— * General Smuts, after this, christened the rising as "the Five Shilling Rebellion". —
"But," continued General De Wet, "after the Magistrate had delivered judgment, instead of reprimanding the boy and ordering him in future to be obedient and do his duty, he looked at the Native as if he would like to give him a kiss. The Magistrate is a brother-in-law of a man for whom I have the greatest respect and who is very dear to me (President Steyn), and for that reason I will give him another chance, otherwise I would have taken him prisoner and handed him over to the Germans. The Magistrate's father was one of the staunchest pillars of the church, and if he were alive to-day he would be heart and soul with me in this movement, and condemn the dastardly act of robbery which the Government are going to commit.
"The ungodly policy of Botha has gone on long enough; the South African Dutch are going to stand as one man to crush this unholy scandal. Some of my friends have advised me to wait a little longer until England has received a bigger knock, but it is beneath me and my people to kick a dead dog. England has got her hands full enough. I hate the lies which are continually being spread to the effect that thousands of Australians, Canadians and Indians can be sent to fight us. Where will England get them from? She has enough to fight her own battles.
"I am going through the town to take the following six articles, viz., horses, saddles, bridles, halters, arms and ammunition, and if anybody should refuse to hand to my men these articles, if they should be found in their possession, I will give him a thrashing with a sjambok. I now order the storekeepers to go and open their shops and I will select men to go round and take whatever I require apart from the above articles, and they will give receipts for what they take; and if they do not open their shops willingly I will open them in another way. My advice to you English is to remain quiet in your houses and not interfere with my men, and if you don't, beware when I come back! I have got my eight sons and sons-in-law here with me, and the only people left on my farm are my wife and daughter. Anybody can go and see if they like, and I request the Magistrate to give them any help they may require, if he will do so."
Mr. Wessel Wessels, a famous "Free" State politician, having taken possession of Harrismith in the name of General De Wet, was alleged to have had the audacity to send letters to Chief Ntsane Mopedi, of the Harrismith district, and to the Paramount Chief of Basutoland, informing them that, with the assistance of the Germans, the Boers were going to drive away the English and re-proclaim a Dutch Republic in South Africa; and requesting those chiefs to remain neutral while the annihilation of the English was in progress. Only in case the English should arm the Indians, were they to mobilize their warriors (the Basutos) on the side of the Boer-German combination.
Dit is ver weg na Tippererie,
Dit is ver om te gaan;
Dit is ver weg na Tippererie,
Om my hart se punt te zien.
Goen dag, Pikadillie
Vaarwel, Lester-squeer;
Dit is ver, ver weg na Tippererie
Maar my hart le net daar.
"Tipperary" in Cape Dutch.
The Dutch, like other people, also had a prophet. Many stories were told since the outbreak of the war by the seer, Van Rensburg, and among other visions credited to him he was said to have dreamt of the impending "removal of the British yoke from the necks of Afrikanders", and the forthcoming expulsion from South Africa of the English people and their flag, with the aid of Germany.
Whatever might be said about what the prophet Van Rensburg had foretold in other respects, the prophecies attributed to him in regard to the European War resemble other war prophecies (credited to French, Russian, and German women), in that the wish, it seems, is often father to the thought.
The lower middle-class Boers attach great weight to the guesses of native bonethrowers. It is strange sometimes when a Malay charmer is prosecuted for imposing on the public to find Dutch witnesses giving evidence of the healing powers possessed by the accused and emphasizing the absurdity of prosecuting a man who benefited them and their relatives more than many a certificated medical man.
Moreover, the forecasts credited to Van Rensburg seemed to have found ample corroboration in the cabled newspaper accounts of the rapid advance of the armies of General Von Kluck through Belgium towards Paris, and in the minds of such gullible patriots as the South African Boers this telegraphic war news acted like manure on a fertile field.