The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1901-09-11
KRUGER STILL 4 POWER.
His Work For His Country Goes on
in Holland.

AtOlsC4siQs
a correspondent of the Philadelphia
Record, writing from Hilversum, Hol-
land, under date of August 20, gives
an interesting description of Presi-
dent Kruger's mode of life at that
place. He says:
It is so difficult to find Hilversum
on the map of Holland that one might
easily infer it is a small place CONNER
cially, but from social viewpoint it
is one Of the most important places in
! Holland. Here, as at The Hague, the
rich Hollanders have their homes and
Filvresum is a very attractive sum-
mer resort. It is so distinctly Dutch,
however, that one has difficulty in
finding an inhabitant who speaks
English.
Casa Cara is the name of the house
where the President lives. 1t is on
the Trompenburg road, and quite
distance from Hilversum. It is, in
fact, boarding house where the
President of the South African Repub-
lie has taken up his headquarters and
where, with his Cabinet, he conducts
the affairs of the South African
republic.
If anyone has the idea that Presi-
dent Kruger is not of the political
running since his establishment in
Europe he would be quickly disabused
by vllst to Hilversum, especially if
he had my good fortune and was ad-
mitted to conversation with the Presi-
dent and his council. The little coun-
try house which harbors the Transvaal
leaders is the centre of widespread
political activity, whose ramifcations
take in England, Central Europe,
South Africa and even America.
Seated in his study at Hilverrsurn,
with his big Bible and his briarwood
pipe in front of him, the old man is
in touch with the Boer cause and the
Boer interests all over the world.
Working in the next room is the Cabi-
net, which, under the President, di-
rects the whole European policy of
the Transvaal and even the general
movements of the war. The chief of
service, Mynheer G. van Boeschoten,
with his assistants, E. j. Box and ?.
A. van Veen, as we'll as the former
chief Of police of johannesburg, Myn-
heer Bredell, control infinitely organ
lied system of information and direc-
tion which makes Hilversum for the
moment as active and important a
diplomatic centre as any in the world.
With the aid also of the bureau in
Brussels, of which Dr.. Leyds retains
the control, there has been establish
ed between the President and the gen
| lc ha al ~ nf
communication which keeps the Eng
lish war Office in perpetual astonish-
ment. Repeatedly has come from Hill
versum news of English disaster which
it had been decided in London to
stihe; repeatedly the English have
been disagreeably surprised to discover
from Boer tactics in the field that
Gems, Botha or DeWet must have had
private knowledge of secret decisions
of the English war Office or of its
cable communications to English
generals.
The Cabinet at Hilyersum is, in
fact, wonderfully organized secret
service bureau, reminding one in its
efficiency and general methods of that
established at Washington during the
war of secession. Nothing escapes it.
Its emissaries, bearing dispatches
from the President, penetrate into
the heart of the country, and its spies
and agents in the Transvaal reach Hill
versum from the scene of action by
ways which defy all the preventive
measures the English can adopt.
While the writer was with President
Kruger there arrived Mr.. Beerans and
Mr.. Pameyer, two important function
aries, bringing important communica
tions from the front. How did they
get through? The Portuguese are sup
posed, probably with reason, to be in
the pay of the English; why do they
not stop the Transvaal agents? That is
one of the secrets of the Cabinet; but
one thing is certain, that they do not.
An important part of the work OF
the Cabinet is that performed in
England itself by the judicial manipu-
lation of political undercurrents there.
Boer agents, working by all kinds OF
secret means, under special direction
of DR.. Leyds himself, are engaged per-
petually in striving to create public
opinion against the waging of the war.
Through the Liberal newspapers
facts and figures are circulated tending
to discourage the mass of the people
or to make them ashamed of the meth
DDS of subjugation. The lecture
platform is largely used also for the
same purpose. Several leaders of the
Irish revolutionary movement have
lent effective aid in this way, as also
by the more indirect device of pro-
claiming in Ireland itself a kind of
boycott of the English army; the re-
cruiting sergeants that used to make
such liberal hauls of good fighting
flesh and blood in the Green Isle are