New-York tribune., 1899-06-08
TILE TRANSTAAL CONFERENCE.

The conference at Bl0emIOntelh mas cohe W
naught That is the news that comes through
both British and Boer channels. President
Kriiger and Sir Alfred Miner met talked ana
parted. and the dispute between Great Britain
and the South African Republic Is no nearer
settlement than before. That Is not aftogether
surprising The two men are perhaps the most
unlike in the world. save in the one respect
of intiexible will The Boer President Is physi-
cally gross and mentally stolid, superstitious,
reactonary and absolutely stubborn. Inc brlt-
ish High Commissioner for South Africa Is
physically slender, mentally alert and spleIl-
did type of the highly cultivated. progressive
Epgllshman: and he, too, Is as resolute as 80
much cast steel. The conference was meet
ing of reaction with progress ignorance with
learning. the dawn of the twentieth century
with the darkness OF the seventeenth. we
might almost liken It to the speculative meet
ing Of an irresistible force with an immovable
mass.
The details of the discussions are not yet
published We are told. however, that Mr..
Krtiger proposed, as to the franchise' uhat
Englishmen, Americans and other Outlanders
-'White Niggers' is his favorite term for them
be admitted to citizenship after seven years
residence, coupled with property and other
qualifications" The other qualifications or
terms. as hitherto expressed, are these: That
the time of residence shall be reckoned from
the present. and not from the time OF their set
Element IN the Transvaal, and that each would
be citizen must obtain a favorable vote from
three-fourths of tall the Beers in his district
That Is TO saw an American who has been
living in the Transvaal for dozen years or
more. and has vast property interests there,
NAV be admitted to citizenship seven years
hence. provided that hree-fourths of the Beers
in the county vote for him! That is what Mr..
Kr,,qer calls "an important concession
Rut that is not all There is sine qua non,
which Great Britain must grant If that con-
cession' is to be made TO the Outlanders. That
is that she shall renounce all her suzerain
rights over the Transvaal, and recognize the
latter as an Independent sovereign State Il
"will give your people their rights some time
Gin the dim. distant future" says "Oom Paui'
practically. "Hf you will renounce your right to
protect them and to require Justice FOR them.
Well we are grateful to the venerable Dopper
for making that proposal: for It's GOODNESS makes
the present weather almost tolerable. III Bloem-
fontein had been few thousand miles nearer
we should probably be shyering In our over
coats Nevertheless, there is little nope that
the antarctic gelidity Of the oner VIII COM
mend It to the favorable consideration OF the
Suzerain of the Transvaal In fact we can
conceive no proposition less likely to be ac-
cepted or that has less claim to acceptance.
The moment the Boer President put 1t forward
as sine qua non, that moment the failure OF
the conference was signed and sealed
What next will be done, he would he rash
man who should undertake TO say. The Brit
Ish and Americans are bound to win. OF course.
That is never for moment to be doubted.
The question is whether they are to win by
waiting the action of natural processes, or by
some determined and perhaps forcible action
at the present time. That is question for
Mr. Chamberlain TO answer.