It would, indeed, have been wiser on the part of Mr.Hofmeyr and other Bond leaders to have forgotten the past and given a friendly hand to the one man capable of unravelling the tangled skein of affairs.
At that period, whilst the siege of Kimberley was in progress, it is certain that serious consideration was given to this question of common action on the part of Rhodes and of the two men who practically held the destinies of the Transvaal in their hands--de Wet and General Botha, with Mr.Hofmeyr as representative of the Afrikander Bond at their back.

Why it failed would for ever remain a mystery if one did not remember that everywhere in South Africa lurked hidden motives of self-interest which interfered with the best intentions.

The fruits of the seed of distrust sown by the Raid were not easy to eradicate.
Perhaps if Mr.Rhodes had stood alone the attempt might have met with more success than was actually the case.

But it was felt by all the leading men in the Transvaal that a peace concluded under his auspices would result in the subjection of the Boers to the foreign and German-Jew millionaires.
This was the one thing they feared.
The Boers attributed to the millionaires of the Rand all the misfortunes which had fallen upon them, and consequently the magnates were bitterly hated by the Boers.

And not without reason.