Later he was to have marched upon the town with all the armed men he could bring under his influence, knowing full well, by previous arrangement, that he could rely on the aid of rebels within Potchefstroom itself. So intense was the feeling of danger in camp that night that loyal officers slept with loaded revolvers at hand and all the spare ammunition under the beds. The Union Jack was to be supplanted and the new Republic was to be declared with the Vierkleur flying — or would it have been the German flag? That was the morning of September 16, and as showing the concerted character of the traitorous plans, it should be noted that the proclamation signed by the Governor-General of German South-West Africa, the "scrap of paper" used as a sop for the Boers, was dated for the self-same day.
Plot Providentially Thwarted
But the motor-car tragedy in the dark at Langlaagte was the second blow to this criminal plot (continues the paper), and when Beyers, trembling and unnerved, spoke through the telephone at midnight on September 15, telling of the fatal shot, and that his journey had been cut short, those who had waited in the camp and in the town knew that, for the time being at any rate, the little game was up. Kemp, of course, at once tried to withdraw his resignation, but luckily General Smuts gave the snub direct. Already the names of local men to be terrorized, and even shot, were in the mouths of the irreconcilables — skulking cowards for the most part — of whom more must yet be written in the interests of public morality.
That night Potchefstroom might easily have fallen into the hands of the rebel crew, sharing the fate of the Free State towns or worse, and loyalists, both English and Dutch, must thank an ever-watchful Providence for being saved from a position of ignominy and humiliation. ==
If all this be true,* and the Government had been informed of it, one cannot understand why General Beyers, with his fingers steeped in treason, was let loose upon the community to poison the loyalty of the Dutch along the country-side and to complicate the task of the Government. It seems that he should have been detained that evening, and thereby, having been turned from the path of suicide, other lives would also have been saved. When one considers the amount of harm that he was able to do subsequently, it is staggering to think what the task of the loyalists would have been had his plans been reinforced by the success of this night plot. It would have given a link of tremendous power to the rebel movement throughout the country if they had captured the stores, munitions, and a ready army that awaited General Beyers's arrival at Potchefstroom. The fact that some Burghers were found organizing rebel commandos in the "Free" State and Transvaal even after the capture of General De Wet and the drowning of General Beyers ought to show the prevailing Backveld spirit up to the early months of 1915.
— * The `Herald's' story has since been confirmed by the Government Blue Book on the Rebellion. —
When the rebels were tried in Pretoria and elsewhere in January and February, Burghers crowded the law courts and rose to their feet, as if in token of their fellow-feeling with the prisoners, each time a rebel was placed in the dock. At Pretoria, this vaunting demonstration seems only to have been ended by the announcement of the Magistrate that if they did it again he would have to clear the court. It is not stated, however, whether the prisoners duly acknowledged the sympathy thus shown with a bow from the dock. One member of Parliament (not a rebel) is said to have swaggered into the Bloemfontein court and, after shaking hands with the prisoners, conversed with them in an audible tone.
Nothing better illustrates the unsatisfactory nature of the South African military appointments than the Press report that the English artillerymen who served under Maritz were in constant danger of their lives, and that, realizing this fact, they were compelled sometimes to keep their machine guns trained on their comrades. The poor men must have had an awful time, literally "sleeping with one eye wide open".
When Colonel Maritz at length threw off the mask and openly proclaimed his treachery, he put these artillerymen under arrest and handed them over to the Germans as prisoners of war.
Of course, if the Government of the Union was as well administered as was the Cape Government before it, such things would have been impossible, because only tried men with military experience would have been appointed to the command of the Union Forces — men whose loyalty was beyond reproach — that is to say, if high official appointments went by merit and not by favour. A professional lawyer like General Beyers would have been the last person to get a position which should have been given to a trained soldier, of whom there are many in the country. But as his appointment took place at a time when some English officials were politely removed from high positions to make room for influential Dutchmen, and in certain cases useless posts, such as "Inspector of white labour", and inspector of goodness-knows-what (all of them carrying high emoluments), were created for political favourites, General Beyers's appointment caused no surprise, as the "pitchfork" had already become part of our Government machinery. But how such a man as Manie Maritz became a Colonel in the Colonial Defence Force is one of those things which, as Lord Dundreary would say, "no fellah can understand".