Omaha daily bee., 1902-11-23

stay. The population as a whole. on the
other hand, took the matter very quietly.
People who we're present, and therefore in
a position to know, say that there we're
not ten burghers at his reception. The
first conference between the president and
his executive Rad and Shepstone took
place on the 26th day Of January, 1877,
when Shepstone at once made a great
point Of the Inherent weakness Of the
republic and of the fact that II had been
unable to subjugate Secucuni. The weak
ness displayed toward the Kafir chiefs on
the part OF the white men gave him grave
cause to fear, he said, that difficulties
with the Kafirs might also arise in her
majesty's territories. The executive Rad
appointed a commission to discuss matters
more fully and chose State Attorney Joris-
sen and myself as members. l absolutely
refused, however, to discuss any questions
at this conference which affected the in
dependence of the republic, and nothing,
therefore, came of 1t. Shepstone had sew
eral interviews besides with President
Burgers, who finally decided to call an
extraordinary meeting of the volksraad.
which took place in February.
The first subject discussed was Secucuni's
petition for peace. AS already mentioned,
President Burgers had left several strong
volunteer corps behind when the burgher
commandos retired, and these had harassed
secucuni 90 closely that he was now suing
for peace. But this did not suit Shepstone's
plans; for, II peace were concluded, the
principal argument in favor of the annexa-
tion Of the republic to the British crown
fell through. There would then be an
and tn 0ia talk ah0ut fha UanoroI fpnananIty
Of the republic to master the Kafirs, or, as
he phrascd 1t, its inherent" weakness.
1t was against my will that Burgers now
agreed to his proposal to send two ENJOYS
to Secucuni in order to investigate matters
on the spot. This "duumvirate" commits
sion, which consisted of Englishmen, Of
course brought back the desired answer,
namely, that Secucuni had no idea Of max
ing peace. This dishonesty cost the English
dear, as will shortly be seen.
The second matter for discussion was
that OF a confederation with the British
dominions in South Africa. An over
whelming majority Of the burghers sent in
memorials declaring against the measure.
l myself made a violent speech against
any such plan, in which 1 said that this
confederation would mean the absolute
loss Of our independence.
Burgers now resorted to a strong
measure. He pointed out that several of
the most violent Of the opposition IN the
Rad had refused to pay the aforesaid tax
OF e5 per head and were consequently de-
barred from taking part In the present
discussion and requested these members
to withdraw from the Rad as unqualified.
Although the state attorney, DR.. Jorissen,
was on the presidents side, the Rad re-
fused to accede to his request, which was
certainly a great blow to Burgers. 1t
seems that this incident confirmed him
finally in his opinion that the existing con-
stitution of the South African Republic
did not give him sufficient power and that
1t was, therefore, incumbent upon him to
draw up another which would fetter him
less. At any rate, he did draw up a new
constitution and submitted 1t to the Rad.
1t provided for the institution of respon-
sible ministers, a supreme court and ex-
tension of the overs of the state presi-
dent. At the same time an alteration was
made in the arms of the republic by the
addition of a gnu. Although this measure
met with the strongest opposition in the