344 KLOOF AND KARROO. 



forming accurate judgment were unrivalled, that 

 nothing would have ever induced Kruger, Joubert, 

 and others of the Boer leaders to join hands and work 

 with the English. Their hatred and hostility never 

 could have been overcome by peaceful means. When 

 Sir Bartle Frere went up to Pretoria, he repeatedly 

 interviewed the Dutch irreconcilables, and offered 

 them every possible concession short of positive 

 rendition of the country. No man found his way so 

 straitly to the hearts, even of the rugged Boers, as 

 Sir Bartle Frere ; but even he could not turn these 

 men from their purpose. " Sir Bartol Ferreira," 

 said Kruger, in his curious Dutch-English, at one 

 of these interviews, "we want our country back; 

 we will take nothing less than our country, and we 

 will not rest night or day till we get it." 



At length even the gentle and patient Frere gave 

 up his efforts in despair, and Kruger and his sup- 

 porters went their way still breathing threatenings 

 and hostility against the English. Yet even with 

 these men, a firm policy, supported by a strong home 

 Government, would in the end have triumphed. Two 

 reverses for English arms, and the crowning mercy (for 

 the Boers) of Majuba sufficed, however, to turn the 

 faint hearts of Lord Kimberley and Mr. Gladstone, 

 and once more the magnificent Transvaal country 

 reverted to Dutch authority. 



It has been recently said that the Transvaal 

 authorities were still coquetting with Germany, and 

 that a Protectorate by that Empire over the South 

 African Republic would be the outcome. This view 

 I take leave entirely to differ from. The bulk of the 

 Transvaal people might, and would with judicious 

 management, have come peaceably and quietly under 



