An Opinion of Paul Kruger

AN OPINION OF PAUL KRUGER. A RETROSPECT. BY MALCOLM LITTLE, FROM THE CLASS IN ORATORY, BRIGHAM YOUNG ACADEMY, PROVO. Hardly a decade has passed since people began to ask about the history of Paul Kruger. Within that time he has brought a nation to the light of the world from out the darkness of South Africa, where, unrecognized, it had been struggling for existence and slowly gaining strength. From being unknown, he has suddenly stepped into the front ranks of the great men of the nineteenth century. During the past few years, perhaps no other man has furnished so much material for cartoonists and newspaper correspondents, championed so great a cause, or been the means of bringing into the field such vast armies. Every continent has been influenced by his purpose and affected by his unbending will. India, Australia, Canada and the British Isles have pitted against his scant soldiery the strength of their military prowess. The movement for which he stands has been discussed with like interest by the legislative bodies of both Europe and America. In every country men have admired his zeal, wondered at his statesmanship, applauded his victories, and deplored the unequal forces that ultimately compel him to yield. A person capable of creating such a world-wide reputation must be fitted to handle world problems, yet the conceptions of his character are varied. Interest has determined the judgment of

AN OPINION OF PAUL KRUGER. 725 some, prejudice that of others, while a third class have had the honesty to view him in the light of merit. Magazines have pictured him as possessing the daring and strength of a lion, the stealth and cunning of a panther, the depth and foresight of a diplomat, and the meekness and sincerity of a saint. On the one hand he is pointed to as an anomaly — a man endeavoring to force medieval absolutism upon the nineteenth century; on the other, he is regarded as the patron of liberty, opposing, with his war-hardened countrymen, the aggressions of British imperialism. The nations of the continent praise him that he has braved the dragon of England. Great Britain, herself, is divided in the estimate of his worth; one faction fixing him as the object of its hate because he desires to make the authority of the Boers paramount in their own land; the other, honoring him as the exponent of republican principles, while America extols alike his genius and his cause. However just these varied ways of looking at him may be, he at least has the faculty to center in himself the confidence and affection of his people, the spirit to arouse their patriotism, and the generalship to give purpose and effect to their courage. Though exhibiting such exceptional qualities we see in him only what we might expect — he has been made by the circumstances of his life. His desire and courage to oppose England have grown out of conditions imposed upon him by Great Britain. The difliculties attending the building of new homes, difficulties resulting from exile made desirable by her misrule, caused him and his people to become passionately attached to the lands they had wrested at great hazzard from the native Africans. Wearied by their many pilgrimages, they became resolved to move no farther into the wilderness, but to live where they had toiled and suffered; and more, — to live under a government growing out of their own conception of liberty. The subtle workings of the British policy taught them diplomacy; the modern equipment of her armies helped togive effectiveness to their warlike spirit; and from England they learned the laws of civilized warfare. The history of Kruger is the history of his people; his character but the reflection of theirs. In a rare combination of. faculties, he is no exception to those that daily surround him.

726 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Unlike Napoleon, he does not, by the sheer magnetism of his personality, make armies subservient to his selfish ends. His greatness has grown out of the greatness of his cause. His popularity is the result of a strong mind sincerely applied in preserving the rights of his fellow-men. When Napoleon's genius was eclipsed and his voice no longer was heard giving unity and direction to the scattered energies of France, soldiers and people found themselves without a leader and without an aim. His followers caught the contagion of his ambition. His will was their strength; his impetuosity, their courage. They were not imbued with his spirit, though led by it; neither were they schooled in his plans. But around Kruger are those that have gone through the same training as he; they possess similar characteristics, and they live for the same object. When Joubert fell his generalship survived in Botha. Should Oom Paul die, his mantle would fall upon another worthy the distinction. He does not stand alone. Around him are a coterie of men whose native powers have lain dormant until aroused by the question of the independence of their country. These he governs by virtue of his patriotism and superior wisdom, both of which have been tested in the crucible of experience. But should these qualities grow weak, should he accede to the demands of Parliament, the halo would vanish from around his name, and it would sink beneath the memory of his weakness. He lives not for self, but for others; and because of his disinterestedness he has the distinction of ruling a nation of patriots — a nation without an aristocracy— a nation without castes. England might have made him and his people her devoted subjects had her actions been as generous as her promises. In 1836, the world looked on with admiration while Great Britain freed the slaves in all her dominions. England was the first to make practical the doctrine of universal emancipation. Can a nation do aught more honorable than to sacrifice its greed upon the altar of humanity? Can it better serve its subjects than by setting before them the example of breaking down rank and writing equality over the lintel of every home? This action even met the approval of slave-holding Boers, many of them having experienced the rigor of a master's hand — a hand that fastened

AN OPINION OF PAUL KRUGEB. . 727 its grasp upon the conscience. Slaves were liberated, and their owners trusted to the honor of England to be true to her agreement to indemnify them. But no recompense was made, extensive fields lay idle, freed natives became a menace to the security of the farmers, and the settlers were without adequate protection. Their only means of existence had been taken from them, and starvation or utter ruin seemed just ahead. There was no place to turn for help. The thought that upon them had been practiced deception turned them from the instrument of their suffering. Discontent reigned si^preme. To live subject to a power in which they had lost confidence and respect was harrowing to their free spirits; to oppose it was fatality itself. What a change had come upon them! All at once, the future was veiled in uncertainty where before the prospect had been clear. Fond anticipations sank amid disappointment. Where were the happy homes they had thought to build? the freedom that had been the dream of generations? the independence and peace, the hope of which had lightened many a burden and soothed many a care ? All had vanished. The toil of years had been in vain. To sink, the mere creatures of circumstances or resolutely rise above them— these were the only alternatives. There was just one course which seemed to lead to the goal for which they had so long striven. Two centuries previously their ancestors fled from oppression and sought homes amid the silence of desolation. Once more an unclaimed wilderness bade the children bury themselves in its depths — to brave the impulsive fury of the savage in preference to the slow, but grinding pressure of civilization. The love of home struggled with the love of freedom, but the latter prevailed and the Boer peasants left the accumulations of a lifetime to get beyond the reach of what they regarded as tyranny. A people, indeed, love liberty if they value it higher than their broad fields; they love justice if they prefer voluntary exile to a reign of arbitrary power; and though isolation may have made them primitive, and their pastoral pursuits left them crude and uncultured, and their strong religious prejudices cause them to seem narrow and dogmatic, yet no one can question their appreciation

728 IMPROVEMENT ERA. for that happy, buoyant, free life over whose path no shadow of despotism ever passes. The boy that in maturity was to be the anchor of the- Republic was among the slow-moving company that directed its course toward the heart of Africa. They knew not their destiny. They were going beyond the reach of foreign influence, where their mother tongue could be spoken in its purity; where their simple worship would be undisturbed; where the conqueror would not intrude until they should gain sufficient strength to oppose his invasion. Oppression they left behind, peril and doubt lay before them. In this measure of expulsion lay the first lesson England taught her invincible pupil. A youth of fourteen, he may have reveled in the novelty of the change — in the wonders of an unexplored country; but in common with his fellows, he carried with him a bitter and deep-seated hatred for England. Still, to her he owes this strong nature. It was she that compelled him to trust in the strength of his own arm until his self-confidence failed not, even when braved by the lion in his native forests. Often the steadiness of his aim proved the salvation of his life, and he learned to look to his own ingenuity for a way out of difficulties. His varied experiences .eminently fitted him for his subsequent career. As. a mature man and the leader of his people, gathering dangers did not dismay him, but rather increased his determination to press on until his enemies should have fled before him or crouched vanquished at his feet. Gloom disappeared before the light of his hope. Opposition brought his strong and vigorous nature to its full development, and attaining to one ambition after another, imparted to him and his countrymen that confidence which is never baffled by the thought of failure. United in purpose, they subjugated the native races, and became inured to war by reclaiming the jungles from their wild tenants; danger lost its terror. A common aim, common hardships, and finally a common good, resulting from a hard-won success, developed a national sympathy and a national spirit. The impulsiveness and religious fervor of the French Huguenot, blended with the plodding gentleness of the Dutch peasant, A distinctive type was the result, the Africander of to-day. How surprised was England, when, led to new conquests by her

AN OPINION OF PAUL KRUGER. 729 spirit of territorial acquisition, her soldiers climbed the veldt of South Africa! Not many years had passed since a few poor emigrants, alone or in small numbers, had fled before the advance of her authority. So few were they, in fact, that the world thought them lost in the depths of the Dark Continent, or annihilated by the swarm of native warriors. Instead, they were found in quiet possession of extensive plains, covered with vast herds and dotted here and there with peaceful homes. The Kaffir and Hottentot had long since disappeared with their tents and their cattle, glad to yield their lands to the sturdy pioneers, if only to get beyond their reach. A government had been organized granting the ballot to every citizen, and making position the reward of merit. Churches had been erected, at whose shrine the humble farmer gave voice to his devotion. The sorrow resulting from deserting the old hearths was being forgotten in the enjoyment of the new; the phantom hope which had led them on was changing to the real image of happiness, and .'contentment was diffusing its light over the new nation — a nation rising in primitive simplicity, upon the uplands of that far country — the beginning, it may be, of a power that will yet give balance to the jarring nations of Europe, as the United States has given peace to this continent. They were in this condition when home and liberty were weighed one against the other. England again intruded herself. Once more long lines of ox-teams trekked northward, bearing their burdens of sorrow, and leaving property and all a second time the spoil to foreign aggression. Such was the[school in which the character of Paul Kruger was formed. It gave purpose to his life, marking clear before him the course he was to follow, and imparting the determination to pursue it until his failing strength should expend itself, and his tottering limbs let him sink into the grave. He grew to manhood and passed on into old age, his ambitions still in harmony with the aims of his people. His exceptional genius did not isolate them in feeling or in thought. In him lived their sentiments and desires, and he became a type of their strength and resolution. His endurance, the steel of his nature, was tempered by the slow heat of trials and persecution— those trials that nature always sets in the way of advancement; that persecution,

730 IMPROVEMENT ERA the most galling of all, coming from the hands of those who should be friends. We know him, therefore, by the influences that have acted upon his development. His deep religious convictions are the outgrowth of the scenes through which he has passed; for to the assistance of divine providence alone could he attribute the grand achievements that have marked the progress of his people. With a force that could be levied from a population of only six thousand, they had wrested from hordes of Kafiir warriors, territory equal in area to a third of Europe; twice, in less than half a century, in the face of appalling difficulties, and with a success that desperation alone could achieve, they had builded new homes, and that with confidence of ultimate security, though annihilation seemed pending over them. They recognized how unequal was the contest. They saw how few there were against many, but if the Israelites needed neither weapons nor armies, but only trumpets and flaming torches and trust in God to scatter the Midianites before them, why should they fear, whose cause was just, so long as they should rely upon the same source to give them victory? Thus they went forth to battle believing that unseen hosts would fight with them unseen, and when at Spion Kop the field was cleared and they stood in triumphant possession, they regarded victory as a manifestation of divine favor, and turned in gratitude and reverence to the Giver of their blessings. Thinking God would be their protector, they forecast a long reign of independence; for who can withstand the elect of heaven? This spirit was kept alive by Paul Kruger, at once their leader in war, their legislator in peace, their arbiter in trouble, their priest and adviser in religion; and he, no less deeply than they, felt his obligation to a guiding hand from above. He saw that in the past it had guarded them against destruction and cared for their early growth; little wonder that for the future, he dreamed of a great nation spread over the highlands of South Africa, free from all imposed authority, and impregnable to the world's ambition by the loyalty of its people. To Paul Kruger religion and Boer independence are one; for through religion, liberty has been gained, and freedom has but intensified their spirit and devotion. This man is strong not alone in his self-will, but likewise in

AN OPINION OF PAUL KRUGER. 731 his humility. Every Sunday he takes his Bible and repairs to the little church, where, surrounded by the most lowly of his countrymen, he offers up the thanksgiving of his people. He is the shepherd, yet one with his flock; though the most wealthy of his people, still he lives as the poorest; though the highest official of a nation, yet the most obscure citizen feels at ease in his presence. Notwithstanding these seeming evidences of weakness, yet in reality.of living strength, the wisest feel the influence of his mind, and the strongest wince under his gaze. By opposing his military genius, world-famed generals have found a sudden grave for reputations gained by the labors of a lifetime; statesmen, after delving for years in the mines of state-craft, have found his diplomacy as deep, as subtle as their own. His ability as a leader has checked England's advancement as it has not been checked since the days of Washington. It was the old Dutch spirit aroused again — a spirit that neither Cromwell nor James I could intimidate. The genius of freedom that two centuries before had animated Oom Paul's ancestors in their struggles against the great Protectorate, seems to have taken its flight over the lapse of ages to find a ready reception in his breast. His language is but the echo of their dying lips. After England had desolated the lands of the old Hollanders, leaving six thousand of their fellow-soldiers clasped in death, and after surrender or utter destruction appeared inevitable, the sturdy Dutch burghers, undaunted still exclaimed: "All, all except the freedom of our country!" And when Tromp, their gallant leader, fell, he breathed as his last prayer, "0 Lord, be merciful to me and my poor people." The words of our hero of the Transvaal are just as memorable. When he saw that war was coming, and that his country should be the scene of conflict, he cried out in anguish and yet with determination, "Bloodshed we do not want, but if England will have our country, let them take it; but it shall be over our bodies, and the ashheaps of our property." This declaration has been the knell of thousands of the Queen's subjects. Where weakness was looked for, power raised its head; where prestige was expected to win, force failed. But the end is approaching. England will be victorious, for Kruger can not

732 IMPROVEMENT ERA. long oppose the force pitted against him. He is bending beneath the burden of years, and in just a little while another name will be listed with the honored dead, another light will have vanished from the clear vault of fame, and only a memory will linger over a life that has ended. Henceforth, Oom Paijl will figure in history with those whose lives have been marked with earnestness and sincerity, whom patriotism had consecrated to the noble task of combatting the assumption of power, and who have lived only to see age embittered by the thought of failure. When Cromwell died, there came to him the sweet calm which the consciousness of days well spent distils into the soul of the dying. When the landscape of Mt. Vernon grew dim to the weakening vision of Washington, and one by one the faces he had loved, faded from his sight, his spirit arose buoyed up by the strains of sweet music — made possible by the peace his labors had secured to his country. When the assassin laid his fell hand upon the life of Lincoln, though his death came at a period when his usefulness was only at its prime, there was joy awakened by the flitting picture of broken fetters and lashes hung up to be used no more, throngs of liberated slaves moving out into the world, the light of hope beaming from their eyes, the dignity of manhood asserted in their free step. With these, the illumination of the closing moment cast its radiance over the scenes of the past, and transformed them into a bower of mellow light, leading up to the grand culmination. But how different with Kruger! He has contended as valiantly as they, but the gloom of disappointment daily thickens around him. No danger has ever arisen between him and the liberty of his people, that he has not assailed; self-interest has never been too strong to yield to his one great purpose. Independence has been the object of his toil, the theme of his conversation, the food for his solitary thought. Its vision has broken in upon his midnight dreams, has been his guide, his inspiration by day. And now, when feebleness has crept through his being, and stiffened his tiring limbs — at a time when he had thought to sit in quiet meditation, lulled by the sound of contented industry — no rest comes to ease his weariness; but the tumult of war fires his veteran soul, and dark forebodings mantle the prospect of the