Editing Second Boer War (section)

=== British case for war ===
[[File:Lee-Metford Mk II - AM.032034.jpg|thumb|A British [[Lee–Metford]] rifle used by British troops during the Second Boer War]]
The failure to gain improved rights for uitlanders (notably the goldfields dynamite tax) became a pretext for war and a justification for a big military build-up in Cape Colony. The case for war was developed and espoused as far away as the Australian colonies.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Connolly|first=C. N.|date=1978-04-01|title=Manufacturing 'spontaneity': The Australian offers of troops for the Boer War|journal=Historical Studies|volume=18|issue=70|pages=106–117|doi=10.1080/10314617808595579|issn=0018-2559}}</ref> Cape Colony Governor Sir [[Alfred Milner]]; Rhodes; Chamberlain; and [[Randlord|mining syndicate owners]] such as Beit, [[Barney Barnato]], and [[Lionel Phillips]], favoured annexation of the Boer republics. Confident that the Boers would be quickly defeated, they planned and organised a short war, citing the uitlanders' grievances as the motivation for the conflict. In contrast, the influence of the war party within the British government was limited. UK Prime Minister, [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury]], despised [[jingoism]] and jingoists.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishempire.me.uk/lordsalisbury.html|title=Lord Salisbury|last=Crowhurst|first=Peter|website=britishempire.me.uk|access-date=2020-04-08}}</ref> He was also uncertain of the abilities of the British Army. Despite both his moral and practical reservations, Salisbury led the United Kingdom to war in order to preserve the British Empire's prestige and feeling a sense of obligation to British South Africans.{{efn| Salisbury felt that the Transvaal, the Orange Free State, and Cape Boers aspired to a "Dutch South Africa". The achievement of such a state would damage British imperial prestige}} Salisbury also detested the Boers treatment of native Africans, referring to the [[London Convention (1884)|London Convention of 1884]], (following Britain's defeat in the first war), as an agreement "really in the interest of slavery".<ref name="Steele2000">{{Cite book|last=Steele |first=David |year=2000 |chapter=Salisbury and the Soldiers |editor-first=John |editor-last=Gooch |title=The Boer War: Direction, Experience and Image|location=London|publisher=Cass}}</ref>{{rp|7}}<ref name="Steele2000" />{{rp|6}} Salisbury was not alone in this concern. [[Roger Casement]], already well on the way to becoming an Irish Nationalist, was nevertheless happy to gather intelligence for the British against the Boers because of their cruelty to Africans.<ref>{{harvnb|Jeffery|2000|p=145}} cites {{harvnb|Inglis|1974|pp=53–55}}</ref>
[[File:England und der Krieg in Südafrika - Rata Langa 1899 (rotated).jpg|thumb|1899 German political cartoon: "War and Capitalism, or the transformation of human blood into gold"]]
The British government went against the advice of its generals (including Wolseley) and declined to send substantial reinforcements to South Africa before war broke out. Secretary of State for War Lansdowne did not believe the Boers were preparing for war and that if Britain were to send large numbers of troops to the region it would strike too aggressive a posture and possibly derail a negotiated settlement—or even encourage a Boer attack.{{sfn|Surridge|2000|p=24}}