Kruger given the franchise generously to the Uitlander, his pyramid
would have been firm upon its base and not balanced upon its apex.
It is true that the corrupt oligarchy would have vanished, and the
spirit of a broader more tolerant freedom influenced the counsels
of the State. But the republic would have become stronger and more
permanent, with a population who, if they differed in details, were
united in essentials. Whether such a solution would have been to
the advantage of British interests in South Africa is quite another
question. In more ways than one President Kruger has been a good
friend to the empire.

So much upon the general question of the reason why the Uitlander
should agitate and why the Boer was obdurate. The details of the
long struggle between the seekers for the franchise and the
refusers of it may be quickly sketched, but they cannot be entirely
ignored by any one who desires to understand the inception of that
great contest which was the outcome of the dispute.

At the time of the Convention of Pretoria (1881) the rights of
burghership might be obtained by one year's residence. In 1882 it
was raised to five years, the reasonable limit which obtains both
in Great Britain and in the United States. Had it remained so, it
is safe to say that there would never have been either an Uitlander
question or a great Boer war. Grievances would have been righted
from the inside without external interference.

In 1890 the inrush of outsiders alarmed the Boers, and the
franchise was raised so as to be only attainable by those who had
lived fourteen years in the country. The Uitlanders, who were
increasing rapidly in numbers and were suffering from the