roceeding apace, and Dr. Leyds had been
despatched to Europe, as Envoy Extraordinary of the Republic, with
authority and funds calculated to enable him to enlist the active
sympathy of the Continental powers on behalf of the Pretoria
Executive. His place as State Secretary had been filled, in July, by
Mr. Reitz, the former President of the Free State, and one of the
actual founders of the Afrikander Bond; and Mr. Smuts, a younger and
even more enthusiastic believer in the nationalist creed, was
appointed to the office of State Attorney.[47] With the exception of
Rhodesia and Natal and the native territories immediately under the
control of the Imperial Government, the Afrikander nationalists
dominated the whole of South Africa. Nor is it surprising that, in
these circumstances, the tone of the communications passing between
the Transvaal Government and the paramount Power should have become
increasingly unsatisfactory.[48]

[Footnote 47: The State-Secretaryship was offered first to
Mr. Abraham Fischer, of the Free State, by whom it was
declined (_Memoirs of Paul Krueger_, vol. ii., p. 297). The
Cape Afrikanders desired the appointment of Mr. Smuts.]

[Footnote 48: On May 7th, 1897, President Krueger had formally
requested the Imperial Government to allow all questions at
issue between the two Governments under the Convention to be
submitted to the arbitration of the President of the Swiss
Republic. To this proposal Mr. Chamberlain replied, on
October 10th, that the relationship of Great Britain to the
South African Republic being that of a suzerain Power, it
would be impossible for the Imperial Government to permit the
intervention of a foreign Power. On April 16th, 1898, in a
despatch embodying the legal opinions of Mr. Farelly,
President Krueger claims that the South African Republic is an
independent State, and denies the existence of any
"suzerainty" on the part of Great Britain. In forwarding this
despatch Lord Milner made the apposite comment that the
propriety of employing the term suzerainty to express the
rights possessed by Great Britain is an "etymological
question," and Mr. Chamberlain, replying on December 15th,
accepts President Krueger's declaration that he is willing to
abide by the articles of the