ent his intentions, his publicly expressed disapproval of the
Chamberlain-Milner policy probably did more harm than his private
influence with Mr Kruger could possibly do good. On the 11th of June
1899, shortly after the Bloemfontein conference, from which Sir Alfred
Milner had just returned, Mr Schreiner asked the high commissioner to
inform Mr Chamberlain that he and his colleagues agreed in regarding
President Kruger's Bloemfontein proposals as "practical, reasonable and
a considerable step in the right direction." Early in June, however, the
Cape Dutch politicians began to realize that President Kruger's attitude
was not so reasonable as they had endeavoured to persuade themselves,
and Mr Hofmeyr, accompanied by Mr Herholdt, the Cape minister of
agriculture, visited Pretoria. On arrival, they found that the Transvaal
Volksraad, in a spirit of defiance and even levity, had just passed a
resolution offering four new seats in the Volksraad to the mining
districts, and fifteen to exclusively burgher districts. Mr Hofmeyr, on
meeting the executive, freely expressed indignation at these
proceedings. Unfortunately, Mr Hofmeyr's influence was more than
counterbalanced by an emissary from the Free State, Mr Abraham Fischer,
who, while purporting to be a peacemaker, practically encouraged the
Boer executive to take extreme measures. Mr Hofmeyr's established
reputation as an astute diplomatist, and as the trusted leader for years
of the Cape Dutch party, made him as powerful a delegate as it was
possible to find. If any emissary could accomplish anything in the way
of persuading Mr Kruger, it was assuredly Mr Hofmeyr. Much was looked
for from his mission by moderate men of all parties, and by none more
so, it is fair to believe, than by Mr Schreiner. But Mr Hofmeyr's
mission, like every other mission to Mr Kruger to induce him to take a
reasonable and equitable course, proved entirely fruitless. He returned
to Cape Town disappointed, but probably not altogether surprised at the
failure of his mission. Meanwhile a new proposal was drafted by the Boer
executive, which, before it was received in its entirety, or at least
before it was clearly understood, elicited from Mr Schreiner a letter on
the 7th of July to the _South African News_, in which, referring to his
government, he said:--

"While anxious and continually active with good hope in the cause of
securing reasonable modifications of the existing representative
syste