rough diplomatist of no
mean rank."

The picture is distinctly interesting, but it does Mr. Kruger an
injustice. Mr. Distant says that "he understands Englishmen little
better than they understand him." Surely this remark is an insult to
Mr. Kruger's great sagacity. He long ago "took the measure" of the
Englishman, and he has enjoyed himself immensely in seeing how far
it was possible--vulgarly speaking--to "try it on" with the British
nation. If Mr. Kruger could be induced to write a book entitled "My
Life and Games with the British Government for the last Twenty
Years," he might afford our politicians some useful and instructive
entertainment.

To Mr. Distant's portrait of the President of the South African
Republic another and a later one may be appended. It is drawn by the
able pen of Mr. Fitzpatrick, the author of "The Transvaal from
Within." "In the history of South Africa the figure of the grim old
President will loom large and striking--picturesque, as the figure
of one who, by his character and will, made and held his people;
magnificent, as one who, in the face of the blackest fortune, never
wavered from his aim or faltered in his effort; who, with a courage
that seemed and still seems fatuous, but which may well be called
heroic, stood up against the might of the greatest empire in the
world. And, it may be, pathetic too, as one whose limitations were
great, one whose training and associations, whose very successes,
had narrowed and embittered and hardened him; as one who, when the
greatness of success was his to take and hold, turned his back on
the supreme opportunity and used his strength and qualities to fight
against the spirit of progress and all that the enlightenment of the
age pronounces to be fitting and necessary to good government and a
healthy State.

"To an English nobleman who, in the course of an interview, remarked,
'My father was a Minister of England and twice Viceroy of Ireland,' the
old Dutchman answered, 'And my father was a shepherd!' It was not pride
rebuking pride; it was the ever-present fact which would not have been
worth mentioning but for the suggestion of the antithesis. He, too, was
a shepherd, and is--a peasant. It may be that he knows what would be
right and good for his people, and it may be not; but it is sure that he
realises that to educate would be to emancipate; to broaden their views
would be to break down the defences of their prejudices; to let in the
new leaven