hon. State Secretary Reitz, at Pretoria, with the object of dissuading
the Transvaal Government from conferring with Sir Alfred Milner while as
yet no sufficient friendly _rapprochement_ had been reached and no
advance had been made as to mutually approved bases upon which to
confer. He strongly deprecated the idea of granting "full" burgher
rights to Uitlanders, but held that their needs and wishes could be met
by allowing their interests to be amply represented without impinging
upon the special privileges which should be reserved for the burgher
status proper. He was finally invited by Mr. Reitz to submit his scheme
in writing, with the promise that it should receive careful
consideration. That old Free Stater complied, and supplied President
Krüger with a duplicate separately as well. The scheme ran in substance
as follows:


"_Modus vivendi_"

The population of the Transvaal to be divided into two classes, pending
the continued presence of the large floating portion consisting of
Uitlanders who derive their subsistence from the mining industries,
viz.:--

1st Class.--The fixed or burgher estate.

2nd Class.--The floating or alien estate or Guests.

The 1st Volksraad to be elected by burghers only, and to represent the
highest legislative and administrative powers.

The 2nd Volksraad to be elected by Uitlanders and burghers, and to be