The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1897-05-29

the way, the English have every reason
to remember the Presidents name with
gratitude). 1t was after the death of
Gen. Colley and the utter rout of the
English by our forces.
"Some of our young leaders, burning
from the sense of recent insults, wished
to push into British territory, and there
plumber and slay. AS was only natural
after such victory, the ot-headed ma
jority was with them, and things looked
very bad for British South Africa. But
Kruger suddenly arose in the assembly,
and despite the angry shouts Of the
physical force party succeeded in obtain
ing hearing. 1 do not believe that he
spoke longer than five minutes, but in
that brief space he managed to say so
much, and to say it SO forcibly and keen :
ly, that the opinion of the council changed
instanter. AS for me, 1 felt that the then
Councillor keen eyes had singled me out
individually in the throng On inquiry
found that every single member of that
council had experienced the same feeling
of being scrutinized by Kruger's eyes. In
fact, we were hypnotized by the man,
and his sage counsels conquered. British
South Africa escaped pillage on that &C.
casion, thanks to Paul Kruger.
'Kruger's father is celebrated in Boer
annals. He it was who, in 1S4S, led the
onslaught upon the English forces at
Boomplatz, and worsted Sir H. Smith,
the British leader, in hand-to-hand
encounter. Old Kruger was strict dis
oiplinarian, and as Paul was wild boy,
his stern parent had to chastise him freely
and frequently However, all our fathers
were Spartans in those days, SO that the
lickings both Paul and myself received
made very little impression upon us. The
old Kruger homestead was at Rasten-
burg, but the Presidents farm today is
at Waterkloof westward from Pretoria.
No Boer whether an official or not, can
be quite happy without cattle and corn
t. raise. The President is farmer, so
am [, so is DR.. Leyds, the Secretary of
STATE, and every member of .the Govern
ment. We are a nation of Cincinnati, and
when our public services end we go back
to our cattle and our ploughs.
''Of Emperor William of Germany
President Kruger has high opinion.
This may be partially accounted for by
Transvaal and by the fact that Kruger's
mother was of German, not of Dutch, an
o,stry. The English he ..flercely hates as
, the hereditary enemies of his race and the
eau se OF their successive 'trekkings north
ward. lie has little or no admiration for
Cecil Rhodes, freely intimating that that
leader has accomplished his ends, not by
brain power, but solely by bribery and
, brutality"
DIR. Van Alphen fought against the
English in the victorious campaign which
eliminated at Majuba Hill. He deeply
regrets the fact that during the recent
encounter with DIR. Jameson's force his
men came up too late to get into the fight.
when my force arrived he says, 1--WE
found floating the favorite British flag
the flag which Englishmen have raised
in the Transvaal so often that one old
burgher actually thought it was Eng
lands standard. 1 allude to the white
lag vi cuIItl.NGIs oQU VIC dI6 dlNdyB
ready and our rifles are always oiled.
Whenever the British come again we shall
be waiting for them. [ see that Field
Marshal Lord Wolseley claims that he
his proved the conquest of the Beers by
mathematical calculation. He will find
than cube roots, and that it is not as easy
to fight battle on the veldt as it is on
the blackboard.
A curious point, illustrating the re-
markable prominence which President
Kruger has attained during the past.year,
was relatedby DR.. Van Alphen. The
weIl-known English authority coonn-
temporaneous biography, "Men of the
Times, was formerly content with a
twenty line notice of the Boer President
This year they are giving him a page, and
the editor has repeatedly written to ssOom
Paul. begging for particulars of his life
req uests which the President utterly TO-
nored. Indeed, DR.. Van Alphen has seen
the Boer Chief Executive calmly lighting
his pipe with one of these appealing LEFT
tiers.
DR.. Van Alphen is now in Washington.
where his sole ostensible business was
attendance at the International Postal
Congress; but it is generally understood
In diplomatic circles that he is authorized
by President Kruger's Government to
pave the way toward better consu lar and
even ministerial amenities between the
United States and the Transvaal When
questioned on this subject, while staying
at the Holland House in New York and
just before his departure for Washington,
DR.. Van Alphen said: II shall not eth
er deny or affirm the statement that T
am investiga ting the possibility of estab-
fishing diplomatic relations between
America and the Transvaal You can.
however, quote me as saying that the
present state of affairs is regrsttable. Dur
ing the recent troubles, America had to
appeal to England in the case of Mr.. J.
Hays Hammond and the other Americans
involved. The Beers would far rather