The latter I experienced once again at the time of the Kaffir War.  One day three or four Germans came to me and said:  ’We are indeed not naturalized, and are still subjects of our Emperor in Germany, but we enjoy the advantages of this country, and are ready to defend it in accordance with its laws.  If your Excellency requires our services, we are willing to march out.’  And they marched.  That is the spirit which I admire.  They were under the laws, they worked under the laws, they obeyed the laws, and they fell in war under the laws.  All my subjects are not so minded.  The English, for instance, although they behave themselves properly and are loyal to the State, always fall back upon England when it suits their purpose.  Therefore I shall ever promote the interests of Germany, though it be but with the resources of a child, such as my land is considered.  This child is now being trodden upon by one great Power, and the natural consequence is that it seeks protection from another.  The time has come to knit ties of the closest friendship between Germany and the South African Republic—­ties such as are natural between father and child.

The very considerable increase in the number of Germans, and the positive statement that a great many men of military training were coming out for service in the Transvaal, that officers were being employed to work up the artillery and to design forts, all tended to increase the feeling of intense dissatisfaction and uneasiness which culminated in the outbreak at the close of the year.  Dr. Leyds, it was well known, went on a political mission to Lisbon and to Berlin, and it was stated that large sums had been withdrawn from the Treasury and charged to the secret service fund, the handling of which was entrusted to this gentleman.  Dr. Leyds’ personal popularity, never very great, was at the lowest possible ebb.  He was regarded as the incarnation of Hollanderism—­the ‘head and front’ of that detested influence.  It was not credited to him in the Transvaal, as it has been elsewhere, that he designed or prompted the policy against the Uitlanders.  There it is fully appreciated that there is but one man in it, and that man President Kruger.  Dr. Leyds and others may be and are clever and willing tools.  They may lend acidity or offensiveness to a hostile despatch, they may add a twist or two to a tortuous policy, but the policy is President Kruger’s own, the methods are his own, all but the minor details.  Much as the Hollander-German clique may profit by their alliance with Mr. Kruger, it is not to be believed that he is deceived.  He regards them as handy instruments and ready agents.  If they profit by the association, they do so at the expense of the accursed Uitlander; but there is no intention on Mr. Kruger’s part to allow Germany or Holland to secure a permanent hold over the Republic, any more than he would allow England to increase hers.  He has played off one against another with consummate skill.