ROENTGEN DISCOVERS X-RAY

1895

after a brilliant series of investigations, to the now familiar treatment of rabies by inoculation.

Late in the year Professor Roentgen of the University of Wuerzburg startled the world with the announcement that he had discovered a new light or form of radiant energy which had the power of penetrating certain bodies. By means of this he was enabled to photograph the skeletons of living animals. At first received with incredulity, the discovery soon took its place in science and proved to be of immense value in surgery. It is known as the X-ray, or Roentgen ray.

New honors were conferred on Cecil Rhodes, who was appointed Privy Councillor to the Queen. Mr. Rhodes's motion in the Cape Parliament for the annexation of British Bechuanaland to Cape Colony was agreed to without a division and the bill was passed. On the 26th of December the Johannesburg "National Union" published a manifesto on self-government and the "Bill of Rights" upon which the Outlanders or Europeans in the Transvaal insisted. On pretense of a popular appeal from the English inhabitants of Johannesburg for immediate intervention, Dr. Jameson with a force of volunteer cavalry at the close of the year suddenly crossed the frontier at Mafeking.

EVENTS OF 1896

Joubert's Boers Capture Jameson's Raiders-Secretary Chamberlain Di avows Raid-William II Cables Congratulations to President Kruger -British Fleet De.nonstrates in English Channel in Answer to William's Telegram-Rhodes Resigns Premiership of Cape Colony -Kruger Surrenders Raiders to British for Punishment-Death of Prince Henry of Battenberg-King Prempeh of Ashantee Surrenders and is Imprisoned-British Defeat Slave-Holding Chief Mwasi Kagunga-British Courts Convict Jameson and Five Raiders-They are Punished Lightly-Transvaal State Secretary Charges Rhodes, Beit, and Harris, Directors in South Africa Company, with Complicity in Jameson Raid-They Resign-Trial of Johannesburg Reform Committee at Pretoria for Treason-Four Leaders are Convicted-Their Death Sentences are Commuted to Heavy Fines-British Subdue Matabeles Abyssinians Defeat Baratieri-Riots in Italy Over Abys sinian Disasters Overturn Crispi's Ministry-It is Succeeded by Rudini's, which Sues Menelek for Peace-More Italian Defeats British General Kitchener's Egyptian Troops Defeat Dervishes at Feshet-Peace Treaty Between Italy and Abyssinia Secures Independence of Abyssinia-Treaty Between France and Madagascar Gives French Resident Control of Madagascar-Death of Sultan of Zanzibar-His Nephew, Said Chalid, Seizes Throne-British Bombard Pace-Flight of Said Chalid-Dutch in Java Rout Atchinese -Weyic Succeeds Campos as Captain-General of Cuba-Philippine Patriots Defeat Spanish Troops-Congress Recognizes Cuban Patriots as Belligerents Spanish Consuls in United States ResignUtah is Admitted to Union with Prohibition of Polygamy-McKinley Defeats Bryan for President on Free Silver Issue-Revolutionists in Korea Kill Premier-China Concedes Manchurian Railroad to Russia-Destructive Tidal Wave in Japan-Andree is Lost on Balloon Expedition to North Pole-Assassination of Shah of Persia -Millennial of Hungary is Celebrated at Budapest-Publications by Jókai and Ibsen-Deaths of Leighton and Millais, English Artists, and Morris, Poet and Decorator-Coronation of Czar Causes Fatal Panic among Spectators-Massacre of Armenians at Constantinople and Eguin and of Christians in Crete-Under Pressure of Powers Sultan Consents to Christian Governorship of Crete.

O

N New Year's Day, with a force of 700 volunteers, among whom were several titled British officers, Jameson, the factotum of Cecil Rhodes, was well under way across the veldt. He ignored an urgent official message of recall. By the time the raiders reached the neighborhood of Krugersdorp on the way to Johannesburg, they found themselves opposed by a strongly posted force of Boers under Commandant Joubert. The raiders were hopelessly outmatched. After thirty-six hours of continuous rifle fire,

WILLIAM II CONGRATULATES KRUGER

1896

the British troopers found themselves without food and ammunition. Dr. Jameson surrendered with all his force and was marched off to Pretoria.

On receipt of this news in London, Secretary Chamberlain telegraphed to President Kruger disavowing the raid, and bespeaking the President's generosity toward his prisoners in the moment of victory. At the same time Emperor William from Berlin sent a message to President Kruger congratulating him on the outcome. This telegram created much excitement in England. It was taken to imply German recognition of the Transvaal's independence of British suzerainty. A so-called "flying squadron" of British warships made an imposing demonstration in the English Channel. In consequence of the state of affairs in South Africa, Cecil Rhodes resigned his premiership of the Cape Ministry. The arrangements for an uprising in connection with the raid were shown to be inadequate. Bitter recriminations ensued between the resident Outlanders and the captured raiders. On the part of the Transvaal authorities there was some talk of shooting the British filibusters, but in the end more moderate counsels prevailed. President Kruger agreed to surrender Dr. Jameson's fellow prisoners. The most prominent plotters among the Outlanders were placed under arrest to be tried on charges of high treason.

In London Cecil Rhodes's Chartered Company for British South Africa fell into extreme disrepute. The Chartered Company's directors on January 9 removed Dr. Jameson from his office as the Company's administrator of Matabeleland. On the same day Kruger issued a conciliatory proclamation. Dr. Jameson was escorted across the border and was immediately conducted to Durban, whence he sailed for England on the troopship "Victoria.”

In the midst of this South African commotion came the news of the death of Prince Henry of Battenberg. He had

1896

TRIAL OF JAMESON RAIDERS

volunteered for the Ashantee campaign, and had been sent to Madeira to recruit. On the day of his death, January 20, King Prempeh of Ashantee submitted to Great Britain's terms. The King and his immediate relatives were sent to Cape Coast Castle. Two days later, Lieutenant Alston, with 150 British regulars and 5,000 natives, attacked the great slave-holding chief, Mwasi Kagunga, on the west shore of Lake Nyassa. The natives, numbering nearly 20,000, were defeated in three encounters. Their stockades and settle

ments were burned.

In February Cecil Rhodes arrived in London just before Jameson and his fellow prisoners. "Doctor Jim," as he was affectionately called, received an enthusiastic reception. After formal inquiries before a magistrate he and his fellow prisoners were released to answer charges under the Foreign Enlistment Act. While this trial was pending, a motion was made in the Cape of Good Hope Assembly to cancel the charter of the South Africa Company. This proposition was rejected, but the Afrikanders in the Assembly were strong enough to exact an official inquiry into the circumstances of the raid. In London Dr. Jameson with fourteen of his principal adherents came up for trial. Nine of the men were discharged, but against the others a grand jury returned a true bill. While this cause celèbre was on, public feeling in England was further excited by some laudatory verses of Sir Alfred Austin, the new Poet Laureate, about the raid. The trial was dragged out to considerable length. By the end of July, Dr. Jameson and his five co-defendants were found guilty. Their chief defense was a written appeal for help from Messrs. Francis Rhodes, Phillips, Hammond, Farrar, and Leonard on behalf of the Johannesburgers. Jameson was convicted. The most damaging testimony against him was his open defiance of the Queen's summons to return. He was sentenced to imprisonment for fifteen months without hard

CHARGES AGAINST RHODES

1896

labor. His associates received sentences of five months at

light confinement. They were removed to Wormwood Scrubbs Prison. A memorial, signed largely by Members of Parliament, was immediately presented to the Home Secretary, praying that the prisoners should be treated as firstclass misdemeanants. Within a month one of them, Major Coventry, was released on the plea of ill-health. None served out his full term.

In the House of Commons the South African debate was opened by Sir William Harcourt. He brought serious charges against Cecil Rhodes and his Chartered Company. A highly discreditable version was given of the English seizure of Matabeleland, and the killing of King Lobengula, followed by the disappointing discovery that there was no gold in the territory. The Chartered Company was charged with circulating false reports of the fabulous mineral wealth of Mashonaland, which, with clever stock exchange manipulations, sent the shares up to £8 10s. A number of minor stock jobbing companies, it was shown, were floated on similar flimsy pretexts. To avert the inevitable crash, the seizure of the paying gold mines of the Transvaal, it was asserted, was attempted as a last measure. While the debate was at its height, Secretary Chamberlain, presiding at the South Africa Company's banquet, emphatically denied all charges of the Government's alleged complicity in the raid. In conclusion, he expressed regret that "so little progress had been made toward a reconciliation of the Dutch and English races in South Africa." As if in answer to this, the State Secretary of the Transvaal Republic addressed two telegrams for transmission to the British Government urging the prosecution of Messrs. Cecil Rhodes, A. Beit, and Rutherford Harris for complicity in the Jameson raid, on the basis of their cipher correspondence already made public in Pretoria. The three men named sent in their resignations as directors of the Brit