THE TRANSVAAL SECRET SERVICE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2396, 1 February 1900, Page 44

THE TRANSVAAL SECRET SERVICE.

A pamphlet, published in Capetown by Mr William Taylor, reveals the Transvaal secret service system in all its naked iigliness — yet not all the tale of iniquity is disclosed, the trump cards, so to speak, being kept to be played after the war is over. Mr Taylor's authority is Mr A. E. Heyer, who for some years had exceptional opportunities of spying upon the secret service while employed in the South African National Bank, where he held the office of confidential clerk and private secretary to the general manager of the bank. " Here it was," says Mr Heyer, " that I was able to get at the keynote of what I afterwards knew to be a huge conspiracy and plot directed against the Power of which I am proud to be a naturalised subject." And if half the tale Mr Heyer tells is true, the Transvaal secret service has been one of the most iniquitous and far-reach-ing conspiracies the century has witnessed. The dramatis personnas of this machiavellian drama appear to have been well chosen for the individual role they had to adopt. Dr Wilhelm Knapr>e, having proved a huge failure as consul-general for Germany in Samoa, eventually became one of the general managers of the Transvaal National Bank. At Samoa his career was brief, as it was inglorious. " Formerly a soldier, he continually desired to rule the roost, and treated the natives as if they were dogs, flogged them for the most trivial offences, and cruelly maltreated the women on the slightest provocation, and whenever his evil passions got the upper hand took other undue advantages of the defenceless creatures." Moreover, Mr Heyer says, C4ermany barely escaped war with Spain through the high-handed proceedings of Knappe, who was recalled by Bismarck. To Bismarck and Dr Leyds Mr Heyer gives the credit of laying the foundation of the Transvaal- secret service, "the administration of which, a? to cunning and device, has -yet to find its equal." A kind of Vigilance Committee had been in existence previously, but its functions were unimportant. While in Hamburg in 1886, Mr Heyer says Bismarck's organ, Nachriehten, referred to the Transvaal as the next strip of territory likely to fall into the hands of Germany, and the country northward; but, thanks to Mr Rhodes, Germany was anticipated in that particular portion of Africa. The chapter in the pamphlet denims with the plotting of Bismarck and Dr Leyds make& rather en-

tertaining reading, although the disclosures will hardly be appreciated in German high quarters. Mr Heyer says: ''It had always been Prince Bismarck's desire to oust the Imperial claims to paramountcy in South Africa, backed up by the clever devices and intricate- schemes of Dr Leyds. A striking proof of Germany's attempt to swamp the Trans^aal •with troops, with the ultimate view of destroying British paramountcy in South Africa, was the annexation of Damaraland and Great Namaqualand. A party of German engineers and surveyors landed at Swakop Mouth, and a line of railway, via Windhoek and Northern Kolihari, to Johannesburg, was to be immediately constructed. Again Great Britain frustrated the scheme by quietly annexing Bechuanaland." Continuing, the author of the pamphlet says: " I have before me a copy of a document, dated Pretoria, August 24, 1892 (the original, which is still in a certain Government office in Pretoria), wherein a Pretoria-Berlin scheme is detailed — namely, ' how a few regiments of Prussian infantry could be landed at Delagoa Bay, and force their way into Transvaal territory, and, once in, defy the British suzerainty, and for 3 time hang the annoying question of her paramountcy on the nail.' The name of Herr Yon Herff, then German consul at Pretoria, appears on the document. This document must surely be an affair of subordinates, for the leaders of the German Government would not dream of thus throwing down the gauntlet, which England would quickly take up. While the plotting was at its height Mr Heyer got permission to sleep on the bank's premise.:,, a^ a sort of caretaker, having charge of the manager's and secretary's keys. His nightly exploitation of documents yielded a rich harvest. The secretary and manager looked upon him as "an innocent and harmless duffer," but if what he now declares to the world be true, they must wish they had hanged him instead of giving him the custody of the keys. Secret meetings were held at the bank, and the names of the prominent men who attended are given, including Knappe and Leyds. " President Kruger, who was once present with his son-in-law, Jan Eloff, soid that ' England must not be the supreme Power in South Africa. I feel sure that, providing we have Germany with iis. and with the Orange Free Slate and the colony, we shall win the day.' This statement was received with loud cheering, and the posse of Zarps stationed at the Landdrost Court next door rushed to' the place, wondering what had happened. A rumour was current next morning of aia attempt to break into the bank. The editor of the late Transvaal Observer will remember the incident." Ac that time feeling ran high between the Progressives and ihe Afrikander Bond in Cape Colony. The Bond was in a quandary as to where it would find funds to defray election exponfee?. However, the difficulty was soon got over. "A certain notorious member of the present Cape Ministry not particularly noted for his gentleness of demeanour or affectionate regard for lofty principles, may remember receiving about this time (April, 1692) the sum of £300, in eight £100 notes of tho National Bank, -with the names at foot of W. Knappe (manager) and S. Meintje? (accountant), the notes being taken from J^ook A." Agoin, "A prominent Cape politician, sometimes termed the Dictator and Ministry-maker, may remember that during the general elections of 1894 sums to the tune of £1200 to £2000 were sent to his cai'b for electioneering and like purposes in C.'ipc Colon;,' by the Berliner Handelsgesellpchaft, which institution, for the benefit of English readcra, may be termed the Berlin Chamber ot Commerce. Another and particularly imctuous and patriotic member of tiie present Capo Ministry, distinguished by a sweet amiability of temper and admiration for the Right Hon. C. J. Rhodes, may recollect receiving a cheque from a Transvaal secret service agent during his struggle to power in 1£98." A certain German, whose movements Mr Heyer says he watched during the 1898 elections, travelled all over the colony in the interests of the Bond, spending money freely, and now holds a snug billet in the Government service across the Vaal.

The mj r sterio\vs meetings of the National Bank, Mr Heyer says, were held at the direct instigation of the Berlin Chamber of Commerce, " and I afterwards learned the Emperor had a hand in it. Both Germany and the Transvaal authorities had one common object in view — to undermine the paramountcy of Great Britain in South Africa." About that time Germany, aided by Dr Leyds, approached Lisbon over and over again with a view to get Delagoa Bay ceded to the Transvaal, but without avail. The next move was the following offer to the Boer Government, through Yon Herff, the German representative at Pretoria: — "Germany agreed to send 12,000 trained men, via Delagoa Bay, into the Transvaal gradually as immigrants, miners, and the like. A large irumber of experienced military officers were to go to Pretoria to train the Staafes Artillerie, to build forts, etc., on the German and French principles, and 'generally to supervise affairs." After the Jameson raid a number of German officers went to the Transvaal, and with what result the present war in South Africa bears out. The Kaiser's memorable telegram to President Kruger awakened the British authorities, and when "the Channel fleet prepared for action, how soon the Kaiser changed his mind from his notorious scheme to swamp the Transvaal with German troops." According to Mr Heyer the Volksraad voted large sums for secret service. Commencing with £10,000 annually, in 1893 the vote was £15,000, which was doubled in 1895, while of recent years the annual expenditure amounts to £80,000 a year. Amongst those who received money from the Pretoria chest annually Mr Hever includes the name 1 ? of Henry Labo\ichere, M.P. for Northampton, Reginald F. Statham, late of the Standard and Diggers' News, and now on the Daily Chronicle staff. A number of newspapers were also subsidised, including the Siecle (Paris), Berliner Neueate Nachrichten (Berlin), Vossische Zeitung (Germany), Die Hamburger Nachrichten (Hamburg), and a number of South African papers. "There is a separate and secret code (with which I am acquainted)," says Mr Heyer, "in u.=e between the heads of this particular department." The agents of the secret service are scattered throughout South Africa, and are paid from £5 to £10 a week, according to the nature of the service they perform. When the joint general managers of the National Bank incurred losses amounting- to £80,000, and not properly accounted for, they were dismissed by Dr Leyds ; " but subsequently turned up in Europe occupying still more responsible positions at the express desire of the Kaiser." It was the secret service that engendered the Matabele rebellion, according to Mr Heyer, and secretly furnished the Matabele with arms and ammunition " made in Germany " for the Pretoria Government. "There is no doubt that the official who actually conducted these nefarious operations was the late Colonel Hcnning Pretorius, of the Staats Artillerio, who printed an account of his trip into Maslional&n,d under the §wse of a hunting

expedition, but it is now generally known that he had other game in view than springboks or lions." After the Jameson raid 200 guns and 16 cases of ammunition were sent from: Pretoria to the Matabele. Concerning the attitude of Mr Schreiner Mr Heyer says: "Mr Schreiner was playing a shrewd game ! Perhaps as Premier, an office he was striving hard to fill, he would have assximed an attitude of neutrality for a deeper and sinister motive. A private letter addressed by Mr Schreiner to a Pretoria State official would, if published, throw a lucid light on that situation." The fire at Groote Schuur and the attempt on Mr Rhodes's life by trying to wreck the train in which he travelled on his return from the north on January 7, 1897, was also Ihe. work of the secret service agents. Mr Heyer places Ihe Cape Premier on the spit, and toasts him rather severely in the pamphlet, and arrives at the conclusion that the Transvaal, aided by Germany and the Afrikander Bond, has been seeking all along to undermine British

supremacy in South Africa. Regarding the altered attitude of Germany he says : " The alleged 'split' betwen Germany and the Transvaal is therefore a make-believe with which Britisherw are asked to be satisfied." Not content with men who would sell their birthright for a mess of pottage, the secret service employed a number of good-looking young ladies os agents, who often succeeded in getting as much information as they wanted from the British military officers. The pamphlet concludes with extracts from the Globe at the time of the raid inquiry when Mr Schreiner was a witness in England. The 'Globe stated that no greater service could have been rendered the Imperial cause than calling Mr Schreiner as a witness. " The true inwardness of a certain section of the Afrikander sentiment is revealed now as it never* was before. We commend it to the careful attention of everyone wishing to see this country remain the paramount Power in South Africa. Mr Schreiner, who does not conceal his ambition to succeed his late patron in the Premiership, is not an uninteresting specimen of the Englishman made in Germany. . . . We may be prejudiced, but we regard Mr Schreiner's policy as too German, and we are much mistaken if this view is not shored by the majority of the Cape electorate." After the war is over, when the plotters can be unraasked, what staitling revelations there will be, if Mr Heyer has not altogether misrepresented facts !