for some reason would not go so far as this.  They niggled and quibbled and bargained until the State was left as a curious hybrid thing such as the world has never seen.  It was a republic which was part of the system of a monarchy, dealt with by the Colonial Office, and included under the heading of ‘Colonies’ in the news columns of the ‘Times.’  It was autonomous, and yet subject to some vague suzerainty, the limits of which no one has ever been able to define.  Altogether, in its provisions and in its omissions, the Convention of Pretoria appears to prove that our political affairs were as badly conducted as our military in this unfortunate year of 1881.

It was evident from the first that so illogical and contentious an agreement could not possibly prove to be a final settlement, and indeed the ink of the signatures was hardly dry before an agitation was on foot for its revision.  The Boers considered, and with justice, that if they were to be left as undisputed victors in the war then they should have the full fruits of victory.  On the other hand, the English-speaking colonies had their allegiance tested to the uttermost.  The proud Anglo-Celtic stock is not accustomed to be humbled, and yet they found themselves through the action of the home Government converted into members of a beaten race.  It was very well for the citizen of London to console his wounded pride by the thought that he had done a magnanimous action, but it was different with the British colonist of Durban or Cape Town, who by no act of his own, and without any voice in the settlement, found himself humiliated before his Dutch neighbour.  An ugly feeling of resentment was left behind, which might perhaps have passed away had the Transvaal accepted the settlement in the spirit in which it was meant, but which grew more and more dangerous as during eighteen years our people saw, or thought that they saw, that one concession led always to a fresh demand, and that the Dutch republics aimed not merely at equality, but at dominance in South Africa.  Professor Bryce, a friendly critic, after a personal examination of the country and the question, has left it upon record that the Boers saw neither generosity nor humanity in our conduct, but only fear.  An outspoken race, they conveyed their feelings to their neighbours.  Can it be wondered at that South Africa has been in a ferment ever since, and that the British Africander has yearned with an intensity of feeling unknown in England for the hour of revenge?

The Government of the Transvaal after the war was left in the hands of a triumvirate, but after one year Kruger became President, an office which he continued to hold for eighteen years.  His career as ruler vindicates the wisdom of that wise but unwritten provision of the American Constitution by which there is a limit to the tenure of this office.  Continued rule for half a generation must turn a man into an autocrat.  The old President has said himself, in his homely but shrewd way, that when one gets a good ox to lead the team it is a pity to change him.  If a good ox, however, is left to choose his own direction without guidance, he may draw his wagon into trouble.