What the Proclamation Charges
"Our own unfortunate experiences in the past have also made it sufficiently clear to us that we cannot rely on the most solemn promises and agreements of Great Britain when she has at her helm a Government prepared to trample on treaties, to look for feigned pretext for every violation of good faith by her committed. This is proved among other things by the unjust and unlawful British intervention after we had overcome an armed and barbarous black tribe on our eastern frontier, as also by the forcible appropriation of the dominion over part of our territory where the discovery of diamonds had caused the desire for this appropriation, although contrary to existing treaties. The desire and intention to trample on our rights as an independent and sovereign nation, notwithstanding a solemn convention existing between this State and Great Britain, have also been more than once and are now again shown by the present Government by giving expressions in public documents to an unfounded claim of paramountcy over the whole of South Africa, and therefore also over this State."
ADVANCE OF THE GORDONS AGAINST THE BOERS AT ELANDSLAAGTE,
OCTOBER 21, 1899.
THE BATTLE OF ELANDSLAAGTE—THE DEVONS, MANCHESTERS AND GORDONS
CHARGING BOER GUNS
A COLUMN OF THE BRITISH SOUTH AFRICAN POLICE MARCHING TO MAFEKING.
THE ILL-FATED TENTH MULE BATTERY CAPTURED BY THE BOERS
(From Photo by H. Johnstone)
The Orange proclamation charges that it is the discovery of gold mines in the country that causes the claims made upon the Republic, and adds:
"The consequence of these claims would be, moreover, that the greater part of the power will be placed in the hands of those who, foreigners by birth, enjoy the privilege of depriving the country of its chief treasure while they have never shown any loyalty to a foreign government. Besides, the inevitable consequence of the acceptance of these claims would be that the independence of the country as a self-governing, independent sovereign republic would be irreparably lost."