Hawke's Bay Herald. WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1890. A SCRAP OF PAPER.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 10361, 22 July 1896, Page 2

Hawke's Bay Herald. WEDNESDAY, JULY 22, 1890. A SCRAP OF PAPER.

A cable message in yesterday's iaane | stated that a majority report of a committee appointed by the Cape Parliament declared that Mr Cecil Rhodes directed and controlled Dr. Jameson's unfortunate raid on the Transvaal. Unfortnnafcely there la too much evidence of that to permit) any reasonable donbt of its truth, We have had the cypher telegrams oaptared by the Boers and read before the English Conrt at Jameson's preliminary trial, In which, nnder the galse of Hosting Ia company, the whole affair was arranged, and Mr Khodes' name ia there need in such a manner aa to convince one that, if be did not organise the raid, he was oognisant of id. And now we have before as the article la the Nitieteenth Century by Mr Seymour Fort to whioh a cable message recently ireferred. Mr Fort was, by the bye, at one time a resident of New Zealand, He landed here In J877, and was, we believe, a sohoolmaster comewhere in the Rangitikei district for socse time. Subsequently he went Home, but oama to Australia bs private secretary to Sir Henry 'Loon when that gentleman was appointed Governor of Viotoria. He accompanied Sir Henry to the Cape in the same capacity, bnt apparently coon afterwards entered the service of the Chartered Company. He tells an almost incredibly romantics story, bat it ia accepted as true by journals of snob, standing as the Speaker, and Mr Fort is regarded as the apologist of Mr Rhodes. Put briefly, Mr Fort's account is that Mr Rhodes desired to form a groat South African Federation, Including the Trawvaul and the Orange Free State. That this wonld have been a proat thing must bs admitted, for, confronted by snch a powerful combination, neither the Kuta* bele nor any other sstives would have dared to rise, and the settlement of South Africa would have gone on apaea. But President Krneer proved obdurate. Perhaps he saw Mr Cecil Rhodes the dotnlnant figure in the Confederation, and that meant the oupromaoy ot Engllßh Influence. Mr Rhodes, however, believed that the President was instigated In his refusal by Germany, and that a secret treaty, inimical to British interests, had been entered into by the Trauavaal and Gormany. What evidence he had of the existence of snch a treaty we do not know, bnt Mr Fort tells ns he was convinced that It did exist, and that it would be found in the archives of the Transvaal. The agitation of tha Uitlandera forpolltinal rights was utilised a« the esouee for too

raid. Mr Ford does not pnb it in that I way exactly. Ha says Mr Rhodes was j satisfied that if he could selza that I scrap of ' papot and revoal a plot to make the Emperor of Germany instead of j Queen Victoria the rnler of South Africa, ' there would be such a storm of national indignation that EDgland would insist ou the re«subjngation of the Tranßvaal, in which case the Uitlanders would get the political and civil rights they demanded. He therefore arranged with them to assist Jameson on his arrival at Johannesburg. As we know from the publication of the cypher telegrams, this scheme worked up to a curtain point', but tho Ulfcluiidoru wore nob ready when the raidwns organised, and strongly advocated delay. But Mr llhodns feared that delay would be fatnl to his plans, which were to make a rapid dash on Johannesburg before the Busplolons of the Boers were aroused, and when a email force, assisted by tho Ultlanders, could take possession of the town, march on Pretoria, and seize the alleged treaty. This story, strange as it is, 1b consistent with events as they happened. The extraordinary rapidity of Dr. Jameson's advance, explained at the time by saying he believed women and children In Johannesburg to be in extreme danger, is more readily understandable In the light of Mr Fort's account, Bnfc " the best laid schemes of mice and men oft gang agley," the Boers know all about the massing of Jameson's force and its advance, and were prepared to meet him, as all the world now knows, The existence of any treaty between the Transvaal and Germany Is generally scouted by the English Press, though tho attitude of the German tlmperor towards P.'edilont Kruger after tho raid certainly gives color to the belief that there was at least a secret understanding between the two, Mr Rhodes seamed to have risked all on the belief that nothing succeeds like success. Certainly If he had attained his object and proved the existence of such a treaty he would have been the most prominent man in the British Empire, thongh the result might have been a disastrous war. The end mlfiht have been held to jiißtlfy tho means from a national, if not from a moral, point of vlsw. But failure in snch au event is ona of those blunders whioh Fouchd cynically declared to be worse than crimes. Mr I Rhodes is nob only personally la an awkward position, bub he hos placed the British Government In a tight place. He was the Premier of a British colony when tho raid took place, and the British Government formally on his behalf repudiated any connection or sympathy with Jameson's expedition, There is now, however, omall doubt that he not only knew all about it, but was the actual instigator.