this reason such questions as the franchise, the railway,
dynamite, and others have been explained separately, regardless of
the fact that it has thereby become necessary to allude to incidents
in the general history for which no explanation or context is
supplied at the moment. This is particularly the case in the matter
of the franchise, and for the purpose of throwing light on the policy
of which the franchise enactments and the Netherlands Railway affairs
and other matters formed a portion, some explanation should be given
of President Kruger's own part and history in the period under
review.

Mr. Kruger was elected President in 1882, and re-elected in 1888
without serious opposition, his one rival, General Joubert, receiving
an insignificant number of votes. The period for which he was now
elected proved to be one of unexpected, unexampled prosperity,
furnishing him with the means of completing plans which must have
seemed more or less visionary at their inception; but it was also a
period of considerable trial. The development of the Barberton
Goldfields was a revelation to the peasant mind of what the power of
gold is. The influx of prospectors was very considerable, the
increase of the revenue of the State appeared simply colossal; and no
sooner did the Boer rulers begin to realize the significance of the
Barberton boom than they were confronted with the incomparably
greater discoveries of the Witwatersrand. The President did not like
the Uitlanders. He made no concealment of the fact. He could never be
induced to listen to the petitions of that community, nor to do
anything in the way of roads and bridges in return for the very
heavy contributions which the little community sent to the Republic's
treasury. In those days he used to plead that the distance
was great, and the time required for coach-travelling was too
considerable; but the development of the Witwatersrand and the
growth of Johannesburg within thirty-two miles of the capital, while
disposing of the pretexts which held good in the case of Barberton,
found Mr. Kruger no more inclined to make the acquaintance of the
newcomers than he had been before. Notwithstanding that the law
prescribes that the President shall visit all the districts and towns
of the State at least once during the year, notwithstanding, also,
the proximity of Johannesburg, the President has only visited the
industrial capital of the Republic three times in nine years. The
first