a
revelation not only to the Uitlanders, who still believed that
reasonable representations would prevail, but to a section of the
voters of the country who had failed to realize Mr. Kruger's policy,
and who honestly believed that he would carry some conciliatory
measures tending to relieve the strain, and satisfy the large and
ever-increasing industrial population of aliens. The measure was
accepted on all hands as an ultimatum--a declaration of war to the
knife. There was only one redeeming feature about it: from that time
forward there could be no possibility of misunderstanding the
position, and no reason to place any credence in the assurances of
the President. When remonstrated with on this subject of the refusal
of the franchise, and when urged by a prominent man whose sympathies
are wholly with the Boer to consider the advisability of 'opening the
door a little,' the President, who was in his own house, stood up,
and leading his adviser by the arm, walked into the middle of the
street, and pointed to the Transvaal flag flying over the Government
buildings, saying, 'You see that flag. If I grant the franchise I may
as well pull it down.'

It is seldom possible to indicate the precise period at which a
permanent change in the feeling of a people may be considered to have
been effected, but the case of the Uitlanders undoubtedly presents
one instance in which this is possible. Up to the passing of this law
quite a considerable section of the people believed that the
President and the Volksraad would listen to reason, and would even in
the near future make considerable concessions. A larger section, it
is true, believed nothing of the sort, but at the same time were so
far from thinking that it would be necessary to resort to extreme
measures that they were content to remain passive, and allow
their more sanguine comrades to put their convictions to the test. It
is not too much to say that not one person in a hundred seriously
contemplated that an appeal to force would be necessary to obtain the
concessions which were being asked. It might be said that within an
hour the scales dropped from the eyes of the too credulous community,
and the gravity of the position was instantly realized. The passage
of the Bill and the birth of the revolutionary idea were synchronous.

In a brief sketch of events, such as this is, it is not possible with
due regard to simplicity to deal with matters in chronological order,
and for