The President of the South African Republic.
[Sidenote: Birth, Education Etc.]
Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, President of the Transvaal--the other side of the Vaal River, is the name of the country--was born in the Cape Colony, October 10th, 1825. It is the commendation of the naturalist Mr. Distant, that Mr. Kruger has a "very large amount of natural wisdom," which is the softer way of saying that he is not an educated man, but one of the statesmen of Nature. He is, on the authority already quoted, "undistinguished in appearance," but has "a prodigious memory;" and "a weakness in resisting flattery and adulation which is not good for him," because, as his will is so pronounced and his authority so absolute, he is perpetually surrounded by the representatives of the rascalities in a strange variety of "concessions." The flattering description of this historical personage is that he is "very pious and self-reliant, which is provocative of bigotry and hot temper," and he is also "a rough diplomat of no mean rank."
[Sidenote: A Story Picture of President Kruger]
In Fitzpatrick's "The Transvaal from Within" we find this strongly drawn picture of Mr. Kruger:
"To an English nobleman, who in the course of an interview remarked, 'My father was a Minister of England, and twice Viceroy of Ireland,' the old Dutchman answered, 'And my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was a shepherd, and is--a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be right and good for his people, and it may not; but it is sure that he realizes that to educate would be to emancipate, to broaden their views would be to break down the defences of their prejudices, to let in the new leaven would be to spoil the old bread, to give unto all men the rights of men would be to swamp forever the party which is to him greater than the State. When one thinks on the one-century history of this people, much is seen that accounts for their extraordinary love of isolation, and their ingrained and passionate aversion to control; much, too, that draws to them a world of sympathy. And when one realizes the old Dopper President hemmed in once more by the hurrying tide of civilization, from which his people have fled for generations--trying to fight both Fate and Nature--standing up to stem a tide as resistless as the eternal sea--one sees the pathos of the picture. But this is as another generation may see it. To-day we are too close--so close that the meaner details, the blots and flaws, are all most plainly visible; the corruption, the insincerity, the injustice, the barbarity--all the unlovely touches that will by and by be forgotten, sponged away by the gentle hand of Time, when only the picturesque will remain."
[Sidenote: Paul Kruger at ten Years]
In 1836 a company of trekkers about 300 strong, the second that crossed the Orange River, was under the command of Hendrick Potgeiter and attacked by native warriors, twenty-five trekkers were killed, but the main body were warned and forming a laager of wagons with barricades of thorn bushes. They were able to beat off the assailants. Paul Kruger, a boy of ten years, was one of the defenders.
Henry M. Stanley, M.P., the famous African explorer, writing at Pretoria in November, 1897, gives a graphic sketch of President Kruger, "fully dressed in the usual black suit and little old-fashioned top hat, smoking on the veranda of his house." This was the first glimpse Mr. Stanley had of the great ruler upon whom he was calling, and the historical correspondent was shown into the spacious saloon, finding opposite to him "a large and coarse oil painting" of Kruger. Stanley says in his striking and unreserved way:
[Sidenote: Not a Bad Likeness of President Kruger]
"The history of the painting I do not know, but as it is permitted to be hung so prominently in the reception room, it is to be presumed that the President and his friends regard it as a faithful likeness, and are consequently proud of it. This small fact proved to be the ABC of my study of the man of destiny of South Africa. It was clear that neither Kruger nor his friends knew anything of art, for the picture was an exaggerated reproduction of every defect in the President's homely features, the low, narrow, unintellectual brow, over small eyes, and heavy, massive expanse of face beneath. The man himself was almost beautiful in comparison with the monster on the canvas, and I really could not help pitying him for his innocent admiration of a thing that ought to be cast into the fire. But presently the President spoke--a mouthful of strange guttural sounds--in a voice that was like a loud gurgle, and as the great jaws and cheeks and mouth heaved and opened, I stole a glance at the picture, and it did not seem to me then as if the painter had libeled the man. At any rate, the explosive dialect so expanded the cheeks and widened the mouth, that I perceived some resemblance to the brutal picture."
Mr. Stanley made his call, according to information about the habits of the great natural statesman, very early, but the President of the South African Republic had already prepared himself for the day by reading a chapter of the Bible, and when he remarked to his visitor, "What I have said shall be done," Stanley naively remarks he discovered in the manner of the words, "When I learned how he had been engaged, I knew he had been infected with the style of the Pentateuch," adding, "He has fully arrived at that stage of life that made Mr. Gladstone so impossible in the Cabinet. There is abundance of life and vitality in the President, but he is so choleric that he is unable to brook opposition. Any expression suggesting him to be mistaken in his views or policy arouses his temper, the thunderous gurgle is emitted, the right arm swings powerfully about, while the eyes become considerably buried under the upper eyelids, I suppose from the photograph of him now on sale at Pretoria, which represents his eyes looking upward, he fancies this to be his impressive gaze. He receives a stranger with the air of a pedagogue about to impress a new pupil, and methodically starts to inculcate the principles of true statesmanship; but soon heats himself with the dissertation, and breaks out in the strong masterful style which his friends say is such a picturesque feature in his character, and his critics call the 'humbug pose'. If by the latter is meant the repetition of stale platitudes, and the reiteration of promises which will never be carried out, I fear I must agree with the critics."
[Sidenote: His Appearance and Manners]
Mr. Stanley continues: "In appearance he is only a sullen, brutal-looking concierge, dressed in old-fashioned, ill-made black clothes. He appears to know absolutely nothing outside of burgherdom; he has neither manners nor taste; his only literature seems to be limited to the Bible; he has no intrinsic excellence of character that should appeal to the admiration of the public; but what he does know, he knows well. He knows the simplicity of his rude and bearded brethren of the veldt; he can play upon their fears and their creed, with perfect effect, and it is in the nature of his ill-conditioned personality to say 'no.' All the rest has fallen to him because he is so stubborn, so unyielding, and others so vacillating and so pitifully weak.
[Sidenote: The Boer of Boers]
"I do not suppose there are any people in the world so well represented by a single prominent man as the Boers of South Africa are by Mr. Kruger. He is pre-eminently the Boer of Boers in character, in intellect, and in disposition, and that is one reason why he has such absolute control over his people. His obstinacy--and no man with a face like his could be otherwise--his people call strength. Age and its infirmities have intensified it. His reserve--born of self-pride, consciousness of force--limited ambitions, and self-reliance, they call a diplomatic gift. His disposition, morose from birth, isolation fostered by contact with his kind, is unyielding and selfish, and has been hardened by contempt of the verbose weaklings who have measured themselves against him."
Mr. Howard C. Hillegas is a singularly specific writer, and in his instructive volume, "Oom Paul's People," is careful to say, and it is a point worth making, that the President is "less than five feet seven inches in height, body large and fat, legs thin and short, eyebrows bushy, white and projecting half an inch. * * * When he smiles the big fat circles above his cheeks are pushed upward, and shut his small gray eyes from view. When pleased the President generally laughs hilariously, and then his eyes remain closed for the greater part of a minute. Mr. Kruger's nose and mouth are the chief features of his face. Both are more extensive than his large face demands, but they are such marvels in their own peculiar way as to be distinguishing marks. The bridge of the nose grows wide as it goes outward from the point between the eyes, and before it reaches the tip it has a gentle upheaval. Then it spreads out on either side, and covers fully two inches of area above his upper lip. It is not attractive, but in that it follows the general condition of his facial landscape.
"The mouth is wide and ungainly. The constant use of a heavy pipe has caused a deep depression on the left side of his lower lip, and gives the whole mouth the appearance of being unbalanced. His chin is large and prominent, and his ears correspond relatively in size and symmetry with his face. When in repose his features are not pleasant to look upon, but when lighted up by a smile they become rather attractive, and generally cause his laughter to be contagious among his hearers.
"The thin line of beard which runs from ear to ear combines with the hair on his head in forming what is not unlike a white halo around the President's face. The lines in the man's face are deep, irregular, and very numerous."
[Sidenote: His Daily Life and Family]
It is said this great man takes particular care of his health which is an affair of international importance. He rises at half-past five and drinks several cups of "intensely black coffee," and smokes several "full pipes of very strong tobacco," reads the Bible for half an hour, and goes to work.
Mrs. Kruger is the President's second wife, the niece of his first wife. The first wife had one child, who is dead, and the second wife is the mother of sixteen children, nine of whom are dead. Two sons are living, one acting as the President's private secretary, the other one in a responsible government position, and the President has a son-in-law, Captain Elopp, described as several times a millionaire, living in a $250,000 house.
In his proclamation after the Jameson Raid, President Kruger said: "I am inexpressibly thankful to God that the despicable and treacherous incursion into my country has been prevented, and the independence of the republic saved, through the courage and bravery of my burghers."
The famous telegram from the Emperor of Germany to Oom Paul is highly prized by the President. It is considered a priceless treasure, and runs as follows:
"Received January 3rd, 1896.
"From William I.R., Berlin.
"To President Kruger, Pretoria.
"I tender you my sincere congratulations that, without appealing to the help of friendly powers, you and your people have been successful in opposing with your own forces the armed bands that have broken into your country to disturb the peace, in restoring order, and in maintaining the independence of your country against attacks from without. "WILLIAM I.R."
[Sidenote: President Kruger's Grand Passion]
President Kruger's grand passion is hatred of the British, and he holds them in such distrust and contempt that he refuses to see the accredited correspondents of the principal London newspapers, but will see an American newspaper man, emphasizing the reason why by the statement that "they do not lie" about him and that the English do, and he desires Americans to hear the inside of things from himself. The first thing he asked the author of "Oom Paul's People," himself an American newspaper correspondent, whose valuable letters were published by Appleton & Company, was, "Have you any English blood in your veins?" This was delivered in the Boerish dialect, and the correspondent had been told the President always opened a conversation by inquiring as to the health of the person introduced, and this time he got the answer back that the English blood was abundant and good. This was considered a portentous joke, and struck Oom Paul as extraordinarily funny. The story of the expression of his delight is useful in its disclosure of character. Then the correspondent was informed the old statesman was in a better humor than he had been seen for some time, and that anything could be got out of him. An extremely interesting conversation followed.
The majority of the people of the United States have accepted the newspaper celebration of President Kruger as a wonder in courage, diplomacy, integrity, piety, and all that makes up excellent manhood. The record of his duplicity, cunning, evasiveness and crooked selfishness is practically excluded from those journals, and even headlines that approximate to the truth are confined to a few papers that care for international commentary. It is supposed that our local market for intelligence desires a constant flavor of Boerdom.
[Sidenote: Fair Summaries of Both Sides]
The collection of historical matter--"The Transvaal from Within"--is in terms and tone very persuasive that it has unusual merit as truthful--giving from the records fair summaries of both sides of disputed questions, whether they are commercial, political, racial or personal. The author is Mr. J. P. Fitzpatrick, the publisher Mr. William Heineman, London, and the work is brought well up to date. It opens with a note that shows a spirit of consideration for all that is admirable; and it is the desire of the author of this book that it should apply thoroughly. We quote:
"It has been found impossible to avoid in this book more or less pointed reference to certain nationalities in certain connections; for instance, such expressions as 'the Boers,' 'the Cape Dutch,' 'the Hollanders,' 'the Germans,' are used. The writer desires to say once and for all that unless the contrary is obviously and deliberately indicated, the distinctions between nationalities are intended in the political sense only and not in the racial sense, and if by mischance there should be found something in these pages which seems offensive, he begs the more indulgent interpretation on the ground of a very earnest desire to remove and not to accentuate race distinctions."
[Illustration: A HUMANE AND DARING DEED. Lieutenant L. R. Pomeroy, when retiring to shelter at the battle of Ladysmith, November 3, 1890, saw a wounded and dismounted trooper needing help; and regardless of bullets and shells flying around, assisted his comrade to mount behind him and carried him to safety. Such are the deeds that win the Victoria Cross.]
[Illustration: BATTLE OF LADYSMITH--TERRIBLE DASH OF HORSE ARTILLERY RUSHING TO TAKE UP A NEW POSITION]
The first chapter of the inside history opens with this searching paragraph:
"When, before resorting to extreme measures to obtain what the Uitlanders deemed to be their bare rights, the final appeal or declaration was made on Boxing Day, 1895, in the form of the manifesto published by the Chairman of the National Union, President Kruger, after an attentive consideration of the document as translated to him, remarked: 'Their rights. Yes, they'll get them--over my dead body!' Volumes of explanation could not better illustrate the Boer attitude and policy towards the English-speaking immigrants."
[Sidenote: A Few Facts of History]
President Burgess, the predecessor of Kruger is described in this work as leaving the Transvaal "brokenhearted by the cruelty and mean intrigue, the dissensions among and disloyalty of the people." He left a statement denouncing Kruger for his intrigues to secure the presidency for himself, and charges and proves Kruger to have been a leader in breaking promises and betraying where he had promised support. When the Transvaal was annexed after President Burgess' pathetic retirement before the rising tyrant, Kruger calmly took office under the British government, and resigned the dignity and emolument only when refused increased remuneration for which he repeatedly applied. The English authority during this time was undermined by rumors incessantly circulated among the sentimentalists of English statesmen, and having some foundation that the Transvaal would be given up. This was preparing the way for trouble, and the weakness displayed in England was met by what amounted to a conspiracy in the Transvaal. Kruger's point was an artful though crude demagogy of violence against taxation.
It was about taxes that the first English war was finally started, and the Majuba Hill incident was preliminary to a complacent accommodation, glossed in England as magnanimity and exalted expression of the overwhelming power of Great Britain, but perfectly understood in the Transvaal to mean that the British Empire was whipped and could be kicked about at the pleasure of the powerful President.
[Sidenote: Outrages Perpetrated by Boers]
It was during the war leading down to this inglorious surrender and false peace, that many murders were committed by Boer assassins, who used white flags and Red Crosses to lure victims. A few incidents of this treachery are thus specified:
"There was the murder of Green in Lydenburg, who was called to the Boer camp, where he went unarmed and in good faith, only to have his brains blown out by the Boer with whom he was conversing; there was the public flogging of another Englishman by the notorious Abel Erasmus because he was an Englishman and had British sympathies; and there were the various white flag incidents. At Ingogo the Boers raised the white flag, and when in response to this General Colley ordered the hoisting of a similar flag to indicate that it was seen, a perfect hail of lead was poured on the position where the General stood; and it was obvious that the hoisting of the flag was merely a ruse to ascertain where the General and his staff were. There was the ambulance affair on Majuba, when the Boers came upon an unarmed party bearing the wounded with the Red Cross flying over them, and after asking who they were and getting a reply, fired a volley into the group, killing Surgeon-Major Cornish."
These are facts of history, and the Boers have played the same savage game in all their wars with the English. The policy of Kruger has from the first been engineered to exclude immigrants, to repel all foreigners especially held in abhorrence by the Transvaal government, and constantly denied civil rights associated with civilization.
After a naturalized subject "shall have been qualified to sit in the Second Volksraad for ten years (one of the conditions for which is that he must be thirty years of age), he may obtain the full burgher rights or political privileges, provided the majority of burghers in his ward will signify in writing their desire that he should obtain them, and provided the President and Executive shall see no objection to granting the same! It is thus clear that, assuming the Field-cornet's records to be honestly and properly compiled, and to be available for reference (which they are not), the immigrant, after fourteen years' probation during which he shall have given up his own country and have been politically emasculated, and having attained the age of at least forty years, would have the privilege of obtaining burgher rights should he be willing, and able to induce the majority of a hostile clique to petition in writing on his behalf, and should he then escape the veto of the President and Executive.
[Sidenote: The Copingstone to Mr. Kruger's Chinese Wall]
This was the coping-stone to Mr. Kruger's Chinese wall. The Uitlanders and their children were disfranchised forever, and as far as legislation could make it sure, the country was preserved by entail to the families of the "Voortrekkers." The measure was only carried because of the strenuous support given by the President both within the Raad and at those private meetings which practically decide the important business of the country.
The great statesman Kruger, when asked just to "open the door a little" to outsiders, began an address in a village near Johannesburg by saying, "Burghers, friends, thieves, murderers, newcomers and others." The particular propriety of this was that for a long time Kruger could not be persuaded to visit Johannesburg. He hated the flourishing, stirring and steadily increasing city, and mistrusted the people, because he knew that his methods could not for a great while be submitted to by an enlightened community. He relaxed his vigilant attitude of hostility at last so far as to become the guest of the people of the city, and when he was civilly treated, and the fact that the Johannesburgers had been handsome in entertainment, he reviled them as "a set of lick-spittles."
[Sidenote: The Wise Man's Treatment of the Natives]
The style of the wise man's treatment of the natives appears in this:
The "April" case was one in which an unfortunate native named April, having worked for a number of years for a farmer on promise of certain payment in cattle, and having completed his term, applied for payment and a permit to travel through the district. On some trivial pretext this was refused him, his cattle were seized, and himself and his wives and children forcibly retained in the service of the Boer. He appealed in the nearest official, Field-cornet Prinsloo, who acted in a particularly barbarous and unjustifiable manner, so that the Chief Justice before whom the case was heard (when April, having enlisted the sympathy of some white people, was enabled to make an appeal), characterized Prinsloo's conduct as brutal in the extreme and a flagrant abuse of power perpetrated with the aim of establishing slavery. Judgment was given against Prinsloo with all costs. Within a few days of this decision being arrived at, the President, addressing a meeting of burghers, publicly announced that the Government had reimbursed Prinsloo, adding, "Notwithstanding the judgment of the High Court, we consider Prinsloo to have been right."
[Sidenote: A Misleading Reputation]
President Kruger has had provided for him a reputation that is astonishingly misleading. His part in public affairs has been one of vehement and vindictive self-assertion, participation in intrigue for office and for salaries--the constant intrusion of his personality in the rudest and most selfish ways into everything that concerns the state, disregarding the law, and with complete indifference to the rights of all persons except those who recognize him as their master. Abstaining himself from intoxicating drinks, he has long sustained a liquor ring in dispensing horrible drinks at scandalous profit. Given to self-praise for lofty purity in matters of state, he maintained a dynamite ring that cut off a large revenue, seemingly for no better reason than that his friends--his sycophant friends--were of it, and he has stooped to studied interference between employers and employed, that he might break up reasonable relations, believing himself in a position to profit by agitations; and in this insidious proceeding he has used secret service funds in the organization of hostilities for the embarrassment of employers, not because they had wronged the laboring man, but for the reason that they were not on their knees to him.
All this the world has accepted as manifestations of virtue, domestic kindliness and the religious sensibilities that are always in the public eye, that the multitude may gaze upon the goodness of the great and good man. The sincerity of his character as a professor of piety is not doubtful, but he carries into that, as into everything else, an ostentatious egotism, that among some nations and peoples is regarded as unbecoming a Christian statesman. It is fair to say of him that the one thing in which he seems to have profound convictions in addition to his self-esteem and hatred of English-speaking people, is in his devotion to the doctrines of the Old Testament. He does not seem to have made the acquaintance of the New Testament.
[Sidenote: Racial Prejudices, Racial Hatreds]
He has sought to keep apart the merchants and the miners, fearing their united power might interfere with his characteristic proceedings. He has lost no opportunity to promote belligerency among white laborers, and utterly and always ignores the rights as men of the natives. When intriguing with organized labor he has shown all the surface indications of partnership in carrying on, as the inside historian Fitzpatrick says, "an anticapitalist campaign with the Government press," and also "fostering the liquor industry with its thousands of reputable hangers on"; and more than all, he has without hesitation or variation flagrantly indulged racial prejudices and incited racial hatreds in South Africa, the most deplorable and dangerous possible use of power, and he has found constant consolation and been greatly sustained in his public pursuits by the hatred of the Whites against the Black and Brown people. But his favorite investment and educational enterprise is in arousing the animosities of the Boers against the British, that they may be at the same altitude with his own.
It is to the rough violence of President Kruger, his disregard of the laws, studied demoralization of his own courts, that he has repeatedly, recklessly overruled with sheer brute force--his heedless refusal to aid in the prosperous development of his own country, his gross and violent opposition to progress of all kinds--to the extension and protection of legitimate industries, and steadfast cares for those that are illegitimate, and sinister participation in corrupting schemes surrounded and inspired by the noisy congratulations of his habitual flatterers--all this afflicting him with the elephantiasis of conceit. It is to that and his effusion of arrogance to which we trace with certain steps the remote sources and the rampant rushing of the war, that is so destructive and wanton. There is no good in it, unless it involves the downfall of the Kruger tyranny, an example of individual caprice of a type of ruthless misgovernment, not surpassed in the self-indulgence of those who rule the barbarous tribes of Africa or sit on the gaudy thrones of Asia.
[Sidenote: Illustrating Specifications]
So much accusation must for full effect be illustrated by specifications. In 1897 the Burghers, the ruling class behind President Kruger, had heavy losses from the ravages of Rinderpest and there followed a great work of benevolence in the shape of purchases by the Government of a multitude of mules, to take the place of the oxen that had perished; and there was associated with this, provision made in "mealies," the corn of the country, to save the alleged starving. Under a form of favoritism by a Government that was the personal property of Mr. Kruger, anything could be done under the pretense of saving the rulers of the land said to be suffering by pestilence and famine. Government officials were greatly interested in the contracts for the salvation of the people. The historian Fitzpatrick says: "The notorious Mr. Barend Vorster, who had bribed Volksraad members with gold watches, money and spiders, in order to secure the Selati Railway concession, and who although denounced as a thief in the Volksraad itself, declined to take action to clear himself and was defended by the President, again played a prominent part. This gentleman and his partners contracted with the Government to supply donkeys at a certain figure apiece, the Government taking all risk of loss from the date of purchase. The donkeys were purchased in Ireland and South America at one-sixth of the contract price. The contractors alleged that they had not sufficient means of their own and received an advance equal to three-quarters of the total amount payable to them; that is to say, for every £100 which they had to expend they received £450 as an unsecured, advance against their profits."
Investigation of this scandal was hushed up, but the money payable under the contracts was all exacted and all lost. There is nothing to show that the people got any good of it. The shippers of mules persuaded the majestical President that the health of those animals demanded the ventilation of the upper decks, and that the vessels might not be topheavy there must be double cargoes, mules for the bereaved Boers on top, and food for the famine-stricken, none of whom were in actual want, carried in the hold as ballast. Here was a double stroke of the ingenuity of contractors, and the profit was swollen accordingly.
[Sidenote: Free and Independent Krugerism]
The benevolent President was a fierce defender of the money makers by this transaction. There are a few figures that indicate the scientific political economy by which the formidable President wins the affections of the populace and guards his free state from harm. His particular friends are in office, of course, and they have fixed salaries to a great extent. It shows the progress made by the Government, that the amount of those salaries was twenty-four times as great in 1899 as in 1886, having risen from £51,831, 3s. 7d., to £1,121,394, 5s. This is the revenue that goes to the promotion and perpetuation of free and independent Krugerism.
[Illustration: MEMBERS OF THE FIRST VOLKSRAAD, S.A.R. J. W. VanDerryst (Bode), S. P Dutoit, A. K. Loveday, J. H. Labuschagne, J. G. G. Bassle (Stenographer), A. J. Havinga (Ass. Bode). B. J. Vorster, J. P. Goetser, L. Botha, J. DeGleroq, J. L. VanWiok, A. Bieperink. D. I. Louw, I. K. DeBeer, P. I. Schutte. W. J. Fogkens, Sec., A. D. Wolmarans, F. G. H. Wolmarans, H. M. S. Prinsloo, J. P. Meyer, J. DuP. DeBeer, J. H. De LaReis.]
[Illustration: PRESIDENT KRUGER AND HIS CHIEF ADVISERS IN THE WAR. A. Wolmarans, F. W. Reitz (State Secretary), S. M. Berger, J. M. H. Kock, Com. Gen'l P. J. Joubert, President S. J. P. Kruger, P. J. Cronje (Supt. of Natives).]
[Sidenote: President Kruger's Nepotism]
The law forbids the sale of liquor to the natives, and yet they are to an astonishing degree habitually drunk on the Rand, and the cost of labor in the great mines is largely increased by the disabilities of men a great part of the time under the influence of liquor, and the men themselves perish at a shocking rate. We quote again the historian Fitzpatrick: "The fault rests with a corrupt and incompetent administration. That administration is in the hands of the President's relations and personal following. The remedy urged by the State Secretary, State Attorney, some members of the Executive, the general public, and the united petition of all the ministers of religion in the country, is to entrust the administration to the State Attorney's department and to maintain the existing law. In the face of this, President Kruger has fought hard to have the total prohibition law abolished and has successfully maintained his nepotism--to apply no worse construction. In replying to a deputation of liquor dealers he denounced the existing law as an 'immoral' one, because by restricting the sale of liquor it deprived a number of honest people of their livelihood--and President Kruger is an abstainer!
"The effect of this liquor trade is indescribable; the loss in money, although enormous, is a minor consideration compared with the crimes committed and the accidents in the mines traceable to it; and the effect upon the native character is simply appalling."
This is a shocking indictment, and the history in it has been hidden under a boisterous sentimentalism, to the effect that the eccentricities of monstrous vulgarity should be accepted as the graces of supernaturalism of true natural greatness.
[Illustration: SCENE IN MARKET SQUARE, KIMBERLEY, THE CITY OF DIAMONDS]
[Illustration: THE RICHEST DIAMOND MINES OF THE WORLD, KIMBERLEY, SOUTH AFRICA]
