The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-05

Dom Paul a phaeton Another repre-
scented an American marble firm. and he
/ wanted to build a mausoeum for the pres
! ident and his family Some of them had
/ already seen and talked with this infiu-
/ entail "fxer," and testified that he was
no myth, as we had concluded after being
tod continually that he was mot at
home" or mad a meeting to attend"
! Eventually we were ushered through the
| bakery into a small sitting room, where
the presidents right bower receives all his
callers and met a man with keen blue
eyes, light hair, mustache and chin beard,
/ of well-set figure. square shoulders and
speaking good, pure English. He greet
ed US warmly and got right down to bus
mess.
i've tod His Honor about you," he
said, land he is anxious to meet you. If
you will come to my house at 6 o'clock to-
morrow morning III take you down and
you can talk TO him as long as he desires.
He's in a good humor now and will talk
if you know your business
G.nngham was not disposed to speak
, of himself and evaded all questions bear
| ,ng on politics, but told us with no little
! pride that he was but 80 years old. He
was born at the Cape, Of Irishparents and
! there absorbed the customs of the Dutch
! so thoroughly that he is regarded in Pre-
| tor.a as a stanch burgher and good Dutch
| man.
| Though born under the English flag, he
| has no love for it, aud that is the secret
! of his popularity with President Kruger,
| who, though a mighty shrewd Old
| hunter and politician, has points
| of weakness bordering on faulty.
| Gillingham made his first coup
| with Kruger at the time of the jam
eson raid. when England threatened TO
wipe out the little republic. With the
| hosts of England arrayed against the
! Transvaal, and no friends, this plucky
| Irishman got together some of his coun-
| trymen and offered 70 raise a regiment
| to fight for it against the British. Fur
| thermore, he communicated with Irish
men in America and proposed that they
| arm and equip forces to send down to
| aid The Beers. Dom Paul, who is just as
| generous as he is vind,ctive, was quite
| overcome by this offer. and he has ever
since kept a warm spot in his heart for
| the Irish.
More than this, however, Gnlingham has
a long head, knows when 80 advise. when
10 keep quiet. and is SO geuiaf and adapt
! able that he is always lin the know. =
This is appreciated by Dom Paul, TO whom
/ the Irishman is loyal, for such is the po-
litical strife in the Transvaal, that Kru-
ger is often at loss to know whom to
trust.
.GGnngham has no other position than
| justice of the peace seeks for no public
| nOnOrS, IS never written ABOUT, ana poses
| as a strictly neutral person. In this ca
| pacity Kruger accepts his advice on the
| most important national and International
questions. and the only way he profits is
| by concessions.
Concessions are granted for the most abb
surd purposes. One man has The exclusive
| right to make jam in the TranSVaal The
| dynamite concessionaires give the govern
| ment five shiEIngs on each case and clear
| about 50 shlings. Such a high duty is put
| upon The American article, which IS vastly
| superior in quality, as to practically ex-
| clude it. The unsubsidZed press is very
| bitter against Mr. Kruger on account of
| this concession business and goes so far
| as to ask how the president could amass
| a fortune of moro than million on a sal
| airy of e 600, and how his son-in-law, Eloff,
could build a $250,000 palace on no salary
Gil1ngham is in the front rank of con-
cessionartes and it was one of these con-
cessions that kept him engaged while we
| were there.
Among the questions put to Mr. Kruger
| in our interview was the following:
Are you not afraid that, without a sea-
port the English viii starve you out?'
IF God wills it, he replied, they can
do it, If not, the English might build
| wall around us high as Jericho, and We
would live comfortably" AT this he
| looked to the willy Irishman as though for
| assent, and GAlngham informed US later
| -L
| his proposition to erect huge cold storage
| warehouses, wherein Is 900 beeves could be
| stored--a safeguard against being starved
! out in case of war with the English. He
had just been granted the concession to
! build the houses.
The first question asked us by President
! Kruger, when we finally reached him, was
Are you from Rhodes"' He looked at
us rather sharply from the slit of one
eye, embedded in puffy flesh, scanned with
wrinkles, and we fastened to reply in the
negative. They're both good Irishmen,"
! added Gilingham, and the half-dozen
J members of the rad, Paymaster General
| Van Alpen, Commissioner of Mines Kroeb-
| Ter and Commissioner of War Smdt, all
| of whom came along to hear the inter-
| view, laughed heartily.
| whats your religion?" was the next
| question, and this put us for a moment
! in a trance from which we were extri-
Gated again by the Irishman's wit The
| Reformed church is very strong in New
| York" he observed carelessly as a cue.
| We remembered then that the President
| is a most bigoted Dutch Reformer and
| explained to him that while an American
newspaper mans religious views must
! necessarily be very elastic, We were at
| the present moment stanch Dutch Re
| formers.
AT this Dom Paul puffed fast, smiled
wide and eventually chuckled, whereupon
we took occasion, at Gillingham's sugges .
! ton, to ply him with a volley of ques-
| tons AT the end of the interview We
| hardly knew which interested us most, the
| shrewd old Boer or the clever young Irish
| man. both of whom seemed 10 understand
| each other thoroughly
! Dillingham; lives in more simplicity even
| than Mr.. Kruger, who dimes with his
! coachmap His two sons IOapnb and Par