Saturday Boer War Cartoon

J.M. Staniforth here again. This one appeared in June 1899 in Wales’ Evening Express. It’s another cartoon published during the few months leading up to the outbreak of the Boer War.

What we see is John Bull, seemingly with toothache having bitten hard on something too tough to bite through. He stands before what looks to be a lushly forested area, and bears a piece of paper in his right hand, which seems to refer to President Paul Kruger’s ultimately fruitless meetings with Alfred Milner, the British High Commissioner for Southern Africa and Governor of the Cape Colony. On the floor is a roll with the words Uitlanders Petition. The caption is A Hard Nut To Crack.

What I like about this is that it doesn’t seem to lay the blame at the feet of supposed Boer stubbornness, but admits that the whole situation is extremely difficult. If anything, it seems as if the cartoon is saying that Uitlanders’ petition is the problem. The cartoon seems a pretty good forecast of what the next couple of years would bring. Yes, eventually the Boers did have to surrender, the Transvaal and Orange Free State were annexed and eventually would be part of the Union of South Africa. But it was very difficult for the British Empire, with all the huge resources at its command, to accomplish and cost a staggering amount in terms of money and lives. A hard nut indeed.

Tuesday Boer War Cartoon

Another J.M. Staniforth cartoon from the build up to the Boer War. This is titled SLOW and SURE.

 

The cartoon shows a miner in the foreground who seems to be undergoing instruction from Paul Kruger who is chalking upon a blackboard. Between the two the ghostly figure of Joseph Chamberlain looms disapprovingly. On the blackboard, Kruger has been chalking up the conditions for the Uitlanders – people born outside the Transvaal, primarily gold miners – to be eligible to vote. The figure of 11 years has been crossed out to be replaced with 9. Below it the caption reads:-

PRESIDENT KRUGER (to British colonist) :”There, see what I am doing for you. Ain’t you very grateful. Who is your true friend now?”

The subtext, I should think is that Kruger is by no means being a friend to the Uitlanders, whose real friend was Joseph Chamberlain in the Colonial Office in London. It’s a bit misleading. I firmly believe that his actions show that Chamberlain wanted to annex the Boer Republics all along. Yes, it’s not clear how much he knew about the Jameson Raid, but many have speculated that it was all part of his strategy. The Uitlanders were a convenient cause to adopt as a pretext. The cartoon is misleading as well, because Kruger would have tried to find a way to accept a reduction to 7 years qualification period. But it was also about the oath of loyalty. In order to vote in an election, Uitlanders would also be expected to swear an oath of loyalty to the Transvaal and this proved to be a sticking point for many of them.