ABSTRACT
From the Imperialist point of view there was cause for anxiety even about Chamberlain though he figured as “head of the war party” in Boer and Radical writing on the alleged. To find an almost contented Miners’ Conference listening early in 1899 to praises of Mr. Chamberlain and the Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1897 is to be reminded of another factor in the situation favourable to Government. The Transvaal Government, on August 19th and 21st, met Mr. Chamberlain’s Dispatch of July 27th by offering to enfranchise Uitlanders of five years’ instead of seven years’ residence if Great Britain surrendered the claim to Suzerainty, Imperialists were indignant at the Radical praises lavished on the arming Boers. Winning the alliance of the Boers of the Free State, the Transvaal set on foot a mobilisation of surprising speed and thoroughness3 which soon convinced originally incredulous observers that no less than an offensive against the British Empire was intended.
