The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-22

clever, too sincere and too stubbon n. Kru-
ger is an old man now. He viii b. rs
next week. Not infirm IN any physical at
tribute, save a shortness of sight which
forces him 10 wear ungaiuly Chinese Cog
giles, he has fatal lack of apTr,c "A lag
political perspective. \ casc-hard ned
Conservative. the least departure from me
order Of things as they have htep, sets him
clamoring about the influx Of the strange
ana the swapping of his burghers. MY
country is in danger My burghess are
hable 10 be outvo,ed. My God viii look
after me in time of trouble" Everything
in the oligarchioal possessive case.
Kruger does not hate the Ouulndec qua
Outlander. as do many Of his buIghers
He has found them too useful, his Neil
mapius, his Nortsmann and his Llppertje
to do that. But he recognizes their genius
as opposed to the dun sloth of the Boer,
and ne FEARS greatly accordingly. Kruger
is "dopper" or hard shel" Lutheran,
and is absolutely sincere in his b lief that
the Beers are the chosen people OF the Al
mighty. Dom Paul was at cue time (be-
fore the retrOcesssion) in the service of the
British government He was entitled t.
draw salary at the rate of 800 a year. He
probably thought himself worthy of better
hire, and for some months drew at the rate
of 900 year He was called 90 b ok by
the dul4tVilAitSs Dul itl ulltlku nOAnllE-tttn
or since. The very severe letters written TO
him at the time by Sir Memoth Osborn
are still eXtant.
Again, only very few years ago, after
the President had gone to Colesberg, in
the Cape Colony, 10 meet Sir Henry Loch
(now Lord Loch), our then governor, in
conference the very outspoken Pretoria
newspaper, Land en- Nolk," accused Mr.
Kruger of taking payment of a sum Of
money for travelling expenses, calculated
upon the usual travelling allowance OF 50
much per day, as if he had Travelled from
Pretoria to Co.esberg by cart, as would
formerly have been his wont. AS a matter
OF fact, he had Travelled by railway, and
he paid nothing for his fare.
Mr.. Marias, the editor, was prosecuted
criminally for lib T. The President did not
give evidence. The edi or was acquitted.
The money was not paid back, and His
Honor tacitly admitted the theft of the
money.
The President receives a salary of 1000
a year and 1900 a year for coffee money"
which is equivalent to "entertaiuing al
lowance," lie never entertains, and lives
on the 1900. Out Of the f7CG0 a year he
saves at least 10000 annually, which is
clever fnanci= ring. When asked why he
did not contribute to the many charities
for poor Outanders and Beers, he said,
speaking of the Outlanders; ME Ale
IndBtls Olt keit > IL df4tiilDAl IlIkf uutte
kan betaal," which means, mo, by JoVe!
the fellows are all rich; they can pay"
Gen. Piet Joubert (Sllem PieO is perhaps
the second most prominent figure among
the Beers. Long headed, shrewd cold and
calculating, he is also by no means a typ.-
cal Boer. He has paid two or three visits
to England, and perhaps is one Of three
or four in the inner government circles in
Pretoria who realizes what war with Eng
land would mean. SIN, he in no way lacks
physical courage; he has shown that time
and again. He is essent ally a time server,
a trimmer, a sitter on the fence. When he
contested the presidential election against
Kruger, no one took his candidature very
seriously, he was so obviously put up as a
vote splitter to insure Kruger's return.
His religious tenets are not obtrusive,
and he has never been found out in any
bad financial transactions. As a general N
the field he is cool and C ever, and thor
oughly expert exponent of Boer fighting
tactics, which are mainly of the "sniping"
order. He has now gone 10 the Natal bor-
der, at Voksrust, the next best Boer COM
mander, Cronje, Of Doornkop fame being
on the Marico frontier, toward Mafeking.
A man who in a quiet, unostentatious,
but deadly effective way has done as much
as anybody to engender bitter feelings be-
tween Boer and Outlander is the present
chief justice of the Transvaal, Judge Greg
orowsld.
An Orange Free State man, of Russo
Polish extraction, he was specially brought
to Pretoria, indicted into the rites of
full burghership and elevated to the bench
for the purpose Of sentencing the sixty
odd Reform prisoners after the Jameson
raid. No TranSaal judge-Kotze, Ames-
hoff Morice or Jorissen-could be trusted
TO be sufficiently seVere-Draconion, jeff
reys, like. So they imported Gregorowski.
Right well he did his work. Not only were
the sentences terribly drastic, but the
method of the man in delivering the death
sentences (afterward commuteD and his
trickery in permitting a pleading of guilty
TO certain counts Of the Indictment made
the final scene at the trial one of the
most terribly affecting ever witnessed In
a court of justice.
The Transvaal state secretary, Mr.. Reitz,
formerly President of the Orange Free
State. where he succeeded but in no way
profted by the example of the late la
mented President Brand is n p2thetic fig
ure. Old beyond his years-senile almost,
suffering from an incuraDle disease-at the
beck and call and entirely under the thumb
Of Kruger he signs documents put before
him without reading their contents, or,
if reading them, not understanding what
they are about. A shiftless politician, not
rich, as are others in high office, because
he came to the Transvaal too late, and
most of the pickings were picked. Be-
sides he Is passing honest, and almost
an old centenary to boot Ills sphere is
the almshouse. and his need a pension.
He lags superfluous on the stage.
The landrost, or chief civil magistrate,
Of Pretoria Is one j. s. Smit, and he is a
man entitled to high honor in his own
land He recently charged the public
funds with the sum of over $780, 900, alleged
TO have been spent in constructing and re-
pairing certain streets in Pretoria. A
question arising as to the legitimacy OF
this expenditure, a committee of the
Volksraad was appointed to inquire Smit
could only produce vouchers for about half
the sum The inquiry closed without re-
porting. Next session it was mentioned
in the Volksraad, and on the proposal of
John Meyer Ga bosom friend ana great
supporter Of the PresidenD IL was resoIv-
ed that the matter should be considered
as closed. Nothing has ever been heard
Of the missing $4,000, and Smit continues
in office.
guile the most patriotic Boer and rabid
anti-Briton is a member Of the Volksraad,