The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-11-23
PAUL KRUCER'S MEMOIRS
THE TRANSvAAL LEADER TELLS OF
THE CAUSES OF THE WAR.
Charges that Crisis Was Forced by
the Action of Secretary Chamber
lain and Sir Alfred Miner.

From advance sheets of 1.-The Memoirs of
Paul Kruger" to be published in America
by the Century Company. NOV. &c. the
Journal is permitted to make the following
extracts:
We now come to the period Immediately
preceding the serious crisis. In the mean
time, the English and the English press,
both i'm South Africa and England. were
agitating and vOciferating against the re-
public An election had taken place, in the
previous year, in Cape Colony, in which the
Afrikander party had gained the victory,
a fact which drove Rhodes and all ms
lingo clique to fury Sir Alfred Miner, IN
stead of combining himself TO his role or
Governor, showed himself in his true colors
and openly espOused the side OF the Jlngoes
in Cape Colony. 1t was evident to all that
a crisis was at hand which, if not care
fully treated, could end only in catastro-
phe. But where there are two parties, II
avails nothing that one is yielding and
compliant, when the other at all costs
pushes matters to extremes, and, as In TINS
case, to a That the government or
the South African Republic, in the nego-
tiations that preceded the war, was yield
ing and compliant is shown by the manner
in which the correspondence with England
was conducted at this time.
The question of the franchise was that
which Sir Alfred Miner and Mr.. Chamber
lain employed as pretext TO force war
upon the republic Before therefore, dis Dis
franchise question, it is well to mention the
fact that, as early as the beginning of 1899.
/ had held meetings of the burghers at
Rustenburg and Heidelberg III order TO OBJ
tain their support for my proposal TO re-
duce the period required for securing the
full franchise from fourteen years to nine
years. From there / went to Johannes
burg and there declared at public meet
ing that hoped later to reduce the period
of nine years residence to a still shorter
FORCING A CRISIS.
This fact deserves special mention, be-
cause 1t was probably that which startled
Mr.. Chamberlain and Sir Alfred Miner
and impelled them TO hurry on the crisis.
Firmly determined as they were to force
war upon the republic, these two men saw
that they must lose time, since myself
had begun to introduce reforms which
might presently deprive them of their pre-
text for going to war. Sir Alfred Miner
was in England at that time, and doubt
less turned his stay to account to arrange
with Chamberlain how they must set TO
work to carry out their imperialist pro-
gramme. By the time he returned, the
whole thing was settled and arranged.
The League of Johannesburg began by
drawing up a petition to the Queen in
which they enumerated mass of grtev-
ances which, as British subjects. they
claimed to have against the republic, and
ended by asking for the intervention of
the British government. Mr.. Fraser. the
the petition. For this he was raped over
the knuckles by the colonial secretary, who
was just seeking an opportunity to NEEDLE
with the internal affairs of the republic,
with the result that, on a later occasion,
Mr.. Conyngham Greene, the real repre-
sentative of the British crown at Pretoria.
who had also been to England with Sir
Alfred Miner, knew better what was
pected of him. In the meantime Sir Alfred
Miner had declared that an anti-British
movement existed among the Afrikander
population throughout South Africa. This,
nota bene, after he had cabled to England
In 1897, on the occasion of the Queens ju-
bilee, that the Afrikanders in Cape Colony
were very loyal to England
A FRAUDULENT PETITION.
A second petition was drawn up by the
League and signed by 2l.6S4 British sub
jects. The signatures were collected by ev-
cry kind of fraud. The government of the
republic obtained many sworn declarations
which stated that individuals had signed
as many names as came into their heads.
In the same way the names of deceased
and absent persons were placed on the
lists. This is easily understood when one
realizes that the persons who went round
with the lists were paid according to the
number of names which they obtained. A
few days later the government at Pretoria
received a petition with nearly %, 600 sig
natures in which the signers, uitlanders
Of every nationality, declared that they
were satisfied with the administration of
the country. But it was not Mr.. Chamber
lain's object to receive a genuine petition
so long he could obtain weapon with
which to attack the republic, and this
weapon was afforded him by the aforesaid
petition, which was speedily dispatched to
him by the British agent, Mr.. Greene.
THE BLOEMFONTEIN CONFERENCE.
Meanwhile, at the commencement of
May. Sir Alfred Miner had sent a cable
gram TO England which would have done
credit to sensation-mongering journalist.
In this dispatch he declared that her
Majesty's government must give some
striking proof of its intention not to be
ousted from it's position in South Africa,
that thousands of British subjects were
kept permanently in the position of helots
and that the case for Intervention was
overwhelming Mr. Chamberlain thereupon
sent a dispatch. dated May 10, 1899, in which
he acknowledged the receipt of the petition
to the Queen, recapitulated all the griev-
ances of the uitlanders and ended by sug-
,esting to Sir Alfred Miner that a confer
ence should take place between him and
myself at BlOemfontein at which the ques-
ton would be discussed. In the meantime,