many; the rise of popular chauvinism in Britain-all
these factors coin-
cided with the realization that the Witwatersrand
discoveries were the
greatest known source of gold in the world. After the Conservatives re-
placed the Liberals in a general election in June 1895, the problem of the
Transvaal republic rose to the top of the political agenda. Lord Salisbury,
the aging prime minister, appointed
a Birmingham industrialist, Joseph
Chamberlain, as secretary of state for the colonies and·gave him a great deal
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