KUGERISM

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1523, 28 February 1901, Page 6

KUGERISM

. INDICTMENT BY MB P. BOTHA. BOER IGNORANCE AGAIN. “I have been told that there are people in Europe, in England and in America who admire Paul Kruger.” Thus writes Mr Paul M. Botha,, for 21 years a member, of ..the .Yolksr.aad of the fate Orange Free' State, in a pamphlet entitled ‘ f Fropx Asoer to Boer .and, Enghsh''■m&nJ'i"which has .been translated, from the Dutch by' hi&-son for circulation ;in 'Great Britain,^r It is;this*pamphlet which has made De Wet vow vengeance . on the author if he can law hands upon him. This old statesman records, with incredulity, this rumour of .the. opinion, heid foy some persons of the ex-President of <- the .late Transvaal Republic. He > has lived in-the Orange Free State since it first existed, and as he has looked around on the two States now the scene of war he has reviewed the life of Mr Kruger, and holds him responsible for all the bloodshed and suffering and devastation, and for the loss of the generous

measure of independence that was the pride of the two peoples, honest, but ignorant, and, as events have shown, easily duped. When his eyes meet. ,the scenes of to-day he says: “I tingle with indignation to hear that the cruel author of all this avoidable misery, rich, snug and safe, is in Europe, and going to be received by the Queen of Holland, and made a hero of; a hero who was known in the Free State 30 years ago, before : he found better means of enriching himself, as a swindling dealer in oranges ' and tobacco, and one who we stronglv suspected of being a very cute slave dealer.” These are the words, not of an English Jingo, but of a Boer who served his country in its legislature for many years, and under President Brand did. Ml ..in..... his power to cement that wise man’s policy of friendliness towards this country. Mr Botha admits that the ignorance of the Boers is responsible for tne way in which they have been misled by “this rugged old man,’* who deceived them into believing that he was “a prophet, who, like Moses, was' the means of. communication between God and His _ chosen people.” His powerful' personality, in-

da mi table will, and undoubted courage are admitted, but- the writer holds that he even “made himself believe that there were two Gcds, one in Heaven, and Peril Kruger on earth.” This late member of the Volksraad then tears away the veil of false romance. “We know him, he says, "‘an avaricious, unscrupulous and .-hyprocritical man, who sacrificed an entire people to his cupidity. His one aim and object was tc*. enncb himself, and he used every means to this one end. His ambition for power was subordinate to his love of money. He used the Transvaal as a milch cow for himself, his children and his following/’ KRUGER’S IMITATORS.

It will be seen that the writer does not mince matters in drawing in bread outline a portrait of Mr Kruger, who, he holds, was the creator of the war policy which has led to the present disaster. “This successful anti-British policy of Kruger,” he adds, "‘created a number of imitators Steyn, Fischer, Esselen, Smuts and numberous other young educated Afrikanders of tne Transvaal, Orange Free State and the Cape Colony, who, misled by his successes, ambitiously hoped by the same means to raise themselves to. the same pinnacle. Krugerismunder them developed into a reign of terror/’

■ As to ex-president Steyn, the-author of this frank booklet is in doubt, though ho has known him well since he was a yotuig man, whether to. write him down as a fool, or worse —dishonest. As he realises the lost independence of “our dtear little State, dear to us,” he exclaims, “I feel that I could curse Marthinus Theunis Steyn and the Kruger gang, Steyn, a Free Stater, having used his country as a stepping stone for his ignoble 'ambition and sacrified his whole people for the furtherance of his private influence.” He charges Kruger with influencing the people of the Free State “by his emissaries, agents and secret service monejg” making ex-President Steyn a tool to reverse the wise, friend L ly policy of President Brand, who never ceased to fear the influence of his neighbour.

He (Steyn) sold his country, body and ■soul, to the Transvaal, in the hone that Paul Kruger’s mantle would! fall on him. The first time that Kruger visited the Orange Free State after Steyn’s election, the latter introduced him at a public banquet with these words, “This is my father.” The thought occurred to me at the time, “Yes, and you are waiting for your father’s shoes.” He hoped to succeed “his father” as President of the Transvaal, of the combined republics, aye, even of United South Africa!” For this giddy vision he ignored the real interests of our little State —he was false to his oath, and dragged the country, whose integrity and independence he had sworn to uphold, into a wholly and absolutely unnecessary and insane war. These are home-made sketches os che two men who were primarily responsible for plunging the two States into all the horrors of war and who are to-day encouraging a remnant of their followers in a futile resistance. At the same time this Boer statesman recognises that England has made many mistakes in the past, “by blowing hot and cold,” and letting things slide in Soutii Africa. Now he appeals for the best statesmen to govern them, and urges reliance on tho advice of Mr Rhodes, and “men of integrity in the country, Ju such as J. G. Fraser, Advocate J. W. Wessels, Innes and others who know, their wants. He pleads for strict justice and uniformity of treatment, for the stamping out of foreign intrigue in South Africa, for the curbing of the disloyal press and for the education of his people, so sadly neglected. He believes that there is a good time coming for the New British territories, and 1 con /udes his to the (Boers with these words : I. repeat, Boer and Briton must lire side by side in South Africa. We must both realise'this and-make it the keynote to our future. -Let us -work together '? to create a.peaceful, united, self-governing South -Africa,"under the British flag, because, as I ha ve explained j- peace and prosperity are not possible under another flag. If every one of us does his best towards this end, we shall still see the words of our beloved old President Brand fulfilled in this unhappy country: "‘Alles za 1 recht Komen/’ . -/''?" ■,