,
for instance, as that of the Vaal River Water Supply Concession, in
which Mr. Kruger's son-in-law 'hawked' about for the highest bid the
vote of the Executive Council on a matter which had not yet come
before it, and, moreover, sold and duly delivered the aforesaid vote.
There is the famous libel case in which Mr. Eugene Marais, the editor
of the Dutch paper _Land en Volk_, successfully sustained his
allegation that the President had defrauded the State by charging
heavy travelling expenses for a certain trip on which he was actually
the guest of the Cape Colonial Government.{12}

The party in opposition to President Kruger, with General Joubert at
its head, might, for purposes of nomenclature, be called the
Progressive Party. It was really led by Mr. Ewald Esselen, a
highly-educated South African, born in the Cape Colony of German
parentage, educated in Edinburgh, and practising as a barrister at
the Pretoria Bar. Mr. Esselen was a medical student at the time of
the Boer War of Independence, and having then as he still has
enthusiastic Boer sympathies, volunteered for medical service during
the war. He subsequently became attached to the President's staff,
and finally, on completing his legal education, was appointed Judge
of the High Court in the Transvaal. Relinquishing his seat on the
Bench after some years of honourable service he returned to the Bar,
and became an active factor in politics. Mr. Esselen, from being the
closest personal adherent of Mr. Kruger, became for a time his most
formidable opponent and his most dreaded critic. A campaign was
organized for the presidential election and feeling ran extremely
high. To such lengths, indeed, did the Boer partisans go that for
some months the possibility of a resort to arms for the settlement of
their differences was freely discussed by both parties. The election
took place in 1893, and at the same time elections of members for the
First Volksraad were in progress. Mr. Kruger made masterly use of his
position in office and of his authority over the officials appointed
during his _regime_, and for the time being he converted the Civil
Service of the country into an election organization. Not even the
enemies of the President will deny that he is both a practised
diplomat and a determined fighter. By his energy, intrigue, personal
influence, and intense determination, he not only compelled his party
to the highest effort, but to a large extent broke the spirit of