Editing Joseph Chamberlain (section)

====Involvement in Jameson Raid: 1895–96====
{{Main|Jameson Raid}}
[[File:Joseph ('Joe') Chamberlain by John Singer Sargent.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain'', oil on canvas, 1896, [[John Singer Sargent]]. [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]]]

In November 1895, Prime Minister of the [[Cape Colony]] [[Cecil Rhodes]] assembled the private army of the [[British South Africa Company]] (of which he was also managing director) on land along the border with the [[South African Republic]]. Rhodes, who shared Chamberlain's desire to extend British dominion to all of South Africa, hoped to encourage the primarily British [[Uitlanders]] to revolt against the [[Afrikaner]] republic and overthrow its government. He placed the army under the command of [[Leander Starr Jameson]].

On [[Boxing Day]], Chamberlain informed Salisbury that a rebellion was expected, though he said he remained uncertain of its date. In fact, Chamberlain had requested his Assistant Under-Secretary to encourage Rhodes to "hurry up" (given the deteriorating [[Venezuelan crisis of 1895|Venezuelan situation]]). Upon learning of the [[Jameson Raid]]'s initiation on 31 December (two days after it began), Chamberlain remarked, "If this succeeds, it will ruin me. I'm going up to London to crush it".<ref name="jamesonraid">Andrew Roberts, ''Salisbury'', 1999, p. 636</ref> He ordered Governor [[Hercules Robinson]] to repudiate the raid and warned Rhodes that his implication in the raid would endanger the Company's charter. The raid ultimately failed, and the raiders, including Jameson, were arrested and tried in London.

During the trial, Rhodes' solicitor claimed that cablegrams between Rhodes and his agents in London, including Chamberlain's urge to "hurry up," demonstrated that the Colonial Office "influenced the actions of those in South Africa" who had participated in the raid. The solicitor further alleged that Chamberlain had transferred the land to the Company to facilitate the raid. In June 1896, Chamberlain showed Salisbury one or more of the cablegrams and offered his resignation. Salisbury refused, possibly reluctant to lose the government's most popular figure, and aggressively supported Chamberlain by endorsing his threat to withdraw the Company's charter if the cablegrams were revealed. Accordingly, Rhodes withheld them. As no evidence was produced, a [[Select committee (United Kingdom)|select committee]] absolved Chamberlain of responsibility.<ref name="jamesonraid" />

Chamberlain's involvement in the planning and ultimate failure of the raid remain controversial, as do his and Salisbury's subsequent efforts to obscure the extent of that involvement. In 2002, The [[Van Riebeeck Society]] published ''Secret History of the Jameson Raid and the South African Crisis, 1895–1902'', a contemporary insider account by Robinson's secretary, Sir [[Graham Bower]]. Bower suggests that the Colonial Office covered up Chamberlain's own involvement and knowledge of the raid.<ref>{{cite book|last=Bower|first=Graham |author-link=Graham John Bower|editor1-last=Schreuder|editor1-first= D |editor2-last=Butler|editor2-first= J|title=Sir Graham Bower's Secret History of the Jameson Raid and the South African Crisis, 1895-1902|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VFYFZKRBXz0C&pg=PR8|year=2002|publisher=The [[Van Riebeeck Society]]|isbn=978-0-9584112-9-5|location=Cape Town}}</ref> In a 2004 review for ''[[The Historian (journal)|The Historian]]'', Alan Cousins commented, "A number of major themes and concerns emerge, perhaps the most poignant being Bower's accounts of his being made a scapegoat in the aftermath of the raid: 'since a scapegoat was wanted, I was willing to serve my country in that capacity.'"{{citation needed|date=January 2015}}<ref name="Cousins2006">{{Cite journal | title = The Jameson Raid: Politicians, Plots and Scapegoats in South Africa | last = Cousins | first = Alan | journal = Historian | date =2006  | issue=90|pages=20–27 | url = https://www.proquest.com/openview/9ad3431077f81a3ab1c3fe39684467da/ }}</ref>

Cousins further writes:<ref name="Cousins2006"/>
{{Blockquote|[Bower] believed that, as he had given Rhodes his word not to divulge certain private conversations, he had to abide by that, while at the same time he was convinced that it would be very damaging to Britain if he said anything to the parliamentary committee to show the close involvement of Sir Hercules Robinson and Joseph Chamberlain in their disreputable encouragement of those plotting an uprising in Johannesburg. ... In his reflections, Bower has a particularly damning judgement on Chamberlain, whom he accuses of 'brazen lying' to Parliament, and of what amounted to forgery in the documents made public for the inquiry. In the report of the committee, Bower was found culpable of complicity, while no blame was attached to Joseph Chamberlain or Robinson. His name was never cleared during his lifetime, and Bower was never reinstated to what he believed should be his proper position in the colonial service: he was, in effect, demoted to the post of [[Chief secretary (British Empire)|Colonial Secretary]] in [[British Mauritius|Mauritius]].}}