Autograph Letter Signed ('W. P. Schreiner') from William Philip Schreiner, Prime Minister of the Cape Colony during the Second Boer War, to 'My dear J. S. C.' [J. S. Cox], suggesting a meeting while in London for the enquiry into the Jameson Raid.

Author: 
William Philip Schreiner (1857-1919), Prime Minister of the Cape Colony [South Africa] during the Second Boer War; J. C. Cox; Jameson Raid]
Publication details: 
On letterhead of Morley's Hotel, Trafalgar Square, London, WC. 24 March 1897.
£180.00
SKU: 13011

1p., 12mo. In good condition, with slight spotting to extremities, laid down on leaf removed from autograph album. 'I am sorry that we have missed each other on the occasions you have called. My time is much occupied & it is difficult to fix an hour before 6 P.M. on Sunday, when, if you can manage to call once more, I shall be delighted to see you & revive our mutual recollections of old days.' According to Schreiner's entry in the Oxford DNB, 'During the closure of the Vaal River drifts in 1895 he helped to commit the Cape to possible war by drafting the ultimatum to the Transvaal republic; but he was appalled by the Jameson raid later that year and soon afterwards broke finally with Rhodes. Although he opposed ending the British South Africa Company's charter, he chaired the Cape select committee which condemned Rhodes's conduct. In 1897 he gave evidence at the raid inquiry in London.'