Unfortunately a rich gold mine has been discov-
ered in your country. It is surely not meant for the
poor down-trodden Boer. Poor and abandoned men
soon began to flock to this New Eldorado, and were
presently followed by a legion of unscrupulous specu-
lators. Afterward certain ambitious capitalists ar-
rived on the scene, who knew how to use their in-
fluence, and were indifferent as to what role they
played or of what became of the country as long as
they could increase their wealth tenfold. And to
what end did they eventually apply their gold de-
rived from the Transvaal mines? Let history tell
Your Majesty, and it will prove that it was not de-
voted to the good of the country or the welfare of
their fellow-men ; but, to the contrary, to the detri-
ment of the country whose hospitality they were
enjoying.
Their object was to overthrow the Government



AN HISTORICAL REMINDER. I9I

and to rob the people of their liberty, by force if
necessary. As they had money in abundance, the
proceeds of the gold they had won from the mines,
they bought thousands of rifles and Maxim cannons
— smuggled these, concealed in oil-casks, into the
country for the purpose of using them against the
people of the Transvaal to oust them out of their
country, whither the capitalist had come and pos-
sessed himself of the gold fields. With this aim in
view they had made a compact with one Cecil
Rhodes to undertake a raid into the Transvaal, Dr.
Jameson acting as the tool.
