The modernization of the Zuid Afrikaansche Republiek: F. E. T. Krause, J. C. Smuts, and the struggle for the Johannesburg Public Prosecutor's Office, 1898-1899

Law and History Review

Volumn 21, Issue 3, 2003, Pages 483-525

  Van Onselen, Charles ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

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EID: 33847001512     PISSN: 07382480     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/3595118     Document Type: Article

References (108)

1. See Shula Marks and Stanley Trapido, "Lord Milner and the South African State," History Workshop Journal 8 (1979): 50-80
2. See, for example, Saul Dubow, "Colonial Nationalism, the Milner Kindergarten, and the Rise of 'South Africanism,' 1902-10," History Workshop Journal 43 (1997): 53-85, and his "Imagining the 'New' South Africa in the Era of Reconstruction," paper presented to the Canadian Association of African Studies, Quebec, May-June 2001
3. C. T. Gordon, The Growth of Boer Opposition to Kruger, 1890-1895 (London: Oxford University Press, 1970), 21. But see also 278-79
4. H. J. and R. E. Simons, Class and Colour in South Africa, 1850-1950 (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1969), 61
5. For a summary of more recent turns in the historiography, see, for example, I. R. Smith, "The Origins of the South African War (1899-1902): A Reappraisal," South African Historical Journal 22 (1990): 24-60, and, more especially, 51-52. See also below, notes 79 and 80
6. Charles van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh: Everyday Life on the Witwatersrand, 1886-1914 (Johannesburg: Jonathan Ball, 2001), 1-48
7. Also see, Richard Mendelsohn, Sammy Marks: "The Uncrowned King of the Transvaal" (Cape Town: David Philip, 1991)
8. See Marks and Trapido, "Milner and the South African State," 50-80
9. and, from a very different perspective, D. W. Kruger, "The British Imperial Factor in South Africa from 1870 to 1910," in The History and Politics of Colonialism, 1870-1914, ed. L. H. Gann and Peter Duignan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), 325-51
10. The Jameson Raid, precursor to the South African War of 1899-1902, was a poorly organized attempt at a coup d' état undertaken by several hundred armed invaders in 1895-96, planned by the Cape premier, Cecil Rhodes, and leading figures in the Witwatersrand mining industry with real and imagined grievances against the Kruger government. See I. R. Smith, The Origins of the South Africa War, 1899-1902 (London: Longman, 1996), 70-104
11. See J. S. Marais, The Fall of Kruger's Republic (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1961), 23-45
12. The concession granted by Kruger for a horse-drawn tramway system in Johannesburg offers a fine example of the resulting paradoxes and misunderstandings. See van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 165-202
13. See G. J. Schutte, De Hollanders in Krugers Republiek, 1884-1899 (Pretoria: Communications of the University of South Africa, C 63, 1968), 40
14. E. L. P. Stals, ed., Afrikaners in die Goudstad, Deel 1, 1886-1924 (Cape Town: Hollandsch Afrikaansche Uitgevers Maatschappij, 1978), 95
15. and Mordechai Tamarkin, Cecil Rhodes and the Cape Afrikaners (London: Frank Cass, 1996), 126
16. (My thanks to Professors J. Bergh, A. Grundlingh, and H. Giliomee for drawing some of these sources to my attention.) Kruger, of course, also had well-documented, earlier, differences with the established Cape, Afrikaner, church - see T. R. H. Davenport, South Africa; A Modern History (Johannesburg: Macmillan, 1987), 89
17. See H. R. Hahlo and Ellison Kahn, The Union of South Africa: The Development of Its Laws and Constitution (London: Stevens & Sons, 1960), 234-37
18. and Hahlo and Kahn, The South African Legal System and Its Background (Cape Town: Juta, 1968), 131-33
19. In a much broader but still comparative context, it is interesting to note the influence that an education in Holland has had on the writing of Afrikaner history. See P. H. Kapp, "Kontinentale kontak en invloed op die Afrikaanse gesiedbeofening," Historia 45. 2 (2000): 411-37
20. On M. T. Steyn, see Johannes Meintjes, Die Vader van sy Volk; Die Lewe van President M. T. Steyn (Cape Town: Tafelberg Uitgewers, 1970), 1-24
21. or Monica Wilson and Leonard Thompson, eds., The Oxford History of South Africa, vol. 11, 1870-1966 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 318-19
22. On the concern about Dutch student morality at the time, see, for example, J. W. Meijer, "Dr. H. J. Coster, 1865-1899" (M. A. thesis, University of South Africa, Pretoria, 1983), 10
23. For the bare outlines of F. E. T. Krause's extended career, see entries in D. J. Potgieter et al., eds., Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa (Cape Town: Nasou Limited, 1972), 5: 457
24. and A. A. Roberts, A South African Legal Bibliography (Pretoria: Wallachs' P. & P. Co., 1942), 263
25. See also Ellison Kahn, Law, Life and Laughter: Legal Anecdotes and Portraits from Southern Africa (Cape Town: Juta, 1991), 119-25
26. F. E. T. Krause's private probing of Forster's morals was made public many years later and reported on by Mr. Justice V. G. Hiemstra in an essay aimed at a popular audience. It contains several ambiguities and misleading suggestions but nevertheless remains a valuable source - see "In die Skaduwee van die Dood," Die Huisgenoot, 14 Aug. 1959
27. See, for example, van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 123-25
28. See Standard & Diggers' News, 28 April 1898
29. and Potgieter et al., eds., Standard Encyclopedia, 5: 457
30. See J. Ploeger, Afrikana Aantekeninge en Nuus (June 1988), 211-15
31. and University of Pretoria Library, ZA 929. 2, C. Broeksma "Genealogische overzicht van het geslacht Broeksma" (unpublished typescript, dated 1 Jan. 1985)
32. Trewhella Cameron, Jan Smuts: An Illustrated Biography (Cape Town: Human & Rousseau, 1994), 12
33. See, for example, W. J. De Kock, ed., Suid Afrikaanse Biografiese Woordeboek (Cape Town: Nasionale Boekhandel, 1968), 1: 769-70
34. W. K. Hancock, Smuts, vol. 1, The Sanguine Years,1870-1919 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962), 41-42
35. There is a silence about Smuts's masculinity and his sexuality in the only other major study - Kenneth Ingham, Jan Christian Smuts: The Conscience of a South African (Johannesburg: Palgrave Press, 1986), although, on p. 17, there is a reference to his liking for "beautiful women. "
36. Ingham, Jan Christian Smuts, 34
37. For a view on the evolution of Smuts's masculinity, as distinct from his sexuality, see Shula Marks, O. B. E., "White Masculinity: Jan Smuts, Race and the South African War," Raleigh Lecture presented at the British Academy, London, March 2001
38. J. C. Smuts, Walt Whitman; A Study in the Evolution of Personality (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1973), 88
39. Hancock, Smuts: Sanguine Years, 48
40. On class and resistance in the Boer War, see H. Giliomee, "Republicanism, Colonial Patriotism and Imperialism, 1880-1910" (unpublished seminar paper, University of Stellenbosch, 2001), 33-34
41. See van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 16
42. See D. W. Kruger, ed., Suid Afrikaansche Biografiese Woordeboek (Cape Town: Tafelberg, 1977), 3: 162
43. See F. R. M. Cleaver, A Young South African: A Memoir of Ferrar Reginald Mostyn Cleaver, Advocate and Veldcornet (Johannesburg: W. E. Hortor, 1913) [Edited by "His Mother"], vii-xiv
44. See "Randlords and Rotgut" in van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 47-108
45. For the wider context of this movement, see Charles van Onselen, "Jewish Marginality in the Atlantic World: Organised Crime in the Era of the Great Migrations, 1880-1914," South African Historical Journal 43 (2000): 96-137
46. There is a brief and rather unsatisfactory account of gambling on the early Rand to be found in C. de Wet, "Die Aard en Omvang van Misdaad aan die Witwatersrand sedert die Ontdekking van Goud to 1896" (M. A. thesis. University of Pretoria, 1958), 70-72
47. See van Onselen, "Jewish Marginality," 96-137
48. See H. J. G. Kamffer, "Om een scherpe oog in 't zeil te houden; Die Geheime Diens in die Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek" (D. Phil., University of Potchefstroom, 1999), 218-29. (I am indebted to Professor J. W. N. Tempelhoff for drawing this important source to my attention.)
49. See C. J. Beyers, ed., Dictionary of South African Biography (Pretoria: Human Sciences Research Council, 1987), 5: 377-78
50. see also Cleaver, 4 Young South African, 19
51. See W. J. De Kock, Jacob de Villiers Roos, 1869-1940: Lewenskets van 'n Veelsydige Afrikaner (Cape Town: A. A. Balkema, 1958), 37
52. See van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 66
53. Ibid, and Cleaver, A Young South African, 27
54. van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 90 and 137
55. See "The Ontucht Law," Standard & Diggers' News, 24 Nov. 1898
56. and van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 136
57. See Cleaver, A Young South African, 20
58. See especially, "A Pimpsverein," Standard & Diggers' News, 7 Dec. 1898
59. Cleaver, A Young South African, 2-3
60. See S. G. Maritz, My Lewe en my Strewe (Johannesburg: S. G. Maritz, 1939), 7-8
61. See, for example, E. J. Bristow, Prostitution and Prejudice: The Jewish Fight against White Slavery; 1870-1939 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982)
62. and van Onselen, "Jewish Marginality in the Atlantic World," 102-9
63. See van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 141-42
64. SANA, Z. A. R. Collection, Johannesburg Archive, Kriminele Landdrost, Inkomende Stukke, 1899-1900, vol. 1720, J. Silver and S. Stein to the Honourable Mr. Dietzsch, Landdrost, Third Criminal Court, 2 Feb. 1899
65. See also van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 142-43
66. Note, for example, the extremely sharp tone in two telegrams from Smuts to Krause dated 11 and 12 January 1899 as reproduced in W. K. Hancock and Jean van der Poel, eds., Selections from the Smuts Papers (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1966), 1: 196
67. See Standard & Diggers' News, 31 Jan. 1899
68. On the background to the constitutional crisis of 1898, see M. Chanock, The Making of South African Legal Culture, 1902-1936: Fear, Favour and Prejudice (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 36-37
69. On Kotzé himself see De Kock, ed., Die Suid Afrikaanse Biografiese Woordeboek, 1: 458-61
70. The debt with the Corner House is noted in Geoffrey Wheatcroft, The Randlords (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1985), 161
71. Given the moral and political issues at stake, it is perhaps understandable that there is a remarkable silence about the Silver case in J. G. Kotzé, Biographical Memoirs and Reminiscences, 2 vols. (Cape Town: van Riebeeck Society, 1941)
72. As quoted in Cleaver, A Young South African, 4
73. See Charles van Onselen, The Small Matter of a Horse: The Life of "Nongoloza" Mathebula, 1867-1948 (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1984)
74. On Maritz's later career see, for example, De Kock, ed., Die SuidAfrikaanse Biografiese Woordeboek, 1: 535-38
75. See SANA, Collection A 296, National Council of Women of South Africa, "A short life sketch of Annette Krause" (no author, dated 6 Aug. 1957 - but probably by F. E. T. Krause). (I am indebted to Dr. Louise Vincent for drawing this and other items in this collection relating to the Krause family history to my attention.) Toward the end of his life, Krause seems to have changed his mind about the position that Reitz and Smuts took in the debate about the destruction of the mines. See, for example, the version that he offered V. G. Hiemstra in "Die Regter wat oor Politiek Tronk toe is," Die Huisgenoot, 7 Aug. 1959
76. On Judge Antonie Kock see Kahn, Law, Life, and Laughter, 111-15
77. See Potgieter et al., Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa, 6: 457
78. and V. G. Hiemstra, "In die Skaduwee van die Dood," Die Huisgenoot, 14 Aug. 1959
79. Ibid
80. As quoted in J. Ploeger, "Die Optrede van Cornells Broeksma (1863-1901)," Afrikana Aantekinginge en Nuus (June 1988), 215
81. C. Broeksma, "Genealogischche overzicht van het geslacht Broeksma," 69
82. See V. G. Hiemstra, "In die Skaduwee van die Dood," Die Huisgenoot, 14 Aug. 1959
83. It is worth noting how a portrait of Krause, R. B. Howes, "The Hon. Mr. Justice Krause," South African Law Journal 40 (1923), 385-88
84. and an entry in Potgieter et al., eds., Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa (1972), 5: 457, both choose to simply gloss over these difficulties and ignore the fact that Krause was imprisoned in London
85. But contrast this with the entry in Roberts, Legal Bibliography, 263
86. For Isaacs's version of the trial, see By His Son, Rufus Isaacs, First Marquess of Reading (London: Hutchinson, 1943), 80-86
87. Also Jerold Taitz, ed., The War Memoirs of Commandant Ludwig Krause, 1899-1900 (Cape Town: van Riebeeck Society, 1996), xx
88. For Krause's postwar views on prostitution, see Transvaal Legislative Assembly Debates 1908, 1423-25
89. On the Epstein case and its context, and for the context of Krause's political work in Vrededorp, see van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 156-57, and 311-67
90. and various indexed references to be found in E. L. P. Stals, Afrikaners in die Goudstad, vol. 1
91. V. G. Hiemstra, "'N Groot Afrikanerheld word Gevonnis," Die Huisgenoot, 21 Aug. 1959
92. also Potgieter et al., eds., Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa, 6: 457
93. See Kruger, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Biografiese Woordeboek, 3: 162-63
94. and Cleaver, A Young South African, 187-200
95. See, for example, Ingham, Jan Christian Smuts, 51
96. See Sunday Times, 23 June 1957; and SANA, Collection A 296, National Council of Women of South Africa, F. E. T. Krause to Mrs. W. Eybers, President, N. C. W. S. A., undated 1955
97. See van Onselen, New Babylon, New Nineveh, 156-58
98. See Simons and Simons, Class and Colour in South Africa, 90-91 and 301
99. Ibid. ; see also "The Hon. Mr. Justice Krause," 388
100. Also, Chanock, The Making of South African Legal Culture, 7-11
101. Simons and Simons, Class and Colour in South Africa, 301
102. "The Hon. Mr. Justice Krause," 388
103. William Beinart, Twentieth-Century South Africa (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1994), 62
104. In this context it is perhaps interesting to note how the older images of Kruger and his administration lingered on in the literature for some twenty years after they were first criticized by Gordon and the Simonses (see notes 3 and 4 above). See, for example, C. Saunders, consultant ed., and C. J. Bundy, historical advisor, Illustrated History of South Africa: The Real Story (Cape Town: Readers Digest Association, 1988), 238, where the views of a contemporary observer, the Californian engineer, W. Hall, are cited if not with approval, then at very least uncritically. Hall believed that Kruger was "corrupt," "venal" and "inefficient. " There was, argued Hall, "a general inability of the Boers to understand capitalism, industrialisation and progress. "
105. T. R. H. Davenport, South Africa; A Modern History, 95
106. See, for example, Stanley Trapido, "Percy FitzPatrick, British Afrikanders, Capitalist Interests and the Origins of the South African War," paper presented to the Southern African History and Politics Seminar, Oxford, June 2001
107. See Dubow, "Colonial Nationalism," 60-70
108. See, for example, I. R. Phimister, "Empire, Imperialism and the Partition of Africa," unpublished seminar paper, University of Sheffield, July 2001