on all sides, agreed not to visit Johannesburg, but to receive
deputations from Johannesburg people at his hotel in Pretoria. The
High Commissioner's visit was successful. The Government agreed to
absolve British subjects from the operation of the Commando Law; but
the men who had been arrested and already sent under guard to the
front were allowed to proceed and receive their discharge at the
scene of war, and were compelled to find their own way back,
receiving no consideration or compensation for the treatment to which
they had been subjected. In this respect it is difficult to say that
Sir Henry Loch achieved all that might have been expected from him.
Possibly, to insist on more than he did would have left President
Kruger no alternative but to refuse at all risks. The Volksraad being
then in session, there may have been some diplomatic reasons for not
pressing matters too hard.

A trivial incident occurred which once more excited bad party
feeling. The High Commissioner was met at the railway-station by the
President in his carriage. The enthusiastic crowd of British subjects
shouldered aside the escorts provided by the Government, took the
horses from the carriage, and drew it down to the hotel. In the
course of the journey an individual mounted the box-seat of the
carriage with the Union Jack fastened on a bamboo, and in the
excitement of the moment allowed the folds of England's flag to
gather round the President. His Honour rose very excitedly and struck
at the flag with his walking-stick; but in blissful ignorance of what
was going on behind him the standard-bearer continued to flip his
Honour with the flag until the hotel was reached. There it was
understood that the President would leave the carriage with the High
Commissioner, and under this misapprehension those who had drawn
the carriage down left their posts and joined the cheering crowd
the carriage with neither horses nor men to move him, and there he
was obliged to wait until a number of burghers were called up,
who drew his Honour off to his own house. The affair was wholly
unpremeditated and almost unobserved at the time, but it was
unfortunately construed by the President as a deliberate insult,
and it increased, if possible, his dislike for the Uitlander.

The difficulty of dealing with a man of Mr. Kruger's nature and
training was further illustrated by another occurrence in these
negotiations. During a meeting between the President and the High
Commissioner in the presence of their respective staffs the former
became very excited and proceeded to speak his mind very openly to
his friends, referring freely to certain matters which it was
undesirable to mention in the presence of the British party. Mr.
Ewald Esselen, the late State Attorney, wrote in Dutch in a very
large round schoolboy hand, 'Be careful! There is an interpreter
present,' and handed the slip of paper to the President. The latter
stopped abruptly, looked at the slip of paper, first one way and then
another, and after a long pause threw it on the table saying, 'Ewald,
what does this mean? What do you _write_ things to me for? Why don't
you _speak_ so that one can understand?'

Early in 1895 efforts were made by the Dutch officials in
Johannesburg and a number of private individuals to induce the
President to visit the place again, when it was thought that a better
reception would be accorded him than that which he had experienced on
his visit in 1890. Mr. Kruger steadily refused for some time, but was
eventually persuaded to open in person the first agricultural show
held on the Witwatersrand. Every precaution was taken to insure him a
good welcome, or, at least, to avoid any of those signs which would
indicate that Johannesburg likes President Kruger no more than he
likes Johannesburg; and even those who were most conscious of the
President's malign influence did all in their power to make the visit
a success, believing themselves to be in duty bound to make any
effort, even at the sacrifice of personal sympathies and opinions, to
turn the current of feeling and to work for a peaceful settlement of
the difficulties which unfortunately seemed to be thickening all
round. The event passed off without a hitch. It would be too much to
say that great enthusiasm prevailed; but, at least, a respectful, and
at times even cordial, greeting was accorded to the President, and
his address in the agricultural show grounds was particularly well
received. The President returned to Pretoria that night and was asked
what he thought of the affair: 'Did he not consider it an _amende_
for what had happened five years before? And was he not convinced
from personal observation that the people of Johannesburg were loyal,
law-abiding, and respectful to the head of the Government under which
they lived?' Mr. Kruger's reply in the vernacular is unprintable; but
the polite equivalent is, 'Ugh! A pack of lick-spittles.' In spite of
a subsequent promulgation it seems clear that there is no 'forget and
forgive' in his Honour's attitude towards Johannesburg. The result of
this interview became known and naturally created a very bad
impression.

During his second term of office Mr. Kruger lost much of his personal
popularity and influence with the Boers, and incurred bitter
opposition on account of his policy of favouring members of his own
clique, of granting concessions, and of cultivating the Hollander
faction and allowing it to dominate the State.

Outside the Transvaal Mr. Kruger has the reputation of being free
from the taint of corruption from which so many of his colleagues
suffer. Yet within the Republic and among his own people one of the
gravest of the charges levelled against him is that by his example
and connivance he has made himself responsible for much of the
plundering that goes on. There are numbers of cases in which the
President's nearest relatives have been proved to be concerned in the
most flagrant jobs, only to be screened by his influence; such cases,
for instance, as that of the Vaal River Water Supply Concession, in
which Mr. Kruger's son-in-law 'hawked' about for the highest bid the
vote of the Executive Council on a matter which had not yet come
before it, and, moreover, sold and duly delivered the aforesaid vote.
There is the famous libel case in which Mr. Eugene Marais, the editor
of the Dutch paper _Land en Volk_, successfully sustained his
allegation that the President had defrauded the State by charging
heavy travelling expenses for a certain trip on which he was actually
the guest of the Cape Colonial Government.{12}

The party in opposition to President Kruger, with General Joubert at
its head, might, for purposes of nomenclature, be called the
Progressive Party. It was really led by Mr. Ewald Esselen, a
highly-educated South African, born in the Cape Colony of German
parentage, educated in Edinburgh, and practising as a barrister at
the Pretoria Bar. Mr. Esselen was a medical student at the time of
the Boer War of Independence, and having then as he still has
enthusiastic Boer sympathies, volunteered for medical service during
the war. He subsequently became attached to the President's staff,
and finally, on completing his legal education, was appointed Judge
of the High Court in the Transvaal. Relinquishing his seat on the
Bench after some years of honourable service he returned to the Bar,
and became an active factor in politics. Mr. Esselen, from being the
closest personal adherent of Mr. Kruger, became for a time his most
formidable opponent and his most dreaded critic. A campaign was
organized for the presidential election and feeling ran extremely
high. To such lengths, indeed, did the Boer partisans go that for
some months the possibility of a resort to arms for the settlement of
their differences was freely discussed by both parties. The election
took place in 1893, and at the same time elections of members for the
First Volksraad were in progress. Mr. Kruger made masterly use of his
position in office and of his authority over the officials appointed
during his _régime_, and for the time being he converted the Civil
Service of the country into an election organization. Not even the
enemies of the President will deny that he is both a practised
diplomat and a determined fighter. By his energy, intrigue, personal
influence, and intense determination, he not only compelled his party
to the highest effort, but to a large extent broke the spirit of the
opposition before the real struggle began. There are two stages in
the Presidential election at which a fight can under certain
circumstances be made. There were certainly two stages in this
election. The first is at the polls; the second is in the Volksraad,
when objections have to be lodged against candidates and a
commission of investigation appointed, and the steps necessary for
the installation of the new President have to be discussed. Mr.
Kruger and his party took ample precautions. It has been stated
openly and without contradiction, and is accepted in the Transvaal as
an unquestionable fact, that at least three properly elected members
of the Volksraad were 'jockeyed' out of their seats because they were
known to have leanings towards General Joubert. A number of his
supporters among the prominent officials of the Civil Service were
disfranchised by the action of President Kruger because they had
favoured his rival. In a country where the matters of Government
have been so loosely conducted it is no doubt fairly easy to find
flaws, and the President experienced no difficulty in establishing
sufficient case against General Joubert's supporters to satisfy the
persons appointed by him to investigate matters. On various pretexts
newly-elected members were debarred from taking their seats. In one
case, a strong supporter of General Joubert, who was returned by a
majority of something like six to one, was kept out of his seat
by the mere lodging of an objection by his opponent, the former
representative of the constituency; there being a provision in the
law that objections with regard to elections shall be heard by the
Volksraad, and that, pending the return of a new member, the member
last elected for the constituency shall continue to represent it.
That the objection lodged in this case was ridiculous in the extreme
had no bearing on the immediate result. The President, with admirable
gravity, said, 'The law provides that all objections must be heard by
the Volksraad, and that pending the decision the old member (a
strenuous supporter of his Honour) shall retain his seat; and before
all things we must support the law.' In the case of Mr. Esselen, who
was elected member for Potchefstroom, the most flagrant abuses were
proved to have been committed by the polling officer, the landdrost,
dead and absent men having (according to him) rolled up freely to
vote for the Krugerite candidate. Numbers of Mr. Esselen's supporters
were disqualified on various pretexts, and the voting being conducted
openly the moral suasion and close supervision of the official
(Krugerite) party were very effective. Mr. Esselen was declared to
have lost his seat by seven votes. Scrutinies were demanded and
objections lodged, but without avail. The tactics above indicated
were pursued in every case. The old Volksraad having been filled with
Mr. Kruger's creatures, it was, of course, his interest to support
the return of old members. He was thus enabled by the law above
quoted to retain an old member in the Volksraad pending the decision
in a case of dispute. Mr. Esselen's defeat was a crushing blow to the
Joubert party, as the want of a leader in the House itself completely
demoralized the General's followers. The election for President
proceeded, and General Joubert was, without any doubt whatever,
elected by a very considerable majority. The tactics already
described were again followed, and the result was announced as:
Kruger, 7,881; Joubert, 7,009. Objections were lodged by General
Joubert, but, deprived of the services of Mr. Esselen in the First
Raad, and overawed by the fierce determination of his opponent, the
General, finding himself in for a struggle, lost heart as usual and
collapsed.

The difference between the two men is remarkable. Mr. Kruger, to his
credit be it said, has not the remotest conception of the meaning of
fear, and would not know how to begin to give in. Mr. Joubert, 'Slim
(sly) Piet,' as he is called, possessing a considerable share of the
real Africander cunning, is yet no match for his rival in diplomacy,
and has none of his grit and courage. In later years this has been
proved a score of times, and it is, therefore, the more interesting
to recall that at the time of the annexation General Joubert refused
to compromise his principles by taking office under Shepstone, whilst
Mr. Kruger was not so staunch; and both before and during the war
General Joubert refused to accept less than what he considered to be
his rights, and steadily and frequently proclaimed his readiness to
fight whilst Mr. Kruger was diplomatizing.

The Commission appointed by the Raad to investigate matters was
constituted chiefly of Mr. Kruger's supporters, and the result was a
foregone conclusion. They confirmed the result of the election as
declared; and Mr. Kruger, with the grim humour which upon occasions
distinguishes him, seeing an opportunity for inexpensive magnanimity
which would gratify himself and be approved by everyone--except
the recipients--appointed the most prominent supporters of his rival
in the Volksraad to be the official deputation to welcome the new
President.

The President did not neglect those who had stood by him in his hour
of need. Mr. Kock, landdrost and polling-officer of Potchefstroom,
who had deserved well of his patron, if for nothing more than the
overthrow of Mr. Esselen, was appointed member of the Executive to
fill a position created purposely for him. The membership of the
Executive is expressly defined by the Grondwet; but his Honour is not
trammelled by such considerations. He created the position of Minute
Keeper to the Executive with a handsome salary and a right to vote,
and bestowed this upon his worthy henchman.

The Executive Council thus constituted consisted of six members; and
here again the President contrived to kill two birds with one stone,
the expression of his gratitude being by no means unprofitable. After
so bitter a struggle and the resort to such extreme measures as he
had been obliged to use, he anticipated no little opposition even
within the inner circle, and, in any case, he as usual deemed it wise
to provide against all contingencies. Dr. Leyds' vote he knew he
could count on, the interests of the party which the State Secretary
represents being such that they are obliged to work with Mr. Kruger.
The appointment, therefore, of Mr. Kock gave his Honour one half of
the Executive, and the casting-vote which pertains to his office
turned the scale in his favour. Whatever, therefore, might be his
troubles with the Volksraad when, by process of justice, reform, or
death his adherents should be gradually removed from that Chamber,
his position was, humanly speaking, assured in the Executive Council
for the term of his office.

The opposition to Mr. Kock's appointment was extremely strong,
culminating in the formulation of charges of theft against him by Mr.
Eugene Marais, the spirited editor of the leading Dutch paper, _Land
en Volk_. The charge alleged against Mr. Kock was that during his
term of office as landdrost at Potchefstroom he had appropriated the
telegraph-wires in order to fence his own farm. Feeling ran so high
ordinary courts was not permitted, but a Special Commissioner, one
not qualified by legal experience or official position to preside in
such a case, was selected. By a positively ludicrous exercise of
discretion in the matter of admission of evidence Mr. Kock was
cleared. Mr. Marais, nothing daunted, continued his exposures,
challenging that action should be taken against himself for libel,
and finally producing photographs taken by competent witnesses
showing the _corpus delicti in situ_. The President and Mr. Kock were
not to be drawn, however, and, secure in their newly-acquired
positions, they declined the offer of battle and rested on their
laurels.

For some time the Opposition, now called the Progressive Party, was
completely demoralized, and it was not until the following year that
individuals again endeavoured to give cohesion to the party. Appeals
were made by them to prominent individuals and firms associated with
the mining industry for financial support in the manner in which it
is contributed in England for electioneering purposes. A determined
and well-sustained effort was made to educate Boer opinion to better
things, and to bring such influence to bear on the electorate as
would result in the return of a better class of men to the Volksraad.
Newspapers conducted with this end in view were circulated throughout
the country, and when the elections for the Volksraad took place,
specially qualified agents were sent to ascertain the feeling of the
districts, and to work up an opposition to the existing methods of
Government. In every case endeavours were made to select a popular
resident within a district of more enlightened views and higher
character than his fellows. A good many thousand pounds were
contributed and expended for this purpose. Absolutely no stipulation
was made by the contributors to this fund, except that the aim should
be for honest and decent government. The funds were placed
unreservedly in the hands of well-known and highly respected men who
were themselves burghers of the State, and the Uitlanders laid
themselves out for one more effort to effect the reforms by peaceful
means and pressure from within the State. The elections came off and
were regarded as a triumph for the Progressive Party, which it was
alleged had secured some sixteen out of twenty-six seats in the First
Volksraad, and a similar majority in the Second. Hope revived and
confidence was restored among the Uitlanders, but old residents in
the country who knew the Boer character warned the alien community
not to expect too much, as it was a question yet to be decided how
many of those who were Progressives at the time of the election would
stand by their professions when brought face to face with the
President and his party in battle array.

The warning was too well warranted. The Volksraad so constituted was
the one which rejected with sullen incivility (to apply no harsher
term) the petition of 40,000 Uitlanders for some measure of franchise
reform. This Progressive Raad was also the one which passed the Bills
curtailing the liberty of the press, and prohibiting the holding of
public meetings and the organization of election committees, and
which distinguished itself by an attempt to wrest from the High Court
the decision of a matter still _sub judice_--the cyanide case.

In this case the mining industry had combined to test the validity of
certain patents.{13} In spite of attempts at reasonable compromise on
behalf of the mines, and these failing, in spite of every effort
made to expedite the hearing of the case, the question continued
to hang for some years, and in the meantime efforts were being
made during two successive sessions of the Volksraad to obtain
the passage of some measure which would practically secure to the
holders of the patents a monopoly for the use of cyanide, or an
indefeasible title to the patents, whether valid in law and properly
acquired or not. These attempts to evade the issue were in themselves
a disgrace to a civilized nation. Failing the obtaining of an
absolute monopoly, an endeavour was made to pass a law that all
patents held without dispute for a certain period should be
unassailable on any grounds. There was a thin attempt at disguising
the purpose of this measure, but so thin, that not even the
originators could keep up the pretence, and the struggle was
acknowledged to be one between the supporters of an independent
court of justice and honest government on the one side, and a party
of would-be concessionaires--one might say 'pirates'--on the
other. The judges made no secret of their intention to tender their
resignations should the measure pass; the President made no secret
of his desire that it should pass. His party voted as one man in
favour of it, and the coffee meetings on the Presidential stoep were
unanimously for it. The Raad was exactly divided on the measure,
and it was eventually lost by the casting-vote of the chairman. No
absolute harm was done, but the revelation of the shameful conditions
of affairs in a Raad of which so much good was expected did as
much as anything could do to destroy all hope. It was a painful
exhibition, and the sordid details which came to light, the
unblushing attempts to levy blackmail on those who were threatened
with pillage by would-be concessionaires, the shameless conduct of
Raad members fighting as hirelings to impose a fresh burden on their
own country, sickened the overburdened community.

The Bewaarplaatsen question also excited much discussion, but was not
a subject of such close interest to the Uitlander community as
others, for the reason that but few companies were directly
concerned. Bewaarplaatsen is a name given to areas granted for the
purpose of conservation of water, for depositing residues of crushed
ore, etc.--in fact, they are grants of the surface rights of certain
areas at a lower rate of license than that paid upon claim or mineral
areas. This variation in the licensed areas was a wholly unnecessary
complication of the gold law, the difference in cost being
inconsiderable, and the difference in title affording untold
possibilities of lawsuits. In some cases companies had taken out
originally the more expensive claim-licenses for ground the surface
only of which it was intended to use. They had been compelled, by
order of the Government, to convert these claims at a later period
into bewaarplaatsen. They were almost invariably situated on the
south side of the Witwatersrand Main Reef, for the reason that, as
the ground sloped to the south, the water was found there, the mills
would naturally be erected there, and the inclination of the ground
offered tempting facilities for the disposal of residues. After some
years of development on the Main Reef it became clear that the
banket beds, which were known to dip towards the south, became
gradually flatter at the lower levels, and, consequently, it was
clear that bodies of reef would be accessible vertically from
areas south of the reef which had formerly been regarded as quite
worthless as gold-bearing claims. The companies which owned these
bewaarplaatsen now contended that they should be allowed to convert
them into claims, as, by their enterprise, they had exploited
the upper levels and revealed the conditions which made the
bewaarplaatsen valuable. The companies had endeavoured to convert
these bewaarplaatsen into claims when they first discovered that
there was a possibility of their becoming valuable, and that at a
time when the areas themselves were of extremely little market
value to any except the holders of the surface rights. They were
unsuccessful in this through some lack of provision in the law,
and year after year the subject was fought out and postponed, the
disputed ground all the time becoming more and more valuable, and
consequently a greater prize for the concessionaire and pirate, and
a greater incentive to bribery on all hands, until it came to be
regarded by the worthy members of the Volksraad as something very
like a special dispensation of Providence, intended to provide
annuities for Volksraad members at the expense of the unfortunate
owners. After a particularly fierce struggle, the Volksraad went so
far as to decide that those companies which had been obliged to
convert their original claim-holdings into bewaarplaatsen should
be allowed to re-convert them to claims and to retain them. Even
this was only gained after the Minister of Mines had, on his own
responsibility, issued the claim licenses, and so forced the
Volksraad to face the issue of confirming or reversing his action!

In this matter the President again fought tooth and nail against the
industry, and most strenuous efforts were made by him and his party
to obtain a reversal of the decision, but without effect. This,
however, only disposed of a small portion of the ground at stake.
With regard to those areas which had never been held as claims, the
issue lay between two parties known respectively as the companies,
who were the surface-owners, and the applicants. The applicants,
according to the polite fiction, were those who, having no claim
superior to that of any other individual member of the public, had
happened to have priority in order of application. As a matter of
fact, they were Government officials, political supporters and
relatives of the President, financed and guided by two or three of
the professional concession-hunters and hangers-on of Mr. Kruger's
Government. Notwithstanding the existence of a law specifically
prohibiting Government servants from concerning themselves in other
business and speculations, the parties to this arrangement entered
into notarial contracts determining the apportionment of the plunder,
and undertaking to use their influence in every way with the
President and his party and with members of the Volksraad to secure
the granting of the rights in dispute to themselves. With them was
associated the originator and holder of another infamous monopoly,
and it was stated by him in the Chamber of Mines, that should they
fail to obtain these rights for themselves they were prepared to
co-operate with another party and force the Government to put them up
for public auction, so that at any rate the mines should not have
them. The object of this threat was to compel the mining companies to
come to terms with him and compromise matters.

One of the notarial contracts referred to has been made public, and
it contains the names of Mr. 'Koos' Smit, the Government Railway
Commissioner, and one of the highest officials in the State;
Landdrost Schutte, Chief Magistrate of Pretoria, and Mr. Hendrik
Schoeman, one of the most prominent commandants in the Transvaal and
a near relation of the President. Needless to say, all are members of
the Kruger family party, and were most prominent supporters of his
Honour at the time of the 1893 election. They claim that they were
definitely promised a concession for the bewaarplaatsen as a reward
for their services in this election. The precedent quoted on
behalf of the companies in support of their claim is that of the
brickmaker's license under the Gold Law. Brickmakers have privileges
under their license similar to those granted with bewaarplaatsen, but
in their case it is provided that should gold be discovered or be
believed to exist in the areas granted under their licenses, the
holder of the license shall have the right to convert his area into
Law. The companies urged that this reveals the intention of the law,
and that such a condition was omitted in connection with
bewaarplaatsen simply and solely through oversight, and because at
that time it never occurred to anyone to suppose that the
gold-bearing deposits would shelve off and be accessible at such
great distances from the outcrop as where the bewaarplaatsen are
located. The companies moreover pointed out that these areas were in
every case located in the middle of property held under mining
licenses, that they themselves owned the surface of the property and
therefore no one else could work on them, that the areas were in
themselves too small and too irregular in shape to be worked
independently of the surrounding ground, and that the granting of
them to others could not be justified by any right on the part of
applicants, and would merely be placing in their hands the means of
imposing on the owners of the surfaces and the adjacent claims an
excessive purchase price or the alternative of being blocked in the
development of their own ground. After the Second Raad had decided in
principle in favour of the surface-holders, action was taken by the
First Raad, and a change of front was effected by a measure
alteration, which hung the question up for another year. Everyone
realized that this was secured by the influence of the President in
the first place and by the pliability of Raad members in the second,
on the ground that the matter was too profitable to them personally
to be disposed of until it became absolutely compulsory.{14}

One of the first concessions granted by the Boer Government after the
restoration of the country to them was the liquor monopoly. Under
this grant a factory established within a few miles of Pretoria has
the sole right to distil spirits. Time and very considerable
experience are in all countries necessary for the manufacture of good
liquor, and the natural conditions are not more favourable to the
industry in the Transvaal than elsewhere, consequently the product is
not regarded with great favour. The enterprise, however, is a very
prosperous one, being dependent almost entirely upon the sale of
liquor to natives. For a number of years representations were made by
the Chamber of Mines on behalf of the industry, by individuals and by
public petitions, with the object of controlling the liquor trade and
properly enforcing the laws which already existed. The following
terse summary of the evils resulting from this sale of liquor is
taken from the report of the Chamber of Mines for 1895. Unfortunately
the remarks apply equally well to-day:

There is, indeed, no doubt that one of the greatest difficulties with
which local employers have to deal is the question of the liquor
trade. In very many cases the liquor supplied to the natives is of
the vilest quality, quickly inflaming those who take it to madness,
and causing the faction fights which sometimes have fatal results,
and always lead to the, at any rate, temporary disablement of some of
the combatants, and the damaging of property. Accidents, too, are
often attributable to the effects of drink, and altogether, as stated
in the resolutions, a large percentage of the deaths among the
natives here is directly due to drink. In its bearing on the labour
question, drink also plays an important part. The shortness in the
supply, as compared with the demand for labour, has been accentuated
by it. Where possible more natives are kept in the compounds than are
actually required for the work to be done, to make allowance for
those who are disabled by drink.

The granting of licenses to liquor houses was carried to such an
extreme that at last the entire community rose against it, and the
expression of opinion was so strong that the Government was compelled
to make a show of deferring to it. Involved in the liquor question
was the matter of police, and arising out of this, again, was the
question of dealing with crime in general, including the gold and
amalgam stealing that was known to be carried on on a considerable
scale at the expense of the companies.

The Attorney-General, or State Attorney, as he is called in the
Transvaal, is the responsible head of the Law Department, and until
lately was the departmental head of the police. The gentleman then
occupying the position of State Attorney was peculiarly unfit--in the
midst of that world of unfitness--for the duties which he was
supposed to perform. He was removed from office, and after
considerable negotiation Mr. Esselen was prevailed upon at a great
monetary sacrifice to accept the position of State Attorney, he
stipulating that he should have a free hand in reorganizing the
detective and police forces. During the months in which Mr. Esselen
continued in office admirable reforms were introduced, and a very
appreciable influence was exercised on the condition of affairs in
Johannesburg. It is inadvisable to state explicitly the nature of the
objections which existed against some of the officials employed under
the former _régime_; it is sufficient that they were proved to be
participators in the offences which they were specially employed to
suppress. Mr. Esselen's first step was to appoint as chief detective
an officer borrowed from the Cape Colonial Government, Mr. Andrew
Trimble, who in a very little while showed that courage and honesty
of purpose could not only effect considerable reforms, but could
provoke the undisguised and fierce hostility of a very large section
of the community. The canteen keepers were up in arms; the illicit
gold buyers left no stone unturned; the hangers-on of the Government
lost no opportunity in their campaign against Mr. Esselen and his
subordinate and their reforms. The liveliest satisfaction however was
expressed by all those whose interest it was to have matters
conducted decently and honestly, and who had no interest in crime
except so far as its suppression was concerned. Representation was
secured for the Chamber of Mines upon one of the licensing bodies,
and here, too, a very appreciable result followed. During Mr.
Esselen's term of office all went well as far as the public were
concerned, but influences were soon at work to undermine the two
reforming officials. It was represented to the President that Mr.
Trimble had once been in the British army; that he was even then a
subject of the Queen, and entitled to a pension from the Cape
Government. The canteen interest on the goldfields, playing upon the
prejudices of the Boers, represented that this was unfitting the
dignity of the Republic. The President, who was too shrewd to be
caught with such chaff, was perfectly ready to support them for the
sake of the liquor interest, which for him constitutes a very useful
electioneering and political agency throughout the country. Mr.
Esselen was sent for, and it was represented to him by the President
that the employment of a British subject in such a responsible office
as that of chief detective was repugnant to the burghers. The reply
was that it was competent for the Executive to naturalize Mr. Trimble
at once and so remove the objection, the Government having power in
special cases to dispense with the conditions of the Naturalization
Law--a power frequently exercised in the case of their Hollander
friends. The President, in reply, stated that it could not be done,
and he appealed to Mr. Esselen to select a man of another
nationality--'a Frenchman, German, or even an American'--this last
being a concession wrung from him by Mr. Esselen's soothing
suggestion that the Chief of Police should be familiar with the
language of the criminal classes. The hitch was maintained for some
months, but finally the influences on the side of the President
became too strong, and when it became clear that the many months
of laborious work and self-sacrifice which had been given in the
interests of reform were to be nullified by the appointment of a
creature who would connive at every breach of the law, Mr. Esselen
decided to stand or fall by his subordinate, the result being a
triumph for the President.

In Mr. Esselen's place there was appointed as State Attorney Dr.
Coster, a Hollander, who however declined to have anything to do with
the organization of the police; and in Mr. Trimble's stead reappeared
the individual whom he had superseded and whose services had been
dispensed with.{15} The triumph of the back-door influences was again
complete and the blow was a very nasty one to the mining industry.

Small wonder that at about this time the Uitlander community stopped
all agitation, and that a mood of sullen opposition and discontent
took its place. Hope was absolutely dead as abuse after abuse and
scandal after scandal were showered upon them during the Session of
1895. Some of the acts of the Volksraad cut at the foundation of all
security. In the early days of the Republic the Volksraad members had
taken it upon themselves to reverse several of the decisions of the
High Court, and in one case where the Government was being sued for
the fulfilment of a contract the Volksraad had passed a resolution
absolving the Government from certain terms of the contract. The
decision of the Court, delivered by Chief Justice Kotzé, was to the
effect that if the Volksraad should take a decision in conflict with
an existing law, that law became _ipso facto_ so far modified. In
another case (the Dom's case) a resolution was passed disabling the
aggrieved individual from taking action against the Government; in
another, where the responsibility of the Government for the
maintenance of roads had been indicated by a judgment for £1,000
damages, a law was passed in defiance of the conditions of the
Grondwet, which stipulates for a period of notice and publication for
proposed enactments, absolving the Government from all damages of
this nature.

More than once laws were passed with retroactive effect--truly one of
the grossest abuses possible for a civilized Government. But perhaps
the most startling case of all was that concerning the proclamation
of the farm Witfontein. This farm had been proclaimed a public
digging open for pegging on a certain hour of a certain day. An
unprecedented rush of peggers took place. The Government, fearing a
riot and ignoring their obvious duty in the matter of police
protection and the maintenance of order, issued an illegal notice
withdrawing the proclamation, and decided to give out the claims by
means of lottery. Numbers of prospectors pegged out claims
notwithstanding this, and the prospect of legal difficulties being
imminent the Government submitted a measure to the Volksraad, passed
also in defiance of Grondwet provisions, which was broadly to the
effect that all persons who considered that they had claims for
damages against the Government in regard to the farm Witfontein and
the proclamation thereof, had none, and that the Government was
absolved from all liability in this respect. This enactment was only
passed after several persons had signified their intention to sue the
Government. The Raad was in fact becoming familiar with the process
of tampering with the Grondwet and members appeared ready to act on
the dictates of their own sweet will without regard to consequences
or laws.

On several occasions the President and Executive had treated with
contempt the decisions of the High Court, and had practically and
publicly reversed them. There are many instances which it is not
necessary to quote but among the best-known and most instructive ones
are the two cases known as the 'Rachmann' and 'April' cases. Rachmann
was an Indian and a British subject, well educated, far better
educated indeed than the Boer of the country. In following a strayed
horse he had trespassed on the farm of one of the members of the
First Raad. He was arrested and charged with intent to steal, tried
by the owner's brother, who was a Field-cornet (district justice),
and sentenced to receive twenty-five lashes and to pay a fine, the
same sentence being meted out to his Hottentot servant who
accompanied him. Rachmann protested and noted an appeal, stating
(which was the fact) that it was not within the power of a
Field-cornet to inflict lashes, and at the same time he offered
security to the value of £40 pending the appeal. His protests were
disregarded and he was flogged. Not being a native in the sense in
which the law uses the term--_i.e._, a member of the aboriginal
races--he could plead that he was not within the jurisdiction of a
Field-cornet, and there is no doubt that the punishment was inflicted
with full knowledge of its illegality. Rachmann sued Mr. George
Meyer, the Field-cornet in question, in the Circuit Court and
obtained judgment and a considerable sum in damages, the presiding
judge, Dr. Jorissen, animadverting with severity upon the conduct of
the official. Meyer shortly afterwards obtained from Government the
amount of his pecuniary loss through the affair, the President
stating that he had acted in his official capacity and that they
should protect him.

The 'April' case was one in which an unfortunate native named April,
having worked for a number of years for a farmer on promise of
certain payment in cattle and having completed his term, applied for
payment and a permit to travel through the district. On some trivial
pretext this was refused him, his cattle were seized, and himself and
his wives and children forcibly retained in the service of the Boer.
He appealed to the nearest official, Field-cornet Prinsloo, who acted
in a particularly barbarous and unjustifiable manner, so that the
Chief Justice before whom the case was heard (when April having
enlisted the sympathy of some white people was enabled to make an
appeal) characterized Prinsloo's conduct as brutal in the extreme and
a flagrant abuse of power perpetrated with the aim of establishing
slavery. Judgment was given against Prinsloo with all costs. Within a
few days of this decision being arrived at the President addressing a
meeting of burghers publicly announced that the Government had
reimbursed Prinsloo, adding, 'Notwithstanding the judgment of the
High Court, we consider Prinsloo to have been right.'

Actions of this kind have a distinct and very evil influence upon the
supply of native labour. No attempt is made to supply the industry
with natives, or to protect the natives whilst on their way to and
from the mines. The position became so bad that the Chamber of Mines
instituted a department with a highly-paid official at its head to
organize supply. It would inadequately describe the position to say
that the Government have rendered the Chamber of Mines no assistance.
Indeed, it appears as though the officials in the country had of set
purpose hindered in every way possible the work so necessary to
the working of the industry on profitable lines. Agencies were
established in all the neighbouring territories. Some of the tribes
declined to work in the Transvaal on account of the risks of
highway-robbery and personal violence which they ran _en route_.
In one case an effort was made by certain mine-owners to meet the
difficulty by importing a whole tribe--men, women, and children--from
Basutoland and locating them upon an adjacent farm. There is however
a law known as the Plakkerswet, or Squatters' Law, which, framed
with that peculiar cunning for which the Transvaal Government
have achieved a reputation, has the appearance of aiming at the
improvement of the native labour supply whilst in effect it does the
opposite. It provides that not more than five families may reside
upon one farm, the 'family' being an adult male with or without women
and children. Ostensibly the law purports to prevent the squatting
together of natives in large numbers and in idleness. As a matter of
fact however the law is not applied in the cases of Boer farmers.
From the President downwards the Boers own farms on which hundreds
of families are allowed to remain, paying their hut-taxes and
contributing largely to the prosperity of the land-owner. In the case
of the Uitlander however there seems to be a principle at stake, as
the mine-owners above referred to found to their cost. No sooner had
they located their tribe and provided them with all the conditions
necessary to comfort than an official came down to them, Plakkerswet
in hand, and removed all except the five allowed by law and
distributed them among his friends and relations. The experiment has
not been repeated.

Early in 1894 the Chamber of Mines received assurances from the
Government that if they would prepare a Pass Law which would include
provisions for the protection of natives, for the regulation of
their relations with employers, and for their right to travel within
the country, the Government would give their support to the measure
and would endeavour to have it adopted by the Volksraad. The
Commissioner for Native Affairs, General Joubert, admitted his
inability to deal with so complex an affair, and gratefully accepted
the aid of the Chamber. Such a concession on the part of the
Government was regarded as highly satisfactory; the law was prepared,
everything was explained and agreed to, the support of the Government
was promised to the draft law, and it was anticipated that it would
come into force during the Session of 1894. Such was not the case. It
remained pigeon-holed throughout 1894 and 1895, and in the last days
of the latter Session the law was passed; but an important omission
occurred. The Government forgot to create the department to carry out
the law, so that by the end of 1895 the men were no nearer having a
workable law than ever. But reforms when introduced by the Transvaal
Government, are not usually without an object, although not
necessarily the declared one. An opportunity was here presented to
the President to recognize past services, and he appointed to an
office which required the highest intelligence experience character
and zeal an individual who had been implicated in two disgraceful
charges and who, having failed to clear himself had been dismissed
his office by the Boer Government not two years previously. There was
but one explanation forthcoming. The individual in question was a
political supporter of the President and brother of a member of the
Executive Council. No department has yet been created; but a chief
has been appointed at a good salary, and the Pass Law has been
proclaimed in one district of the Witwatersrand out of several; so
that a measure which was designed to effect an immense saving in
expense and convenience to the mining industry was by the appointment
of an improper man and the neglect to organize a department rendered
quite useless, and by partial promulgation it was made even
detrimental.{16}

It has been aptly said of the Boers--and the present instance
illustrates the truth of the remark--that reform with them seems to
be impossible; because, in the first place, they do not know what to
do; in the second place, if they did, they have not got the men to do
it; and, in the third place, if they had the men, they show no
conception of a duty higher than that of utilizing every opportunity
for personal advantage.{17} To the uninitiated it may well be a
puzzle that President Kruger should encourage a system aiming so
directly at the strangling of an industry which is the mainstay of
the country; but in order to appreciate his motives it is necessary
to see things from his point of view. He and his party are not
desirous of cheapening the cost of production. He does not aim at
enabling the ever-increasing alien population to work lower-grade
mines, and so double or treble the number of immigrants, even though
it should profit the revenue of the country. A proposal was once made
to proclaim as a public field the town lands of Pretoria--that is to
say, to enable the public to prospect, and if results warranted,
to open up mines on the lands--some thousands of acres in
extent--surrounding the town. The President attended the debate in
the Second Raad and violently opposed the measure. The appeal at the
end of his address is perhaps as instructive as anything Mr. Kruger
has said. 'Stop and think what you are doing,' he exclaimed, 'before
you throw fresh fields open. Look at Johannesburg. See what a trouble
and expense it is to us. We have enough gold and enough gold-seekers
in the country already. For all you know there may be another
Witwatersrand at your very feet.'

In January, 1891, the average wage for native labourers was £2 2s.
per head per month. In 1893 it had risen to £2 18s. 10d., in 1895 to
£3 3s. 6d. In other South African States wages rule from 15s. to 30s.
per month, and the failure to facilitate the introduction of natives
from outside and to protect them is largely responsible for the high
figures paid on the Rand. Unquestionably the ill-will of the Boer
Government is to blame for the consistent neglect of this growing
need of the mines. If decent protection and facilities were given,
the wage could be reduced to £1 15s. per month. The Government has it
in its power to give the mines labour at this price, but, as a matter
of fact, there is no desire to see the lower-grade mines working. A
reduction of £1 a month--that is, to £2 3s. 6d.--would mean an