creasing taxation, the government now wished to raise
a loan. The attempt failed. The Government of Pretoria blamed the mining
companies for the failure. Mr. Rouliot said, on January 26th: "It is
true that the companies did not actually support the government in its
efforts;" but he added:--

"Neither the Chamber of Mines, nor, to my knowledge, anyone
directly, or indirectly, connected with mining interests did
anything to embarass the government in its financial negotiations.
It is useless to abstain from plain speaking; on the contrary, I
hold it to be my duty to be frank and to state to the government
that if it failed in its negotiations, it is due to its bad
financial policy; to its want of an efficient system of audit; to
its costly and terribly wasteful administration; to the want of
precise information as to the object of the loan, and the manner in
which it was to be expended."

In fine, Law I. of 1897, and the fantastic method of legislation adopted
by the Volksraad, show that the Government of Pretoria offers no better
guarantee to people dealing with it than did the Grand Turk, some fifty
years ago.

7.--_Fleecing the Uitlanders!_

Taxation, to the Boer, means getting all he can out of the Uitlander,
the old characteristic of all oligarchies. The Boer may cheerfully
augment both the taxes and his expenditure. It is not he who will
suffer.

I admire the Frenchmen, Belgians, Swiss, &c., who pretend that the
Uitlanders are a bad lot for not being delighted with such a
government.

CHAPTER XI.

MONOPOLIES IN THE TRANSVAAL AND THE NETHERLANDS RAILWAY COMPANY.[16]

1.--_Article XIV. and the Monopolies._

The avowed taxes are far from representing the whole of the burden laid
upon the Uitlanders by the Government of Pretoria.

The Convention of 1881 guaranteed freedom of commerce; nevertheless,
from 1882 onwards "the triumvirate who ruled the country," says Mr.
FitzPatrick (_The Transvaal from Within_), "granted numbers of
concessions, ostensibly for the purpose of opening up industries. The
real reasons are generally considered to have been personal." In 1884,
Article XIV. renewed the guarantee of freedom of commerce; the Volksraad
itself one day passed a resolution condemning monopolies in principle:
and in December 1895 the President granted a monopoly for the
importation of products, under the guise of a government agency with a
commissio