the
Illicit Liquor trade. In all innocence they had chosen May 24 on
which to present their address. Their astonishment was great when Mr.
Kruger, passing lightly by the liquor question, gave the assembled
pastors a thorough wigging for finding fault with his administration
at all, but chiefly for their unpatriotic conduct in selecting the
Queen's birthday of all days on which to expose internal differences
in their country.

{50} In addressing a meeting of burghers in Heidelburg three months
later the President showed to what lengths he was prepared to go in
defending the monopoly when in reply to a question he denied that any
such offer had been received '_by the Executive.'_ The explanation,
which he did not give, is that the _Government, i.e.,_ the President
and State Secretary, had received it--and withheld it from the
Executive!

{51} In March the writer made the suggestion to a representative of
the Pretoria Government in the hope of getting rid by a 'square talk'
of the many and ever-increasing differences, and was informed that
the idea had often been discussed and as often abandoned, because it
contained the objectionable feature of establishing a precedent for
England's interference in internal affairs.

{52} When on a visit to Cape Town in April, the writer called
several times upon the High Commissioner, and learning by private
advice that his movements were being reported in detail through the
Secret Service Department, he informed Sir Alfred Milner of the fact.
Sir Alfred admitted that the idea of secret agents in British
territory and spies round or in Government House was not pleasant,
but expressed the hope that such things should not deter those who
wished to call on him, as he was there as the representative of her
Majesty for the benefit of British subjects and very desirous of
ascertaining for himself the facts of the case.

{53} Since this was written, Mr. Chamberlain, speaking in the House
of Commons on July 28, 1899, has thus disposed of the question:--

'It has been broken in the spirit more than it has been broken in the
letter. The whole spirit of the convention is the preservation of
equality as between all the white inhabitants of the Transvaal, and
the whole policy of the Transvaal has been to promote a position of
inferiority on the part of certain classes. There is something even
more striking than that. The conventions were, of course, the result
of a previous conference. At tha