question of
suzerainty? When everything had been settled, that question ruined all."

The more thoughtful men base their opinion on an article in _Le Temps_
of September 15th, in which occurs this hypothetical paragraph:--

"Moreover it is possible, that, in the dim recesses of his brain,
the Colonial Minister treasures, as a supreme hope and shadowy
idea, the half-formed design of profiting by the discussion he is
raising in order to excite fresh disputes, such as the complex
question of suzerainty."

This insiduous and disloyal conjecture has been reproduced and utilised;
the absolutely unfounded insinuation of _Le Temps_, has been turned into
an accusation against Mr. Chamberlain.

Some people who fancy they can gauge the motives of statesmen better
than their neighbours, add: "If he raised the question of suzerainty,
it was because he wanted to bring about a war." Facts prove, however,
that the suzerainty question was not raised by England, but by the
Government at Pretoria.

The argument against England's suzerainty over the Transvaal is well
known; the preamble to the 1881 Convention, in which the word occurs was
not reproduced in the Convention of 1884.

But it is also known, that, in the letter to Lord Derby of November
14th, 1883, the delegates from the Pretoria Government demanded
restrictions of "the right of suzerainty reserved to Her Majesty by
Articles 2 and 18 of the Convention of 1881," and claimed, that "the
relation of dependence _publici juris_ in which their country now finds
itself placed with regard to the British Crown shall be replaced by that
of two contracting parties." In his despatch of November 29th, Lord
Derby replied, that their "pretension to enter into treaty as between
two contracting powers was neither in form nor substance acceptable by
Her Majesty's Government."

The Preamble of the Convention of 1884 speaks of the representations of
the delegates of the Pretoria Government, "which Her Majesty has been
pleased to take into consideration."

Not daring to efface with a stroke of his pen the suzerainty question,
Dr. Kuyper attempts a metaphorical distinction:--

"The suzerainty question solves itself. Suzerainty may be an
"organic or mechanical relation"; if mechanical, it is arranged by
contract."

When Dr. Kuyper declares England's suzerainty to be of the mechanical
order, he admits that the Transvaal did not hold towards England the