Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-12-30


for French interests in the Transvaal or
to give up the claim Of suZerainty and al
low other foreign powers to protect their
own subjects and their rights.
President Kruger's Proposals.
On May 1s President Kruger presented
certain proposals to the Rad. He sug-
gested that the franchise be conferred on
aliens five years after eligibility to the sec
ond raad, instead of ten years, as is now
the case. This proposal would make a
nine years residence of the Transvaal a
qualification for the full franchise.
conference was arranged to take place
at Bloemfontein. in the Orange Free State.
on May 80 between President Kruger and
Sir Alfred Miner. About this time a coun-
ter petition, signed by over 1900 Uitland-
ers was received at Pretoria favoring the
Transvaa government. This conference
between President Kruger and Sir Alfred
Miner resulted In disagreement. The Brit
ish side of the question laid great stress on
the question of the franchise and the dyna-
mite concession. This concession, it was
claimed gave exorbtant profits to holders
of the monopoly, and as mining was the
chief industry in which the British petit
TONERS were engaged. these high profits
on dynamite amounted to heavy tax on
the miners.
On the Transvaal side arguments were
put forward on the question of the fran
chise. the incorporation of Swaziland with
the Transvaal territory, payment of an in
Beers on account of Jamesons invasion
and the adoption of a principle of arbitra-
ton in case of all differences between the
two countries. Sir Alfred Miner did not
insist on the dynamite question nor did
Mr.. Kruger insist on the matter of Swat
land. and Sir Alfred Miner thought the
question of indemnity would surely be set
tied by arbitration.
On the question of the franchise how
ever the British commissioner was more
insistent. He proposed:
1. That it should be attainable after five
years residence. and the law granting this
to be retroactive in effect.
,. That the naturalization oaths should
be modified.
8. That fair representation should be
granted to the new population
4. That naturalization should Immediately
carry with it the full right to vote.
President Kruger offered in reply:
/. To make a residence of two years a
prerequisite for naturalization.
3 A residence of five years thereafter a
prerequisite for admission to the franchise
3. Persons established in the country
prior to 1880 to have the franchise in two
years. and the mining population to be
more largely represented.
f. One of the conditions of attaining nat
uralizatiOn to be the possession of at least
$3.50 worth of property or occupation of a
house worth at least $3.50 year or an in
come Of at least 81 600 year
D. Inc other condition of naturalization
was that the person should have possessed
citizens right in his own country
All Based on Arbitration.
All the proposals on the part of President
Kruger We're made upon the condition that
the British government should accept the
principle of arbitration in all cases of diff
ferences between the two countries.
The volksraad approved President Kru-
gers franchise proposals and instructed
the government to formulate them into a
Dill to be submitted to the legislature
That body also adopted a resolution ex-
pressing regret that Sir Alfred Miner had
rejected the proposals of President Kruger.
which it considered in the highest degree
reasonable
After the failure of the Bloemfontein
conference the possibility of war began to
De discussed by the people of both coun-
tries. About two weeks prior to the Bloem-
fcntein conference number of alleged eX-
ofhcerS of the British army were arrested
at Johannesburg on a charge of conspring
TO raise military force and seize the fort
at johannesburg pending the arrival of
Britlsh troops In London the statement
mat these men We're acting under instruc-
tons OF the British government was de-
clared to be too absurd for refutation 1t
was claimed there that the alleged conspi-
racy was fiction concocted by the Boer
ponce, but in an interview with President
Kruger the British agent at Pretoria seems
to have admitted that some of the men
mad been in the military service of the Brit
!sh colonlesi The trial of the men failed
After the failure of the Bloemfontein
conference the Uitlander agitation was
taken up in earnest by the British parlia-
ment. There great deal of discussion
was devoted to the question of the exact
status of the Transvaal republic with re-
gard to the British government in South
Africa: Great Britain had made two trea-
ties with the republic, One in 1881 which
limited in some degree the Internal gov
eminent and autonomy of the Transvaal
state, and gave the right to Great Britain
s. "a ion rN.,lt e
Inc second treaty made in 1854 made two
important changes.
l. The right to interfere in the internal
affairs Of the republic, formerly expressly
reserved by Great Britain in the treaty of
1881, was no longer SO observed.
=. The term 'suzerain,' implying gen
eral right and control over all affairs, was
not used.
Lord Derby's Summing Up.
Lord Derby, summing up the results Of
the treaty of 1884 before the representa-
tlVes of the South African Republic, said ::
by the omission of those articles in the
convention of 1881, which assigned to her
majesty and the British government certain
specific powers and functions connected
with the internal government and the for
elgn relations, your government will be left
Tree to govern the country without inter-
terence, to conduct its diplomatic inter-
course and shape its foreign policy, SUBJ
Ject only to the requirements of the fourth
article embodied in the new draft-that any
treaty with foreign state shall not have
effect without approval Of the queen
The friends of Great Britain and the
friends of the republic took issue as to the
exact meaning of this language. The Brit
lsh chung to the claim of suzerainty neceS-
sarily implied, though perhaps not clearly
expressed, in the treaty. The Boer sympa-
thiZers and the republic itself maintained
that these articles, with the procedure
under them in the years since that date, al
lowed to the South African republic the
inherent right of a sovereign International
state. The English government insisted
that British interests We're paramount in
South Africa and claimed the right to in
terfere.
By the LIST of August it had become evil
dent that the question had been narrowed
down to a special issue After remon-
STRANGE and long delay Great Britain de-
, manded that the Uitlanders should be
granted immediate and substantial repre-
sentation as a nucleus of the reforms re-
quired for her subjects. Mr.. Kruger re-
piled that he had given this by his new
law. The Uitlanders deemed the law illu-
sorry. Mr.. Chamberlain, as solution of
the problem, proposed, not arbitration, but
an examination by unbiased experts of
the question of fact as to the effect of the
new franchise proposed by President kru-