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Presented to the
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LIBRARY
by the
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LIBRARY
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,J^-.y* TORONTO '^^^A
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STORM AND SUNSHINE
IN SOUTH AFRICA
BY THE SAME AUTHOR
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sidered in Relation to Holy Baptism as a Sacra-
mental Ordinance of the Catholic Church. Crown
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LIFE OF JAMES GREEN, D.D., RECTOR AND
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LONGMANS. GREEN AND CO.
LONDON, NEW YORK, BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
Venble a. Theodore Wirgman, D.D., D.C.L.
Archdeacon of Port Elizabeth
STORM AND SUNSHINE
IN SOUTH AFRICA
WITH SOME PERSONAL AND HISTORICAL
REMINISCENCES
54249
BY
A. THEODORE WIRGMAN, D.D., D.C.L.
LATE SCHOLAR OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE
ARCHDEACON OF PORT ELIZABETH AND HON. CHAPLAIN TO H.M. THE KING
WITH FOREWORD BY THE
BISHOP OF GRAHAMSTOWN
AND A
BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
LONGMANS, GREEN AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON, E.G. 4
55 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK
BOMBAY, CALCUTTA, AND MADRAS
1922
\})S
FOREWOED.
As Bishop of the diocese in which Augustus Theodore
Wirgman served God for forty-four years, I feel it an
honour to be allowed to commend these Eeminiscences
and Memoir to all interested in the life of the Church
overseas, and more especially in South Africa. A
diocese which counted the Archdeacon on the roll of
its clergy gains thereby in distinction. His name was
known throughout the Ecclesia Anglicana. To some
he was known simply as a keen controversialist both in
civil and ecclesiastical politics. To us who knew him
intimately he was far more. Full of loyalty to the
Church he loved, he welcomed honours and dignities
for himself because, as was finely said at the time of
his death, they brought honour to her. He was directly
instrumental in enabling many men to take Holy Orders
in her ranks. And withal we saw in him a large heart
that moved him to welcome new-comers to the land of
his adoption, and to advise and succour them in need
of help.
^ Fbancis B. Grahamstown.
BlSHOPSBOURNB,
Grahamstown.
EDITOE'S PREFACE.
Among the papers left by the late Archdeacon Wirgman
was the manuscript of this book. He seems to have
felt, and rightly, that the records and reminiscences of
a life that was singularly full of interest ought to be
given to the pubHc. To the preparation of this work
for publication he gave the greatest diligence. Besides
the fair copy there were several rough drafts among his
papers, the earliest dating from as long ago as 1898.
Unfortunately the Archdeacon was not spared to
complete his labours, and the narrative ends abruptly
with the death of Cecil Khodes. The final recasting
of it was made, however, during the years 1914 to 1916 ;
so that the events recorded are seen in the light of the
Great War and are orientated in accordance with the
new outlook on world problems, social, political, and
spiritual, forced on man by the greatest of all '' troublings
of the waters ".
The book must, of course, be judged on its own
merits, and doubtless there are statements which will be
challenged, for it deals with controversial topics. This
is to be expected, for it is the work of one who was
singularly clear in his opinions and definite in the state-
ment of them. Essentially loyal both to his Church
and to his country, the Archdeacon was ever bold in the
defence of them ; but his defence was never prejudiced.
viii EDITOE'S PKEFACE
His views were indeed strongly held, and as powerfully
stated as they were strongly held; but he invariably
took great care to know his ground before he formed
them — a virtue which is not always manifest in the
statements of controversialists.
The forty years during which, as Rector of one of
the most important churches in the country, he was in
closest touch with the affairs of South Africa, were great
years. They were the time when the country passed
from bud to blossom, the years in which the early
inchoate beginnings of Church and State found shape
and form in the free Church of the Province, on the
one hand, and the Union of South Africa on the other.
Towards the attainment of those two great ends Arch-
deacon Wirgman devoted all the strength of his daunt-
less personality, the power of his virile pen, the fire
of his fearless oratory.
That men should think great thoughts and strive to
carry them out greatly was the thing that mattered to
him, and thus while his work dwells lovingly on his
great hero, Cecil Rhodes, one may detect also a vein
of admiration for the rugged personality of President
Kruger.
There is one point on which a word, not of apology
but of explanation, is needed. It may be thought that
the ecclesiastical controversies are dealt with at a length
which their importance does not justify. It must not
be forgotten, however, that it was along the difficult
and thorny paths of these controversies that the South
African Church found its way to that freedom and self-
government which has made it the pattern of other
Colonial Churches. Kipling's words, " Lest we forget,"
are wide in their application and we should do ill indeed
EDITOE'S PBEFACE ix
if we forgot those faithful and wide-minded men who
hewed out those paths on which we walk.
Now that the War has shattered so many ideas that
we formerly held as fixed principles, it is well to retain
some solid basis to rest on out of the achievements of
the past, on which we may establish the future. Count
Cavour's *' Free Church in a Free State " was always
Archdeacon Wirgman's ideal, and more blest than most,
he saw his ideal in the realisation, and accepted it as the
unchangeable foundation of South African poHcy.
His own part in the great two-fold w^ork was a large
one. He was ever in the heart of things, knew intimately
the great builders and founders of Church and State,
and contributed a worthy share to the sum of effort.
The book, then, is a record of —
Quseque ipse vidi
Et quorum pars magna fui.
— Virg. Mn. H. 5, 6.
G. B. F.
PEEFATORY NOTE.
My life work has been in South Africa, a country
which has been called by some the grave of reputations.
I came to South Africa with no reputation to make or
mar, as a young priest of twenty-seven, who had been
taught by the Bishop who ordained him that the
Anglican Communion was a wider sphere than the
Church of England, and that an English priest might
fitly consider service in a wider sphere as much a duty
as service in England. I have always been thankful
that I came to serve " a free Church in a free State ".
In no part of the British Empire has this famous ideal
of Count Cavour's been more fully realised than in
South Africa. Through storm and stress, lights and
shadows, the South African Church attained her free-
dom and her unity. Through the mist and darkness,
the blood and tears of a bitter struggle and a great war,
the South African States have won their way to Union.
I have for the greater part of my life watched and noted
the progress of the Church and the people towards the
unity now attained, and if my personal recollections do
not illustrate the course of events and make them plainer
to those who may care to read these pages, the fault will
he rather with my intelligence than with my lack of
opportunities. I do not apologise for the personal note
xii PREFATORY NOTE
in what I have written. It is inevitable in recollections
of an autobiographical character. I have tried to be
fair in my judgment of public men and public events,
and I trust that I have not consciously yielded to the
influences which must inevitably accompany the posses-
sion of strong personal convictions.
A. T. W.
CONTENTS.
PAQB
Foreword by the Bishop of Grahamstown . ... . . v
Editor's Preface vii
Prefatory Note by the Author xi
CHAPTER I.
Early Days and Recollections 1
CHAPTER II.
Early Days in South Africa 34
CHAPTER III.
Dark Days— The Kafir and Zulu Wars— The First Annexation of
the Transvaal . . .64
CHAPTER IV.
The Judgment of the Privy Council in the Grahamstown Cathedral
Case— Its Prelude and Postscript 101
CHAPTER V.
The Basuto War of 1880-81— The Revolt of the Transvaal, and
Majuba — Cecil Rhodes — General Gordon — Hofmeyr and the
Bond — Ecclesiastical and Political Remembrances to the end
of 1887 156
CHAPTER VI.
The Beginnings of Rhodesia in 1890— The Rhodes Ministry— The
Rhodes-Hofmeyr Alliance and its Outcome — The "Southern
Cross " — The Provincial Synod of 1891 — Sir Francis de Winton
and Swaziland — The Transvaal and the Free State — Dr. Leyds
and the Netherlands Railway Company — The Controversy of
the Drifts— My visit to England in 1893 — Archbishop Benson
and Natal — The Birmingham Church Congress — Sermons at
S. Paul's and Cambridge — Return to South Africa . . . 200
xiii
xiv CONTENTS
CHAPTEK VII.
PAGB
Literary Work— The Burning of S. Mary's in 1895— The Work of
Restoration — My Visit to Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and
Pretoria — My Interview with President Kruger — The Jameson
Raid and its Cause and Consequences — The Provincial Synod
of 1898— The Beginning of the Boer War 235
CHAPTER VIII.
Reminiscenoeg of the Boer War— Visit to the Continent . . .268
CHAPTER IX.
The Death of Cecil Rhodes— Re-settlement of South Africa . . 305
Biographical Sketch 312
Publications 339
ILLUSTRATIONS.
Venble a. Theodore Wirgman, D.D., D.C.L., Archdeacon op
Port Elizabeth Frontispiece
to face page
The Archdeacon's Book-plate 6
Peter Wirgman's Book-plate 7
The Old S. Mary's, Port Elizabeth 236
The New S. Mary's 239
From a Photograph hy Mi'ddlebrook Studios, Port Elizabeth.
Grave of the Archdeacon 338
CHAPTEE I.
EARLY DAYS AND RECOLLECTIONS.
England and Eueope from 1846 to 1851.
I WAS born on September 22nd, 1846. Those " early Vic-
torian " days are far more remote from the second decade of
the twentieth century than Sir Walter Scott's " 'Tis sixty
years since " of Waverley was from Prince Charles Edward's
heroic adventure in the " '45 ". Louis Philippe, the ''bour-
geois " King, was the ruler of France, and the infamy of the
" Spanish marriage " had not yet shaken the throne. His
victim. Queen Isabella of Spain, and his dupe Montpensier
had acquiesced in their fate, and the vision of a closely knit
family tie between the Orleans King at Paris and his son, the
future Orleans King of Spain, had not vanished. England
was distracted by Chartism and was seething with economic
and social discontent. The young Queen had not yet had
time to restore the true ideals of British monarchy, and her
German husband was profoundly distrusted, in spite of his
undoubted political capacity. Italy was seething with the
desire to become a united kingdom under the leadership of
the House of Savoy. Hungary was on the edge of the revolu-
tion against Austria so soon to break out under the leader-
ship of Kossuth. Ferdinand of Austria was coming to the
end of his tether as an irresponsible and foolish autocrat.
Prussia was beginning to aspire to the leadership of the
smaller German states, although Austria and Europe did not
take her ambitions very seriously. Bismarck was an obscure
1
2 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
country squire, and Moltke a major in the Danish Army.
Prince William of Prussia, the future conqueror of Paris, to
be proclaimed "Kaiser" in the historic Palace at Versailles,
was in obscurity as an unpopular soldier and fervid foe of
democracy. The splendid figure of Czar Nicholas of Eussia
dominated Eastern Europe. Eussian discontent was buried
beneath the aspirations of Slav conquest, and already
Nicholas, in vision, saw himself crowned in S. Sophia as the
Emperor of Constantinople. Louis Napoleon was in exile
in London. No one took him seriously after his futile
attempts at Strasburg and Boulogne. The escaped prisoner
of Ham was not considered worth watching as a serious
danger to the throne of Louis Philippe.
In 1848 the storm burst. The whole of Europe was ablaze
with revolution. The Chartists had proposed to march on
the Parliament at Westminster. The old Duke of Welling-
ton planted cannon to sweep Westminster Bridge, and
Louis Napoleon kept order in the streets with the truncheon
of a special constable. Louis Philippe fled to England dis-
guised as " Mr. Smith," and after a while Louis Napoleon
became President of the brand new French Eepublic.
Ferdinand of Austria abdicated and was succeeded by a boy
of eighteen, the Kaiser Franz Josef, whose last days were
merged in the whirlpool of the world-war, and the people of
Italy revolted against their separate Governments. Pope
Pius IX fled from Eome to Gaeta, and the Eoman Eepublic
was proclaimed. Then came a settlement and a reaction.
Pius IX was restored by French bayonets and became the
reactionary opponent of Italian liberty and unity. The de-
feat of Charles Albert of Sardinia by the Austrians at Novara
threw Italy back into the hands of its separatist autocracies.
Louis Napoleon's coup d'6tat made him Emperor of the
French, and Prince Albert imagined that the Great Exhibi-
tion of 1851 was the inauguration of an era of universal
European peace and prosperity.
EABLY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 3
I record these political happenings because they showed
a new Europe in the making, and incidentally influenced
most profoundly the relations of England and her Colonies.
The outcome of the new Europe was the British Empire
as we see it to-day, and the new South Africa as it emerged
from the war of 1899. What will be the character of the
" newer Europe " and the United British Empire after the
world-war of 1914 none can imagine or forecast.
^ V_
Eaeliest Eecollections.
One of the earliest recollections of my childhood was
hearing of the wonders of the Great Exhibition of 1851
and being shown pictures of it in the "Illustrated London
News". My father always impressed on my mind as a
child any great events that were transpiring, and so my
recollections of childhood are unusually clear and definite.
The death of the Duke of Wellington took place in 1852,
when I was six years old. My father explained to me
why the church bell was tolling and what a mighty warrior
the old Duke had been, and I was very proud to receive
from the postman the first newspaper ever addressed to
me, which had pictures of the funeral and a long account
of it, which was read to me. I have lived to commemorate
the centenary of Waterloo. On one point my memory fails
me. I never remember a time when I could not read easy
words, and pick out a tune from ear on the piano. Nor do
I remember when I learnt to draw. I can remember
copying pictures of soldiers and natives from the illustrated
papers dealing with the Kafir War of 1852. I found a
letter addressed to me by an old friend of my mother's on
my seventh birthday, in 'which she asked me if I was still
fond of Heraldry ! I was given a book on Heraldry as
soon as I could read, and it had very fine coloured plates. I
used to pore over it with delight.
1*
4 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
My Uncle and the Ceimean War.
In 1854 came the Crimean War. My uncle, Theodore
Wirgman, was at that time an officer of the 10th Hussars,
which came overland from India through Egypt to strengthen
the Light Cavalry Brigade after the disastrous Balaklava
charge. His weekly letters to my father were read to me
and every scrap of war news was duly impressed on my
mind. I well remember the battle of the Alma and the
Charge of the Light Brigade. Inkerman, the soldiers' battle,
was a vivid picture in my mind. I thought of little else but
the war, and one day amused my father by exclaiming : " I
would give anything to be in the Crimea". After the peace
in 1856 I first met my soldier uncle. I was staying at
Henley Vicarage with my uncle, Henry Pearson, and the
returned warrior came to see us there. I was very much
impressed with his bronzed countenance and was struck by
the mark across his forehead made by the Hussar undress
service cap, which left a diagonal patch free from tan. He
was very kind to me as a little lad, as he always was as long
as he lived. His stories of the Crimea fascinated me, and
made me long to be a soldier.
The Indian Mutiny.
In 1857 the terrible scenes of the Indian Mutiny were
deeply impressed upon my mind. I used to picture to my-
self the horrors of Cawnpore, the pathetic heroism of
Lucknow, and the glories of the siege and capture of Delhi.
I suppose that I was, in some ways, rather unlike most boys
of my age. I was very keen on public events and on battle
stories. I read every book on war and battles that I could
lay hold of. I remember reading Sir Walter Scott's " Court
and Camp of Bonaparte " before I read any of his novels. I
believe that I was much more influenced in my ideas, tastes
and judgments by my father's family than by my mother's :
EARLY DAYS AND RECOLLECTIONS 5
so it seems to me that I must break in upon my early recol-
lections at this point with some account of my family connec-
tions.
The Wirgman Family.
The Wirgman family settled in London in the eighteenth
century and came from Gothenburg in Sweden. Our chief
authority for our family history is a journal kept by Peter
Wirgman, the first of the family born in England, written
apparently between the years 1732 and 1749. He tells us
of his grandfather, Peter Virgunder, who was born in 1624
at Biorkeroes in the district of Smaland in Sweden and edu-
cated at the University of Upsala for the ministry. He
obtained a parish when he was twenty-four years of age and
married a lady whose family name was Croc. He had twelve
children. Some of his sons entered the army and kept the
original family name, but the youngest but one changed its
form on entering into commercial life, as the rule of the
family was, and was known as Abraham Wirgman. He be-
came an Alderman of Gothenburg early in the eighteenth
century and married into the family of Wallman, of Gothen-
burg. His son Gabriel settled in Denmark Street, London,
and married Mary, the eldest daughter of Francis Upjohn,
Gabriel died at Bath in 1791, and his wife died at Brighton
in 1794.
Thomas Wiegman.
His son Thomas, born in 1771, was my grandfather, who
died in 1840 and was buried in the Upjohn vault at S. John's,
Clerkenwell. He married in 1799 Sophia Russell, the only
child and heiress of John Russell, of Buckingham Street,
London, and Anne Surmont, of French Huguenot descent.
He had three sons : Ferdinand, born in 1806, and the twins,
Augustus (my father) and Theodore, born in 1809. There was
6 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
a curious interlacing of families, for my great-grandmother,
Anne, married, as a widow, the same Peter Wirgman who
wrote the Journal or Family Record mentioned before. He
died in 1814, and her portrait shows her to have been a
woman of strong character. Peter, the youngest son of the
seventeenth-century Lutheran minister, settled in business
in Windsor Court, Strand, in 1706, and married twice, first
a Dane and afterwards a Swede. His eldest son, Peter, the
journalist, was a travelled man. He journeyed through
Holland and Germany twice and spent two years at Dresden
to learn German. He settled in business in London at 68
St. James's Street, and in 1750 married Elizabeth Breholt.
I have in my possession a copy of the " Whole Duty of
Man," with Elizabeth Breholt's name in it, and the date
1741. She put her husband's book-plate in it after her
marriage, and the Wirgman armorial bearings on this book-
plate show that our family were " armigeri " in Sweden.
OuB Aemokial Beabings.
My grandfather had them duly registered at the Heralds'
College, and my father and uncle had them re-granted from
the Heralds' College with my grandmother Russell's arms
quartered.
There are two windows in the hall of Magdalene College,
Cambridge, which are filled with the armorial bearings of
members of the College who have been considered worthy of
some remembrance during the past and present century.
My armorial bearings, with my name underneath, were
placed in one of these windows in the year 1911.
My grandfather, Thomas Wirgman, was the second son
of Gabriel Wirgman, who married Mary Upjohn. I
can remember my father's second cousin, the Rev.
Francis Upjohn, as a rather eccentric old gentleman who
had retired from active work. He had been a Captain
The Archdeacon's Book-plate
A. T. WiRGMAN, D.D., D.C.L.
Archdeacon of Port Elizabeth
ONTARIO
Peteb Wirgman's Book-plate
VT^
EAELY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 7
in the Life Guards and fell under the influence of the
Evangelical Eevival in the days of the Eegency. He resigned
his Commission, went to Cambridge and took Holy Orders.
At one time he lived at Ashbourne Green Hall, Derbyshire.
He was my brother Edward's godfather. My grandfather's
younger brothers, Charles and James, settled in America at
the close of the eighteenth century and founded the Ameri-
can branches of our family in Virginia, Philadelphia and
New York. His sister Sophia married Mr. H. K. Hemming.
G. W. Hemming.
Their son, George Wirgman Hemming, went to S. John's
College, Cambridge, and was Senior Wrangler and first
Smith's Prizeman in 1844. I believe that he furnishes the
solitary instance of a Cambridge Senior Wrangler being an
athlete in the days before athletics loomed as largely as they
do now at the public schools and universities. He won the
University sculls and combined the blue ribbon of the
Cam with the blue ribbon of the Senate House. He went
to the bar and became a Q.C., and one of the Counsel of the
University of Cambridge. He was also Librarian of Lin-
coln's Inn and Official Eeferee of the Supreme Court of
Judicature in England.
My Grandfather Translates Kant.
My grandfather was a man of considerable intellectual
power. To him, more than to any other man, is due the
attention which began to be paid to Kant's Philosophy in
England and Scotland during the early years of the nine-
teenth century. He had a controversy with Professor
Dugald Stewart, of Edinburgh University, on the subject,
and spent large sums of money in publishing works to
further his object in making Kant's system known to
English-speaking people. He was an accomplished German
8 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
scholar, and his translation of Kant's " Critique of Pure
Eeason " was the first which appeared in the English lang-
uage. He was one of the chief proprietors of the " Encyclo-
pasdia Londinensis," which was published at intervals between
1815 and 1825 as a rival to the " Encyclopaedia Britannica,"
mainly because Professor Stewart had written the articles in
it which attacked Kant. He wrote the articles in it on Kant,
Logic, Metaphysics, and Philosophy. His philosophic
studies brought him into contact with the famous Madame de
Stael, and he treasured the following little note, in which
she asked to see him :
" 2 Janvier, 1814.
"Je desire de vous connaitre, Monsieur, puisque vous
vous occupez de Kant, et que vous cherchez h le faire
admirer. Voulez vous passer chez moi, jeudi matin, entre
deux et trois heures ? Nous causerons quelques instants.
" J'ai I'honneur d'etre. Monsieur,
" Votre tr6s humble et tr^s ob^issant servante,
*' Necker de Stael Holstein.
«*To Thomas Wirgman, Esqre.,
'♦ 68 St. James's Street."
It seemed a trivial note for my grandfather to keep, but
the lady left her mark upon history in more ways than one,
besides her writings on Kant. My grandfather's literary
schemes cost him the bulk of his fortune. And besides this
source of expenditure he evidently must have given substan-
tial aid and services to the exile of Hartwell, who became
Louis XVIII at the Bourbon restoration of 1814.
Louis XVIII Decorates My Grandfather.
Before Louis XVIII left England he instituted a new
Order of Merit called the " Order of the Fleur de Lys," for
the special purpose of decorating the emigres and others who
had aided him in exile and helped to restore him to his
EAELY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 9
throne. He made my grandfather a Chevalier of the Order
of the Fleur de Lys, which was attached as a pendant to the
Wirgman Arms (see ''Burke's Dictionary of Heraldry");
but it was only so used during my grandfather's lifetime.
In his controversy with Dugald Stewart about Kant my
grandfather repelled the charge of the Scotch philosopher
that Kant was unintelligible by saying (Art. Philosophy,
" Encyclopaedia Londinensis," p. 122), that, if it were so,
" I am unable to account for the facility with which my
sons at their early age comprehend the first principles of
this sublime philosophy". This is the language of an en-
thusiast, but my father Augustus and his brothers, Ferdinand
and Theodore, evinced such a distinct dislike to philosophical
studies in later life that my grandfather's enthusiastic effort
to turn his little boys into metaphysicians must have been a
failure.
My Father and BLtJCHER.
One of my father's earliest recollections was that he was
brought into the room with his twin brother, Theodore, when
Prince Bllicher visited my grandfather in London after
Waterloo. The bluff soldier's admiration for London was
briefly summed up in contemporary memories by his ex-
clamation, " What a fine city to sack ! " But my father
remembers only the kindly pat on the head with which the
great Prussian Field Marshal greeted him. Another recol-
lection of his childhood was a like interview with the magni-
ficent Duke of Devonshire, who astonished Europe by his
entertainments and semi-royal state when he was Ambassador
to St. Petersburg (I think) at the Coronation of the Czar
Nicholas I. In 1854 this same Duke of Devonshire gave my
father the Vicarage of Hartington, in Derbyshire, the place
from which the title, " Marquis of Hartington," borne by the
eldest son of the Dukes of Devonshire, is derived. When
10 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
my father called at Chatsworth to thank the Duke for his
preferment, he said : " Oh, I remember seeing you and your
little twin brother at your father's house in London ". Years
afterwards, when my father died in 1874, the people of
Hartington asked the then Duke to present me to the living
as my father's successor. The Duke declined, and some
years afterwards I wrote to thank him for declining. I had
a characteristic reply from him saying that he knew he had
done me a good turn in not leaving me to rust in a small
country parish. He was second Wrangler at Cambridge and
the father of the famous Lord Hartington, the last of the
great Whig aristocratic politicians.
My Uncle's Army Career.
My father and my uncle Theodore went to Cambridge in
1829. My father entered at S. Peter's College and my uncle
at Trinity. The twin brothers were so exactly alike that
they used sometimes to exchange gowns and go to Hall in
each other's colleges, and the college porters of Peterhouse
and Trinity could not tell them apart. My uncle was at
Beading School under the famous Dr. Valpy.
My uncle was a good correspondent. I have already
mentioned his letters from the Crimea. I found among my
father's papers a very well written description of his being
presented at Court to King William IV, before he went to
Austria. My uncle Ferdinand died in 1858.
Charles Wirgman.
His eldest son Charles was an artist on the staff of the
"Illustrated London News" in the Chinese War of 1860,
and settled in Japan, where he died. His second son Ernest
was in business in the City, and his only son. Dr. C. W.
Wirgman (M.D. Lond., F.E.C.S.), is now practising in the
City and in Queen Anne's Street.
EARLY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 11
T. B. WlRGMAN.
His youngest son is Theodore Blake Wirgman, the we'll-
known artist, one of the foremost portrait painters of his
time. As a young man my father fell under the influence of
Bishop Wilson of Calcutta, then Vicar of Islington, who
prepared him for Confirmation about the time that he went
to Cambridge.
My Fathee and Uncle at Cambeidge.
My grandfather's philosophical studies did not appeal to
my father, and he took his own line, which was a very usual
one with young men seriously inclined in those days. He
became a follower of the Simeonite school at Cambridge and
looked forward to Holy Orders. He won a scholarship at S.
Peter's in 1831 and was Mathematical Prizeman of his
college. He passed through much sorrow and trouble after
the death of his mother in 1832, and his degree was a dis-
appointment to him, for he graduated in the Mathematical
Tripos in 1833 as a Junior Optime. He was ordained
deacon in 1834 and priest in 1835 by Bishop Butler of
Lichfield. His first curacy was Kniveton in Derbyshire.
He afterwards became Curate in Charge of Bradbourne,
where he married on August 12th, 1845, Jane Elizabeth,
daughter of Thomas and Anne Pearson, of South Wingfield,
Derbyshire. My maternal grandfather had been dead for
some years, and my grandmother was living at Bradbourne
Hall with her second son, Henry Pearson, Vicar of Carsing-
ton, and afterwards of Henley near Ipswich. He was a
Cambridge Wrangler and died in 1894. Her eldest son,
John Pearson, died previously and was succeeded in the
Wingfield estate by his son, Lieut.-Colonel Pearson, of the
Derbyshire Militia, who was M.A. of Magdalene College,
Cambridge.
Bradbourne Vicarage was the home of my childhood. I
12 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
revisited it in 1911, when I was in England for the Corona-
■,^on, and renewed my earliest memories. We were all born
there — myself, a brother who died in infancy, my brother
Edward (born May 27th, 1851, died Sept. 11th, 1907), and
my sister, Emma Georgiana (born Dec. 10th, 1853). In
April, 1855, my father became Vicar of Hartington, where he
died on December 22nd, 1874, just thirty-four years after
my grandfather's death, on the same day of the same month.
Hartington Church is a magnificent building for the size of
the village. It was formerly a Collegiate church and after
the Keformation it continued a " Peculiar " under a Dean.
The last Dean of Hartington was Mr. Bateman, and my
father, as his surrogate, issued marriage licences in his name.
My father built Hartington Vicarage and restored the church.
His strong evangelical views did not lead him into Puritan
objections to architectural form and beauty.
My Father and Eedfern, the Sculptor.
My father, during his early days at Hartington, discovered
a village lad who carved little statuettes in bath brick. The
lad showed signs of genius, and my father introduced him to
the late Mr. Beresford Hope, who at once took steps to have
him educated. He studied in Paris and became the famous
James Eedfern, the sculptor, whose early death in 1876 was
a loss to English art. He was delicate in health and very
sensitive, and he died, in a great measure, from the shameful
treatment he received from the Puritan Dean Elliott, of
Bristol. He was duly commissioned for the beautiful statues
which adorn Bristol Cathedral. But his treatment of the Four
Latin Doctors of the Church offended the Dean's Protestant
susceptibilities. The offending statues were removed, and
Eedfern never recovered from this insult to his art.^
^See "Diet. Nat. Biography," s.v. Redfern, and the "Memoirs of
Sir Robert Scott and G. E. Street, R.A.," who were Redfem's friends
and employers.
EAELY DAYS AND RECOLLECTIONS 13
I Enter Rossall School.
My father was a man of cultured and artistic tastes, and
he educated me at home till I was thirteen, when I was
suddenly launched into public school life by my entrance at
Rossall in 1859. I was utterly unfit for the abrupt transition,
and in consequence I underwent much unnecessary misery
in my early school days. But time mended many matters,
and when I left Rossall for Cambridge in 1866 I had, and
still have, a very loyal feeling for my old school. I was
carefully prepared for Confirmation by the Rev. S. J. Phillips,
the Vice-Master, and I was confirmed by Bishop Prince Lee,
of Manchester, on October 16th, 1862, at Poulton-le-Fylde
Church, with a number of my school fellows. I remember
only one thing in his Confirmation Address.
Bishop Prince Lee.
We Rossallians sat together a little apart from the other
candidates, and the Bishop turned to us and hurled a verse
of the Greek Testament at our heads, with the remark that
" If you boys can't construe that you ought to be able to ". I
can't remember the verse, but I never forgot the incident.
The Bishop was unfatherly, and did not impress us very
much. But it must not be forgotten that he was a great
schoolmaster and had the making of Archbishop Benson and
Bishop Westcott when he was Head of King Edward's School,
Birmingham. Bishop Macrorie was in his diocese when he
was chosen Bishop of Maritzburg to succeed the deposed Dr.
Colenso. He interviewed Bishop Prince Lee, who was a
thorough Erastian. "So," said the Bishop, " you are to
succeed Colenso. That means you are going to play at being
a Bishop, and Bishop Gray will play at consecrating you."
Bishop Prince Lee could not conceive of the consecration of
a Bishop being the independent act of a Colonial Church
disconnected with the State. He thought that a Bishop
14 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
could not be consecrated without a Eoyal Mandate or coTigd
Sm John Goest and Sir W. Besant.
In my day, Sir John Gorst, afterwards of the Fourth Party,
and subsequently a Minister, was mathematical master. Sir
Walter Besant, the famous novelist, was a Junior Form
master, and the Eev. W. H. Whit worth, afterwards Vicar of
All Saints, Margaret Street, was senior mathematical master.
He reminded me of old Eossall days when I preached at All
Saints, Margaret Street, in 1893. Sir Ealph Williams,
whose book of reminiscences, *' How I became a Governor,"
gives an adventurous life story of an explorer and Colonial
Office official in many lands, was at Eossall in my time, and
so was Lord Stamfordham, better known as Sir Arthur
Bigge, the Private Secretary of Queen Victoria and subse-
quently of King George V.
Sir Walter Besant left no definite impression on my mind
in those days, but Sir John Gorst was a lively and energetic
young man with a golden brown beard and a monocle ^ la
Chamberlain. He was somewhat impatient as a teacher but
keen on games. He was the virtual founder of Eossall foot-
ball.
Charles Harford Lloyd, the famous composer and musician,
was at Eossall in my time. I remember him as a shy, retiring
boy and even then a brilliant pianist. We used to get him to
play for us at odd times, and to draw, as he did, a sympathetic
audience of ordinary British school boys, who in those days
were young Philistines, is no small tribute to his genius.
We had a splendid cricket ground at Eossall, and our pro-
fessionals towards the end of my time were the famous H. H.
Stephenson, the finest wicket-keeper of his day, and T. Sewell,
the famous lob bowler. I well remember my joy when I made
42 in a school match with the professional bowling at one
EARLY DAYS AND RECOLLECTIONS 15
end. I was just out of the eleven, but I played in the football
fifteen. I shall never forget playing against the oflQcers' team
from the School of Musketry at Fleetwood. We played the
strict Eton game in those days, which was the parent of the
modern "Soccer". The officers played all sorts of games
which they fondly thought could be brought under our rules,
and it was a regular rough-and-tumble. f
Our School Rifle Corps was formed in 1860, and we were
the second public school to have one, Eton being the first.
We went to Preston, Ulverston and other places for battalion
drills, and Lord Hartington was Colonel of our battalion. I
was a fair shot and we were all very keen about our corps.
We had a big field day on March 10th, 1863, when the late
King Edward VII was married to Queen Alexandra. We
had, of course, a whole holiday on the occasion of the
" Marriage of the Prince of Wales," and we took up most of
the day with our Field Day and Review. Our uniform was
scarlet, and we were well drilled and smart.
The centenary of Waterloo was on June 18th, 1915. As a
school boy I saw an old Waterloo veteran, the late Lord
Combermere, at Buxton. I remember very well his stiff and
padded figure and his dyed hair and moustache. He was a
very old man who clung to the appearance of youth in figure
and attire. There will soon be few persons alive who have
seen with their own eyes veterans of the battle fought 100 years
ago,
I owe more than I can say to the reverent and distinguished
services of our school chapel and to the great care and pains
taken with our Divinity work. We did a good deal of Greek
Testament and the Thirty-nine Articles in Latin and English,
which saved me much trouble in after years. We learnt
enough Church History to be the foundation of future study.
And I have never forgotten the clear outline of Mediaeval
Church History that I learnt at school whereby I first grasped
the historical continuity of the Church.
16 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
KossALL Under Osborne.
When I was in the Upper Sixth in my last term, before
leaving for Cambridge, everyone of us had won an open,
scholarship either at Oxford or Cambridge. Osborne, the then
Headmaster, was the making of Eossall scholarship. He had
the art of making ns think for ourselves, and he taught me to
write Latin verse. I won an open scholarship at Magdalene,
Cambridge, in 1866. There were about thirty competitors and
four vacant scholarships. I was third on the list and the
school got a half holiday for my success. I shall never forget
the joy of my first visit to Cambridge. Chawner, the head of
the school, travelled with me and won his scholarship at
Emmanuel, where he afterwards became Fellow and Tutor
and ultimately Master.
Cambridge.
I entered Cambridge in the October term of 1866, and
went in for rowing more than reading. In 1868 I won a
Foundation Scholarship at Magdalene, mainly by a set of
Latin Elegiacs, which the Eev. the Hon. Latimer Neville, our
Master, was kind enough to admire very much. I rowed in
the famous Magdalene boat of May, 1868, which made five
bumps in the First Division, and ended in the 11th place
on the river. I ought to have had my oar given me, but for
some reason it was omitted. "When I went to England in
1911, the College Boat Club gave me my oar, which was
forty-three years overdue, and it now hangs up as a trophy
in my study. I also played in the College Eleven. The bat
that I used in the season of 1869 also hangs in my study.
Parnell.
The famous Irish leader, Charles Stewart Parnell, was up
in my time at Magdalene. He was a taciturn sort of tQan
EAELY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 17
whom nobody knew very well. I remember batting with him
as my partner in a match against Trinity Hall, when we both
made a stand and scored fairly well. He was sent down on
account of some street row with the police. I saw him once
again when I was in the House of Commons at a debate in
1882, when he had become a political leader of extraordinary
gifts and powers.
KiNGSLEY AND PaLMER.
During my time at Cambridge, Charles Kingsley was
Professor of Modern History. He was not a success as a
Professor, but his breezy, if somewhat inaccurate, lectures
were crowded by undergraduates. He once said that Sir
Walter Raleigh was the greatest man of the Elizabethan
period: "And why, gentlemen?" said Kingsley. "Did he
not bring tobacco into use in England ? ". Uproarious ap-
plause in the lecture room.
Kingsley was a Magdalene man, and one of my memories
of dinner in Hall was his resounding laugh from the Dons'
High Table, and his resonant voice, leading the con-
versation as the life of the party, usually a trifle dull and
decorous.
Another Cambridge memory is of a short, intellectual-look-
ing man with an auburn beard and a velvet jacket of distinctly
Bohemian cut — the late Professor E. H. Palmer. He was a
Fellow of S. John's and one of the first Orientalists in
Europe. He was sent on a secret mission to Egypt in 1882
by the Gladstone Government, during the revolt of Arabi
Pasha. His part was to keep the Arab tribes quiet and
prevent them from destroying the Suez Canal. He was most
successful in his work, but in August, 1882, he and his
companions, Captain Gill and Lieutenant Charrington, R.N.,
were treacherously slain in an ambuscade. Their remains
were recovered and buried in St Paul's Cathedral. Canon
2
18 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Liddon alludes to their funeral in " Easter Sermons," Vol. II,
p. 98.
Db. Lumby.
The late Professor Lumby was one of our College Lecturers,
and he interested me very much in a course he gave on the
"Theaetetus" of Plato. He was a most conscientious
lecturer, and he was on one occasion confined to his bed by a
nasty fall at the Cambridge Railway Station. Most lecturers
would have considered such an accident an ample excuse
for deferring a college lecture. Not so Dr. Lumby. We
were told to attend the usual lecture in cap and gown in his
bedroom. There were chairs grouped in order round the bed,
and the lecturer was propped up by pillows, with his Plato
in his hand and a huge white tie under the collar of his night-
shirt. The effect of this conventional effort to maintain his
dignity as a Don was irresistibly comic. I saw him last in
1893, when he was one of the five Divinity Professors who
examined me for the B.D. I dined with him at S. Catharine's,
of which he was then Professorial Fellow. He was very much
exercised in his mind about my book (" The Church and the
Civil Power"), which was accepted as a Thesis for my B.D.
He was a strong "Church and State " man and thought that
my views were revolutionary. He said to me : '* Your book
was very good, but I am so sorry that you hold siich opinions ! "
He did not let his judgment of my opinions interfere with his
agreement with the other Professors in granting me the
degree.
SiE John Sandys.
In 1868 I became the private pupil of one of the most
brilliant classical scholars of the nineteenth century — J. E.
Sandys, a Seni9r Classic and now Sir John Sandys, Public
EAELY DAYS AND RECOLLECTIONS 19
Orator of the University. I worked with him mainly at Latin
and Greek composition, and I was vel^y proud of a transla-
tion of part of Longfellow's ''Slave's Dream" into Latin
Elegiacs, of which my Tutor said : " I can suggest no im-
provements in it ". But my reading was desultory. I read
the subjects that appealed to me, such as the Greek Tragedians,
Pindar and Theocritus. But I detested Philosophy and
neglected Plato and Aristotle. I spent the best part of one
term in writing for the Chancellor's Medal for English verse,
in which I was beaten by Beck, afterwards Master of Trinity
Hall. I learnt English prosody and scansion when I was
about eleven years old and I always could write in correct
metre. But writing Tennysonian blank verse was an
ordinary accomplishment of young men of my day with
classical tastes. I did it as well as others, but I could never
lay claim to anything more than verse-making, and my Latin
verses were better than my English.
Isle of Man.
I remember a very enjoyable visit to the Isle of Man during
the Long Vacation of 1868. It was in the days before the
island was overrun by cheap trippers from the manufacturing
districts. I went to the top of Snaefell on a clear day and
saw England, Ireland and Wales. I began sketching from
nature about this time, and my cousin, Ernest Coe, an
amateur who got pictures at times into the Academy, taught
me how to paint in oils. I never had a proper training in
art, but I had an inherited love for it which has never left
me, and I gradually improved, especially in later years, in
South Africa. Whenever I can spare the time I still sketch
in oils, pastel and water colour. I fancy I wasted some
time at Cambridge during my last year with painting in my
rooms.
20 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Degbee and Ordination on March 13th, 1870.
In June, 1869, I took a First Class in the " General," and
I took the " Pass " in Theology in December, 1869. During
the Long Vacation of the same year I began to think seriously
of Holy Orders. I had been idle, and my life had been, to
say the least, careless and purposeless. I was repelled by the
evangelical teaching of my youth. The first thing that set
me thinking was the curious contrast between the third
chapter of S. John in the Greek Testament and the current
evangelical teaching on Holy Baptism. At this time my
father fell ill of incipient paralysis, and to his amazement I
offered to be his curate. It was, of course, a great mistake,
because I ought to have learnt discipline and method in a large
town parish with a full staff of clergy. But he consented be-
cause he did not wish for the responsibility of a stranger in
the parish. I was much helped spiritually at this time by my
friend, Henry K. Hope, of Sidney College, Cambridge, an old
school fellow at Eossall, who was ordained a year previously.
He died in 1915. I went in for the Classical Tripos in
January, 1870. In the Senate House I sat next to Christopher
Wordsworth, afterwards Fellow of Peterhouse, well-known as
one of the most brilliant scholars of his year. He was very
ill at the time and quite unfit for the strain of the examina-
tion. On the second day he was worse, and after trying in
vain to write a few lines of his paper, he rose from his place
with a look of despair and left the Senate House. I felt very
sorry for him. Of course, his scholarship was well-known,
and he was given his " Aegrotat " degree as a matter of
course. But he might well have been " Senior Classic " of
his year.
On March 13th, 1870, I was ordained by Bishop Selwyn
on my father's title in Lichfield Cathedral. Just after my
ordination the Classical Tripos list came out and I was dis-
appointed to find that I had taken only a Third Class. I had
EAELY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 21
been idle, but I suppose my mind had been preoccupied with
my preparation for ordination, and I was not mentally in
tune with the Tripos Examination. I knew enough of the
general subjects for the Ordination Examination, partly from
my school knowledge of Divinity, to pass it creditably. In
fact I came out next to the Gospeller in the examination, and
the Bishop was pleased with the way I passed.
Bishop Selwyn.
I shall never forget my private interview with the Bishop
before ordination. Bishop Selwyn was utterly different from
the ordinary type of English Bishops. As the pioneer and
founder of the Church of New Zealand he had been face to
face with the elementary facts and conditions of the life and
working of the Church Catholic, and he never got cramped
by the conventions which hedge round the ordinary life of a
Bishop of the Church of England. He was utterly fearless and
unconventional in his dealings with men, and he was both
sympathetic and downright in the way he handled his candi-
dates for Holy Orders. He loved young men and set us at
our ease at once. He began with me on very direct lines.
He told me that he knew I had not been brought up to be-
lieve in the full teaching of the Catholic Church, and he
questioned me closely as to what I believed. He said,
" Don't answer me out of the books you have been reading.
That is for my Examining Chaplains. Your examination
is satisfactory enough. Tell me what you think and what
you believe ". He asked me whether I believed in Baptismal
Eegeneration and in the Real Presence of Our Lord in the
Holy Eucharist. When I said that I did he told me to
remember the two adverbs which were applied to the Sacra-
mental Life of the Church, objective and subjective. " Never
forget," he said, " that the grace of the Sacraments is given
objective. Stand by that word." Then he asked me about
22 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
the Thirty-nine Articles. " Tell me plainly," said the Bishop,
" of your doubts and difficulties, for you must have some."
I replied that although I had given an ansv^er in my papers I
could not make head or tail of Article XVII. The Bishop
smiled and rose from his seat. He walked quickly up and
down the room, and for fully ten minutes gave me a most
lucid explanation of the Catholic doctrine of Predestination
which, he said, could be well fitted in with the words of
Article XVII.
When I was ordained on the second Sunday in Lent (March
13th, 1870) everything was most dignified and impressive.
The Dean of Lichfield (Champneys) preached the sermon
which was pastoral rather than dogmatic. He was a
" Churchly " Evangelical who had become more " Churchly "
under the spell of Bishop Selwyn's influence.
Theological Honours in 1871.
I entered upon my work at Hartington, which was too
easy for an active man, with the determination to fulfil the
Bishop's request to take Honours in Theology at Cambridge
before being ordained Priest. He said : '* You have not
much work to do at Hartington ; therefore you must read ".
Professor Gwatkin at that time took private pupils by corre-
spondence for the Theological Honours Examination, which
in after years became the Theological Tripos. I worked hard
with him and took a Second Class in 1871. I was ordained
Priest on Trinity Sunday, 1871, and the Bishop's counsels
were, if possible, more impressive and practical than before
my Diaconate.
The Church of England was disturbed by the Privy
Council judgment in the Purchas Eitual Case. It was
flagrantly unfair and unjust. All the Bishop said to us was :
" Do not involve your Bishop in difficulties by any hasty
action ". He let us see that he was utterly out of sympathy
EAKLY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 23
with the outcome of the relations of Church and State in
England and that he hoped for the ultimate freedom of the
Church. He made no attempt to defend the status quo in
the Church of England, and we all felt loyally bound
to avoid troubling one whose leadership was so joyfully
accepted.
The Bishop never forgot anyone whom he had ordained.
He sought us out at Diocesan Conferences and other gatherings.
He asked us about our lives and work, and took so much in-
terest in us that the older clergy were a little jealous of the
notice we received.
Ordained Priest, Trinity, 1871.
I shall never forget the Bishop's address to us on the eve of
our ordination. He stood at the Altar of the beautiful Lady
Chapel of Lichfield Cathedral, which was dim with shadows
broken by glimmering lights. He said that the Divine Com-
mission of the Priesthood which he would convey to us on
the morrow was typified by Elijah's sacrifice on Mount
Carmel. " It will be your sacred office," he said, " to stand
at God's Altar and call down the Fire of the Holy Spirit upon
the Holy Sacrifice, as Elijah did. It will be your office and
privilege to absolve and bless as sharing in the Eternal Priest-
hood of the Ascended Christ."
One of my examiners for Priest's Orders was Archdeacon
Moore, of Stafford. He was a genial old man and invited us
to his house to talk over our papers. He was amusingly in-
dignant when one of us affirmed that the sermon was part of
the Communion Office, and for this reason the '' Black Gown '
was illegal. It was a curious coincidence that he was one of
the Assistant Priests who laid hands on my father when he
was ordained Priest, some thirty-five years before he laid
hands on me on Trinity Sunday, 1871.
24 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Alton.
In 1872 I left Hartington and became Curate of Alton, in
Staffordshire. My Vicar, Dr. Fraser, was a learned and able
man who was elected Proctor for the Lichfield Diocese in the
Southern Convocation. I was in charge of the Chapelry
of Coton and I was also in charge of the daily and Sunday
services in the Private Chapel of Lord Shrewsbury at Alton
Towers. Lord and Lady Shrewsbury were most kind to me,
and I met many leading men who from time to time formed
their house parties. The chapel was very beautiful. It had
been built by the last Roman Catholic Earl of Shrewsbury,
and on Sundays was thrown open to the public. On one
occasion when there was a large house party I preached a
very definite sermon on the Apostolic succession. In the
afternoon I was in the grounds of Alton Towers and Colonel
Wilson Patten (afterwards Lord Winmarleigh), who was
staying there, came up to me and said : "I have been fighting
your battles ever since luncheon. Your sermon got on some
of their nerves, but you were quite right to speak out as you
did." Lord Shrewsbury came up and said the same sort
of thing, and told me that it was a good thing to make some
of his friends of Low Church tendencies realise that there
were other views besides their own. I met the late Lord
Salisbury and the late Duke of Eutland (then Lord John
Manners), both interesting as Conservative leaders of the
day ; but the most interesting man I met at Alton Towers
was Eobert Browning, the Poet.
Egbert Browning. ^
He was an old man then, and my impression of him at
dinner was of a vivacious and extremely well-groomed old
gentleman, more a man of affairs than my then ideal of a
poet. After dinner he drew me aside in a cosy corner of the
conservatory, and we enjoyed our cigars together. He drew
EAELY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 25
me out about Greek literature, and I was bold enough to say
that I had just read his " Balaustion's Adventure," which is
for the most part an admirable translation of the " Alcestis "
of Euripides. He seemed pleased that I knew the " Alcestis "
and had read his translation, and he said that it was a sort
of "holiday task" that he had accomplished, and not serious
work.
It has been an abiding memory to me to have met Browning
and to have had half an hour's conversation with him, though
at the time I did not appreciate him as I did Tennyson. One
learns the lessons which Browning teaches later in life.
Bishop Christopheb Wordsworth.
One day, when I was Curate of Alton, I went as usual to
take Matins at the Private Chapel at Alton Towers, and I
found Bishop Wordsworth of Lincoln in the chapel. He
was staying for a few days with Lord Shrewsbury. The new
Lectionary of 1871 had just become law and a year's grace
was allowed before its compulsory introduction. My Vicar,
Dr. Eraser, used it at once, and after Matins the Bishop
came into the vestry. His manner was very kind and
gracious and he asked me why I used that objectionable
" new Lectionary " before I was obliged to do so. Of course,
I said : " The Vicar's orders," and then he began very quietly,
gently and firmly to enlighten me upon its manifold and
various defects. The Bishop's criticisms of over forty years
ago are re-echoed to-day in the Church Press and Convocation,
and it seems certain that a reform of the Lectionary of 1871
will be found necessary .^ He explained to me his use of his
Episcopal "Jus Liturgicum" in the Diocese of Lincoln in
setting forth a Table of Proper Lessons for Diocesan use, and
^ In 1918, the Archbishop of Canterbury allowed the use of a new
Table of Lessons drawn up by the Joint Committee of Convocation, but
as yet it has not authority.
26 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
he told me why he inserted certain chapters and omitted
others. It was extremely interesting to me, and I was much
impressed with his kindness to a young priest whom he did
not know personally. Ten years afterwards I met him at
the Derby Church Congress of 1882, when I paid my first
visit to England after settling in South Africa. I recalled
the incident of our former meeting to his memory, and he
was most fatherly and kind in his manner. I was at that
time collecting funds for S. Cuthbert's new church in my
parish, which was to be built as a Memorial to Bishop Gray,
and Bishop Wordsworth wrote me a kindly letter about it,
and sent me a subscription which helped me very much.
Bishop Samuel Wilberforce.
On another occasion I met at Alton Towers a famous
Prelate of a very different type — Samuel Wilberforce, then
Bishop of Winchester. It was in the year 1872, when the
Bishop was at his best. He had partially emerged from the
Low Church traditions of his family, which had been intensi-
fied in him by the secession to Rome of his brilliant brother.
Archdeacon Robert Wilberforce, and which had brought him
into painful conflict with Dr. Pusey and the Tractarian
leaders, after Newman's secession, when he was Bishop of
Oxford. He was, when I met him, the real leader of the
English Episcopate and the opponent of the Erastian policy
of Archbishop Tait. He had given true and noble support
to Bishop Gray in the troubles that arose after the deposition
of Bishop Colenso, and the South African Church owes him
a real debt of gratitude. He was no theologian and he had
never realised the Sacramental verities of the Catholic Faith
with any accuracy of outline. But for all that he was a vital
spiritual force, and he restored to the Anglican Communion
in a very definite way the true ideals of a working Bishop's
life and office.
EAELY DAYS AND EEOOLLECTIONS 27
There was a great Church gathering in the Midlands, and
the house party at Alton Towers included Lord Salisbury,
Mr. Beresford Hope, and our Diocesan Bishop Selwyn, as
well as Bishop Wilberforce. The parish clergy were asked
to a large dinner party given to meet the distinguished guests.
The Vicar was away, and I remember feeling a thrill of shy-
ness when I was called upon to say Grace as his representative.
I shall never forget the wonderful power of conversation
shown by Bishop Wilberforce. Everyone listened to him,
but I well remember thinking that though he was more
brilliant, he was not so great a man as Bishop Selwyn, who
sat quietly listening to his eloquence. Bishop Wilberforce
would fascinate men to follow him by his persuasive tact, but
Bishop Selwyn was a born leader of men. You followed him
because you felt you miist.
On the following Sunday Bishop Wilberforce preached at
the Parish Church and I had to chant the service. The
Bishop's manner to me in the vestry was most kindly and
courteous. I remember the great care he took in robing
himself. si sic omnes ! If clergy only knew how hoods
and stoles put on crookedly annoy the congregation and
testify to a mental carelessness, they would be more careful
in these small details, which show reverence and orderliness
of mind. I remember that the Bishop turned round the
*' George " (which he wore with its blue ribbon as Prelate of
the Order of the Garter) so that the Cross, on the obverse
side, showed when he went into church. The English
Bishops did not use the Pectoral Cross in those days, and
Bishop Wilberforce used his Cross on the obverse side of the
" George " as a pioneer effort to restore the use of the Pectoral
Cross by Bishops, which is now general. The village church
was crowded with a strangely representative congregation.
The Koyal House was represented by the aged Duchess of
Cambridge and the Duchess of Teck, the grandmother and
mother of Queen Mary. The peers and politicians from the
28 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
great House were there, and the ordinary Sunday congrega-
tion of North Staffordshire farmers and labourers. The
Bishop preached on Elijah and the momentous choice which
he set before Israel on Mount Carmel. Baal, the fashionable
idol of the Court of Ahab and Jezebel, the god of physical
force, worldly, materialistic prosperity and sensuality, was
contrasted with Jehovah, the All Pure and the All True.
There was a wonderful forcefulness behind the rush of the
Bishop's torrential eloquence as he scathingly denounced the
materialistic Baal worship of money, social advancement,
and worldly ambition. The sermon was the most vivid de-
nunciation of worldliness and smug conventional respectability
that I ever listened to. Its tone was akin to that of another
famous sermon of the Bishop's upon "The Seven Worse
Spirits," when he speaks of the devil of sensuality leaving a
man in middle age to be replaced by the sevenfold worse
devil of hardened and conventional '* respectability " which
supplants open sin by Pharisaic self-satisfaction.
Assassination op Lobd Mayo.
Another memory of my Curacy at Alton I shall never for-
get. I was at lunch with Colonel Charles Bill, our squire,
who was afterwards well known as Member for North
Staffordshire. Lord and Lady Shrewsbury were there. In
the middle of luncheon a telegram came for Lord Shrewsbury.
He read it and rose from the table with an excited exclama-
tion, and passed it to Lady Shrewsbury. " One of my best
friends," he said. "What an irreparable loss to India ! " It
was the news of the assassination of Lord Mayo, the Viceroy,
by a criminal at the Andaman Islands. The man pounced
on the Viceroy with a knife and stabbed him to the heart, as
he was walking with his staff around him. Lord and Lady
Shrewsbury were so overcome by the shock that they asked
to be allowed to go home at once. The shock to the whole
EAELY DAYS AND EECOLLECTIONS 29
Empire was great. The only parallel to it in my recollection
was the news of the assassination of Lord Frederick Caven-
dish and Mr. Burke in the Phoenix Park, on May 6th, 1882.
S. Michael's, Handsworth.
My days at Alton were very pleasant. But my lines were
cast in too pleasant places. I felt that I needed the discip-
line and hard work of a town parish. So in 1872 I accepted
the Curacy of S. Michael's, Handsworth, which is an import-
ant town parish on the outskirts of Birmingham. The
church was large and dignified and I lived at the Vicarage
with the Vicar, Osbert Mordaunt, then unmarried, who
became one of my lifelong friends. I learnt a great deal
at S. Michael's which I have never forgotten. The people
were very nice and kind, and the services were beautiful.
The choir was renowned in the Midlands — a country of good
choirs. When Gounod produced his Eedemption at the
Birmingham Festival, he chose a number of our choristers
for the ** Angelic Choir " in the Ascension-tide music. He
wanted voices of a different timbre from the women's voices
of the chorus, and our boys delighted him, though they were
anything but angels. He electrified them after a rehearsal by
crying " Ah, mes anges ! " and kissing several of them
fervently. The average south Staffordshire boy is not used
to these methods, and the lads were too dumbfounded to do
anything but gape with amazement at the excitable Maestro.
Gounod's music always appeals to me with its melody,
harmony and real power. It is the fashion nowadays to
decry melody and substitute for it fantastical orchestration
and the howling discords and disharmonies of the " music of
the future ". To me it is as detestable as " Post Impression-
ist" art. When Pope Pius X. banned most modern music
and ordered a return to " Plain Chant " he made an excep-
tion in favour of Gounod's beautiful and dignified "Messe
30 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Solennelle ". I have heard it most carefully rendered at S.
Michael's, Handsworth, and also in recent years at S. Mary's,
Port Elizabeth. I shall never falter in my allegiance to
Gounod as a Church musician.
My time at S. Michael's, Handsworth, passed very happily.
There was a stupid Protestant outcry about Confession in
1873. Some 400 clergy petitioned Convocation with a view
to the restriction of the right of young and inexperienced
priests to hear confessions save in cases of grave necessity.
These men were in advance of their time, and their petition
that the Bishop should licence a certain number of experi-
enced and wise priests as confessors in each Diocese was not
only sensible but in accordance with the advice Bishop
Selwyn gave us when I was ordained Priest in 1871.
The Bishop told us to pass on all cases of conscience to
older and more experienced priests whenever we could. But
Lord Shaftesbury called the unfortunate 400 "Priests of
Baal," and excitable Protestants held meetings of protest all
over the country, horrified at the very idea of the voluntary
use of Private Confession which the Prayer Book permits
and enjoins. Prebendary Daniel Moore, the leading Evan-
gelical in London, refused to be carried away with this
senseless torrent of bigotry, and preached a notable sermon
against it.
Pbotestant Meeting in Bibminqham.
Birmingham was then a strong Protestant centre, and the
Town Hall was crowded at a protest meeting with (horresco
referens) the then Eector of Birmingham in the chair. His
name need not be repeated here. De mortids ! I went to
the meeting and sat in the front of the gallery. Frantic
abuse of the Bishops was the keynote of most of the speeches
— " abominable and damnable introduction of the Popish
Confessional," " Jesuits in disguise," and the usual vulgar
common-places of Protestant oratory were hurled forth with
EABLY DAYS AND KECOLLECTIONS 31
brazen-tongued fluency. The chairman lost control of the
meeting, and a wild-looking young curate got up in the body
of the hall and said he objected to the Bishops being abused.
He was promptly collared and actually "frog-marched " out
of the hall, with a man at each arm and leg, and his coat
tails dragging on the floor. I began to get very cross and
indignant, and when the first resolution, which was violently
worded, was put, and an overwhelming chorus of "Ayes"
rent the hall, I shouted " No," at the top of my voice. Im-
mediately a rush was made for me and my friend. But we
got our backs to the wall and as they saw we meant business
they kept out of our reach and only abused us. I told them
that they were a pack of cowards, and asked the leader to
take my card to the chairman, and tell him, with my compli-
ments, that if he did not let me speak he was a coward as
well. They took my card and took themselves off without
venturing to lay hands on us. Needless to say, I was not
allowed to speak. But I spoke very plainly on the whole
matter in my sermon at S. Michael's on the following
Sunday. I had to be very careful of my words, for the Vicar
was away and I was in charge of the parish. But some of
the leading members of the congregation asked me to print
my sermon for general circulation, which, with the Vicar's
subsequent approval, I did.
Cardinal Newman — James Pollock.
One of my Handsworth memories was the occasional
sight of the venerable figure of Cardinal Newman in his
occasional walks in the streets of Birmingham. He was
always accompanied by a younger priest on whose arm he
used to lean. He was not yet a Cardinal in those days. I
can see his bent figure now as I used to see it then — clarum
et venerabile nomen.
Another fragrant memory of my Handsworth days was
32 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
my friendship with the brothers Pollock of S, Alban's, Birm-
ingham. In 1873 I was asked by Father James Pollock to
preach the annual Harvest Thanksgiving sermon at S.
Alban's. It was in the old temporary church before the
beautiful new church, which is a masterpiece of Pearson's
art, was built. I remember that the character of the con-
gregation impressed me very much. The Pollocks had got
hold of the working classes of Birmingham and they never
lost their wonderful influence, which is still abiding, though
they have both passed to their rest.
I preached at the Dedication Festival of S. Alban's when
I was in England in 1902, and the people were deeply moved
by my personal memories of the priests they loved so well.
I knew " Father Tom " best of the two brothers. He was a
poet, as " Hymns Ancient and Modern " testify by including
some of his most beautiful hymns. He also wrote that
wonderfully devout manual, " The Daily Round," which has
been of such widespread service- to Christian people ever
since.
About this time I began to work at a manual of the Prayer
Book for theological students and candidates for ordination.
We had no " Proctor and Frere " in those days, and some-
thing less diffuse and more definite than the original "Proctor
on the Prayer Book " seemed necessary. I had the kindest
possible help from Bishop Abraham, then Canon of Lichfield,
who had examined me for Priest's Orders. He criticised
and corrected for me all I had written on the Office for
Holy Communion. Bemrose & Sons accepted my book, and
it was most kindly received and favourably reviewed. It
became a text-book at S. Mark's Training College, Chelsea,
and was widely circulated. It ultimately passed through
three editions, and although it is now superseded by other
more recent books, I believe that it was useful in its day and
I felt somewhat proud of the success of my first literary
effort.
EAELY DAYS AND BECOLLECTIONS 33
From my ordination I had always felt a wish to work in
the Colonies. Many of the younger clergy felt with me that
colonial work opened the door of a larger freedom than work
in England. The Church controversies of the early seventies
were a sore burden to many earnest and hardworking men.
The entanglements of Church and State, which are the evil
heritage of the Tudor Eeformation, and the hopelessness of
any definite solution in a Church burdened by a Secular
Court of Appeal, which the conscience of such a saintly
leader as Keble could not, as he quaintly put it, bring under
the obedience due to authority enjoined in the Fifth Com-
mandment, drew many of us to wish for work in a part of
the Church which was disconnected with the State and was
freed from the Brastian taint which clung to the Church of
England.
I GO TO South Africa as V. P. op S. Andrew's,
Grahamstown.
Bishop Selwyn always impressed upon the younger clergy
that we ought to hold ourselves in readiness for Colonial and
missionary work, just as ofl&cers in the army are always
ready for foreign service. He used this apt simile in a reply
he wrote to a near relative of mine, who asked him to dis-
suade me from leaving England for Colonial work.
At the end of 1873 I accepted the post of Vice-Principal
of S. Andrew's College, Grahamstown. I was married to
Rose, daughter of Andrew Worthington, of Ball Haye Hall,
Leek, Staffordshire, on January 13th, 1874, and a few days
later we sailed for South Africa in the Edinburgh Castle, a
pioneer ship of the famous Castle Line of Mail Steamers.
In those days the voyage took about twenty-four days, and
we touched nowhere between Dartmouth and Capetown.
We landed in Capetown on Ash Wednesday, at daylight.
CHAPTEE II.
EARLY DAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA.
Landing at Capetown.
Our first impressions of South Africa were pleasant enough.
The Edinburgh Castle entered the docks of Table Bay in the
early morning. Table Mountain, from the docks in the clear,
bright dawn, was a sight never to be forgotten. The ever-
varying light and shadow upon the rugged slopes of the
mountain and the mystery of its cloud-wreathed battlements
of rock, the beauty of the forest-clad lower slopes, and the
old city of Van Eiebeck and Van der Stel lying wide-stretched
from the mountain to the sea, formed a picture to which no
artist has yet done full justice. Table Mountain never
becomes familiar or commonplace. After forty years I still
look upon it every time I see it to discover fresh glory and
beauty in its majestic outlines. I have four times revisited
England since 1874, and the first sight of Table Mountain
on the return voyage has always been a joy to me as a wel-
come home to South Africa, the land of my adoption, which
has become dearer to me than the land of my birth.
After landing, my wife and I went to the Cathedral, for
Litany. Mr. Bindley was the Precentor, and I was much
struck with the excellent tone of the choir and the reverent
atmosphere of the old building.
It was built in 1830 on the model of S. Pancras, near
Euston Station, and opened in 1834, and though it is now
34
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFBICA 35
superseded by the new French-Gothic Cathedral, which is
partly completed, I have an affection for the historic memories
of old S. George's. In the early days of British rule, after
our jQnal occupation in 1806, the Dutch Eeformed Synod
allowed us the use of their historic building in Adderley
Street, which was completed in the early eighteenth century.
This courtesy of the Dutch clergy allowed Bishop Turner of
Calcutta in 1829 to confirm 180 candidates in the Dutch
church, and in 1832, his successor. Bishop Daniel Wilson,
held the first Anglican Ordination in South Africa, and
confirmed 240 candidates also in the Dutch church. This
kind courtesy of the Dutch Synod was further extended
after Bishop Gray's Consecration in 1847. The English
Church had only six churches built in the whole wide
spaciousness of South Africa at that time, and when the
Bishop started on his first long Confirmation tour, the Dutch
churches were officially put at his disposal for Confirmation
services. This courteous relation between the English
Church and the powerful Dutch Eeformed Communion,
which includes the majority of South African European
Christians as its adherents, has always remained unbroken,
though it was very severely strained during the Boer War from
1899 to the peace of 1902. And I should like to record here
that this cordiality was from the beginning fostered by Bishop
Gray, and that the staunch Church principles which he
impressed upon the South African Church from the very
beginning of his episcopate did not "hinder, but rather furthered,
its development. The Dutch know exactly what the English
Church in South Africa stands for. We have no Church
parties, for, like the Scottish Church (which is also the
Church of a minority) we have upheld for over sixty years the
teaching of the Prayer Book as the Caroline Divines and
their successors, the Tractarians, taught it. We have no
narrowness, but our atmosphere causes imperceptibly a
certain process of assimilation, if any clergy come to us from
36 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
the Old Country who are tinged with ultra-Protestantism or
" Modernism ". I well remember as an instance of this a
genial parson from the North of Ireland throwing in his lot
amongst us. At first he was somewhat horrified at our
divergences from the absurd Puritan "Ritual Canons" of
the Irish Church. I saw him a year or two afterwards and
he showed me with pride that he had got as far as coloured
stoles ! The progress might be slow, but he deserved some
encouragement, which I accordingly gave him.
Capetown Cathedral.
But to return to Capetown Cathedral. The old building
was opened on S. Thomas's Day, 1834. Dr. Cowie, Bishop
of Madras, held a Confirmation in it in 1835 on his way to
his Diocese. But it had to wait till Bishop Gray's Consecra-
tion in 1847 for a Bishop of its own. It was the scene of
the historic Consecration of Bishop Mackenzie in 1861, as
the first Missionary Bishop sent forth by the Ecclesia
Anglicana. He was consecrated to found the Universities
Mission after the fervent appeal of Livingstone to the English
Universities to civilise and convert Central Africa. The
Crown lawvers said that the Church of England had no power
to consecrate a Bishop in partibus infidelium. But Bishop
Gray took the bull by the horns. He said that the Church
of South Africa would act despite the Crown lawyers. And
when Bishop Gray had acted the legal difficulties in England
vanished into thin air, and the consecration of Missionary
Bishops became common enough.
The Colenso Trial.
Then, Capetown Cathedral, in 1863, was the memorable
scene of the world-famous trial of Bishop Colenso of Natal
for false doctrine. It is the fashion nowadays to represent
EABLY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 37
Dr. Colenso as the victim of ecclesiastical intolerance and as
a sort of pseudo-martyr for the "Higher Criticism " of the
Old Testament. But this is an utterly false representation
of the facts. Archbishop Tait, then Bishop of London,
advised Bishop Gray to cite Dr. Colenso for trial, in order,
as he thought, to get the Broad Church Party in England
out of a scrape. He made up for this temporary lapse into
ecclesiastical sanity when Bishop Gray acted on his advice.
He promptly left the Metropolitan of South Africa in the
lurch and threw his full weight on the side of the Erastian-
Whig policy that denied any valid spiritual jurisdiction to
the Church apart from the State. He forgot that Church
and State were separated in South Africa, and that Bishop
Gray was almost bound to condemn Dr. Colenso on account
of the statements made in his published works. When the
Archbishops of Canterbury, York, Armagh, and Dublin, as
well as Bishop Tait of London and thirty-seven other Bishops
asked him to resign his See because he could no longer
accept (on his own admission) the Book of Common Prayer,
their action, if somewhat irregular, was very natural under
the circumstances. There were nine charges against him,
only two of which referred to his views on the Old Testa-
ment. The other charges referred to his heresies upon the
Incarnation and the Atonement. His views ultimately be-
came practically Unitarian. The Broad Church Archbishop
Whately of Dublin told him to resign his See. His former
friend, Frederick Denison Maurice, the most unecclesiastical
of Churchmen and attacked himself for undue theological
liberalism on certain points, wrote to Dr. Colenso that " the
consciences of Englishmen will be very strongly impressed
with the feeling that you ought to resign your bishopric".
Thus much for the famous Colenso trial and its sequel, the
consecration of Bishop Macrorie in S. George's Cathedral by
Bishop Gray on S. Paul's Day, 1868, to succeed him in the
See from which he had been justly deposed. This was also a
38 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
bold assertion by the Metropolitan of Capetown, that the secular
Law Courts of England, which confirmed the deposed Bishop
in his title and the revenues of his See, had no restraining
effect upon the Free and Unestablished Church of South
Africa. I knew a good deal about this controversy and its
issues before I landed in South Africa. And I saw Bishop
Gray's throne in the Cathedral solemnly draped with black,
though he had been dead for nearly two years, as the See
was still vacant. I thought as I looked at that throne, with
its emblems of mourning, of the life work of the great Prelate,
so fitly called the " Athanasius of the South," and I wondered
what manner of man his successor would be. When I came
to know our late Archbishop West-Jones, as I did for over
thirty years, I could truly say
Primo avulso, non deficit alter
Aureus . . '.
and the beautiful Memorial Chapel in the new Cathedral at
Capetown, which contains his sculptured effigy, recumbent
after the fashion of ancient ecclesiastical tombs, is testimony
visible and external to the strength, power, gentleness and
tact of his long episcopate.
Beauty of the Cape Peninsula.
But I am anticipating. Our first visit to Capetown
naturally included a drive to Constantia, which revealed the
glories of the Mountain from the other side, and the varied
beauties of the Cape Peninsula. I thought then and I still
think that it is one of the most beautiful spots on the face of
God's earth.
Many years afterwards I was standing with Mr. Ehodes
on the lower slopes of Table Mountain, behind his grand old
Dutch house, " Groot Schuur". He was silent for a while
and then turned to me and said : " I think that this is the
finest view in the whole British Empire ". And I think he
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 39
was right. Before us and across the densely wooded fore-
gi'ound lay the turquoise blue waters of Table Bay, gleaming
in the sunlight, and beyond, the distant mountains of the
" Hottentots' Holland " range with their deep purple shadows
and clearly outlined peaks. Our clear atmosphere is one
chief glory of South African scenery. English artists, ac-
customed to neutral tints and soft cool shadows, cannot at
first paint our sunshine and clear distances. But when they
once realise the brilliance of our landscapes and learn to
paint them, they delight in them as much as a South
African artist can.
The beautiful old Dutch house at Constantia was my first
introduction to South African architecture. It was over 200
years old, and like other old Dutch houses, showed the skill
in details of craftsmanship which is a marked characteristic
of old South Africa. The old " Town House " at Capetown,
still used for municipal purposes when I landed, and for
many years afterwards, is another excellent type of Dutch
architecture, and so is the old building which is now the
South African *' Church House " and the home of our splen-
did Ecclesiastical Library. People in England forget that
Capetown was a considerable city at the close of the seven-
teenth century, over 100 years before the British Flag flew
over the old Castle at Capetown.
Poet Elizabeth.
But to go back to my personal memories. « We left Cape-
town by the Edinburgh Castle for our 500 mile voyage up
the coast to Port Elizabeth. I sketched the coast scenery,
which was most impressive in its beauty, until I had to
" seek the seclusion which a cabin grants," and so did most
of ** the sisters and the cousins and the aunts " travelling with
us. For the passage was rough. The then Mayor of Port
Elizabeth occupied the next cabin to ours. Mr. H. H.
40 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Solomon, I knew afterwards, as an excellent Mayor, but on
that occasion I did not appreciate his proximity. He was
audibly afflicted with mal de mer.
We landed at Port Elizabeth in a sailing boat, for tugs in
those days were not, and there was no railway to Grahams-
town.
Archdeacon White.
Archdeacon White met us and we stayed a couple of days
in Port Elizabeth with him. He asked me to preach my first
sermon in South Africa in S. Mary's Church, so soon to be the
scene of my long ministry as Eector. It is curious how com-
ing events cast their shadows before. I had a longing to be
Eector of S. Mary's and a curious presentiment that this
would some day come to pass. Archdeacon White was one
of the older type of South African clergy. He was a Wyke-
hamist and a Fellow of New College, Oxford, where he took a
brilliant degree. He came to Bishop Gray in the early days
to found the Diocesan College, of which he was the first Head.
He was made Canon of Capetown and subsequently became
Archdeacon of Grahamstown. He was a sound Canonist
and a wise statesmanlike leader of very definite Tractarian
principles.
Dean Williams.
We drove to Grahamstown in Cobb's coach, a very shaky
vehicle with four horses. The road was execrable, as it is
even to-day, when motorists look on it as one of the worst
bits of road in the Eastern Province. We arrived at
Grahamstown after a drive of eleven hours, very tired and
dusty. But we had a warm welcome from the Eev. L. S.
Browne, the Principal of S. Andrew's, and soon settled down
to our new life. The College Chapel services were very bright
BAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 41
and hearty. A number of people who did not care for the
long walk to the Cathedral and who did not like the persona-
lity of Dr. Williams, the then Dean, used to attend the
chapel services. I shall never forget my first sight of the
famous Dean, whose rebellion against his Diocesan ultimately
brought about a schism in the Diocese, and the curious
"Grahamstown Judgment" delivered by the Privy Council
in 1882. I was in High Street and I saw a stout, rubicund
person in a light grey alpaca jacket, surmounted by a digni-
tary's hat with an enormous rosette, I am afraid I stared
too much at this unwonted spectacle. I overheard someone
in the street saying, " That new parson from England has
never seen anything like the Dean before ". And I hadn't.
Some time afterwards I was introduced to him, and he
politely said, " Decencies of ecclesiastical costume don't fit
in with our climate ". His civility extended to his appointing
me Precentor of the Cathedral on a nominal stipend, and I
combined this work with my duties as Vice-Principal of S.
Andrew's. The arrangement did not last long. When the
Dean found out that I was on friendly terms with the Bishop,
I got notice to quit.
I am not sure that I was of much use as a schoolmaster.
I would teach boys that wanted to learn, and my old boys,
now scattered all over South Africa, used to like me. A year
or so ago I was entertained as Archdeacon at an inland town.
The Stipendiary Magistrate, who was the principal person pre-
sent amongst the laity, made a speech of welcome and alluded
very kindly to his old school days. ''The Archdeacon,"
he said, "took great pains with the Matriculation Class,
of which I was one," and then he made a little pause
and said, " but we none of us passed ! " We all laughed
consumedly, but the good man had not the least idea
that he had given me away, and I had to tell him after-
wards.
42 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH Ai^EICA
Bishop Mereiman.
The outstanding feature of my early days in South Africa
was the kindliness shown to me by Bishop Merriman, the
third Bishop of Grahamstown. The Bishop was the father
of a brilliant son, who, as the Eight Hon. J. X. Merriman,
was the last Premier of the Cape Colony before the Union in
1910. But the Bishop had qualities which his son never
possessed. The versatile politician lacked that power of
consistent leadership which was the outstanding feature of
his father's character. He had the political insight of Lord
Eandolph Churchill, but did not always follow out his own
intuitions, because, like the late Lord Salisbury, he was " a
master of flouts and jeers," which he sometimes flung at
friends and foes alike. He was therefore more brilliant in
Opposition than in Office. Bishop Merriman could lead
steadily in one direction and never turned to the right
hand or to the left. He was Bishop Gray's fidus
Achates and most devoted chief of staff from the early days
when he became Archdeacon of Grahamstown, in 1848
(before the See of Grahamstovm was founded in 1853).
He was a man of splendid physical powers, who walked
hundreds of miles on his visitations, and retained his Arch-
deaconry (save for a year spent as dean of Capetown) till his
consecration as the third Bishop of Grahamstown in 1871.
He was, as he called himself, an "old-fashioned Puseyite,"
and he visited England so rarely that he was untouched by
later developments of Church life and thought. He was
pre-eminently a strong man, who could stand " four square
to every wind that blew," with a rugged forcefulness of
character and straightforward openness of soul, which was
conjoined with a dignified courtesy of manner and a constant
consideration for the feelings of others. His praise was in-
spiring and his rebukes left no sting or soreness behind them.
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH A^EICA 43
Clerical Mufti.
He had a fine old-fashioned regard for the outward dignity
of his clergy. He once caught me with a straw hat on in the
principal street of Port Elizabeth. He said, " I don't like to
see the Eector of S. Mary's in a straw hat," and I saw the
point of it at once. Nowadays, straw hats are common
enough, and some clergy forget their obligations in the matter
of apparel. Personally, I have the very strongest prejudice
against clergy dressing as laymen, even on a holiday. They
may don mufti for cricket, tennis or golf, but beyond this a
priest should wear the customary dress of a priest and value
it just as an officer ought to value his uniform.
Bishop Merriman was a contrast to some modern Bishops,
who show a tendency to play up to the laity at the expense of
their clergy. The laity trusted and respected Bishop Merri-
man, but he made his clergy feel that they were his first care.
He was a true *' Pastor pastorum ". I have always felt it an
honour and a privilege that I worked under Bishop Merriman
from 1874 to his death in 1882.
CONSECEATION OP Dr. WeST JoNES TO THE SeE OF
Capetown.
On Ascension Day, 1874, the vacant See of Capetown was
filled up by the consecration of Dr. W. West Jones as Metro-
politan, by Archbishop Tait in Westminster Abbey. The new
Metropolitan's difficulties began at his consecration.
Archbishop Tait and the Suffragan's Oath.
Archbishop Tait put forward the absurd and uncanonical
claim that the Metropolitan of South Africa should take the
same oath of allegiance to the See of Canterbury which was
required at the consecration of a Diocesan Bishop of the Pro-
vince of Canterbury. No such oath, of course, could be or
44 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
ever had been required in the case of a consecration of an
Archbishop of York, who is Metropolitan of his own Province.
The independence of the ecclesiastical Province of South
Africa was at stake. The difficulty was eventually removed
by the oath being qualified by a document, signed jointly by
the Metropolitan and Archbishop Tait, to the effect that the
Metropolitan rights of the See of Capetown were preserved
intact. The idea that Colonial Bishops and clergy could be
treated as " poor relations " by the august dignitaries of the
Established Church of England received a rude shock, and
subsequently the South African Church took the matter in
hand and passed a Canon forbidding our Metropolitan (if
consecrated in England) to take a Suffragan's oath to Canter-
bury under any circumstances whatever. At the same time
the South African Church has gone further than any other
Colonial Church in acknowledging the Primacy of the See of
Canterbury over the whole Anglican Communion. We have
stated that the Archbishop of Canterbury is ** Primate of
Primates, Archbishop and Metropolitan," which is historically
correct, whilst it does not involve any subordination of Cape-
town to Canterbury of any character differing from the
ancient subordination of York to Canterbury, which is quite
a different thing to the obligation implied by the oath of
obedience taken by an ordinary Diocesan Bishop to his
Metropolitan.
I was privileged to know and value our late Archbishop
during the whole period of his long Episcopate. He was a
clear-headed ruler with considerable knowledge of the Canon
Law of the Catholic Church, which has been for years my
own special study. His policy was always clear and definite.
He was wonderfully preserved from making mistakes, though
he was anything but a safe and cautious man of indefinite
opinions. S. Paul's " moderation " (in Philippians iv. 5) is,
of course, a mistranslation, correctly altered into " forbear-
ance " by the revised version of 1881. We cannot have too
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 45
much " forbearance " in " suffering fools gladly " and in
dealing with opponents with spiritual tact. But what is
called " a moderate Churchman " embodies a hateful com-
bination of uninspiring caution with a popular Laodiceanism.
No one likes a " moderately " fresh egg. The late Arch-
bishop was a tactful ecclesiastical statesman with a firm
grasp of Catholic order and faith. He could not put up with
the type of cleric who advertises for a curate in the Guardian
and requires a man who is " Mod. High Church, E.P. No
extremes, easy Parish. Excellent igolf links near the vil-
lage".
Leadeeship of Archbishop West Jones.
I believe the late Archbishop would have preferred a mili-
tant " Protestant " who was in earnest and therefore capable
of conversion, to the colourless " Moderate ". He had real
gifts of leadership and powers of administration. He was an
admirable financier and possessed unusual judicial insight.
Many years afterwards there was a serious dispute between
the Bishop of Pretoria and the Bector of S. Mary's, Johannes-
burg, concerning some extremely complicated questions of
Church property. Bishop Bousfield of Pretoria was a com-
bative person who had effectually put up the backs of the
Rector and Parochial Authorities of S. Mary's. The matter
came to a formal civil arbitration and both parties agreed to
accept the Archbishop as arbitrator. Leading counsel were
engaged on both sides, and the public were admitted to the
Court, as the dispute had occasioned much controversy.
The late Mr. Leonard, Q.C., was in the case, and someone
casually remarked, '* You will have an easy job with the
Archbishop. What does he know about law ? " But when
the Court sat, the eminent barristers found that they had met
more than their match in the Archbishop. His judgment was
clear and luminous. It dealt with very complex points of
law so decisively that both parties were satisfied that justice
46 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
had been done. The most eminent of the barristers engaged in
the case said that there was only one Judge on the South
African Bench who could have dealt with the matter as ably as
the Archbishop did, and that was the Chief Justice (afterwards
Lord de Villiers). This worthy tribute to the Archbishop's
judicial powers came from a man who did not profess to be a
Christian.
Archbishop West Jones consolidated the life work of
Bishop Gray and welded together the scattered South
African Dioceses into one strong Province. He will de-
servedly be remembered as one of the greatest Prelates of the
nineteenth century.
The South African Church in 1874.
I suppose I may here fitly summarise the condition of the
South African Church when I began my work in it.
In 1874, the South African Church consisted of the
Dioceses of Capetown, Grahamstown, Maritzburg, Bloem-
fontein, S. John's, Kaffraria, Zululand and S. Helena. The
newly appointed Metropolitan had a difficult task to face.
How well he faced his early difficulties is lucidly and sym-
pathetically recorded in his " Life " (published in 1914) by
his Chaplain, the Eev. M. H. M. Wood. The Church was
strong in the City of Capetown and its suburbs but weak in
most of the country parishes, where the English people were
in a minority. In many of these parishes strong Missions
to the coloured people (whom one may call " Eur- Africans "
in contradistinction to the pure blooded natives) were estab-
lished, which have since considerably grown in influence.
Archdeacon Lightfoot.
Archdeacon Lightfoot's noble work at S. Paul's, Capetown,
amongst this class has made his name a household word at
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 47
the Cape. He had planted it firmly in 1874 and his memory
is still green amongst the people he loved and served so
well.
The Diocese of Grahamstown had a considerable English
population, the result of the emigration of the British settlers
of 1820, whose descendants supplied the backbone of the
British population in South Africa. In Natal the Church
was distracted by the Colenso Schism, for the details of
which reference may be made to my " Life of Dean Green "
(Longmans, 1910), in which I carefully entered upon the
whole subject with a fulness of documentary information
which can find no space here. Bishop Macrorie, Dr.
Colenso's successor, was winning hearts in Natal by his
tactful graciousness of manner, true kindliness of heart, and
firm Churchmanship. But in 1874, and until his death ten
years afterwards. Dr. Colenso claimed to be Bishop of Natal,
and his few adherents gave great trouble by their open
schism and control of certain ecclesiastical properties which
they got hold of through the Law Courts upon the principle,
Summum ius summa iniuria. Happily the Natal Parliament
in 1910 passed an Act which restored these misappropriated
Church properties to the Bishop of Natal and his Diocese,
which forms an integral part of the South African Church.
The so-called '* Church of England " schism in Natal is now
practically dead and buried. In 1874, Bishop Webb had
begun to carry out successfully his work of organising the
Diocese of Bloemfontein in the then isolated pastoral Ee-
public of the Orange Free State. Our missions in Basutoland
were not begun by Bishop Webb until 1876, but Kimberley
Diamond Fields, started a few years before, opened up a new
field to the Bishop's energies. Bishop Callaway was hard
at work in the recently formed Diocese of S. John's, in the
Transkeian native territories. He made Umtata his Cathe-
dral centre, and built the first house in what is now a flourish-
ing city and the capital of the Transkei. Here is a modern
48 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
instance of a Bishop founding a city and the civil authorities
recognising the wisdom of his selection of a site by following
his lead and building a capital.
The unconsecrated building, called in those days *' S.
James's Church," was built for the rapidly increasing white
population. It is now the Parliament House for the Native
Council of elected native representatives, which is so useful
a factor in governing the native territories, and the congre-
gation which used to use it now worship in the dignified new
Cathedral of S. John's.
The See of Zululand was vacant in 1874, and the island
Diocese of S. Helena was suffering from decreased population
and bad times. The aged Bishop Welby was beloved by his
people, but there was little scope for anything in S. Helena
but caring for the remnant that was left.
Sir H. Barkly.
I must now turn to the political and social condition of
South Africa in 1874. The Cape Colony was making its first
trial of " responsible government " under the Molteno
Ministry. Sir Henry Barkly, as Governor, had been in-
structed by the Colonial Office to force " responsible govern-
ment " upon the Cape Colony.
Responsible Government in Cape Colony.
The country was not ripe for this measure of self-govern-
ment. The British Colonists of the eastern districts opposed
the grant of " responsible government " tooth and nail. Port
Elizabeth, Grahamstown and the other English centres did
their level best to throw the measure out of the old Cape
Parliament, which had been established with limited legis-
lative powers and an executive responsible to the Governor,
in 1854. The Cape Parliament in 1874 u§ed English ex-
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 49
clusively in its debates. The Dutch majority took very little
interest in politics. The average Dutch farmer looked upon
the Cape Parliament as a debating assembly of British
colonists, into which he had no ambition to enter. He
heard dim rumours that this assembly meant to build rail-
ways and deprive him of his trade of carrying the produce of
the country in his ox- wagons. He was politically dumb, and
his leading idea was to bring grievances direct to the Governor
by petition. To him the Cape Parliament was an exclusive
body of persons who were alien to his ideals. Its true
parallel was ** Grattan's Irish Parliament " before the Union,
which excluded Eoman Catholics and legislated for the
" Protestant interest ", In those days Celtic Ireland did not
care very much about the Protestant Parliament that sat in
Dublin, and in like manner Dutch South Africans in Cape
Colony did not care about a seat in the Cape Parliament in
1874.
The Boeb Eepublics.
The Boer Eepublics of the north were pastoral com-
munities too far off to influence the politics* of the Colonies
of the Coast. Natal had a mixture of Crown Colony Govern-
ment with a Legislature that could talk without much power
of acting.
But the reason why the Eastern Province people opposed
" responsible government " was twofold. They feared that
the existing bureaucratic rule of Capetown would be intensi-
fiied and extended. A few also thought of the possibility of
the Dutch waking up to political life and capturing the
Parliament and the Government.
Within ten years of 1874 these fears materialised into
solid facts. In 1884 Jan Hofmeyr and his wonderfully
organised political machine, the " Afrikander Bond,'- had
become the dominant political factor in the Cape Colony.
4
50 STOEM AND SUNSHINEt IN SOUTH AFBICA
Jan Hof meyr was a great patriot and a gifted political leader.
I knew him in the after days very well.
My life at S. Andrew's, Grahamstown, was very pleasant.
The College Chapel was open to the public in those days,
and our Sunday evening congregation demanded something
more than the pulpit teaching usually given to boys. I de-
livered a course of sermons on the link between the
Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer, which I carefully prepared
for ultimate publication. The theological reading necessary
for this purpose was useful to me, and after re-delivering the
addresses in S. Mary's, Port Elizabeth, I published them
under the title of " Thoughts on the Harmony between the
Beatitudes and the Lord's Prayer" (Bemrose & Son) in 1876.
The little volume was most kindly reviewed in the Church
Press.
I Become Eectob of S. Mary's.
On S. Matthias' Day, 1875, Bishop Merriman appointed
me to the Eectory of S. Mary's, Port Elizabeth. I was very
young and inexperienced for so prominent a post and barely
of four years' standing in Priest's Orders. But the Bishop's
choice of men was limited, and so when he told me to go I
went, and am now (1915) still where he placed me then.
Port Elizabeth Eailway Opened in 1875.
Some important events took place in South Africa in 1875.
The opening of the first railway in the Eastern Province
took place in Juue, and as an official guest at the ceremony
I saw the first passenger train leave the Port Elizabeth
station.
The only other railways in South Africa in 1875 were the
fifty miles of the future main line to the north from Cape-
town to Wellington, the Capetown suburban line, and the
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 51
three miles line from the harbour at the Point to Durban in
Natal. There are now (1915) 7045 miles of railway open in
the Union of South Africa, and about 2000 miles in Ehodesia,
part of which forms a portion of the Cape to Cairo line. We
are also linked up with the railways built by the Germans in
South-West Africa.
President Burgers.
One day, in the middle of 1875, I saw a carriage driving
up to the Port Elizabeth Club, in which was seated a some-
what insignificant-looking man in a tall hat. It was President
Burgers of the Transvaal on his way to accept the hospitality
of the Club at a public luncheon. He made a speech full of
friendly platitudes but reticent as to his great ideal of a
Boer supremacy over the whole of South Africa, with the
Transvaal as its centre. He sowed the seeds, and his bitter
enemy, Paul Kruger, reaped the harvest. He had been a
Dutch Eeformed minister in the Cape Colony who had been
ejected for heresy. He rejected orthodox Christianity and
professed the type of semi-Unitarian " Liberalism," then in
vogue in Holland and Germany, as the logical result of
Continental Protestantism. He fought his case in the Secular
Courts and the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony declared
the sentence of the Dutch Synod, which deprived him,
" null and void ".
The Privy Council and Burgers.
This decision was upheld by the Privy Council on appeal.
Here was an exact parallel to the Colenso case. A Civil
Court purported to annul the spiritual sentence passed by a
Church Court. The result in both cases was the same. The
legal victory of Mr. Burgers was as barren of results as the
legal victory of Dr. Colenso. Just as the loyal Church
52 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
people of Natal elected another Bishop (in place of Dr.
Colenso) who exercised full spiritual jurisdiction, so did the
Dutch act in the case of Mr. Burgers. His congregation were
put under another minister, and his position became im-
possible. He left the Colony for the Transvaal, took to
politics and got himself elected President. The Dutch
bitterly resented this decision of the Privy Council in the
Burgers case, as destructive of their spiritual independence,
just as much as the South African Church did in the Colenso
case. And we had a strong Dutch sympathy in our hard
case. If the South African Church had not claimed complete
independence from the Privy Council decision, and the con-
sequent complete legal separation from the Church of
England, the Dutch would have regarded us as an exotic
offshoot from the Established Church with no claim to their
sympathy. Common action between our Synods would have
been impossible and common action is possible on many
points now, although we hold that Episcopacy is (by Divine
Right) of the esse of the Church just as strenuously as our
Dutch Reformed brethren deny it. We have formulated a
true concordat with them, based on Catholic principles, which
are the very reverse of the unhappy proposals of the Protestant
Bishops of Uganda and Monabasa at the Kikuyu Conference
of 1913. Our chief common ground of sympathy with the
Dutch Reformed Communion is a mutual abhorrence of
Erastianism, and dislike (on principle) of the idea of an
Established Church, and further the acceptance by the Dutch
in common with ourselves of the Athanasian Creed as well
as the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds as the bulwarks of
orthodox Christianity.
BuEGERS Unpopular in the Transvaal.
To return to President Burgers. He was a sort of " Dr.
Leyds " some twenty years before his time. He annoyed the
EARLY DAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA 63
Boers of the " Back -veld " by talking of railways and appoint-
ing a ' ' Minister of Education ". They considered him a heretic
and looked on his appeal to the Privy Council as treachery to
South Africa. And so a number of them inspanned their
wagons and ''trekked" across the Kalahari Desert to find a
new home away from Burgers and his new-fangled ideas, just
as their fathers had "trekked" in 1836 to escape from the
British Government, who had forcibly freed their slaves
without adequate compensation.
BoEB Teek to Angola.
These wanderers, after many sufferings and deaths in the
desert, reached the Portuguese Province of Angola, where
they formed a small settlement at Humpata. Rumours of
their miserable plight reached the Cape Colony and the hearts
of the British settlers were touched. Racial feeling hardly
existed, and I helped to collect a considerable sum of money
in Port Elizabeth to relieve their distress. This primitive
community at Humpata is still there, untouched by all that
has passed in South Africa for the last thirty years. Nominally
they are Portuguese subjects, but the Portuguese severely left
them alone. It is said that they expelled a schoolmaster for
teaching that the world is round and not flat. The future of
this small community is a curious problem, especially since
the rebel and traitor, Maritz, escaped after De "^V^ J"®-
bellion and joined them. *^ ^
LOED WOLSELEY.
It was in 1875 that I noticed a group of British
mujti standing on the steps of the Port Elizabeth Town Hall.
The centre of the group was a smart, keen-looking soldier, a
sort of man who would cause a chance bystander to ask,
almost involuntarily, " Who is that ? " I probably did so, and
54 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
found myself in the presence of Sir Garnet Wolseley and his
Staff en route to Natal. He had been sent to South Africa,
fresh from his triumph at Ashanti, on a delicate and onerous
mission.
Ebbellion of Langalibalele.
In 1873, Langalibalele, a Natal Native Chief, broke the
twenty years' peace between the natives and Government by
active rebellion. The Natal Government was caught unawares
and sent a Colonial force against him, which suffered some
loss in an action at Bushman's Pass. More forces were sent
and he was captured and exiled as a State prisoner to Eobben
Island. Dr. Colenso stirred up the Aborigines Protection
Society, and Langalibalele found himself crowned with a
martyr's halo in his luxurious captivity. He had his wives
and attendants with him, and he was in exile rather than a
prisoner in the ordinary sense of the term. He had consider-
able influence, and the Natal Government had ample reason
for deporting him.
Eecall of Sie B. Pine and Eesultant Mischief.
But the Aborigines Protection Society carried the day. Sir
Benjamin Pine, the luckless Governor of Natal, was recalled
as a scapegoat, and Sir Garnet Wolseley, who knew nothing
of South Africa, was given a plenary commission to deal with
affairs in Natal. He reported that the Natal Government
had dealt justly in Langalibalele's matter, and that the natives
were not oppressed by it. He made some changes in the
Government, which clipped the wings of the Natal Parlia-
ment and increased the power of Downing Street to interfere
directly in local matters of which the Colonial Office was
necessarily ignorant. But the natives took Langalibalele for
a hero. This mistaken policy of recalling Sir B. Pine and
EARLY DAYS IN SOUTH AFRICA 65
the native appreciation of the action of their friends in
London was the beginning of many sorrows. From the
seeds of unwisdom then sown sprang the terrible aftermath
of the Kafir Wars of 1877 and 1878, the Zulu War of 1879
and the Basuto War of 1881.
Daniel Mzamo.
The South African native despises hysterical sentiment
whilst he is ready enough and astute enough to utilise it
when it is exhibited by white men in England on his behalf.
Firmness and justice he understands. He understood Cecil
Rhodes, and the natives of the Transkei have never abused
the measure of electoral self-government which he gave them
by the Glen Grey Act, under which the present Native
Council was established which manages the local affairs of
the vast territory of the Transkei. I knew very well Daniel
Mzamo, the nephew of Langalibalele, who died recently at
a good old age. He was ordained Deacon by Bishop Merri-
man, and worked the Native Mission Church at Port
Elizabeth admirably. He was subsequently native Priest-in-
Charge of our Mission to the Zulus at Durban, and his son,
whom I also know, is a Priest in the Diocese of Natal. I
shall never forget Daniel coming to me one day, shortly after
his ordination, to tell me the story of his encounter with a
Hottentot Independent minister. They were arguing about
the necessity of Episcopal ordination. Daniel said, " Sir, I
found he had nothing to say when I had done ". I asked
what argument he had used. He said, " I made a long row
of stones on the road all close together and at the side of them
I put one stone opposite each end of my row of stones and
no stones in between. I said to him, '* Here is my row of many
stones. Here is yours with only two. My row of many
stones means the succession from the Apostles to Bishop
Merriman and the end stone is me, whom he has ordained.
56 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
You stand alone at one end and the Apostles at the other and
you have no stones in between. You have no succession." I
thought his method a very apt argumentum ad hominem.
Many years after I attended the Natal Synod as a visitor.
Temperance was being discussed, and Bishop Hamilton
Baynes asked Mzamo to speak, as the Senior Native Priest.
He was rather nervous but said, "My Lord, I have no
drunken natives in my congregation at Durban; they are
all good ". What he meant was that none of his congrega-
tion had been before the Magistrate for drunkenness, which
was true enough. The Bishop said, "But I have heard of
Christian natives being drunk at Durban ". Mzamo thought
for a moment and said, " My Lord, they were all Wesleyans ".
The Synod was convulsed, and poor Mzamo could not imagine
why. The natives are humorous enough but their sense of
humour is of a different character from ours.
The year 1875 also saw the almost imperceptible beginnings
of the great conflict between Briton and Boer which ended
with the Peace of Vereeniging in 1902, after a war which
taxed the resources of the Empire to an unprecedented
extent.
Visit of J. A. Fkoude, the Historian.
In July, 1875, I was asked to form one of a deputation to
receive Mr. J. A. Froude, the eminent historian, on his arrival
at Port Elizabeth. In after years I remembered only the
mischief he did, and was sorry I joined in his reception.
Lord Carnarvon, the Colonial Secretary, was anxious to form
a South African Confederation. His Bill passed the Imperial
Parliament after encountering the first scientific and organised
attempt at obstruction on the part of Mr. Parnell and the
Irish Party. Sir George Grey could have united South Africa
eighteen years earlier if the Imperial Government had not
repudiated his policy and recalled him from his office as
Governor of the Cape. It is always the way with English
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 57
politicians. The men who recalled Sir George Grey did not
take occasion by the hand. They made Lord Carnarvon's
Federation PoHcy impossible, and they thus caused the Boer
War of 1899. Lord Carnarvon chose Mr. Froude as the
emissary of his Confederation Policy. His choice of an agent
was even worse than his mistimed policy of South African
Union. The Eastern Province of the Cape Colony supported
Lord Carnarvon because they hated the domination of the
Capetown clique, who ruled the Colony under the Molteno
Ministry. This is why they thoughtlessly welcomed Mr.
Froude, who had paid an informal visit to South Africa in
1874. The policy of Separation for the Eastern Province of
the old Cape Colony is not dead yet. And in 1875 it was
very much alive. The Eastern Province was firmly con-
vinced that it would become a separate State in a Con-
federated South Africa. Lord Carnarvon's policy held the
Eastern Province till the people began to realise how im-
possible it was to force Confederation from without and how
much mischief Mr. Froude's ill-judged speeches had done all
over South Africa during his previous visit in 1874. He
went to Pretoria and Bloemfontein and flattered the Ee-
publicans of the Transvaal and Free State by telling them
of the glories of Holland in the olden days. They knew very
little of their ancestral history. Motley's " Dutch Eepublic "
was unknown save to a very few. And the best Boer families
were of Huguenot descent and therefore had no racial affinity
with Hollanders.
The Mischief Done by Mb. Froude.
President Burgers and President Brand of the Free State
were most polite to Mr. Froude, but they were firm in their
determination not to accept the British Flag. I heard him
speak at Port Elizabeth on his return visit in 1875, and he
tried to minimise his failure on the Flag question. But it
58 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
was useless. His message of a United South Africa was
promptly grasped by the Northern Eepublics. The idea
was a grand one, but the future Union in their view was a
United South African Eepublic under its own flag. They
were amply justified by Mr. Froude's Bloemfontein speech,
in which he attacked their neighbours at Kimberley. He
said "What interest have miners and storekeepers and
speculators in the independence of South Africa? Under
any flag they can equally pursue their trade. You have the
misfortune to possess a soil and climate of unexampled
excellence, and a position on the Globe of the most attractive
to every ambitious and aggressive Power. The independence
of South Africa will come when you can reply to these
powers with shot and shell." What could the Free Staters
make of these words save an encouragement to a Federated
South African Eepublic under its own flag ? Mr. Froude's
words were the direct encouragement of the policy that made
Kruger defy the Empire in 1899. They took Mr. Froude's
idea of Union and translated it to suit their own ends. So
far Mr. Froude had only planted a seed of future discord.
But his political harangues in the Cape Colony during 1875
kindled the dormant racial aspirations of a more educated
class of Dutchmen. Mr. Froude was the real if unconscious
originator of the " Afrikander Bond ". The Molteno Ministry
was naturally annoyed at Mr. Froude's semi-olB&cial public
utterances. They opposed Confederation because it meant to
them the separation of the Eastern Province. They resented
the direct interference of an emissary from Downing Street
in the Colony that enjoyed the doubtful boon of responsible
government.
The railway from Port Elizabeth to Uitenhage (a 20
mile run) was opened by Mr. Merriman, the youthful Com-
missioner of Public Works, who had just joined the Molteno
Cabinet. Mr. Froude was at the banquet that followed, and
Mr. Merriman denounced him as an irresponsible interloper
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 59
who had no right to talk politics all up and down the country
without the consent of the Cabinet. Technically Mr-
Merriman was right, but the audience was "Eastern Pro-
vince " and keenly opposed to the Governnient. They ex-
pressed their disapproval by such violent methods that the
banquet ended in a disorderly uproar.
Sir Charles Warren said some years ago, " The giving of
a full constitution to the Cape Colony so prematurely is a
very doubtful blessing to the country, and the extraordinary
conduct of Mr. Froude last year in stumping the country and
falling foul of the Cape Ministry and the Governor, while
posing as speaking for the Secretary of State, has done a
world of mischief ". ("On the Veld in the Seventies," by Sir
C. Warren, p. 214).
My Wokk as Rector of S. Mary's.
My first year as Rector of S. Mary's was full of encourage-
ment. There was opposition by a few to the introduction of
a surpliced choir, but it was not serious. Archdeacon
White had told me when I was appointed that I must build
a new church for the south end of Port Elizabeth, where he
had at his own cost purchased a Mission Hall and opened
church services with a resident priest. Accordingly I set to
work, and in October, 1875, Bishop Merriman laid the founda-
tion-stone of the first new church which I built in the
parish. It was completed and opened for Divine Service on
S. Peter's Day, 1876. On Easter Day, 1876, 1 introduced the
Eucharistic vestments at S. Mary's with the full sanction of
Bishop Merriman. Certain communicants had sent me a
written request to take this step, and I referred the letter to
the Bishop, saying that I desired to act with his sanction, as
the vestments were not as yet in use anywhere in the
diocese. He replied that in his judgment the English
Church permitted the use of a distinctive vestment for the
60 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
celebrant of the Holy Eucharist, and he sanctioned the
request.
Bishop Merriman's Church Policy.
Shortly afterwards the Bishop was present at a sung
Eucharist at 11 a.m. After service he came to me and said,
" I thought you wore the vestments ". I explained that I
only wore them at the 8 a.m. Eucharist to avoid difficulties
with some old-fashioned church folk. The Bishop said, " If
you think it right to wear them at all, use them always ". I,
of course, replied that I should be too thankful to do so on
the authority of the Bishop, and there has never been a
" Mass without vestments " at S. Mary's from that day to
this. The people were quite satisfied to accept what Bishop
Merriman thought to be right.
At the same time the Bishop himself never used the East-
ward position at the altar, and he combined, curiously enough,
the position of a Vice-President of the E.C.U. with that of
being also a Vice-President of the Bible Society. He hated
Erastianism, and joined the E.C.U. because it stood for the
spiritual independence of the Church. He was firmly con-
vinced that the Bishops of England were unjust to the
Eitualists, though anything but a Eitualist himself. He was
very angry indeed with Archbishop Tait and the Bishops
who were responsible for the Public Worship Eegulation
Act of 1874. He looked on it as a piece of naked Erastianism
and an act of secular usurpation of the spiritual rights of the
Church by Parliament.
One day in 1874 I was walking with him to the native
church of S. Philip in Grahamstown, where he was ordain-
ing two Kafir Deacons. I was acting as his Chaplain, and
I saw he was much perturbed. At length he said, " I look
upon the passing of the P.W.E. Act as the worst blow that
has fallen upon the Church since the Eevolution of 1688.
The Bishops of England have surrendered their croziers
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 61
into the hands of Lord Penzance." Some years afterwards
the Bishop used nearly the same words in a speech that he
made at the Croydon Church Congress, of which Archbishop
Tait was the President. Of course, the Catholic clergy and
laity cheered and applauded Bishop Merriman, and Arch-
bishop Tait was amazed and perplexed. His answer to the
Bishop's allegations was unusually feeble, even from the
Whig-Erastian standpoint.
Chubch Progbess in Port Elizabeth.
My work at Port Elizabeth was varied and interesting.
There were, until I built S. Peter's, three Anglican churches
in the town. S. Paul's was under a devout Evangelical,
whose Churchmanship advanced with his closing years.
When, after his death in 1893, I unveiled the bust set up
by his people to the "memory of the Eev. S. Brook," it
made one realise how faithful his life work had been.
Holy Trinity Church was built in 1856 by persons who
objected to the strong Churchmanship of Mr. Fowle, my
penultimate predecessor. It was out of touch with the
diocese, and in the hands of a Broad Churchman, although
it ultimately fell into other hands, and united itself legally
with the diocese in 1890.
S. Mary's had a history. Its foundation-stone was laid in
1825, and the parish grew with the growth of the town,
which, in 1913, became a " city " by civil decree. From S.
Mary's sprung by degrees all the church extension in Port
Elizabeth. There was a dignified Eoman Catholic Pro-
Cathedral and also places of worship of nearly every English
religious body. There were two Malay Mosques, and in after
years, a Hindu Temple.
S. Mary's supported a Kafir Mission, which has grown in
importance of late years, as there is a Kafir population of
about 10,000. I began at once to take a keen interest in
62 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
this native mission, and learnt to read the service in Kafir.
S. Mary's also began a mission to the coloured population,
which developed into the self-supporting church of S. Philip
under a priest of its own. The coloured people built the
church and paid for it themselves. What work has been
possible amongst the Malay Mahometans, the Indians, and
the Chinese has centred in S. Philip's.
My early days at S. Mary's were full of hard and most en-
couraging work, in which I was warmly and constantly sup-
ported by the sympathy and wise counsel of Bishop Merri-
man.
Sir Chaeles Waeren at S. Mary's.
Sir Charles Warren's impressions of S. Mary's in 1876 are
interesting. He landed at Port Elizabeth on Sunday,
November 26th, 1876, and says : " Hearing the church bells
going, I had just time to change my clothes and make for a
new(!) plastered building of cruciform shape (this was old
S. Mary's, dating from 1825) ; a very ugly church, but the
service, conducted well, somewhat ornate. A good choir of
six men and fourteen boys, and a decent organ. The minister
had an excellent voice and led the whole service, including
the singing. The Psalms and all responses were chanted.
The boys sang well and rather loudly, but I should not have
considered it different to any service at home : I should say
it was a good deal above our average. A good sermon on the
Second Coming ; no Communion. I cannot say what an
effect it had, this first joining in a service in church with
our people grown up in a colony : what a bond it is between
us 1 " ("On the Veld in the Seventies," by Sir C. Warren,
p. 10).
This must have been Sir Charles Warren's first church
service in South Africa on his first visit, when he sur-
veyed the boundary line between the Orange Free State
EAELY DAYS IN SOUTH AFEICA 63
and Griqualand West. He is right about the choir and
organ. The service at S. Mary's always maintained a high
standard. I cannot say as much about his personal reference
to myself.
CHAPTEE III.
DARK DAYS: THE KAFIR AND ZULU WARS AND THE
FIRST ANNEXATION OF THE TRANSVAAL.
Native Wars. Sekukuni and the Transvaal.
The Langalibalele rebellion was the letting out of the waters
of strife between natives and Europeans throughout South
Africa. Early in 1876 the Baputi Chief Sekukuni sallied
forth from his mountain stronghold near Lydenburg in the
Transvaal in rebellion against the Eepublic. President
Burgers collected a military force and attempted in vain to
dislodge him from his mountains. The Boers detested
Burgers and would not fight under the leadership of a heretic
who wanted railways and education. Sir H. Barkly, as
High Commissioner, saw the danger to South Africa of the
forcible-feeble policy of the Transvaal and sent a strong
protest to Burgers against it. The Zulu King Cetewayo was
secretly egging on Sekukuni, who was known as '' Cetewayo's
dog," and the Governor of Natal feared a Zulu rising, which,
in the absence of an adequate garrison, might have swept
Natal from end to end with worse horrors than the Indian
mutiny. The Transvaal Government was on the verge of
bankruptcy. Sekukuni was defiant and unconquered. The
Boers would not fight for the Republic or pay their taxes
under the Burgers regime. In the beginning of 1877 Burgers
told his people that England would step in and annex the
Republic if they did not support his Government. The Zulu
64
\
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 65
peril threatened the flank of the Transvaalers, in addition to
the rebellion within their own borders. The Boers them-
selves saw no solution but annexation to the Empire. The
ripe fruit was ready to fall into our hands when a very
curious thing happened. Sir Theophilus Shepstone had for
many years directed the native policy of Natal. He was
born in South Africa and had distinct political ambitions.
He saw Lord Carnarvon in London and made a considerable
impression on him. Lord Carnarvon gave him a secret
commission empowering him " in emergency " to annex the
Transvaal. Sir H. Barkly had just quitted office and Sir
Bartle Frere arrived as his successor in April, 1877. I have
never believed that Sir Bartle Frere had anything whatever
to do with the hasty action of Sir T. Shepstone. There
was naturally a sort of interregnum before Sir Bartle Frere
assumed full control.
Sir T. Shepstone Annexes the Transvaal.
On April 12th, Sir T. Shepstone, who was in Pretoria with
an escort of twenty-five mounted police, hoisted the British
flag and declared that the Transvaal Eepublic was annexed
to the British Empire. When Sir Bartle Frere heard of this
sudden coup he exclaimed, " What will they say in England ? "
All that was left for him to do was to make the best of a very
bad job.
When Sir Eider Haggard, the well known author, visited
South Africa recently, as a Member of the Dominions Com-
mission, I met him and he reminded me that he had hoisted
the British flag with his own hands, as secretary to Sir
Theophilus Shepstone. We had some very interesting talk
about the days of 1877, which are half forgotten by the
younger generation of South Africans. Sir Eider Haggard
was adjutant to the Pretoria Carabineers during the siege of
1881, and told me much of the bitterness and shame of
5
66 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Gladstone's surrender after Majuba. He has enshrined the
feelings of the Transvaal loyalists in the immortal pages of
"Jess," a story that will live, not only for its literary power
and spiritual analysis, but because it is the most true and
vivid picture of the real inwardness of our national disgrace.
I have always been convinced that if Sir T. Shepstone had
waited a few days longer the Transvaal Volksraad would of
their own accord have asked him to annex the Eepublic.
The position of Burgers and his Government was absolutely
hopeless. He had no help from Paul Kruger or his vice-
president. And Kruger applied for service under the British
Government readily enough after the annexation. But
Kruger and his party were exceedingly crafty. They
acquiesced for the time being, but they saw that they had a
ready-made grievance in the premature action of Sir T.
Shepstone, which would appeal to Afrikander sentiment
all over South Africa when the time came to exploit it.
They carefully bided their time till credit was restored under
the British flag and the recovered prosperity of the Trans-
vaal enabled them to arm themselves. The incubus of
Burgers was removed and Kruger carefully nursed his own
increasing influence.
His Action Pbemature.
His first step was to send delegates to England to protest
against the annexation and to appeal as they passed down
country to the sympathies of the Free Staters and the Dutch
of the Cape Colony. They had a case, for the instructions to
Sir T. Shepstone forbade him to annex " unless you shall be
satisfied that the inhabitants thereof or a sufficient number
of them, or the Legislature thereof desire to become our
subjects ". The Volksraad never asked for annexation,
though they could not have avoided this step if Sir T. Shep-
stone had waited a little longer.
THE KAFIB AND ZULU WAES 67
Paul Krugee.
I was standing near the Port Elizabeth Eailway Station one
day in 1877, and I saw a rugged-looking old Boer in the usual
" baatje " or short jacket. People were looking at him with
some curiosity. I found that he was Paul Kruger, ex-Vice-
President of the Transvaal, on his way to England to protest
against the annexation. In 1895 I saw him again in the
Presidency at Pretoria. Quantum mutatus ! But that is
another story.
Kruger had never travelled by train before his journey to
Port Elizabeth. He asked how could the engine turn round
without a " disselboom " ? {Anglice — the pole of an ox-
wagon). He saw the sea for the first time, and asked, when
a big cargo lighter came alongside the jetty, whether that was
the ship to take him to England ? Since those days he learnt
many things. He coveted a port and a war navy for the
Transvaal, and intersected his country with railways. He
fell into the hands of astute Hollanders, like Leyds, in the
after years, but every South African — Britain and Boer
alike — admired the old man's personal courage and indomit-
able tenacity. He was shrewd, too, in his way. Two
brothers quarrelled over their just inheritance to a Transvaal
farm. They came to the President as arbitrator. He said
to one brother, ** You can make the dividing line across the
farm ". This was done on the plan. *' Now," said Kruger
to the other brother, " You can choose which portion you will
have ". When sites were given to various religious bodies
by Kruger' s Government, a full '' erf " was given to the
Presbyterians and Wesleyans and only half an "erf " to the
Jews for their synagogue. A Jewish deputation went to
complain to the President. They found him sitting with a
Bible before him, open at the last chapter of Malachi. He
said to the Jews, " Here is the whole Bible, Old Testament
and New Testament. The Presbyterians believe in the
5*
68 STOBM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
whole Bible. You only believe in the Old Testament half of
it. Therefore those who believe in the whole get a whole
' erf ' of land, and you who believe in the half get only a half
' erf ' ". And with that he dismissed the deputation who had
obviously nothing to say in reply to Kruger's argument.
Kruger's mission to England in 1877 did not have any im-
mediate effect.
Anthony Trollope at Poet Elizabeth.
In 1877 Anthony Trollope, one of the favourite mid-
Victorian novelists, visited South Africa. He came through
Port Elizabeth and stayed at the Club. He was a peppery
old gentleman and stormed at his partner after losing a
rubber at whist. " Why didn't you respond ? I called for
trtimps twice." The guileless man replied, *' Oh, Mr Trollope,
I never heard you " ! Tableau ! Anyway he gave Port
Elizabeth and its Club a good character. He says, ** The
town is built on a steep hill rising up from the sea, and is
very neat. The Town Hall is a large, handsome building,
putting its rival and elder sister, Capetown, quite to shame.
The Library, Eeading-room and Public Ball-room or Concert
Hall were perfect. The place contains only 15,000 inhabit-
ants, but has everything needed for instruction, civilisation
and the general improvement of the human race. I need
only say further of Port Elizabeth that there are churches,
banks and institutions fit for a town ten times its size — and
that its Club is a pattern Club for all Colonial towns."
{'' South Africa," by Anthony Trollope, p. 27.)
Trollope thought that it didn't matter how he dressed in
South Africa. But he was severely criticised for dining out at
Grahamstown without dress clothes. He makes a somewhat
lame but elaborate explanation of his lack of dress clothes
on p. 31 of his book. He wrote some very sensible things
about the annexation of the Transvaal. Few people remember
THE KAFIK AND ZULU WAES 69
him as an author.^ But even now I find him less fatiguing
than Thackeray, some of whose lesser w^orks are a trial of
twentieth-century patience.
Eusso-TuEKisH War of 1877.
The summer of 1877 was a period of anxiety and unrest in
South Africa. The Kusso-Turkish War gave full occupation
to the Imperial Government and Sir Bartle Frere was left to
his own devices. I am thankful that I took what ultimately
proved to be the right line on the Eusso-Turkish War. In
1877 I preached at S. Mary's a very definite sermon against
Lord Beaconsfield's evil policy in upholding the Turk against
Eussia and the Christian populations of the Balkans. As
Lord Salisbury afterwards said, " We put our money on the
wrong horse," firstly in the Crimean War and afterwards in
supporting the Turk in the Berlin Congress. When Greece
and the Balkan States conquered Turkey in 1912-13, I
preached the same sermon in S. Mary's with slight alterations.
And in 1914, England and her allies are at war with the Turk,
and the end of Ottoman rule over Christian people is the
logical outcome.
Lord Carnarvon left the Tory Cabinet because he differed
from their Near Eastern policy, and Sir Michael Hicks-Beach,
who succeeded him at the Colonial Office, was an opportunist
who threw Sir Bartle Frere to the wolves in 1879, when the
Zulu War had become unpopular.
Sir Bartle Frere and Cape Frontier Troubles.
In September, Sir Bartle Frere thought he had better visit
the frontier in person. He held a Levee in Port Elizabeth,
which I attended in cassock, gown and hood, and after I had
^ There has lately been a revival of interest in Trollope's stories,
especially the Barchester series.
70 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
been presented Sir Bartle asked me to stand by him in the
ofi&cial circle during the remainder of the presentations. I
afterwards drove with him in his carriage when he visited the
various churches and schools in the town, and he was one of
the most cultured and able men I ever met. I went with him
for 72 miles in an open truck when he opened the railway
to Alicedale. He had a wonderful knowledge of South
African questions, and I never forgot that journey. He made
me an enthusiastic admirer of his policy and methods. Not-
withstanding the danger, he went into the heart of the terri-
tory of Kreli to persuade the Chief to check his followers.
He had a small escort and only just escaped disaster. I
knew the officer commanding the escort, a blunt Colonial
soldier. Sir Bartle said, " Well, we have got through without
disaster!" "Yes, Sir," replied the officer, "but we were
within a sheet of paper of it for all that ! " Sir Bartle was
too late : on September 27th, Kreli's Gealekas attacked the
Fingoes in force at Idutywa in the Transkei. The Frontier
Police with a field gun defended the Fingoes, but lost an
officer and abandoned the gun.
Kreli, the Paramount Chief of Kaffraria, and Sandilli, the
Chief of the powerful Gaika Tribe on the Cape frontier,
found that their young men had forgotten the lessons of
former Kafir wars and wanted to fight. Many of them had
worked at the Diamond Fields and had bought arms with
their wages. A gun was easy to buy, and the prohibition of
the sale of arms and ammunition was easy to evade. The
Fingoes of the Transkei were prospering and their Kafir
rivals were jealous of them. The Kafirs could not forget
that the Fingoes had been their slaves before Sir B. Durban
released them from Kafir slavery after the war of 1835.
The Kafir War of 1877.
I well remember the excitement in Port Elizabeth when
the telegram announcing " War " was posted up. There had
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 71
been no war in the Cape Colony for a generation and our
Colonial Volunteers were ready to prove their mettle. I had
become Chaplain to the Colonial Forces in April, 1875, and
when the Port Elizabeth Infantry Volunteers (Prince Alfred's
Guard) were called out there was great local enthusiasm. I
had consecrated their colours at an out-door parade some
months before, and I had a Church Parade at S. Mary's be-
fore the Service Detachment embarked for the Transkei.
The church was crowded to the doors, and the troops
sailed for the front with the heartfelt sympathy of the
people.
Sir B. Frere Dismisses the Molteno Cabinet.
Sir Bartle Frere was a strong man, and he was faced by a
Cabinet crisis as well as by a native rebellion. The Molteno
Cabinet had organised no regular system of Colonial defence,
and the Volunteer Forces had to equip themselves in a hurry.
Mr. Merriman was on the Frontier, as " Acting War
Minister," and he desired to rely upon the Colonial Forces
alone. But Sir Bartle ordered up the Connaught Eangers
from Capetown and Mr. Merriman desired to prevent their
landing at East London, saying that the Ministry declined to
employ Imperial troops, and refused to allow the supreme
command to the General commanding the Queen's Forces.
The situation was critical. The Colonial Forces were too
few in number to oppose the well-armed and numerous
enemy. A drastic remedy was necessary. Sir Bartle used
the Crown Prerogative and dismissed his Ministry from
office, though they had a majority in the House. He sent
for Mr. Sprigg, the Leader of the Opposition, and told him
to form a Ministry in a few months. He dissolved Parliament
and appealed to the country. The result was a strong
majority for the Governor's policy, which gave the new
Ministry a long lease of power. The war dragged on for
72 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
several months, and it happened that one of its most decisive
actions was fought by the Colonial troops alone. Kreli's
forces were invading the Colony and attempting a junction
with the powerful Gaika Tribe, who were waiting their op-
portunity to rebel. A small Colonial Force consisting of
some Frontier Police, a half company of the Capetown Eifles,
a company of Prince Alfred's Guard (Port Elizabeth) and
two field guns (one of the Capetown and the other of the
Grahamstown Artillery) were on the march near Ibeka in
the Transkei, when they were surrounded by Kafirs, some
of whom were mounted. The Kafirs opened fire from all
sides and the little force fought bravely for some five hours,
eventually repulsing the attack, with some loss. But they
stopped Kreli's advance, and the Kafirs, who were fighting
without much cover, lost heavily. The guns of the Volunteer
Artillery saved the situation. Our force was commanded by
Captain Bayly of the Capetown Eifles, who afterwards be-
came Colonel of the Cape Mounted Eifles and Commandant
General of the Cape Colonial Forces. He was a fine soldier,
as he proved in subsequent wars.
Umzintzani.
This smart action, fought at Umzintzani on December 2nd,
1877, is still commemorated in Port Elizabeth by Prince
Alfred's Guard. We had a Commemorative Church Parade
on its anniversary in 1894, when I preached from the same
text as I had used at the farewell Parade in 1877. Lord
Loch and Sir W. Hely-Hutchison were present and inspected
the Parade after service.
The Kafir War of 1877 lasted till the early part of 1878.
It consisted of a series of petty skirmishes and isolated actions
by small columns of troops who had long marches and weary
work day by day. Many men afterwards well known gained
their first experience of South African warfare in this cam-
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WARS 73
paign. Sir Evelyn Wood was there as Colonel of the 90th.
General Carrington, then a Captain, raised and commanded
a body of Irregulars called the Frontier Light Horse. Sir
Charles Warren, then a Major, commanded the Diamond
Fields Light Horse that has existed ever since, and did
excellent service in after years in the Siege of Kimberley and
the Eelief of Mafeking in 1900. General Sir E. Y. Brabant,
K.C.B., our only " Cape Colony " General in the Boer War
of 1899, first saw Active Service in 1877 as Captain Brabant
in command of a troop of Colonial Volunteers. He had
previously served in the Cape Mounted Rifles, and Sir Bartle
Frere specially recognised his services in the campaign.
Early in 1878 Kreli made another attempt to join the revolted
Gaikas, but was defeated at Quintana by the Active's
Naval Brigade and a force of Imperial troops under Colonel
Glyn. The Kafirs closely besieged a small party of the
24th Regiment at Fort Warwick on the Colonial Border,
until they were relieved by Colonel Lambert of the Connaught
Rangers. Fresh Colonial Forces were raised and sent to the
Frontier. A smart body of Mounted Rifles raised from
English and Dutch farmers in the Humansdorp district
passed through Port Elizabeth on the way to the front.
The Magistrate and I met them on horseback, and we rode
through the street at the head of the troop. We both ad-
dressed them and I felt bound to remind them, as Chaplain
to the Forces, "that though war could not be made with
rosewater, our troops must not forget that they were British
citizens and Christian men ". I felt bound to say this,
because Colonists were getting very angry at the Kafir custom
of killing prisoners and giving no quarter. The cowardly
murder of Mr. Tainton, the special Magistrate for Natives at
King Williamstown, and his brother, by rebel Kafirs, had
exasperated people very much, as it was not an act of open
warfare.
74 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Death of Sandilli and End op the Wab.
But our troops behaved excellently and maintained the
honour of the Flag untarnished. The death of Sandilli, the
rebel Gaika Chief, brought the war to an end, and the de-
portation of the Gaikas across the Kei Eiver was followed by
the colonisation of their territory. The flourishing frontier
town of Cathcart, with its surrounding belt of prosperous
farmers, marks the former site of the Gaika Location. The
Gaikas have prospered in the new lands across the Kei,
where Sir Bartle Frere placed them, and have never since
given any trouble. They elect their members who represent
them in the Native Parliament, or Council, that sits at
Umtata, and have become a peaceful and law-abiding people.
SiE John Molteno.
I feel bound to notice here the bitter attack upon Sir Bartle
Frere which was published in the '' Life of Sir John Molteno ".
It is natural, I suppose, to expect that the son of the late
Premier of the Cape would make the best of his father's case
with regard to the incident of his summary dismissal from
office. The " Saturday Eeview " passed a very severe verdict
upon the book. I content myself with saying that the
General Election which took place after the dismissal of the
Molteno Cabinet was the most complete vote of confidence
which Sir Bartle's policy could have received in South Africa.
It was felt that he had taken the only course possible under
the circumstances.
I met Sir John Molteno once. He had the true interests
of the Colony at heart so far as he knew them. But it was
not likely that a Western Province man could grasp the pro-
blems of the Frontier. He knew little of Native wars, and
his ignorance was veiled by his obstinacy. He was autocratic,
but he met his match in Sir Bartle Frere.
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 75
Sir Gordon Sprigg Premier for the First Time.
Soon after the close of the war Port Ehzabeth entertained
Mr. Gordon Sprigg, the new Premier, at a public banquet.
I had to speak, and after dealing with the obvious fact that
the clergy " though not politicians were identified with the
country as citizens," I said that " the Native policy which
the Premier had so lucidly set forth, was a matter of the
deepest interest to us both as clergy and as citizens. The
Premier spoke of past mistakes in dealing with the Natives,
and we must not forget the Colonist's side of the question.
Who first evoked hostility between Colonist and missionary ?
Good men in England, legislating for the Frontier from their
own firesides, and settling the Native question after the war
of 1835 by the light of an igornant and spurious philanthropy.
Our first object must be to do away with Colonial prejudice
against Mission work, and by a sensible treatment of the
Native question, enlist the sympathy of the people, and
make the Christianising and civilising of the Native a
Colonist's question. Our Missions must not be exotics,
supported by money from England. We Colonists must do
the work and bring our Christianity to bear upon the Natives
by the light of an Englishman's sound practical common
sense. Our Native difficulty may then vanish, and we may
look forward to a bright future for the Native races, based
upon their permanent Christianity and civilisation."
These words of mine were very kindly received by the
large and representative gathering of citizens to whom they
were spoken. People were inclined to be bitter on the
Native question just at that time. The war had been costly,
and valuable lives had been lost. I said as much as the
people could bear, and to-day I hold by what I then said.
Much has been done in the last thirty years to influence
Colonial opinion in favour of Missions.
76 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
LoED Milnee's Commission on Native Affaies in 1905.
Lord Milner's Commission on Native Aftairs reported
most favourably on Missions to the Natives in 1905. The
Commissioners did not represent missionary or educational
interests. They were Dutch as well as British. The Report
says : " The Commission is of opinion that hope for the
elevation of the Native races must depend mainly on their
acceptance of Christian faith and morals. It is true that the
conduct of many converts is not all that could be desired,
but nevertheless the weight of evidence is in favour of the
improved morality of the Christian section of the population
and to the effect that there appears to be in the Native mind
no inherent incapacity to apprehend the truths of Christian
teaching, or to adopt Christian morals as a standard."
A Commission of Magistrates and representatives of Dutch
and British farmers and professional men would not have
reported in this favourable way of Missionary effort in 1878,
when I made my speech quoted above. But it is a far cry
from 1878 to 1905, and Colonial laymen have altered their
standpoint on the question of Missions.
The very best speech on Native Missions in the Provincial
Synod of 1898 was made by Mr. Tracy, a Johannesburg
layman, who had contributed largely to the Missions to the
Native miners on the Rand. The Dutch Reformed Synod has
been keen on Missions since the war, and it now supports 100
Missionaries to the Natives. It has extended its work to
Nyasaland and Northern Rhodesia.
SlE GOEDON SpEIGG ON SoUTH AfEICAN UnION.
To return to 1878. The new Premier made a very re-
markable speech to his Frontier constituents and closed it
by saying: **If we work harmoniously with the Imperial
Government instead of setting up our backs against it, and
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 77
endeavour to draw together and strengthen the different parts
of the Empire, we may hope to have something grander
and brighter to look forward to ; something more than what
are comparatively the small interests of this Colony; that
we shall belong to a greater nation and have wider interests
and be able to divest ourselves of the localisms and petty
jealousies which have interfered so much with the course of
legislation and the progress of the country. I see the future
before me. I look forward hopefully to the time when we
shall inaugurate a great South African Dominion as a
glorious and strengthening part of the British Empire."
Mr. Gordon Sprigg, in 1878, voiced the true ideal of a
Union of South Africa under the British Flag. We none of
us realised in those days that the vision of a United South
Africa could dimly be discerned through the mist of blood
and tears, the sorrows and sufferings of the great war from
1899 to 1902.
The Eight Hon. Sir Gordon Sprigg, P.O., was Premier of
the Colony for the fourth time in 1900. He was a worn-out
old man, battered and scarred with years of political strife.
He was always loyal to the ideal of a United South Africa
under the British Flag.
He wrote to me when he was Prime Minister in 1897
about an article I had published advocating a contribution
by the Cape Parliament to the Navy. He said "that this
question of a naval contribution was the true test of English
Imperial supremacy in South Africa. Minor differences
must be disregarded, as you say. A government cannot be
carried on upon abstract principles under the English
Constitution. What I want to know of a man is whether
he is sound on the vital question of the Queen v. Ee-
publicanism. If I am satisfied on that point, I can make
allowances on side issues. All I ask — and I am sure I shall
not appeal in vain to you — is that I may be regarded as a
steadfast upholder of the English Constitution."
78 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Mr. Rhodes always upheld Sir Gordon Sprigg's loyalty in
the midst of his occasional opportunism. He ultimately
carried out his project of a naval contribution. The cruiser
Good Hope was the gift of the Cape Colony to the Navy,
which was given on his proposal. She brought Mr.
Chamberlain to South Africa in 1903. I lunched on board
while she lay at anchor in our harbour. She was the Flagship
of the ill-fated Admiral Cradock when he engaged Von Spec's
powerful squadron off the coast of Chile in November, 1914-
She was sunk, with the Admiral and all hands, and the
Monmozith was lost in the same action. There were no
survivors from either ship, as the Germans decline to save life
in a naval action. When we destroyed, in the Battle of the
Falkland Islands, this same German squadron that had de-
feated Admiral Cradock, we saved as many lives as we could. ^
Sir Gordon Sprigg grew gradually to imagine that he was
indispensable. " What will become of South Africa if I
resign ? " he once asked Rhodes in a political crisis. Rhodes
gravely replied, ''There is still left the Almighty". Sir
Gordon received the rebuke in silence. It is a strange
instance of the irony of political life that the veteran Sir
Gordon recorded the sole vote against South African Union
in the Cape Parliament in 1910. He was politically extinct
and his mental powers had decayed. I saw him not many
months before his death. He was a pathetic figure, and
talked politics as if he was still a power in the land.
All through the summer of 1878 the Zulu war cloud was
menacing Natal and the Transvaal. The annexation had
saved the Boers from an immediate attack by Cetewayo.
Sir T. Shepstone's administration of the Transvaal was
proving a terrible failure. At annexation the Boers had
been promised two things — a Legislature and the building of
^The later evidence on this subject tends to exonerate Von Spee
completely. It must be remembered that this evidence was not to
hand in the Archdeacon's lifetime.
THE KAFIK AND ZULU WARS 79
the Delagoa Bay Railway. Neither pledge was fulfilled owing
to the refusal of the Colonial Office in London to listen to Sir
Bartle Frere's advice.
Blunders of British Rule in the Transvaal.
The story of British administration in the Transvaal
after the annexation of 1877 is a series of miserable blunder-
ings and tactless inepitudes, which Sir Bartle Frere saw and
protested against but was powerless to remedy. He visited
the Transvaal and won the confidence of the Boers. Had he
had a free hand the Transvaal would have been content to
remain under the British Flag. An old Boer whose two sons
had been fighting against us in 1881, told me this himself after
Majuba. He said to me, " If Frere had been left to deal
with us and we had not been in the hands of soldiers like
Lanyon and Wolseley, we should have been content. We
could trust Frere " ! Sunt lacrimae rerum.
The Zulu Trouble.
A Boundary Commission which dealt with some territory
in dispute between the Transvaal and Cetewayo decided in
favour of the Zulus. Sir Bartle Frere called it " an unjust
verdict," but nothing was done to reverse it, and the Boers
were naturally irritated against British rule. The Zulu
king was encouraged to further defiance. In 1876 he had
defied with impunity the remonstrance of Sir H. Bulwer,
the Governor of Natal, against his murdering a number of
Zulu girls who had married without his permission.
Defiance of Cetewayo.
He broke his promise to Sir T. Shepstone to refrain from
these outrages and replied to Sir H. Bulwer with savage
80 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFKICA
insolence. He sent a message to say, '* I do kill. Why do
the white people start at nothing? I have not yet begun. I
have yet to kill ; it is the custom of my nation, and I shall
not depart from it. Why does the Governor of Natal speak
to me about his laws ? I shall not agree to any laws or rules
from Natal, and I am Governor here." To the humane
gentlemen of the Aborigines Protection Society, Cetewayo's
defiance appeared as an assertion of independence, and his
capricious lust for slaying his subjects a mere assertion of
his right to inflict capital punishment. But those who know
the peaceful Zululand of to-day, some thirty years after Sir
Bartle's policy had freed the Zulus from the blood-stained
tyranny of their savage king, can realise how the Zulus have
learnt to value the orderly government of the " Pax Britan-
nica". Cetewayo's defiance of Sir H. Bulwer was safe
enough from his point of view. He was well informed of
our weakness and knew that his 40,000 disciplined troops
could capture Maritzburg in a few days and ravage the
whole Colony of Natal. He was more defiant in 1878 than
he had been in 1876. He had realised the effects of his
astute wire-pulling in the Native wars stirred up by his
emissaries. The success of his "dog," Sekukuni, and the
Gaika and Gealeka Wars on the Cape Frontier increased his
arrogance. An old Gealeka warrior said to his Magistrate,
after the war of 1877, " Yes, you have beaten us, but there "
(pointing eastwards) " are the Zulu warriors ! Can you beat
them? They say not. Go and try. Beat them, and we
shall be quiet enough."
Sir B. Frere Visits Natal.
Lord Carnarvon still pursued his peaceful dream of a
South African Federation and thought that Sir Bartle Frere
could diplomatise the Zulu menace into thin air. But Sir
Bartle knew better. He went to Natal to see for himself.
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 81
He soon realised the truth that Natal was at the mercy of
Cetewayo's army, and that there could be no lasting peace in
South Africa until that army was disbanded and the Zulu
tyranny ended once for all.
Dr. Colenso Champions Cetewayo.
Dr. Colenso, the deposed Bishop of Natal, still resided in
that Colony and became the self-constituted champion of
Cetewayo. His chief pleasure seems to have been to pose as
an "Athanasius contra mundum" on the wrong side of
theology, politics and everything else. He had that strange
sort of mind that imagines an opinion to be right if only it is
sufficiently isolated and abnormal. When the Archbishop of
Canterbury and the English Bishops called upon him to
resign, his practical response was, " You are all wrong, and
I only am in the right ". The fact of his being the only
white man of any position in Natal to champion Cetewayo
was of infinite satisfaction to him. He tried to raise
a pro-Zulu party in England, through the agency of the
Aborigines Protection Society, to oppose and ruin Sir Bartle
Frere.
Mr. Waller's Opinion.
The Eev. Horace Waller, of the Universities' Mission,
the companion of Bishop Mackenzie, the '' Martyr of the
Zambesi," wrote as follows to Sir Bartle Erere : *' Colenso
and Chesson (Sec. of Aborigines Protection Society) are
the greatest burdens under which South Africa labours.
When the whole history of the troubles of Africa comes to
be written, Colenso and Chesson ought to be credited with
the loss of thousands of lives and millions of money." I
have always agreed with Mr. Waller, although I have al-
ways been the firm friend of our Native races. I have had
6
82 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
gratitude, love and trust from the Native clergy and con-
verts of our South African Missions and specially from the
Church Order of Ethiopia, with which I have been closely
linked from its foundation in 1900.
Khama's Rule.
The ending of Cetewayo's tyranny in 1879 was just as
necessary as the ending of Lobengula's tyranny in Matabele-
land some fifteen years afterwards, and the thoughtful and
educated Natives see the necessity of this policy as clearly
as I do. The Great Native Chief Khama has ruled his
people undisturbed by all the wars and political turmoils of
South Africa for the last twenty-five years. The reason is
that Khama became a sincere Christian, and forced his people
to conform to Christian ideas of peace and justice. The
national prosperity of his people has increased in a very
marked degree. He is by no means the mere subordinate
of the High Commissioner of South Africa. He rules by his
own independent judgment. A South African Native has
powers of insight and organisation. He only wants putting
on the right track. It is not too much to say that the
civilisation and development of South Africa to-day, both for
Natives and the two great European races, would have been
impossible if the military despotisms of Cetewayo and
Lobengula had not been ended.
The " Daily News " Attacks Sir B. Frere.
In my defence of Sir Bartle Frere I am not writing from
memory or without an accurate knowledge of facts. I was
the South African Correspondent of the " Daily News "
during the 1877-78 war. I ceased to act for the paper only
because it began the Radical attack on Sir Bartle Frere. I
believe I remonstrated with the Editor in a plain-spoken
THE KAFIE ANN ZULU WAES 88
letter. But I found out that South African politics were
cleaner than English political methods. I found out that
the chains of party bound English newspapers to ignore facts
and forget truth and justice if truth and justice conflicted
with party interests. Two South African newspapers to
some extent followed suit ; but in a smaller country like ours
there was very little Press anonymity. " So-and-so wrote that
article. We know his line. It doesn't amount to much."
If the English Press was forced to append the certified
signature of all its leader writers to their articles it would be
better for the Empire.
The English Pbess and the People.
But the Press in the twentieth century has ceased to
influence people as it used to do. It is '' Americanised ". It
has reverted to its original type. It is once more a " News
Letter" without any opinions of its own which count. It is
as powerless as the Imperial Parliament as a factor in form-
ing and guiding public opinion. I may be wrong, because I
have lived over forty years out of England and view matters
through South African spectacles. But I have an idea that I
am not far off the mark.
Sir B. Frere and English Party Politics.
When Lord Carnarvon was succeeded by Sir Michael
Hicks-Beach at the Colonial Oflice, South African affairs were
handled exclusively from a party point of view. It was
extremely awkward for Lord Beaconsfield's Government to
be compelled to face an unpopular war in South Africa when
they had so many other questions on hand both foreign and
domestic. So Sir M. Hicks-Beach trimmed and temporised
on the Zulu question and in course of time ignored his own
dispatches to Sir Bartle Frere when they proved inconvenient
84 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
to him. Knowing as he did that the Imperial Government
might fail him, Sir Bartle thought only of his plain duty as
responsible for the safety of South Africa.
Sir B. Freee's Ultimatum to Cetewayo.
He knew that the Zulu War was inevitable. He sent an
ultimatum to Cetewayo on December 11th, 1878, demanding
reparation for certain specified outrages on the Natal Border,
and also demanding the reform of Cetewayo's existing military
system, and the abolition of his rule that none of his young
soldiers could receive permission to marry till they had
washed their spears in the blood of an emeny. Imagine the
peril of 40,000 young men enrolled for fighting, trained to
war, and naturally eager to marry. Their enforced celibacy
until they had slain a foe in battle made Cetewayo's standing
army a continual menace to his neighbours.
Eecurrent wars at short intervals were an absolute necessity
to an army enrolled under such savage conditions. We had
stopped Cetewayo's intended attack on the Transvaal by
annexing it. His army meant to fight some enemy as soon
as possible. Cetewayo himself could not hold them back.
Who was there for them to fight ? It was obvious that Natal
and the British must be their objective. It was the logical
result of Cetewayo's policy of stirring up wars and rebellions
on the Cape Frontier for the last two years. Lord Chelmsford
had 5,500 Imperial troops in Natal, and the Natal Carabineers
(a smart local Volunteer regiment) with other Colonial forces
and Native levies. Some of the officers had served with him
in the previous Kafir campaign, and his staff, with most of
the officers, held the Zulus in utter contempt. A member of
the Natal Legislative Council told Sir Bartle that "200
Imperial troops could march through Zululand, from one end
to the other ". If a Natal Colonist, who ought to have known
better, could make such an insane statement what wonder if
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 85
Imperial officers looked on the Zulu Campaign as a mere
military picnic ?
Kruger's Advice to Lord Chelmsford.
But Sir Bartle showed none of this foolhardy confidence.
Kruger and Joubert (afterwards Commandant-General of the
Transvaal) were in Maritzburg at this time, on their way
back from England after their mission of protest against
the annexation. Sir Bartle asked them to meet Lord
Chelmsford and give him their advice about fighting the
Zulus. They told him to defend his camp every evening by
"laagering" his wagons, and impressed upon him the
necessity of careful scouting. Kruger said, "Ask what
precautions the General has taken that his orders should be
carried out every evening, because if they are disobeyed one
evening it will be fatal ". Oom Paul knew what he was
about. He wished to see the Zulu power crushed before he
hoisted the Eepublican Flag of Independence. He dared not
act till the British had pulled the Zulu chestnuts out of the
fire for him. But his advice was sound enough even if it
was not wholly disinterested. One afternoon the "laager"
was not formed. The result was Isandhlwana.
Our Forces Enter Zululand.
The ultimatum expired on January 1st, 1879, and on
the 10th Lord Chelmsford's force entered Zululand. Dr.
Colenso had written to the Colonial Secretary of Natal that
he had h^ard from the natives that Cetewayo was about to
march in force upon Maritzburg. So Lord Chelmsford's
columns invaded Zululand in three directions, the main body
advancing by Eorke's Drift under the General's personal
command.
•MTIkRjfl
86 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
ISANDLWHANA.
I shall never forget Friday, January 24th, as long as I
live, when the evil tidings of Isandhlwana were flashed over
the length and breadth of South Africa. In those days I
was my own Precentor and had been conducting our usual
Friday evening choir-practice in S. Mary's. After practice I
went over to the Public Library, where the war telegrams
were posted, and I saw the terrible news of Wednesday,
January 22nd. The news seemed past belief. The General
had made a. personal reconnaissance in force and left the
camp in charge of Colonel Pulleine of the 24th Eegiment,
The wagons were not ** laagered". The Zulus appeared in
force and drove in the advanced pickets. Two guns of the
Eoyal Artillery ploughed lanes of dead and dying in the
serried masses of the charging Zulus, until the gunners were
overwhelmed with the black resistless surge of the enemy,
and every o£&cer and gunner died at his post. The Natal
Carabineers charged gallantly, and died with their faces towards
the foe. The 24th formed into isolated company squares
and fought till every cartridge was spent, selling their lives
dearly with the bayonet till they were overwhelmed by the
Zulu spears. Their bodies were found grouped as they fell.
There was gross mismanagement but no panic on that fatal
day. Lieutenants Melville and Coghill rode out with the
Colours of the regiment and gave their lives to save them.
A few well-mounted men followed them and cut their
way through the ranks of the Zulus. No one escaped
from that fatal field alive who did not ride out about mid-
day. But, as the Zulus tell us, the men who were over-
whelmed fought gallantly for several hours, and the last
man fled to a cave with a heap of his dead comrades'
cartridges and was not slain till about five o'clock in the
afternoon.
THE KAFIR AND ZULU WARS 87
Story of a Zulu Eye- Witness.
Many years afterwards I had a most interesting talk with
a Zulu who fought against us at Isandhlwana. He had been
for twenty years the faithful house servant of two friends of
mine, who valued him as he deserved to be valued. He
told me, with kindling eye and much animation, how the
** horns" of the Zulu army encompassed the British troops
on that fatal day. He told me of the overwhelming Zulu
charge on the two Royal Artillery field guns, when every
gunner was •* assegaied " after firing one or two rounds. He
said that the broad stabbing ''assegai" was the true weapon
of the Zulu soldier. "Guns no good for Zulu," he said;
"take too long loading". He spoke of the severe losses of
the Zulus, and his own " lucky " escape. And he told me
how the Zulus fluDg their lighter " assegais " at the troops,
who were rallied by their ofi&cers in companies, until the
time came for the Zulus to charge "home" with their broad
bladed " assegais " to meet the bayonets of the British in
hand to hand conflict. He saw the stand among the rocks
made by the last living British soldier, who fired off all his
cartridges, fixed his bayonet, and died fighting, as a brave
man should. My Zulu friend ended his story with a strong
assertion of his love for the English. ' ' I was Zulu soldier then ,
sir," he said; "I did only what my Chief told me to do."
Certainly, the Zulus of to-day are peaceable and loyal men.
The Zulu rebellion of 1906 was the result of dangerous inter-
meddling from England on the part of Sir H. Campbell-
Bannerman's Government, which turned an affair of police
into a rebellion which would have had serious consequences
had not the Colonial troops dealt promptly with the out-
break.
Rorke's Drift.
To return to the story of the battle. When Lord Chelms-
ford and his troops returned to their camp that night the
88 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Zulu army had drawn off. The men with Lord Chelmsford
never forgot the sight to their dying day. The whole camp
was devastated and destroyed and the plain was white with
the stripped bodies of the slain. Fortunately for Lord
Chelmsford and the remnant of his force, the victorious
Zulus had been beaten off in their attack on Korke's Drift,
so that the retreat into Natal was secured. The heroism of
the small garrison at Eorke's Drift is one of the most glorious
memories of the British Army. Chard and Bromhead, the
two young officers in command, deservedly won the Victoria
Cross. Their defences were hastily extemporised with
mealie bags and ammunition boxes. The Zulus, flushed
with victory, surrounded the little garrison and assaulted
their frail defences again and again. They rushed so close
up as to seize the barrels of the men's rifles, but were re-
pelled again and again, till they at length drew off, leaving
their dead behind them. There were a few men in a small
building used as a hospital too ill to be moved. The Zulus
fired the hospital, and the handful of heroes spared enough
from the defences to carry their comrades into safety.
Padre Smith.
De Neuville's famous picture of Eorke's Drift shows a
stalwart black-bearded "padre" serving out cartridges to
the men in the thick of the attack. This was the Eev. G.
Smith, one of Bishop Macrorie's clergy, who was temporarily
attached as " Acting Chaplain " to the troops. For his
gallant coolness on that day he received a commission as
Chaplain in the Army and served with distinction for many
years afterwards.
Cape Forces Mobilised.
South Africa thrilled with the terrible news of Isandlwhana.
A universal Native rising was feared. There was no cable to
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 89
England, and no reinforcements could be looked for. We
trusted to the firm hand and cool head of Sir Bartle Frere
and determined to defend ourselves. He calmed the panic-
stricken people of Maritzburg and encouraged Lord Chelms-
ford and his officers, who had exchanged undue self-confi-
dence for undue despondency. The Cape Ministry mobilised
our Volunteers on the Saturday after Isandhlwana. Colonel
Cochrane, the Commandant of Volunteers, was in Port
Elizabeth for inspection when the news came. I went to
see him on the Saturday morning, and found that he knew
nothing about the disaster. I told him the story of the
fatal telegram of Friday, and he broke down in a paroxysm
of grief at the news. He was an elderly man who had never
seen service, but he pulled himself together when the Mobilisa-
tion ,Order came. I arranged a church parade for the
following day, and I preached on our common peril and the
duty of facing it like men. The Port Elizabeth merchants
and storekeepers helped the Government cheerfully by letting
their employees leave for the Frontier, and on the Monday a
strong detachment of Prince Alfred's Guard left to take
the place of the Imperial garrison at King Williamstown, so
that they could leave at once for Natal. Other levies were
raised in Natal and the Cape Colony and a few Transvaal
Dutchmen followed brave old Piet Uys into the field against
the common foe.
Lord Wolseley Supersedes Sir B. Frere.
The Zulus did not follow up their success, for they lost
very heavily both at Isandhlwana and Rorke's Drift. Sir
Evelyn Wood's small force was intact and soon won the
battle of Kambula. The beleaguered garrison of Eshowe
was relieved and things looked more hopeful. But just at
this crisis Lord Wolseley (then Sir Garnet) was ordered out
to supersede Lord Chelmsford, and, to the amazed indignation
90 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
of every true South African Colonist, to supplant Sir Bartle
Frere as High Commissioner of Natal and the Transvaal.
Although it is so many years ago, my blood boils to think of
the flagrant injustice of Lord Beaconsfield's Government.
Here was a man wifch an unbroken record of forty-five years'
true and noble service for his country, in India and South
Africa, thrown to the wolves of the ignorant Eadical Press,
and made a scapegoat for the political exigencies of the
Government just because the Zulu War was unpopular and
because of the military disaster at Isandhlwana, which came
from an over-confidence which he did his best to avert.
The "Daily News" Attacks Sie B. Feere.
The " Daily News " said that Sir Bartle '* had allied him-
self with the worst passions and sinister motives of the
Colonists — their desire for conquest and spoil, for the sub-
jugation of the Zulus, with a view to annexing their territory,
and their disposition to sponge on the Empire to prosecute
their own gain at the cost of the Mother Country ".
It is difficult to characterise as they deserve these foul
slanders upon the High Commissioner, so justly beloved and
trusted by the Colonists. We felt the wickedness of the
political campaign of lies against him deeply. We felt that
a Conservative Government was just as guilty as a Eadical
Government could be, in making South African affairs a
shuttlecock for English party politics, concerning the inner
mechanism of which most of us knew nothing and cared
less. Our loyalty was to the Throne and to the flag. From
that day to this South Africans have regarded the soi-disant
Imperial Parliament and its parties with deep-rooted
suspicion as an unwieldy and untrustworthy instrument of
Empire, fitted only for English and Scottish local affairs.
And certainly unfit to deal with Irish, Indian and Colonial
questions. Many Colonists, like myself, are Tory Home
Eulers, utterly out of sympathy with both English parties.
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAKS 91
SiE B. Frebe Censured by Colonial Secretary.
It is to the credit of Lord Beaconsfield that he desired to
support Sir Bartle Frere. Lord Carnarvon was out of the
Cabinet and made a bold speech in his defence in the House
of Lords, in which he very rightly accused Sir M. Hicks-
Beach of supporting him when things were going well but
deserting him after Isandhlwana. Sir M. Hicks-Beach went
back upon himself so far as to send a dispatch censuring Sir
Bartle for his Zulu policy, which was the saving of South
Africa. Most men of his age, worn out as he was with un-
ceasing anxieties, would have resigned at once. But he was
"a stainless man and selfless gentleman". He would not
desert the South Africans, who had trusted and supported
him. He held on bravely pro Deo etpatria.
Sir B. Frere on the Transvaal Boers.
At the very moment that he was superseded by Wolseley
he was conducting most delicate negotiations with the dis-
afifected Transvaal Boers. They had begun to trust him,
when all the threads, so patiently woven, were snapped by
Wolseley, who never had the courtesy to ask Sir Bartle Frere
to explain to him the inner condition of things in the Trans-
vaal. Verily Sir M. Hicks-Beach sowed the wind in Wolse-
ley's appointment and we reaped the whirlwind at Majuba !
It is worth while here to quote Sir Bartle Frere's opinion
of the Transvaal Boers as expressed in a dispatch to Sir M.
Hicks-Beach. He says: "They have many noble qualities
and capabilities, and, if fairly treated, will, I believe, be sub-
jects of whom Her Majesty may be proud. I am quite sure
that no people could have done what the Trek-Boers have
done during the past thirty years without having the
materials of a great people among them; but they have
hitherto had scant justice done them by either friends or
92 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
detractors." This is a true and fair estimate. It was the
view of Cecil Ehodes, and, after forty-two years of South
Africa, I may say that it is my view and that it is shared by
every thoughtful British South African.
Agitation Against Sir B. Frerb.
It is my unalterable conviction that if Sir Bartle Frere had
not been supplanted in his management of Transvaal affairs
in 1879 we should have had no Majuba and consequently no
Boer War, which was the direct outcome of Majuba. He
had not only to face the tacit opposition of Sir Garnet
Wolseley, but the open and sometimes scurrilous abuse of the
" Natal Witness," the " Cape Argus" and the faction led by
Dr. Colenso and Mr. Merriman. The gradually increasing
bitterness of the rising Dutch Afrikander Party in the Cape
Colony was sedulously fomented by the Transvaal agitators,
who made some use of a notorious Fenian conspirator named
Aylward, who ultimately, as I always believed, pushed them
into open revolt, when the tactlessness of Lanyon, who suc-
ceeded Shepstone in the administration of the Transvaal,
gave them an excuse at the end of 1880.
Public Meetings in Support of Him.
But South Africa as a whole stood loyally by Sir Bartle
Frere. Cape Town held a huge and enthusiastic public
meeting in support of the policy of the High Commissioner.
Town after town followed suit and the resolutions carried at
these public meetings encouraged him to hold on. The
Kimberley resolution was typical of the rest. It declared
that " the people of this country knew that the Zulu War
was unavoidable, and the time we hope is not far distant
when the wisdom of Your Excellency's Native policy and
action will be as fully recognised and appreciated by the
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WARS 93
whole British nation as it is by the Colonists of South Africa ".
The hopes of Kimberley were unfulfilled. People put up a
statue to Sir Bartle and buried him in S. Paul's Cathedral,
but I still fear that the people of England do not yet know
what the Empire owes to him.
His Reception at Cape Town.
He had a wonderful reception at Cape Town on his return.
I was present and the streets were filled with enthusiastic
crowds who cheered themselves hoarse as Sir Bartle's carri-
age and escort passed down Adderley Street. I was hustled
by the crowd against the Premier's carriage and I was able
to exchange a few words of congratulation with him as I
knew he felt the triumph of the day as much as I did. We
did not know that even then the Home Government were
denying Sir Bartle Frere the loyal support which he so
thoroughly deserved.
Lord Chelmsford Wins Ulundi and Ends the War.
It was satisfactory at all events that Wolseley did not
finish the Zulu War. Lord Chelmsford won the final victory
of Ulundi, which caused the speedy capture of Cetewayo and
the end of active resistance on the part of the Zulus.
The Wolseley Settlement op Zululand.
The Wolseley settlement of Zululand after the war was
calamitous in its inception and results. The country was
divided into thirteen districts, each under its own chief.
The obvious result was the further destruction of the Zulus
on the " Kilkenny cat " principle by provoking them to
destroy one another. If Wolseley had consulted Sir Bartle
Frere, or anyone who knew Zululand, he would not have
adopted this evil and disastrous policy.
94 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Its Disastrous Character.
As a soldier Lord Wolseley has deserved well of his
country; but as a statesman in South Africa — well — "the
evil that men do lives after them ". He ignored the experi-
ence and wisdom of Sir Bartle Frere so thoroughly that the
Governor at the Cape was left to find out from the South
African newspapers what policy was being pursued in the
Transvaal and Zululand.
Samuel Plimsoll.
It was about this time that I had a singular experience of
the incapacity of English politicians to understand our Native
question. One day I was introduced to a very excitable old
gentleman with a huge white umbrella, who landed to ex-
plore Port Elizabeth. He was the famous Samuel Plimsoll,
M.P. for Derby, who denounced shipowners in the House of
Commons as murderers for resisting his proposal for a
"load-line" for the mercantile marine. He was right and
he carried his point. "Plimsoll's Line" has saved many a
ship from foundering at sea owing to overloading by un-
scrupulous owners. But I found him vir strenuus in
other matters which he did not understand. He began to
tackle me on the Native question, on which he knew less than
nothing. He abused South African Colonists as vile tyrants
and said they oppressed the Natives. I never heard a sane
man talk so much utter nonsense as he did. He over-
whelmed me with a flood of dictatorial dogmatism on our
Native question, and the more I contradicted him the more
vehement he got. I thought that, if this were a fair sample
of the knowledge possessed by the average Member of Parlia-
ment, it would go badly with Sir Bartle Frere.
Cetewayo a Prisoner of War.
I was right. Cetewayo was sent to Capetown as a
prisoner of war, and Dr. Colenso and his still more
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WAES 95
strenuous daughter, Miss Colenso, stirred up that well-
intentioned nest of hornets, the Aborigines Protection
Society, to agitate for the restoration of Cetewayo to Zulu-
land. Miss Colenso survived to agitate just as mischiev-
ously for Cetewayo's son, Dinizulu, more than thirty years
afterwards. The mischief done to Zululand in both cases
was incalculable.
Foolish Agitation fob his Keinstatement.
Cetewayo went to London and was duly lionised under
the aegis of ignorant and well-meaning faddists. I say
"well-meaning" advisedly, for his English friends actually,
though unintentionally, caused his death. They worried
the Government into sending him back to Zululand as a
soi-disant king in 1883, when his power was broken and
his rule supplanted by the thirteen Chiefs of the Wolseley
regime. A cynical historian in reviewing the circumstances
might be tempted to hint that the Government yielded to
the hysterical outcry of the philanthropists and deliberately
sent Cetewayo to his doom in Zululand to get rid of him.
But I acquit the Government of malice prepense. They
were only utterly ignorant of the true condition of Zululand.
There was no one to tell them the truth. The Gladstone
Ministry had recalled Sir Bartle in 1880.
The Inevitable Consequence.
Cetewayo gathered a band of followers and his return
to Zululand was the signal for fierce internecine strife,
which the Government, as represented by the British Eesi-
dent, was powerless to control. After being defeated and
hunted down by his Zulu foes, Cetewayo surrendered to
the British Eesident and died shortly afterwards, a sad
object-lesson of the unconscious cruelty of ignorant phil-
anthropists, who sent him back to face a position which
96 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
any well-informed Colonist would have told them was im-
possible. .
Sib B. Frebe on Cetewayo.
Sir Bartle Frere said of Cetewayo, "If you can imagine
an extremely shrewd, wily, sensual man with many of the
habits and tastes of a very vicious childish lad who had
never mixed with any but flatterers and inferiors and had
hardly ever known what it was to be crossed in his will
without taking ample vengeance, you will have as good
an idea as I can give you of him. Long habit of uncon-
tradicted command gives great dignity to his general manner,
and takes in casual observers with the belief that he is a
very superior being ; but you will look in vain for kingly
attributes as we understand them, apart from those as-
sociated with superior force and cunning." (Letter to Sir
M. Hicks-Beach, October, 1879.)
Sir J. EoBiNSON on the Zulu Policy.
The final battle in this final Zulu Civil War cost Cete-
wayo's men 6000 slain, and the victors killed all his people,
regardless of age or sex. And this was the direct conse-
quence of the action of the Aborigines Protection Society.
Sir John Eobinson, the well-known Natal politician, wrote
to Sir Bartle (just after Cetewayo's death), " How many
Zulus have perished since Cetewayo's restoration it would
be hard to estimate. One could weep to compare the
Zululand of to-day with what it might have been now had
your policy and plans had free development and fruition."
What Sir Bartle advised in vain in 1879 was eventually
carried out. The remnant of the Zulu nation, with such
of its territory as had not been annexed by the Boers, was
duly annexed to the Empire in 1887. Zululand is now
part of Natal.
THE KAFIE AND ZULU WARS 97
Death of The Prince Imperial.
One of the most deplorable incidents of the Zulu War
was the death of the gallant Prince Imperial. His body
was found with eighteen assegai wounds, all in front, and
his Zulu slayers said that he fought like a lion when he
was deserted by the panic-stricken officer and men who
ought to have fought side by side with him. He was a
deeply religious, loyal and brave young man, and his
memoirs are well written by one who knew him well. Here
are some words of his dealing with the thought of the
Heavenly cloud of witnesses and the Communion of Saints :
"Grant that there may sink deeper and deeper into my
mind the conviction that those who are gone are witnesses
of my actions. My life shall then be worthy to be seen
by them all. My innermost thoughts shall then be such
as shall never cause me to blush."
South Africa deeply sympathised with the widowed
Empress who came the year following his death to see
the place where he died. Sir Evelyn Wood escorted her
and she was gratified by the genuine and respectful sympathy
of the South African people.
Gladstone's Victory in 1880.
The swing of the pendulum in 1880 put Mr. Gladstone
in power after the General Election. It sealed the doom
of Sir Bartle Frere and ruined all immediate hopes of a
peaceful and united South Africa. I was " up-country "
on a visit when the news of the elections came. I shall
never forget my depression and foreboding of imminent
disaster. I knew that South Africa would suffer from
the political exigencies of the party in power, and I
wondered how long it would be before loyal Colonists would
once more be embittered against the Mother Country by
the evil dealings of so-called Imperial politicians.
7
98 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Evil Consequences in South Africa.
I had not long to wait. Gladstone's Midlothian speeches
stirred up the Transvaal disaffection into renewed activity.
He spoke of coercing " the free citizens of a republic," and
called the annexation " the invasion of a free people ". And
then, as Prime Minister, he tried in vain to put out the fire
he had kindled by a dispatch to Kruger and Joubert saying
that the Queen cannot he advised to relinquish her Sovereignty
over the Transvaal.
Recall of Sie B. Frere.
Mr. Gladstone cooled down in a similar way after his im-
passioned denunciation of the Zulu War, but his followers,
notably Sir Wilfrid Lawson and Mr. Leonard Courtney,
led ninety Members of Parliament to demand the recall
of Sir Bartle Frere, because *' it would greatly conduce to
the unity of the Party and relieve many Members from
the charge of breaking their pledges to their constituents ".
A more shamelessly cynical document was never penned.
What did we South Africans care for the unity of a British
Party or for the pledges given by ignorant Members of
Parliament to their equally ignorant constituents? We
desired the good of South Africa as a part of the Empire
that had nothing to do with English Party quarrels. We
knew that Sir Bartle Frere had served the Empire with
a whole-hearted loyalty of service, and that he was the
wisest and best guide and leader South Africa had ever
known. And now he was to be recalled, without a
thought of the ruin his recall would entail on South Africa,
just because it suited Party exigencies in England. I can
never think of the recall of Sir Bartle Frere without bitter
shame that English politicians should have been so blind.
THE KAFIR AND ZULU WARS 99
self-centred, and utterly mean, as those men proved them-
selves.
South Africa mourned his loss. I never remember public
feeling being so stirred to its depths. One of the leading
spirits of Dutch republicanism in the after days wrote to
him saying, " We have lost confidence in a Government
who could play with our welfare, and among the many
injuries done us the greatest was to remove from among
us such a ruler as Your Excellency was ".
-^■^
Sir B. Frere at the Derby Church Congress.
And so he was forced to leave us. I saw him once
again before his death, when he was on the platform of
the large S.P.G. meeting at the Derby Church Congress
of 1882. He gave an excellent address on Missions, and
was followed by a person who filled me with wrath by
ignorant abuse of South African Colonists in their dealings
with Natives. I made a strong fighting speech in defence
of my fellow-citizens of South Africa, and I appealed to
Sir Bartle Frere to vindicate the truth of my words from
his own South African experience. My mention of his
great work in South Africa evoked a storm of cheers, and
when he rose to corroborate my statements the cheering
broke forth again. He was looking aged and worn, but
the cheering made his face light up, and I was thankful
that I had been given an opportunity to say what I did.
It showed that some of his fellow-countrymen realised
the scandalous treatment he had received from the Govern-
ment and that justice could in time be done to his great
name and his Imperial services. His last public appearance
was in the cause of the Church. In January, 1884, he took
the chair at the meeting of the Universities' Mission, to
take leave of Bishop Smythies of Zanzibar. He spoke
100 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
with unusual vigour and earnestness. The next day his
last illness began. He passed away on May 29th, 1884,
and was laid to rest in S. Paul's Cathedral.
Multis ille bonis flebilis occidit,
Nulli flebilior quam mihi.
^^^T^;
Y
CHAPTEE IV.
THE JUDGMENT OP THE PRIVY COUNCIL IN THE
GRAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE: ITS PRELUDE
AND POSTSCRIPT.
The South Apkioan Chuech Feee prom State Control.
Cedant arma togae, which being freely rendered as to the con-
tents of this chapter, bids me quit the field of war and politics
for the arena of ecclesiastical law. The Church of South
Africa has had as stormy a history as South Africa itself, and
this by no fault of the Church. Vital principles were at
stake, veiled by lesser issues. Upon the weak and poverty-
stricken Church in South Africa fell the burden of winning
the freedom of the Anglican communion in the Colonies from
the fetters of the Establishment. Even now the work is not
fully accomplished in Australia, but the English Church in
South Africa has done her part boldly and without flinching
in the teeth of great and, as it sometimes seemed, overwhelm-
ing odds. We had to bear the burden of no fewer than three
ecclesiastical cases which came before the Privy Council for
decision. The doctrine and discipline of the Church were
primarily concerned in the Long case and the Colenso case.
The first case vindicated the right of an unestablished Church
in a Colony to self-government and ecclesiastical " Home
Rule ". The Colenso case showed the world that the
" Ecclesia Anglicana " was not the puppet of the State, and
that a daughter Church of Canterbury could assert her inde-
pendence of the usurped jurisdiction of the Privy Council as
101
102 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
an ecclesiastical Court of Appeal, by consecrating a Bishop
(by her own inherent spiritual authority) to succeed Dr.
Colenso, whom she had deposed by her own spiritual Court,
after due trial. The fact that the secular Courts upheld Dr.
Colenso and enabled him to retain his stipend was a real
spiritual triumph for the South African Church. We did not
care in the very least for the legal quibbles that enabled Dr.
Colenso to enjoy an income of which the capital had been
subscribed by Christian people who believed in the teaching
of the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer, which he had
repudiated.
Dr. Colenso's Strange Position.
His position would have been honourable if he had followed
the example of Stopford Brooke, who left the Church of Eng-
land when he found he could no longer honestly believe in
the doctrine of the Creeds. But Dr. Colenso continued to
hold a position and to use an income which had been raised
by Church people when, from his own admissions, he no
longer could teach the doctrines of the Prayer Book. The
South African Court held an inexpugnable moral position in
upholding its own spiritual authority against Dr. Colenso.
We said, '' The State says that our spiritual sentence is
* null and void ' civilly. Never mind. Let Dr. Colenso
take all the money and Church property from us. We will
have nothing to do with him officially or spiritually. We
consecrate and uphold Bishop Macrorie as his ' spiritually '
lawful successor, and we leave the matter in God's hands."
What the South African Church Stands For.
The South African Church has carried on for over sixty
years the best spiritual traditions of the Caroline Divines,
the Non- Jurors, and the Tractarians. We have always been
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 103
Catholic in our breadth of outlook. We have found room
within our borders for all loyal Churchmen who are true to
the teaching of the Prayer Book. We have no room for
'* Militant Protestants " and " Modernists ". We have to
convert Africa. We cannot allow a divided Gospel to be
preached to the heathen, and we have no room for mutineers
and cranks in the South African Church as a disciplined
militant force against the vast powers of heathenism and
Islam. We stand for the inherent spiritual independence of
the unestablished portion of the English Church as against
the Erastian consequences of the Tudor Reformation, which
bind and cripple the Church of England. The very fact that
in 1914 a strong committee has been appointed to suggest
plans for readjusting the relations of Church and State in
England shows that Church folk in England find the fetters
galling which we in South Africa finally threw off in our first
Provincial Synod in 1870.
Dean Williams of Grahamstown.
One of the leading figures in that Synod was the brilliant
and able Irishman, Dr. Williams, the Dean of Grahamstown.
He had been appointed by Bishop Cotterill, and in this first
Provincial Synod he took a very strong line on the side of
the Spiritual independence of the South African Church. I
had occasion to inspect carefully the Minutes of that Synod,
because in after years he cynically repudiated all he had done
there, and further, actually denied in public that he had sup-
ported a motion which the Synod Minutes proved that he
had actually introduced. The Dean's ideals and standards of
clerical life were those of some of his eloquent fellow-country-
men who left their native land to grace the pulpits of English
proprietary chapels, which did not involve parochial routine
and the daily responsibilities of the cure of souls.
104 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Election of Bishop Meeriman.
Bishop Cotterill was translated to the See of Edinburgh in
1871, and an episcopal election under the newly-framed
Canons of the Province took place in Grahamstown. Dean
Williams presided, as the Canons direct, and scrupulously
carried out the formalities of the Elective Assembly accord-
ing to the South x\frican Canons. This was a point carefully
noted by lawyers in the after day when he repudiated the
Canons and broke off his allegiance to his Bishop and the
South African Church. It was naturally a disappointment to
Dean Williams that the Diocese elected Archdeacon Merriman
to the vacant See by a unanimous vote. And then trouble
began. Bishop Merriman, to my certain knowledge, did his
very best to work in harmony with Dean Williams, although
their temperaments and ideals differed so widely. The
Diocesan Synod of 1873 showed the Dean and the Cathedral
parish in opposition not only to the Bishop but to the general
feeling of the diocese, mainly on financial matters, since the
Cathedral was not doing its duty in supporting diocesan
finance.
Dean Williams and the " Eastern Star ".
The Dean at this time acquired a predominating control
over the " Eastern Star," a Grahamstown paper that ulti-
mately developed into the well-known Johannesburg daily,
" The Star ". He was a born journalist, and oft-times his pen
was dipped in gall. He reproduced in a small Colonial city
some of the most offensive personalities of modern society
journalism, and he lashed indiscriminately the Bishop and
any clergy or laity who supported him. Over forty years
have passed since the troubles began. I was behind the
scenes nearly the whole time and I can tell the story dispas-
sionately as the only survivor of those who were actively con-
cerned in it. I do not forget that the leading excuse which
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 105
Dean Williams put forth for disregarding the financial de-
cisions of the Diocesan Synod was his scheme for rebuilding
the Cathedral, and that his energy enabled him to complete
the tower and spire.
Dean Williams Eebels against the Constitution and
Canons.
But his open rebellion against the Constitution and Canons
of the South African Church, which he had helped to frame
and which the supreme Court of the Cape Colony, as well as
the Privy Council, held, as a matter of law and equity, that
he had bound himself to obey, could not be condoned by the
fact that he made a good beginning for the Cathedral which
saw its nave completed in 1912.
His first overt act of rebellion was a caveat which he
uttered in the Cathedral when he was ordered to give notice
of the Second Provincial Synod of 1876.
His Manifest Inconsistency.
He stated that he declined to be bound by any of its de-
cisions which were not embodied in the laws of the
Established Church of England. When Article I of the Con-
stitution of the South African Church was moved in the
Synod of 1870, the desire of the Provincial Synod was to
stand as closely by the ancient laws and usages of the Church
of England as was possible in the special circumstances of an
unestablished Church in South Africa, which had to organise
itself as a voluntary society of Christian people bound
together upon a basis of consensual compact. The Synod
therefore declared its allegiance to '' the Doctrine, Sacraments
and Discipline of Christ . . . according as the Church of
England has set forth the same in its standards of Faith and
Doctrine "... and further stated that it " disclaims for it-
self the right of altering any of the aforesaid Standards of
106 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Faith and Doctrine ". In 1870, Dean Williams was a violent
advocate of the spiritual independence of the South African
Church. He moved the omission of the " disclaiming "
clause of Article I, and desired that the South African Church
should be left free to alter the Doctrinal Standards of the
Mother Church if it saw fit to do so. Of course, his motion
was lost, because no Province of the Catholic Church is auto-
cephalous, and we inherit, through the Church of England, our
Faith '' affirmed by the undisputed General Councils " (to
quote our Constitution once more).
Dean Williams also moved to delete the words providing
that any alterations in the services of the Church required by
our local circumstances (e.g. Prayer for the Governor-General,
etc.) ** shall be consistent ivith the spirit and teaching of the
Book of Common Prayer ". He desired to " cut the painter "
and break the spiritual unity which naturally subsists be-
tween the South African Church and the Mother Church of
England. Naturally he was defeated in this proposal as well
as in the other.
His Foemer Attack on De. Colenso.
Dean Williams also published a sermon in his Cathedral
against Lord Romilly's judgment in the Colenso Case, in
which he called Dr. Colenso " a Bishop who has been con-
demned on numerous charges of the most flagrant heresy,
patiently considered by the most imposing and influential
Provincial Council that could be assembled in South Africa,"
and characterised the Romilly judgment as appearing "to
bind the Church here to the unparalleled degradation of be-
ing obliged to argue out all the profoundest mysteries of the
Faith before the secular Judges and Magistrates of the land "•
His Subsequent Volte-Face.
Dean Williams, as will presently be recorded, subsequently
invited Dr. Colenso to invade the diocese of Grahamstown
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHBDEAL CASE 107
and hold a schismatical Confirmation Service in the Cathedral,
when Bishop Merriman was in residence in the city. His
volte-face was complete. There are other persons besides
Dean Williams who (to use " Punch's" phrase) have "eaten
their labels " in the political as well as in the ecclesiastical
world. Take the well-known case of Dr. Hensley Henson,
the Dean of Durham. I can remember this gentleman being
considered the rising hope of the younger Catholics in Eng-
land. He took a very strong line against fraternising with
Dissent at the time of the Grindelwald Conference — rather
too strong a line, as I and others then thought — but he has
now "eaten his labels " with a vengeance. He has also very
carefully " burnt what he adored and adored what he burnt ".
But he frankly owlis up to his absolute change of belief. He
makes no bones about it.
His Futile Denials of Changed Opinions.
Dean Williams was a very different sort of man. He was
an ecclesiastical " Machiavelli ". And he persistently denied
that he had changed his views in the face of evidence to the
contrary. He thus lost the respect of all honest men. His
denials took the form of published letters to his own paper,
the " Eastern Star," and were promulgated in a sermon
preached in the Cathedral. After my careful inspection of
the Minutes of the Provincial Synod, I published in parallel
columns with his sermon extracts from the Minutes which
showed that he was not telling the truth. His published
reply was that the Minutes were untrustworthy, though they
had been signed and confirmed by Bishop Gray, as Metro-
politan, in his presence as a member of the Synod. In his
sermon he said: "J cordially assented to" the disclaiming
clause (quoted above) against altering the Church of England
standards. This, as has been shown above, was the very
clause he desired to expunge. His attempt to impugn the
108 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
accuracy of minutes assented to by himself and signed in
his presence by Bishop Gray, did him infinite harm in the
minds of honourable men, coupled as it was with a persistent
denial of any change of views. There were, however, other
matters of a serious personal character that developed from
time to time, and created grave difficulties both for Bishop
Merriman and his successor. Bishop Webb. Bishop Merri-
man dealt exclusively with the ecclesiastical aspect of the
action taken by Dean Williams. It was left to thei impartial
judgment of his successor to set down formally and officially
his view of the conduct of Dean Williams as affecting his
personal character.
Bishop Webb's Memorandum on Dean Williams.
Bishop Webb issued a Memorandum to the Vestry of the
Cathedral on his arrival in the Diocese in 1883, in which the
following words occur :
" The Bishop cannot hide from himself the notorious fact
that grave charges affecting the character of Dr. Williams as
a Christian and a clergyman are publicly put forth, whereby
many persons are offended and are prevented on this and
other grounds from attending ministrations at St. George's
Church. He considers it essential that Dr. Williams, either
by submitting to a commission of inquiry or by some other
means equally efficacious, should make it clear that these
charges are false and without foundation."
Action for Libel. Dean Williams gets a Farthing
Damages.
These personal charges were investigated by the Eastern
Districts Court before which Dr. Williams had entered an
action for libel against a person who had formulated them in
a very definite manner. The case was long and tedious and
the charges were dealt with seriatim. The damages were
laid at £1000, and Dr. Williams got a verdict for a farthing.
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 109
It may well be imagined that such a verdict did not re-habili-
tate Dr. Williams in the opinion of the public. It is necessary
to mention this personal issue as it was the underlying factor
of Bishop Merriman's difficulties, although he never dealt
with any matters outside the ecclesiastical aspect of the
Grahamstown Cathedral Case.
With this preface the history of the case can be entered
upon in detail.
Dean Williams Sevees the Cathedral from the
Diocesan Synod.
Following up his protests against the Provincial Synod in
October, 1875, Dean Williams influenced the laity of the
Cathedral to protest against any action of the Diocesan Synod
which would militate against his former protest against the
Provincial Synod. They declined to elect any lay repre-
sentatives for Synod, and at a meeting held to elect lay
representatives they formulated a protest on lines acceptable
to the Dean. The Bishop pointed out in a letter to the Dean
that the protest was an attack on the Synodical Government
of the South African Church and the Dean replied, more suo,
that he was not responsible for what his laity said. The
diocese did not re-elect him as one of the representatives
in the Provincial Synod of 1876. If they had done so he
would have been compelled to disclose his change of front
before the whole Church, and it might have altered the sub-
sequent course of events in detail if not in principle. But
the feeling of the clergy which was evoked by his open
hostility to Bishop Merriman was too strong for them to
consider policy.
Dean Williams Censured by the Diocesan Synod
OF 1876.
In the Diocesan Synod of 1876 the diocese took definite
action. After a long debate, during which Bishop Merriman
x-
110 STOBM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
vacated the Chair of the Synod in favour of the Senior Arch-
deacon (from his earnest desire to minimise the personal
issue) the Synod resolved : " That the notorious connection of
Dr. F. H. Williams with the ' Eastern Star ' newspaper is a
hindrance to Church work and an offence against good
morals ". The laity spoke quite as strongly as the clergy,
and a vote by orders was taken. The resolution was carried
by a majority of both orders. The Dean, in his speech, very
cleverly said that the clergy were not debarred from writing
leaders for the Press and doing journalistic work, which was
true enough. He carefully evaded the real point at issue,
which, as expressed by a subsequent speaker, was that
articles (of which the Dean neither affirmed nor denied the
authorship) appeared in the "Eastern Star" holding up
Church authority and authorities to ridicule, and therefore
outsiders were scandalised at the idea of a dignitary of the
Church abusing his clerical superiors and others, in the
columns of a newspaper presumably under his control.
Another clergyman of the diocese, in a published pamphlet,
characterised the articles imputed to the Dean as being
" most scandalous, sparing neither the honour of the living
nor the memory of the dead, utterly unscrupulous in their
use of private correspondence, and therefore an offence
against all sense of justice and propriety, and indeed, common
honesty ". These are strong words, but they expressed the
feelings of the majority of the Synod. Archdeacon White, a
learned scholar and most judicious leader, voted for the re-
solution, and every member of the Cathedral Chapter, save
Archdeacon Kitton (who was precluded from voting because
he was in the Chair) also voted on the same side. Four of
the clergy who then voted for the resolution subsequently
became members of the Chapter. It was my first Synod, so
I did not speak on the motion, though I voted for it from
conviction that it was right. Whether it was prudent is
another consideration. It brought a personal issue to the
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 111
front instead of the constitutional issue of loyalty to our Consti-
tution and Canons. But the majority of the laity in Synod had
been outraged in their inmost feelings by the attacks on
Bishop Merriman and they were urgent for a personal vote
of censure upon the Dean by the Synod. One of these lay-
men was the late Professor MacEwan, who left behind
him a reputation second to none as a scientific botanist as
well as that of being a most kindly and genial personality.
The affectionate regard shown by the clergy to Bishop
Merriman personally made them desire to censure the Dean
for his ceaseless attacks on his Diocesan.
Synod's Address of Loyalty to Bishop Merriman.
The Synod adopted an address of loyalty to the Bishop,
thanking him for his charge in which he had lucidly set forth
the completed work of the Provincial Synod of 1876, which
had finally ratified the Constitution and Canons governing
the South African Church, passed by the Provincial Synod
of 1870. The second clause of this address was as follows :
" This Synod desires to express its thankfulness to Almighty
God for the successful completion of the organisation of the
Church of South Africa by the Provincial Synod lately held
in Cape Town, and its deep sense of the duty of all members
of the Church, both clergy and laity, to uphold the Con-
stitution of the Church, there confirmed by common consent,
and to obey the Canons and Eules then and formerly enacted
by the authority of the Church of this Province ".
Dean Williams immediately proposed to delete this clause
because he claimed freedom from the authority of the very
Canons and Constitution he had helped to enact in 1870.
He challenged a division and two clergy and five laity voted
with him, whilst twenty-three clergy and seventeen laity
upheld the clause, expressing loyalty to the Constitution of
the Province. There were twenty-seven clergy and twenty-
five laity in Synod. This was the really crucial division of
112 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFBICA
the Synod and was of importance as showing that the Dean's
policy of ecclesiastical anarchy had no real influence in the
diocese. There was a further importance in the vote, be-
cause this Session of the Grahamstown Synod was the first
opportunity for any diocese to express its loyalty to the work
of the Provincial Synod of 1876.
Bishop Meebiman's Memorandum to the Chapter on
THE Dean's Conduct.
With regard to the personal vote of censure on Dean
Williams it must be recorded that the Synod had before it a
memorandum addressed by the Bishop to the Cathedral
Chapter, in which he asked for the advice of the Chapter on
the following points : —
'^ (I) The Dean's claim to be in precisely the same position as
regards the Cathedral as '* The Deans of Westminster, London,
(sic) or Manchester ". (This is a quotation from a letter from
the Dean, which exhibits his ignorance of the fact that
Westminster Abbey is a "Eoyal Peculiar," and the Dean is
his own " Ordinary ". What he meant by the " Dean of
London " was probably the Dean of S. Paul's).
" (II) The Dean's claim to have the sole right of ordering
all the services, so that the Bishop and any of the Canons
officiate therein only under the permission of the Dean. He
claims to inhibit the Canons from officiating in the Cathedral
if they have in his estimation violated his parochial rights.
" (III) The Dean claims to be free from observing the
Canons of the Church, whether Provincial or Diocesan, in
case they are not, in his opinion, in exact accordance with
English Statute Law.
" (IV) The Dean has allowed his congregation without any
remonstrance on his part to cut themselves off from the
actions of the rest of the diocese by directly refusing to send
lay delegates to our Synod.
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 113
" (V) Abusive attacks upon Church authority as upheld
amongst us have been found continually recurring in a news-
paper published in this city. Grave scandal to the Church
is caused not only by the general belief that the Dean is
editor or joint editor of this newspaper, and author of these
attacks, but still more by the fact that he has never disavowed
this connection, almost universally imputed to him. Can
the Chapter devise any means for the removal of this scandal ?
The Bishop would be glad to have the advice of the Chapter
on these several points."
(Signed) N. J. Geahamstown.
A South African Chapter is Diocesan and the Dean is
A Parish Priest.
It must be borne in mind that a South African Cathedral
differs fundamentally from a Cathedral in England, from the
fact that it is also a Parish Church, used from time to time
by the Bishop and Chapter for Diocesan purposes. The
Dean is a parish priest with cure of souls, and usually has
curates to help him, who are not connected with the Chapter,
although they may bear the honorary title of ** Priest- Vicar ".
They are paid from parochial funds. The Cathedral Chapter
in South Africa has very little to do with the parochial side
of the Cathedral. The Canons have their preaching turns,
arranged in Chapter, and the Chapter is really a Diocesan
body (partly elected by the clergy), which is the Bishop's
Standing Council of Advice. The Chapter has the power of
tendering advice to the Bishop in urgent matters, whether he
asks for it or not. In such a case the Dean would preside in
Chapter, and in all other cases, when the Bishop does not
personally summon the Chapter (through the Dean) for its
advice to him regarding matters which he lays before it. The
Bishop, though not himself a member of the Chapter, has
the right to preside in Chapter when it is acting as his Council
8
114 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
of Advice. The Dean can summon the Chapter apart from
the Bishop, but usually the Bishop presides. With regard
to the Bishop's authority in the Cathedral itself, the South
African Cathedrals are governed by the recommendation made
many years ago by the English Cathedral Commission,
" That it shall be made clear by declaring enactments that
the Bishop has the right of preaching and of performing all
the Ordinances and Ceremonies of the Church in the
Cathedral whenever he shall think proper ".
Reply of the Chapter.
In the case of Grahamstown Cathedral the Chapter had
been formed in 1860, to consist of the Dean, the two Arch-
deacons, the Chancellor of the Cathedral, and two other
Canons. But Bishop Cotterill in founding the Chapter un-
fortunately did not frame and promulgate Statutes to govern
the relations of the Bishop to the Dean and Chapter. This
lack of Statutes gave Dean Williams an opportunity which
he was not slow to grasp. He put forth the abnormal claims
cited by the Bishop in his Memorandum to the Chapter, and
his action, when the Chapter met to consider the Bishop's
Memorandum, was arrogant and autocratic. At the Chapter
meeting Archdeacon White moved that the Chapter's answer
to the Bishop on the point of his having the right to preach
in the Cathedral should be " That the opinion of the Chapter
is that the Bishop has a right to officiate at any time in the
Cathedral, or to preach, or to do both, whenever he pleases ".
The whole Chapter was unanimously in favour of this resolu-
tion save the Dean, who declined to allow it to be put.
The Archdeacon also moved that the Chapter answer the
Bishop's third question, as to the powers claimed by the
Dean, as follows : " That in the opinion of the Chapter the
Dean of this Cathedral has no powers or rights as Dean but
those which have been conferrd on the Dean by the Bishop ".
The Dean declined to put this motion as a breach of privilege.
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 115
Conditions Cheated by Letters Patent.
He found out his mistake when this question got into the
Civil Courts, which decided that he had placed himself by
virtue of his Letters of Institution in precisely the same posi-
tion with regard to the Bishop as any other beneficed priest
of the diocese. The Civil Courts could refer to Bishop
Cotterill's " Letters Patent " under which the Dean was ap-
pointed, which stated explicitly that the Bishop could appoint
Dignitaries of the Cathedral and Diocese " provided always
that the said Dignitaries and Archdeacons aforesaid shall be
subject and subordinate to the said Bishop of Grahamstown
and his successors".
The fact that the issue of " Letters Patent " had been dis-
continued when Bishop Merriman succeeded Bishop Cotterill
does not affect the condition of subordination of the Dean to
the Bishop for the time being which the original " Letters
Patent" (which founded the See) created in 1853. The
Dean's position was legally and ecclesiastically untenable so
far as his personal subordination to the Bishop was concerned.
But if Bishop Cotterill had not founded a Chapter without
Stattites the trouble caused by the personal equation of Dean
Williams would have been minimised. He would have had
to assent to the Cathedral Statutes as a condition of his in-
stallation as Dean, and he could not have adopted the cal-
culated attitude of revolt which so grievously disturbed the
peace of the Diocese of Grahamstown. It was in vain that
the Bishop's patience tried the experiment of leaving him
severely alone. He declined to be left alone, and lost no
opportunities of aggressive action. On one occasion the
Bishop, who had been resident in Grahamstown since 1848,
and was sincerely loved and trusted by the people, made an
engagement to preach in the Cathedral for a local Benefit
Society. He found himself unexpectedly called to visit a
distant part of the diocese. The Bishop informed the Dean
8*
116 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFKICA
that he wished one of the local clergy to take his place.
The Dean curtly refused and the Bishop had to make a long,
toilsome, and expensive journey to fulfil his engagement, and
alter all his plans. Technically, the Dean may have pleaded
justification, but his whole course of action was directed and
inspired by personal hostility to the Bishop and to all the
clergy and laity who adhered to his cause. After the
Diocesan Synod of 1876 the Dean's circle was narrowed to
a very small coterie of personal adherents. He had no in-
fluence outside Grahamstown. But I thought it wise on my
return from the Synod to get the churchwardens of the four
Port Elizabeth churches and the lay representatives of the
Port Elizabeth parishes to frame a loyal address to the
Bishop to show that the vote of censure on Dean Williams
did not emanate from a Grahamstown clique.
Lay Addbess from Port Elizabeth.
After expressing loyalty to the Constitution and Canons of
the South African Church, the Laymen's Address proceeded
as follows : " We take this opportunity of recording our
opinion, because a deliberate attempt has been made to
represent the line of action taken by the Synod in reference
to the Dean as being merely the work of personal and party
feeling in your Cathedral City. We believe that the inde-
pendent voice of the Church throughout the whole of the
Province demands a remedy for the grave dissensions caused
by the literary and ecclesiastical action of the Dean of
Grahamstown. As representatives of the Church in Port
Elizabeth we claim to stand aloof from all personal and
party feeling in this grave and solemn matter and to give
expression to the independent opinion of a most important
division of your Lordship's diocese." These last words
expressed the fact that Port Elizabeth was, and still is, the
largest and most important centre of Church life in the
Diocese of Grahamstown.
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 117
The Bishop's Eeply.
Bishop Merriman's reply to this address is characteristic
of him. The Bishop wrote : —
" I beg to thank you very cordially for the sympathy you
have expressed with myself, as well as for the loyalty to the
Constitution and Canons of our Province which you have so
unreservedly declared in the Address that has just been
forwarded to me from Port Elizabeth. It is a valuable record
of the Church feeling of the most important and influential
portion of our community, and is rendered the more seasonable
from the misrepresentations which have been circulated, but
which your Address from so many different congregations
entirely disproves. I shall forbear to remark upon any of
those matters upon which the Synod and the Cathedral
Chapter have each severally expressed their opinions. If
we cannot succeed in removing the scandals which now beset
us and that mar the harmony of our Church work, we can
at least preserve ourselves from complicity with the evils
which tend to bring disgrace on the Church and discredit
upon our Holy Eeligion. Trusting that God will in His own
good time bestow upon us the blessings of harmony and
concord, and will so guide the barque of His Church over
the waves of this troublesome world that we may at last
attain to a haven of rest,
'* I am, dear Brethren,
" Your faithful friend and Pastor,
"N. J. Grahamstown."
The note of personal restraint in this reply was character-
istic of all Bishop Merriman's dealings with this very painful
case. He was naturally impulsive and outspoken, and he
had suffered from the practised pen of the Dean, who was a
master of flouts and gibes and sneers. The Bishop wisely
forbade the mention of the controversy in his own house, and
only spoke of it to the clergy with whom he was compelled
118 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
to take counsel in the difficulties that had arisen. He main-
tained this attitude of patience during the year 1877, when
the Kaffir War gave him more than enough to think of. At
the end of 1877 he went to England for a much-needed rest
and change, during which he attended the Croydon Church
Congress and somewhat astonished Archbishop Tait, as has
previously been stated.
The Metropolitan's Failure to Restrain Dean
Williams.
During his absence, the late Archbishop of Capetown
(Dr. West Jones), then Metropolitan, visited Grahamstown
and held an Ordination at the Cathedral. He did his best to
deal with the difficulties that had arisen. He was a man of
gentleness, tact and power. But I well remember his saying
as he passed through Port Elizabeth that he had done his
best to persuade Dr. Williams to recede from his position of
revolt, "but it was of no use". He failed utterly, and he
foresaw much trouble in the immediate future. I thought it
necessary to write a letter to the Port Elizabeth " Telegraph,"
explaining that the action of the Synod was no attack upon
the liberty of the Press, but a protest against the unfair use
of the Press to foment strife and controversy in the City of
Grahamstown. I incidentally alluded to the strong feeling
of the clergy and laity present in the Synod against the
Dean's personal conduct to the Bishop. My letter, courteous
and guarded though it was, was promptly followed up by a
threat in the Dean's paper, the " Eastern Star," that I might
be the defendant in an action for libel. I replied at some
length that I believed that such an action would be of advan-
tage to the Church, as the Courts of Law could elicit the
whole truth, which would " amply justify the action of the
Synod". Needless to say, I heard nothing more of the
matter.
THE GRAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 119
The Bishop's Action in 1878.
The Bishop returned from England in 1878, and the
Chapter, having suffered enough from Bishop Cotterill's
failure to promulgate Statutes for the Cathedral, proceeded to
draft Statutes. The Dean blocked the action of the Chapter
in every possible way, but eventually the draft was completed
and unanimously agreed upon by the Chapter, with the
exception of the Dean. The Bishop then solemnly promul-
gated the new Statutes under his hand and seal. They
contained the recommendations of the English Cathedral
Commissioners, above quoted, that the Bishop had, by virtue
of his ofi&ce, power to officiate and preach in the Cathedral at
his option. The Bishop, unless hindered therefrom, is to
preach in the Cathedral at the Greater Festivals of the Church.
A printed and framed copy of the Statutes was hung up in the
Chapter House. The Dean promptly removed it and sent it
back to the Bishop with a discourteous message. The removal
was a distinct act of contumacy against the Bishop and Chapter.
This happened in December, 1878, and the Bishop took no
further action until Sunday, April 27th, 1879, when he gave
formal notice to the Dean, through the Registrar of the
Diocese, that he intended to preach according to the option
secured to him by the Statutes. He chose one of the Sundays
after Easter Day, because he foresaw that the Dean might
make some protest, and he did not wish Easter Day to be
marked by any outward conflict of opinion. None but the
Bishop himself knew what it cost him to take this public
step to vindicate his rights. I believe that he felt that the
honour and dignity of the Chapter was concerned and that
he must take action to uphold the Cathedral Statutes.
Dean Williams Peevbnts the Bishop Preaching in the
Cathedral.
He went to the Cathedral and, as his custom was, prepared
to preach from his Episcopal Throne. But Dean Williams,
120 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
to the amazement of the congregation, omitted the hymn be-
fore the sermon and began immediately to preach himself
without going to the pulpit. The Bishop, with calm dignity,
rose and said : "I testify before God and the Church that I
am hindered in my lawful ministrations," and then left the
Cathedral. He did not carry out with him the beautiful
Pastoral Staff of the diocese, presented to Bishop Armstrong
in 1854. The Dean, with his usual discourtesy, took posses-
sion of it and refused to give it up. The diocese did not
recover it till the death of Dean Williams ended the Cathedral
schism in 1885. The clergy promptly subscribed money for
a new Pastoral Staff, which was presented to the Bishop.
When the Diocesan Pastoral Staff was recovered in 1885,
Bishop Webb retained also the Staff thus given to Bishop
Merriman, and in 1888, when he raised S. Mary's, Port
Elizabeth, to the rank of a Collegiate Church, he gave this
Staff to be used for his second Episcopal Throne in S. Mary's.
Bishop Merriman also had a Pastoral Staff (made of Colonial
wood) given to him by those he had confirmed in my parish.
It was given after his death to Bishop Bransby Key of S.
John's, and it is still preserved in the Cathedral at Umtata.
Enough of this digression.
Not only the diocese of Grahamstown but Church people
throughout South Africa were shocked at the outrage per-
petrated on Bishop Merriman in his own Cathedral. I was
not quite so much astonished as other people, because I knew
that Dean Williams would not be restrained by the ordinary
courtesies which obtain amongst gentlemen, or the decency
of reverence that hinders most people from unseemly demon-
strations in the House of God. If he believed that he had the
right to restrain the Bishop from preaching in the Cathedral
he could have framed a legal protest against the Bishop's
action and brought the matter before the proper tribunals
without making a public and scandalous scene in Grahams-
town Cathedral.
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDKAL CASE 121
The Dean is Presented for Trial in the Diocesan
Court.
The Bishop was reluctantly compelled to take further
action. Archdeacon White presented the Dean for con-
tumacy to the Diocesan Court. As the Bishop was person-
ally concerned, he appointed Archdeacon Badnall of the
Cape Diocese to preside as his Commissary, according to
the Canon of the Provincial Synod. The three clerical
assessors, Canon Henchman, the Kev. W. Llewellyn (after-
wards Archdeacon of Graham stown), and Mr. Meaden were
senior clergy of the diocese, and the lay assessor, Mr. J. B.
Currey, was not a resident in the diocese. Advocate Shippard
(afterwards Sir Sidney Shippard, Administrator of Bechuana-
land) conducted the case for the prosecution. He was one
of the few South African barristers who had carefully studied
the Canon Law, and his long argument dealt with every
point in the Dean's case with conspicuous ability. The
Dean declined to admit the jurisdiction of the Court, and his
paper, the ''Eastern Star," called it a "packed tribunal"
and bespattered it with coarse abuse, as "an irresponsible
committee of partizans ".
He is Sentenced to Suspension.
He was ultimately found guilty of contumacious dis-
obedience to his Bishop and conduct giving cause for scandal
and offence. He was sentenced to suspension ab officio for
one Kalendar month and further, until he should engage not
to repeat the offence of hindering the Bishop from preaching
according to the Statutes. He ignored the sentence and
ordered the clergy deputed by the Bishop to officiate to leave
the Vestry.
"The Guardian" on the Conduct of Dean Williams.
When news of the case reached England the usually
cautious London " Guardian " said that " Dean Williams
122 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
must have been an element of bitterness at Grahamstown for
a long time past ". It spoke of " his slippery and disin-
genuous habits," and said that his conduct in preventing the
Bishop from preaching in the Cathedral was " an impudent
and scandalous proceeding, an insult to his Bishop, a scandal
and an outrage ". It further said, vrith regard to his former
upholding of the South African Constitution and Canons, he
repudiates without hesitation the very system of which he
was a leading champion when it was established. The
change of opinion is far too convenient to be beyond sus-
picion ". " The Guardian " hit hard, but its strong words con-
veyed the plain truth to all who knew the circumstances.
Action in the Supeeme Court.
I felt, in common with some others, that it would be better
for the Bishop not to apply to the Civil Courts for the re-
covery of his rights in the Cathedral. The Bishop felt this
himself ; but Archdeacons Badnall and White persuaded him
to force the issue. The Bishop then sued the Dean in the
Supreme Court of the Cape Colony for the recovery of his
rights as Bishop in the Cathedral Church of the diocese.
The suit became exclusively a property question, and the
Chief Justice, Sir H. de Villiers (afterwards Lord de Villiers,
P.C.) dealt with it on this basis.
Judgment op the Chief Justice.
Judgment was delivered on August 26th, 1880. The Chief
Justice held that since Grahamstown Cathedral was built
before the Consecration of Bishop Gray in 1847, on a site
granted "for ecclesiastical purposes in connexion with the
Church of England, and for no other purpose or use whatso-
ever. Bishop Merriman had no legal rights over the building
because he was a Bishop of the * Church of South Africa,'
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 123
and not a Bishop of the * Church of England,' since he had
not been appointed by ' Letters Patent,' as his predecessor.
Bishop Cotterill, was, but had been elected and consecrated
under the Constitution and Canons of the Church of South
Africa, which was a body separated legally from the Estab-
lished Church ". So far the property question. As to the
personal question, the Chief Justice said that Dean Williams
had become "personally subject to the Constitution and
Canons of the Church of South Africa" because he had
presided at the Election Assembly that elected Bishop
Merriman under the South African Canons, and further that
he had "personally subjected himself to the Episcopal
jurisdiction" of the Bishop, and further, that he was wrong
in claiming to have the power, as Dean, to exclude the Bishop
from the Cathedral. But that was nihil ad rem to the main
issue which was that the Cathedral did not legally belong to
the diocese of Grahamstown, as a diocese of the South
African Church, and that if there was no Dean the Bishop
could not claim to officiate in the Cathedral, legally, as it
was a sort of derelict trust, belonging to the Church of
England, even if not claimed by it. He said that if the
Crown (though such a course was improbable) named a Bishop
by '• Letters Patent," he could claim the Cathedral, although
Bishop Merriman would retain his rights with regard to the
other churches of the diocese, which had been built without
a trust deed tying them to the Church of England. He held
that Bishop Merriman could not be considered legally "the
Bishop of Grahamstown for the time being". There were
two important obiter dicta in the judgment. First, he said
of the Diocesan Court, whose impartiality had been so
recklessly called in question by the Dean's newspaper, that
" in reading the proceedings of that Court it is impossible not
to admire the ability and candour with which the prosecution
was conducted, or the judicial impartiality displayed by the
Tribunal itself". Here was answer enough to the parrot
124 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
cry of Erastians in England and elsewhere, that " Spiritual "
Courts are likely to be unfair in their procedure. The record
of our Ecclesiastical Courts in South Africa, from the trials
of Dr. Colenso and Dr. Williams to the other less important
cases which have been before them, has amply justified the
opinion of the Chief Justice, who, as a South African of
Huguenot descent, was a member of the Dutch Eeformed
Communion and not biassed in our favour. The Privy
Council, on appeal, endorsed these words of the Chief
Justice. The second point made by the Chief Justice was
with regard to the personal behaviour of Dr. Williams to his
Bishop. He spoke of " the question whether the Eight
Eeverend plaintiff had been treated in this matter with that
consideration, respect and good feeling to which his years, if
not his position as a chief Pastor in the Church of South
Africa, and his labours as a Missionary Bishop, have fairly
entitled him ". The perso7ial issue was decided on all counts
in favour of the Bishop. The property question was decided
against him.
The Strange Issue of the Cathedral Trust Deed.
And herein is a curious fact. Lord Blachford passed the
" Colonial Clergy Act " of 1873, which was meant to secure
all Church property in the colonies, which formerly belonged
to the Established Church, to the Colonial Churches, as un-
established bodies under their own Synodical Government.
The Act provided for the transference of all legal rights, pre-
viously exercised by " Letters Patent " Bishops, being duly
transferred to their successors, who had been elected and
consecrated without " Letters Patent," as Bishop Merriman
had been.
Lord Blachford's Circular.
A circular was sent to each Colonial Church before the
Bill was passed in the Imperial Parliament asking whether
THE GBAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 125
any uncertainty of title existed as to the transference of
" Church of England " property to the local Colonial Church.
When the circular came to South Africa, the Governor of the
Cape officially asked the then Attorney-General (Sir H. de
Villiers) whether the "Church of England" property was
duly transferred to the " Church of South Africa ". He
replied that it was so *'duly transferred," and that no men-
tion of it was necessary in the Bill. More unfortunate advice
was never given. As Chief Justice, Sir H. de Villiers tore
to tatters his previous opinion as Attorney-General, and gave
judgment against the Bishop because the South African
Church had not legally secured the transfer of the " Church
of England " property acquired before Bishop Gray's Conse-
cration. He in effect gave judgment that, because the South
African Church had acted on his advice as Attorney-General
he must decide that the property was lost to us. He recom-
mended us to apply to the Legislature for transfer of those
very properties which he had considered as legally belonging
to us.
Appeal to the Privy Council as a "Civil Court".
Under such abnormal circumstances, and because the
matter was one concerning title deeds and property only,
Bishop Merriman consented to appeal, as a British citizen, to
the civil side of the Privy Council, against the judgment of
the Chief Justice of the Cape. Nothing would have induced
the Bishop to appeal to the Privy Council if it was sitting as
a pseudo-ecclesiastical court. But this was a civil matter, a
question of the disputed ownership of certain property ; so
the Bishop felt that he could appeal.
Erastian Issue of the Appeal.
The Privy Council, even when it sits as a purely Civil
Court, as it did in this case, does not forget its ecclesiastical
126 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
side. And thus the Privy Council judgment in this purely
civil case brought in vital ecclesiastical and spiritual conse-
quences.
Opinion of the '' Chuech Quaeterly Review".
This made the "Church Quarterly Review" say of the
judgment in October, 1882: *'If the Church does not
repudiate the Privy Council it cannot expect to stand in the
evil day, for it will cease to wear the whole armour of God.
It lays aside the sword of the spirit, which is the Word of
God, and takes instead the Statutes of the Realm " — alluding
in these last words to the words of the Grahamstown judg-
ment, which declared the Church of South Africa separated
from the Church of England, because the Third Proviso of
its Constitution rejects the Privy Council decisions as inter-
preting the Formularies of the Church. It is not enough,
according to the Privy Council, for the Church of South
Africa to accept the Formularies of the Church of England if,
by rejecting the Privy Council decisions, it "substantially
excludes portions of the Faith and Doctrine of the Church of
England ". To assert that decisions, such as the " Gorham "
and " Essays and Reviews " judgments of the Privy Council
formed part of the ofl&cial credenda of the Church of England
was indeed a monstrous and abnormal claim.
DiFFEEENCES BETWEEN THE PeIVY CoUNCIL JUDGMENT
AND THE SUPEEME CoUET JUDGMENT.
It is true that on this point the Privy Council reaffirmed
the dictum of the Court below and did not endorse the other
reasons for separation affirmed by the Chief Justice of the
Cape. These reasons were : (I) Canon 37, which lays down
that the interpretation of the Constitution and Canons is to
be governed " by the general principles of Canon Law there-
to applicable". It seemed to Sir H. de Villiers a cause of
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 127
legal separation from the Church of England for the South
African Church thus to declare itself bound by the common
Canon Law of the Catholic Church. He knew nothing about
the Church of England save what he had gathered from legal
text books. The Privy Council disallowed this point,
although they set their own decisions on matters of faith and
doctrine above the Canon Law.
(U) The Chief Justice's contention that the clause in our
Constitution which forbids us to follow the Church of Eng-
land if she alters the Athanasian Creed, was a further cause
of legal disconnection, was accepted by the Privy Council as
&fact but not as a cause for disconnection.
(III) The Chief Justice said that our repudiation of Bishop
Colenso who was, by Civil Law, '' Bishop of Natal," and our
appointing a successor to him, also caused disconnection.
The Privy Council made no reference to this point.
(IV) The Chief Justice said that our method of electing
and consecrating Bishops, without the consent of the Crown,
was also a cause of disconnection, and that Bishop Merriman
was not the legal Bishop of Grahamstown.
The Privy Council swept aside this argument by the words
*' the plaintiff in the Court below and the appellant here is
the Bishop of Grahamstown ". Further, they said that the
suggestion of the Court below that the Crown might yet create
a " Letters Patent " Bishop to supplant Bishop Merriman
could not be considered by them. On this point it is inter-
esting to note that one of the Judges in the Cape Supreme
Court, who sat in the case, and concurred in the judgment,
wrote to Bishop Merriman, as a friend, that it would solve
all difficulties if he would apply for ''Letters Patent" and
get himself re-consecrated in England ! This Judge was a
nominal Churchman !
But the crux of the Privy Council judgment was the re-
affirmation of the decision of the Court below on the property
question and the reason they gave for it. All property
128 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
connected legally with the Church of England was lost to the
South African Church, because it shut out the decisions of
the Privy Council (when it sat as an Ecclesiastical Court, as
it did in the Gorham case) to determine the interpretation of
the Formularies of the Church of England.
Issues op the P.C. Judgment as Affecting the Whole
OP THE English Chubch.
It said that " in England the standard is the Formularies,
as judicially interpreted ". In South Africa it is the Formularies
as they may be construed without interpretation (i.e. without
the interpretation of the Privy Council). Here was a fair
and square issue for the Ecclesia Anglicana. Was she
spiritually bound to the decisions of a Secular Tribunal, which
her Convocations had never received, and which her Bishop
had publicly protested against in the House of Lords ? Was
not the Church of South Africa right in refusing to be bound
by the decisions of a Tribunal which the Mother Church had
never accepted ? Would it not be an intolerable wrong to
her spiritual character if the South African Church, for the
sake of securing some property, were to alter her Constitution,
and, as a Church, free and unestablished, voluntarily put
herself under the yoke of the Privy Council by abrogating her
Proviso rejecting its judgments ? These were the momentous
issues raised by the Privy Council judgment in the Grahams-
town Cathedral case, delivered on June 28th, 1882.
Dr. Colenso Invades Grahamstown.
Before dealing further with them, I must recur to events
which happened between 1880 and 1882.
Dr. Colenso, as the first outcome of the Supreme Court
judgment, entered into friendly relations with Dr. Williams
and forgave him his former denunciations of his heresies.
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 129
On October 21st, 1880, he held a schismatic Confirmation in
Grahamstown Cathedral. In Dr. Colenso's "Life" this
incident finds a place, and his biographer calmly states that,
since the judgment in the Supreme Court declared that
Bishop Merriman was not legally a Bishop of the " Church of
England," Dr. Colenso treated the See of Grahamstown as
vacant. I have dealt with this episode more fully in my
"Life of Dean Green," and have shown how the Dean, in a
most dignified and courteous letter, tried to dissuade Dr.
Colenso from an act of gross discourtesy, to say nothing of
its other aspects. If Dr. Colenso stood on his position as
"Letters Patent" Bishop of Natal, his invasion of the
diocese of Grahamstown left him in the position of a
schismatic intruder, without a shred of so-called " Church of
England " law to justify his action.
Bishop Merriman, who was resident in Grahamstown at
the time, asked me to arrange for a formal inhibition being
served on him when he landed in Port Elizabeth. I carried
out the Bishop's instructions, and Dr. Colenso contemptuously
waved the document aside. He preached two sermons in the
Cathedral which exhibited the veiled Unitarianism which had
become his belief after he finally broke with the Church.
He also offered to consecrate for Dr. Williams a rival and
schismatic " Bishop of Grahamstown ".
Diocesan Synod of 1880 in Pobt Elizabeth.
Bishop Merriman held his Diocesan Synod in 1880 at Port
Elizabeth, and used S. Mary's instead of the Cathedral for
the Synod Services. He was much cheered by the demon-
stration of loyalty and unity shown by the Synod, and a sum
of over £400 was collected for diocesan funds, after a public
meeting at which he presided. We eagerly awaited the
Bishop's Charge to the Synod. The Dean's matter had not
yet gone to the Supreme Court, and the Bishop's allusion to
9
130 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
the trouble was couched in restrained and dignified language.
The Bishop said: "The insubordination of one member,
though it has happily been confined to one, has caused a sad
rupture in our ranks, by shutting out from our communion
and fellowship one who, by position and ability, ought to
have been the chief adviser and support to the See, the fore-
most in our councils, and the defender and not the destroyer
of the organisation which he himself assisted in framing. I
shall not now dwell any further on this sorrowful subject
otherwise than to point out what I deem may, in the present
distress, be to all of us a source of consolation. And for this
I need but call to your remembrance that it was not in the
most quiet and orderly times, nor in the absence of grievous
scandals, that the Church of old exhibited her highest and
holiest features. It was not in the smooth current of an
unbroken unanimity that she either grew the most rapidly or
shone with the brightest lustre." The Bishop again urged
upon the clergy not to think too much about the injury
wrought by the Cathedral controversy. " God be praised,"
he said, '*we have in spiritual matters some very hopeful
signs of progress. Our communicants throughout the diocese
have largely increased. Our diocesan schools have revived
and are flourishing, and wherever diligent pastoral care has
been bestowed, there, I believe, it has been attended with a
visible blessing upon our labours, so that, in spite of dis-
couragements here and there, no man's heart need sink or be
dismayed or deem any other than that ' Our God Is with us
of a truth '."
Bishop Merbiman's Sense of Humour.
These brave and inspiring words kept the diocese in good
heart and were worthy of the grand old Bishop who uttered
them. Not a word was said in Synod upon the Cathedral
controversy, and we knew that Bishop Merriman valued our
THE GKAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 131
silence. There waa one amusing episode which showed that
the Bishop's sense of humour had not been crushed out of
him by his anxieties. He asked the Synod to consider the
appointment of a Coadjutor Bishop. He was in his seventy-
third year and had worked as Archdeacon and Bishop for
thirty-one years in the Diocese of Grahamstown. We felt
that the Bishop's vigour was still equal to the work of the
diocese, and we did not think it wise to have an election of
a Coadjutor Bishop whilst the Cathedral case was pending.
The Bishop felt disappointed at our decision, till the Chaplain
told him that one of the clergy said that surely the Bishop
did not need a coadjutor, with such a stalwart pair of legs as
he still could show us. The Bishop laughed heartily and
said, " Well, if they think my legs are good enough for work
I will hang on". He was a fine stalwart figure of a man
even in old age and he had some reason to be proud of his legs,
for he had walked hundreds of miles in his early Visitations.
He walked from Grahamstown to Capetown on one occasion
— a distance of over 600 miles.
The Bishop's Eeply to my Letter on the Case.
The Bishop did not expect a successful issue to the
Cathedral Case in the Civil Courts. I wrote to him a letter
of sympathy when it was decided to apply to the Supreme
Court. His reply was characteristic. He wrote :
" Your letter, just received, has my very warm thanks — not
for a moment that I was unaware of the full extent of your
sympathy, or doubted that prayers as well as good wishes
went along with me in this my most heavy trial. But the
penultimate sentence of your letter, conveying your belief
that even a temporary triumph of the world power would be
a spiritual defeat to our opponents, is an utterance much in
contrast with those who weaken my hands by pointing out
the precariousness of my position, and the strong probabilities
132 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
that Civil Courts will go against me. Pecuniary ruin and
overthrow before the world is perhaps what I ought to expect
and to strive, by God's mighty help, to prepare myself to
endure. From the beginning I have thought I was vindicat-
ing the rights of jurisdiction of the whole Colonial Episcopate,
which, if no one dares to assert, when thus openly challenged,
I fear that the whole Church would take more harm than
under the possible contingency of my apparent defeat before
the eyes of men. I can only repeat inwardly the 26th
Psalm.
"lam,
*' Yours Sincerely,
" N. J. Gkahamstown."
I was in close touch with the Bishop during the whole of
this trying time. I never heard him say a bitter or harsh
word about Dean Williams. After the case was over in
the Supreme Court, he left Grahamstown for some months
and lived in Uitenhage, some twenty miles from Port Eliza-
beth. He wished to keep his wife and daughters from
dwelUng on the trouble, and wisely decided on change of
scene. I met him one day and he told me that he had been
refreshing his mind with Herodotus, and had just read the
nine books straight through. I once did the same, and I can
understand the Bishop's relief in the freshness of the old
Ionian historian. He was a thorough Wykehamist, and
never lost his taste for classics or his memories of the days
when he was Senior Prefect at Winchester.
The Bishop Joins the E.C.U.
After the Diocesan Synod of 1880 a branch of the E.C.U.
was founded, of which the Bishop became President. I
felt that we should need all the sympathy in England
which the E.C.U. could give in the stormy times ahead
THE GRAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 133
of us, and we raised a fund for the faithful priests who
at that time were prosecuted and imprisoned under the
Public Worship Regulation Act. The Bishop subscribed,
for he held that they were fighting Erastianism, which he
hated as the chief foe to the Church of England. The
Whig ideal of the Establishment, so dear to Erastian
politicians, was anathema to the Bishop. He held by
Cavour's ideal of a *' Free Church in a Free State".
He Stands by me in Ritual Troubles.
Early in 1882 I was subjected to a mild attack on the
ritual and music used at S. Mary's. I used a Gregorian
Psalter, and a petition was sent to the Bishop praying
for its disuse and also attacking Vestments and Altar
Lights. I was in difficulties, too, about the Missa Cantata
at 11 a.m. (after Plain Matins) which I used on festivals
and monthly. But I was strongly supported. Mr. L.
Michell (now Sir Lewis Michell), one of my church
officers, got up a strong petition of male communicants
to support my action, and forwarded it to the Bishop, who
replied, ^'I am well assured that a very preponderating
majority of the communicants have attached their names
to the Memorial, and I am also no less assured that the
Rector is disposed by conciliatory measures to win the
esteem and secure the continued adherence to the services
at S. Mary's of those who in some particulars may differ
from him". The Bishop counselled ** strong majorities"
to use consideration in dealing with "a minority," and
expressed his belief that " the concessions now made by
the Rector to the weaker party will issue in the general
contentment of all ". This ended the trouble. I retained
Plain song for the Psalms and had Cathedral Services for
the Canticles, and I had previously provided a plain Mass
once a month for the objectors, in which the Altar Lights
134 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH At'EICA
I
were not lit but Vestments were worn. After a year this
service was disused by common consent.
London Committee to Help to Pay Bishop Mereiman's
Costs.
Bishop Merriman's costs in the Grahamstown Cathedral
Case 'amounted to £2132. It was manifestly unfair to leave
the Bishop and the South African Church to bear this
liability unaided. A London Committee was formed with
Earl Nelson as Chairman, and Sir Bartle Frere, Mr.
Beresford Hope, Mr. J. G. Hubbard and others as mem-
bers. Lord Salisbury, Lord Nelson, Lord Powis, Sir H.
Barkly (late Governor of the Cape), Sir Bartle Frere, Mr.
Hubbard, Mr. Beresford Hope and others subscribed liber-
ally. A Capetown Committee raised £400 for the appeal,
and the Grahamstown Committee, £820. Nearly every
parish in the diocese raised money for this purpose.
The Money Well Spent.
An endeavour was made to relieve the Bishop personally
by returning to him £350 of the £470 he had already paid.
It may be said : To what pwyose was this ivaste ? But
we did not feel it to be a ivaste, though money was sorely
needed in every South African Diocese. We had to as-
certain our exact legal position in our relation to the Church
of England, which the Australian Church has not yet been
able to ascertain. It was no waste to defend first principles,
and when I wrote to Bishop Merriman that the temporary
triumph of the world power would be a spiritual defeat to
the Erastians, my forecast has been abundantly justified
by events.
Our Visit to England in 1882.
In June, 1882, my wife and I left for England. I had
been eight years in South Africa without a change, and
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 135
we both needed one. At Madeira I landed, and saw in
"The Times" leading article a summary of the Privy
Council judgment in the Grahamstown Case, which had
been delivered on June 28th. I felt at first too indignant
at the cold-blooded Erastianism of the judgment to take
a judicial view of its bearings. Of course, it did not pre-
tend to be an ecclesiastical judgment, but it touched grave
spiritual issues when the reasons assigned by the Judges
to determine the ownership of certain buildings, as a civil
matter, declared that property, earmarked for the "Church
of England," could not be legally held by the "Church of
South Africa," because our ThM Proviso repudiated the
ecclesiastical decisions of the Privy Council, which the
judgment alleged to be part of the official credenda of the
Church of England, and, by implication, on a level with
the Catholic Creeds.
Difficult Position of the Metropolitan.
The Metropolitan (Dr. West Jones) was in England, and
he was in an especially difficult position. Archdeacon
Badnall, his formerly trusted counsellor, was apparently
obsessed by the idea that his judgment in the Grahamstown
Diocesan Court must be upheld per fas et nefas. The
Civil Courts had taken Grahamstown Cathedral away from
the diocese and given their reasons for so doing.
Archdeacons Badnall and Fogg Desire to Submit to
Erastianism.
The chief reason was the Third Proviso in our Con-
stitution, and so Archdeacon Badnall was ready to adopt
any volte face in Church principles to secure the jeopardised
Church property, which, when once thus secured, would
enable his judgment against Dean Williams to be carried
136 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
into effect. He took " short views " of the whole matt(
and openly advocated (1) the abolition of our Third Proviso,'
and (2) the enactment of a new Canon accepting the Privy
Council eo nomine.
Archdeacon Badnall's Peevioub Unsound Line in 1876.
It was not the first occasion on which Archdeacon
Badnall had taken a wrong line. In the -Provincial Synod
of 1876 he came forth as the champion of the " innocent
divorced party," and induced the Synod to tinker with our
Canon which affirmed the indissolubility of marriage, by
inserting words which threw the onus of deciding each case
upon the parish priest. We had to wait till the Provincial
Synod of 1898 to get this mischief undone, and our Canon
now adheres to the ancient law ecclesiastical of the Church
of England which forbids divorce a vinculo absolutely (vide
Blackstone's ''Commentaries" and the Canons of 1604).
Archdeacon Badnall speedily became the leader of a small
but influential group of clergy and laity, mainly resident
in the Cape Peninsula, who were afraid of the consequences
of the legal separation of the Church of South Africa from
the Church of England.
The Derby Church Congress of 1882.
The Derby Church Congress of 1882 seemed to me an
excellent opportunity of holding a meeting to uphold the
stand of the South African Church against the Privy Council.
The Metropolitan was out of England at the time and
there was no South African priest able to take action at
that particular moment, but myself. I consulted Mr.
Beresford Hope and others, and we decided to hold a
meeting of supporters of the South African Church at Derby
on the ostensible ground of furthering the building of a
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 137
new church in my parish as a memorial to Bishop Gray.
It was a memorable meeting. A grave responsibility rested
on me with regard to it. The Metropolitan (Dr. West Jones)
was far from well and was resting in the Engadine.
Ebastian Effobts to Eepeal the Thied Peoviso.
He was perplexed with divided counsels and uncertain
as to the exact legal effect of abolishing our Third Proviso.
People apparently told him that the repeal of the Proviso
would not commit us to the acceptance of the decisions
of the Privy Council. Archdeacon Badnall wrote to him
withdrawing his obnoxious amended Canon, which accepted
the Privy Council decisions eo nomine. The Metropolitan
wrote to Bishop Cotterill (late of Grahamstown, then of
Edinburgh), "If I were sure that the repeal would not
change our legal position I could not refuse to sanction
it, though I should not like it ". To me he wrote, " I do
not feel at all pledged to oppose to the bitter end the
omission of the Proviso, if that is all that is done, if, as I
believe, the omission would not bind us to accept Privy
Council decisions, and if this proves the only way in which
we can obtain the legislation we require ". Archdeacon
Croghan, of Bloemfontein, wrote to me urging some definite
action. The Metropolitan told me in his letter that he
" deprecated strongly any public demonstration on the matter
in England," but after very careful consultation with older
and wiser men than myself, I held that Derby meeting.
I Aeeange a Meeting at Deeby to Deal with the
Situation.
I have always reckoned that the Derby meeting was a de-
termining factor in the situation, as it ranged the E.C.U. and
all the Catholic clergy and laity on the side of the South
138 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
African Church, and I believe that the outspoken speeches of
the Hon. C. L. Wood (now Lord Halifax), Lord Nelson, Mr.
Beresford Hope and others strengthened the hands of the
Metropolitan to take the resolute line of resistance which he
adopted before his return to South Africa, and from which he
never swerved.
Me. Beresfobd Hope is Chaieman.
The meeting was held on Thursday, October 5th, 1882, with
Mr. Beresford Hope in the Chair, and in his opening speech,
after a kindly allusion to his having known me for many
years, and an expression of sympathy for the proposed new
Church, he said that " it was an expression of the opinion of
English Churchmen on the crisis in the South African
Church," meant to make South African Churchmen see " that
after all, abominably as they had been treated by tribunals,
they had only lost a mess of pottage ; and he could not con-
ceive it possible that there could be any attempt to compromise
with the Privy Council for the sake of getting a mere tumble-
down building at Grahamstown, for it would not only bring
the South African Church into contempt, but would cut ofif all
the sympathy in England which must be otherwise given to
her ".
Letter Bead from Bishop Harold Browne of Win-
chester.
Mr. Beresford Hope then read two important letters, which
I had received from the Bishops of Winchester and Salisbury.
The Bishop of Winchester wrote to me as follows : —
" Farnham Castle,
" September 28th, 1882.
" Dear Sir,
" I regret that I cannot attend the meeting to which
you invite me on the evening of Thursday, October 5th. I
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 139
feel as strongly as anyone can feel that the recent judgment
in the Grahamstown Case is most disastrous to the Colonial
Church if it means all that to most of us it seems to mean.
I hope and trust that by interpretation or legislation or other
process the Colonial Church may be freed from anything
which can hamper its legitimate independence, without in
any way depriving it of its privileges as one with the ancient
Church of the Empire. — I am, dear sir, yours very faithfully
in our Lord, E. H. Winton."
These words meant much from a Prelate so cautious and
moderate as Bishop Harold Browne.
And from Bishop Moberly of Salisbury.
Bishop Moberly's letter was even more emphatic, and
carried very great weight as coming from an aged veteran
so revered as a leader by the older Anglo-Catholics. The
Bishop of Salisbury's letter was then read : —
•• Palace Salisbury.
" 25th September.
" My Dear Sir,
" I beg to enclose a cheque for £5 for Bishop Gray's
Memorial Church. I wish I could testify by a larger sub-
scription my high sense of the work of Bishops Gray and
Merriman and my intense feeling of the wrong done to the
Colonial Church by the Privy Council judgment in the
Grahamstown appeal, by which the judicial sentences of the
English Ecclesiastical Courts are made to be part and parcel
of the law of the Church, and subscription to them a necessary
condition of legal connection with the Church of England. —
Ever yours faithfully, George Sarum."
In closing his speech, Mr. Beresford Hope explained
clearly the difference between the Privy Council's definition
of " legal connection " to which Bishop Moberly alluded, and
the spiritual union and communion which " the South African
Church maintains unimpaired with the Mother Church ".
140 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Speech of Eev. R. C. Kiekpateick, of S. Augustine's,
KiLBUEN,
The Rev. R. C. Kirkpatrick, Vicar of S. Augustine's, Kilburn,
moved the first resolution, as follows : '* That the memory of
Robert Gray, Bishop of Cape Town and first Metropolitan of
the Church of the Province of South Africa, is the heritage
alike of the Church of England and of all her daughter
Churches throughout the world, and therefore the building of
a church as a visible memorial of his life and labours is an
undertaking worthy of the support of all true-hearted members
of the Church of England, and more particularly in the days
of sorrow and perplexity for the Church over which he so
courageously presided ". He said that Bishop Gray stood the
foremost champion of the most vital principle that could
possibly be brought before the Church, which was that the
Church was not subject to earthly power, neither could she
allow herself to be tainted in the smallest degree with that
which was properly called the spirit of Erastianism. (Ap-
plause.) He might exaggerate in his own mind, but he be-
lieved that if the Church of England was to justify her
position before foreign Churches of the east and west — if she
was to assert to Nonconformists the truths that she held and
the doctrines with which she ministered the grace of God to
humanity she must keep herself clear from any complicity
with the spirit of Erastianism. (Applause.) Her mission
from God to the souls of men and the world would lose its
vital force if she no longer stood in her Master's name but in
the name of a worldly power. (Applause.) It was in this
matter that Bishop Gray had a distinct claim upon the Church-
men of the present day, and he could not conceive anything
more fatal to the Church of South Africa than for her to depart
from the principles he laid down. (Applause.) He trusted
that these schemes would be earnestly supported : for look-
ing back upon those who had left us during the present
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 141
century, he confessed that second to him whose loss they now
so deeply deplored, he could not conceive a grander figure,
take him all in all, than the late Robert Gray. (Applause.)
Lord Nelson's Speech.
Earl Nelson, who was loudly applauded, seconded the
resolution in an able manner. He said that one reason why
he occupied that position was to show those who had rallied
round Bishops Gray and Merriman that the English Church
believed that, if the Church of South Africa deliberately moved
for the withdrawal of the Proviso which precluded the judg-
ments of the Privy Council from being accepted as law in
Church matters, it would be a course ruinous to its best
interests. His Lordship briefly alluded to the loss the Church
had sustained in the death of Bishop Merriman, and quoted,
from one of the last letters the late Bishop ever wrote, words
deprecating the abandonment of the Proviso. '' God forbid,"
said his Lordship (quoting Bishop Merriman's words), " that
this should ever happen ! " The speaker further observed
that the Archbishop of Canterbury's letter to the Bishop of
Cape Town was a decisive and most satisfactory settlement
of the question at issue, and he trusted that it would effectu-
ally allay any agitation that had been raised in South Africa
in the direction of accommodating the Canons and Con-
stitution of the Church to suit the recent Privy Council
judgment. Having read a part of the Archbishop's letter,
Earl Nelson proceeded to say that he could not conceive
what any Churchman could mean by wishing to get rid of
the Proviso. He, however, believed that it would not only
affect the position of the Bishop of Maritzburg, and those of the
faithful clergy and laity who had gathered round him, but
would also be the unchurching of the Church of South Africa.
(Applause.) They must pray earnestly that this Proviso
would not be withdrawn, and that the men who desired that
142 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
from motives of peace would understand that it would not
result in the peace which they desired, but only result in a
fruitful brood of future troubles.
Bishop Merriman had died in August, 1882, as the result
of a carriage accident about four miles out of Grahamstown.
A cross marks the spot where the accident occurred. He
survived several days, and his last words were prayers for
his diocese and people. During his unconsciousness he re-
peated portions of Bishop Andrewes' " Devotions " in Latin,
which was his favourite book. He was beloved by Colonists
and Natives alike, and was a man amongst men, a devout
soldier of the Cross, and the very antithesis of the type of
Bishop whose neutral-tinted policy gave rise to the ancient
reproach, " Episcopi Anglicani semper pavidi ". He read the
Privy Council judgment shortly before his death, and, as
Earl Nelson said, opposed the surrender of our Proviso in
the strongest terms.
Aechbishop Tait's Letteb to our Metropolitan.
Earl Nelson's allusion to Archbishop Tait's letter to our
MetropoHtan was timely. The Archbishop was ill and his
death shortly followed. He tried to leave a legacy of peace
to South Africa to undo his former antagonism to Bishop
Gray's action in the Colenso case, just as he tried to minimise
the troubles of S. Alban's, Holborn, by arranging an exchange
for Mr. Mackonochie. His words were a useful comment on
the Grahamstown judgment. He wrote : " No changes
which have taken place in the Church over which you preside
have in any way separated it from the Mother Church of
England. The spiritual union of our members has been in
no way touched by these questions." This is a bold disavowal
of the supposed consequences of the Grahamstown judgment
which has all the more weight from the fact of Archbishop
Tait's strong Erastian tendencies.
THE GRAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 143
My Speech.
I then spoke briefly on the need of building the Gray
Memorial Church in my Parish and said that the effort
now being made to honour the memory of Bishop Gray was
not a mere matter of building a new church or even an out-
ward and visible memorial of him, but it came, as Lord
Nelson had so eloquently and forcibly observed, in the midst
of a crisis. There were those who, for motives of peace no
doubt, wished to withdraw the Proviso on which the Privy
Council gave judgment against the Bishop of Grahamstown
in the late appeal, and the opinions which had been expressed
in England on the point would sink into the hearts of South
African Churchmen, and would encourage those who were
firm and steadfast to continue so.
LoBD Halifax's Speech.
A thoughtful and earnest speech was then made by the
Hon. C. Wood (now Lord Halifax). His chief point was
that the matter in dispute in respect to South Africa was
with regard to the Proviso which deprecated the authority of
the Privy Council in the matters of faith and doctrine.
When he considered the dijfficulties which had been handed
down to the English Church in this respect and the line of
action adopted by the late Bishop Gray and his supporters,
it was heartbreaking to think that for any kind of considera-
tion the Churchmen of South Africa would put themselves
back under the old yoke. As far as the Churchmen of
England were concerned, their heart's core had been moved
by the attitude taken by Churchmen in South Africa, and he
was sure they would receive support in any struggle they
made on behalf of the inherent rights of the Church of Christ,
for in fighting that battle it was felt that they were fighting
a battle for their English brethren as well. There would
144 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
be no real peace if the withdrawal was made, while the effect
would be that the interest of English Churchmen in the
Church of Africa would cease. Within a week of the illness
of Dr. Pusey, he received from him a copy of a petition signed
by the most eminent Professors of Oxford, which it was
intended to present to the Archbishop of Canterbury, praying
him to take such measures, with the advice of the Bishops
of both Provinces, whereby all questions touching the doctrine
of the Church of England should be referred to a spiritual
court. That showed the opinion of English Churchmen ; and
that the Church of Africa would be willing to abandon that
Proviso which preserved its rights appeared to be beyond
their comprehension. (Applause.)
Dr. Phillimore said he felt it necessary to warn the Church
of South Africa not to rescind the Proviso at the coming
Synod, because it would not put them right with the Privy
Council, while it jeopardised their position with regard to the
whole of the property acquired since 1870.
I proposed a vote of thanks to Mr. Beresford Hope for
presiding, and also said that I trusted Dr. Phillimore's words
of warning would be taken to heart by those who were urging
the property question as an argument for repealing the
Proviso.
I Eaise £500 FOB Gray Memoeial Church.
So closed this most momentous meeting, with liberal
subscriptions from those present towards the building of
S. Cuthbert's Gray Memorial Church in Port Elizabeth.
Before I left England I had raised over £500 for the Memorial
Church.
I took care that this meeting should be well reported. I
arranged for a special supplement to the '' Church Times "
with a full report, and I also had a special supplement issued
to the Port Elizabeth " Herald," which gave the same report
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 145
as the "Church Times". I feel convinced that the Derby
meeting had, in a great measure, saved the situation.
Meeting at Oxfoed.
On November 6th I was present at a meeting at Oxford,
held in Merton College, to confer with the Metropolitan on
the proposal to abolish the Proviso. I am the only living
survivor of those present who spoke at that meeting.
The Metropolitan's Firm Stand.
I think I was asked to speak first as I had letters to read
from South Africa. I told the meeting that the movement
to repeal the Proviso had no support outside the Diocese of
Capetown, and that the Colenso faction in Natal were trying
to make common cause with Archdeacon Badnall's supporters.
I said that I was sure that the proposal would be defeated,
and that it was our plain duty to stand fast and maintain our
spiritual liberties at all hazards. I pointed out that the
property question was nothing, and that our spiritual inde-
pendence was everything to us.
The Metropolitan then spoke and rather deprecated my
optimism. He took a gloomy view of the immediate future,
as was natural, because his own diocese was divided into
two hostile camps on the question. But he said his mind
was finally and unalterably made up. He would stand by the
Proviso at all costs and hazards, even if he lost his episcopal
income, which the "anti-Proviso" party were even then
attacking on the pseudo-legal plea that he was not the
" legal " successor of Bishop Gray.
Canons King and Bright.
Canon King (afterwards so widely known and beloved as
the saintly Bishop of Lincoln) then spoke some words of
10
146 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
helpful counsel and urged the South African Church to
steadfastness under trial ; and then Canon Bright made the
most forceful speech of the meeting. I shall never forget it.
He appealed to the Metropolitan as sitting on a " throne of
thorns," as the successor of Eobert Gray. He gave him his
deepest sympathy in his difficulties, and said that the coming
Provincial Synod at Capetown was a crucial trial for the
whole Anglican Communion. The immediate question must
be for the Metropolitan and the Synod to put aside all
questions of expediency and to think solely what would be
the verdict of Church history on their actions 200 years hence.
The whole Anglican claim to be Catholic and Primitive in
faith, doctrine and discipline was at stake in the coming
Provincial Synod. It would be a test and a sifting. If the
Unestablished and Free South African Church, of its own
motion, put its neck under the yoke of the Privy Council by
abolishing the Proviso, the consequences would be far-
reaching and disastrous. '' There would be," he believed,
" a large secession to Eome on the part of many of the
younger men, who even now feel the galling bond of the
Privy Council in England. We keep their allegiance because
we tell them that the English Church, as a spiritual body, has
never assented to the Privy Council as her final Court of
Appeal. The State has forced it on her against her will.
If you in South Africa voluntarily adopt what we are now
protesting against, many will say that there is no hope for
the spiritual independence or the Catholic life of the Anglican
Church as a whole." This is the purport of Canon Bright's
burning words. He closed his speech by a fervent appeal,
dramatic in voice and gesture, to the Metropolitan to be firm,
and very abruptly left the room to keep an urgent appoint-
ment. He was gone. We were silent — caught up in the
spiritual whirlwind of his forceful eloquence, the gist of
which I am only able to reproduce. The meeting somewhat
abruptly closed.
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 147
My Sermon at Derby for S.P.G.
I omitted to mention that at the Derby Church Congress I
was invited to preach the S.P.G. Congress sermon at S.
Alkmund's Church. I took the opportunity of saying that
the " Society " method of conducting missionary work was
inherently faulty. The Church of England should deal with
her missionary problems by a '' Board of Missions," as the
American Church has always done, and not by means of
party societies. At the subsequent S.P.G. meeting I was
taken to task for my suggestion by Archdeacon Emery, the
"Father of the Church Congress". But I have lived to see
a general " Board of Missions " established, though the party
societies are not dead. The outcome of the Kikuyu contro-
versy ought to end party Protestantism in the mission field ;
but the end is, I fear, not yet.
Meeting with Lord Carnarvon.
Just after the Derby Church Congress I went to Highclere
to preach for the S.P.G. Lord Carnarvon was at church and
came into the vestry after service to ask me to lunch with
him. I took the opportunity to enlighten him with regard
to the South African Church question, which bore some fruit
afterwards in an excellent speech he made at a public meet-
ing on Church matters. He was a most charming and
courteous host. His keen interest in South Africa was
unabated, and I had a chance of delivering my soul on Sir
Bartle Frere and the Zulu War. I was most keenly ques-
tioned and cross-questioned about South African politics. I
had a good deal to say and took the opportunity of saying it
plainly.
Shortly after the Derby meeting I was in London and had
two memorable interviews with Dean Church and Canon
Liddon. Canon Liddon was very kind to me before I sailed
10*
148 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
to South Africa in 1874. He asked me to his house and
gave me much wise counsel, which he followed up with
writing to me from time to time. I met him on the steps of
S. Paul's and he greeted me with his wonted affectionate
warmth of manner, taking both my hands and saying how
glad he was to see me again. We had much talk upon the
Proviso question, and he was most insistent upon the duty
of the South African Church to stand firm. I always re-
garded him as my " Master in Theology," and he taught me
more than anyone I ever knew. I never saw him again after
this meeting, and I felt his death as a personal loss.
I saw Dean Church at the Deanery, and he showed me
round his historic house with that wonderful charm of
manner which was all his own. He was as strong as Canon
Liddon on the Proviso question, and told me he had made a
special appointment to meet our Metropolitan to cheer him
up and hearten him for the confliict that lay before him in
the Provincial Synod of 1883. When the battle was won in
that Synod I wrote to tell him about it and he replied : " I
am much obliged to you for your interesting letter. You
have weathered a very grave crisis in a way which may
excite envy elsewhere. For the adverse case was a plausible
one, and questions of property are always full of rocks and
shoals which do not appear on the surface but are none the
less full of danger. In every way but one the result is
satisfactory. It is satisfactory that the clergy have been so
unwavering, and it is satisfactory that the laity have re-
sponded so heartily to their lead. Of course, the exception
to all this is that the mover and seconder (of the anti-Proviso
resolution) should have been men of such weight and should
have been so blind to what was obvious to many trained in
much lower schools than they. Probably the day is not
distant when we shall all cease to talk Erastianism."
The Dean's optimism in 1883 has not been justified by
events. Sir W. Harcourt and others indulged in a very
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 149
orgie of Erastianism in the so-called Church crisis of 1898.
And nothing will kill Erastianisro in England till the Church
is disestablished.
Dean Church and Canon Liddon.
I had been to service at Westminster Abbey and I happened
to remark to Dean Church how much I preferred the service
at S. Paul's which was then at the zenith of its fame under
Sir John Stainer. He replied, with graceful charity, '' You
see, we have so many advantages at S. Paul's ". The Abbey
has wonderfully improved since those days, and anyone who
knows what Precentor Daniell Bainbridge has done for the
Abbey and its worship during his long tenure of the Pre-
centorship, will realise that it has become a true centre of
devotion.
My Sermon at Lichfield Cathedral.
I had a very happy experience of another English Cathedral
during this visit to England. I was asked to preach in
Lichfield Cathedral, the scene of the sacred memories of my
Ordination as Dean and Priest. I stood by the grave of
Bishop Selwyn in the Close, and thought of all he had been
to me. I preached on the recently restored West Front,
with its beautiful statues which formed a historic " sermon
in stone " which helped me to set before the people the
Catholic Faith of the Anglican Communion, which Bishop
Gray and Bishop Merriman had so nobly upheld in South
Africa. I tried to give a clear explanation of our South
African difficulties, and the sermon was published and subse-
quently included in a volume of sermons which I published
in 1893, entitled "The Spirit of Liberty".
Bishop Jackson at Fulham.
I called at Fulham, because Bishop Jackson, who had been
at Reading School with my uncle, Colonel Wlrgman, kindly
150 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
wished to see me. He was very pleasant and friendly. He
was very much struck by my pointing out to him a curious
and little remembered fact of Church history, with regard to
the relation of Convocation to Parliament, when we were
discussing the relations of Church and State. We were in
the Palace Library, and I saw the Journals of the House of
Lords for 1662, the year of the last Eevision of the Prayer
Book. When the Book was before the House of Lords a
verbal error in the Baptismal Service was notified. But the
House did not correct it hy its own authority. The Bishop
of Durham, with the Bishops of S. Asaph and Carlisle were
deputed by the Upper House of Convocation " to mend the
said word. And accordingly they came to the clerk's table
and amended the same". I asked the Bishop to allow me to
show him the reference to this transaction in the " Lords'
Journal ". He was quite pleased when I found the reference,
and he agreed with me that the incident showed the great
care taken by Parliament in those days not to encroach upon
the legitimate authority of Convocation. I remember that the
Bishop thought that Parliament had forgotten to be so care-
ful of the rights of the Church nowadays. It was a trivial
incident, but it impressed itself on my memory.
\
Dr. Littledale and Mr. Maokonochie.
I met the famous Dr. Littledale and he amused me very
much with his racy Irish wit and his keen comments on
Church matters. I went to S. Alban's, Holborn, and heard
Mr. Mackonochie pay an eloquent and touching tribute to
the memory of Father O'Neill, who had just died in India.
I had a long talk on Church matters with Mr. Mackonochie
at the Clergy House. I remember his saying that no power
to dispense with the rule of Fasting Communion existed any-
where in the Church, " and that, in cases of bodily infirmity,
he adopted clinical Communion in every instance". This
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 161
was typical of his Scottish logical rigidity. If he had read
the famous Dispensation granted by Benedict XIV to " King
James the Third " (almost a volume in itself) he might have
altered his mind. But he deeply impressed me as a great
and self-denying hero, and confessor of the Faith. Most
men would have been even then broken, as he ultimately
was, by the persecution he had undergone. He was the very
type of man that Horace had in mind when he said : —
lustum et tenacem propositi virum
Non civium ardor prava iubentium,
Non voltus instantis tyranni
Mente quatit solida neque Auster,
Dux inquieti turbidus Hadrise,
Nee fulminantis magna manus lovis ;
Si fractis inlabatur orbis,
Inpavidum ferient ruinse.^
Horace, Odes III. 3.
Debate in House of Commons.
Whilst I was in London I saw Mr. Beresford Hope and
we re-discussed the issue of the Derby meeting on the South
African Church question. I had known him as a boy, in the
days when my father brought to his notice the village lad
who was afterwards known as James Redfern, the sculptor.
He took me to hear a debate in the House of Commons.
I heard Mr. Gladstone's oratory, but the rest of the speeches
did not impress me. I thought Sir W. Harcourt had an
insufferable "Parliamentary manner". My general im-
pression of the House of Commons was that it was an
^ For tlie benefit of those who may be a little hehindhatid with their
Horace, I venture to append Lord Lytton's translation :
Not the rage of the million commanding things evil,
Not the doom frowning near in the brows of the tyrant,
Shakes the upright and resolute man
In his solid completeness of soul.— Ed.
152 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
overburdened assembly, quite unfit to deal with the affairs of
the wide-flung territories of our Empire. The Empire was too
large and the men too small. Fortunately, Indian affairs are
practically left in the hands of a small number of experts.
The Self-Governing Dominions are responsible for their own
affairs and the Crown Colonies are dealt with, practically, by
the permanent officials of the Colonial Office. So that the
power for mischief in the House of Commons is considerably
modified.
Naturally, I regarded the British Parliament from the
point of view of a Colonist who had not forgotten Majuba.
We returned to South Africa at the end of 1882, and I
found I had been elected, as one of the six clerical repre-
sentatives of the Diocese of Grahamstown, to sit in the
memorable Provincial Synod of January, 1883. I felt ready
for the work, since my chief anxiety was relieved, as my
wife's health had been wonderfully improved by our visit to
England.
The Peovincial Synod of 1883.
The Provincial Synod met at Capetown, and the question
of the Proviso overshadowed all minor issues. A formidable
opposition in favour of repealing the Proviso had been
organised by Archdeacons Badnall and Fogg with some in-
fluential clergy and laity of the Cape Diocese. The
Bishops of the Province, headed by the veteran Bishop Welby
of S. Helena, stood by the Proviso in support of the Metro-
politan. It must be borne in mind that the South African
Church, in consonance with the Canon Law of Christendom,
regards the Bishops of the Province as the true and respon-
sible "Provincial Synod". The House of the Clergy is for
counsel and advice to the Bishops, and the House of Laity
gives " assent " to the Decrees of the Synod, although it has
a conservative power of dissenting from any proposed change
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDRAL CASE 153
in the Constitution and Canons. It exercised this power of
" dissent " in refusing, on a vote by orders, to accept Arch-
deacon Badnall's proposal to alter the Constitution by re-
pealing the Third Proviso. But if the House of Laity and
the House of Clergy had assented to this proposal, the
House of Bishops, as the true "Provincial Synod," would
have placed their veto upon it, as solely, and ultimately,
responsible for the Faith, Doctrines and Discipline of the
South African Church, as a Province of the Holy Catholic
Church.
This relation of the House of Bishops to the Clerical and
Lay Houses must always be borne in mind in considering
South African Church matters. The laity with us have no
power to deal directly with questions of faith and doctrine.
I was much impressed by the dignified arrangements of
this first Provincial Synod in which I sat as a member.
The Cathedral altar was screened off by a curtain, and in
front of it were the Bishops, in their scarlet chimeres, in a
semi-circle, with the Metropolitan in the centre, sitting in the
historic Chair of Robert Gray with the Metropolitical Cross
in its place beside him. The Cross was historic, as it
was presented to Bishop Gray by Mr. Beresford Hope and
others at the Wolverhampton Church Congress in the midst
of the strain and stress of the Colenso conflict. According to
ancient usage, upon a desk before our Metropolitan was the
Book of the Gospels which was opened each day when the
Synod opened, and closed at the end of each Session. The
House of Clergy and their Prolocutor occupied the Choir of
the Cathedral, and the House of Laity sat outside the screen,
in the Nave.
The Debate on the Third Proviso.
Archdeacon Badnall moved the repeal of the Proviso in a
speech of five hours' duration, mercifully sundered in the
154 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
midst by the rising of the Synod for the midday interval.
Archdeacon Fogg seconded the motion in a frankly Erastian
speech, in which he claimed Laud and Jeremy Taylor as
Erastians pure and simple.
Its Grave Issues.
Those of us who were defending the Proviso had, at a
previous private meeting, arranged amongst ourselves which
parts of this difficult and complex subject each of us would
deal with. Most able speeches were made by Dean Green
{vide my '* Life of Dean Green," Vol. II), Archdeacon White
of Grahamstown, Archdeacon Croghan of Bloemfontein, and
Canon Espin of Grahamstown. In the course of his speech
Archdeacon White remarked that no Colonial diocese had
ever accepted Privy Council decisions in matters of faith and
doctrine as authoritative. Archdeacon Badnall interrupted
him by saying that the Diocese of Adelaide had done so.
I had come to the Synod furnished with copies of all the
Canons and Constitutions of the different Colonial Churches.
I rose to say that Archdeacon Badnall was in error. I read
from the Canons of the Diocese of Adelaide to prove that the
Archdeacon's assertion was groundless, and I laid the
Canons of the Diocese of Adelaide on the table of the Synod
for reference. The Archdeacon's supporters looked some-
what taken aback. It fell to my lot to deal with that part of
the subject which proved that the Church of England had
never, Synodically or otherwise, assented to the usurped
ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Privy Council. It was easy
enough to prove this from the action taken, at the time of
the Gorham judgment, by the United Episcopate of England
in introducing a Bill into the House of Lords to constitute a
Spiritual Tribunal of Appeal instead of the Privy Council.
I could not help reminding Archdeacon Fogg that Jeremy
Taylor was no Erastian. I quoted his words where he says
THE GEAHAMSTOWN CATHEDEAL CASE 156
that "the intrusion of secular judges into spiritual arbitra-
tions is a mischevious heretical trick ". " Where did he say
that?" interrupted the Archdeacon. I told hirD, and he
subsided.
The Metropolitan made an admirable speech, full of sound
learning and sober argument, which had a great influence on
the laity. The aged Bishop of S. Helena spoke vehemently
against the abolition of the Proviso. So did the other Bishops
and so did some of the laity.
The Lay House Eejects the Erastian Proposal to
Abolish the Proviso.
Eventually a vote by orders was taken, which involved, in
the first instance, the " assent " or " dissent " of the laity to a
proposal to alter the constitution. The motion to abolish the
Proviso was lost by a substantial majority in the House of
the Laity. We knew quite well that if the laity had accepted
it the clergy would have rejected it, and behind them lay the
decisive vote of the true " Provincial Synod " — the House of
Bishops. But it was a very great satisfaction to all of us
that the laity withheld their assent to the abolition of the
Proviso. It showed that they had learnt the lesson of pre-
serving our ecclesiastical liberties.
The Synod sat for a fortnight and ^id much useful work.
We joined in its closing " Te Deum " with thankful hearts.
The South African Church had been faithful to its trust. The
defeated party gave trouble for a time, but the work of the
Synod of 1883, in securing the spiritual independence of
the South African Church, has been permanent.
CHAPTEE V.
The Basuto War of 1880-81— The Revolt of the Transvaal, and Majuba
— Cecil Rhodes — General Gordon — Hofmeyr and the Bond — Ec-
clesiastical and Political Reminiscences to the end of 1889.
*
The Basuto War on the Question of Disarmament.
Once more I must pick up the tangled skein of our story after
the recall of Sir Bartle Frere. My own impressions of it are
just as vivid now as they were at the time. In September,
1880, the Cape Colony was once more faced with a serious
Native war, which was ultimately barren of results and cost
the Colony three millions of money. The Sprigg Ministry,
with the sympathy and support of Colonists generally, passed
an Act to disarm the Natives after the Kafir War of 1877.
The Act was enforced without much difficulty in the
Transkeian territory, but it was a very different matter to
enforce it in Basutoland. The Basutos had been welded into
a military nation for some forty years by the astuteness of
Moshesh, the Paramount Chief, who was a man of remarkable
political genius. His was an instance of the gifts of govern-
ment and organisation which South African Natives un-
doubtedly possess. He did not set up a blood-stained tyranny
like Chaka, Cetewayo, or Lo Bengula. He welded his people
together by diplomacy and leadership, and made a nation out
of the fragments of broken tribes who fled for refuge from
Moselikatze to the Basutoland mountains in the early
*' thirties ".
156
THE BASUTO WAR OF 1880-81 157
MOSHESH AND SiR G. CaTHCART IN 1852.
Sir George Cathcart, the unfortunate Governor of the Cape,
who was killed at Inkerman in 1854, tried conclusions with
Moshesh in 1852, and got badly beaten in the battle of the
Berea. The 12th Lancers suffered severely and Sir George
and his Staff" narrowly escaped capture. The morning after
the battle Moshesh sent a letter to Sir George, in which he
was too diplomatic to boast of his victory. He said, " You
have shown your power; we have been chastised. Let it
be enough, I pray you ". Sir George rapidly concluded peace.
He was only too thankful to extricate his troops from further
defeat, and to be able to show Moshesh's letter as an excuse
for his withdrawal.
Moshesh and the Free State.
Some years after this episode Moshesh got involved in a
quarrel wdth the Orange Free State, and Sir Philip Wood-
house, the Governor of the Cape, relieved the situation by
proclaiming Basutoland British territory in 1868.
The Annexation of Basutoland.
Moshesh wrote a message asking to be permitted to live
'' under the large folds of the Flag of England," but he did
not mean to allow his own authority to be diminished. He
considered himself to be in the same position as the Princes
of the independent Native States in India, and he meant to
keep Basutoland for the Basutos. He admitted a British
Resident, appointed by the Cape Government, and for some
time there was peace and order in Basutoland. After the
death of Moshesh, his successor lacked his governing powers.
In an evil moment the Sprigg Ministry tried to enforce the
Disarmament Act on the Basutos. The result was war, which
158 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
cost the Cape Colony money we could ill afford and many
valuable lives.
The Basuto War was Virtually a Drawn Game.
The Colony put 18,000 men into the field and fought with-
out any Imperial aid, whilst rash speeches of sympathy with
the Basutos, from agitators in England, strengthened them in
their resistance. Early in the war, a body of mounted
Basutos charged home with their battle axes and defeated the
Grahamstown Yeomanry. Their Adjutant (afterwards well
known as Colonel Dalgety, the brave defender of Wepener in
the Boer War) told me the whole story. The Yeomanry
were taken by surprise and over thirty were killed in a few
minutes. Dalgety escaped by using his clubbed carbine and
by being mounted on a powerful charger. The defeat put
Grahamstown into mourning. The Basutos suffered severely
in several subsequent actions. On one occasion their mounted
men charged the Colonial Infantry in the open and lost
heavily. The Colonial troops behaved with great steadiness
and gallantr}' in this unsuccessful campaign. One of the
Ojfficers won the Victoria Cross, which was at that time first
opened to the Colonial as well as the Imperial Forces. I had
to arrange for all the Chaplains' duties in this campaign, as
Senior Chaplain to the Colonial Forces, although I could not
go myself owing to the impossibility of getting a locum tenens
for my work in Port Elizabeth. But I managed to arrange
for the work to be done satisfactorily. We put into the field
a detachment of Cape Colony Dutchmen, who were just then
politically excited with the imminence of rebellion in the
Transvaal, owing to the recall of Sir Bartle Frere and the
blunderings of Wolseley and Lanyon.
Transvaal Eevolt in 1880.
On December 13th, 1880, Kruger raised the standard of
revolt, and proclaimed the Eepublic. As a logical conse-
EBVOLT OF THE TRANSVAAL, AND MAJUBA 159
quence, our Colonial Dutchmen declined to serve any longer
in the Basuto Campaign, and we were forced to conclude a
peace in which neither side could claim victory.
Basutoland Administered by the Imperial
Government.
The Cape Colony then asked the Imperial Government to
relieve them of the administration of Basutoland, and since
the final ratification of this change by the Cape Parliament in
1883, Basutoland has been administered from the Colonial
Office. There has been no attempt at any government by
force. Successive, and it is fair to add, successful. Admini-
strators have been appointed who have advised the Paramount
Chief and kept order in the country. Men were chosen, like
Sir Godfrey Lagden, who knew the Basutos, and they have been
given a free hand by the Colonial Office, with the best possible
results. The Basutos have steadily progressed as a nation,
and the only future danger lies in their fixed determination
to keep white men, and especially prospectors for minerals,
out of the country. The least South Africa can do for the
Basutos is to respect their independence, coupled, as it is,
with loyalty to the Flag of the Empire. Missionaries have
done and are doing excellent work in Basutoland. The
Church has a good hold under Bishop Balfour, our Missionary
Assistant Bishop for Basutoland. The French Missionaries
have also done good work, and so have the Eoman Catholics,
who have made a convert of the present Paramount Chief.
The "Pitso" or National Council of the Basuto people,
assembles yearly and passes Ordinances, which are subse-
quently sanctioned at the discretion of the High Com-
missioner and the Imperial Resident of Basutoland.
Resignation of Sprigg Ministry.
The Basuto War caused the resignation of the Sprigg
Ministry. The x\frikander Bond was developed by Mr.
160 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Hofmeyr, out of the existing Farmers' Associations, into a
political machine of wonderful power and organisation. The
awakening of the Dutch national spirit, which was the out-
come of Mr. Froude's rash oratory in 1875, was a good thing
in itself, if it had not developed on anti-British and racial
lines. The South African Dutch had no such grievances as
the Irish Nationalists had. But they exploited such grievances
as they had with a Teutonic doggedness, which was blended
with the fervour of the Huguenot strain in their race. The
memories of the Downing Street blunders that were the
moving force of the " Great Trek " in the " thirties," which
founded the Eepublics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free
State, and their aspirations for a " United South Africa "
under their own flag, led them into two parallel movements.
HOFMEYB FORMS THE SCANLEN MINISTRY.
Mr. Hofmeyr believed in '^ constitutional methods ". His
ideal was a virtually independent South Africa, ruled entirely by
its Dutch majority, and yet in such an alliance with England
as would guarantee to our coasts the protection of the British
Fleet against possible aggression from any European Power.
He was an able and clear-sighted statesman and was opposed
to the "physical force" policy of Kruger and his Transvaal
entourage. I knew him well. In his heart of hearts he
knew that South Africa could not stand alone. He controlled
the wilder spirits of the Afrikander Bond and caused them
to keep their idea of "an independent South African flag"
in the background. He made the Bond pass loyal resolutions
to Queen Victoria, and kept on good personal terms with the
High Commissioner. But he was determined to guide the
policy of South Africa. He had no leading men in his own
Party capable of forming a Ministry, so he used British
politicians, like Mr. Merriman, who had a personal grievance
against the Sprigg Ministry, since Sir Bartle Frere put it in
REVOLT OF THE TRANSVAAL, AND MAJUBA 161
office in succession to the Molteno-Merriman Cabinet which
he dismissed. Out of these materials Mr. Hofmeyr formed
the Scanlen Cabinet, in which he took office himself as
" Minister without Portfolio ".
The Majuba Suerendeb was not Dictated by
Magnanimity.
The new Ministry took office on the crest of the wave of
Afrikander triumph on account of the Gladstone surrender
after Majuba.
The story is too well known to repeat in detail. Lord
Kimberley told England at the opening of the Boer War in
1899, that he and his colleagues of the Gladstone Ministry in
1881 did not yield to Kruger on grounds of " magnanimity,"
as was so loudly said at the time. The Majuba surrender, as
Lord Kimberley said, was the direct outcome of the action of
President Brand of the Free State, who said that if peace
were not made at once he could no longer hold the Free
State back from declaring war on England — a step which
would have been obviously followed by the revolt of most of
the Cape Dutch. At the time no one in South Africa believed
in the ''magnanimity" theory, least of all the victorious
Dutchmen, who lost no possible opportunities of humiliating
the South African British. The iron entered into our souls.
I can never forget those bygone miserable days. When
Kruger proclaimed the Republic at the close of 1880, the
prevailing feeling of British South Africans was contemptuous
disgust at the ineptitudes and follies of British Administration
in the Transvaal.
The Wolseley and Lanyon Blunders.
When Wolseley told a great gathering of Boers that the
British Flag would remain in Pretoria as long as the sun
rose and set in the heavens, his hearers were not in the least
11
162 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
impressed by his oratorical siraile. When Lanyon talked
about enforcing " the law " by military force, the Boers
knew that they held the small Transvaal garrisons in the
hollow of their hand.
WOLSELEY AND JOUBEBT.
Sir Garnet Wolseley met Joubert, after he had made his
miserable Zulu settlement, with its thirteen "kinglets".
Joubert spoke strongly to Sir Garnet about the retrocession
of the Transvaal. Sir Garnet replied that England was not
greedy of territory, because he had just given Zululand hack
to the Zulus, after conquering Zululand. Joubert promptly
seized the opening for a smart rejoinder. " You English
give back Zululand to the savage and uncivilised Zulus, but
you refuse to give back the Transvaal to Christian and
civilised white men. Your restoration of Zululand, whilst
you refuse to restore the Transvaal to the Boers, is an addi-
tional insult to us." When Joubert spoke to this effect it is
recorded that Sir Garnet realised that he had made a serious
blunder in alluding to Zululand at all. But this was but a
microscopic ineptitude in comparison with the other blunders
and follies committed by the Wolseley-Lanyon Administration
of the Transvaal.
The last chance of a peaceful settlement had vanished
when Sir Bartle Frere was recalled. But British South
Africans had an idea that Gladstone would make good his
final dispatch to Kruger, in which he said that the British
Flag would remain in the Transvaal and that no restoration
of the Republic was possible. We could not believe that the
Premier of Great Britain would recede from his pledged and
published words.
Bronkhobst Spbuit.
Our first news was of the Bronkhorst Spruit disaster, when
Colonel Anstruther and the Headquarters of the 94th were
EEVOLT OF THE TRANSVAAL, AND MAJUBA 163
out to pieces en route to Pretoria. The Boer Commander sent
a flag of truce to the Colonel, and told him that the Republic
would not allow British troops to leave their existing stations
in the Transvaal. Naturally, the Colonel refused to turn
back, and, in a very few minutes, fifty-five men were killed,
and seven officers and ninety-one men wounded. Colonel
Anstruther was mortally wounded, and died shortly after his
surrender. A travel- worn, haggard and exhausted man.
Conductor Egerton, found his way to Pretoria with the
colours of the regiment wound round his body. The Boers
behaved with great humanity to the wounded. Sir George
Colley (Wolseley's successor as High Commissioner), Gover-
nor of Natal, and a General of conspicuous military ability,
took the field in person to relieve the besieged Transvaal
garrisons.
JouBERT Invades Natal.
But General Joubert, the Boer Commander, anticipated
him by invading Natal and occupying the strong defensive
position of Laing's Nek. This invasion of British territory
made us all wonder what was going to happen next.
Defeat of Laing's Nek and Ingogo.
We knew all too soon. We heard with amazement of the
defeats of Laing's Nek and Ingogo, whilst we were cheered
by the knowledge that the small garrisons of Lydenburg,
Potchefstroom and Standerton were holding their own.
Siege of Pretoria.
At Pretoria the garrison was aided by the British citizens^
who served as Volunteers and raised a useful force called
the "Pretoria Carabineers," of which Sir Rider Haggard,
11*
164 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
then in the British Civil Service of the Transvaal, was
Adjutant.
Majuba, and Death of Sir G. Colley.
On February 27th, 1881, Sir George Colley, by a well-
planned march on the previous night, occupied the precipitous
heights of the Majuba mountain, which outflanked and
commanded the Boer position at Laing's Nek. Joubert saw
at once that unless he could turn the British off Majuba he
must retreat as quickly as possible. Sir George had about
400 men with him on Majuba that morning, many of them
veterans, who had been decorated for that wonderful march
of Eoberts on Candahar. There was a small Naval Brigade
as well, and Sir George signalled his success to be cabled to
London, which was also wired all over South Africa. The
morning's news cheered us all up when we heard it. We all
thought Sir George was going to redeem his former failures.
But late in the afternoon I went into the town and saw the
Town Hall flag flying half-mast. I knew by instinct that
something terrible had happened. I rushed off to get the
news and heard how the Boers had climbed the precipitous
mountain side and gained the plateau at the top of Majuba,
almost before our men were aware of the attack. They
poured in a hot and deadly fire upon our surprised troops,
who made but a feeble response. Sir George did his best to
rally them, but his efforts were useless. He died as a gallant
soldier should, with his face to the foe, a pathetic and solitary
figure, deserted by all his men, who fled, panic-stricken, down
the mountain side, with heavy loss from the accurate fire of
the storming party of Boers, who were inferior to them in
numbers and who only lost one man killed and five wounded
in their successful attempt to storm a position well deemed
impregnable when defended by 400 picked British troops and
bluejackets.
EEVOLT OF THE TEANSYAAL, AND MAJUBA 165
Lord Egberts at Paardeberg on Majuba Day, 1900.
Isandhlwana was a bitter memory of defeat, lightened only
by the story of 600 brave men who died fighting with their
faces towards the foe. Majuba was a disgrace to British
arms, which bit like corrosive acid into the heart of every
British South African. The army and the whole Empire felt
the disgrace in a lesser measure, and Lord Eoberts gauged
its true importance nineteen years afterwards when he alluded
in his dispatch announcing the surrender of Cronje (the
traitor of Potchefstroom and the capturer of Jameson) with
4000 Boers at Paardeberg on February 27th (Majuba Day),
1900, as at length wiping out the bitter memory of Majuba
from the annals of the Empire.
One must admit that it was a brilliant feat of arms on the
part of the Boers, of which they are justly proud. But when
President Kruger proclaimed the anniversary of Majuba as a
public holiday in the Transvaal, and forced the large British
population at Johannesburg and other Transvaal towns to
observe it by closing their places of business, the sore was
left open. The bitter memory of Majuba was one of the
efficient causes of the Boer War of 1899.
The word "Majuba " became a common taunt for a Boer
to fling at an Englishman, if they quarrelled, during that long
interval between 1881 and 1900. We never hear it mentioned
now. Paardeberg is remembered instead of Majuba by
Englishmen, and both races in the Union of South Africa are
trying to forget the bitter past. The most evil legacy of
Majuba was the utter contempt for the British army and for
everything British which filled the minds of the Boers. I re-
member that the State Secretary of the Transvaal said,
"God help poor Tommy ! " when war was declared in 1899.
The war restored that mutual respect between Boer and
Briton that Majuba had destroyed.
The misery and heart-sickness of British South Africans
166 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
when the story of Majuba became known was a little
lessened by the fact that we knew Sir Evelyn Wood, with an
adequate force, was within striking distance of the victorious
Boers. And then we heard that Lord Roberts (then Sir F.
Roberts), the hero of Candahar, was appointed to succeed
Sir G. Colley as Commander-in-Chief and Governor of Natal.
Afterwards there came a pause.
SiK E. Wood Forced to Make Peace After Majuba.
We heard that Sir Evelyn Wood had arranged an armistice
with the Boers. What could it mean? Those who have
read Sir Evelyn's fascinating autobiography know full well
what it meant to that gallant soldier and the troops under his
command. We held our breaths in suspense.
It was unthinkable that the Gladstone Government would
yield to the victorious Boers what had been refused in answer
to petitions for independence sent in before the revolt.
If we South Africans had realised that it was cowardice and
not magnanimity (as Lord Kimberley subsequently made
known) that caused this abject and ignominious surrender to
the Boer demands, I believe we should have taken up arms
against the Boers on our own account. But we did not
know, when the unthinkable actually came to pass. I, for
one, hoped for some solution that would have saved the
honour of the British Flag. But my hopes were vain. I
had a private wire from the Cape Premier, telling me of the
" peace with dishonour " that had been concluded by the
Gladstone Government. I took the telegram to the British
Officer in charge of " re-mounts " at Port Elizabeth, who had
been working hard to supply Sir Evelyn Wood's demands for
horses. When he read it he looked a stricken man and re-
lieved his feelings by using some very lurid language, for
which he apologised as soon as he got his breath. At the
back of my mind I felt that his eloquence hardly needed an
EEVOLT OF THE TEANSVAAL, AND MAJUBA 167
apology. He afterwards became a distinguished General
Officer. For several years after Majuba I felt miserable at
the sight of the Union Jack. The Flag of the Empire was
so dishonoured in the thoughts of an average British South
African that one had rather turn away than look at it.
Effect of Majuba on the Akmy.
When I went to England in 1882, on board the steamer
there was a considerable body of troops who were returning
from Natal. I acted as Chaplain, and I shall never forget
the bitterness of the rank and file. The officers said little,
but the men were crushed. Their morale had gone. The
shadow of Majuba was upon them. British South Africans
are not an emotional people. We were amazed during the
Boer War when we heard that London had gone mad when
Maf eking was relieved. But after Majuba things were said
and done which showed that we had been stirred to the very
depths. A few days after the false ''Peace," which we all
knew was no real peace, was signed, I saw the people of
Port Elizabeth stirred as I have never seen them stirred
before or since, save, perhaps, in the anti-German riots of
1915. In after years I have seen our people cheer Baden
Powell after the city presented him with a sword of honour.
I have seen them welcome the Duke of Connaught, and
welcome Chamberlain and Cecil Ehodes, with an enthusiasm
of joy. The enthusiasm of hate and despair is an ugly thing
to see. The Pretoria British had seen the Flag hauled down
and the Boer " Vierkleur " run up in its place. They made
a solemn procession and buried the British Flag.
Joubert, although he opposed Kruger's war policy in after
days, had said at the Peace negotiations to Sir Evelyn Wood
that it would not be a lasting peace, for the Boers meant to
have South Africa to themselves. We, too, knew that the
Majuba surrender meant a terrible war in the future, or, as
the alternative, the loss of South Africa to the Empire.
168 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFBICA
Port Elizabeth Burns Gladstone's Effigy.
The Port Elizabeth people did not bury the Flag, for it
still flew over us, disgraced as it had been by the surrender.
But the Port Elizabeth people burnt Gladstone in effigy. I
saw the crowd, fierce with suppressed passion, carrying the
effigy of the Prime Minister of Great Britain, and burning it
with yells of execration. Henceforth the British people of
South Africa were silent with the silence of despair, the
silence of a minority, with no answer to make to a triumphant
majority, who held us in contempt. We were powerless,
politically, in the Cape Parliament. The loyalists of the
Transvaal were ruined, and no one could help. If, instead
of the ignominious surrender. Sir Evelyn Wood had been
allowed to attack, and keep things going till the arrival of
Sir F. Roberts, who would have had plenty of reinforcements,
20,000 troops would have sufficed to show the Transvaalers
that they were not going to haul down the British Flag in
1881. It took 200,000 troops between 1899 and 1902 to do
the work which could so easily have been done in 1881.
When Sir F. Roberts landed at Capetown with his Staff
in 1881, he was curtly ordered back to England by the next
steamer. He felt the blow bitterly, as the miserable *' Peace "
was concluded whilst he was on the water. It was strange
indeed that the veteran Field-Marshal, Lord Roberts, should
land once more at Capetown in 1900 to complete the work
he was not even allowed to begin in 1881. The work has
been done, and a United South Africa, more wonderful and
speedy in its reconstruction by far than America after the
Civil War, has been built upon the foundation of the blood
and tears of the Great Boer War.
Lord Roberts at Capetown in 1900.
Lord Roberts made a remarkable speech at Capetown,
when he had a public reception on December 10th, 1900,
GENEEAL GORDON AND CECIL RHODES 169
after the capture of Pretoria and the close of the first chapter
of the Boer War. He spoke of his disappointment in being
sent out in 1881 on what seemed to be a fool's errand. As
a deeply religious man he said that Mr. Gladstone's recalling
him in 1881 was the over-ruling act of God. He could have
avenged Majuba, but he would have been only a leader of
Imperial troops. The war of 1899 had united the forces of
the whole Empire, and the veteran soldier said with pride
that he was the first British Field-Marshal who had ever led
to battle the Imperial and Colonial troops of a United
Empire. The cost and losses of the war were, in his opinion,
counterbalanced by the great fact that Canadians, Australians,
New Zealanders and South Africans had fought side by side
with the Imperial troops, as a united army, under his com-
mand, and for the first time in history, we had fought as a
United Empire. This view taken by England's greatest
soldier is noteworthy and remarkable.
Geneeal Gordon in South Africa.
When Lord Ripon became Viceroy of India, after the
Gladstone Ministry took office, he took General Gordon with
him as Private Secretary. He resigned the appointment a
day or two after reaching Bombay, because Lord Ripon had
asked him to acknowledge a pamphlet received from a leading
Parsee, stating that the Viceroy thanked him for sending it,
and had read it with interest. But Lord Ripon had not read
it, so Gordon declined to write the letter. He immediately
resigned and left India. He accepted the post of Commandant-
General to the Cape Colonial Forces, and for some little time
held the appointment. It was then that he made the ac-
quaintance of Cecil Rhodes.
Gordon and Rhodes.
The two men, so opposite in temperament, were very much
drawn to one another, and when General Gordon left South
170 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Africa he asked Rhodes to go with him to the, Soudan. At
that time Rhodes, though much drawn to accept the offer
from his admiration for Gordon, felt bound to decline, because
he had just entered the Scanlen Cabinet as Treasurer-General.
Gordon left South Africa rather abruptly. He was not the
sort of man to serve a Colony with responsible government.
He detested politicians, and, unfortunately, Mr. Sauer, then
Minister of Native Affairs at the Cape, was a type of man
incapable of assimilating Gordon's high ideals.
His Difference with the Cape Minister.
The Cabinet asked Gordon to go to Basutoland to pacify
the country after the war. He went and made friends with
the leading chiefs. But Mr. Sauer went after him and tried
to meddle with his arrangements. Friction of an acute nature
immediately occurred. One of the leading chiefs had been
in close relations with Gordon and Mr. Sauer intervened.
General Gordon said that this intervention caused the chief
to mistrust him, and endangered his life. He was determined
to have a free hand in Basutoland, or throw up his appoint-
ment. The Ministry declined to give him a free hand, so he
resigned, and South Africa lost the services of a great man
and a noble idealist.
I thought much of what he might have done for us (if he
had not been driven away from South Africa by politicians
unfit to black his boots) when I conducted a Memorial Service
for him at S. Mary's, after we heard the news of the fall of
Khartoum and the death of a Christian hero who was sans
peur et sans r&proclie.
Cecil Rhodes, His Aims and Character.
I said just previously that he discerned the elements of
greatness in Cecil Rhodes. I knew Rhodes well, and shall
I
GENEKAL GOEDON AND CECIL RHODES 171
have more to say of him hereafter. I^e came to South Africa
in search of health, and after some time in Natal, he went to
Kimberley in its early days, and found diamonds. He
worked hard and thought hard. He dreamed his dreams of
a vast British expansion up to and beyond the Zambesi, but
he kept his aspirations to himself until he had power to carry
them into effect. Gordon once told him that he had refused
a vast sum of money which was offered to him in China.
Rhodes replied characteristically that he would not have re-
fused it as Gordon did, for money was of use to carry out his
vast schemes. I never knew a man who cared less for money
for its own sake. Rhodes was by nature a country gentleman.
All his tastes and sympathies were with the farming population.
He hated the commercialism of the great towns. He was a
financier malgre hd.
When he took office in the Scanlen Ministry, he had taken
his degree at Oxford. He kept his terms whenever he could
spare a few months from his arduous work at Kimberley.
At Oxford no one recognised in the self-contained and reserved
undergraduate of Oriel a man who had already amassed a
considerable fortune, and who was even then dreaming his
Imperial dreams. I met a man who was at Oxford with him
and knew him slightly. The impression he left upon his
contemporaries was that of a shy and thoughtful man, who
said little and thought much. If he had gone with Gordon
to Khartoum he would have shared his fate, and Rhodesia
would not have been added to the Empire, the Cape to Cairo
railway would never have been begun and the trans-con-
tinental telegraph would never have been seriously considered.
Some evil-minded critics have accused Rhodes of being hard
and unscrupulous. I never found him so, and the only
criticism I would offer upon his life work was that he left
too much to his subordinates, who did things in his name for
which he afterwards chivalrously bore the blame. He had
too many irons in the fire to attend to all the details of his
172 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
schemes personally. He gave others the outlines of his great
plans, and left them to work them out. It was therefore
inevitable that, now and again, his subordinates should act
in a manner that made him enemies, who could not realise
the loftiness of his aims and the unselfishness of his Empire
building. I take the same view of Mr. Ehodes' character
and aims that the late Archbishop Alexander of Armagh and
Canon Knox-Little did, when they visited South Africa, but
my judgment is based upon a personal knowledge of him far
more intimate than theirs.
I must make room here for a stirring incident of the year
1882. The whole Empire was profoundly moved by the
assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish and Mr. Burke by
the Irish "Invincibles " in Phoenix Park. The arch-plotter
Carey turned informer and the Government sent him to
South Africa for safety. But the Irish conspirators had
doomed him to death and an Irish-American named
O'Donnell was sent with him on the voyage to kill him.
The murder took place on the Melrose some hours before
she anchored at Port Elizabeth. Carey's body was brought
ashore and buried without any religious ceremony. I was
asked to bury him, but as he was a Eoman Catholic I re-
ferred the authorities to the local E. C. Priest, who declined
to bury an '' Informer ". O'Donnell was landed as a
prisoner, and the local Irish were so excited that the Volun-
teer Infantry were called out to guard the prison by night
and by day. I saw O'Donnell tried before the magistrate.
He was a truculent-looking individual, and -said little in his
defence. He had an infernal machine to blow up the ship,
if everything else failed. He said in Court, " Sure, it was
only an electric machine for me rheumatism," which was
ingenious, as the captain of the ship had thrown it over-
board when it was brought to him, with the mechanism still
ticking. I shall never forget that scene in the Court House,
crowded with Irish who looked on O'Donnell as a sort of
GENERAL GORDON AND CECIL RHODES 173
hero. The Cape Government felt that the case was not
theirs, and sent O'Donnell under escort to England, where
he was duly tried and hanged. Carey's grave is in a piece of
waste ground outside the Port Elizabeth prison.
In 1883 President Kruger began to feel his feet. He got
rid of certain Imperial restrictions upon the Transvaal which
had been agreed to after Majuba, and substituted for them
the London Convention, which left the Crown a shadowy
" Suzerainty," and the Transvaal Republic with (practically)
all the powers of an independent State. He cast longing
eyes on the territory now known as Rhodesia, and considered
it the natural "Hinterland" of the Transvaal. He deter-
mined to block Rhodes' schemes of northern expansion, by
annexing the territory between Rhodesia and Griqualand
West, which is now British Bechuanaland. He furthered
this scheme by allowing armed bodies of Boer filibusters to
intervene in the quarrels of Native Chiefs, and annex their
territories.
Stbllaland and Goshen.
The filibusters formed two republics, Stellaland and Goshen,
and for the time being blocked all prospect of our northward
expansion. But their arrogant action proved a little too
much for the Imperial Government and the High Com-
missioner.
SiE Charles Waeren's Expedition.
Sir Charles Warren was sent out, with a military expedi-
tion, to drive the Boers out of Bechuanaland and annex the
territory. It always astonished me that the Boers did not
show fight, with the memory of Majuba behind them. But
Rhodes went up and interviewed the leaders, at some personal
risk to himself. Sir Charles Warren's force was composed of
Colonial volunteers as well as regular troops, and the whole
174: STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
force was full of fight, and longed to wipe out the Majuba
disgrace to British arms. The Boers retired without firing a
shot, and the short-lived republics were wiped off the map,
leaving as their only memorial their issue of postage stamps,
which have become rarities of some value to collectors.
Port Elizabeth entertained Sir Charles Warren at a public
banquet in the Town Hall, at which I was present, when he
returned from Bechuanaland. We felt that something had
been done to wipe out the stain upon our Flag, and Sir
Charles had an enthusiastic reception. He made an excellent
speech, which heartened us all up. The two Boer villages,
which formed the tiny capitals of the suppressed republics,
became better known as Vryburg and Mafeking, and rapidly
grew in importance when Rhodes pushed his railway through
them some years afterwards.
Sir John Kirk.
About this time I met Sir John Kirk, the famous British
Consul-General at Zanzibar, who worked with Livingstone
in his earlier explorations, and did so much to put down the
East African Slave trade. He had vacated his post at
Zanzibar, and was passing through Port Elizabeth. Lord
Salisbury had just given Heligoland to Germany as an
exchange for a supposed " Protectorate " which Bismarck had
forced upon the Sultan of Zanzibar. It was an act of con-
summate folly, as the Empire now knows to its cost. Sir
John was most indignant about the whole business. He
told me sorrowfully that the Government had disregarded all
his protestations, and I remember his quoting, with some
bitterness, Bismarck's remark upon Lord Salisbury, that he
was " a wooden lath, painted to resemble iron".
Bishop Webb Elected to the See op Grahamstown.
To look back for a moment to matters ecclesiastical, the
Diocese of Grahamstown elected Bishop Webb, of Bloem-
DEATH OF DE. COLENSO 175
fontein, as successor to Bishop Merriman, on March 7th,
1883. It was the first time in which I took part in an
Elective Assembly, and it made me realise vividly the
ordered freedom of the South African Church. The ancient
rule is always followed that the clergy elect their Chief
Pastor, and then the laity (each of whom is elected by the
communicants of his parish) give their formal assent, or
the contrary, to the name chosen by the clergy. The laity
cannot propose a name themselves, but their right to dissent
from the name chosen by the clergy is based upon the old
Canon Law maxim, " Nemo detur invitis".
The election of Bishop Webb was practically unanimous
in both Houses. We were bound to elect a Bishop who
could deal with the difficulties of the schism in Grahamstown,
which had been created by the Privy Council judgment.
We could not look to England for a Bishop and we were
fortunate in electing a Bishop of thirteen years' colonial ex-
perience, who also possessed great gifts of leadership and
organisation.
Death of De. Colenso.
In 1883 Dr. Colenso died, and some of us hoped that the
Natal schism would thereby be ended. But unhappily this
was not the case. The Colenso party were relieved, by their
leader's death, from the odium which his line on the Zulu
question had caused. They were also able to dissever them-
selves from any sympathy with his doctrinal errors, and
adopt an entirely new standpoint of " Erastianism " pure
and simple. They declared their acceptance of the doctrinal
decisions of the Privy Council, and based their continued
separation from the rest of the English Church in South
Africa upon a fictitious adherence to the Protestant party in
the Church of England. They both took up practically the
same position as that of the schismatic soi-disant "Church
176 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH ATEICA
of England" congregations in Scotland, who refused to
admit the jurisdiction of the Scottish Bishops, some sixty-
years ago.
The Upington Ministry.
The acceptance of ofl&ce by- Mr. Bhodes in the Scanlen
Ministry did not save it from defeat, when Mr. Hofmeyr and
the Afrikander Bond decided that it had lasted long enough.
Sir Thomas Upington, a brilliant Irish barrister who had
been Attorney-General in the Sprigg Cabinet, took office with
Bond support. It was a cat and mouse business. Some-
times Mr. Hofmeyr allowed the Cabinet a little freedom to
save their faces, but any tangible manifestations of inde-
pendence were rigorously checked.
Mr. Hofmeyr and the Bond.
It was about this time that I made Mr. Hofmeyr' s ac-
quaintance. He was a strong man, and dominated his follow-
ing with a strong hand. The story goes that two of the
Dutch members who understood little English went fast
asleep in the course of a debate, and were wakened by the
sound of the division bell. " How shall we vote ? " said one
to the other. ** Look and see which way ' Onze Jan ' votes,"
replied the other. And so they did. But this sort of thing
did not quite fit " Onze Jan's " ideals. He wished to turn
the apathetic Dutchman into a keen and intelligent politician,
able to understand his policy, and to follow him with an
obedience not void of understanding.
Dutch Allowed in the Cape Parliament.
English was the ofiicial language of the Cape Colony. Mr.
Hofmeyr determined to alter this, and to make the Cape
HOFMEYE AND THE BOND 177
Parliament bi-lingual, in order that his followers could take
their full share in the debates. It was reasonable enough,
and he carried his point, but the British element inwardly
resented it, because it seemed to them the beginning of
Dutch political ascendancy. Of course it was, and equally,
of course, the British minority in South Africa have had to
submit to the Dutch majority in a country under Besponsible
Government, where racial division counts for so much. A
good many of the British members of Parliament did not
understand Dutch, and had to make the best of the situation.
I had a controversy with President Eeitz of the Free State
some years before this change took place, upon Cape Dutch
as a language. I am sorry I got on his nerves by caUing
" Cape Dutch " a ''barbarous patois". I should not do so
now, for, after all, it is racy of the soil, and it is better fitted
for our people than the Dutch of Holland, which has been
introduced, in a simplified form, in Government Schools and
in Government documents. Cape Dutch, or the " Taal," is
capable of being reduced to grammatical forms, some of
which are special to itself, and it will always be the mother
tongue of the South African Dutchman. It is less guttural
than the Dutch of Holland, and in the use of the " double
negative," and other turns of speech it is reminiscent of the
French of the Huguenot emigrants of the seventeenth century,
whose descendants form so important an element in the
older population of South Africa. But it has very little
literature of its own, and my chief argument, in reply to
President Eeitz, was that if he had only known the *' Taal "
he would not have been called to the Bar and raised to the
Bench, as he was Chief Justice of the Free State before he
became President. He did not answer this part of my argu-
ment.
The Dutch were enthusiastic over their victory in winning
the right for Dutch-speaking members of Parliament to use
their own language in debate. They put up an allegorical
12
178 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
statue to the " Taal " in Burghersdorp, a strong centre of
Bond influence in the Eastern Province. Most of the broad-
minded British, whose ideal it was to follow Rhodes in
uniting the two white races of South Africa in the bonds of
a common nationality, rejoiced at the removal of a distinct
grievance from our Dutch-speaking fellow citizens.
On S. Cuthbert's Day, 1884, I was able to open the new
district church of S. Cuthbert, which has now become the
centre of a new parish in Port Elizabeth. I began to collect
funds for it at the Derby Church Congress of 1882 and I
gathered about £500 in England. The rest of the money
was raised in South Africa. The Reredos contains five panel
pictures of Bishops, with Bishop Gray as the central figure.
I painted this Reredos myself and I am told that the work
was fairly good of its kind.
Appointment as Rural Dean in 1884.
In 1884 Bishop Webb appointed me Rural Dean of Port
Elizabeth with a vast district to cover, virtually as assistant
to Archdeacon White, who was not strong enough to travel
long distances. I was able to help forward the starting of
Church work at Naauwpoort Junction and at De Aar (names
afterwards well known during the Boer War), and I arranged
for the building of new churches at Hopetown and Richmond.
When the Kimberley Railway was opened I combined a visit
to that town with one of these journeys. I little thought
then, as I passed Belmont, Graspan, and Modder River, that
those names would become famous as the scenes of hard
fought battles in the Boer War. I remember very well
passing the rugged hills where Magersfontein was fought.
In those days De Beer's Mine was still the scene of open
working. This vast chasm was once the site of a fair sized
hill known as the " De Beers Kopje ". The hill was made
a plain and the plain became a huge excavation, as the
KIMBBELEY EAILWAY OPENED 179
"blue giound" was dug out and carted away to yield its
wonderful daily output of diamands. The open workings are
now succeeded by shafts of considerable depth, out of which
the diamondiferous soil is mined. Ehodes sent the women
and children down these shafts when the Boer shells began
to be troublesome during the siege of Kimberley.
KiMBEBLEY EaILWAY OpENED.
Sir Hercules Eobinson, the Governor and High Commis-
sioner, came up to open the railway. The open workings
were illuminated in his honour on the night I arrived. I shall
never forget the wondrous sight of that huge crater, in which,
in the day time, I had seen men working like ants, glittering
and glowing with thousands of lights, defining its edges and
lighting up the mysteries of its depths and shadows. It was
absolutely unique, and nothing like it has been seen before or
since.
There was a public luncheon in honour of the opening
of the railway. A local magnate was deputed to read a long
batch of congratulatory telegrams, but when he came to
telegrams from the judges he got rather mixed. The missive
of the Chief Justice was plain sailing enough but when it
came to Mr. Justice So-and-so, described as " Puisne Judge
of the Supreme Court," and other judges similarly entitled,
the good gentleman hesitated and said " Judge Pewisney "
Judge of the Supreme Court, and so on — repeating his
" Pewisney " four or five times. People began to smile aloud,
and he could not see where the joke came in.
Colonel Schermbruckek.
But there was a still more funny incident at that luncheon.
The Cape Minister for Eailways at that time was Colonel
Schermbrucker, a genial old soldier of the German Legion of
12*
180 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Crimean days, a number of the members of which became
soldier-settlers on the Cape Frontier. He had worked his
way up by Frontier wars, newspaper editing and politics,
till he became a Cabinet Minister. At a public meeting
someone called the versatile Colonel a " political adventurer ".
"Why not?" he cried, *'We are all adventuring to find
fortunes in South Africa. I am quite a successful adventurer.
I came as a poor officer of the German Legion, and now I
am a Minister of the Crown." The meeting roared with
laughter, for the old Colonel was popular from his general
bonhomie and imperturbable sang froid. There had been
rumours of serious disagreements between Sir Hercules and
his Cabinet, and it fell to the Colonel's lot to propose His
Excellency's health. Sir Hercules was a very stately person-
age with somewhat frigid manners. The Colonel was bubbling
over with irrepressible humour, which was rendered more
piquant by a German accent redolent of '' Hans Breitmann ".
After some complimentary sentences, to our amazement he
began to allude to these Cabinet differences with His Excellency,
which were matters of rumour only, considered too private to
be mentioned in the Public Press. With a genial smile he
stretched across the Chairman, and vigorously shook hands
with Sir Hercules, saying, ''Your Excellency, I take your
handt to show dese beople dat dese leedle differences between
de Governor and zie Gabinet are ofver ". The discomfited
embarrassment of Sir Hercules, and his vain attempt to look
as if he liked it, were too much for all of us. We shook with
laughter.
Archdeacon Ceoghan. -
I was very much struck with the life and energy of Church
work in Kimberley. My dear friend Bishop Gaul, then
Canon of Bloemfontein, was the inspiring centre of it all.
At the Eectory I met Archdeacon Croghan, who was after-
wards Dean of Grahamstown. We were discussing the
DEAN GREEN AND THE KISS OF PEACE 181
ritual of the marriage service. The Archdeacon, who was an
ascetic-looking priest, with a remarkable resemblance to
Cardinal Manning, told us that he valued the ancient custom
of the priest kissing the bride in the vestry. I think he said
that it was the use in the Irish Church, paralleled by the
custom of the Viceregal Court at Dublin where the Lord
Lieutenant kisses all the debutantes who are presented for
the first time. One of us asked the Archdeacon whether he
observed the custom when he married Kafirs and coloured
people. He gallantly replied, " I make no exceptions. I
kiss them all."
Dean Geeen and the Kiss of Peace.
This brings to my mind a curious custom which Dean
Green observed at the installation of a Canon in Maritzburg
Cathedral. He revived the mediaeval use of the Dean giving
the newly-installed Canon the " Kiss of Peace ". I remember
an extremely insular and typically stiff English parson, who
had not been very long in Natal, being elected Canon.
Someone present told me that his face was a study when the
dear old Dean kissed him as he installed him in the Chapter-
House. Englishmen are less spontaneous in kissing each
other than our neighbours on the Continent.
Death of Dean Williams op Grahamstown and Eestora-
TiON OF Diocesan Unity.
In 1885 Dean Williams of Grahamstown died. His death
proved more helpful to unity than Dr. Coienso's, for Bishop
Webb immediately began to negotiate with the Cathedral
vestry with a view to the termination of the unhappy schism
which had temporily united the Cathedral with the Colen-
soites. The negotiations peacefully terminated in a concordat
which ended the schism and restored the Cathedral to the
182 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
diocese. The lay supporters of Dean Williams were thank-
ful to be restored to unity with their fellow-churchmen, and
the Bishop showed admirable tact and statesmanship in put-
ting an end to an extremely difficult situation.
Abchdeacon Cboghan becomes Dean op Gbahamstown.
Archdeacon Croghan of Bloemfontein, who was a close
personal friend of the Bishop, and who also was an extremely
able man, became Dean of Grahamstown. Like his prede-
cessor he was a brilliant Irishman, but poles asunder from
him in all matters ecclesiastical. He was able to re-model
the Cathedral services on Catholic lines, and to introduce the
Eucharistic Vestments, without offending anyone. The
South African laity are readily influenced by a strong per-
sonality, whom they believe to be an earnest, sincere and
good man. They are free from the unreasoning Protestant
prejudices which have obtained such a hold in England.
Cardinal Newman defined " prejudice " as *' the forming
of an opinion without sufficient grounds". Our South
African laity have better manners than the type of English
layman represented by the Kensit faction and the Wyckliffe
preachers. It would never occur to them to disturb Divine
service, or insult clergy publicly as some of the baser sort
of English Protestants do. It is not because they are less
interested in Church matters than the militant Protestants in
England. It is because they live in a greater spaciousness
of life, and have their intelligence more keenly developed by
a wider outlook and broader interests. In a word, they are
less ^^ 'prejudiced," and are willing to give a patient hearing to
new ideas and fuller information. The Grahamstown
Cathedral laity were no exception to this rule. They fol-
lowed Dean Williams into schism because of his clever special
pleading and specious arguments that the South African
Church was itself in schism from the Church of England.
AECHDEACON CEOGHAN 183
They followed Bishop Webb and Dean Croghan from schism
into the unity of the Church as soon as they received clearer
information upon the true position of the South African
Church. They were ready to learn from men whom they
believed to be good and true, and whom they rightly con-
sidered were capable of giving them a more accurate view of
the points at issue than Dean Williams had done. Grahams-
town Cathedral is now a strong centre of Church life and
work. Dean Croghan's tenure of office was all too short, for
he was an invalid when he accepted office. The Dublin
graduates resident in South Africa petitioned their Univer-
sity to grant Dean Croghan his Doctor's degree, which was
immediately conferred with a remission of all fees, as a
recognition by his own Alma Mater of the Dean's great work
in South Africa as a Canonist, a Theologian and an Adminis-
trator. Grahamstown deeply regretted the Dean's enforced
resignation, which was soon followed by his death. He had
a caustic wit. I well remember his being assailed one day
by a voluble Irish lady who was an enthusiastic Home Euler.
She poured forth a flood of patriotism upon the imperturbable
Dean, who, like most Irishmen of his type, was an ardent
Unionist, much as he disliked the Orange Protestantism of
Ulster. He turned to her and said ** My dear young lady,
ye 're like most Irish patriots. Ye've come to South Africa
to live. Ye would die for your distressful country, but ye
won't live in it." There was silence. One day he had been
much annoyed with the tactless folly of one of the younger
clergy. He said to me, " I can deal with a downright vdcked
man. I know where I am. But the Lord deliver me from
a fool ! " He was most conciHatory and patient with obstin-
acy and prejudice, but sheer folly and tactlessness moved
him to a scathing outpouring of wrath. In the early
" seventies " a layman tried to get up a debate on " Eitualism "
in the Bloemfontein Synod. He was very ill-informed and
moved a resolution that the procedure of the new "Public
184 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Worship Eegulation Act " (by which Disraeli claimed to
suppress "the Mass in masquerade") should be applied in
the Bloemfontein Diocese. Instead of tackling him, Arch-
deacon Croghan (as he then was) very quietly asked him if
he had a copy of the Act to lay on the table of the Synod.
Of course he had not got it, and knew nothing about it, save
what he had picked up from newspapers. Archdeacon
Croghan, with a lenient smile, told him that he had better
withdraw his resolution since the Synod could not possibly
debate about an Act whose terms were not officially before it.
The layman in question withdrew his resolution and the
debate on ritual was very quietly squashed. The sequel is
worth recording. The layman in question began to think
and very soon recovered from his attack of militant Protes-
tantism. His recovery was so complete that he offered him-
self as a candidate for Holy Orders, and, after his ordination,
became a most useful and devoted missionary to the natives.
German South West Africa and Walfisch Bay.
South African politics in 1885 and 1886 drifted from bad
to worse, as the Upington-Sprigg Cabinet had no initiative
and had to carry out the instructions of the Bond leader,
Mr. Hofmeyr. One good thing was accomplished. The
natural ''Hinterland" of the Cape Colony was the territory
that was called " German " South West Africa before Botha
conquered it in 1915. The British flag ought to have gone
up in that territory, even if it were considered a worthless
acquisition, rather than let so large a slice of South Africa go
a-begging. One Luderitz, a German trader, landed in the
territory one fine morning, put up the German flag, and called
it " Luderitz-land ". The Cape Ministry did their best to
save the situation but Lord Derby was then Colonial Secre-
tary. He was an unimaginative person who desired to limit
England's imperial responsibility and carefully did nothing
GEEMAN SOUTH WEST AFEICA 186
but write meaningless dispatches on the subject. The Cape
Ministry then acted on their own responsibility. There was
only one decent harbour in the territory, Walfisch Bay, which
was the resort of sealers, and a stray merchant vessel now
and again. The Cape Government sent a steamer with a
magistrate and a handful of police to Walfisch Bay. He put
up the flag and annexed the harbour with the surrounding
territory. The Colonial Office in London did not venture to
cancel the act of the Cape Government. So Walfisch Bay,
and a rayon of twenty miles all round it, became British
territory. The Germans were very angry at the action of the
Cape Government. They have developed South West Africa
very considerably. They have found out that it is by no
means the worthless territory which Lord Derby thought it
was. They had a considerable garrison till it surrendered in
1915, and several hundred miles of strategical railways.
They have discovered diamonds there, and also Hottentots
who can ride and shoot and were able to baffle and vex the
German garrison for over two years with a skilful guerilla
warfare, which made German officers sympathise with our
difficulties in dealing with the elusive and mobile Boer forces
in the War of 1899-1902. On one occasion the Hottentots
captured a convoy and drove a German column across the
Cape Colony frontier line. The Cape police disarmed the
German troops, and allowed them passage through our
territories till they reached a port where we allowed them to
embark, and returned them their arms. The Germans were
very angry about it but the conduct of our forces was strictly
correct. An armed foreign force, which is driven into neutral
territory, is necessarily disarmed, as the Swiss did Bourbaki's
army when it was driven over their frontier in 1870.
German South West Africa was valued by Germany prin-
cipally as a "point d'appui" to attack British South Africa.
Vast warlike stores were accumulated there and a consider-
able number of troops were kept in garrison. It was for
186 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
years a centre of espionage and intrigues against British
dominion in South Africa. But its occupation and conquest
by General Botha and the forces of the South African Union
is one outcome of the Great War of 1914, and this vast
territory now becomes, as it ought to have done originally, a
part of the Union of South Africa.
The Queen's Jubilee in 1887.
In 1887 the Queen's Jubilee was right loyally kept in South
Africa. Although the South African Church is disconnected
with the State, and is the Church of a minority, the Cape
Parliament, most of whose members belonged to the Dutch
Eeformed Communion, voted, by a large majority, to attend
the Jubilee service in Capetown Cathedral. I held a similar
official service at S. Mary's, Port Elizabeth, and I was able
to gather together the whole official element, including the
Consuls of the various Powers, the local Colonial troops and
the Government officials. I invited the Nonconformist
ministers to the service and reserved seats for them. Some
of them came. There is very little sectarian bitterness in
South Africa. The Dutch Eeformed Communion is too
powerful to be bitter. We have a " Eeligious Census " every
ten years and its figures showed that the Dutch Eeformed
outnumber the total aggregate of all other religious bodies
put together. In like manner the Church outnumbers the
aggregate of all the English-speaking sects, so far as Europeans
are concerned, though the large number of native Wesleyans
gives that body a slight numerical superiority to the Church
if members of all races are counted together.
LoED Carnaevon's Visit to Capetown.
In the same year Lord Carnarvon, the former Secretary of;
State for the Colonies, visited South Africa. He was Pro-'
LOED CABNABVON'S VISIT TO CAPETOWN 187
Grand Master of English Freemasons, and I went with a
Masonic deputation from Port Elizabeth to Capetown to
welcome him officially. We had a grand Masonic banquet
at Capetown at which Lord Carnarvon and Sir Hercules
Bobinson made excellent speeches, instinct with the true
spirit of English Freemasonry, which is a real link of Empire,
as Lord Wolseley said at a Masonic banquet in South Africa,
I have found English Freemasonry to be in a very real sense a
handmaid to the Church and to education. The late King
Edward VII did a service of untold value to English Free-
masonry when he was Grand Master. He absolutely severed
English Freemasonry from all contact with the spurious Free-
masonry of the Continent, which has, in France, been the
handmaid of Atheism and the moving spirit behind all the
bitter attacks which French politicians have made against the
Church and the Christian religion in any form. The con-
demnation of Continental Masonry by Pius IX was just and
necessary and has rightly been continued by his successors.
The strange part of it in his case was that, as a young man,
he is said to have joined the Order, and so he condemned
Continental Masonry from his own inside knowledge of its
dangerous tendencies. The story goes that Garibaldi, as
Grand Master of Italy, retaliated upon " Bro. Pio Nono,"
by formally expelling him from the Order. Si non e vero e
ben trovato.
Lord Brassey Arrives at Port Elizabeth in the
Sunbeam.
In 1887 Lord Brassey arrived at Port Elizabeth in his
famous yacht the Sunbeam. He put into our harbour on a
sad errand, for Lady Brassey had died on the voyage from
Australia and been buried at sea. He made for the nearest
land which was linked by cable to England in order to
communicate with his family and friends. I was able to
render him some small services during the few days the
188 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Sunbeam lay in port, and I spent a very pleasant afternoon
on board her. Of course, like most other people, I had heard
of this beautiful vessel, but I quite enjoyed looking over her,
and still more enjoyed some long talks I had with Lord
Brassey, who was a pioneer as a "Liberal Imperialist".
His wide grasp of the ideals of United Empire made me
hopeful that a new school of English Liberals would arise,
who would join with the Conservatives in formulating a true
Imperial policy, which would be carried out continuously,
apart from the exigencies of English party strife. Some good
has been done by Liberal Imperialists, but things got to the
old party ruts when the " Chinese Labour " outcry arose in
1906. As a South African I never felt more ashamed of
English Party politics than I did when that shameless tissue
of lies about " Chinese slavery " was circulated for electioneer-
ing purposes. The utter baselessness of the lies was only
equalled by the crass stupidity and amazing folly of the
British electors who believed in them. I would fain hope
that the disgrace of 1906 will be the very last occasion on
which an English political party will strive to win victory at
the polling booths by slandering South Africa or any other
of the self-governing nations within the Empire.
The Case of Trinity Church, Capetown, in the
Supreme Court.
To return to matters ecclesiastical once more. The year
1887 was remarkable for another Church property case before
the Supreme Court of the Cape Colony. Trinity Church,
Capetown, was built, just before Bishop Gray's consecration,
by a narrow faction of extreme Protestants, who were never-
theless compelled to include the Bishop as patron and chief
trustee of the fabric. The congregation naturally threw in
their lot with the " Anti-Proviso " party in the Cape Diocese
and they forced their then Incumbent to resign on account
THE CASE OF TEINITY CHUECH 189
of his loyalty to the South African Church. The late Arch-
bishop, as the successor of Bishop Gray, claimed jurisdiction
over the fabric and the right to appoint the Incumbent.
The congregation immediately repudiated the claims of their
Diocesan and began to conduct lay-services for themselves
apart from his jurisdiction. Three prominent members of
the congregation divided the services between them. One
read the prayers, another the lessons and the third preached.
A Capetown churchman with some knowledge of Biblical
history promptly named them " Korah, Dathan and Abiram ".
Eelying confidently on the adverse judgment of the Privy
Council in the Grahamstown case, they claimed absolute
freedom from the authority of their Diocesan as trustee and
patron. The Chief Justice, who had held that Bishop
Merriman had no legal position as Bishop of Grahamstown,
tried the case. But he had learnt from the Privy Council's
judgment on appeal that he had gone too far in saying that
Bishop Merriman was not the legal successor of his *' Letters
Patent" predecessor. The Counsel for the Trinity Church
vestry naturally relied on the Chief Justice to declare that
Dr. West Jones (as Bishop of Capetown), was not the legal
successor of Bishop Gray, and that, consequently, he was not
legally the trustee and patron of Trinity Church. But they
reckoned without their host. The Chief Justice applied the
well-known legal doctrine of " Cy pres," or " next of kin,"
to the case. If Dr. West Jones was not the legal successor
of Bishop Gray because he had not been consecrated under
" Letters Patent," at all events he was ''next of kin" and
the only lawful Bishop the Diocese of Capetown was likely
to possess. He went so far as to say that it was unnecessary
to hear Counsel on the Bishop's side as the justice of the
case was so plain to the bench. He gave judgment to the
effect that the Bishop was both trustee and patron of Trinity
Church. The defeated vestry noted an appeal to the Privy
Council, but they ultimately withdrew it because their legal
190 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
advisers told them that they had no chance of winning the
case. The late Archbishop used his victory in the most
conciliatory and tactful way. "When his legal right as patron
was firmly established he consulted the congregation with
regard to the appointment, and their schismatic attitude
ceased when a new Incumbent was appointed, who took the
customary oaths and declarations which are demanded by the
South African Church. This decision was of great importance
to the Church, as it put an end to the perpetual threats of the
"Anti-Proviso" party that they would turn out the South
African clergy who were using buildings and property that
formerly belonged to the Church of England.
In 1888 the Emperor William of Germany died, and after
a brief reign of the Emperor Frederick, stricken with mortal
illness, William II became Kaiser. The Germans in Port
Elizabeth had no place of worship of their own, and I
offered to take for them a memorial service for Kaiser William
I and Kaiser Frederick in S. Mary's. The German com-
munity attended the service, and I received an official letter
of thanks from the German Consul General at Capetown.
The scheme for " Germanising " and taking possession of
South Africa had not then ripened. But it soon began to
make its influence felt and the German Lutheran pastors
were practically agents of the German Foreign Office. It
culminated in the rebellion of 1914, which was the result of
German intrigues, and South Africa will never tolerate such
intrigues in the future.
Constitution of S. Mary's as a Collegiate Church by
Bishop Webb in 1888.
Early in 1888 the Bishop of Grahamstown (Dr. Webb)
took a very important step, with which I was in entire
sympathy, with regard to S. Mary's Church. The Bishop
had been much impressed with Archbishop Benson's plea for
S. MAEY'S COLLEGIATE CHUECH 191
the revival of Collegiate Churches, with Chapters of working
clergy, in large centres, which would ensure a certain amount
of corporate unity in working and thus obviate the modern
dangers of Congregationalism and isolation.
In 1888 Port Elizabeth possessed eight Anglican churches,
and it was, and still is, the largest Church centre in the
Diocese of Grahamstown. Grahamstown, the Cathedral City,
has three churches, besides the Cathedral, and S. Mary's, from
its early foundation in 1825, has always ranked next to the
Cathedral Church of the diocese in point of importance. The
Bishop made S. Mary's a Collegiate Church with a Chapter
of clergy and a body of statutes. The Bishop for the time
being became Provost of S. Mary's and the Eector, Vice-
Provost. The Archdeacon of Port Elizabeth and the Eural
Dean subsequently occupied stalls in S. Mary's ex officio,
while the Precentor of S. Mary's became a beneficed priest
with fixity of tenure. The Hectors of the parishes which
had from time to time been formed out of the original
parish of S. Mary's had stalls in the choir as members of the
Chapter. The services were prescribed by statute to be of
Cathedral type and the continuity of the ritual and worship
was also provided for by statute. I was most thankful for
the change, and after twenty-five years' experience of its
working, I am still most thankful for the wisdom and fore-
thought of Bishop Webb in making it. The success of our
corporate working and the unity of Church life in Port
Elizabeth are abundant proofs that ancient methods of
Church life and mediaeval precedents of centralisation can
be applied with most encouraging and successful results to
the modern conditions of colonial cities, where the prestige
of ancient traditions is conspicuous by its absence. A Col-
legiate Church and Chapter in the unestablished South
African Church has shown a true realisation of Archbishop
Benson's ideals. One of the first things the Archbishop
asked me when I met him some years after^i^da' .^v^as how
^-^'^ ^
^
192 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
S, Mary's Collegiate Church was working. He had been
furnished with a copy of our statutes and remembered all
about us with interest.
Shortly after S. Mary's became a Collegiate Church, S.
Saviour's, Southwark (now Southwark Cathedral), was also
made ** Collegiate," and I heard that our statutes were help-
ful in drafting those for S. Saviour's. S. Michael's, Coventry,
has, even more recently, been made " Collegiate ". It was
necessary in our statutes to discriminate between " Chapter
services " and purely " Parochial " ones. The Daily Eucharist
was most wisely made a " Chapter service " in which all
members of the Chapter take their turns by a rota approved
by the Bishop, as Provost. This bond of union has made the
altar of S. Mary's a real centre of corporate worship and
intercession. The temptation to " Congregationalism " is
necessarily greater where each parish is held responsible for
the clergy stipends and other expenses without the aid of
endowment. The corporate unity of independent parishes,
working in harmony through the tie formed by their Rectors
belonging to the Collegiate Chapter, has practically obviated
all the dangers of " Congregationalism " in Port Elizabeth.
A little tact was necessary, at first, to reassure the clergy that
corporate working could co-exist with legitimate parochial
independence. But I have every reason to be abundantly
thankful for the result, after so many years' experience of
Church life in Port Elizabeth.
Bishop Gobe's Mistake re Colenso Case in 1914.
Bishop Gore of Oxford, speaking in Convocation in 1914,
paid a high tribute to the organisation and vigorous Church
work of the South African Church. He attributed our definite
Churchmanship and practical unity to the necessity of closing
our ranks which was imposed upon us by the strain and
stress of the Colenso case in 1863. This was true enough
BISHOP GOEE'S MISTAKE 198
but the Bishop used our case as an argument that good came
out of evil and that the mistakes made in dealing with Dr
Colenso had been overruled for good. But he did not explain
where the mistakes lay. Mistakes there were undoubtedly, but
they were made in England^ and not in South Africa. The
conduct of Bishop Gray and his com -Provincial Bishops in
dealing with Dr. Colenso's case was in strict accordance with
the soundest precedents of ecclesiastical law. It was natural
for Bishop Gray to take counsel with the Archbishop of
Canterbury before issuing a citation to one of his suffragan
Bishops to be tried for unsound doctrine and depraving the
Book of Common Prayer. No trial of a Bishop for false
doctrine or ecclesiastical offences had taken place since the
trial of the Bishop of S. David's for simony at the close of
the seventeenth century. Precedents were forthcoming for
the trial of the Bishop of Lincoln in 1890, but there were
none to guide Bishop Gray in 1863. But what did the
English Bishops and Archbishops do ? Dr. Colenso went to
England to publish the second part of his book on the
" Pentateuch," as a man liable to trial but who had not been
tried. The Archbishop of Canterbury summoned the Bishops
to meet, and, as the result of their meeting they (1) called
on the S.P.G. to remove Dr. Colenso's name from their list
of Vice-Presidents. (2) Twenty-five Bishops inhibited him
from preaching in their dioceses. (3) The Archbishops of
Canterbury and York with forty-one other Prelates called
upon him to resign. Here was a series of blunders. Arch-
bishop Tait (then Bishop of London) was the only Bishop
to point out the right course of action. He asked why Dr.
Colenso had not been cited for trial before his own Metro-
politan in Africa. Bishop Gray at once took steps to carry
out the canonical procedure which the case demanded. He
and his com -Provincial Bishops tried Dr. Colenso in Cape-
town Cathedral, and deposed him from the See of Natal. It
is noteworthy that Archbishop Tait, who had advised this
13
194 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
course, was the first to repudiate, as far as he could personally,
the sentence of the Court as binding. But the point is that
the procedure of Bishop Gray, as Metropolitan, with his
corn-Provincial Bishops, was free from mistakes and ab-
solutely in accord with sound ecclesiastical precedent. The
common view of the Colenso trial is, as I have said before,
that a moderately ** Liberal " Bishop was condemned by a
" Tractarian " and mediaevalist Metropolitan, upon the
narrowest lines of obscurantist traditionalism, and that no
Court now-a-days would dream of condemning Colenso.
Yet the issues of the trial did not depend upon the " Higher
Criticism " of the Pentateuch. The published utterances of
Dr. Colenso on this subject were irreverent and offensive.
He called the stories of Genesis " old wives' fables," and
" lies spoken in the name of the Lord ". But Bishop Gray's
words in the Colenso Judgment stand forth as a bulwark of
legitimate criticism and freedom of thought and strike one
with wonder at their breadth of tolerance, when we realise
that they were spoken in 1863, when the Evangelicals and
many High Churchmen were pledged to the doctrine of the
"verbal inspiration" of Scripture. After condemning Dr.
Colenso for false doctrine on the Incarnation, the Atonement
and justification, and further for denying the grace of the
Sacraments and depraving the Book of Common Prayer
(which were the most serious charges). Bishop Gray's judg-
ment dealt with the case as a whole in the following words :
" It is the first duty of the Bishops of the Church to see that
its teaching should be preserved pure, incorrupt, complete,
fixed and positive. But so far as is compatible with this, not
only must freedom be allowed to the clergy, but special care
must be taken not to over-strain and exaggerate their en-
gagements and the most generous construction must be put
upon the language of any who may be accused of false teach-
ing." And with regard to the " Higher Criticism " of the Old
Testament, he used the following very remarkable words:
UNITY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN CHURCH 196
" Now, without wishing to limit the proper field and province of
criticism, or to restrict the freedom which may be regarded
as desirable for the eliciting of the truth, without attempting
to define inspiration or venturing to say where the human
element in the Bible ends and where the Divine begins, I
must deny that the Church does, or can, permit her ministers
without restraint to make such assertions as these " (i.e., the
somewhat coarse and offensive assertions of Dr. Colenso on
the Old Testament, which so disgusted Professor Maurice,
his life-long friend, that he counselled him to resign his See).
(Frederick Denison Maurice had himself been driven out of
King s College, London, for supposed heterodoxy, and he was
the last person to stand for narrowness or illiberality of judg-
ment.) Bishop Gray's breadth of view on the "critical"
question (in the very judgment in which he condemned Dr.
Colenso) must have appealed to men like Maurice as much as
it shocked the views of the Protestants who, in 1863, still
held fast to ''verbal inspiration ". Bishop Gore was quite
right in saying that the Colenso controversy shaped the prin-
ciples and fabric of the South African Church. We learnt
breadth of view in holding Catholic principles from Bishop
Gray.
The Unity op the South Afeican Chuech in its Free-
dom PROM the State Connection.
And if we can truly say (after over sixty years from the
date of his consecration) that the South African Church of
to-day is the most united portion of the whole Anglican
Communion, we owe it, under God, to him, and to the great
men who worked with him. The life of a priest in the South
African Church has its special difficulties. But we are
happily freed from the curse of conflicting ideals and party
spirit which have distracted the Church of England ever
since the Tudor Reformation. We have been accused of
18*
196 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
narrowness because we uphold loyally the principles of the
Book of Common Prayer, as recovered from the oblivion of
the eighteenth century by the Catholic revival of 1833. We
are united upon this Catholic basis. We are not disquieted
by militant Protestantism or Modernism. We are a
Missionary Church charged with a definite and clear-cut
gospel message to the heathen millions around us.
I have written thus fully upon what the South African
Church stands for, to express, as an old man, my thankfulness
that I was led to work in South Africa for over forty-one
years, as I am now writing. I have been working in the
freedom of an un- established and self-governing Province of
the Holy Catholic Church, mercifully freed from the Erastian
chains of connection mth the State and at liberty to develop,
in obedience to the authority of the Church Primitive and
Catholic, on the lines best fitted for our great mission to the
people of South Africa. We have been called " narrow," but
our practical doctrinal agreement, as the heirs of the Catholic
revival of 1833, never causes, or has caused, any real
•' narrowness," such as the Modernist and Protestant parties
show in the Church of England. We have too much work to
do to find leisure for biting and devouring one another, when
we are agreed upon the essentials of the Catholic faith. It
may be asked, What of our laity ? Our colonial-born laity
are, broadly speaking, ** Prayer-book Churchmen ". If a man
inclines to " Militant Protestantism " he becomes an adherent
of one of the non-episcopal sects. He does not remain in
communion with the Church and attempt to effect a lodgment
within a body with whose tenets he disagrees. It is far better
so. We sometimes get imported " cranks " from the mother
country. But they are too few in number to stir up strife
and they get no backing if they try it on. Our Press does not
readily lend itself to religious controversy of the baser sort.
Our laity have better " religious manners " than the Protestant
controversialists in England. The idea of disturbing Church
UNITY OF THE SOUTH AFEICAN CHURCH 197
services or badgering clergy at Easter Vestries does not
commend itself to our lay folk. They have their own
legitimate place in our Synods and they also support the
church in each parish with their contributions. But they
do not override the clergy, and are not overridden themselves.
The Synod of each diocese fixes the stipend to be paid by the
parishioners to their parish priest, and they raise it accord-
ingly. If the parson proves himself a misfit, the Bishop, or
the Archdeacon, can readily find it out by quiet conference
with individual laity and a transfer, or exchange, can be
effected. And then there is another point. We have
dioceses of a manageable size and a real ''Episcopacy".
Our Bishops know their clergy and laity and hold the strong
position of being elected by the diocese which they are called
upon to administer. The ancient Canon law maxim about
Episcopal elections nemo deUtr invitis, applies to us as it
cannot apply in England, where the clergy and laity of the
diocese have no voice in the election of their Bishop. Again
the South African Church is not hampered by its past history.
The future belongs to it.
I never could help feeling distressed when I visited or
ministered in the mediaeval Cathedrals and Churches of
England and thought of their past history. The traces of the
Reformation and of Cromwell's Puritans breaking down
''the carved work thereof with axes and hammers" always
depressed me. The Church of England has recovered much
of her former Catholic ideals of sacramental life and worship
" in the beauty of holiness/' but she is still torn by conflicting
ideals and the echoes of the miserable tyrannies and strivings
of the Tudor Reformation.
Contrast Between Chukch Life in England and in
South Africa.
The majority of the people of England are not « practising
Christians in any real sense of the word. The clergy of
198 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
England have the hard task of turning a nation of self-
satisfied nominal Christians into Catholic believers who live
by and practise the "One Faith". In South Africa we are
braced to our work by the fact that we are face to face with
a vast heathen majority. We have to attack with all our
force, and it is far easier to deal with heathenism than it is
with nominal Christianity. We have our faults, and make
our mistakes, but there is a hopefulness about our work that
lifts us up and keeps us going. There is noble work done in
England, but it is congregational and parochial rather than
diocesan or provincial. The quickening life of the whole
South African Church, as represented in its Provincial Synod,
and the organised impulse which the Diocesan Synods give
to the work of each, diocese count for so much with us that
we feel that our lives are cast in pleasant places. South
Africa is old, and yet it is new. We are watching its moral
and spiritual development, and the South African clergy are
forced, in spite of themselves, to take a broader view of public
life, and to accept wider responsibilities than theiribrethren in
England. We are freed from some of their grievous burdens
and difficulties. I do not now mean our freedom from
English controversies and the perpetual hostility to the Church
which half the people of England, in Parliament and out of
it, seem to lose no opportunity of manifesting. What I mean
is that we have none of the miseries of ancient civilisation to
contend with. We have no poor laws, no workhouses, no
"lapsed masses" of poor English folk, none of that grinding
routine of " serving tables " and wasting our time with doing
what our laymen ought to do for us, which seems to me such
a sore burden on the weary shoulders of the English town
clergy. We have time to read and to think. We get few
holidays and have long journeys to minister to isolated
handfuls of people in our huge parishes, but I would not ex-
change my lot with that of the most highly favoured of my
English brethi-en. I am a South African for life, and am
CONTEAST BETWEEN CHUECH LIFE 199
thankful that I have been placed where I am. We have had
our conflicts with heresy and Erastianism, but they found a
definite ending and determination. We are thereby freed
from the perpetual controversies of the Church of England
which, as Bishop Gore has said, are being urged to the edge
of disruption unless the Great War renovates the Church, and
men are driven back to first principles, above and beyond the
temporising opportunism of the Archbishop of Canterbury's
pronouncement on the Kikuyu controversy and the alarms
and excursions of Prayer Book revision debates in the Con-
vocations.
CHAPTEE VI.
THE BEGINNINGS OF RHODESIA IN 1890. THE RHODES
MINISTRY— THE RHODES-HOFMEYR ALLIANCE AND
ITS OUTCOME— THE " SOUTHERN CROSS ".
The Provincial Synod of 1891 ; Sir Francis de Winton and Swaziland;
The Transvaal and the Free State ; Dr. Leyds and the Netherlands
Railway Company; The Controversy of the "Drifts"; My visit
to England in 1893 ; Archbishop Benson and Natal ; The Birming-
ham Church Congress ; Sermons at St. Paul's and Cambridge ;
Return to South Africa.
LoBD Loch as Governor.
The year 1890 was an annus mirabilis in the history of
South Africa. Lord Loch had succeeded Sir Hercules
Kobinson as Governor of the Cape and High Commissioner of
South Africa. Sir H. B. Loch (as he then was) came to us
from Melbourne after a ripened experience in public affairs
and a successful term of office as Governor. In his younger
days he had been captured by the Chinese in the war of 1860.
He and his companions were treated with the utmost bar-
barity, and he was exposed in a cage to the cruelties of the
mob. He was a man of fine character and considerable
ability, but he was overshadowed in the fateful years of his
term of office by the commanding personality of Cecil Ehodes.
I liked what I saw of Lord Loch, and Lady Looh was one of
the most cultured, charming and able women I have ever
met. The influence that radiated from Government House
200
THE BEGINNINGS OF RHODESIA IN 1890 201
in their day was powerful for good. They made Govern-
ment House the centre of everything that made for righteous-
ness and the good of the people of South Africa. The Boers
and natives admire a bearded man. Lord Loch had the
most magnificent beard I have ever seen, and he was a well-
built soldierly man with a personality that made itself felt.
I met Lord Loch on his first visit to Port Elizabeth, and
travelled with him to Grahamstown, where he laid the
Foundation Stone of the new Choir of Grahamstown
Cathedral. Bishop Webb worked very hard to raise the
necessary funds, and the ceremony was most impressive. I
took part in it as District Grand Chaplain, and the Masonic
ritual was interwoven with the ecclesiastical in the same way
as it was done when King Edward, as Prince of Wales and
Grand Master of England, laid the Foundation Stone of Truro
Cathedral in 1877. The late Bishop of Grahamstown (Dr.
Cornish) has continued his predecessor's work in building
the Cathedral Nave. The old building was badly built and
very plain. The sole interest was that it was built by the
early British Settlers of 1820.
Rhodes Becomes Pbime Minister of the Cape.
Just as Lord Loch arrived, the Sprigg-Upington Ministry
was thrust out of office by Mr. Hofmeyr and the Afrikander
Bond, and it was difficult to find a solution for the political
tangle. Mr. Hofmeyr refused office for himself and his
friends. He still distrusted their administrative capacity, and
he preferred a Cabinet of puppets who would dance as he
pleased when he pulled the strings. I got to know Mr.
Hofmeyr pretty well about this time, and, from his own point
of view, his policy was sound enough. He could not have
formed a Cabinet capable of carrying on the affairs of the
country with the political material then at his disposal, and
no other party but his could have formed a Ministry that
202 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
would have lasted a month. The only solution open to the
Governor was to send for Ehodes, and see if he could form
a Cabinet which Hofmeyr would support. Ehodes was no
puppet, and he adopted the frank and open course of dealing
directly with Hofmeyr. And then a working solution was
reached.
He Formed the Chabtered Company.
Ehodes had just formed the Chartered Company, to
colonise the northern territories of Matabeleland and Masho-
naland, which were to perpetuate his memory as an " Empire
Builder," under their present name " Ehodesia ". He had
kept the way to the north open by means of Sir Charles
Warren's expedition some six years before. His whole heart
and soul was given to this northern expansion. He cared
little for the post of Premier of the Cape, but he cared very
much for the possibility of an unsympathetic Cape Premier
who might hinder his work. He was by nature a country
gentleman and in sympathy with the farmers who formed
the bulk of Mr. Hofmeyr' s followers, rather than with the
pushful British of the towns. He followed his own predi-
lections when he bargained with Hofmeyr on taking office.
" You shall have your own way in the internal affairs of the
Cape Colony, if you will support me in having my way in
the north." Hofmeyr knew that the opening of the vast
''hinterland" of Ehodesia would indirectly benefit the whole
of South Africa, for Hofmeyr had a wide outlook, as well as
Ehodes. Their objects were not identical but there was
sufficient agreement to enable them to work together
politically.
Lord Loch was heart and soul with Ehodes' noi-thern
expansion.
Ehodes had serious difficulties to contend with in the
north. He got his , Charter, but he had no active help from
THE -SOUTHERN CROSS" 203
the Colonial Office. He jBnanced his huge scheme by him-
self without any Imperial aid. In those days there was a
small *' Imperial Federation League " which did good
service as far as it could. It published a journal which had an
article attacking Rhodes and his Charter. The writer did
not know the difficulties of the situation. Germany and the
Transvaal were ready to bargain with Lobengula, the Mata-
bele King, and Rhodes only got the concession on which the
Charter was founded "by the skin of his teeth". I knew all
this and I wrote a strong article in reply in which I said very
plainly that the East India Company won India, and that
Rhodes and his Company would colonise the north, whereas,
the Colonial Office was powerless to attempt such a bold
venture. I met Rhodes afterwards in Capetown. He came
up to me in his hurried way saying, '*I have seen your
article, I shall not forget it," and then was off again.
Founding of the " Southern Cross " as a Church Paper
Under My Editorship.
In January, 1890, the late Archbishop asked me to found
and edit a Church newspaper for South Africa. It was a
thankless task, but I did my best. It meant an end to much
of my systematic theological reading, and it also made serious
and concentrated literary work difficult. Just about this
time I published a volume of Sermons on the " Sevenfold
Gifts of the Holy Spirit ". Bishop Webb wrote an intro-
duction to it, and it had a considerable sale. I was told that
I made a fairly successful journalist, and I have written
much for the press, but I had hardly any literary help. I
had to do my own reviewing and write my own leaders. I
often had more books to review than I could digest. The
"Southern Cross" soon attained a large circulation, and
passed through various vicissitudes and changes of editorship.
It dropped during the Boer War, mainly from postal diffi-
culties, and consequently reduced circulation.
204 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
The '* SouTHEBN Cboss " on Ehodesia.
I mention it here because my first leading article concerned
the development of Ehodesia. Dealing with the objections
made in the London Press to the Chartered Company, I said :
'* ' The Chartered East India Company ' made our Indian
Empire. The British South African Company may be the
means of developing a vast territory, fitted for European
settlers, and we may see its efforts result in a colonisation as
rapid and permanent in its results as the western expansion
of the United States of America. We believe that it will be
found that the establishment of a Chartered Company will
prove a most important factor in fostering a true spirit o^
South African nationality. And it will also be found that the
quickened impulses of South African national life will
strengthen the ties that bind us to the Flag of England.
The leader of this enterprise is a loyal Englishman, thoroughly
imbued with the spirit of South African nationality." (I was
an optimist when I wrote thus in 1890, and an enthusiastic
supporter of Ehodes. But I was right in the main. Ehodesia
is the most British part of South Africa, and it has certainly
been a most valuable factor in maintaining British loyalty in
South Africa for the last twenty years.) I then dealt with
the missionary aspect of the new territory and said that
"'the Missionary Campaign' must be well planned and
wisely fought. The Church in South Africa must be ready
by well sustained and well planned corporate and individual
effort to plant the Standard of the Cross in British Zambesia
till our missionary outposts join hands with the Universities
Mission in Central Africa." This forecast of mine has been
realised by the foundation of the Diocese of Southern Ehodesia
in 1908. " We shall need all the help in men and means that
England can spare to us. But South African Churchmen must
lead in this great work, and our Provincial Synod must organise
and guide our northward missionary expansion. We must
SIR SYDNEY SHIPPARD AND LOBENGULA 205
throw ourselves upon the sympathy of the people of South
Africa, and let them see that the perfection of missionary
organisation and enterprise is the perfection of sound
Christian God-guided common sense."
On the whole, writing as I do, some six-and-twenty years
after I penned this article in the first number of the
" Southern Cross,'' I may fairly say that Rhodesia has ful-
filled my hopes and aspirations, both in its people and in its
vigorous Church life under four successive Bishops. The
outstanding name in its missionary and ecclesiastical develop-
ment has been that of my dear old friend Bishop Gaul. He
worked hand in hand with Rhodes and Jameson and the
other pioneers of Rhodesia, and he planted the Church on
the sympathy of the laity, who have loyally supported the
missionary side of our work. It seems an almost unbeliev-
able contrast to compare Rhodesia of to-day with Rhodesia
of 1890.
SiE Sydney Shippard and Lobengula.
I well remember Sir Sydney Shippard, the Administrator
of Bechuanaland, telling me of his experiences in seeking an
official interview with Lobengula, the Matabele King, just
before the Chartered Company sent its pioneer expedition
into the country. Lobengula was not so cruel for cruelty's
sake as Chaka, the tyrant of Zululand. But he was far
worse than Cetewayo. He was able and crafty and utterly
ruthless where his suspicions were aroused and when his
courtiers or his wives did not please him. Sir Sydney told
me that he saw near Lobengula' s " Kraal " the dead body of
a native girl lying in the road and a still living baby in her
arms. The horror of the sight appalled him and he asked
whether some one would take the still living child from the
festering corpse of the mother. He was told that no one
dared to touch the child or move the body. So it was left to
die by the king's orders as an object lesson to his other
206 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
wives. The unfortunate girl was one of his harem who had
displeased him and he had immediately ordered her to be
stabbed to death.
His "White Dogs".
After this terrible experience Sir Sydney had to see Loben-
gula and be civil to him. He told me that he felt polluted
by shaking hands with such a bloodstained tyrant. In the
king's kraal itself Sir Sydney saw some degraded and miser-
able white men kneeling on all fours in the mud before
Lobengula. "See me feed my white dogs," said the king
to Sir Sydney, and he threw great chunks of raw meat to
these vile wretches, who went off with their daily rations with
more servile abasement to the savage ruler. These white
men were the outcasts of civilisation. Some had trades and
all were made useful to the king who supplied them with
food, women and drink. And yet people were found in
England to take the part of Lobengula and blame Rhodes and
the Chartered Company for supplanting Lobengula's savagery
by civilised and orderly government.
Lobengula and his Matabele were aliens in the country
which they occupied. Moselikatze, the founder of the Mata-
bele tyranny, had fought his way from the south about sixty
years before this date, leaving a broad pathway of ruin and
desolation in his track. He depopulated vast areas and
captured enough women for his army, whilst he slew all the
men.
The Pioneeb Column of the Chartered Company.
At the time of the pioneer expedition of the Chartered
Company in 1890, Lobengula made constant raids into
Mashonaland to capture women and cattle. The Mashonas
were unwarlike and unable to resist the Matabele. The first
FOUNDATION OF SALISBUEY 207
result of the Chartered Company's occupation of Mashona-
land was the deliverance of the Mashonas from these per-
petual raids. I well remember how anxiously we watched
the progress of that pioneer column. Lobengula had
promised not to interfere with the British occupation of
Mashonaland, but it was felt that his pledge was not worth
much. The country was unknown save to a few traders and
hunters. The column was well equipped, though small in
numbers.
Foundation of Salisbury.
At length it reached its destination and the British flag
was unfurled on the site where Salisbury, the capital of
Ehodesia now stands. A few fortified posts had been built
671 route, and small settlements speedily grew up. Bishop
Balfour of Basutoland (then Canon Balfour of Bloemfontein)
went up as Chaplain to the pioneer column and held the
first Church services in Salisbury. I remember meeting
him a short time afterwards, and the other day I was asked
to go by train to Salisbury to the opening of the Choir of the
noble Cathedral which is now being built at the Ehodesian
capital. The quickening interest of my life in South Africa
is that I have seen and noted the various stages of this
wonderful growth and development. Bulawayo, the second
town in Ehodesia, is larger than the capital and is built on
the site of Lobengula' s kraal. When I think of the energetic
Church life in Bulawayo, where the dignified and noble
Church of S. John reproduces the highest traditions of archi-
tecture and worship, and where a modern town has risen with
spacious streets and all the appliances of modern civilisation,
and then look back upon the hideous memories of Sir Sydney
Shippard's story of the living child on the festering corpse of
the woman and Lobengula's "white dogs" cringing in the
mud and filth, one can only say, as a South African, " Thank
God for the life work of Cecil Ehodes ! "
208 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
The Provincial Synod of 1891.
To turn to Church matters once more. I was again elected
to represent the Diocese of Grahamstown in the Provincial
Synod of 1891. There were no burning questions before us
and we settled down to a fortnight's Session of constructive
work.
A " Lapsus Lingua. ".
In a debate on Religious Education a Cabinet Minister,
who sat as a lay representative, electrified the Synod by a
most extraordinary lapsiis linguce, for he was a highly cultured
man and the son of a Bishop. He was warning the Synod
not to ask for too much religious teaching. "■ Be content,"
said he, " with the Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the eleven
Commandments ! " We were sitting in the Cathedral, so loud
merriment was hushed, but the whole Synod smiled, whilst
our honourable friend wondered what he had said to cause
it. A neighbour pulled his sleeve, and said in a loud stage
whisper, "Ten, you mean, there aren't Eleven!" "Oh,
well ! I am content ivith Ten. We will leave it at that," and
he continued his speech, with the same imperturbable m-
souciance which made him one of the most formidable
debaters in the House of Assembly.
The Synod Founds Two New Dioceses. Mashonaland
, and Lebombo.
The Provincial Synod of 1891 was, in many ways, a most
helpful aid to the life and prayers of the Church. My first
Provincial Synod of 1^83 was naturally absorbed with the
burning question of the Third Proviso of our constitution and
our determination to preserve our freedom from the ecclesi-
astical decisions of the Privy Council. In 1891 we accom-
plished much useful work. We founded two new Missionary
MASHONALAND AND LEBOMBO 209
Dioceses. Mashonaland (for Rhodesia) was occupied by
Bishop Knight Bruce, who never felt quite comfortable as
Bishop of Bloemfontein, with a Cathedral Chapter, a Diocesan
Synod and a well- organised diocese. He longed for the un-
trammelled freedom of a missionary pioneer, and until his
health gave way, he did useful work. Lebombo, our Mission-
ary Diocese for the region about Delagoa Bay, had to wait
till 1893 for the consecration of Bishop Smyth as its first
Bishop in Grahamstown Cathedral. A remarkable incident
of this Synod was the unanimous welcome that the clergy
and laity gave to the Bishops' choice of Father Puller to the
vacant See of Zululand. When Archbishop West-Jones in-
vited the Cowley Fathers to work in the Diocese of Cape-
town, some of the old-fashioned clergy and laity were some-
what alarmed, and a few of the baser sort of Protestants said
unpleasant things. But they won their way and Father
Puller was both trusted and liked. One of the leading lay-
men in the Synod whom I knew personally to be the last
man to advocate or tolerate *' extreme men " (to use an
absurd and meaningless popular nickname) rose in Synod to
congratulate the Bishops on their choice of Father Puller.
He accepted, " salvo meo ordine," and, unfortunately for the
South African Church his Superior would not release him.
I thought then, and I think now, that Cowley made a grievous
blunder in depriving the South African Church of a Bishop
who would have made his mark, not only in the Province,
but in the Lambeth Conferences.
Abolition of Chubch Ordinances caeeied in Synod
AND Subsequently in the Cape Parliament.
I carried through the Synod a useful measure which in-
volved the abolition of the Grahamstown " Church Ordin-
ance," and those affecting other parishes, including my own.
These obsolete State enactments provided for the government
14
210 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
of certain " Chaplaincy Churches " with Government stipends
attached to them, and as they were all enacted before the
founding of the See of Capetown they left us no room in the
parishes governed by them for the exercise of lawful Episcopal
jurisdiction. My committee of the Synod prepared a Bill for
the Cape House of Assembly to give each parish concerned
the power to abolish its '' Ordinance " by the decision of a
meeting of parishioners. There has always been a small
" Erastian-Protestant " clique at Capetown, and they were
up in arms against the Bill. I was allowed the status of a
Parliamentary barrister pro tern., and I had to appear before
the select committee appointed to deal with it. I cross-
examined the opponents and had a most interesting time.
Mb. Hofmeyk's Aid to the Chuech.
I enlisted the powerful aid of Mr. Hofmeyr and his Dutch
friends, who also wished to get rid of a Government " Ordin-
ance " which hampered the Dutch Eeformed Synod. I
pointed out to him that the clique of English who opposed
the Bill did not represent the true spirit of the English
Church, and, by his direction, I wrote an appeal to the Dutch
members of the House, which he translated into Dutch, and
backed up with his personal influence. By this means the
Bill became law and a formidable and dangerous legal
anomaly was swept out of existence. When Mr. Hofmeyr
died in 1909, I brought his good service to the Church in this
matter to the recollection of the Provincial Synod and I
carried a unanimous vote of condolence from the Synod to
his relatives.
Mr. Hofmeyr was an extremely astute leader of men. He
desired to see his own Dutch people welded together into a
political party solid and united enough to rule South Africa.
He did not wish to sever South Africa from the Empire,
because he knew that it could not stand alone. He objected
THE SWAZILAND DIFFICULTY 211
strongly to the aggressive policy of Germany, and looked
forward to the day when German South- West Africa should
revert to its legitimate owners and become an integral part of
South Africa under the British Flag. Kruger desired to
unite South Africa by expelling the British Flag after a suc-
cessful war. But Hofmeyr had no sympathy with Kruger's
" physical force " policy. His conduct of the Swaziland
difficulty proves this.
The Swaziland Difficulty.
Swaziland was an independent native territory bordering
the Transvaal. Kruger had allowed it to become the happy
hunting-ground of adventurers and concession-mongers.
Umbadine, the Swazi King, could not, even if he would,
preserve his country from these adventurers. Some immedi-
ate steps were necessary to prevent the territory from
becoming a lawless '* Alsatia ". It was proposed to make
Swaziland a joint Protectorate of the Transvaal Eepublic and
the Imperial Government. Major General Sir Francis de
Winton, a distinguished soldier and diplomat, was sent out
as Commissioner to deal with the Swaziland question. I
met him as he passed through Port Elizabeth, and I found
him most ready to discuss Swaziland and South African
affairs generally, as he evidently wanted to hear local opinion
on the subject. We had a long conversation and I remember
doing my best to impress him with the necessity of patience
with Kruger's obstinacy, as I had a horror of war between
the white races in South Africa — a war which was even then
gradually maturing — though I refused then to believe that it
was inevitable.
Hofmeyr forces Kruger to Sign the Swaziland
Convention.
Sir Francis went to Swaziland, and the result of his work
was the " Swaziland Convention," an agreement between the
U*
212 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Imperial Government and the Transvaal, which was capable
of being worked peaceably. Kruger would have none of it
and Lord Loch used the bold and clever expedient of sending
Hofmeyr to Pretoria with full powers to conclude the Treaty
and deal with Kruger. I believe Rhodes advised this course
and Hofmeyr was glad of the opportunity to convince Kruger
that he and his '* constitutionalist " party had become a force
to be reckoned with. Hofmeyr carried an uUiviatum in his
pocket and threatened Kruger with British troops if he did
not sign the Treaty. The obstinate old man knew that the
Transvaal was not yet fully armed, and so, after a great show
of resistance, he yielded to Hofmeyr and signed. Hofmeyr' s
success in this difficult mission gave him increased political
power and prestige. It caused the British supporters of
Rhodes to trust him, and this political alliance continued till
the final breach between Rhodes and Hofmeyr, which was
caused by the Jameson Raid. Hofmeyr withdrew from public
life during the Boer War of 1899-1902, but he pulled the
strings behind the scenes. He organised his party after the
war and at his death in 1909 was the most powerful and
influential political leader in South Africa. He was genial
and kindly in his private life and personal friendship. His
death was a serious loss to South Africa, occurring as it did
on the eve of our National Union in 1910.
I Carry a Resolution in the Provincial Synod to
Adopt the Title "Archbishop" for the Metropolitan.
To return to the Provincial Synod of 1891. I was able to
carry a resolution which declared it desirable for the Metro-
politan Bishop of Capetown to adopt the title of Archbishop.
The question was one of considerable delicacy and difficulty,
as the debate concerned the title of the President of the Synod,
and it was by no means easy to find out the exact procedure
to be adopted in order to obtain recognition for. the title when
ADOPTION OF THE TITLE OF ARCHBISHOP 213
the Synod had made the alteration. It was ultimately left to
the House of Bishops and finally decided upon at the Lambeth
Conference of 1897, when the Archbishop of Canterbury and
the assembled Bishops formally recognised the action of the
various Provincial Synods in conferring the title of Archbishop
upon the occupants of the Sees of Sydney and Capetown, and
for the Archbishops of the West Indies and of the Provinces
of the Canadian Church. Civil recognition of the titles thus
ecclesiastically conferred was manifested by the formal re-
ception at Court under their new titles of the Colonial Arch-
bishops by Queen Victoria. Thus a long-standing difficulty
was brought to a close.
The Title "Archbishop" Adopted in 1897.
The use of the word " Archbishop " instead of " Metro-
politan " may not mean much to the Canonist or to the more
learned clergy, but with the laity the ancient and intelligible
title of " Archbishop " emphasised the status of the ecclesias-
tical Province over which he presides. I had worked rather
hard for this issue. Many years ago the author of the
" Christian Year," advocated colonial Archbishoprics. Keble
saw that the word meant a good deal to the Church in the
Colonies, as emphasising thsir true position, as in allegiance
to Canterbury, and yet independent of its immediate jurisdic-
tion. I wrote articles in Church papers and periodicals in
England, India, and the Colonies in favour of the change. I
got up a petition from all the Deans, Archdeacons, and Canons
of the South African Church in its favour which was also
signed by the vast majority of our clergy. The chief obstacle
to this change of title was Archbishop Benson. I appealed
to him to forward the change himself, as a generous and
statesmanlike act, worthy of the Primate of the Anglican
Communion, and I warned him that if he did not he would
find that some Colonial Church had acted without him.
214 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Within a few weeks of my writing to him on the subject the
Canadian Church took independent action and resolved that
its two Primates should henceforth be designated "Arch-
bishop". Archbishop Benson was very angry, but the
change of title was inevitable, although the final step, so far
as other Colonial Churches were concerned, was postponed
till the Lambeth Conference of 1897, which w^as held under
his successor, Archbishop Temple, when the title, as con-
ferred by the Colonial Synod, was corporately acknowledged.
At this time South African politics were in a transition
state. President Kruger surrounded himself with Hollander
adventurers, and German intrigues against England were
being busily hatched in the Transvaal, the ultimate outcome
of which was the Kaiser's famous telegram of sympathy with
Kruger on the occasion of the Jameson Raid in January, 1896.
General Joubert's words, after Majuba, " that the ultimate aim
of the Transvaal was the expulsion of British rule in South
Africa," were not forgotten and Kruger kept this aim steadily
in view. He wanted money to arm his people, and he found
it by taxing Johannesburg, where the gold industry had be-
come of world-wide importance since the first discovery of
gold in 1887.
Discovery of Gold in 1887 Develops into the Vast
Mining Industry of Johannesburg.
It is impossible to imagine a greater contrast than that
between the South African mining centres and the American
mining camps so graphically described by Bret Harte.
Kimberley, with its diamonds, and Johannesburg, with its
gold, speedily became orderly and law-abiding towns. I re-
member being much struck by the fact that in the early days
of Johannesburg, when it was a town of tin shanties and
tents, a Choral Society was formed which gave a very credit-
able rendering of Handel's " Messiah ". One cannot imagine
KRUGER AND JOHANNESBURG 215
Bret Harte's miners taking to Handel's music as a recreation.
In the very early days the Johannesburg people began to
plant trees and make gardens. The suburbs of Johannesburg
are now well-wooded and beautiful as the outcome of the
forethought of its pioneers, for originally the " Rand " was a
bleak and barren stretch of veld. Johannesburg has now
become the largest town in South Africa. Its fine buildings
and spacious streets have kept pace with its trees and
gardens.
Krugee and Johannesburg.
The gold industry of the Transvaal at first alarmed President
Kruger and the Boers. It caused a vast influx of foreigners,
and Johannesburg became a cosmopolitan centre with a very
large proportion of British, who included both new arrivals
and South African born. But the astute Hollanders of the
President's entourage saw further than the " back-veld " Boer.
They persuaded Kruger to utilise this new population by
taxing their wealth for the purpose of arming the Republic
with modern weapons, and incidentally filling their own
pockets. The German intrigues against Great Britain began
gradually to materialise. I believe the original idea was to
include the two Boer Republics as Federated States of the
German Empire, and then to seize the British portion of
South Africa at the first favourable opportunity. The
Germans flattered Boer susceptibilities and claimed kinship
with them, as of '' Low German " origin. The Anti-British
tendencies of the Boers were sedulously fostered, and they
were encouraged to believe that Germany would back them
up in a war against England.
Taxation of the Gold Industry Provides Arms for the
BoERS.
The first step was to tax the new gold industry to arm
themselves. It is a mistake to suppose that the Republics
216 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
began arming after the Jameson Raid. They began directly
they screwed the money out of the gold miners' pockets. Thus
the gold industry indirectly caused the Boer War by furnish-
ing the Boers with ample supplies of the sinews of war.
Concessions and Coeruption.
This new population naturally objected to taxation without
representation. But, although Kruger would never allow
votes to the " Uitlanders," this grievance was only the
ostensible cause of the war of 1899. The real reason was
that, for the first time in their history, the Boers had money
enough to arm themselves and organise their forces. Mr.
Hofmeyr and the Cape Afrikanders began to look askance at
Kruger and his Hollanders, who ousted Afrikanders from
the Republican Civil Service and deprived Cape Afrikanders
of the vote if they went to the Transvaal, just as ruthlessly
as they excluded "Britishers". Money is power, and the
Hofmeyr party of "constitutional methods" saw that they
were losing their influence with the South African Dutch as
a whole, and that Kruger's money was giving his "physical
force " party the ascendancy. Some of Hofmeyr's supporters
cordially disliked the venality and corruption of Kruger and
his party. The disgraceful story of the concessions granted
to the Netherlands Railway (which held a monopoly in the
Transvaal) and its German shareholders, the Dynamite
monopoly and other shady transactions, caused honourable
men to feel disgusted.
Dr. Leyds.
These things were unveiled after the capture of Pretoria
in 1900, and the details of this shameless corruption, un-
paralleled in modern history, are recorded in an Imperial
Blue Book. Kruger himself and his political confidants
HOFMEYE AND KRUGEE 217
became very wealthy, and about this time Dr. Leyds, the
Javanese adventurer, got the ear of Kruger and became the
evil genius of the Transvaal.
HOFMEYR AND KrUGER.
In the early nineties Hofmeyr and the Cape Afrikanders of
his " Bond party " were kept very much in the dark by
Kruger's clique. The Bond loyally supported Ehodes as
Premier, and the rift between the Hofmeyr party and Pretoria
grew wider. The exclusive policy of Ejruger not only denied
votes to Cape Afrikanders settled in the Transvaal. They
found that his customs tariff shut out their goods and touched
their pockets. Kruger was at this time trying to draw the
Free State into his net. President Brand was an enlightened
ruler and in his day the Orange Free State was a well-
governed republic. He repressed, so far as he could, the
anti-British racialism which was the main plank in Kruger's
policy.
Story of the Free State.
The story of the Free State is a miserable disgrace to
British politicians. We had annexed the country, and had
established good government. But "a cold fit" beset the
Imperial Government, and the British flag was hauled down
at Bloemfontein on March 11th, 1854. Sir A. Clarke, the
special Commissioner sent to haul down the flag, told the
people to form a Eepublican Government of their own, and
spent £48,^691 of British taxpayers' money in compensating
dispossessed officials and paying British loyalists in the
territory to hold their tongues. It cost millions to hoist the
British flag again at Bloemfontein in 1900. The base with-
drawal of 1854 was one of the chief contributing causes of
the great Boer War of 1899-1902. At first the Free State
218 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
had little sympathy with the Transvaal. In its early days
Kruger led a strong force of Transvaalers to put an end to
its existence by the capture of Bloemfontein. But negotiations
caused his withdrawal.
Feeble Government of the Boer Republic.
The Boer political ideals are curious. We find a strange
mixture of anarchy and feudalism. In the eighteenth century
the pioneer Boers " trekked " into the interior to escape from
the rule of the Dutch East India Company and the flag of
Holland. They had no use for magistrates or the law and
order of a civilised central government. They were nomads
of the " veld," and when they settled upon a tract of country
each man was feudal lord on his own farm, with power of
life and death over his slaves, and a bullet for outsiders who
meddled with his anarchic idea of freedom. Political com-
bination was of the loosest kind. A "Volksraad," or repre-
sentative assembly, was elected and a President was chosen.
But the President and the " Volksraad" did not venture to
coerce burghers who objected to their laws and decisions.
The defeated party in a "Volksraad" debate carried their
quarrel into the " veld " with rifles.
Major Albrecht.
In the Transvaal the two rival centres of Pretoria and
Potchefstroom made war on each other, and as we have just
seen, there was no love lost between the Free State and the
Transvaal. How was unity of action to be attained by a
people whose ideals of independence meant that every man
was to do what was right in his own eyes ? Kruger saw this
difficulty plainly enough. His solvent was money and land.
He settled German reservists in the Transvaal and used them
to train his artillery. The Free State followed suit, and the
KARL BORCKENHAGEN 219
command of the Free State Artillery was given to a German
Ofl&cer, one Major Albreeht, who surrendered with Cronje at
Paardeberg, on Majuba Day, 1900. There is a curious sequel
to Major Albrecht's career. At the close of the war he said
to the British authorities that he wanted the pension to which
he would have been entitled as an ofl&cer in the employ of the
Free State republic. The Imperial Government promptly
pensioned him and I met him at a reception at Government
House, Bloemfontein, after the war. He looked very well
groomed, and very pleased with himself, as he well might.
Kael Boeckenhagen.
But to return to the " Nineties ". President Reitz suc-
ceeded President Brand in the Free State, and he was more
amenable to Ejruger's influence than his predecessor. One
Karl Borckenhagen, a German with brains and violent anti-
British prejudices, became the editor of the principal
Bloemfontein paper, and began to work hard for Kruger in
the Free State. I have no doubt that German secret service
money as well as money from Kruger was at his disposal. I
once met the gentleman, and was foolish enough to write a
letter to him defending Rhodes from some calumnies in his
paper, and expressing my hatred of German intrigues in
South Africa. He used my letter very cleverly to found an
attack on clergy who wrote in ignorance of political facts. It
took seven years to prove that I was justified. Meanwhile
the Free State was secretly bound to the Transvaal in an
ofifensive and defensive alliance.
The "Dbifts" Conteoversy.
But just about this time a temporary split occurred between
the Transvaal and the rest of South Africa, both Boer and
British. The Cape Railways had been extended through
220 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Bloemfontein to meet the Transvaal " Netherlands Railway "
line at the Vereeniging Bridge over the Vaal River. A short
length of railway of some thirty-five miles separated the Cape
line railhead at the bridge from Johannesburg. Johannes-
burg was the trade-centre of South Africa, and the German
and Hollander shareholders of the Transvaal line immediately
put on a prohibition goods tariff on the short length of line
under their control. This hit the Free State as well as the
Cape Colony, and merchants organised a wagon transport
service from the Cape railhead at Vereeniging to Johannes-
burg sooner than pay the exorbitant rates demanded by the
Transvaal " Netherlands Company ". But the wagons had
to cross the Vaal at some fords or " drifts" not far from the
railway bridge. Kruger came to the rescue of his ''con-
cessionaires" and forbade the wagons to cross the river.
He stopped all road traffic, so as to force all traffic on to his
friends' railway. This was too much for the Free State to
stand, let alone the Cape Colony. Hofmeyr and his Afrikander
party saw a chance of getting a "bit of their own " back from
the old despot in Pretoria. The Cape Ministry took action,
and Mr. Rhodes, as Premier, communicated with the Imperial
Government with a view to an "ultimatum" to the Trans-
vaal if the Vaal ''drifts" were not immediately opened to
traffic. Kruger was not ready to declare war, and he dared
not choose an issue so unpopular as this, not only with the
Free Staters and Cape Afrikanders, but with his own burghers,
who were hiring out their wagons to compete with the rail-
way. He promptly climbed- down and bided his time. His
Hollander and German advisers saw that they had pushed
things a little bit too far.
Visit to England.
In 1893 my wife and I sailed for England for rest and
change. We had not been home since 1882, and we had a
THE NATAL CHUECH QUESTION 221
delightful voyage by the U.S.S. Pretoria. It was good to see
the fresh beauties of an English spring after the heat and dust
of a South African summer and autumn.
The Natal Chukch Question and Aechbishop Benson.
The Natal Church question was just then in an acute stage.
Bishop Macrorie had resigned, and the Colenso faction of
Protestant Erastians stated that they were willing to forego
their dream of a State-appointed "protestant" successor to
Dr. Colenso, and accept a Bishop chosen by the Archbishop
of Canterbury, who should govern both the orthodox and the
schismatics, after consecration in England. It was a weak
concession on the part of the loyal Churchmen in Natal, and
it did not promote a real peace. At most it was an armed
truce, for the small Colenso party had at last realised that
the Church of England would never permit them to have a
Bishop of their own, who would be necessarily in schism with
the South African Church, which was the only body in South
Africa acknowledged by the English Archbishops and Bishops
as being in true spiritual communion with the Church of
England. I have dealt fully with this subject in my " Life
of Dean Green," the venerable and brilliant protagonist of the
Church in Natal, and I need only recall my own personal re-
miniscences of certain details in the controversy.
Dual Position op Bishop Hamilton Baynes.
On my arrival in London I called at Lambeth, as a formal
act of courtesy due from a colonial priest to the primate of the
Anglican Communion. I found, somewhat to my surprise,
that Archbishop Benson wished to see me. He told me that
he wished to hear what I had to say on Natal matters, as a
South African priest from another diocese, because he felt
bound not to consult either Bishop Macrorie or any of his
222 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
clergy on the matters at issue, although, as I found out, he
had been in consultation with Sir Theophilus Shepstone, who
represented the Colensoite party. I did my best to set the
facts before him, and he asked me to see Mr. Hamilton Baynes,
his former chaplain, whom he had chosen as Bishop-Designate,
subject to the corporate assent of the South African Bishops
and our Metropolitan. But I was somewhat uneasy after my
interview with the Archbishop and the Bishop -Designate-
I was afraid lest they should look upon the Natal schismatics
as a '' school of thought," like Protestants in the Church of
England, instead of being, as they were, in open and flagrant
schism. There was too much '' conciliation " in the air, and,
whilst tact was needed to bring the Natal schism to an end,
I felt very strongly that any attempt to treat the orthodox,
who were in communion with the Church of England, and
the schismatics, who were not, on terms of practical equality,
was foredoomed to failure. I venture to think (now that the
Natal schism is practically at an end) that any dispassionate
observer of Archbishop Benson's policy in Natal would be dis-
posed to agree with me. The Archbishop considered Bishop
Hamilton Baynes as a sort of "Legatus a latere" of the
" Alterius orbis Papa". He was to occupy an impossible
dual position. He was, at the same time, to be a Bishop of
the " Church of England," to satisfy the Erastian views of
the schismatics, and also to take the oath of allegiance to the
Metropolitical See of Capetown, and sign the Constitution and
Canons of the South African Church, as a Bishop of the
Church of the Province of South Africa. I once compared
his dual position to the ** double-headed eagle," of Imperial
Austria. One head could wear the Mitre of a South African
Bishop, and the other the velvet cap of an old-fashioned
Erastian Prelate of the Anglican Establishment. Bishop
Hamilton Baynes ultimately found this out for himself. After
the seven years' period for which Archbishop Benson sent him
out, he resigned, and no attempt to continue the dual position
BISHOP TEMPLE 223
was made by his successor, who was duly consecrated, as a
Bishop of the Province, by the late Archbishop of Cape Town.
A strong point with the Natal schismatics was their persistent
refusal to acknowledge Bishop Macrorie as the successor of
Dr. Colenso, a refusal that was emphasised after Dr. Colenso's
death. Archbishop Benson very nearly fell into the trap which
they laid for him by asserting that their new Bishop must be
regarded as the successor of Colenso, as second Bishop of the
See. This acknowledgment would, of course, have blotted
out Bishop Macrorie's episcopate as the legitimate second
Bishop of the See. It was therefore a vital point for South
African Churchmen. After dining at Lambeth I called on
Mrs. Benson one afternoon and the Archbishop came into the
room with a document in his hand. He said to me, '* I am
glad you are here as I want to know how you think the
Bishop-Designate should be described in this document". I
believe the document was his address to the Crown for the
licence to consecrate, but 1 am not sure. "Shall I," he said,
*' describe him as the second Bishop of the See, or the third ? "
The Archbishop had evidently no idea of the importance of
the issue involved. A document which blotted out Bishop
Macrorie's Episcopate would have at once caused a conflict
between the Archbishop and the South African Church. I
spoke out in very plain terms, and I think I convinced the
Archbishop that the point at issue was important. He took
a pen and put the words " Third Bishop " into the document.
I was very thankful that I was there just in time to save a
serious complication.
Bishop Temple.
The Archbishop subsequently sent me to see Bishop Temple
(then of London) on a matter connected with the relation of
the Church House with the commissaries of the South African
Bishops, with a view to using it as a central point for their
224 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
work. The Bishop \was very pleasant and kindly when he
found out that I could talk business without wasting his time.
I put my points as rapidly and as clearly as I could, and there
were several clergy waiting to see him outside his office, to
whom he said, as I entered it, '' You must wait. I am seeing
this gentleman first." When I had finished I rose to go and
remarked that I did not wish to trespass further upon his
time. He looked at his watch, and said **You have not
wasted time, and I can give you five minutes to talk about
South Africa ; sit down ". I gave him the reports of our last
Missionary Conference and he wound up by asking if I had a
wife and what was my London address. The pleasant sequel
was an invitation to us both for his next garden party at
Fulham, which I visited last in Bishop Jackson's time in
1882.
E.O.U. Sermon.
I was asked to preach the Annual Anniversary Sermon of
the E.C.U. at All Saints, Margaret Street. At that time there
was a feeling abroad that the ritual truce, caused by the
Archbishop's judgment in the Lincoln case, had minimised
the necessity for the continued existence of the E.C.U. I
ventured to urge very strongly the need of strengthening the
Society instead of disbanding it, and subsequent events have
justified the line I then took.
Tendency to Combine High Ceremonial with Modern-
ism.
The E.C.U. had then, and has still, a great work before it
in keeping Catholics together. There was a lack of leadership,
and the ritual truce caused sundry developments of individual
unwisdom. The worst of these was a tendency to combine
vestments, altar lights, and other external accessories of
ANGLO-CATHOLICS AND MODERNISM 225
Catholic worship with indefinite vagueness in teaching the
full Catholic Faith. Some of the younger clergy were bitten
with " religion " made in Germany, and were led astray, by
the guess work of the so-called *' Higher Criticism " of the
Old Testament, to adopt a false theory of our Lord's know-
ledge as Man, which Luther originally set forth, and which
Godet, a modern Swiss Protestant Divine had elaborated.
This theory, which had infected Lutheran Germany to such
an extent that belief in the Catholic doctrine of the Incarna-
tion had well-nigh perished out of the land, was the theory
of Colenso, which imputed to our Lord an ignorance of the
true historical value of the facts of Old Testament miracle and
history. Colenso said that our Lord's authority, with regard
to these facts, was conditioned by His not knowing more
about them than any ordinary Jew of His own day. Such a
theory of our Lord's imperfect human knowledge could not
be covered by S. Paul's teaching on His " Kenosis," or self-
emptying of Himself of the Divine Omniscience in His human
mind, by the Incarnation. It was plainly heretical ; because
the human mind of the Perfect Man must necessarily be
perfect and infallible, in all matters within the reach of a
perfect human mind ; and therefore in all statements by our
Lord regarding the Old Testament. Our Lord's human mind
could not be the vehicle of expressing erroneous views upon
the facts of the Old Testament. But to the " Higher Critics "
our Lord's infallible testimony to the Old Testament proved
destructive to their theories, and therefore it was eliminated by
a theory of His ignorance, as Man, which contravened the
Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation. Hooker calls our
Lord's knowledge as man, " so far forth universal, though
not with infinite knowledge peculiar to Deity itself " (Bk. V.
54). S. Thomas Aquinas says that our Lord's perfect human
soul knew all things "quae sunt in potentia creaturae".
(Summa III. q.x.). Therefore since the facts of Old Testa-
ment miracle and history are facts within the power of a
15
226 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
created mind to know, we must accept our Lord's witness to
those facts as infallibly true. Otherwise we fall into the peril
of Nestorian heresy on the Incarnation. I have said thus
much because I noticed then, and have noticed since, that a
new school of thought was arising in the Church of England,
which attempted to combine the externals of Catholic worship
with a minimum of Catholic theology. The Creeds were to
be "re-stated," whatever that might mean, to suit modern
phases of unbelief, and the acceptance of extreme critical con-
clusions on the books of the Old Testament paved the way for
similar treatment of the New Testament. The old and sound
theology of the Tractarians was in danger of being supplanted
by nebulous and illusive conceptions of religion which con-
stituted a grave and growing peril to the whole Anglican
Communion. I have since been glad that I urged so strongly
the need of the maintenance of the E.C.U. in 1893. Its
subsequent course has steadied the Church of England, and
has shielded her priests and people from the insidious attacks
of " religion made in Germany ".
Sermon in S. Paul's Cathedeal.
I had the unique opportunity of preaching in S. Paul's
Cathedral at a Sunday evening service. I was bold enough
to advocate the disestablishment of the Church of England as
a preferable alternative to its present loss of legitimate
ecclesiastical autonomy, and its subjection to a Parliament
composed of all sorts and conditions of religionists from
Papists to Atheists. One of the Canons said to me afterwards
" I agreed with what you said, but I am glad Dean Gregory
did not hear your sermon ". So was I, for the good old Dean
could not free himself from the old-fashioned ideals of
''Church and State" current in his younger days, and he
could not be expected to view matters from the standpoint of
a priest who had worked for years in an unestablished and
SELOUS AND STANLEY 227
unfettered Church in the colonies. The congregation at S.
Paul's is world-wide. There were Americans and British from
the colonies as well as English folk — I remember being stopped
on my way out of the Cathedral by several South Africans
who knew me. I managed to make myself heard by the vast
congregation, and it is an experience I shall never forget.
Selous and Stanley.
I have always valued my membership of the Eoyal Colonial
Institute as a rallying point for Colonists in London, as well
as a powerful educative force for uniting the Empire. I was
asked to a memorable gathering of the Institute to hear the
famous hunter, Mr. Selous, give his experiences of lion hunt-
ing in Ehodesia. I sat on the platform next to him and he
gave a very graphic description of his exploits and adventures.
When he had finished Sir H. Stanley, the explorer, rose to
criticise his utterances. His view was that lions should be
preserved as royal game and that Selous deserved no credit
for killing them. The two men glared at each other, and I
persuaded Selous, whom I had met before, to keep quiet, and
let someone else tackle Stanley, whose remarks were certainly
ungracious. It was a curious scene and was commented on
by the London press. Selous died a hero's death in battle
against the Germans in East Africa in 1916. He was about
sixty when he volunteered for Active Service and his know-
ledge of the country was most useful to the staff.
BlEMINGHAM ChURCH CoNGRESS.
I attended the Birmingham Church Congress, and I felt a
sad contrast there, so far as Catholic unity was concerned.
When I was at the Derby Church Congress in 1882 the im-
prisonment of faithful priests under the Public Worship
Regulation Act (Dizzy's Bill to 'put down Bitualism) united
16*
228 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
us all by the bonds of persecution. There was a different
tone at Birmingham, and the beginnings of that leaderless
individualism were manifest which left us open to the furor
fanaticus of 1898, when a so-called " Church crisis " was
stirred up by the f rabies tireurs of the Kensit brigade, and the
heavy artillery of Sir William Harcourt's letters to '' The
Times ".
I was present at the memorable scene between Bishop
Perowne of Worcester (Chairman of the Congress) and Father
Ignatius, who waved *' Lux Mundi " over his head in a
fervid denunciation of its authors. The Bishop called him
to order with feeble and senile gesticulations which were as
undignified as the outburst of Father Ignatius. Pandemonium
ensued, and Father Ignatius was forcibly removed, still shouting
protest. It would have been far better if the Bishop had
allowed him to "unpack his heart of words," and say his
say. But Bishop Perowne was neither a statesman nor a
chairman.
I was asked to read a paper on " Missions " to the Church
Congress — I did my best with the subject entrusted to me, as
the mere fact of my being selected showed that the Colonial
Church was deemed worthy of a hearing at the annual
representative gathering of the Church of England.
Dean Butlek and Aechbishop Benson.
At the Birmingham Church Congress I met Dean Butler,
the famous Vicar of Wantage, who left so deep a mark upon
the priestly and pastoral life of the Church of England. He
was very friendly and kind. Our meeting proved fruitful in
one direction. Notwithstanding Archbishop Benson's ac-
ceptance of the correction of the erroneous idea that Bishop
Macrorie's episcopate was to be blotted out, he still spoke
very ambiguously on the subject in his Visitation Charge de-
livered at Canterbury in 1893, In the first edition of his
B.D. AT CAMBEIDGE 229
charge he spoke of the election of Bishop Macrorie in the
offensive terms, " one section provided themselves obliquely
with a Bishop ". When I saw these words I wrote at once
to Dean Butler, who, as will be remembered, was lawfully
elected Bishop of Natal after the deposition of Dr. Colenso.
Bishop Macrorie's appointment was the result of a delegation
arranged by the Natal Elective Assembly, in the event of
Mr. Butler's declining to accept the vacant See. There was
nothing " oblique " about the whole procedure and it was
unworthy of the Archbishop to use such a word to describe
a lawful Elective Assembly. I had a very kind reply from
Dean Butler, who was just as indignant as I was. And he
was able to put pressure upon the Archbishop so that when
the Charge was finally revised and published in the Volume
" Fishers of Men " (p. 9), the word " obliquely " was changed
into "independently," to which no one could object. The
South African Church is independent of the State and as such
acts '* independently " in the election of her Bishops. I was
always glad I had written to Dean Butler about this matter.
I Take B.D. at Cambridge.
At the close of my English visit I went to Cambridge to
take my B.D. Degree. It was a difficult task, for the Cam-
bridge Divinity Degrees were reformed in their procedure by
the influence of Lightfoot, Westcott and Hart, some ten years
previously. The old system of proceeding by a Thesis was
practically abolished, and they became "Research Degrees"
in the higher branches of Theology, Criticism and Church
History. The candidate for B.D. or D.D. had to write a
book involving some original research upon a subject
previously approved by the Divinity Professors. The study
of the Canon Law, which had been lost since the Reforma-
tion, was revived under the "Church History" side of
subjects permissible for study, and consequently I wrote a book
230 STOBM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
on the *' Constitutions and Canons of the Anglican Com-
munion " outside the Established Church. It was quite un-
trodden ground, and my book, under the title of " The Church
and the Civil Power," still holds the field as the leading
authority on the subject. I carefully analysed the Constitution
and Canons of theAmerican Church of Canada, Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa, and compared them with the stan-
dard Canon Law of Christendom. I preached the two
statutory sermons for the B.D. and D.D. Degree in the
University Church after I had taken the B.D. in the Senate
House, which brought back memories of old days when I took
B.A. and M.A., and I was naturally much gratified that nearly
all the available Magdalene Dons attended to see me take the
B.D. This is one of the advantages of belonging to one of the
smaller colleges. Your name is remembered, and you can keep
touch with your old college. I have always had the most kindly
welcome at Magdalene whenever I have been to England, and
on my last visit my portrait, painted by my niece, Frances
Wirgman, who has become a successful artist, was placed in
the new Lecture Hall. But this by the way.
When I was up for the B.D. I stayed at King's as the
guest of Canon Churton, who possessed an encyclopedic
knowledge of our Missionary and Colonial work all over the
world. I found him most interesting and we frequently
corresponded. I was allowed the privilege of smoking in the
Senior Common Room, as Canon Churton was an anti-tobac-
conist. I brought some Transvaal tobacco with me, and
South Africans know that its aroma differs strongly from
that of the American tobacco usually smoked in England.
A charming old gentleman entered the Common Room and
began to sniff audibly. I apologised for the Transvaal fra-
grance, and he introduced himself as Professor Ball, the
Astronomer Royal of Ireland, and now a fellow of King's.
We had a delightful talk, and I was glad to meet a man so
distinguished and brilliant in his own special line. He was
THE IMPEEIAL INSTITUTE 231
always most successful as a popular lecturer. Few men of
science can combine as he did public and scientific gifts.
Opening of the Imperial Institute.
In 1893 I was present, as a guest invited by the Colonial
Office, at the splendid ceremony of the opening of the Im-
perial Institute by Queen Victoria in Eoyal State. She was
very rheumatic, and had to be lifted up the steps to the dais
by the Prince of Wales (King Edward VII) and the Duke
of Edinburgh. This was the first great occasion on which
Colonial troops appeared in the streets of London. I re-
member admiring the Canadian Artillery and the Australian
Lancers. Archbishop Benson was there, driving through the
streets in an open landau in all the glory of his Convocation
robes, amidst the cheers of the crowd. Soon after I saw a
closed landau drive up, whose occupant evidently desired to
avoid public notice as he quietly alighted. It was Frederick
Temple, Bishop of London, afterwards Primate of all Eng-
land. The difference in their mode of arrival was character-
istically typical of the two men.
I went to the evening conversazione given by the Prince
of Wales, and I saw a notable Assembly. Gladstone was
there leaning on the arm of his faithful follower, Lord Spencer.
His progress was followed by hisses from the crowd, and I
found that a crowd of carefully chosen guests in evening
dress could be as unmannerly as a crowd in the streets — of
course in a more subdued way. Apropos of this incident,
which occurred in the midst of the controversy caused by
Gladstone's Home Eule Bill, the G.O.M. retained his im-
perturbable dignity of manner. His only reported remark
was : " I never before knew that Spencer was so unpopular ".
As the royal procession passed through a narrow corridor
lined closely with loyal guests, the Duke of York (now
George V) with his destined bride, Princess May, on his arm,
232 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
was pushed out of the procession (by pressure of the crowd)
close up against me. I pushed back the crowd, who readily
gave way, so that he could rejoin the procession. Princess
May laughed at the contretemps, and the Duke bowed his
thanks with a genial smile. I was in London a few weeks
afterwards when they were married — a marriage so full of
promise for the Empire, which has been so amply redeemed
by King George and Queen Mary.
The Home Rule Bill in the Commons.
I had met Sir Thomas Esmonde, the chief Whip of the Irish
party, when he toured the Colonies to enlist Colonial support
for Home Rule. Most Colonists, even Tories like myself,
believe that Ireland is as much entitled to self-government
as Australia, Canada or New Zealand. The grant of self-
government to South Africa after a war of independence of a
very bitter character has been amply justified by results,
notwithstanding the disgraceful and childish rebellion of 1914.
Therefore I am, and always have been, a convinced Home
Ruler.
DiNNEB AT THE HoUSE WITH THE IbISH PaRTY.
Sir Thomas asked me to attend a debate of the House of
Commons, and to dine afterwards in the House with the
leaders of the Irish party. The debate was on the Home
Rule Bill, and it preceded by a few days the memorable scene
when Col. Saunderson and other Unionist members got to
fisticuffs with the Irish party on the floor of the House of
Commons.
Dr. Tanner.
At dinner I sat next to the famous Dr. Tanner, who was
socially a most charming and pleasant person, with the stamp
of *' Wykehamist " underlying the readiness and occasional
truculence of the typical Irishman spoiling for a fight. On
DE. TANNEE 233
one occasion Dr. Tanner was much annoyed by the Liberal
Unionists who insisted on sharing the front Opposition bench
with their deadly party rivals, the Gladstonians. Mr. Glad-
stone and Lord Hartington, Mr. Chamberlain and Sir W.
Harcourt, sat cheek by jowl, and this was a sore hindrance to
private asides and confidential whisperings amongst the
Gladstonians. One day Dr. Tanner came into the House
early, and took his seat in the midst of a group of militant
young Tories. This desertion of the Irish benches on Dr.
Tanner's part was a breach of the unwritten rules of the
House. The young Tories were indignant and made uncom-
plimentary remarks concerning Dr. Tanner, sotto voce. Here
was the opportunity he was waiting for. "Mr. Speaker," he
said, " one of the honourable members near me has called
me a baste ! I invoke the protection of the Chair." The
urbane and dignified Speaker fell headlong into Dr. Tanner's
trap. He remarked that " it was unusual for an honourable
member to seat himself deliberately side by side witk his
political opponents ". Dr. Tanner rose, and solemnly pointed
to the front Opposition bench. The House was naturally
convulsed, and Dr. Tanner crossed the floor to his usual seat
on the Irish benches. A man who could plan and success-
fully carry out a coup of this kind may certainly lay claim to
political originality.
Shortly after this we returned to South Africa.
One of our fellow-passengers was General Willoughby, the
strange adventurer who led the forces of the Queen of Mada-
gascar against the French. He was a typical soldier of
fortune with a chequered career. He gave us some very
strange demonstrations of his powers as a hypnotist on the
voyage out.
Abbot Franz of Marienhill.
On the return voyage I made the acquaintance of Abbot
Franz, the founder of the great Trappist Mission at Marienhill
234 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
in Natal. He was a delightful person and used to come to
our Daily Matins during the voyage. I showed him S.
Mary's, Port Elizabeth, when we landed, and he was very
pleased. He said to me afterwards in his queer English
" Calvinists no good ! Lutherans no good ! English Church
and us are good ! So ! " He did a wonderful work amongst
the Zulus, which his successors in office have worthily carried
on. I think he was a German Swiss, but I have often noticed
that foreign Eoman Catholics are more broad-minded than
their English co-religionists, who are bitter with the memories
of the Penal Laws, which are national sins for which we may
believe God has forgiven us, if the English and Irish Eoman
Catholics have not.
CHAPTEE VII.
Literary Work— The Burning of S. Mary's in 1895— The Work of
Restoration — My Visits to Bloemfontein, Johannesburg and Pretoria —
My Interview with President Kruger — The Jameson Raid and its
Cause and Consequences — The Provincial Synod of 1898 — The Beginning
of the Boer War.
LiTEBAEY WOBK.
During my visit to England in 1893 I published my
" History of the English Church and People in South Africa ".
It was written for the S.P.C.K. series of " Colonial Church
Histories ". But it was too strong meat for them to publish.
I told the truth about Archbishop Tait and the Colenso case.
The S.P.C.K. sent my book, in proof, to the South African
Bishops for advice. Bishop Hamilton Baynes of Natal, the
nominee of Archbishop Benson, who afterwards wrote on the
subject himself as plainly as I did, objected to my treatment
of certain matters. But Archbishop West- Jones of Capetown
approved of what I had written, and so I published the book
myself, apart from the S.P.C.K. I also began on my
return to South Africa the magnum opus of my life, on " The
Doctrine of Confirmation". Canon Mason had published
his well-known book on the subject, in which he virtually
amalgamated Confirmation with Baptism and denied that it
was a separate Sacrament with its own distinctive grace and
efficacy. Canon Bright and Archdeacon Hutchings, two of
our greatest living theologians, encouraged me to oppose
235
236 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Canon Mason's standpoint, which seemed to them, as it did
to me, a novelty in doctrine unknown to the history and
teaching of the Catholic Church for eighteen centuries.
Canon Bright, in his terse way, said that it was curious if the
true doctrine had been obscured for so many centuries and
only left for Canon Mason to discover in the nineteenth cen-
tury. Mine was indeed a formidable task. I had to write in
South Africa away from great libraries, and with the cares of a
town parish on my hands. But I did my best, and I humbly
think that I disproved Canon Mason's theory effectually. I ex-
amined not only all the Patristic passages bearing on Con-
j&rmation, but all the teaching of the great theologians,
century by century, up to the date of the Reformation. I was
fortunate enough to find a copy of Witasse on Confirmation
in Migne's " Theologiae Cursus," which was invaluable in its
exhaustive Conciliar and Patristic references. I may say,
without undue presumption, that my book still holds the field
as the fullest treatise on the subject by any Anglican writer.
I was reading it again myself the other day, and I thought it
was difficult and rather dry. But it was meant more as a
book of reference than a popular essay. As such it still has
its uses. I was hard at work upon it when my literary
labours were suddenly interrupted by a disastrous calamity.
S. Mary's Destroyed by Fire.
S. Mary's, Port Elizabeth, just after the twentieth anniver-
sary of my appointment as Rector, was destroyed by fire.
There had been a long drought and the woodwork burnt like
tinder. I was roused, on March 9th, 1895, at twelve o'clock
at night by the cry of "Fire!" The rectory is close to the
church, but by the time I got there the roof was ablaze.
Nothing could be saved, except the small vestry used by the
choir. I can never forget that terrible night. Fortunately
there was no wind or the fire might have spread to other
^1
THE BUENING OF S. MAKY'S IN 1895 . 237
buildings. The flames roared from the top of the tower,
which acted as a funnel to draw them upwards. We lost a
fine peal of eight tubular bells, and at 3 a.m. the roof fell in
and the building was completely gutted. The fire brigade
was very active — too active in my own case, for I got deluged
by the hose of a zealous fireman, an experience which very
nearly made me lose my temper — but every effort was useless.
At 6 a.m. the flames were subdued, and as I stood in the
midst of the charred ruins, I prayed to God that we might be
able to raise a more beautiful and glorious church from the
ashes of the past. We began to search the ruins, and found
some of our treasures. The Eagle from the Lectern was
iron gilt, and it was saved when the brass pedestal was
melted. It is of beautiful design and is still in use, on its
new pedestal. The jewelled silver-gilt Altar Plate was saved,
though its case was burnt to ashes. It has been beautifully
restored, and is now in use. An old Paten of the year 1836,
with the names of the then Eector and Churchwardens on
it, was also saved. The Bishop's Crozier was found broken
in two, and it was cleverly mended and restored. It
formerly belonged to Bishop Merriman, and was placed by
the Bishop's Throne in S. Mary's when Bishop Webb made
it a Collegiate Church in 1888. We immediately set to work
on plans for the Kestoration, which it was found would cost
about £12,000, and to meet it we had only £6000 from in-
surance. This was a lesson to me, when I was made Arch-
deacon, for South African Archdeacons are held responsible
for adequate fire insurances upon the Church buildings in
their Archdeaconries. I took good care to see that other
parishes did not suffer as S. Mary's had done from inadequate
insurance.
Ehodes' Gift to S. Mary's.
We had a parish meeting to decide about the restoration,
and the people were stirred to a great effort. I felt that it
238 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
was wiser under the circumstances to take the whole financial
responsibility myself, for there were timorous counsels about
cutting down expenditure. My friend Cecil Ehodes saved
the situation for me. He was keen on good architecture and
took some trouble about S. Mary's. "He was Premier at the
time, and asked me to take the architect's plans to his office,
where, busy though he was, he spent half an hour in a de-
tailed examination of them. The plans were good, and he
liked them very much. At last he said to me, " You must
not spoil these plans by cutting them down for the sake of
economy. Here is a little to help you, if you 'promise to
carry out the plans as they are." He tossed a cheque for
£250 across the table to me, and said, " I wish I could do
more". I said that I felt he had done more for us than I
had any right to expect. On my return to Port Elizabeth I
said that if I did not carry out the plans as they were, I felt
bound in honour to return Ehodes' cheque. I never had any
further difficulty.
S. Maby's Founded in 1825.
The cheque was used to build the cloisters round the
choir of S. Mary's as a special memorial of Cecil Ehodes,
and an inscription records the fact. The walls of the nave
were standing, and I was glad that we could still use them,
for the nave was the original church, of which the foundation
stone was laid on October 6th, 1825. The minutes of the
first Building Committee are still preserved, and the portrait
of Captain Evatt, the first Magistrate of Port Elizabeth, who
founded S. Mary's, is in the Chapter-room. S. Mary's thus
ante-dates the Catholic Eevival of 1833 by some years, which
is a very respectable antiquity for a Colonial Church fabric.
Gladstone's Letter.
The church was considerably improved in 1842, and
amongst the Vestry Archives I found a letter to the Eector
Middlebrook Studios, Port Elizabeth
The New S. Mary's
THE WOEK OF EESTORATION 239
and Churchwardens written by Mr. Gladstone, who was
then Under-Secretary for the Colonies, congratulating the
Eector and Churchv/ardens upon the completion of the
building.
Details of the Eestoration.
For eighteen months we had to use the City Hall for
Sunday worship, and the work of restoration seemed very
tedious. The choir was entirely rebuilt and enlarged with
the new cloisters round it. It is spacious and dignified,
being 60 feet long by 27 in width. It contains the Bishop's
Throne, and twenty-two clergy stalls in addition to the
choir stalls. Besides the stalls for the Chapter, there are
honorary stalls for every diocese in the Province, with the
coat-of-arms of each See on the walls behind each stall, em-
blazoned in the proper heraldic colours. The reredos of
Caen stone is a replica of the one destroyed by the fire. It
was executed locally by a clever Italian sculptor, and it cost
£600, a large sum out of our limited resources. We also
built a new organ chamber and had to spend over £1200 on
our organ. We added a Chapter-room, two choir vestries,
and a room for the collegiate library which was for
diocesan use, and the architect contrived a most useful
Sacristy behind the Altar and Eeredos. The stained glass
windows in the choir and nave are very beautiful. One is
fifteenth-century glass with a curious history. It was bought
at Cologne by a relative of the Eev. Precentor Mayo (who
has served S. Mary's since 1883), in the beginning of the
nineteenth century. For eighty years it was in a church in
Highgate. Structural alterations caused it to be removed,
and it was given back to the Mayo family. Mr. Mayo gave
it to S. Mary's, and a window in the nave was adapted for
its use. The subject is the Eesurrection, and the drawing of
the figures and the colouring are excellent. The choir
240 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFKICA
windows and the Madonna window in the nave are by
Hector Butler and Bayne, and are very fine specimens of
their art. We had to replace memorials destroyed by the fire
and this made our restoration additionally costly. We had
some generous help. Mr. Douglas Horsfall of Liverpool, who
had given me £100 when I built the district church of S.
Cuthbert's in 1884, gave £100 for our library books and en-
abled me to refound our Theological Library. We also had
a generous gift of duplicates from St. Deiniol's Library,
Hawarden, through Mr. Gladstone's son-in-law, Canon Drew.
The Eev. J. E. Vaux also left us by will his own theological
library. The whole of S. Mary's library is now carefully
catalogued and is most useful to the clergy.
Visit to Blobmfontein and Johannesburg.
After Easter in 1895 I went to Bloemfontein for the con-
secration of my old friend Bishop Gaul to the See of Ma-
shonaland. I went on to Johannesburg and Pretoria. At
Bloemfontein I met the notorious Karl Borckenhagen, whom
I mentioned before as carrying on a bitter propaganda against
Mr. Ehodes, and as vehemently and rabidly anti-British.
The beginnings of the German propaganda in South Africa
may well be traced to him, though he died before their full
development. He was very civil to me, and showed me the
Forts and the Headquarters of the Free State Artillery. The
horses and equipments were very good, but the Forts did not
amount to much.
I was very much struck with the extraordinary develop-
ment of Johannesburg, since its gold fields were started in
1887. One of the first permanent buildings was S. Mary's
Church, of which my old friend the Eev. J. T. Darragh, B.D.,
was the first Eector. He was the first priest in the " Golden
City," and did heroic work under many and serious
culties, till his resignation from ill health in 1909.
MY INTBEVIEW WITH PRESIDENT KRUGER 241
original S. Mary's was a large Parish Hall, and I preached on
a Sunday evening to a large congregation, mainly composed
of men. It was an inspiring opportunity. Johannesburg is
a city of contrasts. There were fine buildings in those days
mingled with tin shanties. The streets were dusty and ill
kept. The perpetual roar of the mine batteries, which crushed
the quartz, reminded one of the thunder of the surf on our
exposed South Coast after a gale. At night the incessant
roar of the batteries still more vividly reminded one of the sea,
Though South Africa is a vast sub-continent it is curious how
people know each other. I was stopped time after time in
the streets by old friends and acquaintances, and when I
went to the Stock Exchange so many came up to greet me
that there was a temporary interruption of business. The
new population contained a large proportion of British Cape
Colonists, many of whom knew me by name or personally. I
found very kind help for my effort to rebuild S. Mary's, Port
Elizabeth. Sir George Farrar (whose death on active service
in South- West Africa occurred in 1915) helped me, and his
brother gave a memorial stained-glass window to the church.
Another Johannesburg man gave a memorial window, and
Sir Lionel Phillips helped me to replace our lost military
memorials and tablets.
Call on Pkesident Ejiugeb.
I went on to Pretoria. The republican officials of the
Transvaal were of a different type to the Free Staters. The
Hollander element was much in evidence, and one felt in a
foreign country. Most of the coinage was adorned with the
homely features of President Kruger, whom I met personally
in the course of my visit. I called at the Presidency and
was well received for two reasons. My name did not sound
British, and some of my book on South African History had
been translated to the President. I found him smoking a
16
242 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
huge pipe of Transvaal tobacco. His secretary offered me a
cigar, but I asked the President for some tobacco from his
pouch, which seemed to please him. I lighted up, and
presently the cover of his pipe rolled off under my chair. I
thoughtlessly picked it up, forgetting that it was hot, and I
dropped it pretty quickly. The President roared with laughter
at my discomfiture, and then we began to talk. He told me
that he liked my book, and that I had written very fairly
about the Boers. He told me how furious he was with Lord
Rosebery's Government for sending that miserable Natal
Governor (Sir W. Hely-Hutchinson) to annex Kosi Bay, and
cut him off from a possible seaport. "I am shut up in a
kraal," he said.
I suggested to him that England had annexed this " No-
man's land" in order to be able to convey it legally to him
in the future, if he chose to bargain about it, and concede
some of our demands in other directions. He admitted that
he had not thought of this.
I asked him what he thought of Cecil Rhodes. His reply
was characteristic. He said, " Your British Government
stabs me in the back, when I am not looking, but Cecil Rhodes
comes at me in front, and gives me a punch on the nose,
which is better", I gave him a hint that his "Reptile
Press " was a danger to peace, and that he ought to control
it. " Well," he said, " we shall see about that."
Incidentally he gave me the impression of acute megalo-
mania, tempered by shrewdness. I suppose I must have^
impressed him favourably, for he sent me £5 towards the"|
Restoration Fund of S. Mary's, which I believe is the only
instance of his ever giving anything to the English Church,
which he and his Dopper brethren considered to be " Romish ".
In acknowledging his subscription I made bold to explain
to him the position of the English Church in South Africa in
the following letter : —
MY INTEEVIEW WITH PKESIDENT KRUGER 243
" S. Mary's Rectoby,
"Port Elizabeth,
♦• September 23rd, 1896.
" To His Honour the State President of
the South African Republic.
" My Dear Sir,
" I desire to convey to you my grateful thanks
for your very kind gift to the fund for restoring S. Mary's
Church after its destruction by fire. S. Mary's is the oldest
English Church in the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony and
it is very pleasing to me to know that directly after the fire
the Bond Congi-ess passed a resolution of sympathy with me
and my people, and that you, as the leading Statesman of the
Dutch Afrikanders, should send your gift to be laid on the
Memorial Stone of the restored building.
•' I am glad that I can take the opportunity afforded by
your kindness to explain to you the position of the English
Church in South Africa. The Bishops and clergy of the
English Church do not forget that for 150 years the Dutch
Reformed Church was planted in Africa before the coming of
the English in 1795. We always desire to maintain the most
friendly relations with the Dutch Reformed Church, and the
Bishop of Capetown, as our Metropolitan or chief Bishop,
always attends the opening of the Dutch Synod in Capetown
as a mark of courtesy and friendliness. Some people have
a prejudice against the English Church in South Africa be-
cause they think it is Romish in its tendencies. This is an
untrue charge, because the Church of England must be judged
by its Prayer Book and Articles of Religion, which are opposed
to the errors of the Church of Rome. In the 6th Article of
Religion of the Church of England, the Bible is set up as the
standard of our faith, and no one in the Church of England
is required to believe anything that cannot be proved out of
the Scriptures.
" I feel bound to say this much, Mr. President, because I
know that many of my friends amongst Dutch Afrikanders do
16*
244 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
not understand the Church of England, and are prejudiced
against it. But you believe that 'righteousness exalteth a
nation'. Not long ago I told the Johannesburg people that
the piety of the Voortrekkers was the true basis of national
life, and therefore I address you on the subject of the Church
of England, because it is the religion of very many of the
* Uitlanders ' in your State. You want those men to become
good burghers of the Transvaal. They will be better men
if their religion is understood and encouraged by the Head of
the State. The English Church in the Transvaal does not
ask for any privileges above other religious bodies, and it does
not desire them, but I feel sure that your Government will
do all that it fairly can to help the English Church Schools
where the Bible is taught to the children and a religious
education is given.
" It will be interesting to you, as a Statesman, to notice
that the English Church in South Africa is united under one
Synod and one set of Church Laws. The Bishops of the
Eepublics have equal rights with the Bishops of the Colonies
under the English Flag, and the whole body of the English
Church in South Africa makes its own laws and governs itself
without any interference from England. The unity of the
Ten English Bishops and dioceses in one South African Church
may be perhaps a forerunner of a United South Africa,
although our Bishops and clergy do not concern themselves
directly with politics. I hope that one day the Dutch and
English Churches may be united upon the basis of ' the
Apostles' doctrine and fellowship ' (Acts ii. verse 42) without
any sacril&ce of principles on either side.
" Again thanking you for your very kind gift,
" Believe me, Mr. President,
" Your obedient faithful servant,
'' A. Theodoeb Wirgman, B.D., D.C.L
" Vice-Provost of S. Mary's
" Collegiate Church, Port Elizabeth
MY INTEEVIEW WITH PEESIDENT KBUGEE 245
His Stbangb Personality.
His large reception room was lit with electric light. I
heard a queer story about his use of it, which is so character-
istic of him that I believe it to be true. Two of his " Back-
veld " burghers called on him one day and he turned on the
electric light for their delectation. He then turned to them
and asked them to blow it out. They blew vigorously at one
of the globes. " Blow harder ! " said the President. " Ach !
you are no good." He then went to the other end of the
room where the switch was and stood in front of it with his
hand on it behind his back so that they could not see it.
"Kykhoe uw President kan bias," he said (See how your
President can blow). He drew a long breath and blew
vigorously, as he switched off the light with his thumb. The
simple Boers were dumfounded. Said they, "Maar onze
President kan mooi bias " (Our President can blow well),
and they departed full of wonder at the powers of their
" Grand Old Man ". This fondness for a practical joke was
characteristic of Paul Kruger. He was obstinate and
truculent, but he had his racy human side, although its
methods of expression were somewhat coarse. He despised
the English, but on occasions he did not spare his own
burghers, or his political opponents. One of the old-fashioned
Transvaalers had an educated son. He applied to the
President for a Civil Service billet for his son, and criticised
the policy of filling the Civil Service with Hollanders instead
of men born in the country. " Baboons are born in the
country as well as your son " was the gruff reply of the irate
old President. Kruger had strong political opponents, for
some of the best of the Transvaalers saw that his policy
would inevitably lead to war w4th England. General
Joubert, the victor of Majuba, stood against him for the
presidency and openly advocated a less aggressive policy,
although he still hoped for Afrikander predominance in South
246 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
Africa. Louis Botha, a young member of the Volksraad, was
in opposition to the President's policy in those days. And,
although when war was declared he fought for his country,
his early views in favour of South African peace and unity
explained his subsequent loyal adherence to the policy of
Union within the Empire, which he has so faithfully carried
out as the first Union Prime Minister, and as the successful
General who led the Union Army to the conquest of German
South- West Africa.
S. Mary's Foundation Stonii.
In September, 1895, I had the joy of witnessing the laying
of the Foundation Stone of the new Choir of S. Mary's. The
ceremony was "masonic" and the stone was laid by Dr.
Egan, the District Grand Master, in the presence of the
District Grand Lodge of the Eastern division of South Africa.
I followed the " Truro form " in combining the religious and
masonic ceremonial. At the time I was Master of our local
Lodge, and one of the Grand Wardens of our Grand Lodge.
Each mason laid his offering upon the Stone^ and we had a
goodly and helpful collection.
The Jameson Raid.
At the close of 1895 there was grave unrest in the Trans-
vaal, which culminated in the Jameson Raid in the first week
of 1896. The Johannesburg people were tired of heavy
taxation without votes or representation in the Parliament of
the Transvaal. There were two undercurrents at work.
There was a cosmopolitan group, led by Mr. Hays-Hammond,
an American engineer, who wanted to overthrow Kruger's
pastoral republic, and replace it by a republic of cosmopolitan
financiers. And then there was the group who desired to
place the Transvaal once more under the British flag.
THE JAMESON RAID 247
Rhodes worked with this group, which was led by his brother
Colonel Frank Rhodes and the Farrars. Johannesburg re-
volted under a '* Reform Committee " in which both elements
were represented. Kruger waited for them to commit some
overt act and held his burghers ready for instant mobilisa-
tion.
"Wait," he said, "till the Johannesburg tortoise puts
its head out, and I will strike". The situation was perilous.
The Imperial Government allowed Rhodes to put a " corps
of observation " on the Transvaal frontier to provide for the
possible contingency of an attack on Johannesburg, which
would have imperilled the lives of thousands of British sub-
jects. Dr. Jameson, the Administrator of Rhodesia, was on
the spot in command of the force. One night an emissary
from the cosmopolitan group in Johannesburg came to his
camp. Jameson saw that the Republic of cosmopolitans
would be just as hostile to the British flag as Kjuger's
Government, so he made up his mind to strike without
orders. He cut the wires and marched for Johannesburg.
His act was politically indefensible^ and Rhodes chivalrously
accepted the blame for a rash action that he had never
sanctioned or ordered. When I heard the news it seemed to
me incredible, but I knew from the first that Rhodes could
not have sanctioned it. Rhodes was no actor, and quite
incapable of posing. He was always most punctilious in his
dealings with Government House. But when he heard the
news of the Jameson Raid, he rushed off to Government
House without his hat, and burst unceremoniously into the
presence of Sir Hercules Robinson with his tidings. After-
wards he shut himself up in his house at Groot Schuur, and
would see no one, until he had made up his mind what to
do. His personal link with Jameson was so close, and his
affection for him was so great, that his first thought was how
to save his friend from the death penalty which he had justly
incurred, Jameson too was chivalrous. When his force
248 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
surrendered, he at once said " Let these men go, and shoot
me ". But drastic action of this kind was foreign to the
purposes of Kruger and his Hollander entourage.
The Kaiser's Telegram.
The Kaiser's famous telegram of sympathy had come,
which, as we know now, was not his own impulsive act, but
the deliberate and carefully determined policy of the German
Foreign Office. A short, sharp, and dramatic ending to the
Eaid was bad policy. Kruger saw that it could be utilised
to ruin Ehodes, embarrass the British Government, and
strengthen the war party in the Transvaal.
The Matabele Eebbllion.
Ehodes resigned the Premiership of the Cape, and set off
for Ehodesia, where the general South African unrest had
culminated in a serious native revolt. Jameson was tried
and imprisoned in Holloway Gaol, and Colonel Frank Ehodes,
Farrar, and other leading members of the Johannesburg
Eeform Committee were tried and sentenced, some to death
and others to heavy fines and long terms of imprisonment.
Sir Lionel Phillips was banished for life from the Transvaal,
and went to live at Eome, where he helped the Italian
Government with the excavations of the Forum. The death
sentences were ultimately remitted, but enormous fines of
£25,000 per head were exacted, and Ehodes paid a large pro-
portion of them out of his own pocket.
Ehodes ends it.
He ended the rebellion in Matabeleland by an act of great
personal courage. He went, unarmed, with three or four
followers, to meet the Matabele " Indunas," and after a
THE JAMESON EAID 249
memorable and dramatic interview, arrived at conditions of
peace which have never since been broken.
I saw him, just after this event, on his way to England to
stand his trial before the Parliamentary Commission, and I
heard him make the famous speech about the "unctuous
rectitude " of some of his critics. I knew exactly what he
meant, and we have had the same sort of thing in the speeches
of some of our " Pacificists " since the Great War of 1914
began.
Easter Camp in 1896.
At Easter, 1896, the whole country was in a ferment, Sir
Gordon Sprigg succeeded Ehodes as Premier, and did what
he could to quieten the land. He ordered the usual Easter
Brigade Camps of the colonial forces to be held, and over a
thousand men were encamped at Cradock, which is a very
strong Dutch centre in the Eastern Province.
My Sermon at Church Parade.
I went into camp with them as Brigade Chaplain and on
.Easter Day I borrowed the huge Dutch Church for the
Jhurch Parade, as there was no other building in Craddock
parge enough to hold the troops. As Bishop Gray had availed
limself of the occasional use of the Dutch Eeformed fabrics,
Iwhich the courtesy of the Moderator had placed at his dis-
Iposal in the early days, I felt that I might follow his example.
The church was full of troops, but in a semi-circle round the
pulpit I saw, somewhat to my discomfiture, the Elders of
the " Kerk-Eaad," sitting in solemn array. I knew that
they had enough English to follow my sermon, and as I
meant to allude to the Eaid and the disturbed state of the
country, I wished they had not been there. The country was
distracted from end to end by violent statements about the
250 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Kaid, and seemed almost on the edge of civil war. I made
some plain statements about Imperial and South African
loyalty and citizenship. I pointed out that S. Paul was an
Imperial citizen of Eome as well as a patriot Jew, and de-
duced the analogy. I said, " We are citizens of the world-
wide Empire of Great Britain. Our loyalty to our Imperial
citizenship centres round one glorious flag and one Throne
which is the centre and symbol of our unity. But this
Imperial loyalty does not conflict with the idea of our Empire
being a federation of nations, each of which is animated by
an ardent local patriotism. The loyalty of Canada, Australia,
and New Zealand to the Empire as a whole does not con-
flict with the local patriotism of the Canadian, Australian,
or New Zealander for his own country and people. And we
South Africans are loyal to the wider citizenship of the
Empire, whilst at the same time we own our local patriot-
ism and loyalty to our own South African nation. My
comrades-in-arms, you are here to-day in furtherance of
your loyalty to the Empire and to our own country. You
have done, and are doing hard work, and your camp of in-
struction is a reality and not a holiday picnic. I have had
the honour of addressing, at one time or another, nearly
every regiment in this brigade during my twenty-one years'
service as Chaplain to the Colonial Forces. I had to preach
to troops going to the front in the war of 1877, after Isandh-
Iwana in 1879, and during the Basuto campaign. But never
have I felt the responsibility more than I do to-day in
THE PBESENT MOST SERIOUS CRISIS
in South African affairs. The outlook is indeed gloomy.
The two European races are stirred by the unhappy events
of the beginning of the year into a revival of racial hatred
which we hoped was buried for ever. As a priest of the
Church of God it is my duty to set forward peace and unity
by every means in my power. In my humble way I can
THE JAMESON EAID 261
honestly say that I have striven to promote unity and con-
cord between English and Dutch in South Africa. I desire
to acknowledge the courtesy of the authorities of the Dutch
Reformed Church for permitting us to use this noble build-
ing for our parade service this day, and I desire to say noth-
ing to touch the susceptibilities of my fellow-citizens. But
I am bound to say this much. Is there a legitimate cause for
this deplorable discord ? Can we not look facts squarely in
the face by the light of common sense, and get away from the
heated atmosphere of lying rumours and sensational reports ?
To begin with, let us remember the good and true side to the
characters of the chief actors in our present political strife.
A man's past is not to be forgotten because he has done
something of which we disapprove in the present. The
Sunday after the surrender at Krugersdorp, the Bishop of
Grahamstown paid a touching tribute from the pulpit of his
Cathedral to the unfailing devotion shown by Dr. Jameson
to the sick poor of Kimberley, and the helpful courtesy he
had shown to the Sisters of Mercy in their work. These
things
OUGHT NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN,
nor the brilliant services rendered by the late Administrator
of Ehodesia, by the persons who so glibly condemn him as a
common criminal. Nor can any South African, whether of
Dutch or English descent, take a less generous estimate of
the career of that great statesman, Mr. Rhodes, the late
Premier of the Colony, than Mr. Chamberlain did in his
speech in the Imperial Parliament. A frank and ungrudg-
ing recognition of the great services rendered by both these
men to South Africa is demanded in the name of justice,
common sense and Christian charity. Until we take a calm
estimate of men and measures, there can be no stable peace
in South Africa. Each of us can do something to promote
peace, and the steady discipline and organisation of the
252 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Colonial forces will be a valuable factor in ensuring the true
peace of the country." The preacher concluded his address
by reminding his hearers that Easter was the dawn of all
true hope for humanity. The children of the Eesurrection
are ''free born" in very truth "for their citizenship is in
Heaven ". " If," he said, " we believe in God, and trust in
the regenerating power of the risen Christ to solace the vexed
problems of a fallen world, we shall endure the true peace
of Heaven to our country and to ourselves ! "
After this plain speech I rather wondered what the Dutch
Eeformed Minister and his Elders would say to me. But
they all shook hands with me after the service, and assured
me that I had not offended them or hurt their feelings.
I felt that I had a right to follow Bishop Webb's lead in
defending Dr. Jameson as a man and as a capable adminis-
trator of Ehodesia, for which he had already been made a
C.B. He was in prison, and thousands of tongues were let
loose to defame him. After he was released from Holloway
Gaol I met him at a dinner given to welcome him back by
Ehodes at Groot Schuur. I sat next to him, and he had the
same charm of personal magnetism which his Chief possessed.
I ventured one remark about the Eaid. I said that I thought
his action was dictated by his intention to defeat the German
intrigues and the idea of a cosmopolitan republic of finan-
ciers. He replied in the affirmative.
It is a very remarkable tribute to his personality that he
lived down the obloquy of the "Eaid," and becanie 2, persona
grata to the Dutch, as Premier of the Cape after the Boer
War. His policy of conciliation did much to pave the way
for the future union of South Africa.
Maek Twain.
While the Johannesburg " Eeform leaders " were in prison
at Pretoria, Mark Twain came to South Africa on a lecturing
MAEK TWAIN 263
tour. There was a pathos about it, for the gallant old man
was touring the world to make money to pay debts incurred
by the default of others, just as Sir Walter Scott did in his
closing years. He lectured at Port Elizabeth and I called
on him. We had an interesting talk, and he amused me
hugely by his ideas on the South African political situation.
He had just come from Pretoria where he had been to see
the Eeformers in prison. " Sir," he said, " I came to South
Africa as a Eepublican full of sympathy with a poor down-
trodden republic quivering under the paw of the British lion.
I have talked to your * Eeform ' prisoners, and have
wondered ever since why Great Britain allows that darned
one-horse Boer republic to last another forty-eight hours ! "
He was a striking-looking old gentleman, and his massive
head and flowing locks contrasted somewhat oddly with his
nether extremities, which were clad in red carpet slippers.
He was en ddshabilU at his hotel, and said to me, " I must
have my morning exercise ! Will you have a game of
billiards?" I readily agreed, and then he said ''I always
play with a slate and pencil ". " What for ? " I asked. " Oh !
to score flukes on," he replied. " All my flukes will count to
your score and yours to mine." We started and he led ofif
with a palpable and outrageous fluke. " Give me the slate,"
I said. "Sir," said Mark Twain, "that was a noble shot.
Didn't you see the science of it?" I laughed and let him
have his way. I have played many games of billiards, but
that was the most amusing game I ever had. His racy talk
and queer humour were most delightful, and when I beat
him, flukes and all, I was glad it was a close enough game
to keep him keen on it to the very end. I heard his lecture,
which was evidently a strain on him, and when he left I saw
him off by the train. I told him how fond old Bishop Merri-
man used to be of his books, and that the Bishop, when he
was on visitation on horseback, used to travel light, and carry
with him only a Bible, a Prayer Book, and a volume of Mark
254 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Twain's. Out came his note-book. " Tell me that again,"
he said, " I must remember that old Bishop's name." And
down it all went. I said I was sorry that he did not tell us
at his lecture the story of his duel with the editor who was
so thin that when he fired at him he hit him " plumb-centre
and split the bullet ! " "■ Where did you get that from? " he
said. " It comes from a book which I published in America
years ago, which I didn't think had reached England." I
told him I had seen and read the book, which was one of his
early efforts. We said " Good-bye," and I was always glad
that I had met him. As is well known, his plucky effort to
pay his debts was successful, but the strain was too great.
He did not long survive the effort.
Consecration of the Choir op S. Mary's.
In September, 1896, Bishop Webb consecrated the new
choir of S. Mary's, and we came back to our ancient home of
worship, after eighteen months' exile, during which we held
our services in the City Hall. Not long afterwards Ehodes
came to Port Elizabeth. He was full of public engagements,
but found time to see S. Mary's. I had put a small tablet in
the cloisters recording the fact that his gift had built them.
He was very pleased with the work, but when his eye caught
the tablet he ran his thumb over his name and said "You
shouldn't have put that up. I have done so little. You are
still in debt ; shall I give you some more? " I said, " No, Mr.
Ehodes, > you have done quite enough for us, with all your
other claims. Port Elizabeth must do the rest." He seemed
pleased at my independence, for he was not used to a sugges-
tion that he had done enough for any friend or object.
People rather plundered him, and he had really been very
generous to us. I think he respected me for this, just as he
did when I differed from his views, and told him so plainly,
as I did on several occasions. I think that at times he was
BECHUANALAND CAMPAIGN 256
bored by his immediate circle, who were a little too ready to
agree with whatever he said.
V.D. CONFERBED ON ME AT ChURCH PaRADE.
Not long after the church was reopened we had a large
Church Parade at St. Mary's to dedicate the Memorial Tablets
to men of the local regiment who had fallen in the campaigns
of 1877, '80 and '81, which had replaced those destroyed by
S. Mary's fire. The Navy was represented by the Captain and
Officers of H.M.S. Fox, and the Uitenhage Eifles and
Grahamstown 1st City Regiment paraded with our local
regiment. There were 450 on parade and before the service
I was decorated by Colonel Gordon (commanding our local
regiment, Prince Alfred's Guard) with the Imperial Long
Service Decoration, known as the V.D. It implied twenty
years' consecutive " commissioned service," and I was, and
am, very proud of it. Bishop "Webb dedicated the Tablets,
and preached an excellent sermon at the Church Parade. I
was promoted " Hon. Major " of the Colonial Forces in 1886,
and in 1901, as the senior chaplain by date of commission, I
was gazetted " Hon. Lt.-Colonel ".
Bechuanaland Campaign.
In 1897 the Cape Colony was again involved in a Native
war. The Bechuanaland Natives in the Langberg district
went into open rebellion, and the Government had to send a
force of some 2500 men to restore order. Most of the Colonial
regiments furnished an ''Active Service Detachment," and at
a farewell parade of the Service Detachment of Prince Alfred's
Guard I addressed the men as follows : " The expedition in
which you are taking part is no child's play. You will need
to practice all the lessons taught you in the way of discipline.
You must be prepared to undergo hardships. Each man is a
256 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
link in the chain of service, and every link should bear its strain
in maintaining the honour of the flag under which you serve.
Eemember that the weakest link indicates the strength of the
whole chain. Let each man consider the honour of the
regiment identical with his own honour. Personally I feel
sure that every man of the detachment will prove himself a
worthy citizen of the town he lives in, and that you will add
another to the list of honours that already graces the colours
of Prince Alfred's Guard. I trust that this sixth Active Service
Detachment will come back with the good record of their
comrades in former days. The real test of your manhood
will be in your faithfully carrying out monotonous camp
duties and routine work which will wear off the edge of your
enthusiasm. Your sole watchword should be your duty to
God, your Queen and country."
I knew that the Langberg campaign would be a great
strain on the men, with an elusive enemy, a barren country,
and an inevitable difficulty in commissariat and supplies.
The infantry got more fighting than I expected, and did
very well indeed in the .final assault of the rebels' strong-
hold at the Langberg mountain. We had to send a
seventh Active Service Detachment before the campaign
was over.
Diamond Jubilee.
In 1898 we unveiled the Memorial Tablet in S. Mary's to
those who died in this campaign. Whilst it was going on,
South Africa right loyally celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of
Queen Victoria. I always look back to this event as a
" parting of the ways " in our Empire. Eudyard Kipling's
" Eecessional " was published then, and its note of warning
pointed to a saner and stronger ** Imperialism " than the
popular ideals of the day.
POLITICAL AND EACIAL TEOUBLES 257
South African Political and Eacial Troubles.
The Empire was beginning to find itself. Australia was
working towards the federal union of its ** Comnaonwealth ".
Canada, already a ''Dominion," was striving to combine
Imperial and Canadian patriotism. South Africa was torn
by the conflicting ideals of Krugerism and the determination
of British South Africans to keep South Africa within the
Empire. The years following the **Eaid" were years of
veiled civil war, destined to break out in open strife sooner
or later. " The sooner the better," some of us thought, for
things were rapidly drifting into an intolerable position.
The hopes of the South African British minority rested upon
two men. Chamberlain, the strongest man that ever held
the position, was Colonial Secretary. And he had sent Milner
to South Africa, with a firm determination to defeat German
intrigue, and defeat Kruger s desire to dominate South Africa
from Pretoria under the flag of an Afrikander Eepublic, which
should extend from Cape Town to the Zambesi. Dean Church
once said of Lord Milner that he was the most finished pro-
duct of modern Oxford. He won every academic honour
open to him, and his great work in Egypt, with its special
difficulties, eminently fitted him to be High Commissioner of
South Africa and Governor of the Cape.
Correspondence with Mr. Chamberlain.
In the Eastern Province of the Cape Colony the descendants
of the British settlers of 1820 were the dominant factor.
Many of these men knew little of the power or resources of
the Empire. They were bitter and impatient. They came
to blows with Dutchmen, who taunted them about " Majuba "
and the recent easy conquest of Jameson's men by Cronje
and his burgher army. During Mr. Chamberlain's tenure of
office any Colonist who had anything to say on Colonial affairs
17
258 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
could lay his views before the Colonial Ofi&ce and get a
courteous reply. Knowing this, I sent Mr. Chamberlain a
long private memorandum upon the state of affairs in South
Africa, tracing cause and effect as well as I was able during
the previous twenty years. I spoke of the unrest of the
South African-born English, who had never seen England,
and ventured to suggest the regarrisoning of the old Imperial
garrison towns of Grahamstown and King Williamstown. I
also hinted that the power of England might be shown by a
fleet concentration in one of the South African Ports. I de-
livered my soul freely and did not expect any further reply
than the acknowledgment that my memorandum had been
laid before the Secretary of State.
Fleet Concentration at Delagoa Bay.
But I got more than this. I had a reply asking me to write
again and give further information, which I was glad to do.
I suppose other South Africans had written in the same sort
of way, and I believe that Lord Milner saw that some im-
mediate action was necessary. Anyhow the Imperial garrison
towns of the Eastern Province, after twenty years' interval,
were re-occupied by Imperial troops, and a magnificent fleet
concentration took place one fine morning at Delagoa Bay.
No one had the least idea of such a thing. The Admiral of
the Cape station anchored in Delagoa Bay with the ships of
his squadron. There was smoke on the horizon, north, south
and east, as warship after warship from the Indian and
Australian and Mediterranean squadrons came to the rendez-
vous in the course of the morning. It was a most imposing
display of naval force, and a wonderfully timed concentra-
tion.
Ee-Gareisoning of the Eastern Province.
Johannesburg rejoiced, and the South African British took
heart of grace. Kruger and his Hollanders were deeply
EE-GARKISONING THE EASTERN PROVINCE 259
impressed for the moment. The Admiral invited Kruger to go
down to Delagoa Bay and visit the fleet, but the old president
promptly refused.
" If I go there," he is reported to have said, "they will
take me off to England and kidnap me, and what will
become of my poor burghers?" Anyhow, nothing induced
him to go.
I met a young British farmer in Grahamstown not long
after the city was re-garrisoned with Imperial troops. He
had never seen them before, as he was too young to remem-
ber the old days of the garrison, and he had never been to
England. He was greatly excited, and told me he had rushed
up to the sentry at the Barrack gates and put a gold piece
into his astonished hand, saying, " It is just because you are
a genuine British Tommy, don't you know ! " This feeling
was typical of the South African British in the tense years
between the Raid and the Boer War. Every one felt that
war was bound to come. The tension between the South
African British and the Boers was too acute. We felt day by
day nearer to the breaking-point. The Transvaalers and
Free Staters were arrogant and expressed their determination
to be the masters of South Africa. The South African British
saw a new spirit in Downing Street. They began to think
that Chamberlain and Milner meant to keep South Africa
British, and they waited in impatience for the issue. The
older British colonists were not so much concerned about the
grievances of the Johannesburg people, except so far as they
might serve for a casus belli against Krugerism.
The Bloemfontein Confeeence op 1899.
Then came the famous Bloemfontein Conference of 1899
when Kruger and Milner met face to face to argue the issues
of peace and war. I was in Natal at the time, where I had
gone at the invitation of my dear old friend. Dean Green, to
17*
260 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
preach the sermon at the dedication of the new chancel of
S. Saviour's Cathedral, Maritzburg. I saw by a newspaper
report that Kruger made a great grievance about an alleged
plot by a British officer to capture the Johannesburg Fort.
His police had cleverly unearthed the conspiracy, and the
officer was in prison. His name appeared, and I knew at
once that the whole conspiracy was hatched by the police.
The so-called British officer was an educated and plausible
"loafer," whom I had tried to befriend in Port Elizabeth.
He drifted to Johannesburg, and as I shrewdly suspected,
had sold himself to the Transvaal police, and with them had
engineered this " bogus " plot. I wired at once to Sir Alfred
Milner to tell him what I knew of the man. I had a letter of
thanks, and Kruger dropped his " faked" conspiracy like a
hot coal. The conference came to a futile ending and
Kruger went back to Pretoria to take immediate steps to
mobilise his army. He wanted a month or so for the spring
grass to grow for fodder for his horses, and meanwhile the
diplomatic game of " dispatches " between Downing Street
and Pretoria went on a little longer.
The Doctob's Ring Conferred on me in Maritzburg
Cathedral.
Whilst I was at Maritzburg in 1899 I received from
Cambridge my degree of Doctor of Divinity. I had written a
book on the " Constitutional Authority of Bishops up to the
Council of Chalcedon," which involved a considerable amount
of research. My general line was to prove that the authority
of Primates and Metropolitans was inherent in the primitive
Church, and that a diocesan Bishop was not an autocrat, but
a constitutional ruler, with the counsel of his Diocesan Synod
to aid him, and with a well-defined responsibility to his
Metropolitan and corn-Provincial Bishops. The degree was
conferred upon me in absentia by a special grace of the Senate.
THE PEOVINCIAL SYNOD OF 1898 261
Dean Green of Maritzburg, as the senior Cambridge graduate
in South Africa, arranged with the senior Cambridge Bishop,
Dr. Hicks of Bloemfontein, to confer upon me the Doctor's
ring which in mediaeval times belonged to the degree. The
ring was blessed on the altar of Maritzburg Cathedral by the
Bishop with the words ''Benedic Domine, hunc annulum,
quem nos in Tuo sancto Nomine benedicimus, ut sit signum
Sacrae Theologiae Professoris muneris, et da ei qui portat
Spiritum Intellectus, ut in Tua sacra scientia quod legerit
credat, quod crediderit doceat, et quod docuerit imitetur;
per Jesum Christum Dominum Nostrum. Amen." The
Dean took me by the hand and presented me to the Bishop
with the words " Duco ad vos Augustum Theodorum Wirgman,
Professorem in Sacra Theologia designatum " ; and the
Bishop placed the ring on my finger with the words, " In
Nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti impono digiti tuo
hunc Annulum, muneris et gradus tui signum, et benedicat
te Deus Pater, custodiat te Jesus Christus, illuminet te
Spiritus Sanctus in saecula saeculorum. Amen ". The
Bishop then said in Latin the Collect for Whitsunday and
gave the Blessing.
Death of Bishop Hicks op Bloemfontein.
The good Bishop passed to his rest on October 9th in that
same year, the very day on which war was declared by the
Transvaal, and the Dean died six years later. The ring, thus
solemnly placed on my finger, has never since teen taken off,
and the memory of that simple ceremony will ever remain
sacred to me.
The Peovincial Synod op 1898.
I may also here briefly interpolate my memories of the
Provincial Synod of 1898. I was again elected to represent
262 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
the diocese of Graham stown. The Synod was marked at its
outset by a Charge from the late Archbishop West-Jones of
singular power and breadth of outlook. South Africa was
seething with political discord. The Archbishop showed how
the unity of the Church of England, which Archbishop
Theodore of Tarsus accomplished in the seventh century, was
a prelude to the political unity of the Heptarchy under King
Egbert. He pointed to the corporate unity of the South
African Church, and to the Bishops of the Boer Eepublics
sitting in Synod with the Bishops of British South Africa.
Surely, he thought, this ecclesiastical unity was a hopeful
harbinger of the future political unity of South Africa under
the British flag. He then dealt with subjects more definitely
concerning the work of the Synod.
The Synod Asserts the Indissolubility of Marriage.
We had to face the question of Christian marriage. Already
the Archbishop and Bishops in Synod had taken action when
the State permitted marriage with a deceased wife's sister in
1891. That question was settled by the order to the clergy
not to solemnise marriages forbidden by the Table of Kindred
and Affinity, and further, not to admit to the Holy Communion
persons who had contracted such marriages. The matter
was not complicated by questions of civil rights and establish-
ment as it has been in England. In South Africa the
English Church is a voluntary association, capable of making
laws for its own members. It is in the position of a club,
and the legal position of members of a club is that if they
violate its laws they cannot claim its privileges. The Pro-
vincial Synod dealt on these lines with the question of
divorce and re-marriage. It affirmed that the ancient law of
the Church of England (as expressed in the Canons of 1604,
and as expounded by Blackstone) knew nothing of Divorce
Absolute (a vinculo), but only permitted a judicial separation.
THE PEOVINCIAL SYNOD OF 1898 263
which did not legalise the re-marriage of either party, irre-
spective of all questions of innocence or guilt. It embodied
this interpretation of the Canon Law of Marriage, as a
Sacrament per se indissoluble, in Canon XXIX of the South
African Church, and it further forbids the admission of
divorced persons to the Holy Communion, or persons who
have contracted unions forbidden by the Table of Kindred
and Affinity. Another point of grave importance was settled
at this Synod. It was felt that no Province of the Catholic
Church could be considered absolutely autonomous, so far as
the decisions of its Court of Appeal applied to matters of
Faith and Doctrine, common to the whole Catholic Church.
The Synod and the Lambeth " Consultative Body ".
The Lambeth Conference of 1897 was unable to formulate
a final Court of Appeal for all the dioceses in communion
with Canterbury. But it made an effort in that direction
(which has since then taken permanent shape), by constitut-
ing a " Consultative Body " of Bishops to advise the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury in cases referred to him from provinces
or dioceses outside his own immediate jurisdiction. This
" Consultative Body " is composed of Bishops who are elected
by each ecclesiastical province in communion with Canter-
bury. The South African Church had been roundly accused
of too much independence when its legal '* nexus " with the
Church of England was broken by successive judgments of
the Privy Council. The Synod, therefore, determined to
dispel this erroneous idea by constituting this " Consultative
Body " its Final Court of Appeal. No other Colonial Church
has gone so far as the South African Church in this direction.
But we took care that our amended Canon on this subject
contained sufficient safeguards. We did not forfeit our
legitimate independence as a Province of the Catholic Church,
but we adopted a course that guarded us from the isolation
264 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
and peril of disunion that might conceivably result from an
illegitimate use of that independence. It would be impossible
for us to fall into the error temporarily committed by the
Church of New Zealand in condemning doctrine which was
taught without censure in the Church of England.
Bishop Webb Succeeded by Bishop Cornish.
To return to the tangled skein of political events, my con-
viction in June, July, and August, 1899, was daily more
positive that it was impossible to avoid war with the Trans-
vaal. Bishop Webb resigned the See of Grahamstown in
1898, and I was at Capetown for the consecration of his
successor. Bishop Cornish.
The Verge of the Boer War.
Things were beginning to move rapidly. The tension
which arose as war became nearer and nearer, was worse
than war itself. Business was at a standstill. The news
came that the Imperial Government meant to act, unless the
Transvaal listened to reason. Sir Eedvers Buller was
appointed to command an expeditionary force in the event
of war, which all who knew what was going on saw to be
inevitable. The contest between Briton and Boer for the
** overlordship " of South Africa was, on the one hand, a
national movement of the Boers for racial supremacy, and on
the other hand, a dogged determination of the South African
British to remain within the Empire at all costs and hazards.
It was a civil war between the two South African white races
in which the numerically inferior British leant upon the help
of the Empire to which they were proud to belong.
Mr. Rhodes does not Believe the Danger.
I was at Capetown again shortly before the actual ultimatum
of the Transvaal was hurled at Great Britain. I saw Mr.
THE BEGINNING OF THE BOEE WAR 265
Ehodes who had just returned from England and the Con-
tinent, where he had been negotiating for his great scheme of
a railway from Capetown to Cairo. He had lost some of
the diplomatic threads on the voyage out and he told me
that " Kruger was bluffing ". He had interviewed the Kaiser
about his great project and the two men had apparently
harmonised. The Kaiser admired any scheme that was
gigantic and audacious. He flattered Ehodes and carefully
concealed from him the German finger in the South African
pie. Apparently Ehodes did not want war. He said so very
plainly to me, and when I told him that it was inevitable he
scorned the idea. I was dining at his house and after dinner
he asked me to play billiards with him. I found that the
game was more or less of a pretext to continue his anti-war
arguments, which I vigorously combatted. At last he banged
the butt of his cue on the ground and said '' I tell you there
will be no war, and I know what I am talking about ". His
brother, Colonel Frank Ehodes, said afterwards to me that he
could not understand Cecil's attitude. But the very next day
there was a change.
I ■ The Fbee State Ultimatum.
I had lunched at Government House and saw that Sir
Alfred Milner and his Staff were much excited about news
that had just come down. I remember his saying to me that
his anxieties had caused him to suffer from insomnia, and I
found out from Colonel Hanbury Williams (his Military
Secretary) what the news was. President Steyn of the Free
State had sent a virtual ultimatum demanding the removal
of our troops on the Free State border, who were guarding
the Orange Eiver Bridge, the most important link of railway
communication between Capetown and Kimberley. This
meant war, although we took no action, except a prompt re-
fusal, till the Transvaal sent their ultimatum. But the
266 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
military authorities were jubilant, for, if the Free State had
remained neutral, our difficulties in dealing with the Trans-
vaal would have been great indeed. We needed the flat
plains of the Free State to march an army against the flank
of the Transvaal. Had we been restricted to warfare on the
Natal border we should have been in a serious dilemma. The
neutrality of the Free State would have meant that its armed
manhood would have dribbled across the Transvaal border
to swell the Transvaal forces and we could not have stopped
them. We should have been forced to declare war on the
Free State, and it was far better for us that they should take
the initiative as they did.
Rhodes Convinced.
I saw Rhodes again that very evening. He asked me
what I had heard at Government House, and when I told
him, he said, in his abrupt manner, " I throw up the sponge
— I was wrong last night. There will be war." Threats
were rife against Rhodes. His secretary told me that he was
in daily fear lest Rhodes should be assassinated by his
political foes, and his brother urged him to leave the Cape
Peninsula and go to Kimberley, where he would be compara-
tively safe amongst his own people.
The Transvaal Ultimatum.
Rhodes made up his mind to go, for another reason. He
knew that Kruger wished to capture him, and he also knew
that the Boer ultimatum, which was almost hourly expected,
had caught us unprepared. If Rhodes could reach Kimberley,
his presence there meant a siege of Kimberley, and a conse-
quent delay in the march of the Boers on Capetown and the
coast. He left by night, and got to his destination by the
very last train that arrived before the Boers cut the line and
invested Kimberley.
THE BEGINNING OF THE BOER WAR 267
Wae on October 9th, 1899.
The Transvaal Ultimatum declared war on October 9th,
the same day that Bishop Hicks of Bloemfontein died at
Maseru. I knew him well, and as a scholar, a man of science,
and a Catholic Bishop who taught the whole faith, he was a
grievous loss to the South African Church. When the news
of his death reached the republican authorities of the Free
State it was openly said that the Boers would never allow a
successor to be appointed to the vacant See, so confident were
they of an ultimate victory which would blot out the English
Church and people in South Africa. The history of the
South African War is too well known a story to be repeated
here, save as it touched me personally. I was the senior of
the Chaplains of the Cape Colonial Forces, and I at once re-
ported myself for duty, and soon found more than enough
to do.
I
CHAPTEE VIII.
KEMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR. VISIT TO
THE CONTINENT.
I AM Appointed Principal Chaplain op Cape
Colonial Forces,
When I reported myself for duty I was appointed Garrison
Chaplain of Port Elizabeth, where we had the 1st Battalion
of the Welsh Eegiment and other details in the garrison.
Major- General French, after defeating the Boers at Elands-
laagte, and thus securing the retreat of General Penn-Symon's
Force from Dundee, just escaped from the investment of
Ladysmith by the last train that got through to Maritzburg.
He was appointed to command a small force at Naauwpoort,
an important Eailway Junction in Cape Colony, and his task
was to hold back the vastly superior force of Boers under
De la Eey which had invaded Cape Colony and occupied
Colesberg. Port Elizabeth was his sea-base, and the railway
to Naauwpoort had to be carefully guarded, as vital to his
little army. This duty fell to the Port Elizabeth Eegiment
(Prince Alfred's Guard) and to the Grahamstown regiment.
I was directed to take charge of the Chaplain's work on this
long line of communication (some 300 miles) in addition to
my other duties. I also had to act as Principal Chaplain for
the Eastern Province, and to recommend clergy for Acting
Chaplaincies. Our clergy had been turned out of the Trans-
vaal and Free State, and also in certain parts of the Cape
268
EEMINISCENCES OF THE BOEB WAE 269
Colony, occupied by the invading Boer armies. These men
naturally had the first claim for re-employment, and I recom-
mended them accordingly.
I Meet General French.
My relations with General French were most cordial and
delightful. When I went up to Naauwpoort to report myself
to him, he said that it would save trouble if I took the full
responsibility for my own work, without further reference to
him. "You know the country," he said, "and the clergy
and the colonial troops, and if you need anything just ask
Colonel Haig, my chief of the Staff, and we will do all we
can for you". I found Colonel Haig (now Field-Marshal
Sir Douglas Haig and Commander-in-Chief of our armies in
France) just as accessible and courteous as his Chief. I
arranged Church Parades at all the small posts upon the
railway line, and I found the warmest response from the
troops, both in garrison and in these outposts.
The " Black Week ".
My Bishop was amused at my carrying on my work as
Examining Chaplain for his Ordination Examination in a
tent at a garrison on the line. I was up the line during the
" Black Week " of Colenso, Stormberg and Magersfontein.
. An Episode in the Censor's Office.
I shall never forget one night in the Censor's office at
Naauwpoort, when " The Times " correspondent rushed in to
submit a cable for London on the Stormberg disaster. He
read it out and it said that Gatacre had been routed and
driven forty miles by the Boers on to his base at Queenstown.
" Well, Padre," said the Censor, " what do you think of that ?
270 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
You know the country. Do you think it is true ? " I said
that I did not believe it for a moment. I knew the ground.
" Gatacre might have retired some ten miles to his base at
Molteno, but to be driven forty miles — certainly not." So I
told " The Times " correspondent, who scowled and said his
news came from the D.A.A.G. I further said that it would
be wrong to send such a cable and that the D.A.A.G. didn't
know the geography of the country. " Well," said the
Censor, " you write the cable for ' The Times ' man, and I will
pass it." So I simply wrote that General Gatacre had been
defeated at Stormberg, and had returned to his base at
Molteno. The Censor said, " That will do for ' The Times,' "
and it went accordingly. The correspondent looked as if he
would like to devour me, but I saved London from a needless
scare. Things were bad enough without making them worse.
There was very little legitimate complaint of the Censorship
during the Boer War. It looks as if the Censorship of 1914
and 1915 has been guilty of some extreme follies and inani-
ties. To censor a quotation from Kipling *' The Captains
and the Kings depart " by deleting the word " Kings " seems
the acme of futility. And yet it was proved in Parliament
that this actually occurred.
Cheery Spirit of the Army.
I was very much struck with the cheery and indomitable
spirit of the Army during the "Black Week" in 1889. One
officer said that " a little grit had got under our Steam Eoller
and was making it travel slower. That was all."
Colenso and Ladysmith.
Colenso was a serious disaster, and a preventable one.
Buller was so beloved by his men that criticism in the army
was silent. But, as the American Military Attache said to
EEMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 271
him, ** Why didn't you outflank them?" This was quite
possible, instead of a disastrous frontal attack. Those guns,
which cost the life of the only son of Lord Roberts in a vain
attempt to save them, ought never to have been where they
were. A Natal officer, who warned the Artillery commander
that it was madness to gallop the guns into the open, was
told very roughly to hold his tongue. A spectator from the
Boer side told me afterwards that it seemed sheer madness
to bring guns into the centre of a converging rifle fire with-
out an atom of cover. And so it was. Ladysmith was
eventually relieved by a flanking movement across the
Tugela which was costly enough, as the Boers had ample
time to dig themselves in. Their trenches and concealed
gun emplacements were admirably constructed. They had
a military genius as their leader in the person of General
Botha, whose conquest of German South West Africa in
1915 has shown the world how a former foe of the Empire
has become one of its greatest and most loyal leaders.
Boer Annexation of British Territory.
The temporary annexation of Northern Natal and the
Northern Cape Colony by the Boers had some curious conse-
quences. The Boers brought these conquered districts under
their ordinary civil administration, and the business of the
Civil Courts was carried out under Boer officials who con-
ducted criminal and civil legal business in the Courts as
usual. People were married civilly under these conditions,
and when we had re-conquered our lost territory, an Act had
to be passed to render valid marriages and other civil pro-
cesses carried out by the Boer officials during their temporary
occupation. On the whole they behaved well, but if they
had been victorious, they would certainly have dispossessed
British owners of property, possibly with some compensa-
tion, as they were determined to eliminate the British
272 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
element in the population so far as was possible. They were
determined to create an Afrikander Eepublic from the Cape
to the Zambesi, and to get rid of the aliens, amongst whom
they reckoned the settled British populations of Natal and
the Eastern districts of the Cape Colony. If the Empire had
lost the Boer War it would have ceased to exist. The Afri-
kander Eepublic would have become virtually, if not nomin-
ally, a part of the German Empire, and the self-governing
dominions would have had to fend for themselves. But the
Natal campaign was only part of a battle front of over
1000 miles, as it ultimately developed, a battle front of
guerilla warfare, where you could never tell where the front
really was, with a resourceful, well-mounted and mobile
enemy.
BoEE Blunders Worse than British.
Of course the Boer leaders made as bad, or even worse,
blunders than our people did. They were entrapped into
besieging Mafeking and Kimberley, when they could have
marched down the country and seriously threatened Cape-
town and Port Elizabeth and Durban before we had enough
troops to defend them. For the first year of the war their
forces greatly outnumbered ours, but they lost this advantage
through lack of discipline and united action. Every small
" Commando " was more or less " on its own," and there was
no real cohesion in the Boer army.
Lord Methuen's advance to relieve Kimberley was checked
at Magersfontein, after costly actions at Graspan and Modder
Eiver. But the Boers lost heavily at Magersfontein, for
nearly the whole of their Scandinavian contingent was wiped
out by our shell fire. The Boer losses were forgotten by
reason of our own heavy losses in the Highland Brigade, and
the death in action of their gallant commander General
Wauchope.
REMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 273
Aerival of Lord Roberts and Lord Ejtchener.
With the arrival of Lord Roberts in supreme command,
and Lord Kitchener as his Chief of Staff, the fortunes of the
campaign changed. General French quietly and secretly
withdrew his splendid cavalry and horse artillery from
Naauwpoort, together with most of his infantry, and started
to join Lord Roberts, who had taken supreme command of
Lord Methuen's army. I never forgot General French's
kind thoughtfulness, for in the midst of his urgent prepara-
tions to quit Naauwpoort, he remembered to send me a
Christmas card of kindly greeting. It was about this date
that I wrote some articles on the War for the " Nineteenth
Century "} They were naturally coloured by the exigencies
of the time, but after sixteen years I have little to retract.
Relief op Kimberley.
To return to the relief of Kimberley. Lord Roberts as-
tonished Cronje and his army, entrenched at Magersfontein,
by a bold turning movement on his flank. Cronje imagined
that our troops were tied to the railway line, but he was soon
undeceived. He had to evacuate his strong position at
Magersfontein, and began to retire on Bloemfontein. His
retreat made possible a bold cavalry dash on Kimberley. It
was a blazing hot summer and General French pushed on
with his cavalry, taking great risks from the unbeaten enemy,
as well as from the heat and want of water. The only
dangerous place was cleared by a magnificent cavalry charge
and the way to Kimberley was open. The exhausted men
and horses reached their goal. The General and his Staff
rode into Kimberley amidst the joy of the sorely-tried people
of the beleagured city, and French had his historic meeting
with Rhodes, who had been the life and soul of the defence.
1 •' The Nineteenth Century," January and April, 190^
v:
ONTARIO
274 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
But there was no rest for French and the cavalry. Cronje
had to be headed off from his retreat to Bloemfontein.
Horse after horse fell from exhaustion in that wild ride.
SUERENDEE OF CeONJE AT PaAEDEBEEG.
The cavalry were no sooner in Kimberley than they were
off again, and they successfully rounded up Cronje and his
army at Paardeberg, and held them till Lord Eoberts came
up. There was some strenuous fighting, and we lost heavily,
until, on Majuba Day, 1900, Cronje and his army of 4000
Boers surrendered as prisoners of war. Lord Eoberts laid
stress on the anniversary in his dispatch. He knew how the
enforced '' public holiday " on Majuba Day had embittered
the British of the Transvaal, and, since Cronje's surrender,
we have heard no more taunts about Majuba from our Dutch
neighbours. But Cronje's surrender by no means quelled the
Boer spirit. For some months after it took place, few of
the "back veld " Boers believed it was true. Lord Eoberts
had to fight his way to Bloemfontein, and the battle of Poplar
Grove was a costly victory.
Poplar Geove.
President Kruger was there, but fled in such a hurry that
he left his well-known " tall hat " behind him in the house
where his quarters were, and escaped bareheaded. It was
retrieved as an interesting relic. About three years ago an
officer of the Union Forces, whom I know very well, told me
the following characteristic story, thoroughly typical of the
South Africa of to-day. He was attached to Lord Eoberts'
Staff at Poplar Grove and he was, at the date of the story, at
our Military College in Bloemfontein for a course of Staff
training, with a number of other officers of our forces, many
of whom had fought against us in the Boer War. After
EEMINISCENCES OF THE BOEB WAE 275
Mess one night he was chatting with Colonel George Brand,
son of the late President Brand of the Free State, who was
an adventurous leader on the Boer side, but who had since
taken a Staff appointment in the Union forces. He hap-
pened to ask Brand which was his narrowest escape during
the Boer War. He replied, " At Poplar Grove, when I was
riding a white horse. Some one fired at me again and again,
and at last I was peppered with shrapnel from a field gun.
The bullets were too close to be pleasant, and I had the
narrowest escape". My friend smiled and said, "I was the
man who shot at you at Poplar Grove. I remember the
white horse, and I got a field gun turned on you ". The queer
coincidence amused both men, and the story is typical of
other reminiscences of men on opposite sides in the Boer War
who afterwards met as friends under the British flag.
Colonel Brand rendered great service to the Empire during
the Eebellion of 1914. He was Staff Officer in the Southern
Free State, and was in command of a mobilised brigade of
Dutch loyalists, who did excellent service against De Wet's
rebels. It is not too much to say that his personal influence
kept the southern districts of the Free State loyal, as well as
his own men.
Captuee of Bloemfontein.
Lord Roberts occupied Bloemfontein in the Holy Week of
1900. He was a deeply religious man. Before Poplar Grove
he and his Staff, with many others, made their communion
at a service held in the open by one of the Chaplains. He
was mindful of the sanctity of Holy Week in the midst of
the triumph of the surrender of Bloemfontein. Dean Vincent
of Bloemfontein had stuck to his post at the Cathedral, and
maintained the services in the isolation of an extremely
difficult position. There were enough English left in Bloem-
fontein to warrant his holding on, and he and his brave wife
18*
276 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
held on, to the comfort and blessing of his flock. He was
bold enough when President Steyn asked him to have a " Te
Deum " in the Cathedral for the Boer victory at Magersfon-
tein, to give a courteous and flat refusal, at the risk of being
expelled and sent over the border. His worst trial was the
absence of news, for the Boer War Bulletins were mere
chronicles of fabulous Boer victories. The English population
of Bloemfontein thronged the streets to welcome Lord Eoberts
and his army. One can imagine their full hearts when they
saw the British flag hoisted in the Free State capital for the
first time since the disgraceful abandonment of 1854.
Lord Egberts and Dean Vincent.
One of the first acts of Lord Eoberts was to send for the
Dean, and ask him whether he wished for help from the
Army Chaplains for the Good Friday and Easter services.
This kindly thoughtfulness touched the Dean very much, and
he was thankful for the timely help, as he was worn out and
overstrained. Lord Eoberts asked for a special Eucharist on
Easter Day for himself and the army, and there was a solemn
"Te Deum" of thanksgiving. The Cathedral was packed
from end to end with officers and men in khaki, and Lord
Eoberts told the Dean afterwards that he and the army
wished to make a special gift to the Cathedral in memory of
that great Eucharist of Thanksgiving. The Dean was
practical, and the chief need just then was to light tha
Cathedral with electric light. Lord Eoberts immediately
collected the money and the work was promptly put in hand.
Lord Eoberts was of course accustomed to the ordinary
type of Army Chaplains' services, and in his youth he be-
longed to the Irish Church. The Altar lights, the dignified
Vestments and ritual of the Cathedral, were somewhat strange
to him, and he questioned the Dean about it in his character-
istic soldierly fashion. "Is it all in accordance with the
KEMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 277
regulations ? " he asked. " Does the Archbishop of Capetown
sanction it? " The Dean replied that this was so, and that
the use of the Cathedral was as he had found it. " Quite
so," said Lord Roberts, " so long as it is in order and under
authority. That's all I wanted to know." This soldier-like
way of regarding things ecclesiastical would effectually pre-
vent the reading of an attempted negative into the Ornaments
Rubric in the place of a positive direction. I may here re-
cord the subsequent career of my very dear friend, Dean
Vincent. He resigned the Deanery after the war and accepted
a living in England. But the call of the ''Veld " touched his
soul, and he came back to South Africa as Archdeacon of
Bloemfontein. In 1912 he became Dean of Grahamstown
and did a wonderful work as an administrator and a parish
priest. He won the hearts of the people of his Cathedral
City as no man had won them before, and his death in 1914
left in the affectionate regard of all who knew him an undy-
ing memory of a faithful Catholic priest.
General Baden- PowELii.
The relief of Ladysmith and Mafeking are stories too well
known to be recorded here. I met General Baden-Powell
after the relief of Mafeking when he came to Port Elizabeth
to receive from the Mayor the Sword of Honour which was
presented to him by our citizens. Port Elizabeth was keenly
interested in the Siege of Mafeking, as the garrison was
composed of Colonial troops, a considerable portion of which
were Port Elizabeth men who had enlisted in the Bechuana-
land and Protectorate Regiment. General Baden-Powell
made a most favourable impression by his speech at Port
Elizabeth. He reminded us that the defence of Mafeking
was the work of South African soldiers, and that he and his
small staff of Imperial Officers were the pilots who steered
the ship into port, which they could not have done without a
278 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
brave and resolute crew. I met the General again a few
years ago when he was touring South Africa in the interests
of the Scout movement. He impressed me as a brilliant
soldier, and a most modest and courteous gentleman. His
Scout movement is the greatest possible asset to the Empire
and has paved the way for National Service.
General French's Taotpulness.
I must make room here for an incident which showed the
tactfulness of General French. When I was in camp at
Rosmead with my own regiment (Prince Alfred's Guard) and
the 1st City (Grahamstown), an Imperial ofl&cer was in
command who had not the least idea how to handle Colonial
troops. He was arbitrary and tactless, forgetting that many
of the men were well educated and of an independent spirit,
who could be led but not driven. Things got so bad that I
made up my mind to report myself to the General and tell
him all about it. I went by train to Naauwpoort, the General's
Headquarters, and told him my story. " Yes," he said,
" you were quite right to come to me. But when you get
back by the afternoon train you will find another officer in
command. When I hear reports about an officer it is a good
thing to have him to dinner. I had your friend to dinner
the other night, and if Haig and I could not come to a con-
clusion about a man after he had spent the evening with us,
we should neither of us be fit for our job." The officer in
question had influential friends, and the way the General
got rid of him was very clever. He made no complaints but
merely told him that he was sending more troops to
strengthen the Eosmead garrison. But he had carefully
arranged that these new troops were under the command of
an officer, senior to our tactless O.C, who took command of
the garrison automatically on his arrival. When I got back
I found our late commander packing his things to go back
as Staff Officer at the base, where he could do no harm.
REMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 279
The Wesleyans of the Welsh Regiment.
A little time before this I was taking Church parade for
the Welsh Regiment then in garrison in Port Elizabeth. A
number of the men were Welsh Calvinistic Methodists, and
they were duly paraded and marched down about a mile in
the hot sun to the Wesleyan Chapel. On my way to camp
I used to pass this detachment, who duly saluted me. But
their numbers grew smaller and smaller. One day I asked
my orderly the reason of this. " Oh, sir," he said, the most
of them have been to the Sergeant-Major and changed their
religion. They come to your parade now. "But why?"
I asked. He said, " You see, sir, you've got the Colonel and
the band and your sermons are short, and we've pretty well
finished dinner before the Methodists come back from Chapel.
We call 'em the Cold Dinner Brigade."
Wesleyan Blue- Jackets.
I was hugely amused, and a similar incident occurred when
I was taking services on the naval Guard-ship in our har-
bour. The ship was anchored about a mile from the shore,
and the Methodists had to be rowed ashore for their service.
I was in the Captain's cabin, and a request came from the
Methodists to be allowed to attend my service. The Captain
smiled and said "Yes," and a very polite " blue- jacket "
afterwards hinted to me that the men liked what I said to
them so much that they did not want to go to chapel ashore.
The blue-jackets were most delightful people to preach to,
but I thought that the two-mile pull in the ship's boat had
something to do with the matter. I have most pleasant
recollections of my ministrations to the Navy, for I held
services for them whenever I could manage it. Naval
discipline differs from army discipline. It is stricter on some
points, but a ship's company is more like a family than a
regiment is.
280 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Deserters from a Warship.
I was lunching on board a cruiser, and after lunch the
Captain said, *' If you stow away here, out of sight of the
crew, you will hear something amusing".
Two of the crew had been captured as deserters. They had
enlisted in an irregular cavalry corps, then recruiting in Port
Elizabeth, and they were being brought on board as prisoners.
The Captain said " We are going to march them down the
deck and let the men chaff them, which will be their worst
punishment ". The two prisoners came aboard in khaki,
with spurs and ill-rolled " puttees ". They did look figures of
fun. The ship's corporal marched them on deck, and said
" Halt ! Front ! I suppose ye can't 'form fours '. Now
Quick march ! " And they were marched round the deck
through a row of grinning blue-jackets. " Look at their
blooming spurs ! " " What price Horse-Marines ? " " Hello,
Tommy, where's your ' gee-gee ' ? " With other remarks the
import of which I didn't catch. Their story at the Court of
Inquiry was very funny. They said that they went to sleep
somewhere ashore, and supposed they had had a drop too
much, and woke up to find themselves arrayed in kliaki
'' puttees " and spurs, and couldn't find their own naval kit.
This yarn was a trifle thin. They had, of course, been
tempted by the high rate of pay given to Colonial irregulars.
They did not get a very heavy sentence, as the Captain told
me they would catch it properly from their messmates' jeers
for some time to come.
The Athanasian Creed at a Church Parade.
At the Garrison Church Parades, when we had a band, I
always allowed the bandmaster to choose the hymns. One
bandmaster was a very good fellow, but extremely attentive
to details. On Easter Day I had a Church Parade as usual.
h
REMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 281
and I used to shorten the service to enable me to get in time
for another service. But the bandmaster saluted as he
gave me the list of hymns and said " I hope, Sir, you have
not forgotten that the Prayer Booh orders the Athanasian
Creed for to-day '\ I told him we had had it in the Parish
Church, and that I was afraid it would make the parade
service too long. '* Very good. Sir ! " he said, obviously quite
pleased that he had done his duty in reminding me. I wish
this good bandmaster could have drummed the importance
of the Athanasian Creed into the heads of the Upper House
of the Convocation of Canterbury, and I am always thankful
that the Law Courts have decided that one of the points of
legal severance between the South African Church and the
Church of England is the clause in our Constitution which
debars us from following the Church of England if any
tinkering with that Creed or its use is ever permitted.
The Sentry and his Shadow.
A very funny incident happened on the Port Elizabeth
beach. We had over a million's worth of military stores,
housed in sheds, under charge of the Army Ordnance Corps.
Attempts had been made to destroy these stores, and one
man was shot in the act by a sentry. The beach area was
lit with large arc lamps which cast deep and black shadows.
A Yorkshire sentry one night was extra vigilant. The officer
in charge of the guard told me that he was roused by a rapid
succession of shots in the middle of the night, followed by a
hubbub of angry voices. He rushed out of his tent to find
the youthful sentry being manhandled by five or six irate
veterans of the Ordnance Corps who slept in one of the sheds.
He asked what was the matter, and the Army Ordnance man
said that they had been aroused from their well-earned
slumbers by bullets flying about, which had penetrated the
corrugated iron walls of the shed. There bad been some
282 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
narrow escapes. The sentry's story was as follows — given
in broad Yorkshire. *' I war on me beat, an I saw a black
nigger agin the shed. I says, ' Oo goes theer ? ' and ee says
nowt. I bobbed ma yead to creep closer, an' ee bobs 'is yead.
An' then I lets rip at 'is yead, and he didna shift. An' I lets
rip agean an' blazed away me clip of cartridges an' then I
charged him with me baynet. An' it were nowt but me own
bloomin' shadder." The electric light was behind the sentry
as he turned, and his black shadow on the shed wall stood
out ominously. The rest of the story ended in laughter, and
I had to promise not to send the story to " Punch " with an
illustration, as I at first threatened to do.
Guerilla Warfare after the Capture of Johannes-
burg AND Pretoria.
We thought that the capture of Johannesburg and Pretoria
would finish the war. But we were woefully mistaken. The
Boers carried on a guerilla warfare of a very persistent and
dangerous character for another year and a half, during
which we suffered many heavy losses. Trains were perpetu-
ally wrecked, and the elusive De Wet carried on a useless
and tiresome resistance, dangerous only from the extreme
mobility of his force. Each man had a spare horse and many
had two. He had a genius for planning raids and then
vanishing as rapidly as he came. The rebellion in the Cape
Colony was at one time very serious.
Lies about our Concentration Camps.
People have forged a tissue of lies about our Concentration
Camps for the Boer women and children. We could not
leave them to starve on the ** veld," and therefore we collected
them into camps and fed them. Unfortunately, there was
an epidemic of measles, which is a much more serious com-
REMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 283
plaint in South Africa than in England. De Wet and his
train wreckers prevented supplies and medical comforts
reaching the camps up-country, and there were many deaths
of women and children. We did our best under most trying
and sometimes impossible conditions, and because of the
mortality in the camps we were accused of criminal neglect
which amounted to murder. There is not a word of truth in
these allegations. I had to visit a large Concentration
Camp in Port Elizabeth. The women and children were
well cared for, and I cannot remember a single death. Of
course, on the coast we could get regular supplies and medical
comforts. So everything went on well. The lack of these
necessaries up-country was our misfortune, but not our fault.
The worst of it was that some foolish people in England
believed these stories of criminal neglect. The war was pro-
longed at least a year by the agitation of Boer sympathisers in
England. It was natural for the Boer leaders to imagine
that persons like Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman were repre-
sentatives of a powerful party in England, and that they only
had to persevere in th^ir guerilla warfare to get terms of
peace which would restore the independence of the two
Republics. We had not only doctrinaire Radicals to deal with,
but Conservatives, with a bee in their bonnets, like Sir E.
Clarke of eminent legal fame. The war drifted into a very
curious position. The Boers had learnt discipline, and had
become efficient fighting men. Lord Kitchener's plan of
blockhouses to guard the railways, and systematic " drives "
of whole districts, which were thus gradually cleared of the
enemy, was tedious but ultimately successful.
Visit to England in 1902.
In January, 1902, I went to England with my wife for rest
and change. I needed it badly, for I had the full responsi-
bility of my parochial work as well as my military duties. I
284 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
sailed in the P.O. steamer Plassey, as Chaplain to the troops
on board who numbered about 800.
Colonel Hendekson and General Scobell.
The late Col. Henderson, of the Intelligence Department,
who was also deputed to write the official history of the war,
was O.C. troops, and I found him a most delightful com-
panion. He had literary gifts of a high order, and his Life of
" Stonewall " Jackson is a military biography of the first
rank. The voyage was very pleasant. Col. (afterwards
General) Scobell was on board, invalided home after his
strenuous work as leader of the force that captured the
notorious Cape rebel Lotter, who was afterwards shot by
Court Martial for murdering our native camp followers.
His death when in command at the Cape some years after-
wards was a great loss to the army, as he was one of our
most brilliant cavalry leaders.
My Speech at Liverpool.
I had several opportunities, whilst in England, of telling
the truth about the causes of the war, and on one occasion I
had the privilege of addressing a large and representative
gathering of Liverpool men at a dinner they gave me at the
Liverpool Conservative Club in March, 1902. After sketching
briefly the history of British South Africa, I said that the
real cause of the war was the Boer spirit of national unity
which was just as powerful in its hold upon the people as
the Italian or German movements for national unity which
marked the middle of the last century. These national
movements were too strong to be controlled by any single
individual. It was folly to say that diplomacy could have
stopped the war. It was hopeless to argue with men like
Mr. Morley, who said that Lord Milner or Mr. Chamberlain
SPEECH AT LIVEEPOOL 286
could have stopped the war. It might have been staved off
temporarily at the cost of our national self-respect, but it had
to come sooner or later. The war party wanted to wait until
we were entangled with some European Power. They
thought that Fashoda was their chance. But they were so
self-confident that Kruger went to the Bloemfontein Confer-
ence determined for war. The Boer national movement was
too strong for Kruger and Steyn. They could not have
stopped the war. The only way in which the war could
have been stopped was by the surrender of South Africa to the
Boers. It was logical of them to expect us to haul down the
flag at the Castle of Capetown. We hauled it down at
Bloemfontein in 1854 ; we hauled it down at Pretoria in
1877. But it was impossible for us to strike our flag in
South Africa for several reasons. In 1820 the British Govern-
ment planted 4000 British settlers in South Africa. In 1899
the descendants of those settlers had increased to over 100,000 ^
souls, and the prosperity of large portions of South Africa
was due to the industry and perseverance of those Britishers
of the veld. The Empire could not leave that settled British
population to the mercy of the Boers. Their case was
different from that of the Uitlander population of recent
growth. Withdrawal from South Africa being impossible and
impracticable, the Empire had to fight. For the first time
the Colonies and the Motherland had stood shoulder to
shoulder. We must fight this war to a finish. The tacit en-
couragement given by responsible ex-Cabinet Ministers to the
Boer cause had cost the nation millions of money in prolonging
the war. I am convinced that the war would have been over
long ago if there had not been pro-Boers in the Imperial
Parliament. The slanders about the Concentration Camps
have been sifted by an impartial Commission of Inquiry and
have been proved to have been wicked and baseless fabrications.
^ This would seem to be an excessive estimate. — Ed.
286 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
And the pro-Boers have slandered the army. Ever since the
war began I have been with the army as Chaplain, and
from my personal knowledge I say that these foul slanders on
the honour of British soldiers come direct from the Father
of Lies. It is a pity that the pillory is obsolete, for it is the
only fit punishment for the pro-Boer who talks about
** methods of Barbarism " and infernal atrocities. Do not let
us try and find scapegoats when reverses occur. We have
made blunders, but what European army would have done
half as well as we have done ? We must not forget that the
Boers at the beginning of the war made far worse blunders
than we have done.
Tariff Reform.
I closed my speech by some expression of the need of Im-
perial unity after the war. The loose ties binding the great
self-governing Dominions to the mother country must be
strengthened. I spoke of Cecil Rhodes and his great con-
ception of preferential tariffs within the Empire. I had
ventured this suggestion in 1893 at a meeting of the Royal
Colonial Institute. I spoke strongly against the fetish of
free trade, so long advocated by the Manchester school, and
to my surprise the large audience of Liverpool business men
greeted my remarks with applause. After the dinner was
over I had some informal conversation with some of the
leading men in the room, and I expressed my gratification that
they had received my remarks on Tariff Reform so kindly.
One of them said to me " We are Liverpool men and we see a
bit further than our Manchester friends. We are all in favour
of preferential tariffs in favour of the Dominions." I re-
membered these words in 1903 when Mr. Chamberlain em-
barked on his great campaign in favour of Tariff Reform. I
wrote and told him what these Liverpool men had said, and
I was not surprised to find that one of the first of his great
VISIT TO THE CONTINENT 287
speeches on Tariff Beform was at a dinner given him by that
same Liverpool Conservative Club that had given me such
a kindly hearing. The great meeting of the War Cabinet
of the Empire in 1917 has at last adopted this necessary
policy.
The Continent.
After Easter I went with my wife to the Continent. It was
perfect weather as we crossed to Flushing, and went down
the Ehine to Lucerne, and thence to Italy through the S.
Gothard tunnel, which was a weird experience.
Milan.
I felt quite deaf the next day at Milan where we spent Low
Sunday. We made our pilgrimage to the Cenacolo, glorious
even in decay, and I was deeply interested in the Church of
S. Ambrogio. The sacristan was showing me various Service
Books and Missals in the Sacristy. He said with emphasis
" Missale Ambrosianum non Missale Eomanum ". I saw the
statue of Pio Nono, erected by the gratitude of ecclesiastical
Milan, when he sanctioned in perpetuum the Ambrosian Eite,
and I heard the Ambrosian High Mass in the Duomo. I
was much struck by the difference between the Ambrosian
and the Eoman Mass, especially by the offering of the elements
by representatives of the congregation. There was a proces-
sion down to the entrance of the choir to receive the elements
which were brought up from the congregation by two old
gentlemen in evening dress, which is a manifest relic of the
ancient usage of the bread and wine being the oblation of the
people at every Mass. Duchesne (" Christian Worship," p.
204) alludes to this ancient ceremony of the " Vecchioni " at
Milan. There were other manifest differences in ritual and
ceremonial which struck me as very beautiful. No wonder
288 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
the Milanese cling to their ancient Ambrosian rite which is an
oasis in the desert of Eoman uniformity. The Milanese
claim that it is the purest form of Western Liturgy, and that
the Eoman Mass is derived from it. Duchesne does not
allow this, although he says (p. 89) : " The Galilean Liturgy
is dead. The Ambrosian Liturgy at Milan \ is still living."
Florence, Pisa, Eavenna.
The Ambrosian rite is closely allied to the Mosarabic, which
still survives in the Cathedral of Toledo. From Milan we
went to Florence, Pisa, Eome, Eavenna and Venice. I will
not attempt to record my impressions. I think I have said that
I have artistic instincts, and that I know enough to appreciate
the wonderful art treasures of Italy. I was thankful that I
had made a study of the different Italian schools of painting,
so that most of what I saw was to some extent familiar to
me. But it was not only the art treasures that I delighted in.
The churches, the wonderful historic cities, and Italy itself
with its glorious sky and wondrous scenery. South Africa
had taught me to love sunshine. The grey skies of England
always depress me. But I noticed a difference between our
South African colouring and that of Italy. There was a red
tinge in the blue of Italian skies, which seemed richer as a
colour effect than the intense blue of the sky in South Africa.
I was busy sketching whenever I had a chance, and I longed
for power and technique to express what I saw. My Art school
training had been very limited, but yet I was able to carry
away memories of what I saw, even with my limited powers
of execution.
Eome.
The Campo Santo of Pisa impressed me more than the
famous " Leaning Tower," and 1 thought of the Council of
VISIT TO THE CONTINENT 289
Pisa as I saw the historic columns in the Nave of the Duomo
which the Pisan had taken from ancient Pagan temples.
Here was history in stone — Pagan, Christian, and ecclesi-
astical. I suppose no one can realise Eome — Pagan, Catholic
and Italian — without seeing it. The S.P.Q.K. on the caps of
the officials of the modern city bridges centuries of historic
memories.
S. Peteb's.
But of all my personal memories the outstanding one is my
three hours in S. Peter's at a great Papal function. When I
heard it was to take place, I was told that it was impossible
to get tickets of admission. Leo XIII was very frail and it
was felt that it might be his last public appearance. But I
bethought me of my old friend, the Hon. Alexander Wilmot,
a Papal knight of S. Gregory, well known in Eome, and for
several years representative of Port Elizabeth in the Upper
House of the Cape Parliament. He was not at Eome at the
time, but I called at the Irish College and introduced myself
as a friend of Mr. Wilmot's. I was received with the utmost
cordiality and courtesy and became speedily the possessor of
three tickets of admission. When we went to S. Peter's I
was very much struck with the Pope's perfect measures for
securing order, and, incidentally, with the underlying good
feeling between the Vatican and the Quirinal. The Pope
had borrowed about 100 Italian soldiers to assist the Papal
Guards in keeping order. I had to hand our tickets to a
polite Italian sergeant, who passed us on to one of the Papal
Gendarmes, who conducted us to our places within S. Peter's.
We were just under the famous bronze statue of S. Peter,
and I noticed the polished toe of the statue, kept bright by the
kisses of pilgrims. There were about 60,000 people in S.
Peter's, the ladies in the black Papal Court dress with black
mantillas. There were brilliant uniforms of all descriptions,
19
290 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
and as the ceremony took about three hours, I had ample
opportunity of gaining an abiding impression of the world's
greatest church.
Pope Leo XIII.
There were hundreds of Prelates and Monsignori coming
in from time to time to take their places, and at length the
Pope came in his Sedia Gestatoria surrounded by his noble
Guards in their magnificent uniforms. There was a pause
and a dead silence throughout the vast multitude as the Pope
stopped, and was assisted to kneel for worship in the chapel
of the Blessed Sacrament. Then he mounted the Sedia
Gestatoria once more and his procession slowly moved up
towards the High Altar. The people cried " Viva il Papa ! "
The ladies waved their handkerchiefs, and the Pope blessed
the people right and left as he passed along. The ivory
pallor of his face was lit up by a genial smile, and he seemed
delighted with his reception. Leo XIII loved these great
functions and encouraged them by every means in his power.
He looked very frail, and I noticed that he was strapped into
his seat by a band round his waist. He was then, I beheve,
ninety-three years of age, but the keen gaze of his dark eyes
showed no signs of age and gave one an impression of alert
mental vigour. I could not hear his Allocution from the
altar, but the same cheering and enthusiasm marked his
returning progress through the vast building. There seemed
to me no irreverence in the enthusiasm of the people. Some-
how it seemed quite natural to me, and in no way out of
harmony with the sacred associations of S. Peter's.
Pope Leo XIII and Anglican Obders.
It was a sight never to be forgotten. I always felt that
Leo XIII desired to treat the " Ecclesia Anglicana " with
VISIT TO THE CONTINENT 291
Christian courtesy, as his interviews with Lord Halifax and
others plainly showed. His condemnation of Anglican
Orders was a mechanical repetition of the Papal decision in
the Gordon case, as the illuminating volumes of Lord Halifax
and Mr. Lacey, which deal with the question, abundantly
prove. And this hide-bound adherence to precedent was
very cleverly engineered by Cardinal Vaughan in the interest
of English Eoman Catholics. No Eoman canonist considers
the rule against Anglican Orders an infallible utterance, or a
decision that cannot be re-considered in the light of fresh
evidence. One of the chief difficulties in the way, however,
came from the Protestant clique in the Church of England
who deny their own orders and priesthood. Archdeacon
Taylor of Liverpool wrote a joyful letter applauding the
Papal decision, for he was foolish enough to imagine that it
would be a serious blow to Catholics in communion with the
See of Canterbury. But he soon found out that he had made
a very stupid blunder. Very few secessions to Eome fol-
lowed the decision, and the elaborate attempt to provide
special training at Eome for the vast numbers of Anglican
priests, who were supposed to be seceding on account of
the decision, proved a fiasco.
Venice.
The usual sights of Eome have been so often described by
better pens than mine that I do not attempt to record my
impressions of them. I carried back with me some soil
from a martyr's tomb in the Catacomb of Callixtus, and also
some sand from the arena of the Colosseum, which I care-
fully preserve in the Sacristy of S. Mary's. Eavenna inter-
ested me deeply with its memories of Dante and the sixth-
century frescoes of San Vitale.
Venice was a dream of enchantment. S. Mark's appealed
to my mind, saturated as I was with Euskin, but when I
19*
292 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
heard the great Italian preacher holding a large congrega-
tion spell bound, I realised the spiritual present of S.
Mark's as well as its historic past and external splendour.
I saw the old Campanile which fell a few years afterwards,
and I saw modern Venice in a blaze of gorgeous fireworks
on the occasion of the launch of a cruiser built in Dante's old
dockyard, whence he gleaned some of the imagery of the
Inferno. I have always been a student of Dante, but I never
realised him till I had been to Italy, especially to Florence
and Ravenna. Savonarola's cell at Florence was of histori-
cal interest, but the man himself never appealed to me. He
was badly handled and mismanaged, I always thought, and
might have been great. But he was not a S. Francis or a
S. Dominic, who were both level-headed saints, and conse-
quently fit for leadership.
Innsbruck.
From Venice we went to Innsbruck through the Trentino
and the magnificent scenery of the Brenner Pass. I knew
the story of Hofer and the "Year Nine," and found the
Austrian Tyrol just as loyal to the Hapsburgs as it was then.
There was a " Custozza-Fest " to commemorate the Italian
defeat by the Austrians in the war of 1866.
The wonderful statues of Maxmilian's tomb have often been
described, but I was deeply impressed with High Mass in
the " Josephskirche ". I also went to the Servite Church on
a week-day, where I found a working-class congregation
singing a vernacular Litany. The Servites are a wonderful
Order, full of life and power. The Servite Abbot at Inn-
sbruck had just offered a piece of ground as a gift to the
Anglican Chaplain for the building of an English church.
When I heard this I could not help contrasting it with the
bitter hostility of English Roman Catholics and their narrow
rigidity, which leads them, in many cases, to treat all
VISIT TO THE CONTINENT 293
Anglicans as Pagans, and worse ; which they do every time
they violate their own Canon Law by re-baptising persons
who have received valid baptism in accordance with our
Book of Common Prayer. The most learned of post-refor-
mation Popes, Benedict XIV (" De Synode Diocesiana," Lib.
VII, Cap. 6, p. 173) lays down authoritatively as the decision
of the Holy See (issued by Pius V) that there was to be no
conditional re-baptism of Calvinists. This applied to the
French Huguenots of the time of Henri Quatre, and is of
universal application to all non-Koman baptisms, which are
administered with the right Matter and Form. But this is
a digression, prompted by a personal experience of my own,
which caused some controversy.
Stbassburg.
We went from Innsbruck to Geneva and then through Mul-
house and Alsace to Strassburg, with its memories of the
famous siege. We admired the beautiful cathedral and then
went on to Cologne.
Cologne.
The history of the gradual building of Cologne Cathedral
is very interesting. Until 1840 a street passed through the
unfinished mediaeval Nave. The street was expropriated
and the nave was gradually built. There is a document with
the signatures of eminent men of various countries who were
present when the fresh start in building took place. I was
astonished to find that the representative of England was
Lord Cardigan, the leader of the Balaclava Charge.
The Three Kings.
I saw the coffer which contains the relics of the Magi,
"the Three Kings of Cologne ". There are no relics so well
294 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
authenticated historically as these. One of the Emperors of
Constantinople procured the relics of the Magi from Persia
during the fourth century, and they were enshrined there in
the Church of S. Sophia. The Eastern Emperors desired to
keep up their political hold on Italy, and the Emperor
Emmanuel ^ transferred them to the Church of S. Eustorgius
in Milan. When Frederic Barbarossa conquered Lombardy
he transferred the relics of the Magi to Cologne ; hence their
title of '' the Three Kings of Cologne ". In 1794 the Chapter of
Cologne fled before the advancing armies of the French Repub-
lic, and the casket of the Magi was carried by them to Frank-
fort-on-Main. The Canons were starving and penniless. The
temptation was great and the golden and jewelled casket was
valuable. But a pious layman found out that the Canons
were ready to sell it. He took charge of it himself and asked
Napoleon, who was the first Consul, for permission to restore
it to Cologne Cathedral. Napoleon at that time wished to
conciliate the Church, and on January 4th, 1804, the casket
was once more replaced in the treasury of the Cathedral,
where it still is.
Cambridge.
We returned from the Continent by the Flushing route
and spent some months in England. I went to Cambridge,
and had the privilege of sitting with the Doctors of Divinity
^ There is a slight error here, which I have not ventured to correct
in the text, but which I am sure Archdeacon Wirgman would have
detected on revision. The relics of the Three Kings were not sent to
Milan by the Emperor Emmanuel (Manuel I, Comnenus), who was a
contemporary of Barbarossa, but at a much earlier date. It seems pro-
bable that they were presented to the city by the Emperor Anastasius,
about A.D. 511, as a reward for its complacency in accepting his
nominee, the prefect Eustorgius, as its Bishop. By the twelfth century
the cultus of the relics was ancient and firmly established in the city.
—Ed.
VISIT TO THE CONTINENT 295
at the University sermon. I also went to Oxford and saw
some old friends. I was a good deal disturbed by the
modernist manifesto, published under the title of " Contentio
Veritatis " which seemed to me a misnomer, if the *' Veritatis "
meant the "Faith once delivered to the Saints".
S. Alban's, Birmingham.
I was asked to preach at the Dedication Festival of S.
Alban's, Birmingham, which I felt to be a great privilege as
I knew the brothers Pollock so well when I was Curate of
S. Michael's, Handsworth. I reminded the people that I had
preached at their Harvest Festival some thirty years before
in the little temporary church first built by James Pollock,
and I contrasted the plain teaching of the Catholic Faith by
these two devoted priests with the flabby and invertebrate
heresy of " Contentio Veritatis ". The sermon appeared in
the " Church Times ". I looked at it again the other day,
and I have nothing to regret or modify in what I said. We
returned to South Africa in the transport Tagus. The voyage
was interesting because we touched at the Cape Verde Islands,
which are out of the track of English tourists.
Peace in South Africa.
Peace had been signed on May 31st, 1902, with the Boers
still in the field. The Treaty of Vereeniging was honourable
to both parties. Previous efforts of Lord Kitchener for peace
had split on the rock of the root difference between British
and Boer ideas of Native policy. A compromise was arrived
at in the Peace Treaty, which has since been honourably
kept, save by De Wet, whose rebellion in 1914 was ostensibly
caused by a magistrate fining him 5s. for thrashing a native
servant. The Peace Treaty was hurried, because King
Edward desired peace before his Coronation. His sudden
296 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
illness and dangerous operation deferred the Coronation, and
the aspect of the anxious and sorrowful crowds in London
struck me very much. Off the Isle of Wight the Tagus
passed the King's Yacht with the King on board on the way
to convalescence. We dipped our Flag, and the Royal Yacht
returned the compliment.
Cape Veede Islands.
The Island of S. Vincent is one of the most barren places
in the world. There is no trace of vegetation on it, save a
few shrubs in pots and tubs at the Cable Station. We landed
and found it incredibly dusty and hot. Just nine miles away
is the beautiful and fertile island of S. Antonio. Every day
boats from S. Antonio bring vegetables and produce to S.
Vincent. There was an Anglican Chaplain to look after the
Cable people, but I did not see him. The Portuguese
Governor of the Islands lives in another island of the group,
which is also fertile.
S. Helena.
From the Cape Verde Islands we went to S. Helena, where
we were ordered to embark the Boer prisoners who had taken
the oath of allegiance on the conclusion of peace. We landed
and saw Napoleon's grave, and called upon my old friend,
Bishop Holmes. I knew him well as Dean of Grahamstown,
and wh^n the See of S. Helena was vacant, and there was
some difficulty in finding a Bishop, I ventured to suggest his
name to our late Archbishop, Dr. West-Jones. He at once
accepted my suggestion, and the appointment was accepted
all round.
Return of Boer Prisoners.
The Boer prisoners at S. Helena had just had a royal row,
which might have ended seriously if it had not been for the
EEMINISCENCES OF THE BOEB WAE 297
bayonets of their guards. We allowed our prisoners great
liberty and treated them more like interned civilians than
prisoners of war. We have reaped the fruit of this kind
treatment in the present day, when many of those prisoners
of 1902 are serving as loyal soldiers of the King in our South
African Defence Force. The cause of the trouble was that
some of them were too bitter to take the oath of allegiance as
the condition of returning to South Africa. This minority
was led by Sarel Eloff, the nephew of President Kruger, and
they assaulted the others with sticks and fists, until the
military took them into close custody.
Ckonje.
General Cronje and most of the 4000 who surrendered
wdth him at Paardeberg, on Majuba Day, 1900, were prisoners
at S. Helena. Gronje egged on the minority and encouraged
them not to take the oath, but when he found out that re-
calcitrancy did not pay, he promptly sent for the Governor,
and took the oath himself. He was essentially a treacherous
person, as the siege of Potchefstroom in 1881 showed, when
he went on pounding the garrison, after an armistice had
been arranged by Sir Evelyn Wood after Majuba. No one
trusted him, and the recalcitrant Boers threatened his life,
whilst the others despised him. I shall never forget his
coming on board the Tagus. About 900 Boer oiGficers and men
of his late command were already on board, when, just before
we sailed, a small launch came alongside with Cronje, his
wife, and his secretary. The fear of death was in his face as
he came up the ship's side and saw the bitter hostility in the
faces of his men. No one recognised or saluted him. He
seemed enveloped in a cloud of brooding silent hatred. He
carefully kept to the saloon and his cabin. He tried to talk
to me, but I did not encourage conversation. One of the
Boer officers I met renewed his acquaintance with me in
298 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
1914, when he was a Captain on General Botha's Staff for
the expedition which conquered German South-West Africa.
We then had a talk about loyalty.
Boer Loyalty.
He said that his loyalty to the Empire was based upon the
fact that we had given free self-government to the Union of
South Africa and that he was convinced that the future of his
people lay withifi the British Empire and not outside of it.
He remarked to me that an Englishman's loyalty was rooted
in the traditions of national history, but that his loyalty to
the Flag, though of a different brand from mine, was good
enough to make him die fighting for the Empire if need be.
I told him that his loyalty was good and true stuff on which
to build a united South African nation within the Empire.
And we left it at that. His views were typical of those of
the loyal Boers who fought with Botha in putting down
De Wet's rebellion, and conquering German South-West
Africa. General Botha, the first Prime Minister of the Union
of South Africa in 1910, was the only Boer General, in
Lord Kitchener's opinion, who showed outstanding military
genius. His success in conquering German South-West
Africa proves it.
General Smuts.
Lord Kitchener, had he lived, would have modified this
view after the successful campaign of General Smuts in
East Africa. His subsequent appointment as the South
African representative in the Imperial War Cabinet, and
his tactful speeches in England show him to be a great
statesman as well as a commander of undoubted militaiy
genius.
^REMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 299
Genebal Botha's Loyalty.
In a speech in 1916 in the Union Parliament he expressed
his loyalty as follows : *' In the first place I am an Afrikander,
who is absolutely loyal to the British Empire in this war, and I
may say I have had great difficulties with friends of my own
during the last fifteen months. We have done our utmost to
preserve rest and order in this country. We have done our ut-
most to bring to a successful conclusion the campaign in Ger-
man South- West Africa, and we have succeeded, and if neces-
sary, Mr. Speaker, I am prepared to-day to take up arms and
to do my utmost to bring the war to a successful issue. In
my view we have to create a future here, and that future
must be under the British flag. Under the German flag life
would be like living in a cofi&n. I say therefore it is my
sacred duty as an Afrikander to stand to-day by the British
Empire."
These manly words show that General Botha and the
loyal Afrikanders who follow him are a great asset to the
Empire. The disloyal party have tried him sorely, as after
all they are his people and many of them fought side by side
with him in the Boer War. On the voyage from S. Helena
to Capetown I had a good deal of talk with the Boer officers.
One sturdy old Commandant, who had been taken prisoner
after a temporarily successful assault on Baden- Powell's
lines at Mafeking, said to me that he hoped to live with
his children and grandchildren peaceably under the British
flag.
* Db. Leyds.
He said that Dr. Leyds (Kruger's evil genius) and the old
President's " reptile press " made the war, and the Boers had
to suffer for it. These newspaper men and Leyds had cleared
out and left the Boers to their fate. " What if they came back
300 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
to the Transvaal?" I said. The old man scowled, and re-
plied, *' If I caught Leyds, or any of them on my farm, I
would shoot him on sight, as I would a wolf ! " And there were
a goodly number of Boers who fought against us who were
in sympathy with this old Commandant. The Tagus first
put into Simonstown and landed Cronje and his party. " I
always like to give a bagged fox a fair start," said our com-
manding officer. " The others shan't land until Cronje has
got his train and a day's start before they follow him to the
Transvaal." Cronje was carefully protected, and ultimately
allowed to sail for America, where he ran a sort of "Wild
West " show for a time. He ultimately returned to South
Africa and died peaceably on his own farm.
Lord Roberts.
There were many incidents of my life during the Boer
War which would bear recalling. I select a few, the chief of
which was my interview with Lord Roberts. He came to
Port Elizabeth on his way to England and I had to accom-
pany him when he inspected our Base Hospital. He was
very pleased with all its arrangements. One detail was very
funny. A huge Yorkshireman stood to attention in one of
the wards with his arm in a sling. Lord Robei-ts said to me,
" Let us ask him where he was wounded ". He saluted and
said "Please, Sir, I got droonk and had a scrap with a Kafir,
and he bit t'end of me thoomb off ". He was one of our local
garrison. Lord Roberts burst out laughing and I joined, and
we went on to find more interesting cases. We had a small
contingent of Indian troopers to look after our Remount
Depot. They all paraded for inspection and it was wonder-
ful to see their faces light up with joy when they saw " Bobs
Bahadur". One old native officer with several medals made
a long Hindustani oration, to which Lord Roberts replied.
I asked one of the staff what it was all about, and he told me
EEMINISCENCES OF THE BOER WAR 301
that after many compliments it ended with a grievance about
a pension, which Lord Roberts promised to look into. I
thought of my glimpse of Lord Roberts and his Indian
soldiers when the news of his death came after his visit to the
Indian Army Corps in France, and I felt that the grand old
soldier was indeed '' felix opportunitate mortis". Before he
left Port Elizabeth Lord Roberts said to me that he wished
to convey through me his thanks and appreciation of the
services of the South African clergy who had acted as Chap-
lains to the forces. Over twenty of us so acted, and Lord
Roberts said further, '* If it had not been for you and the
other South African clergy the work could not have been
properly done, as the War Office had not made adequate
arrangements for the Chaplains* work". I felt very proud
to receive such a testimony to our work from the veteran
Field-Marshal. In 1911 I was presented to the King at a
Lev^e, and Lord Roberts was on the dais beside the King.
He left the dais and was standing in the room through which
we all passed after being presented. He looked at me as I
was passing out, and came across and spoke to me. " I re-
member you at Port Elizabeth," he said, and I thought it was
rather wonderful of him to have acquired this royal gift of
recollecting people he had met. We had a few minutes'
pleasant talk, which I afterwards cherished as an abiding
memory of a great man, the greatest soldier of his day and
time.
Irish Soldiers.
I had two experiences of Irish soldiers. A large draft of
the Tipperary Militia landed at Port Elizabeth as a relief for
the Royal Irish Regiment. They were in charge of a young
subaltern who evidently did not know how to handle them.
He let them land without any breakfast, and then gave
them 10s. a head deferred pay on the pier. Off they went,
302 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
breakfastless, to the nearest canteen, and the poor fellows soon
got drunk and riotous. They broke up a hotel bar and drank
all the liquor. They rampaged all ove^ the city, and the poor
subaltern fled for refuge to the club. The Staffords, who
were in garrison, sent out large pickets, with fixed bayonets,
and ultimately captured them all and drove them into the
train for their destination. Wires were sent up the line to
look out for them. After the first night's journey the train
drew up at a garrison town, and the Commandant took a
sensible view of the matter. He exhorted them from the
platform and told them he had a guard of picked Sheffield
" boxing men " with him, who would give a good " hammer-
ing " to the first man who gave trouble, and then he let them
out, four at a time, and gave them tea. They were thankful
enough and quiet enough after that, and at the next garrison
the Commandant complimented the subaltern on having kept
his men in such good order. But the boy was honest enough
to say, " Oh, Sir ! you should have seen them in Port Eliza-
beth ! " Needless to add that these Irish lads fell to their
duties with a good will, and made excellent soldiers when
they joined their regiment.
The Connaught IUngers.
I made a long journey once in a troop train with the Con-
naught Rangers after they had suffered severely in the terrible
attack on Spion Kop. I never saw finer or better disciplined
men. The officers were most delightful Irishmen of the best
type. At that time officers were advised to take their metal
rank badges from their shoulder straps, as they formed a
mark for the Boer sharpshooters. But the Major of the Con-
naughts kept his badge on, and when I asked him why, he said,
" If I'm to be shot, I'll be shot as a Major and an Irishman.
I'm keeping me badges on." He introduced me to Captain
Patrick^Sarsfield, with the words *' That's Irishman enough
KEMINISCENCES OF THE BOEE WAR 303
for ye in all conscience ". I thought of the great Sarsfield, and
of Limerick, ''the city of the broken Treaty," and I felt that
a Sarsfield had a hereditary right to resent the perfidy of
William of Orange. When we got to Naauwpoort Junction,
some supper had been ordered for the officers, who were worn
out and tired enough, but another troop train had passed
about an hour before and eaten it all up. I knew the ropes,
and worried the railway refreshment people till I got a toler-
able supper for my friends of the Connaught Rangers, who
were genially grateful to me. It was at this same Naauw-
poort that I spent the coldest night of my life. The weather
was bitter and there was no room for a shakedown for me in
the station buildings. An officer kindly lent me a sleeping
bag and I turned in to try to sleep in a shelter. But
though I was in warmish khaki serge, I shivered miserably
all night. I generally slept well enough under canvas, but
that night was the " limit ".
Chaplain's Work in the Boer War.
I should like to record generally my impressions of a
Chaplain's work in the Boer War. But it is enough for me
to say that I noted the same readiness to meet every effort
of the Chaplains which has been noted in the Great War
which began in 1914. The men were eager to attend church
parades, which I made as informal as possible, and they
welcomed my ministrations in every way in hospital, in gar-
rison and on the field. The officers gave me every facility in
their power and always treated me with consideration and
courtesy. I may conclude this chapter by referring the reader
to an article I wrote in the " Nineteenth Century " for April,
1900, entitled " The Boers and the Native Question," remark-
ing by way of appendix to the article that the war changed
many things but above all it changed the views of the best
of the Boers upon the Native question. The Dutch
304 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Reformed authorities have realised their duty to the natives,
and since the war have sent forth and supported about 100
missionaries to the heathen, while General Botha, the most
trusted leader of the Boers of to-day, has shown himself a
sympathetic Minister of Native Affairs.
GHAPTEE IX.
THE DEATH OF CECIL EHODES. RE-SBTTLEMENT OP
SOUTH AFRICA.
The Death op Ehodbs.
Whilst I was in England in 1902 the Empire and South
Africa lost a great statesman and Empire-builder by the death
of Cecil Ehodes. His character I have already estimated
from the point of view of a personal friendship which had
extended over many years. "Writing as I do, some fourteen
years after his death, I venture to think that his memory is
more truly honoured than ever in the minds of all true
citizens of our Empire, and that his life work leaves a deeper
impress as the years pass on, whilst his failings, or rather the
failings of those who acted with him, are forgotten.
Lord Milner's Policy.
He died at a crucial period in South African history. The
war had left bitter memories, and Lord Milner's task of re-
construction was difficult in the extreme. He had to build
up the political and social life of the conquered rfipublics, and
s%ow the men who had fought against us that we meant to
give them full liberty under the British flag and their full
rights as citizens of the Empire. Before the war was over
he began to reorganise the educational systems of the
306 20
306 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Transvaal and Free State and got good men to help him.
He reconstructed the Civil Service and the Judicial Bench
and appointed stipendiary magistrates for each district. The
story of his great work has been told in detail by an abler
pen than mine. Mr. Worsfold's book on Lord Milner's work
is one to be read and kept. The Imperial Government spent
huge sums of money in repatriating the Boers on their farms,
and in a few years South Africa began gradually to recover.
^ Crown Colony government was naturally and inevitably the
successor of martial law in the conquered territories, but it
was administered on the broadest possible basis.
Lord Milner and Chinese Labour.
Lord Milner was blamed for introducing Chinese labour at
Johannesburg. But his hand was forced by the Portuguese.
The bulk of the native labour for the Johannesburg gold
mines came from the Portuguese province of Mozambique,
with its port of Delagoa Bay. The South African labour
supply was insufficient for two reasons. The natives had
made money and got good employment in many ways during
the Boer War. They are naturally pastoralists and agri-
culturalists. High wages drove them to the mines, but so
long as the money lasted that they had made during the war
they would not take to mining. Many of them were able to
settle on the land and Johannesburg had no attractions for
them. The mining industry had been practically closed by
the war. Its successful reopening was an Imperial question,
and not merely a matter for the shareholders of the mines.
The gold output of Johannesburg had become of world-wide
importance. The Portuguese took advantage of the situation,
and stopped the labour supply from their territories. They
asked for terms which Lord Milner felt it impossible and un-
just to grant them. The only solution, and that confessedly
a temporary one, was the importation of Chinese labour. It
THE DEATH OF CECIL RHODES 307
was successful in every way, for it brought the Portuguese
to reason, and it restarted the gold industry. Very soon the
Chinese were repatriated to a man, and the labour supply
flowed in regularly from its previous sources.
The Political Lie of "Chinese Slaveby".
I was in Johannesburg whilst the Chinese were working
there, and no set of labourers could have been better housed
or cared for. The abominable outcry of " Chinese slavery "
that was raised in England for political purposes by men who
knew that their allegations were utterly false, was the most
cynical and libellous party watchword that ever disgraced
English politics. The world war of 1914 will change many
things. We may legitimately hope that it will change the
methods of our politics, and prevent the circulation of wilful
lies and foul slanders as legitimate weapons of party strife.
The Will of Cecil Rhodes.
The death of Cecil Rhodes in 1902 removed the foremost
figure in the political life of South Africa. He knew that he
was stricken with a fatal disease for some time before the end
came, and he set his house in order by making his famous
will.
The Rhodes Scholabs.
Even now we can estimate the value to Oxford of the
vigorous influx of life which the Rhodes Scholars brought to
that ancient University. And we can also trace in the lives
of the men thus brought from the Colonies and America to
such a central seat of English culture and learning, the
abiding impress for good which it has left upon them. Rhodes
showed himself a true Imperialist in thus binding the sons
20*
308 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
of the Empire together by a common ideal higher than mere
material instincts.
Rhodes Sympathetic to Boebs and Natives.
To me South Africa seemed a different place without
Rhodes. I had lost a kind and sympathetic friend. South
Africa had lost a selfless patriot whose life work had been
devoted to her best and highest interests. Rhodes under-
stood the Dutch South African and sympathised with his
ideals. Not even the Jameson Raid or the Boer War could
efface the memory of that sympathy from the minds of the
best and most thoughtful Dutch South Africans. He also
understood the natives. He was the author of the "Glen
Grey " Act, which was a measure which applied local self-
government and fixity of land tenure to an important native
district. The natives had not then emerged from " tribal
tenure" as it once existed in the Highlands of Scotland.
The chief held the land for his tribe, and his tribesmen were
his servants and soldiers. Rhodes saw that " individual
tenure" was the pathway of safety and loyalty for the native
races. Each man had his own plot of land which he was
forbidden to sell or mortgage to a white man. Unscrupulous
land speculators were thus checkmated, and the native learnt
the value of a stable government which ensured to him the
possession of his property so long as he was a peaceable and
law-abiding citizen. Rhodes' Act also provided for local
self-government by a council of natives elected by natives.
It has worked well and is now extended to the whole of the
populous native territories of the Transkei, the scenes of the
native wars of 1877 and 1880. The natives readily pay their
taxes, now that the money is spent in the native territories,
and they are consulted as to its expenditure. The Native
" Parliament," or Council, of the Transkei is practically res-
ponsible for education, the up-keep of roads, etc. — in fact,
THE DEATH OF CECIL RHODES 309
for the work done by County Councils in England. The
Chief Magistrate of the Transkei sits as its President with a
veto on its procedings, and the consent of the Minister of
Native Affairs is required to give the force of law to its en-
actments. The debates are in the Kafir language, and the
Council has amply justified its existence. There are over
700 native Government schools in the Transkei which are
subsidised by the native Council. The certificated teachers
are nearly all natives, and the Inspectors are Europeans
appointed by the Department of Education. These schools
are all practically "denominational," and were originally
started by the Missionaries. To educate the natives without
religious teaching would ruin them and cause them to become
a grave danger to the State. This was the deliberate opinion
of Lord Milner's Commission on Native Affairs, which re-
ported in 1905.
But the greatest loss to South Africa was the death of
Rhodes at the crucial point of its history. Had he been
spared to continue his work in welding Dutch and British
South Africans into a united nation after the war I believe
that our persistent racial difficulty would have vanished, and
that there would have been no rebellion in 1914.
Canon Scott Holland (in his " Personal Studies," p. Hi)
arrives at an entirely false estimate of the attitude of Rhodes
towards religion. He coloured his entire estimate of Rhodes
by the Raid, for which, as I have shown before, he was not
immediately responsible. He chivalrously shouldered blame
that was not his, and Canon Scott Holland did not know
him as he really was. He viewed him through Stead's
spectacles, but Stead never knew the real Rhodes. He looked
upon him as a Theist without any consciousness of the
obligations of moral conduct. He was utterly wrong, and
his false estimate was very painful to men who knew Rhodes
as I did. Rhodes was not an irreHgious man. It is true
that he was not a church-goer. He was the son of a
310 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFKICA
clergyman, and possibly his early surroundings were somewhat
cramped from a religious point of view. He complained that
the Church of England never could make up her mind to
definite action and a definite corporate policy. He saw her
weakness, and did not realise her witness to historical
Christianity. I have always thought that his chronic ill
health made him too physically restless to endure a service
in church. When he was Premier of the Cape this restless-
ness was very manifest when he sat in Parliament. He
could not sit still, and escaped from debate whenever he could.
He was restless in his home life. He would have men in
his room discussing politics whilst he was dressing, and his
meals were subject to continual interruptions. He was at
luncheon one day deep in politics with some friends when a
little boy (son of a friend of mine) came very gently up to
him and said, "Please, Mr. Ehodes, I want to see your
lions ". Rhodes left the table at once with the child, with a
rapid excuse to his friends, and took him off to the lion-house
in the grounds of his beautiful home at Groot Schuur. It
was characteristic alike of his restlessness and his love for
children. His words on his death-bed, " So much to do, so
little done," were typical of his life and its manifold, if some-
what unmethodical, activities. His office- work as Prime
Minister was hateful to him. He abhorred routine and
conventionality. But he was not irreligious. One Christmas
at Kimberley he wished to arrange for a day's sports for his
workmen at the diamond mines. As usual he left the de-
tails to others, and they arranged sports for Christmas Day
that interfered with the hours for Church services. The
programmes were all printed, and Bishop Gaul, who was
then Rector and Archdeacon of Kimberley, wrote an indig-
nant letter to Rhodes on the subject. Rhodes was at the
Club with some friends and he remarked that the Archdeacon
had given him a good slating for interfering with the Church
services. His obsequious satellites at once began abusing
THE DEATH OF CECIL EHODES 311
the Archdeacon's impudence and meddlesome interference,
now that all the arrangements were complete. Ehodes was
silent for a moment. He then said, " No, the Archdeacon is
quite right, though a bit peppery. Don't you forget that I
am a parson's son, and I understand. Cancel the whole
programme at once, and consult the Archdeacon about the
hours to be left free for Church services ". This was at once
carried out, and it showed that Ehodes respected the Church.
This, of course, was an outward matter, but the words he used
about prayer in a letter to the Archbishop of Capetown give
one a glimpse of his inner thoughts. He wrote as follows :
" I often think that prayer represents the daily expression to
oneself of the right thing to do and is a reminder to the
human soul that it must direct the body on such lines ".
These are not the words of the cynical Theist depicted by
Canon Scott Holland. They express one side of prayer with
some accuracy.
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH.
S. Mary's Eectory is a plain two-storied building standing
in a terrace overlooking the church, from which it is
separated by just the width of the road. Upstairs, running
the length of the frontage, is a narrow balcony, from which
the visitor looks straight into the quasi-east window of the
sanctuary, and across the little terraced garden into the
cloisters below. The far corner of this balcony was Archdeacon
Wirgman's open-air sanctum. Many among the readers
of the Eeminiscences will recall the familiar picture. There,
seated in a low chair, with his favourite calabash pipe in
full play, the Archdeacon would generally be found when at
home. At his elbow would be a small table, covered with
letters and writing material and adorned with a bag of good
Transvaal tobacco. On the other side was a shelf, support-
ing sundry pipes in reserve, for use when the favourite
needed a rest. Here he read, and thought, and dreamed
dreams ; here he wrote much of his voluminous correspond-
ence, planned his books and sketched their outlines ; here he
received church officers and discussed affairs of the parish ;
and here he talked great talks with all manner of men on all
manner of topics. Nihil liumani a me alienum puto might
well have been his motto. Everything interested him.
Everything, that is, except philosophy. " Philosophy is no
good," he would say, giving an affectionate rub to his beloved
calabash ; *' it bores me." Otherwise there was no topic
312
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 3ia
under the sun which did not meet with a cordial welcome
and liberal entertainment in this genial corner.
His interest in things human, however, was by no means
merely academical. His energy was as wonderful, as his
interest was keen. At Cambridge he rowed for Magdalene;
he was an enthusiastic member of the Port Elizabeth Cricket
Club and for many years was a prominent figure in the
playing field ; he dearly loved his game of billiards ; he took
an active share in the work of local Boards and Committees ;
he was an ardent Free Mason and a keen politician. For
nearly forty years he was Chaplain to that historic regiment,
Prince Alfred's Guard, and was proud of the decoration
which was conferred on him in later years as Senior Chaplain
to the Forces in South Africa, a distinction which he prized
next to that of being Honorary Chaplain to the King.
Wide and varied as were his interests and activities, it is
nevertheless as an ecclesiastic that Archdeacon Wirgman
commands attention, and it is by his work as such that he
will be remembered and appraised.
When in 1875 he came into residence as Eector and
Colonial Chaplain of the mother church of Port Elizabeth,
the citizens of that seaport town quickly realised the advent
into the community of a new and very vital force. He
brought to the work a clear-cut policy ; his Churchmanship
was definite and uncompromising ; there never was any un-
certainty in his mind on matters of doctrine, discipline or ad-
ministration. He set himself the task of making S. Mary's
a strong centre of catholic principle ; its services a model of
stately worship. Furthermore, it was to be the source of
that spiritual influence which he ever endeavoured to infuse
into civic life and all the many public movements in which
he never failed to take his part. He invested S. Mary's with
a responsibility as exacting as it was far-reaching. As the
mother church of the town, and centrally situated, it was
natural that her influence should be, as it always has been,
314 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
paramount in Church life locally and in no small degree active
in civic and social affairs. But the Archdeacon's vision
covered a much wider field. S. Mary's was to set a standard,
in the statement of doctrine, in ritual and in churchmanship
generally, not only for the town, but for the diocese and
province. Its light was not to be hid. It had to show the
Church in South Africa how things should be done. It was
to this end that he courted publicity. Not so much because he
desired to attract attention to himself, but rather because he,
that is S. Mary's (L'eglise c'est moi), was doing the right thing
in the right way, and was anxious that others should come
and see, and then go and do likewise. He was ambitious for
S. Mary's and its influence. The effect of this ambitious
view of its responsibility was seen in two directions. Firstly,
in his intense devotion to S. Mary's Church itself, its music,
ritual, appointments and architecture ; in his faithful mainten-
ance of the daily Eucharist and daily offices ; in the utmost
care and technical knowledge expended on the carrying out
of ceremonial functions ; and above all in the profound
reverence with which he sought to embellish and dignify the
service of the Altar as the pivot of the whole structure of
catholic worship. This was the centripetal aspect of his
life's energy. No less striking was its centrifugal tendency.
This was expressed in a readiness, one might say an alacrity,
with which he threw himself into the service of the Church
and State beyond the borders of his immediate sphere. He
was an effective speaker at public meetings ; a constant and
trenchant contributor to the press on matters political as
well as ecclesiastical; the editor of the "Southern Cross"
(1890-1901), and later of the " South African Church Quarterly
Review " (1906-11) ; an invaluable member of diocesan and
provincial Synods, Boards, and Committees; a writer of
many learned books. In addition to all this and very much
more, he maintained a private correspondence, on an extra-
ordinary scale, with all manner of people, many of them well
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 316
known figures in the political, ecclesiastical, and literary
worlds. This remarkable output of work on the part of one
who was Eector of a populous and wide-spread parish was
only rendered possible by the fact that the Archdeacon pos-
sessed two gifts not always recognised by the casual observer,
who probably regarded him as chiefly the embodiment of
exuberant spirits, conspicuous ability and restless energy.
These were method and the power of concentration.
But no human character may be weighed in vacuo; no
human personality may be portrayed in isolation. This is
especially true of Archdeacon Wirgman, who owed more than
it is possible to estimate to the intimate companionship of
one who lived and worked at his side during the whole of his
South African career of five and forty years. A total
inability to do justice to Mrs. Wirgman's influence and its
full significance in the Archdeacon's career, will, it is hoped,
be generously pardoned. But there could be no pardon for
failing to pay a respectful tribute to her splendid record of
devotion and loving service to her husband and to the work
so dear to them both. Here, in this quiet Eectory, for over
forty years, she made his welfare and happiness, his efforts
and his ambitions, her own supreme charge. In his successes
and failures (not a few), in peace and storm (and there were
many storms), she was always the staunch comrade, ever at
hand with ready intuition and watchful sympathy, with en-
couragement and counsel. To only one other was it given
to know the real extent and value of this gracious influence
in the life of the Archdeacon, whose temperament, with its
frequent alternations of buoyancy and depression, needed
above all else, just this compensating balance. Nor must
we omit to recall the unaffected and unfailing hospitality so
long associated with S. Mary's Eectory. Numberless are
those who have experienced it, and who will ever remember
the camaraderie of their genial host (who, by the way, was an
amazing raconteur), and the thoughtful care and kindness of
316 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
their hostess. Young clergy from the Old Country, young
people coming out to take up appointments in South Africa,
others to seek for work ; the pathetically hopeful invalid in
search of health ; dignitaries of the Church ; men and women
distinguished in letters, politics or affairs — many indeed have
they been who have found a welcome here, and have gone
on their ways with grateful memories of the motherly kind-
ness and cheerful hospitality they had received. Nor did
Mrs. Wirgman confine herself to the duties of the home, for
she was an indefatigable worker in all that pertained to the
church and the parish, and was the personal friend of the
members of its large and varied congregation in all their joys
and sorrows ; and when, after the death of the Archdeacon,
Mrs. Wirgman finally left the home of her adoption for the
land of her birth, it was with the respect and affection of a
people who will never forget her nobility of character, her
dignity of manner and her long and loving service.
No picture of the Archdeacon would be complete, indeed it
would be no picture at all, which did not give, or at least
attempt to give, due place and perspective to one other whose
association with the subject of this brief essay is unique in
more ways than one.
The Rev. Cuthbert Edward Mayo was ordained Deacon in
1883, receiving his title as Curate of S. Mary's, Port Elizabeth.
In 1888 he became Precentor, and as such brought his artistic
sense and knowledge of music to bear on the services of the
Church, and to him is largely due the very high standard of
excellence which the rendering of the services soon attained,
and which has been so admirably maintained ever since.
He has devoted a large part of his life and energy to the task
of beautifying the services with sound Cathedral music, as an
offering to God of the fruit of that divine gift of song with
which He has endowed mankind. On the death of the Arch-
deacon in 1917, Mr. Mayo became Rector and Vice-provost,
and a little later was elected by the clergy of the diocese a
BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCH 817
Canon of Grahamstown Cathedral. A few years after his
ordination Mr. Mayo took up his residence with Mr. and Mrs.
Wirgman at S. Mary's Rectory, and there he has resided
from that day to this. He therefore not only worked side by
side with the Archdeacon in the same church and parish for
thirty-five years, but lived in the same house with him during
thirty years of that long period. It is given to few men to
live and work in such close and intimate association for so
many years, and few indeed must be the men who could
stand so long and stringent a test of mutual understanding
and fellowship. Far as the poles asunder in temperament,
they were in complete sympathy in matters of Church prin-
ciple, both equally devoted to S. Mary's, and bound together
by the bonds of friendship and mutual esteem. When the
special conditions governing the relations of the clergy of S.
Mary's Collegiate Church are taken into consideration, it will
readily be seen how fraught with difiiculties such a relationship
could become were the personal equation to fail. The Pre-
centor of S. Mary's, in addition to his being required to
" discharge all his duties in due subordination to the Rector,"
is, at the same time, in virtue of his office, " a beneficed priest
with fixity of tenure," invested with very real executive
powers. The dangers inherent in such an arrangement are
sufficiently obvious. The possibilities of friction must be
many, and serious disagreement would naturally affect the
efficiency of the work as well as the spiritual life of all con-
cerned. The position at best is one which is bound to impose
a severe strain on the patience and self-restraint of any two
men holding these offices. In the case of Archdeacon Wirg-
man and Canon Mayo, both men of pronounced personality
and strong convictions, the test was as wonderfully sustained
as it was long continued. The marked efficiency of the
work at S. Mary's, the beauty of the services, and the
spirit of earnestness pervading all its activities, are a fine
tribute to the harmonising power of a true friendship and
318 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
a complete devotion to their common service pro Deo et
ecclesia,
SI MONUMENTUM REQUIBIS CIRCUMSPICE.
The Church of S. Mary itself will always be the main
evidence of Archdeacon Wirgman's energy and courage.
The original building (erected in 1825) was destroyed by fire
on the night of March the 9th, 1895 (see p. 236), and
before its ashes were cold he had commenced to plan its re-
building on a larger and nobler scale. In September, 1896,
just eighteen months after the fire, the new choir was conse-
crated by Bishop Webb. It constitutes one of the most
important contributions so far made to the architecture of
the South African Church. Spacious and stately, richly
furnished, yet retaining that severity which safeguards the
dignity of a sanctuary, the whole fabric seems to breathe
upon the beholder the very atmosphere of worship, so that
he cannot but say " This is none other than the house of God ".
The raising of the new S. Mary's from the ashes of the
old does not represent the whole of the Archdeacon's work
as a builder. In 1877 the Church of All Saints was built at
Sandflats, some fifty miles from Port Elizabeth, in the
direction of Grahamstown. This church was for many years
served by the clergy of S. Mary's. In 1878 S. Peter's was
opened, to meet the requirements of the very mixed popula-
tion of the south end of the town. The Rev. George Smith
was the first Rector and did yeoman service among the white
and coloured people. The Church day school in connection
with S. Peter's is to-day the largest Church school for coloured
children in the diocese. S. John's, Walmer, was consecrated
in 1882 by Bishop Merriman, for the convenience of Church
people living in what was then a garden suburb of Port
Elizabeth, but has since become a municipality and a parish.
The little church of S. John's is as picturesque and as
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 319
altogether delightful as are its surroundings of scattered villas,
beautiful gardens and wooded avenues.
In 1884 S. Cuthbert's was opened by Bishop Webb, as a
memorial to Eobert Gray, Bishop of Cape Town, and as a
Chapel of Base to S. Mary's, to serve the growing district on
either side of the Cape road. Part of the money for the
building of this church was raised by the Archdeacon while
on a visit to England in 1882 (see p. 144), an occasion
which with characteristic zeal he used for the purpose of en-
listing the interest of Churchmen in the old country in the
affairs of the Church in South Africa. Nor did he miss the
opportunity thus afforded him to impart some much-needed
instruction on the true condition of Church life in this country,
and on the real feelings and aspirations of South African
Churchmen. S. Cuthbert's was for some years served by the
clergy of S. Mary's, till in 1888 the Eev. John Fitch Sinden
was appointed Vicar. In 1900 the present chancel in brick
was erected, and, in 1907, S. Cuthbert's became a parish
Church.
S. Alban's, built in 1904, is a little church situated at
Draaifontein, twenty miles from town, at a point midway
between the Cape road and the sea. This little temple in
the wilds is a boon much prized by the dwellers on the lonely
farms, who appreciate the thoughtful care for their spiritual
welfare on the part of the Mother Church, whose clergy have
maintained regular periodical services here in spite of the
difficulties entailed by distance and by roads sometimes well-
nigh impassable.
The Church of S. Barnabas, designed by Canon Mayo, was
erected at Sydenham in 1904. It is within the parish of S.
Paul, by whose Clergy it is served.
The diminutive church of S. Paul, Hankey, in the parish
of Humansdorp, was opened in 1910, and has since been
enlarged. S. Agnes', Zwartkops, though erected during the
Archdeacon's regime, owes its existence (and that a very
320 STOBM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
useful one) entirely to the initiative and energy of the Rev.
R. J. J. Garrod, Priest Vicar of S. Mary's and Priest-in-charge
of Zwartkops (1912-13). Such is the record of the develop-
ment of Church life as indicated by the erection of new
centres of worship during the Archdeacon's ministry in Port
Elizabeth. The churches already existing in the town when
he entered upon that ministry in 1875, were S. Paul's
Parish Church at the north end, with which will always be
associated the honoured name of the Rev. Samuel Brooks,
and Holy Trinity Church, situated in a commanding position
on " The Hill ". There was also S. Philip's Mission Church
in the Parish of S. Paul, raised by the coloured people for
their own use, and for many years served by the Rev. P. R.
Mollett.
Special work has for some years been conducted among
the poorer coloured people of the north end by S. Mark's
Mission. This work, which includes a promising mission to
the Chinese inhabitants, is closely associated with the heroic
efforts of the Sisters of S. Mark's Mission House, a branch of
S. Peter's Home, Grahamstown (Community of the Resur-
rection), who have laboured with unremitting devotion for
nearly forty years among the dwellers in the surrounding
slums. In the town itself is the Native Church of S.
Stephen's, while there is also a Mission church in the large
native location at New Brighton, five miles out. In addition,
there are many smaller Mission stations scattered abroad in
the country districts. The Church Order of Ethiopia has
also a number of Missions within the Archdeaconry. Lastly,
there is the rural town and extensive parish of Humansdorp,
lying seventy miles to the westward, but also coming within
the same jurisdiction.
There was one other institution to which reference should
be made. Out of all patience with the circumscribed
methods of the existing Educational system and with its
totally unsatisfactory arrangements for religious instruction,
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 321
Archdeacon Wirgman was impressed with the need of a
Church school and threw his energies into the Diocesan
Grammar School. There for some years he shared the work
of teaching with his excellent schoolmaster colleague, the
Eev. Alexander Grant, afterwards Archdeacon of East London.
Later, the school was in the hands of the Eev. E. H. Eyland
and Mr. H. S. Mayo. The financial handicap, however, in
favour of the Government Schools, was too much for the
Church institution, which eventually succumbed. The build-
ing, situated at the top of White's Eoad, is now used as an
Art School. But there are very many " Old Boys " in Port
Elizabeth and elsewhere who remember the Diocesan
Grammar School with gratitude and affection, and it un-
doubtedly played an important and influential part in the
educational life of the town.
These details are enumerated in order to afford some indi-
cation of the nature and extent of the sphere into which
Archdeacon Wirgman carried the exercise of his personal and
ofi&cial influence. As Eural Dean, from 1884 to 1896, and
still more conspicuously as Archdeacon, from 1907 till his
death in 1917, he manifested the most alert interest in the
work of the various parishes and missions, and was always
ready with practical sympathy and counsel wherever any of his
brethren of the clergy or any of the lay church officers stood
in need of them. It was characteristic of him that no office,
great or small, when he had once assumed it, was ever
allowed to become a sinecure. He put all his energies into
it and used its opportunities to the full. He valued highly
his Archidiaconal privileges and rights, such as those of visi-
tation, of the admission of church officers, of the induction
of clergy to the temporalities of their cures — inasmuch as
these occasions enabled him to impress upon his hearers the
principles of Church law and government, and to emphasise
the right relationship between parishes and missions on the
one hand, and the diocese on the other, as the true unit of
21
322 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
the Church's organised life. In this connection he did much
to promote a due sense of responsibility in the matter of
diocesan finance, as a consequence of which Churchmen in
this Archdeaconry to-day view the financial requirements of
the diocese with as much sympathetic interest as they do
those of their own parishes, and readily meet, so far as they
can, the larger obligations involved.
It would not be writing true history were it allowed to
appear that the Archdeacon's activities were always viewed
with universal approval, or that his relations with those with
whom he had to deal officially were always harmonious.
This would be too much to expect of any man ; far too much
to expect of Archdeacon Wirgman. His exuberance of spirits
sometimes led him into situations in which impulse predomin-
ated over judgment ; his absorbing interest in whatever was
going on sometimes provoked resentment in quarters where
his intervention was deemed not necessary; and often a
dominating manner, of which he was quite unconscious,
caused irritation and friction which seriously militated against
the success of the most excellent intentions ; while, at other
times, the trenchant quality of his utterances told against the
soundness of his position, and made enemies. With his
temperamental outfit much of this was inevitable. Never-
theless, with full recognition of the justice of the foregoing
observations, it is only fair to say that the Archdeacon
achieved a great work in his Archdeaconry, in breaking up
the worst traditions of parochial insularity and in promoting
a truer view of churchmanship. His very insistence on his
Archidiaconal rights and functions, in itself did much good,
inasmuch as it compelled people to take account of the
Church's system of government ; and to realise that neither
priest nor parishioner liveth unto himself or dieth unto him-
self, but must live and work as part of the great Catholic
Church of Christ, in which the diocese is the unit of organ-
isation.
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 323
Very dear to the heart of Archdeacon Wirgman was his
ideal of that corporate unity of the clergy which found ex-
pression in the Collegiate Chapter of the Church of S. Mary.
By a deed of Constitution, promulgated with due legal
formalities by Bishop Webb in 1888, S. Mary's became a
Collegiate Church, which, together with its parish, was in
future to be ordered and governed by the Constitution and
Statutes set forth and laid down in that document, the terms
of which are here given in full.
Deed op Constitution.
To all Christian people to whom these presents shall come,
Allan Bbcher, by Divine permission Bishop of Grahams-
town, sendeth greeting. — Know you that by virtue of our
Ordinary and Episcopal Jurisdiction, "We, the Bishop afore-
said, by virtue of a Deed of Agreement, signed by Us on the
twenty-eighth day of March in the year of our Lord one
thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, and thereby entered
upon by Us with the Vestry of S. Mary's Church, Port
Elizabeth, do hereby ordain and appoint that the Church of
S. Mary, Port Elizabeth, become henceforth and is hereby
constituted,
Our Collegiate Church op S. Mary,
Port Elizabeth, and that the said Collegiate Church and
Parish shall be ordered and governed by the Constitution and
Statutes hereby granted and determined by us.
I. Op the Collegute Chapter.
The Collegiate Chapter of the Church of S. Mary the Virgin,
Port Elizabeth, shall consist of the Bishop of Grahamstown
for the time being, as Provost, the Archdeacon of Port
Elizabeth, the Vice-Provost and Rector of S. Mary's, the
21*
324 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH APRICA
Eural Dean of Port Elizabeth, the Precentor of S. Mary's, the
Vicar of S. Cuthbert's, Port Elizabeth, the Rector of S. John's,
Walmer, and the Rector of S. Peter's, Port Elizabeth, as ex-
officio Priests Associate, the said Priests Associate, other than
the Archdeacon, Vice-Provost, and Rural Dean, ranking in
accordance with their seniority in Priest's orders. Provided
that the Bishop, as Provost, hereby reserves to himself the
appointment of such other clergy as he may deem expedient,
with such status, honorary or substantive, as members of
the Collegiate Chapter as may be determined by him, after
consultation with the Collegiate Chapter aforesaid, and that
the Rectors and Incumbents of parishes within the Rural
Deanery of Port Elizabeth, shall have the status of Honorary
Members of the Collegiate Chapter.
The Bishop, as Provost, shall summon the Collegiate
Chapter, through the Vice-Provost, and preside therein. But
if the Bishop be hindered from being present, he shall direct
the Archdeacon, or Vice-Provost, to preside therein, with
authority to exercise the Provost's casting vote, it being pro-
vided always that the minutes of all meetings held in the
absence of the Provost, be confirmed by him at the first sub-
sequent meeting at which he is present in person. The
Collegiate Chapter shall meet within the Octave of the Feast
of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Sept. 8th), being
the Feast of the Dedication of S. Mary's Collegiate Church,
and also within the Octave of the Feast of the Annunciation
of our Lady (March 25th), commonly called Lady Day.
II. Of the Archdeacon and Rural Dean.
The Archdeacon and Rural Dean (within whose Arch-
deaconry and Rural Deanery, respectively, the Collegiate
Church and Parish of S. Mary is territorially situated)
shall be installed as ex-officio members of the Collegiate
Chapter, and shall exercise, in the Collegiate Church and
BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCH 325
Parish aforesaid, all the duties and functions of their respect-
ive offices under the general and special direction of the
Provost, who is the Lord Bishop of the diocese for the time
being. The Archdeacon shall have precedence in the Choir,
and in all offices and ecclesiastical functions within the
Collegiate Church and Parish of S. Mary immediately after
the Provost, and before the Vice-Provost. The Eural Dean
shall have similar precedence immediately after the Vice-
Provost, and before the other members of the Collegiate
Chapter.
III. Op the Vice-Provost and Rector.
The Vice-Provost is the Provost's deputy for the mainten-
ance of Divine Worship in accordance with the statutes.
The Eector has the cure of souls in the Collegiate Church
and Parish of S. Mary. He presides at all meetings of the
vestry of S. Mary's Collegiate Church. He is the scriba of
the Collegiate Chapter, and the custodian of its minute book.
The Rector is appointed by the Bishop, after consultation
with the Collegiate Chapter, and with the Vestry of the
Collegiate Church aforesaid. The Rector is ex-officio Vice-
Provost unless the Provost and the Collegiate Chapter shall,
upon a vacancy occurring in the office, decide that the Arch-
deacon pro hac vice shall be Vice-Provost.
IV. Of the Priests Associate.
The Priests Associate, with the Bishop as Provost, consti-
tute the Collegiate Chapter of the Church of S. Mary the
Virgin, Port Elizabeth.
Under him they form a Corporation of Beneficed Priests,
who shall be duly installed to their respective stalls in the
choir of S. Mary's Collegiate Church. The Vice-Provost and
the other members of the Collegiate Chapter are responsible
326 STOKM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
for the daily Eucharist in S. Mary's Collegiate Church. The
rota of celebrants, which shall include the Honorary Priests
Associate, at their option, shall be arranged by the Collegiate
Chapter and signed by the Bishop as Provost. The Priests
Associate of the Collegiate Chapter shall have the right of
preaching once in six months in S. Mary's Collegiate Church,
by arrangement w^ith the Vice-Provost.
The Precentor of S. Mary's Collegiate Church shall be
appointed by the Bishop, upon the nomination of the
Collegiate Chapter, after consultation with the Vestry of S.
Mary's. The Eector of Walmer shall be appointed by the
Bishop, after consultation with the Collegiate Chapter and
the Vestry of S. John's, Walmer.
V. Of the Precentor.
The Precentor of S. Mary's Collegiate Church is the Vicar
of the Collegiate Chapter, and is a Beneficed Priest with the
fixity of tenure provided by the Canons of the Church of this
Province. He shall regulate the worship of the Collegiate
Church aforesaid, and shall have the general control of the
organist and choir. He shall admit, and dismiss, if neces-
sary, members of the choir, and shall appoint the music to
be sung. He shall maintain, to the best of his power and
ability, the Cathedral standard of worship in the Collegiate
Church aforesaid, and shall take his share in the duties of
the said Church and Parish of S. Mary as it may be appor-
tioned to him by the Provost, Vice-Provost, and Rector,
discharging all his duties in due subordination to the same.
VI. Of Installation.
When appointed, members of the Collegiate Chapter shall
be installed according to a form provided for that purpose,
having first made such subscriptions and declarations as are
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 327
enjoined by the Canons of this Province, as well as the follow-
ing declaration — "I, A. B., appointed a member of the
Chapter of the Collegiate Church of S. Mary the Virgin, Port
Elizabeth, in the Diocese of Grahamstown, do profess and
promise due Canonical obedience to the Lord Bishop, and to
the Statutes of the said Collegiate Church, which are, or
shall be, imposed by the authority of the Bishop, with the
consent of the Collegiate Chapter, for the furtherance of the
work of Christ and His Church in this Diocese. So help me
God, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen ".
VII. Of the Succentob and Priest Vicars.
A Succentor, and also Priest Vicars, may be appointed by
the Eector (with the consent of the Bishop as Provost), but
they shall not be ex officio members of the Collegiate
Chapter.
VIII. Of the Services of the Church.
The standard of worship in S. Mary's Collegiate Church
shall be conformed, in all essential points, to that of the
Cathedral Church of the diocese, and no changes shall be
made in the ritual and ceremonial in use at the date of this
present revision of the statutes, without the consent of the
Collegiate Chapter.
IX. Of the Statutes.
In case any doubts arise as to the meaning or interpreta-
tion of the Statutes of S. Mary's Collegiate Church, reference
shall be made to the Provost, whose decision shall be final.
No alteration, or addition, shall be made in the Statutes
aforesaid, without the consent of the Bishop for the time
being, as Provost, and the consent of the Collegiate Chapter.
328 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
Given under our Hand and Seal, as thus altered and
revised from the Statutes originally granted by Allan
Becher, Fourth Bishop of Graham stown, in the year
1888, and amended under his Hand and Seal in the
year 1896 ; on this fourth day of September in the year
of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and seven, and
of our Consecration the ninth year.
L.S. Charles E. Grahamstown.
Here is an interesting attempt to attain unity among the
parishes of a modern Eural Deanery on somewhat mediaeval
lines ; to bring about a corporate life among clergy living and
working apart and under widely different conditions ; to secure
by means of such an association some degree of uniformity
in the conduct of services in the various churches within a
given area, and to ensure continuity of policy in the appoint-
ment of parish priests.
The somewhat elaborate relationships involved, as between
the members of the Collegiate Chapter themselves, and as
between the Collegiate Chapter and other interests concerned,
have not been altogether unproductive of difficulties ; but
these have not been serious. There was at one time and in
some quarters a very real suspicion that a strict exercise of
its power under the constitution might involve the Chapter's
infringement of the rights and liberties of independent
parishes, their vestries and clergy. All such fears have long
since disappeared. The Collegiate Church of S. Mary is
and will continue to be the centre of Church life in Port
Elizabeth and will ever be regarded with affection and respect
as their spiritual mother by all the churches which have
grown up round about her ; while the Collegiate Chapter will
proceed in its endeavour to realise the ideal of him who strove
so long and earnestly to give it form.
In the broader fields of the diocese and province Archdeacon
Wirgman was a vigorous and enthusiastic worker. As a
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 329
member of the Cathedral Chapter he was in the privy council
of the Bishop of Grahamstown. The transactions of a
Cathedral Chapter being of the nature of mysteries not to be
probed by the uninitiated, we must content ourselves with
the sure and certain conviction that if there was one dull
dog among the reverend seigneurs in Chapter assembled,
that one would not be the Archdeacon of Port Elizabeth.
His vivid personality would vitalise any assembly, however
grave; while his mental activity and forensic resourceful-
ness in debate challenged the most alert attention on the
part of his colleagues in council. As Examining Chaplain to
the Bishop of his own diocese, as well as to the Bishop of
Mashonaland, he had an opportunity for exercising his
influence in the education and theological training of candi-
dates for Holy Orders and of the junior clergy ; a task for
which his own scholarship, and especially his attainments in
Theology and Canon Law, rendered him eminently fitted.
In the Diocesan Synod he held the position which his status
and striking individuality naturally assured him, and until
very recent years, he took his full share in open debate and
in committee work. His upstanding figure, arrayed in the
scarlet robes of a Cambridge Doctor of Divinity, crowned
latterly with the silvery insignia of advancing years, made an
impression not easily forgotten. In the rough and tumble
of debate he was not at his best. Flippancy or stupidity on
the part of an opponent puzzled him ; he did not know what
to do with such things. Indeed, for a born conversationalist,
he was as a debater somewhat disappointing, though there
were occasions when he would with a lightning thnast pin
his adversary to the wall. It was when delivering the calm
and measured statement of a case carefully prepared, or when
explaining a diflScult point in Canon Law, or when bringing
Church history and tradition to bear upon the matter under
discussion, that he commanded the respectful and grateful
attention of Synod. He was then on his own ground, and
330 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
his wide knowledge of his subject was recognised as an asset
which was invaluable to the diocese of which he was so dis-
tinguished a member.
In the Provincial Synod his particular gifts as a Canonist
found still more ample scope. In a large body such as this,
composed of the Bishops of the whole Province, representa-
tive priests and laymen, there are always to be found men
ready to adopt ad hoc measures with little or no thought to
the relation of such measures to constitutional principles or
Canon Law. So long as such proposals seem likely to meet
the immediate need, or to promise a " practical and business-
like " solution of the matter in hand, they do not consider
the wisdom of testing them by reference to either general
principles or even to actual canons. In fact, there is in some
cases an open contempt for any such considerations and an
avowed desire for freedom to act independently of so-called
" ecclesiastical legalism ". With a revolt against a hide-
bound legalism it is easy to sympathise, but it should be
equally easy to recognise the dangers attending such a pro-
ceeding. To make laws and regulations for an entirely new
corporation, society or institution, is a comparatively simple
matter. But to make new laws and regulations, or to amend
or repeal old ones, in such an historic organisation as the
Church, with nineteen centuries of Tradition or Common
Law (mos) behind it, and with masses of Canon or Statute
Law (Lex) to its credit, requires wide and accurate know-
ledge and special powers of interpretation and correlation, if
chaos is to be avoided. Eough and ready methods will not
do, and however galling it may be to the impulsive legislator
who, Gallio-like, cares for none of these things, the restrain-
ing influence of "the man who knows" is an invaluable
element in a legislative assembly such as the Provincial
Synod.
This influence was provided in a conspicuous degree by
Archdeacon Wirgman. It is not, of course, suggested that
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 331
he was the only Canonist in the Provincial Synod, nor that
he stood alone in his desire to see the affairs of the Church
in South Africa conducted on sound constitutional lines and
in complete harmony with the Canon Law of Catholic Christ-
endom. Some of his doughtiest fights in the Provincial
Synod were with men who only differed from him as to the
interpretation and application of Canon Law, in reference to
the particular point at issue. In the main, however, the
position was this : the desire on the one part " to get things
done," and on the other to get them done " in conformity
with law and order". The Archdeacon was always anxious
to safeguard continuity of principle, and to obviate any
measure which might in any way or in the slightest degree
militate against or depart from those fundamental principles
of the Church, upon loyalty to which depends any hope we
may have of the ultimate re-union of Christendom.
He was therefore constantly engaged in a struggle between
the current which sweeps towards the Scylla of Mortmain
(the dead hand of the past), and that which swirls towards
the Charybdis of anarchy (Diocesan or Provincial individual-
ism) : and whether we agree with him or not on particular
counts, we cannot withhold our admiration and gratitude for
the wealth of learning and fearless enthusiasm with which
he fought for whatever he deemed to be essential to the con-
tinuity and integrity of the Church.
In the formation of a new diocese within the Province,
the Archdeacon took the keenest interest and gave un-
sparingly of his time and learning to those engaged in the
task of organisation. Whether it was a question of the broad
outlines of a diocesan constitution, or of the Statutes of its
Cathedral Chapter, or of its Eules of Synod, or of the details
of its armorial bearings — he would throw himself into it with
his accustomed vigour. In such cases as these he would ex-
hibit that extraordinary power of detachment and concentra-
tion which enabled him to turn aside from work of the most
332 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
absorbing interest, and devote himself at a moment's notice
to some other subject with an intensity of attention which
might imply that he had found the one thing in the world
that really mattered. The ease and rapidity with which he
would thus pass from the consideration of one subject to that
of another of an entirely different character bordered on the
uncanny. There was no pause for the adjustment of the
mental mechanism to the conditions of the new field of ob-
servation ; not a momentary lull for the acclimatising of the
mind to the new atmosphere ; the ** change over " seemed to
be as easy as it was instantaneous, as if performed by means
of some kind of psychic switch. It was undoubtedly this
power, aided by the extremely methodical way in which he
marshalled his energies, that enabled him to get through the
many and laborious tasks he set himself.
With Dr. Wirgman's literary work the present writer does
not intend to deal. A critical survey of the Archdeacon's
published works would, if thoroughly done, be out of all pro-
portion to the modest scope of this slight essay, which is in-
tended to be little more than an expanded note to the
Keminiscences. The full list of our author's published works
will be found at the end of the volume (p. 339). This, how-
ever, gives a very incomplete idea of his forty-five years' work
as a writer. There is probably a far greater out -put of
literary energy hidden away in the file-rooms of the press,
for, indeed, his pen was seldom idle. The subject matter
is almost entirely theological, ecclesiastical, historical or
liturgical. He was unquestionably a man of intellectual
power ; a wide and indefatigable reader, with an amazing
range of information and a retentive memory. His books
are store-houses filled with the fruits of hard study. He
knew where to lay his hand, at a moment's notice, on facts,
precedents, authorities, catenae and evidences bearing on
his subject, and he always presents his readers with a wealth
of technical material enough to satisfy the most exacting
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 333
seeker after truth. From his premises, and equipped from
this armoury, he develops his argument with skill and force-
fulness, leading his reader by avenues of great learning,
through an atmosphere of strong personal conviction, to tho
conclusion of the whole matter ; a conclusion, it should be
added, which is always stated with a clearness of definition,
a lucidity of expression and a dogmatic finality which leave
no manner of doubt as to its meaning ; surely a literary virtue
which may cover a multitude of sins, and one which some
other noted writers of to-day would do well to emulate. His
intrinsic contribution to learning has been gratefully ac-
knowledged by students of the subjects dealt with ; his frank
and fearless attitude in the field of controversy has been ap-
preciated by all who like to see a question thoroughly threshed
out ; and, on common ground, Archdeacon Wirgman was a
foeman worthy of any man's dialectic steel. It is, however,
merely true to say that his reasoning is not always convinc-
ing. Many readers must sometimes question the soundness
of his argument and demur to his conclusions. And it has to
be admitted that his work is sometimes marred by an un-
necessary tone of pugnacity and a harsh treatment of the
views and susceptibilities of other people. This heavy-
handed way of dealing with opponents, coupled with a use of
logic not always above criticism, is apt to create in the reader
an uneasy suspicion of prejudice and special pleading. This
statement does not imply the least question as to the Arch-
deacon's own sincerity. What he wrote, he believed ; and of
what he set out to convince his readers, he was himself con-
vinced. But with complete confidence in his own ability and
in the soundness of his own case he would allow himself to
be swept along by the surge of an impulsive and fighting
temperament, in such a way that the reader feels that some-
how he is being intellectually " rushed," and with a growing
sense of insecurity declines to follow. It is in such instances
that the Archdeacon does himself grave injustice, inasmuch
334 STORM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFRICA
as he impairs his reader's confidence in his judgment generally,
even in those far more frequent cases where his language is
judicially calm and measured.
Our author's attitude towards "modern thought" is not
easily defined. With regard to Biblical criticism he was in
some ways strangely conservative. In the triumphs of natural
science pure and simple he took the keenest interest. But
with any tendency to adjust traditional views of religion to
meet the demands of the expanding experience of the race he
seemed to find it very difficult to sympathise. He did not
object to free speculation on most subjects, and never shrank
from discussion on any. But for the " new dogmatics " of
certain present-day religionists he had no respect : in the
matter of dogmatics he preferred the old. Bred in the atmos-
phere of early and mid- Victorian theology, he found that of
modern criticism, speculation, and "reconstruction" trying
to his nerves, though as a scholar he did not resent freedom
of thought. For philosophy, as has already been noticed, he
did not greatly care ; it did not interest him ; " it did not lead
to anything" ; " it bored him ". So far as he was concerned
philosophy had said its last word in the Scholastic Theology
of his beloved Thomas Aquinas.
It is hoped that nothing which has been said so far has
created the impression that Archdeacon Wirgman was lacking
in breadth of vision. The Archdeacon viewed things largely.
It is necessary to emphasise this point, as it is one which
many of his critics have failed to observe or declined to
recognise. In politics, for instance, he combined an ardent
Imperialism with an equally ardent Nationalism, in the best
sense of that much maltreated term. While, on the one hand,
he was a staunch upholder of South African autonomy, and
would brook no " interference " from Downing Street in its
internal affairs, he was, on the other hand, a loyal champion
of the Empire and a real prophet of the Imperial spirit. The
question " Which comes first — South Africa or the Empire ? "
BIOGBAPHICAL SKETCH 835
was to his mind as absurd as it was mischievous. It suggests
a false antithesis, and is as dishonest as the dilemma pro-
pounded by the Pharisees of old — "God or CsBsar?" To
him the glory of the Empire consists in the welfare of the
Dominions ; and the welfare of the Dominions lies in the
solidarity of the Empire. His attitude with respect to the
Church was analogous. He stood for the internal freedom
of the Colonial Churches, and yet always strove for the loyal
adhesion and cohesion of all these within the broad embrace
of the Mother Church.^ Beyond this, he dreamed of, and in
his own way worked for, a return to the idea and practice of
the early Church, namely the unity of independent National
or Provincial Churches within the one Catholic fold ; a unity
resting on the " Four Pillats," viz. : the Scriptures, the Creeds,
the Sacraments and the Apostolic Ministry; with, as an
inevitable corollary, a premier Bishop as the visible living
symbol of a united Christendom. This was his vision, as it
is and will increasingly become that of many another ; and,
therefore, it was his aim to teach the Catholic faith of the
undivided Church, the faith of the Christendom of the days
before Protestantism and before Romanism. This was his
ideal, and, to the best of his judgment, for this ideal he worked.
He was convinced that in stormy days when much lumber
had to be thrown overboard, the English Church had jetti-
soned much also that was beautiful, edifying, and truly
Catholic. Above all, it had gone into bondage under Pro-
testantism and Erastianism, those hateful forces of Tudorism.
The interference of the State in the affairs of the Church
was as the hand of Uzzah laid on the Ark of the Lord. His
constant prayer was that the Church of England might be
freed from the evils of the Erastianism involved in her
existing relation to the State. His great joy was the freedom
attained by the Colonial Churches, a freedom won by the
1 See " The Blessed Virgin and all the Company of Heaven ".
336 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFEICA
heroic efforts of the pioneers of a former generation. Much
of what had in days past been lost, he, like many another,
strove to recover : more beautiful music, more truly ecclesias-
tical architecture and furniture, more symbolism and interpre-
tative art in public worship. He would in every way possible
invest the services of the Church with all that is best and
beautiful. He would adorn the rites of religion with solem-
nity, and enhance their significance to the worshipper by
means of symboHsm. In order to do justice to Archdeacon
Wirgman, and indeed to all others whose churchmanship is
of this type, it is necessary to understand his point of view.
His idea, his scheme of things, was always a large one, and
his insistence on detail, his emphasis on the lesser things,
was due, not to his taking them for essentials, but to the fact
that they were a part of the whole scheme. Because he
valued the whole, therefore he valued the parts of the whole.
Because he held a great ideal, therefore — as for instance, in
the case of public worship — he prized every detail which would
help to express its meaning, reveal its spirit and energise its
motive in the worshipper.
As a speaker Archdeacon Wirgman rose to his full height
when dealing with events of public importance, such as a
political crisis or a national calamity. His sermons on civic
life and responsibilities, on such occasions as Mayoral
Sunday, were always impressive and forceful; and Empire
Day celebrations found him the unfailing orator who year
after year addressed the younger generation around the
Queen's Statue, with a delightful vigour and simplicity excel-
lently suited to his hearers. But never were his utterances
more valuable to the public than during the dark days of
war. With a wonderful grasp of his subject, a keen fore-
sight, a fervid patriotism and an indomitable faith, he would
inspire the troubled spirits of a great audience. Stating the
position in his own apt phrases and masterly style, he com-
manded the closest attention, and left those who heard him
BIOGEAPHICAL SKETCH 887
filled with a grateful sense of enlightenment and renewed
strength.
An outstanding instance of his political and historic
instinct is worthy of record. Eighteen months before the
Armistice he mystified his congregation by the utterance —
" I fear Peace more than War ! " His prophetic sense
visualised that which his hearers failed to grasp. Subsequent
events — grim and logical in sequence — explain the preacher's
cryptic sentence.
In bringing this biographical Note to a close, the writer,
while only too well aware of his failure to do full justice to
his subject, sincerely trusts that at least he has done it no
grave injustice. His aim has been to attempt nothing more
than a mere sketch, showing the salient lines of a personality
at once arresting and many-sided. He has done so with a
freedom which, it is hoped, has not been exercised at the cost
of either truth or charity. The subject is one which should
be undertaken by a literary artist of proved ability. He
would find it a veritable mine of psychological interest.
For the present this slight sketch must serve, till some one
with a keener eye and firmer hand is moved to paint the
fuller portrait.
Take him for all in all. Archdeacon Wirgman was a man
who had no duplicate. He was himself. He knew no pose ;
he was too utterly sure of himself to imagine for a moment
that any pose could be an improvement on his natural out-
look. His particular niche will never be filled exactly as he
filled it. He went into battle with the light-heartedness of a
born fighter; but his kindliness was proverbial. He was
especially the friend of young men, many of whom he in-
fluenced and aided to seek and to receive Holy Orders. He
had the heart of a boy, even in those later years when time
had begun to weaken his sinews and stiffen the joints of his
armour. His work was incessant and it was his joy. His
achievements were considerable, and in so far as he made
338 STOEM AND SUNSHINE IN SOUTH AFKICA
mistakes, it was because his great abilities were too much
subjected to the emotional urge of a temperament which itself
needed control. Wherein he succeeded, he has left us a
great example of unflagging zeal, devotion to the duties of his
calling, strenuous energy, high courage and a humble faith.
His body lies in the resting place he would have chosen —
before the Altar he so greatly loved, beneath the aisle his
feet have so often trod, within the temple he laboured so
earnestly to raise for the worship of the Most High.
Grant him, Lord, eternal rest,
and may light per;petv/il shine upon him.
H. L. G. E.
Grave of the Archdeacon
PUBLICATIONS.
1. " The Prayer Book, with Historical Notes and Scripture
Proofs." 1873 ; 3rd Edition, 1883.
2. " Thoughts on Harmony between the Lord's Prayer and
the Beatitudes." 1877.
3. " Catechism on Confirmation." 1881.
4. " The English Keformation and Book of Common
Prayer." 1882.
5. *' The Seven Gifts of the Spirit." 1889.
6. "A Short History of the Church and Parish of S.
Mary." 1892.
7. " The Church and the €ivil Power." 1893.
8. " The Spirit of Liberty and other Sermons." 1893.
9. "The English Church and People in South Africa."
1895.
10. " Doctrine of Confirmation in relation to Holy
Baptism." 1897.
11. " The Constitutional Authority of Bishops." 1899.
12. " The Blessed Virgin and all the Company of Heaven."
1905.
13. '' The Life of Dean Green." 1909.
14. '' The History of Protestantism." 1911.
15. " A Catechism of Christian Science." 1917.
339
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Wirgman, A. Theodore
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Storm and sunshine in
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