It was originally designed to compile a statement of theoccurrences of 1895-6 in the Transvaal and of the conditionswhich led up to them, in the hope of removing the very gravemisunderstandings which existed. Everybody else had been heard andjudged, the Uitlander had only been judged. It therefore seemedproper that somebody should attempt to present the case for theUitlander. The writer, as a South African by birth, as a residentin the Transvaal since 1884, and lastly as Secretary of the ReformCommittee, felt impelled to do this, but suffered under thedisability of President Kruger's three years' ban; and although itmight possibly have been urged that a plain statement of facts andexplanations of past actions could not be fairly regarded as adeliberate interference in politics, the facts themselves when setout appeared to constitute an indictment so strong as to make itworth while considering whether the Government of the Transvaal wouldnot regard it as sufficient excuse to put in force the sentence ofbanishment. The postponement of publication which was then decidedupon for a period of three years appeared to be tantamount to theabandonment of the original purpose, and the work was continued withthe intention of making it a private record to be printed at theexpiry of the term of silence, and to be privately circulated amongthose who were personally concerned or interested; a record whichmight perhaps be of service some day in filling in a page of SouthAfrican history.

The private circulation of that work during June of the presentyear led to suggestions from many quarters that it should besupplemented by a chapter or two dealing with later events andpublished; and the present volume is the outcome of thesesuggestions.

It is realized that much of what might properly appear in a privaterecord will be considered rather superfluous in a book designed forwider circulation. For instance, a good deal of space is given todetails of the trial and the prison life of the Reformers, which areof no interest whatever to the public, although they form a recordwhich the men themselves may like to preserve. These might have beenomitted but that the writer desired to make no alterations in theoriginal text except in the nature of literary revision.

The writer may be charged by the "peace" party with deliberatelyselecting a critical and anxious time as opportune to contribute anew factor to those already militating against a peaceful settlement.Two replies could be made to this: one an excuse and one an answer.It would be an excuse that the writer did not deliberately selectthe time of publication, but that the Transvaal Government in itswisdom chose to impose silence for three years, and that the projectwith which their action had interfered was resumed at the earliestpossible moment. The coincidence of another crisis with the date ofemancipation may be an unlucky coincidence, or it may be a result.But there is neither necessity nor intention to offer excuses. Theresponsibility is accepted and the answer is that a case so soundneeds only to be understood, that a recital of the facts must helpto dispel the mists of race prejudice and misunderstanding which areobscuring the judgment of many; and that a firm but stri

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