On the 16th the Transvaal replied with a flat refusal of the vital demands. At the same time came news of immense military preparations in the Transvaal and of a general exodus of British subjects from Johannesburg. Yet England still waited in hope of a peaceful settlement, and the government even now failed to take the steps which should have been taken at once; it did not engage transports, mobilise an army, and with all possible speed despatch it to South Africa.
[Oct. 7-9, 1899.
How terrible was the danger, how near the British Empire in South Africa to its fall in the days which followed the 16th, was not at the time apprehended by the public. Yet the government knew, or should have known. Not till October 7, in face of the hourly growing peril, was mobilisation ordered in England.
REFUGEES LEAVING JOHANNESBURG.
Owing to the immense crowds of refugees leaving Johannesburg, the rolling stock of the Netherlands South African Railway was unequal to the demands made upon it, and very many hapless Uitlanders had to travel hundreds of miles in cattle trucks, amid terribly trying discomforts.
War!
On the 9th, the Boer ultimatum was handed in, demanding the withdrawal of the troops which had reached South Africa since June 1, 1899, and of all troops on their way. There was only one possible answer to this insolent missive—War.
