Editing Paul Kruger (section)

==President==

===Third deputation; London Convention===

[[File:Stanley, Edward Henry.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]], with whom the third deputation concluded the [[London Convention (1884)|London Convention]]|alt=A dark-haired gentleman in a dark suit]]
Kruger became president soon after the discovery of gold near what was to become [[Barberton, Mpumalanga|Barberton]], which prompted a fresh influx of uitlander diggers. "This gold is still going to soak our country in blood", said Joubert—a prediction he would repeat many times over the coming years.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 135}} Joubert remained commandant-general under Kruger and also became vice-president.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 135}} A convoluted situation developed on the Transvaal's western frontier, where burghers had crossed the border defined in the Pretoria Convention and formed two new Boer republics, [[Stellaland]] and [[State of Goshen|Goshen]], on former Tswana territory in 1882.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|pp = 136–138}} These states were tiny but they occupied land of potentially huge importance—the main road from the Cape to Matabeleland and the African interior.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|pp = 136–138}}

Kruger and the volksraad resolved to send yet another deputation to London to renegotiate the Pretoria Convention and settle the western border issue. The third deputation, comprising Kruger, Smit and Du Toit with [[Ewald Auguste Esselen|Ewald Esselen]] as secretary, left the Transvaal in August 1883 and sailed from Cape Town two months later. Kruger spent part of the voyage to Britain studying the English language with a Bible printed in Dutch and English side by side. Talks with the new Colonial Secretary [[Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby|Lord Derby]] and Robinson progressed smoothly—apart from an incident when Kruger, thinking himself insulted, nearly punched Robinson—and on 27 February 1884 the [[London Convention (1884)|London Convention]], superseding that of Pretoria, was concluded. Britain ended its suzerainty, reduced the Transvaal's [[national debt]] and once again recognised the country as the South African Republic. The western border question remained unresolved, but Kruger still considered the convention a triumph.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 136–140}}{{#tag:ref|While in London the deputation ran short of cash and had trouble paying their accommodation costs. Their acquaintance [[Albert Grant (company promoter)|Baron Grant]] assisted them in exchange for a public statement from Kruger assuring rights and protection to British settlers in the Transvaal. This was later presented by some of Kruger's critics as evidence that the uitlanders had entered the Transvaal at his own invitation.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 141–145}}|group = "n"|name = "cashflow"}}

[[File:Graf v. Bismarck.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]], one of the many European leaders Kruger met in 1884|alt=A balding man with a large moustache]]
The deputation went on from London to mainland Europe, where according to Meintjes their reception "was beyond all expectations&nbsp;... one banquet followed the other, the stand of a handful of Boers against the British Empire having caused a sensation".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 141–145}} During a grand tour Kruger met [[William III of the Netherlands]] and his son the [[Alexander, Prince of Orange|Prince of Orange]], [[Leopold II of Belgium]], President [[Jules Grévy]] of France, [[Alfonso XII of Spain]], [[Luís I of Portugal]], and in Germany Kaiser [[William I, German Emperor|Wilhelm I]] and his Chancellor [[Otto von Bismarck]]. His public appearances were attended by tens of thousands.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 141–145}} The deputation discussed the bilateral aspects of the proposed Delagoa Bay railway with the Portuguese, and in the Netherlands laid the groundwork for the [[Netherlands-South African Railway Company]], which would build and operate it.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 141–145}} Kruger now held that Burgers had been "far ahead of his time"{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 141–145}}—while reviving his predecessor's railway scheme, he also brought back the policy of importing officials from the Netherlands, in his view a means to strengthen the Boer identity and keep the Transvaal "Dutch". [[Willem Johannes Leyds]], a 24-year-old Dutchman, returned to South Africa with the deputation as the republic's new State Attorney.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 141–145}}

By late 1884 the [[Scramble for Africa]] was well underway. Competition on the western frontier rose after Germany annexed [[German South-West Africa|South-West Africa]]; at the behest of the mining magnate and Cape MP [[Cecil Rhodes]], Britain proclaimed a [[Bechuanaland Protectorate|protectorate]] over Bechuanaland, including the Stellaland–Goshen corridor. While Joubert was in negotiations with Rhodes, Du Toit had Kruger proclaim Transvaal protection over the corridor on 18 September 1884. Joubert was outraged, as was Kruger when on 3 October Du Toit unilaterally hoisted the ''vierkleur'' in Goshen. Realising the implications of this—it clearly violated the London Convention—Kruger had the flag stricken immediately and retracted his proclamation of 18 September. Meeting Rhodes personally in late January 1885, Kruger insisted the "flag incident" had taken place without his consent and conceded the corridor to the British.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 145–150}}

===Gold rush; burghers and uitlanders===
[[File:FERREIRA GOLD MINING CO. - Three hundred feet underground (stope).jpg|thumb|Gold mining at [[Johannesburg]] in 1893|alt=Inside a gold mine; men stand in a rough underground passage.]]
[[File:Great Kruger Gold Mining Company Ltd. 1889.jpg|thumb|Share of the Great Kruger Gold Mining Company Ltd, issued 16 December 1889]]
In July 1886 an Australian prospector reported to the Transvaal government his discovery of an unprecedented gold reef between Pretoria and Heidelberg. The South African Republic's formal proclamation of this two months later prompted the [[Witwatersrand Gold Rush]] and the founding of [[Johannesburg]], which within a few years was the largest city in southern Africa, populated almost entirely by uitlanders.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 151–153}} The economic landscape of the region was transformed overnight—the South African Republic went from the verge of bankruptcy in 1886 to a fiscal output equal to the Cape Colony's the following year.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|pp = 201–202}} The British became anxious to link Johannesburg to the Cape and Natal by rail, but Kruger thought this might have undesirable geopolitical and economic implications if done prematurely and gave the Delagoa Bay line first priority.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 151–153}}

The President was by this time widely nicknamed ''Oom Paul'' ("Uncle Paul"), both among the Boers and the uitlanders, who variously used it out of affection or contempt.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 153–156}} He was perceived by some as a despot after he compromised the independence of the republic's judiciary to help his friend [[Alois Hugo Nellmapius]], who had been found guilty of [[embezzlement]]—Kruger rejected the court's judgement and granted Nellmapius a full [[pardon]], an act Nathan calls "completely indefensible".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 151–152}} Kruger defeated Joubert again in the [[1888 Transvaal presidential election|1888 election]], by 4,483 votes to 834, and was sworn in for a second time in May. Nicolaas Smit was elected vice-president, and Leyds was promoted to state secretary.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 156–159}}

[[File:FWReitz VA0947.jpg|thumb|left|upright|President [[Francis William Reitz]] of the Orange Free State|alt=A man with a huge black beard]]
Much of Kruger's efforts over the next year were dedicated to attempts to acquire a sea outlet for the South African Republic. In July Pieter Grobler, who had just negotiated a treaty with King [[Lobengula]] of Matabeleland, was killed by [[Mangwato tribe|Ngwato]] warriors on his way home; Kruger alleged that this was the work of "Cecil Rhodes and his clique".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 156–159}} Kruger despised Rhodes, considering him corrupt and immoral—in his memoirs he called him "capital incarnate" and "the curse of South Africa".{{sfn|Kruger|1902|pp = 192–194}} According to the editor of Kruger's memoirs, Rhodes attempted to win him as an ally by suggesting "we simply take" Delagoa Bay from Portugal; Kruger was appalled.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 156–159}} Failing to make headway in talks with the Portuguese, Kruger switched his attention to [[Kosi Bay]], next to Swaziland, in late 1888.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 156–159}}

In early 1889 Kruger and the new Orange Free State President [[Francis William Reitz]] enacted a common-defence pact and a customs treaty waiving most import duties.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 159–160}} The same year the volksraad passed constitutional revisions to remove the ''Nederduits Hervormde Kerk'''s official status, open the legislature to members of other denominations and make all churches "sovereign in their own spheres".{{sfn|Davenport|2004}} Kruger proposed to end the lack of higher education in the Boer republics by forming a university in Pretoria; enthusiastic support emerged for this but the [[VU University Amsterdam|Free University of Amsterdam]] expressed strong opposition, not wishing to lose the Afrikaner element of its student body.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 161–163}} No university was built.{{#tag:ref|Higher education came to the Transvaal only following Kruger's death; the [[University of Pretoria]] was established in 1908.{{sfn|Lulat|2005|p=299}}|group = "n"|name = "universityofpretoria"}}

Kruger was obsessed with the South African Republic's independence,{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 124}} the retention of which he perceived as under threat if the Transvaal became too British in character. The uitlanders created an acute predicament in his mind. Taxation on their mining provided almost all of the republic's revenues, but they had very limited civic representation and almost no say in the running of the country. Though the English language was dominant in the mining areas, only Dutch remained official.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|pp = 294–296}} Kruger expressed great satisfaction at the new arrivals' industry and respect for the state's laws,{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 153–156}} but surmised that giving them full burgher rights might cause the Boers to be swamped by sheer weight in numbers, with the probable result of absorption into the British sphere.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|pp = 294–296}} Agonising over how he "could meet the wishes of the new population for representation, without injuring the republic or prejudicing the interests of the older burghers",{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 159–160}} he thought he had solved the problem in 1889 when he tabled a "second volksraad" in which the uitlanders would have certain matters devolved to them.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 159–160}} Most deemed this inadequate, and even Kruger's own supporters were unenthusiastic.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 159–160}}

Rhodes and other British figures often contended that there were more uitlanders in the Transvaal than Boers.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 184–187}} Kruger's administration recorded twice as many Transvaalers as uitlanders, but acknowledged that there were more uitlanders than enfranchised burghers.{{#tag:ref|Figures released by the Transvaal government in 1896 counted 150,308 Boers born in the South African Republic (including women and children), and 75,720 (mostly adult male) uitlanders, of whom 41,275 were British subjects.{{sfn|Van der Walt et al.|1951|p=509}} Estimates of the ratio between uitlanders and enfranchised burghers were often exaggerated and ranged from near-parity to ten-to-one. Kruger's government made policy on the assumption that there were roughly 30,000 burghers and 60,000 adult male uitlanders.{{sfn|Marais|1961|pp=1–2}}|group = "n"|name = "numbers"}} According to the British Liberal politician [[James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce|James Bryce]], most uitlanders saw the country as "virtually English" and perceived "something unreasonable or even grotesque in the control of a small body of persons whom they deemed in every way their inferiors".{{sfn|Meredith|2007|p = 307}} On 4 March 1890, when Kruger visited Johannesburg, men sang British patriotic songs, tore down and trampled on the ''vierkleur'' at the city landdrost's office, and rioted outside the house where the President was staying.<ref>{{harvnb|Meintjes|1974|pp=161–163}}; {{harvnb|Meredith|2007|p=294}}.</ref> One of the agitators accused him of treating the uitlanders with contempt; Kruger retorted: "I have no contempt for the new population, only for people like yourself."{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 161–163}} The riot was broken up by police and the [[South African Chamber of Mines|Chamber of Mines]] issued an apology, which Kruger accepted, saying only a few of the uitlanders had taken part. Few Boers were as conciliatory as Kruger; Meintjes marks this as "the point where the rift between the Transvaalers and the uitlanders began".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 161–163}}

===Early 1890s===
[[File:No-nb bldsa 1c031 - Rhodes, Cecil (John) (1853-1902).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Cecil Rhodes]], the Prime Minister of the [[Cape Colony]] from 1890|alt=A moustachioed man in a dark three-piece suit]]

In mid-March 1890 Kruger met the new British High Commissioner and Governor [[Henry Loch, 1st Baron Loch|Sir Henry Brougham Loch]], Loch's legal adviser [[William Philip Schreiner]], and Rhodes, who had by now attained a dominant position in the Transvaal's mining industry and a [[royal charter]] for his [[British South Africa Company]] to [[Company rule in Rhodesia|occupy and administer]] Matabeleland and [[Mashonaland]].{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 164–165}} A group of Transvaalers planned to emigrate to Mashonaland—the so-called Bowler Trek—and Rhodes was keen to stop this lest it interfere with his own plans.{{sfn|Rotberg|1988|p = 298}} He and Loch offered to support Kruger in his plan to acquire a port at Kosi Bay and link it to the Transvaal through Swaziland if in return the Transvaal would enter a South African customs union and pledge not to expand northwards. Kruger made no commitments, thinking this union might easily turn into the federation Britain had pursued years before, but on his return to Pretoria forbade any Boer trek to Mashonaland.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 164–165}}

Rhodes became prime minister of the Cape Colony in July 1890.{{sfn|Rotberg|1988|p = 339}} A month later the British and Transvaalers agreed to joint control over Swaziland (without consulting the Swazis)—the South African Republic could build a railway through it to Kosi Bay on the condition that the Transvaal thereafter supported the interests of Rhodes's [[Chartered Company]] in Matabeleland and its environs.<ref>{{harvnb|Meredith|2007|p=243}}; {{harvnb|Meintjes|1974|p=166}}.</ref>{{#tag:ref|Two more conventions over Swaziland followed, the latter of which in December 1894 made it a protectorate of the South African Republic.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp=180–181}}|group = "n"|name = "finalagreement"}} Kruger honoured the latter commitment in 1891 when he outlawed the Adendorff Trek, another would-be emigration to Mashonaland, over the protests of Joubert and many others. This, along with his handling of the economy and the civil service—now widely perceived as overloaded with Dutch imports—caused opposition to grow.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 166–168}} The industrial monopolies Kruger's administration granted became widely derided as corrupt and inefficient, especially the dynamite concession given to Edouard Lippert and a French consortium, which Kruger was forced to revoke in 1892 amid much scandal over misrepresentation and [[price gouging]].{{sfn|Meredith|2007|pp = 298–300}}{{#tag:ref|The same year Kruger cheerfully accepted an invitation to inaugurate a synagogue in Johannesburg. According to an oft-repeated but perhaps apocryphal story, both denied and affirmed by eye-witnesses, he gave a short speech, then "in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ" declared the synagogue open.<ref>{{harvnb|Saron|Hotz|1955|p=187}}; {{harvnb|Rosenthal|1970|p=230}}; {{harvnb|Kaplan|Robertson|1991|p=81}}.</ref>|group = "n"|name = "synagogue"}}

[[File:The National Archives UK - CO 1069-214-183.jpg|thumb|The [[Ou Raadsaal|Raadsaal]], the Transvaal government building in Church Square, Pretoria|alt=A stately three-storey building with a tower on top]]Kruger's second volksraad sat for the first time in 1891. Any resolution it passed had to be ratified by the first volksraad; its role was in effect largely advisory. Uitlanders could vote in elections for the second volksraad after two years' residency on the condition they were [[naturalization|naturalised]] as burghers—a process requiring the renunciation of any foreign allegiance. The residency qualification for naturalised burghers to join the first volksraad electorate was raised from five to 14 years, with the added criterion that they had to be at least 40 years old.<ref>{{harvnb|Meredith|2007|pp=294–295}}; {{harvnb|Meintjes|1974|pp=168–171}}.</ref> During the close-run campaign for the [[1893 Transvaal presidential election|1893 election]], in which Kruger was again challenged by Joubert with the Chief Justice [[John Gilbert Kotzé]] as a third candidate, the President indicated that he was prepared to lower the 14-year residency requirement so long as it would not risk the subversion of the state's independence.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 171–172}} The electoral result was announced as 7,854 votes for Kruger, 7,009 for Joubert, and 81 for Kotzé. Joubert's supporters alleged procedural irregularities and demanded a recount; the ballots were counted twice more and although the results varied slightly each time, every count gave Kruger a majority. Joubert conceded and Kruger was inaugurated for the third time on 12 May 1893.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 171–172}}
[[File:JudgeMagazine24Feb1900.jpg|thumb|A satirical cartoon depicting a skirmish, with [[John Bull]] and Oom Paul, a figure resembling Paul Kruger, coming to life as personifications of British imperialism and Afrikaner resistance.]]
Kruger was by this time widely perceived as a personification of Afrikanerdom both at home and abroad.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 169–170}} When he stopped going to the government offices at the [[Ou Raadsaal|Raadsaal]] by foot and began to be conveyed there by a presidential [[carriage]], his coming and going became a public spectacle not unlike the [[Queen's Guard|Changing of the Guard]] in Britain.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 176}} "Once seen, he is not easily forgotten", wrote [[Florence, Lady Phillips|Lady Phillips]]. "His greasy frock coat and antiquated tall hat have been portrayed times without number&nbsp;... and I think his character is clearly to be read in his face—strength of character and cunning."{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 180}}

===Rising tensions: raiders and reformers===

By 1894 the Kosi Bay scheme had been abandoned and the Delagoa Bay line was almost complete, and the railways from Natal and the Cape had reached Johannesburg.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 174–176}}{{#tag:ref|Kruger allowed the British railways to enter first in return for Rhodes's help funding the Delagoa Bay line's final sections.{{sfn|Davenport|2004}}|group = "n"|name = "railwaytimings"}} Chief Malaboch's [[Malaboch War|insurgency]] in the north compelled Joubert to call up a commando and the [[Transvaalse Staatsartillerie|State Artillery]] in May 1894. Those drafted included British subjects, the large majority of whom indignantly refused to report, feeling that as foreigners they should be exempted.{{#tag:ref|The Commando Law of 1883 identified all residents as eligible for military service, but the South African Republic had since made agreements with the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Belgium and Switzerland not to draft their nationals. The British subjects thought they should have the same exemption.{{sfn|Makhura|1995|pp=260–261}}|group = "n"|name = "commandolaw"}} Kotzé's ruling that British nationality did not preclude one from conscription as a Transvaal resident prompted an outpouring of displeasure from the uitlanders that manifested itself when Loch visited Pretoria the following month. Protesters waited for Kruger and Loch to enter the presidential coach at the railway station, then unharnessed the horses, attached a [[Union Jack]] and raucously dragged the carriage to Loch's hotel. Embarrassed, Loch complied with Kruger's request that he should not go on to Johannesburg.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 177–180}} Kruger announced that "the government will, in the meantime, provisionally, no more commandeer British subjects for personal military service".{{sfn|Makhura|1995|pp = 260–261}} In his memoirs, he alleged that Loch secretly conferred with the uitlanders' [[Johannesburg Reform Committee|National Union]] at this time about how long the miners could hold Johannesburg by arms without British help.{{#tag:ref|Meintjes upholds this claim, citing a letter written by the magnate [[Lionel Phillips]] on 1 July 1894 making reference to such discussions.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp=177–180}}|group = "n"|name = "lochconfer"}}

[[File:Joseph Chamberlain.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Joseph Chamberlain]], the British [[Secretary of State for the Colonies|Colonial Secretary]]|alt=A man in a light suit with a hat in his hand]]
The following year the National Union sent Kruger a petition bearing 38,500 signatures requesting electoral reform.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 184}} Kruger dismissed all such entreaties with the assertion that enfranchising "these new-comers, these disobedient persons" might imperil the republic's independence.{{sfn|Makhura|1995|p = 266}} "Protest!" he shouted at one uitlander deputation; "What is the use of protesting? I have the guns, you haven't."{{sfn|McKenzie|Du Plessis|Bunce|1900|p = 64}} The Johannesburg press became intensely hostile to the President personally, using the term "Krugerism" to encapsulate all the republic's perceived injustices.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 184}} In August 1895, after gauging burghers' views from across the country, the first volksraad rejected the opposition's bill to give all uitlanders the vote by 14 ballots to 10.{{sfn|Makhura|1995|p = 266}} Kruger said this did not extend to those who had "proved their trustworthiness", and conferred burgher rights on all uitlanders who had served in Transvaal commandos.{{sfn|Makhura|1995|p = 266}}

The Delagoa Bay railway line was completed in December 1894—the realisation of a great personal ambition for Kruger, who tightened the final bolt of "our national railway" personally.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 180–181}} The formal opening in July 1895 was a gala affair with leading figures from all the neighbouring territories present, including Loch's successor Sir Hercules Robinson.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 180–181}} "This railway changed the whole internal situation in the Transvaal", Kruger wrote in his autobiography. "Until that time, the Cape railway had enjoyed a monopoly, so to speak, of the Johannesburg traffic."{{sfn|Kruger|1902|p = 225}} Difference of opinion between Kruger and Rhodes over the distribution of the profits from customs duties led to the [[Drifts Crisis]] of September–October 1895: the Cape Colony avoided the Transvaal railway fees by using wagons instead. Kruger's closure of the drifts ([[Ford (crossing)|fords]]) in the Vaal River where the wagons crossed prompted Rhodes to call for support from Britain on the grounds that the London Convention was being breached. The Colonial Secretary [[Joseph Chamberlain]] told Kruger if he did not reopen the drifts Britain would do so by force; Kruger backed down.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 181–182}}

[[File:Dr. Leander Starr Jameson.jpg|thumb|left|upright|[[Leander Starr Jameson]], leader of the eponymous [[Jameson Raid|raid]] into the Transvaal in 1895–96|alt=A man with a moustache and a dark suit]]
Understanding that renewed hostilities with Britain were now a real possibility, Kruger began to pursue armament. Relations with Germany had been warming for some time; when Leyds went there for medical treatment in late 1895, he took with him an order from the Transvaal government for rifles and munitions.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 184}}  Conferring with the Colonial Office, Rhodes pondered the co-ordination of an uitlander revolt in Johannesburg with British military intervention, and had a force of about 500 marshalled on the Bechuanaland–Transvaal frontier under [[Leander Starr Jameson]], the Chartered Company's administrator in Matabeleland.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 184–187}} On 29 December 1895, ostensibly following an urgent plea from the Johannesburg Reform Committee (as the National Union now called itself), these troops crossed the border and rode for the Witwatersrand—the [[Jameson Raid]] had begun.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|pp = 264–266}}

Jameson's force failed to cut all of the telegraph wires, allowing a rural Transvaal official to raise the alarm early, though there are suggestions Kruger had been tipped off some days before.{{#tag:ref|The President always denied such claims, but Meintjes suggests he "must have known", citing the two prior warnings Joubert received.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p=188}} The fact remains that most of the Transvaal government and citizenry were caught by surprise.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p=188}}|group = "n"|name = "priorknowledge"}} Joubert called up the burghers and rode west to meet Jameson.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 189}} Robinson publicly repudiated Jameson's actions and ordered him back, but Jameson ignored him and pushed on towards Johannesburg; Robinson wired Kruger offering to come immediately for talks. The Reform Committee's efforts to rally the uitlanders for revolt floundered, partly because not all of the mine-owners (or "[[Randlord]]s") were supportive, and by 31 December the conspirators had raised a makeshift ''vierkleur'' over their headquarters at the offices of Rhodes's [[Gold Fields]] company, signalling their capitulation. Unaware of this, Jameson continued until he was forced to surrender to Piet Cronjé on 2 January 1896.{{sfn|Davidson|1988|pp = 266–271}}

A congratulatory [[Kruger telegram|telegram]] to Kruger from Kaiser [[Wilhelm II, German Emperor|Wilhelm II]] on 3 January prompted a storm of anti-Boer and [[Anti-German sentiment|anti-German feeling]] in Britain, with Jameson becoming lionised as a result.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 190–194}} Kruger shouted down talk of the death penalty for the imprisoned Jameson or a campaign of retribution against Johannesburg, challenging his more bellicose commandants to depose him if they disagreed, and accepted Robinson's proposed mediation with alacrity.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 190–194}} After confiscating the weapons and munitions the Reform Committee had stockpiled, Kruger handed Jameson and his troops over to British custody and granted amnesty to all the Johannesburg conspirators except for 64 leading members, who were charged with high treason.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 190–194}} The four main leaders—[[Lionel Phillips]], [[John Hays Hammond]], [[Sir George Farrar, 1st Baronet|George Farrar]] and [[Frank Rhodes (British Army officer)|Frank Rhodes]] (brother of Cecil)—pleaded guilty in April 1896 and were sentenced to hang, but Kruger quickly had this commuted to fines of [[Pound sterling|£]]25,000 each.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 194–197}}

===Resurgence===
The Jameson Raid ruined Rhodes's political reputation in the Cape and lost him his longstanding support from the [[Afrikaner Bond]]; he resigned as prime minister of the Cape Colony on 12 January.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 190}} Kruger's handling of the affair made his name a household word across the world and won him much support from Afrikaners in the Cape and the Orange Free State, who began to visit Pretoria in large numbers.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 199}} The President granted personal audiences to travellers and writers such as [[Olive Schreiner]] and [[Frank Harris]],{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 199}} and wore the knightly orders of the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium and France on his sash of state.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 205}} Jameson was jailed by the British but released after four months. The republic made armament one of its main priorities, ordering huge quantities of rifles, munitions, [[field gun]]s and [[howitzer]]s, primarily from Germany and France.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 199–200}}

[[File:Marthinus Theunis Steyn.jpg|thumb|left|upright|President [[Marthinus Theunis Steyn]] of the Orange Free State|alt=A man with an enormous dark beard wearing a sash of state]]
In March 1896 Marthinus Theunis Steyn, the young lawyer Kruger had encountered on the ship to England two decades earlier, became President of the Orange Free State.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 202}} They quickly won each other's confidence; each man's memoirs would describe the other in glowing terms.{{#tag:ref|Steyn is described in Kruger's autobiography as "one of the greatest and noblest men that have seen the light of South Africa".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p=203}} Working alongside Kruger, Steyn wrote, was "one of my greatest privileges".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p=203}}|group = "n"|name = "memoirssteyn"}} Chamberlain began to take exception to the South African Republic's diplomatic actions, such as joining the [[Geneva Conventions|Geneva Convention]], which he said breached Article IV of the London Convention (which forbade extraterritorial dealings except ''vis-a-vis'' the Orange Free State). Chamberlain asserted that the Transvaal was still under British suzerainty, a claim Kruger called "nonsensical".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 195, 203–204}} Kruger and Steyn concluded a treaty of trade and friendship in Bloemfontein in March 1897, along with a fresh military alliance binding each republic to defend the other's independence.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 206–207}} Two months later [[Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner|Sir Alfred Milner]] became the new high commissioner and governor in Cape Town.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 207–208}}

Kruger developed a habit of threatening to resign whenever the volksraad did not give him his way. In the 1897 session there was much surprise when the new member [[Louis Botha]] reacted to the usual proffered resignation by leaping up and moving to accept it.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 209–210}} A constitutional crisis developed after the judiciary under Chief Justice Kotzé abandoned its prior stance of giving volksraad resolutions legal precedence over the constitution. "This decision would have upset the whole country", Kruger recalled, "for a number of rules concerning the goldfields, the franchise and so on depended on resolutions of the volksraad."{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 208–209}} Chief Justice De Villiers of the Cape mediated, sided with Kruger and upheld the volksraad decrees.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 208–209}}{{#tag:ref|In late 1897 [[Joshua Slocum]], who was attempting to become the first to [[Around the world sailing record|sail single-handedly around the globe]], disembarked in Cape Town and was presented to Kruger in Pretoria. On hearing Slocum intended to circumnavigate the Earth, Kruger retorted: "You don't mean ''round'' the world, it is impossible! You mean ''in'' the world. Impossible! Impossible!" and refused to say another word to him.{{sfn|Slocum|1901|p=243}} Slocum completed his circumnavigation the following year and in 1900 released a memoir about it, ''[[Sailing Alone Around the World]]'', in which he recalled his meeting with Kruger fondly: "the incident pleased me more than anything else that could have happened."{{sfn|Slocum|1901|p=243}}|group = "n"|name = "slocum"}}

[[File:Jan Smuts 1895.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Jan Smuts]], Kruger's State Attorney from 1898|alt=A young man in a dark jacket with a dark bow tie]]
Kruger was never more popular domestically than during the 1897–98 [[1898 Transvaal presidential election|election]] campaign, and indeed was widely perceived to be jollier than he had been in years. He won his most decisive election victory yet—12,853 votes to Joubert's 2,001 and [[Schalk Willem Burger]]'s 3,753—and was sworn in as president for the fourth time on 12 May 1898. After a three-hour inauguration address, his longest speech as president, his first act of his fourth term was to sack Kotzé, who was still claiming the right to test legislation in the courts. To Kruger's critics this lent much credence to the notion that he was a tyrant.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 211–213}}  Milner called Kotzé's dismissal "the end of real justice in the Transvaal" and a step that "threatened all British subjects and interests there".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 211–213}}{{#tag:ref|Kotzé's replacement as Chief Justice was [[Reinhold Gregorowski]].{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp=211–213}}|group = "n"|name = "gregorowski"}}

Kruger's final administration was, Meintjes suggests, the strongest in the history of the republic.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 216}} He had the former Free State President F&nbsp;W Reitz as State Secretary from June 1898 and Leyds, who set up an office in [[Brussels]], as [[Envoy (title)|Envoy Extraordinary]] in Europe. The post of State Attorney was given to a young lawyer from the Cape called [[Jan Smuts]],{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 214–215}} for whom Kruger presaged great things.{{#tag:ref|Kruger predicted in his 1902 autobiography that Smuts would "play a great part in the future history of South Africa".{{sfn|Kruger|1902|pp=264–265}}|group = "n"|name = "smuts"}} The removal of Leyds to Europe marked the end of Kruger's longstanding policy of giving important government posts to Dutchmen; convinced of Cape Afrikaners' sympathy following the Jameson Raid, he preferred them from this point on.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 199, 220}}

===Road to war===
[[File:Lord Milner.jpg|left|thumb|upright=1.1|[[Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount Milner|Sir Alfred Milner]], the British [[High Commissioner for Southern Africa]]|alt=A moustachioed man in a dark three-piece suit]]
Anglo-German relations warmed during late 1898, with Berlin disavowing any interest in the Transvaal; this opened the way for Milner and Chamberlain to take a firmer line against Kruger.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 218–219}} The so-called "Edgar case" of early 1899, in which a [[South African Republic Police]]man was acquitted of [[manslaughter]] after shooting a British subject dead during an attempted arrest, prompted outcry from the British element in the Transvaal and is highlighted by Nathan as "the starting point of the final agitation which led to war".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 221–222}}

The South African League, a new uitlander movement, prepared two petitions, each with more than 20,000 signatures, that appealed to Queen Victoria for intervention against the Transvaal government, which they called inefficient, corrupt and oppressive.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 223}} Other uitlanders produced a counter-petition in which about as many affirmed their satisfaction with Kruger's government.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 223}} Attempting to address the main point of contention raised by Milner and Chamberlain, Kruger spoke of reducing the residency qualification for foreigners to nine years or perhaps less.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 223}} In May and June 1899 he and Milner met in Bloemfontein, with Steyn taking on the role of mediator. "You ''must'' make concessions on the franchise issue", Steyn counselled. "Franchise after a residence of 14 years is in conflict with the first principles of a republican and democratic government. The Free State expects you to concede&nbsp;... Should you not give in on this issue, you will lose all sympathy and all your friends."{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 225}} Kruger answered that he had already indicated his willingness to lower the franchise and was "prepared to do anything"—"but they must not touch my independence", he said. "They must be reasonable in their demands."{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 225}}

[[File:Slow and Sure - JM Staniforth.png|thumb|upright=1.2|British press depiction of Kruger attempting to appease the uitlanders; Joseph Chamberlain looks on, unimpressed, in the background|alt=A cartoon; see description. The uitlander is depicted as towering over Kruger, who has to stand on a ledge to reach the sign he is pointing to explaining the franchise law.]]
[[File:El último discurso de Chamberlain, de Xaudaró.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Spanish press depiction of Kruger and Chamberlain|alt=]]
Milner wanted full voting rights after five years' residence, a revised naturalisation oath and increased legislative representation for the new burghers. Kruger offered naturalisation after two years' residence and full franchise after five more (seven years, effectively) along with increased representation and a new oath similar to that of the Free State.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 226–228}} The High Commissioner declared his original request an "irreducible minimum" and said he would discuss nothing else until the franchise question was resolved.{{sfn|Kruger|1902|p = 275}} On 5 June Milner proposed an advisory council of non-burghers to represent the uitlanders, prompting Kruger to cry: "How can strangers rule my state? How is it possible!"{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 226–228}} When Milner said he did not foresee this council taking on any governing role, Kruger burst into tears, saying "It is our country you want".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 226–228}} Milner ended the conference that evening, saying the further meetings Steyn and Kruger wanted were unnecessary.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 226–228}}

Back in Pretoria Kruger introduced a draft law to give the mining regions four more seats in each volksraad and fix a seven-year residency period for voting rights. This would not be retroactive, but up to two years' prior residence would be counted towards the seven, and uitlanders already in the country for nine years or more would get the vote immediately.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 228–230}}{{#tag:ref|Under this bill the enfranchisement of individual uitlanders would depend on conditions such as never having been "guilty of any crime against the independence of the country", and on "the personal acquaintance of the field cornets and landdrosts of the wards and districts in which they lived".{{sfn|Ash|2014|pp=120–121}} These officials would be asked to attest to the prospective voter's domicile, uninterrupted registration and obedience to the law.{{sfn|Ash|2014|pp=120–121}} Alternatively two "more than respectable" burghers could recommend an uitlander of seven years' residence for the franchise if they had both known him as long as he had lived in the country.{{sfn|Ash|2014|pp=120–121}}|group="n"|name="qualifications"}} [[Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr (Onze Jan)|Jan Hendrik Hofmeyr]] of the Afrikaner Bond persuaded Kruger to make this fully retrospective (to immediately enfranchise all white men in the country seven years or more), but Milner and the South African League deemed this insufficient.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 228–230}} After Kruger rejected the British proposal of a joint commission on the franchise law, Smuts and Reitz proposed a five-year retroactive franchise and the extension of a quarter of the volksraad seats to the Witwatersrand region, on the condition that Britain drop any claim to suzerainty.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 228–230}} Chamberlain issued an ultimatum in September 1899 in which he insisted on five years without conditions, else the British would "formulate their own proposals for a final settlement".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 230}}

Kruger resolved that war was inevitable, comparing the Boers' position to that of a man attacked by a lion with only a pocketknife for defence. "Would you be such a coward as not to defend yourself with your pocketknife?" he posited.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 228–230}} Aware of the deployment of British troops from elsewhere in the Empire, Kruger and Smuts surmised that from a military standpoint the Boers' only chance was a swift [[pre-emptive strike]]. Steyn was anxious that they not be seen as the aggressors and insisted they delay until there was absolutely no hope of peace. He informed Kruger on 9 October that he also now thought war unavoidable; that afternoon the Transvaal government handed the British envoy [[Conyngham Greene]] an ultimatum advising that if Britain did not withdraw all troops from the border within 48 hours, a state of war would exist. The British government considered the conditions impossible and informed Kruger of this on 11 October 1899. The start of the [[Second Boer War]] was announced in Pretoria that day, at 17:00 local time.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 230–231}}

===Second Boer War===
{{main|Second Boer War}}

[[File:Mafikeng Second Boer War.jpg|thumb|A Boer trench during the [[siege of Mafeking]]|alt=Boer War scene. Men of all ages wearing hats and bandoleers crouch in a line, rifles pointed]]

The outbreak of war raised Kruger's international profile even further.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 232–233}} In countries antagonistic to Britain he was idolised; Kruger expressed high hopes of German, French or Russian military intervention, despite the repeated despatches from Leyds telling him this was a fantasy.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 232–233}} Kruger took no part in the fighting, partly because of his age and poor health—he turned 74 the week war broke out—but perhaps primarily to prevent his being killed or captured.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 232–233}} His personal contributions to the military campaign were mostly from his office in Pretoria, where he oversaw the war effort and advised his officers by telegram.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 232–233}} The Boer commandos, including four of Kruger's sons, six sons-in-law and 33 of his grandsons, advanced quickly into the Cape and Natal, won a series of victories and by the end of October were besieging [[Siege of Kimberley|Kimberley]], [[Siege of Ladysmith|Ladysmith]] and [[Siege of Mafeking|Mafeking]]. Soon thereafter, following a serious injury to Joubert, Kruger appointed Louis Botha to be acting commandant-general.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 233–235}}

The British relief of Kimberley and Ladysmith in February 1900 marked the turning of the war against the Boers.{{sfn|Knight|2000|p = 35}} Morale plummeted among the commandos over the following months, with many burghers simply going home; Kruger toured the front in response and asserted that any man who deserted in this time of need should be shot.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 235–236}} He had hoped for large numbers of Cape Afrikaners to rally to the republican cause, but only small bands did so,{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 235–236}} along with a few thousand [[Boer foreign volunteers|foreign volunteers]] (principally Dutchmen, Germans and Scandinavians).{{sfn|Knight|2000|p = 11}} When British troops entered Bloemfontein on 13 March 1900 Reitz and others urged Kruger to destroy the gold mines, but he refused on the grounds that this would obstruct rehabilitation after the war.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 238–240}} Mafeking was relieved two months later and on 30 May [[Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts|Lord Roberts]] took Johannesburg.{{sfn|Knight|2000|pp = 36–37}} Kruger left Pretoria on 29 May, travelling by train to [[Machadodorp]],{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 242}} and on 2 June the government abandoned the capital. Roberts entered three days later.{{sfn|Knight|2000|pp = 36–37}}

With the major towns and the railways under British control, the conventional phase of the war ended; Kruger wired Steyn pondering surrender, but the Free State President insisted they fight "to the bitter end".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 243}} Kruger found new strength in Steyn and telegrammed all Transvaal officers forbidding the laying down of arms.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 243}} ''[[Bittereinder]]s'' ("bitter-enders") under Botha, [[Christiaan de Wet]] and [[Koos de la Rey]] took to the veld and waged a guerrilla campaign. British forces under [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]] applied a [[scorched earth]] policy in response, destroying the farmsteads owned by Boer guerillas still active in the field;{{sfn|Knight|2000|pp = 39–41}} non-combatants (mostly women and children) were put into what the British dubbed "[[Second Boer War concentration camps|concentration camps]]".{{#tag:ref|The British commanders asserted humanitarian motives, saying the camps were meant to house Boer dependants who would otherwise roam the veld as unprotected refugees.{{sfn|Knight|2000|pp=39–41}} Kitchener considered the internment of the Boer women desirable from a tactical standpoint, arguing that they made "every farm&nbsp;... an intelligence agency and a supply depot",{{sfn|Meredith|2007|p=453}} and might, by their absence, induce a Boer surrender.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|p=453}} Separate camps housed black Africans.{{sfn|Meredith|2007|p=453}} By the end of the war over 26,000 Boer women and children had died in these overcrowded, insanitary and badly run camps from disease.<ref name=camps>{{harvnb|Knight|2000|p=40}}; {{harvnb|Meredith|2007|pp=9, 452–456}}.</ref>|group = "n"|name = "camps"}} Kruger moved to [[Waterval Onder]], where his small house became the "Krugerhof", in late June.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 244–245}} After Roberts announced the annexation of the South African Republic to the British Empire on 1 September 1900—the Free State had been annexed on 24 May—Kruger proclaimed on 3 September that this was "not recognised" and "declared null and void".{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|p = 246}} It was decided in the following days that to prevent his capture Kruger would leave for [[Maputo|Lourenço Marques]] and there board ship for Europe. Officially he was to tour the continent, and perhaps America too, to raise support for the Boer cause.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp = 246–247}}{{#tag:ref|The South African Republic government continued with [[Schalk Willem Burger]] as Acting President.{{sfn|Meintjes|1974|pp=246–247}}|group = "n"|name = "burgeractingpresident"}}