Page:The Annual Register 1899.djvu/385

 1899.] Africa. — Transvaal. — Franchise. [377

African Republic, indemnity for the Jameson raid, and the adoption of arbitration for the settlement of disputes between Great Britain and the Transvaal were all discussed.

The stand taken by Sir A. Milner gave the first importance to the franchise question, and he asked for a retrospective arrangement enfranchising the Uitlanders after five years' residence, giving them " immediate and substantial representa- tion/ * Mr. Kruger proposed an alternative scheme, substituting a minimum of seven years for five with certain restrictions ; he refused the retroactive clause, offered a total representation of three members in the Volksraad to the Uitlanders, and finally stipulated that " all proposals by the President should be subject to the acceptance by the British Government of the principle of arbitration on the differences between the two countries." It came out afterwards that Mr. Kruger who insisted upon this point at Bloemfontein, was ready to yield it when the conference was rendered abortive.

President Kruger (July 1) sent a message to the Volksraad advising amendment of the franchise law, and a bill was intro- duced embodying most of Sir A. Milner's proposals at the conference, except that the residential qualification was made seven years instead of five, and there were two new conditions imposed ; one required that all candidates for the franchise should prove continuous registration on the lists of field cornets, and the other that they should be innocent of " acts against the Government/ '

The Volksraad accepted on July 18 the seven years franchise scheme, and on July 26 the new law was pro- mulgated. Mr. Chamberlain then appealed to President Kruger for a joint commission to inquire into the practical effect of the new franchise law on the condition of the Uit- landers. To this, after considerable delay, the Transvaal replied rejecting the joint inquiry proposal.

Meanwhile a further effort to gain time and to confuse the situation was made in the Transvaal by instructing Mr. Smuts, the State Attorney, to sound Mr Conyngham Greene, the British Agent at Pretoria, in order to ascertain whether her Majesty's Government would give up pressure for the joint commission, provided the Transvaal yielded to British ideas concerning the franchise. The scheme was written out and initialled by Mr. Smuts, who promised a formal despatch to the same effect later. The despatch when received was found to differ from the initialled abstract, and Mr. Chamberlain when replying accepted it only so far as the two documents agreed. The Transvaal brought accusations of bad faith, said their proposal had been rejected, and formally notified Mr. Greene of its withdrawal.

The Transvaal Volksraad in August amended the " Grpnd- wet " to compel those who were not burghers to serve in national defence. The religious qualification for nominations to the