Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/222

 214] ENGLISH HISTORY. [oct.

ality— that the Government, and Mr. Chamberlain in particular, had been determined to provoke a war. The second was that of idiotcy — that they had brought on a war which they had not in the least desired, by extreme stupidity in the conduct of the negotiations. The third hypothesis, which, he suggested, was worthier of acceptance, was that in the Transvaal there was the ascendency of an oligarchy, aggravated by corruption, and that the leaders of the burghers preferred in the last resort to fight rather than accept changes which would have meant the end of the system from which they drew such infinite profit.

The amendment was negatived by 362 votes against 135.

Questions of policy connected with the war and the pre- vious negotiations having thus been fully dealt with, and the general action of the Ministry sustained by majorities very greatly exceeding the normal preponderance of Ministerialists over the Opposition, the sitting of October 20 was devoted to the consideration of matters relating to military provision. A short debate, indeed, which took place on the motion for an address in reply to the royal message already recorded, an- nouncing the embodiment of the Militia and the calling-out of the Militia Reserve, was marked by speeches of great violence from Mr. Dillon and Mr. Davitt. The leader of the majority of the Nationalist members denounced the scale of the military preparations contemplated by the Government against the untrainei soldiers of the two small Boer republics as offering a humiliating and disgusting spectacle, and moved an amendment deprecating the embodiment of the Militia, which was defeated by 299 to 36. The House having then gone into Committee of Supply on the Supplementary Estimates for a further number of land forces of 35,000, Mr. Wyndham (Under-Secretary for War) made a lucid statement of the preparations which had been made and were in contemplation. He said that in June, 1899, when "a little cloud arose in South Africa with the abortive conclusion of the Bloemfontein Conference, we had in Cape Colony three and a half battalions of infantry and two companies of garrison artillery. We had in Natal three battalions of infantry, two regiments of cavalry, three batteries of field artillery and one of mountain artillery. This had been the garrison of South Africa since May, 1897. . . . The little cloud grew. Earnest representations on the necessity of increas- ing the garrison were made, . . . and the Government therefore sanctioned (June 27), the provision of the regimental transport which was necessary to make this garrison an effective force. Further representations were received from the High Commis- sioner, from the Governor of Natal, and from the officer com- manding the troops in South Africa ; therefore on August 3 it was decided to despatch two battalions to strengthen the Natal garrison." To that period belonged the despatch of the gallant and skilful Colonel Baden-Powell, whose name will be always linked in history with the heroic defence of Mafeking, and other