occasion was in the early days--a visit now remembered only as
the occasion of the banquet at which Mr. Cecil Rhodes, then one of
the pioneers of the Rand, in proposing the President's health,
appealed to him to make friends with the newcomers, and to extend the
privileges of the older residents to 'his young burghers--like
myself.' That was before Mr. Rhodes had secured his concession, and
long before the Charter was thought of.

There is an unreported incident which occurred a year or two later,
concerning the two strong men of Africa--it was a 'meeting' which
didn't take place, and only Mr. Rhodes can say how it might have
affected the future of South Africa had it come off. The latter
arrived by coach in Pretoria one Saturday morning, and, desiring to
see the President, asked Mr. Ewald Esselen to accompany him and
interpret for him. Mr. Rhodes, knowing the peculiar ways of Mr.
Kruger, waited at the gate a few yards from the house while Mr.
Esselen went in to inquire if the President would see him. Mr.
Kruger's reply was that he would see Mr. Rhodes on Monday. Mr.
Esselen urged that as Mr. Rhodes was obliged to leave on Sunday night
the reply was tantamount to a refusal. The President answered that
this was 'Nachtmaal' time and the town was full of his burghers, and
that he made it a rule, which he would violate for no one, to reserve
the Saturdays of the Nachtmaal week for his burghers so as to hear
what they had to say if any wished to speak to him, as his burghers
were more to him than anyone else in the world. 'I do no business on
Sunday,' he concluded, 'so Rhodes can wait or go!' Mr. Rhodes did not
wait. When he heard the answer he remarked to Mr. Esselen, 'The old
devil! I meant to work with him, but I'm not going on my knees to
him. I've got my concession however and he can do nothing.'

The second visit of Mr. Kruger to Johannesburg was the famous one of
1890, when the collapse of the share market and the apparent failure
of many of the mines left a thriftless and gambling community wholly
ruined and half starving, unable to bear the burden which the State
imposed, almost wholly unappreciative of the possibilities of the
Main Reef, and ignorant of what to do to create an industry and
restore prosperity. This, at least, the community did understand,
that they were horribly overtaxed; that those things which might be
their salvation, and are necessary conditions for industrial
prosperity--railways, cheap livi