The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-11-19

the courts OF justice. such as they
were, the magistrates were presumed
TO be deaf and dumb to the English
language and some amusing incidents
We're the result. On one occasion was
q witness before a Dutch magistrate
with whom ! was acquainted. He could
speak English and / understood Dutch
but as l refused TO speak the latter
language, despising the spirit of The
law which made it necessary, the
magistrate had to put his questions
Ito me through an interpreter. who had
also to translate my answer. The
magistrate and 1 had a smile over the
incident when we met next day.
Concerning Mr.. Taljaard, who framed
this law, allow me to quote an ex-
tract from a. letter which l clipped
from a Transvaal newspaper in 1883.
Written as it was, on the spot, think
it will give a. better idea of a Trans
vaal statesman than anything can
say. The writer says:
During the discussion on the in
crease OF allowance to members or
the vol1sraad, Mr.. Taljaard informed
the members of the RAD that, though
he was the poorest member, he had al
ways considered that he had been
called by heaven to be a member and
if he were not paid 81 per diem for
his services to his country. ne and his
old wife would have to take up their
quarters in pigeon pen as they haa
done before and with heart-rending
pathos he wanted TO know if the Saad
expected him to get drowned in his
old days for 80 shillings a day" Re
fleet for one moment, Mr. Editor. on the
irreparable loss this struggling world
would have suffered had this divinely-
gifted Taljaard been drowned in his
young days Mr.. Taljaard again
I,f h mn brain hear
upon the Paris exhibition question and
propounded this overwhelming propo-
sition to his illustrious colleagues:
we have heard that so many Chinese
are coming into the republic and what
viii become of the old republic if the
French also come here to teach u.s.
o, risum teneatisi The absurdity of
imagining that the French, English,
American, or any other nation can
teach our glorious old 1andsvaaders'
to suck eggs, is only equaled by this
grand old gentleman's indignation at
the idea. No, sir, when a man gets
his commission direct from heaven, we
poor, misguided Uitlanders-seme of
whom have the presumption to require
further proofs of the existence OF
heaven than even the miraculous
genius of Mr.. Taljaard affords-must
stand aside
Favorite of Kruger.
I have not mentioned all the causes
for complaint which the Uitlanders had
against the -Transvaal government,
though L have, by no means. exhausted
the list Not to weary the reader,
VIII only give one more, and it is an
important one.
Mr. Paul Kruger is, no doubt, a
very patriotic gentleman. but he never
misses an opportunity to put money
in his stocking, even though his much
beloved republic suffers through it. II.
] have not already made it sufficiently
plain TO the reader that the Transvaal
republic is :. republic only in name,
trust that the succeeding sentences
viii enlighteE him more fully:
When the Transvaal begun to be
prosperous. that is, in 1867, a number
of adventurous Hollanders flocked into
the country, and some OF these quickly
became attached to the patriotic Mr..
Kruger. One in particular-named
Nelmapius-a long-headed, far-seeing
individual, rose speedily in Dom Paufs
estimation. His first act was to build
. house for the Transvaal president az
u contract price of $4,000, while the ac-
tual cost OF the building was about
$4,000. Such an act of diSinterested
friendship could not be overlooked by
any republican president, and Mr.. Mel
mapiuS was promoted TO remunerative
SluGCilSS- oClOIt NC1y lOll5 Ills %Nti-
1napius got into serious difficulties, was
convicted of embezzling public money
and sentenced to prison by a judge.
Mr.. Kruger, arguing, probably, that 1t
was useless being president of re-
public unless you had perfect liberty
in your official functions, went to the
jail and marched out, ar1is in arm, with
Mr.. Nelnlapius, whom he drove to his
house. ordering the judge next day to
reverse the sentence. To show his I'M
impaired faith in this friend who could
build him houses at one-third of their
cost, AIR. Kruger began giving Mr.. Mel
mapius concessions" or exclusive
right of manufacture and sale of GER
tain valuable mercantile commodities.
One was dynamite, and after the CON
csssion" prohibitive tariff was placed
on the imported article. No serious OBJ
lection would have been raised to this
provided the homemade article had /
been anywhere near up to standard
mark. but it was nearly useless for
practical purposes. Even after many |
experiments had proved the uselessness
of Mir. Nelmapius' dynamite the tariff
WsS not reduced, and the long, suffering |
ITitlander continued to be .heeced by the
dynamite tax.
{ Nelmapius and his friends procured
many other concessions, which / need |
not particuiarize. The foregoing in
stance is, ] think. sufficient
Kruger's Angry Resignation.
An Incident occurred during my resi- |
dence in the TransvaaI which will tend !
TO illustrate how little fitted the mem
bers Of the Transvaal xoiksraad are to |
legisiate Tor the intelligent community |
which has grown up amongst them. |
Kruger desired the volisraad to pass a !
bill authorizing the concession of some !
thing II have forgotten WHAT to one |
of his Hollander friends. The members |
happened to be strongly hostile to his |
purpose that day, and some of the |
members spoke against the passage of |
the bill. Dom PS-Il, Tuning with indig
nation at such unheard-of ingratitude
after his long and arduous services
resigned his position as
president of the republic and flung him
self out of the august assemblage. The |
members We're trans6xed with horror.
at the awful catastro-
pine was visible on every face. 1t took
several pipefuis of Transvaal tobacco
20 partly calm their perturbed spirits,
and then they all adjourned in a body
&: com Paui's house and abjectly apol-
ox.zed TO, him for their opposition
processing TO pass the bill on the fol- !,
loving day On this condition Mr. Kru-
ger, patr1otically and disinterestedly,
ronsfnted TO save his country by re-
its president.
One more incident. During protract-
ed drought in the Transvaal the voll1s-
raad was dea;berating which day to
set aside for general petition to
heaven for rain. when one of the MEM
q, e,aeafa1, xr-laicI 1,rav0laIe 4