Editing Paul Kruger (section)

==Triumvirate==

===Transvaal rebellion: the First Boer War===
{{main|First Boer War}}
[[File:Kruger c 1880.jpg|thumb|upright|Kruger, photographed c. 1880|alt=A man of around 50 with a dark suit and a dark chinstrap beard]]
At Kruger's suggestion Joubert was elected Commandant-General of the restored republic, though he had little military experience and protested he was not suited to the position.{{sfn|Laband|2014|p = 51}} The provisional government set up a temporary capital at [[Heidelberg, Gauteng|Heidelberg]], a strategically placed town on the main road from Natal, and sent a copy of the proclamation to Lanyon along with a written demand that he surrender the government offices in Pretoria.{{sfn|Laband|2014|p = 52}} Lanyon refused and mobilised the British garrison.{{sfn|Laband|2014|p = 52}}

Kruger took part in the [[First Boer War]] in a civilian capacity only, playing a diplomatic and political role with the aid of Jorissen and Bok.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 109–111}} The first major clash, a successful Boer ambush, took place on 20 December 1880 at [[Battle of Bronkhorstspruit|Bronkhorstspruit]].{{sfn|Castle|1996|pp = 23–27}} By the turn of the year the Transvaalers had all six British garrison outposts, including that in Pretoria, under siege.{{sfn|Castle|1996|p = 21}}  Colley assembled a [[Natal Field Force|field force]] in Natal, summoned reinforcements from India, and advanced towards the Transvaal.{{sfn|Castle|1996|pp = 27–30}} Joubert moved about 2,000 Boers south to the [[Drakensberg]] and repulsed Colley at [[Battle of Laing's Nek|Laing's Nek]] on 28 January 1881.{{sfn|Castle|1996|pp = 31–43}} After Colley retreated to Schuinshoogte, near [[Ingogo]], he was attacked by Joubert's second-in-command [[Nicolaas Smit]] on 8 February and again [[Battle of Schuinshoogte|defeated]].{{sfn|Castle|1996|pp = 46–56}}

Understanding that they could not hold out against the might of the British Empire indefinitely, Kruger hoped for a solution at the earliest opportunity.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 111}} The triumvirate wrote to Colley on 12 February that they were prepared to submit to a royal commission. Colley liaised by telegraph with Gladstone's Colonial Secretary [[John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley|Lord Kimberley]], then wrote to Kruger on 21 February that if the Boers stopped fighting he would cease hostilities and send commissioners for talks. Kruger received this letter on 28 February and readily accepted, but by now it was too late. Colley had been killed at the [[Battle of Majuba Hill]] the day before, another decisive victory for the Boers under Smit.<ref name="humiliation">{{harvnb|Meintjes|1974|pp=113–114, 141}}; {{harvnb|Castle|1996|pp=82–83, 87}}.</ref> This progressive humiliation of the Imperial forces in South Africa by a ragtag collection of farmers, to paraphrase Meintjes and the historian Ian Castle, stunned the Western world.<ref name="humiliation" />

Colley's death horrified Kruger, who feared it might jeopardise the peace process.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 113–114}} His reply to Colley's letter was delivered to his successor [[Evelyn Wood (British Army officer)|Sir Evelyn Wood]] on 7 March 1881, a day after Wood and Joubert had agreed to an eight-day truce.{{sfn|Castle|1996|pp = 86–87}} Kruger was outraged to learn of this armistice, which in his view only gave the British opportunity to strengthen their forces—he expected a British attempt to avenge Majuba, which indeed Wood and others wanted{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 115–116}}—but Gladstone wanted peace, and Wood was instructed to proceed with talks.{{sfn|Castle|1996|pp = 86–87}} Negotiations began on 16 March. The British offered amnesty for the Boer leaders, [[cession|retrocession]] of the Transvaal under British [[suzerainty]], a British resident in Pretoria and British control over foreign affairs.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 115–116}} Kruger pressed on how the British intended to withdraw and what exactly "suzerainty" meant.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 117}} Brand arrived to mediate on 20 March and the following day agreement was reached; the British committed to formally restore the republic within six months.{{#tag:ref|Kruger was briefly incensed when Wood held that no written agreement to this effect was necessary, the [[minutes]] being in his view sufficient, but Wood ultimately relented and put his signature to the terms along with the Boer triumvirate.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp=118–119}}|group = "n"|name = "signingtreaty"}} The final treaty was concluded on 23 March 1881.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 118–119}}

===Pretoria Convention===

Kruger presented the treaty to the volksraad on the triumvirate's behalf at Heidelberg on 15 April 1881. "With a feeling of gratitude to the God of our fathers", he said, "who has been near us in battle and danger, it is to me an unspeakable privilege to lay before you the treaty&nbsp;... I consider it my duty plainly to declare before you and the whole world, that our respect for Her Majesty the {{sic|Queen of England}}, for the government of Her Majesty, and for the English Nation, has never been greater than at this time, when we are enabled to show you a proof of England's noble and magnanimous love for right and justice."{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 119}} This statement was to be ignored by many writers,{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 119}} but Manfred Nathan, one of Kruger's biographers, stresses it as one of his "most notable utterances".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 119}} Kruger reaffirmed his faith in the royal commission of Wood, [[Hercules Robinson, 1st Baron Rosmead|Sir Hercules Robinson]] and the Cape's Chief Justice [[John de Villiers, 1st Baron de Villiers|Sir Henry de Villiers]], who convened for the first time in Natal on 30 April, Brand with them as an adviser. The commissioners held numerous sessions in Pretoria over the following months with little input from Kruger, who was bedridden with [[pneumonia]].{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 119–122}}

Kruger was largely happy with the terms under which the republic would regain its sovereignty, but two points offended him. The first of these was that the British would recognise them as the "Transvaal Republic" and not the South African Republic; the second was that it was still not clear to him what British "suzerainty" was. The commission, in which De Villiers emerged as the dominant figure, defined it primarily as British purview over the Transvaal's external affairs. The final [[Pretoria Convention]] was signed on 3 August 1881 by Joubert, Pretorius and the members of the royal commission. Kruger was absent due to his illness, but he did attend the official retrocession five days later in Church Square. Kruger felt well enough to give only a short speech, after which Pretorius addressed the crowd and the ''vierkleur'' was raised.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 122–123}}
[[File:Krugerhaus 12.30. Pretoria-20.JPG|alt=A Dutch colonial-style house with the flag of the South African Republic flying outside.|thumb|[[Kruger House, Pretoria|Kruger House]], the family home in [[Pretoria]] ''(2010 photograph)'']]
By now aged nearly 56, Kruger resolved that he could no longer travel constantly between Boekenhoutfontein and the capital, and in August 1881 he and Gezina moved to Church Street, Pretoria, from where he could easily walk to the government offices on Church Square. Also around this time he shaved off his moustache and most of his facial hair, leaving the [[chinstrap beard]] he kept thereafter. His and Gezina's permanent home on Church Street, what is now called [[Kruger House, Pretoria|Kruger House]], would be completed in 1884.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 124–125}}

A direct consequence of the end of British rule was an economic slump; the Transvaal government almost immediately found itself again on the verge of bankruptcy.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 127–128}} The triumvirate spent two months discussing the terms of the Pretoria Convention with the new volksraad—approve it or go back to Laing's Nek, said Kruger{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 127–128}}—before it was finally ratified on 25 October 1881. During this time Kruger introduced tax reforms, announced the triumvirate's decision to grant industrial [[monopoly|monopolies]] to raise money and appointed the Reverend [[Stephanus Jacobus du Toit|S&nbsp;J du Toit]] to be Superintendent of Education.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 127–128}} To counteract the influx of uitlanders, the residency qualification to vote was raised from a year to five years.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|p = 294}} In July 1882 the volksraad decided to elect a new president the following year; Joubert and Kruger emerged as candidates. Kruger campaigned on the idea of an administration in which "God's Word would be my rule of conduct"—as premier he would prioritise agriculture, industry and education, revive Burgers's Delagoa Bay railway scheme, introduce an immigration policy that would "prevent the Boer nationality from being stifled", and pursue a cordial stance towards Britain and "obedient native races in their appointed districts".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 130–131}} He [[1883 Transvaal presidential election|defeated]] Joubert by 3,431 votes to 1,171,{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 130–131}} and was inaugurated as president on 9 May 1883.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 134}}