anything to embarass the government in its financial negotiations.
It is useless to abstain from plain speaking; on the contrary, I
hold it to be my duty to be frank and to state to the government
that if it failed in its negotiations, it is due to its bad
financial policy; to its want of an efficient system of audit; to
its costly and terribly wasteful administration; to the want of
precise information as to the object of the loan, and the manner in
which it was to be expended."

In fine, Law I. of 1897, and the fantastic method of legislation adopted
by the Volksraad, show that the Government of Pretoria offers no better
guarantee to people dealing with it than did the Grand Turk, some fifty
years ago.


7.--_Fleecing the Uitlanders!_

Taxation, to the Boer, means getting all he can out of the Uitlander,
the old characteristic of all oligarchies. The Boer may cheerfully
augment both the taxes and his expenditure. It is not he who will
suffer.

I admire the Frenchmen, Belgians, Swiss, &c., who pretend that the
Uitlanders are a bad lot for not being delighted with such a
government.




CHAPTER XI.