This was another and one of the clearest examples of the ’something for nothing’ policy, for it will be observed that of all the things mentioned dynamite alone was the matter to be definitely settled—­and that to the satisfaction of Mr. Kruger.  Long years of experience had taught the Uitlanders to examine any proposals coming from the Government with the utmost care; and the representatives of the mining industry were soon of one mind in regarding these negotiations as nothing but a trap.

Of the five men who represented the Government, viz., the President, the State Secretary (Mr. Reitz), the State Attorney (Mr. Smuts), the Foreign Plenipotentiary (Dr. Leyds), and the ’disinterested intermediary,’ Mr. Lippert, it was easy enough to account for three.  The President had frequently pledged himself to maintain the monopoly, and always referred to it as the corner-stone of the independence.  Dr. Leyds had chosen to associate himself with the defence of the concessionaires upon all occasions, and had even gone so far, as evidence given at the Industrial Commission showed, as to misrepresent the facts in their defence.  The difficulty was how to explain the association of the State Attorney and State Secretary, in whose good intentions and integrity there was a general belief.  The solution was to be found in the illusory promises of reform under the heading of franchise and reorganization of the finances and other matters.  These proposals, it was believed by Mr. Kruger and his party, would secure the support of the two above-named officials, as well as entice the capitalists into the trap set for them.  But there were other points of advantage for Mr. Kruger.  The whole scheme was in accordance with the divide et impera policy.  The first impression, if the scheme were accepted, would be that the capitalists had secured something for themselves by bartering away the rights of the public; so there would have been a division in Johannesburg.  Another effect to be brought about by the proposed action regarding the Indians would have been to divide the Uitlanders from the Imperial Government, and the net result of it all would have been that neither the public nor the capitalists would have got anything but illusory promises and Mr. Kruger would have secured his dynamite; for had he been able to extract from the Industry an expression of approval or acquiescence, it would have given him his majority in the Volksraad in favour of the monopoly.

The following is the correspondence which passed:—­

  JOHANNESBURG, S.A.R.,
      27th March, 1899.

To the Honourable the State Secretary, Pretoria.

HONOURABLE SIR,

Before communicating to you and the representatives of the Government whom we met the expression of our opinion and that of our London friends on the proposals submitted to us by Mr. Lippert on behalf of the Government of the S.A.R., we deem it advisable to recite shortly how we have arrived at the present position.