Char
tered Company had knowledge of the
appeal of the aliens to Rhodes and
Jameson. Yet in view of all these facts
there went out from the Home Office
no imperative command against acts
of violence All that was done. was
done by the Colonial Governor, who
warned Jameson to provoke no con-
fict
The finding of the Parliamentary
Committee upon which the Houses of
Parliament must yet act. and unques-
tionably they viii concur. since it is
rare for the English Legislature to
turn down such a Commissioners to