African Republic. To these inhabitants Her Majesty guarantees
internal independence, to Herself she reserves the Suzerainty. The
concession of internal independence and the reservation of the
Suzerainty have but one common origin--the preamble to the
Convention of 1881."

Dr. Reitz succeeded Dr. Leyds as Secretary of State, and on May 9th,
1899, replied to the despatch of the preceding December 15th. In
forwarding this despatch Sir Alfred Milner observed that it contained a
pretension never before put forward by the Government of Pretoria, the
following words being used: "the inherent right of a Sovereign
International State."

Mr. Chamberlain replied, July 13th, 1899, summarising the Conventions of
1852, 1881, and 1884; he recalled Lord Derby's declaration in the House
of Lords, March 17th, 1884: "Whatever Suzerainty meant in the Convention
of Pretoria, the condition of things which it implies still remains.
Though the word is not actually used, we have kept the substance."

[Footnote 21: _Le Siècle_, April 11th, 1900.]


2.--_The Suzerainty and the Conference of the Hague._

How was it that the theorists, who take up the utterance of Dr. Reitz,
that: "the Transvaal has the inherent rights of a Sovereign
International State," did not ask the Queen of the Netherlands that the
South African Republic might be represented at the Conference of the
Hague? It was a grand opportunity, which they no more dreamt of seizing,
than the thought of asking that the Bey of Tunis should take part in it.