sane view of matters there, and is very hopeless. He represents
Krueger--as others describe him--as more dogged and bigoted than
ever, and surrounded by a crew of self-seekers who prevent him from
seeing straight. He has no one to whom he turns for advice, and he
is so inflated as to have the crazy belief that he (Krueger) is born
to bring about peace between Germany and France!"

Mr. Merriman is confident that the Orange Free State will interfere (Mr.
Steyn was alas, so blind as to fall in with Mr. Krueger's temper instead
of smoothing it down), and says:

"Is there no opportunity of bringing about a _rapprochement_
between us, in which the Free State might play the part of honest
broker?"

"_Us_" here means Cape Colony and Orange Free State.

Having spoken of matters of general interest for South Africa, of
uniform custom duties, etc., he ends by saying:

"The deplorable confusion and maladministration of his financial
arrangements still continue, and are a standing menace to the peace
of South Africa. Yet, judging from the utterances of the leading
men from the Rand who come down here, a very moderate reform would
satisfy all except those who do not want to be satisfied, and, I
believe, there is very little sympathy for the mischievous
agitation that, rightly or wrongly, is attributed to the designs of
Rhodes and Beit."

On the 26th of May, 1899, on the eve of the Bloemfontein Conference, he
writes to Mr. Fischer, prompter and organiser of the Conference,
foreseeing the results of the policy advocated by Dr. Leyds:

" ... but there is, of course, an even worse prospect, namely, that
misrepresentation may goad Great Britain into a position where,
_with the concurrence and invitation of the other powers_, she
might feel obliged, even at the risk of enormous military outlay,
to cut the Gordian knot. You will probably say, as I certainly say,
'where is the _casus belli_,' and refuse to believe it possible to
imagine such a contingency. Unfortunately, you and I, who keep our
heads, must not ignore the fact that an immense number of people
seem to have lost theirs and are ready, without reflection or
examination, to accept the highly-coloured statements of a partisan
press."

He mentions the maladministration in the Transvaal several months before
he had written to Mr. Smuts