In 1893 a petition signed by upwards of 13,000 aliens in favour of granting the extension of the franchise was received by the Raad with great laughter.  But notwithstanding this discouragement, during the following year a monster petition was got up by the National Union.  It was signed by 35,483 Uitlanders—­men of an age and of sufficient education to qualify them for a vote in any country.  The discussion which took place on this petition was so important, and the decision so pregnant with results, that copious notes of the Volksraad debate are published in this volume (Appendix).  The only response made to this appeal was a firmer riveting of the bonds.  It is but just to say that the President encountered determined opposition in his attempt to force his measure through the Raad.  The progressive section (progressive being a purely relative term which the peculiar circumstances of the country alone can justify) made a stand, state that two or three of the intelligent and liberal-minded farmers belonging to this progressive party, men who were earnestly desirous of doing justice to all and furthering the interests of the State, declared at the close of the debate that this meant the loss of independence.  ‘Now,’ said one old Boer, ’our country is gone.  Nothing can settle this but righting, and there is only one end to the fight.  Kruger and his Hollanders have taken our independence more surely than ever Shepstone did.’  The passing of this measure was a revelation not only to the Uitlanders, who still believed that reasonable representations would prevail, but to a section of the voters of the country who had failed to realize Mr. Kruger’s policy, and who honestly believed that he would carry some conciliatory measures tending to relieve the strain, and satisfy the large and ever-increasing industrial population of aliens.  The measure was accepted on all hands as an ultimatum—­a declaration of war to the knife.  There was only one redeeming feature about it:  from that time forward there could be no possibility of misunderstanding the position, and no reason to place any credence in the assurances of the President.  When remonstrated with on this subject of the refusal of the franchise, and when urged by a prominent man whose sympathies are wholly with the Boer to consider the advisability of ’opening the door a little,’ the President, who was in his own house, stood up, and leading his adviser by the arm, walked into the middle of the street, and pointed to the Transvaal flag flying over the Government buildings, saying, ’You see that flag.  If I grant the franchise I may as well pull it down.’