The columns of Von Donop and Grenfell under General Kekewich on the 11th of April, in the region of Rooival, had a hot fight with the enemy. These eventually were repulsed by the Yeomanry, Scottish Horse, and South Africa Constabulary, who fought with their accustomed coolness and brilliancy. Forty-four Boers were left dead on the field and thirty-four wounded. Twenty prisoners were taken. Captain Salter (7th Imperial Yeomanry) and five men were killed and fifty-two wounded. Lieutenant Bull, 3rd Inniskilling Fusiliers, died of wounds. The pursuit of the band was vigorously taken up, and General Kekewich had the satisfaction of securing two guns, a pom-pom, ammunition, and waggons. Among the Boer dead was Commandant Potgieter of Wolmaranstad, one of Delarey’s right-hand men. About this time Colonel Rochfort’s column made a night raid on a laager at Schweizerreneke, and secured fifty-five prisoners, with waggons and stock.
The columns under General Ian Hamilton continued their systematic sweeping of the Western Transvaal, and after clearing the central area to east of Harts River they formed a line, and in conjunction with Colonel Rochfort from Bloemhof, moved west on the 7th of May. They reached the railway on the 11th plus 357 prisoners and practically all the waggons and stock of the commandos in the district. The total reduction, therefore, in Delarey’s forces since his success at Tweebosch amounted to 860 men. The process of exhaustion had been steady and sure.
CAPE COLONY—MARCH
A spirited engagement took place at Buffelshoek between Fouché’s commando and Colonel Price’s men, with the result that Commander Odendaal and Captain Vanderwalt were killed and two Boers wounded. Major Wormald’s and other columns meanwhile hunted Malan and Fouché in the region of the Camdeboos Mountains, where pursuit is difficult, sometimes impossible.
THE TRAIN CONVEYING THE REMAINS OF MR. RHODES SALUTED BY THE BLOCKHOUSE GUARDS ON ITS WAY TO THE MATOPPO HILLS
Drawing by Ernest Prater
And then, when negotiations for peace were being made between the two nations, while all the sad events of the last three years were apparently coming to a happy conclusion, the British nation lost a man whose like, one may safely say, will never be found again. On the 26th of March, at Muizenburg, Mr. Cecil Rhodes breathed his last. He had long been ailing, therefore this misfortune was not unexpected, and the effect of his loss on public affairs was minimised by the fact that with characteristic foresight he had arranged all his business matters, so that in his absence they might proceed without a hitch. His Will, when opened, proved to be a document for all time, one which might be studied with advantage by every British boy whose hope it is to leave his country greater than he found it. To this man’s life-work we have already alluded. Of his influence in the future it is impossible at present to write. Certain it is that his name is writ large wherever the glory of Great Britain’s greatest finds a place. He gave minute directions regarding his last resting-place. Neither St. Paul’s nor Westminster Abbey were wide enough for his free spirit.
“I admire the grandeur and loneliness of the Matoppos in Rhodesia, and I therefore desire to be buried in the Matoppos, on the hill which I used to visit and which I called the ‘View of the World,’ in a square to be cut out in the rock on the top of the hill, covered with a plain brass plate with these words thereon, ‘Here lie the remains of Cecil John Rhodes,’ and accordingly I direct my executors at the expense of my estate to take all steps and do all things necessary or proper to give effect to this my desire, and afterwards to keep my grave in order at the expense of the Matoppos and Buluwayo fund hereinafter mentioned. I direct my trustees, on the hill aforesaid, to erect or complete the monument to the men who fell in the first Matabele War at Shangani in Rhodesia, the bas-reliefs for which are being made by Mr. John Tweed, and I desire the said hill to be preserved as a burial-place; but no person is to be buried there unless the Government for the time being of Rhodesia, until the various states of South Africa, or any of them, shall have been federated, and after such federation the Federal Government, by a vote of two-thirds of its governing body, says that he or she has deserved well of his or her country.”
His wishes were carried out with reverence and to the letter. His body was conveyed to Groote Schuur, where it lay in state till it was removed to the Houses of Parliament in Cape Town, where it lay all night. Next day the procession started for the Cathedral. All business was suspended. The streets were draped with black—the thoroughfares were lined with troops and sorrowing crowds. A more wonderful service, a more impressive ceremony, has never been seen in South Africa. Finally the remains started on their last voyage. Of this melancholy journey the correspondent of the Standard wrote:—