u followed his example in 1898. Most of the campaigns
arose over the refusal to pay the hut tax. Before the Mapoch
campaign in 1883 the Volksraad made a change in the terms of the
franchise. It may be remembered that for burgher rights a residence
of one year in the country and an oath of allegiance were necessary
conditions. It was arranged that in future all candidates for
citizenship must have resided and been registered in the Field
Cornet's lists for five years, and must pay the sum of L25.

About this time Messrs. Kruger, Du Toit, and Smith travelled to
England to agitate for a new Convention. The Transvaal Government
had "broken the spirit, and even the letter," of the old Convention,
and Lord Derby in the House of Lords expressed his opinion that "it
would be an easy thing to find a _casus belli_ in what had taken
place." In spite of all this, Mr. Gladstone in 1884 obligingly
agreed to a new Convention. By examination of its terms, it will be
seen how far and how ignobly the Government went on the road to
concession. By this Convention the British Resident was replaced by
a diplomatic agent; the old title of South African Republic was
restored; the Republic was allowed to negotiate on its own account
with foreign Powers, limitations on treaty-making alone being
imposed. Complete freedom of religion was promised, and the Republic
agreed to "do its utmost" to prevent any of its inhabitants from
making any encroachments upon lands beyond the boundaries laid down.
Article 14 will be seen to be verbally similar to Article 26 of the
Pretoria Convention of 1881, only the words _South African Republic_
being substituted for _Transvaal State_. Nothing was said about the
preamble to the Pretoria Convention or the question of British
"suzerainty." The word was omitted from the new text; but it was
supposed to be operative as before. Over this matter there has been
so much argument that, unless we can devote a volume to solving the
Convention riddle, it is best left alone. We must allow that the
ambiguity of an already ambiguous Ministry had here reached its
climax! Certain it is that the Transvaal representatives returned to
inform the Raad that the suzerainty had been abolished, and that
statement they were allowed to maintain without contradiction! As a
natural consequence of this indecision and weakness on the part of
the then Government, subsequent Governments have been placed in an
unenviable quandary. The Boers cont