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See also:KRUGER, STEPHANUS JOHANNES See also:PAULUS (1825-1904) , See also:president of the See also:Transvaal See also:Republic, was See also:born in Colesberg, Cape See also:Colony, on the loth of See also:October 1825. His See also:father was Caspar See also:Jan Hendrick Kruger, who was born in 1796, and whose wife See also:bore the name of See also:Steyn. In his ancestry on both sides occur Huguenot names. The founder of the Kruger See also:family appears to have been a .See also:German named See also:Jacob Kruger, who in 1713 was sent with others by the Dutch See also:East See also:India See also:Company to the Cape. At the See also:age of ten See also:Paul Kruger—as he afterwards came to be known—accompanied his parents in the See also:migration, known as the See also:Great Trek, from the Cape Colony to the territories See also:north of the See also:Orange in the years 1835–1840. From boyhood his See also:life was one of See also:adventure. Brought up on the borderland between See also:civilization and barbarism, constantly trekking, fighting and See also:hunting, his See also:education was necessarily of the most See also:primitive See also:character. He learnt to read and to write, and was taught the narrowest See also:form of Dutch See also:Presbyterianism. His literature was almost confined to the See also:Bible, and the Old Testament was preferred to the New. It is related of Kruger, as indeed it has been said of Piet Retief and others of the See also:early See also:Boer leaders, that he believed himself the See also:object of See also:special Divine guidance. At about the age of twenty-five he is said to have disappeared into the veldt, where he remained alone for several days, under the See also:influence of deep religious fervour. During this sojourn in the See also:wilderness Kruger stated that he had been especially favoured by See also:God, who had communed with and inspired him. Through-See also:nut his life he professed this faith in God's will and guidance, and much of his influence over his followers is attributable to their belief in his sincerity and in his enjoyment of Divine favour. The Dutch Reformed See also: In 1853 he took part in another expedition against Montsioa. When not fighting natives in those early days Kruger wasengaged in distant hunting excursions which took him as far north as the See also:Zambezi. In 1852 the Transvaal secured the recognition of its See also:independence from Great See also:Britain in the See also:Sand See also:River See also:convention. For many years after this date the See also:condition of the See also:country was one bordering upon anarchy, and into the See also:faction strife which was continually going on Kruger freely entered. In 1856–1857 he joined M. W. See also:Pretorius in his See also:attempt to abolish the See also:district governments in the Transvaal and to overthrow the Orange See also:Free State See also:government and compel a federation between the two countries. The See also:raid into the Free State failed; the blackest incident in connexion with it was the attempt of the Pretorius and Kruger party to induce the Basuto to harass the Free State forces behind, while they were attacking them in front.
From this time forward Kruger's life is so intimately See also:bound up with the See also:history of his country, and even in later years of See also:South See also:Africa, that a study of that history is essential to an understanding of it (see TRANSVAAL and SOUTH AFRICA). In 1864, when the faction fighting ended and Pretorius was president, Kruger was elected commandant-See also:general of the forces of the Transvaal. In 187o a boundary dispute arose with the See also:British government, which was settled by the See also:Keate See also:award (1871). The decision caused so much discontent in the Transvaal that it brought about the downfall of President Pretorius and his party; and See also: During the See also:term of Burgers' See also:presidency Kruger appeared to great disadvantage. Instead of loyally supporting the president in the difficult task of See also:building up a See also:stable state, he did everything in his See also:power to undermine his authority, going so far as to urge the Boers to pay no taxes while Burgers was in See also:office. The faction of which he was a prominent member was chiefly responsible for bringing about that impasse in the government of the country which See also:drew such See also:bitter protest from Burgers and terminated in the See also:annexation by the British in See also:April 1877. At this See also:period of Transvaal history it is impossible to trace any true patriotism in the See also:action of the See also:majority of the inhabitants. The one See also:idea of Kruger and his faction was to oust Burgers from office on any pretext, and, if possible, to put Kruger in his See also:place. When the downfall of Burgers was assured and annexation offered itself as the alternative resulting from his downfall, it is true that Kruger opposed it. But matters had gone too far. Annexation became an accomplished fact, and Kruger accepted paid office under the British government. He continued, however, so openly to agitate for the retrocession of the country, being a member of two deputations which went to See also:England endeavouring to get the annexation annulled, that in 1878 See also:Sir See also:Theophilus See also:Shepstone, the British See also:administrator, dismissed him from his service. In 188o the Boer See also:rebellion occurred, and Kruger was one of the famous triumvirate, of which General Piet See also:Joubert and Pretorius were the other members, who, after See also:Majuba, negotiated the terms of See also:peace on which the See also:Pretoria convention of See also:August 1881 was drafted. In 1883 he was elected president of the Transvaal, receiving 3431 votes as against 1171 recorded for Joubert. In See also:November 1883 President Kruger again visited England, this time for the purpose of getting another convention. The visit .was successful, the See also:London convention, which for years was a subject of controversy, being granted by See also:Lord See also:Derby in 1884 on behalf of. the British government. The government of the Transvaal being once more in the hands of the Boers, the country rapidly drifted towards that state of See also:national See also:bankruptcy See also:horn which it had only been saved by annexation in 1877. In 1886, the See also:year in which the See also:Rand mines were discovered, President Kruger was by no means a popular man even among his own followers; as an administrator of internal affairs he had shown himself grossly incompetent, and it was only the specious success of his negotiations with the British government which had retained him any measure of support. In 1888 he was elected president for a second term of office. In 1889 Dr. Leyds, a See also:young Hollander, was appointed state secretary, and the See also:system of state monopolies around which so much corruption See also:grew up was soon in full course of development. The principle of government See also:monopoly in See also:trade being thus established, President Kruger now turned his See also:attention to the further securing of Boer political monopoly. The Uitlanders were increasing in See also:numbers, as well as providing the state with a See also:revenue. In 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1894 the See also:franchise See also:laws (which at the time of the convention were on a liberal basis) were so modified that all Uitlanders were practically excluded altogether. In 1893 Kruger had to See also:face a third presidential See also:election, and on this occasion the opposition he had raised among the burgers, largely by the favouritism he displayed to the Hollander party, was so strong that it was fully anticipated that his more liberal opponent, General Joubert, would be elected. Before the election was decided Kruger took care to conciliate the volksraad members, as well as to see that at all the volksraad elections, which occurred shortly before the presidential election, his supporters were returned, or, if not returned, that his opponents were objected to on some trivial pretext, and by this means prevented from actually sitting in the volksraad until the presidential election was over. The Hollander and concessionnaire influence, which had become a strong power in the state, was all in favour of President Kruger. In spite of these facts Kruger's position was insecure. " General Joubert was, without any doubt whatever, elected by a very considerable majority."' But the figures as announced gave Kruger a majority of about 700 votes. General Joubert accused the government of tampering with the returns, and appealed to the volksraad. The See also:appeal, however, was fruitless, and Kruger retained office. The action taken by President Kruger at this election, and his previous actions in ousting President Burgers and in absolutely excluding the Uitlanders from the franchise, all show that at any cost, in his See also:opinion, the government must remain a See also:close See also:corporation, and that while he lived he must remain at the See also:head of it.
From 1877 onward Kruger's See also:external policy was consistently See also:anti-British, and on every See also:side—in See also:Bechuanaland, in See also:Rhodesia, in See also:Zululand—he attempted to enlarge the frontiers of the Transvaal at the expense of Great Britain. In these disputes he usually gained something, and it was not until 1895 that he was definitely defeated in his endeavours to obtain a seaport. His internal policy was blind, reckless and unscrupulous, and inevitably led to disaster. It may be summed up in his own words when replying to a deputation of Uitlanders, who desired to obtain the legalization of the use of the See also:English See also:language in the Transvaal. " This," said Kruger, " is my country; these are my laws. Those who do not like to obey my laws can leave my country." This rejection of the advances of the Uitlandersby whose aid he could have built up a free and stable republic—led to his downfall, though the failure of the See also:Jameson Raid in the first days of 1896 gave him a See also:signal opportunity to secure the safety of his country by the See also: In 1898 Kruger was elected president of the Transvaal for the See also:fourth and last time. In 1899 relations between the Transvaal and Great Britain had become so strained, by reason of the oppression of the See also:foreign See also:population, that a See also:conference was arranged at See also:Bloemfontein between Sir See also:Alfred (afterwards Lord) See also:Milner, the high See also:commissioner, and President Kruger. Kruger was true to his principles. • At every juncture iii his life his object had been to gain for himself and his own narrow policy everything that he could, while conceding nothing in return. It was for this reason that he invariably failed to come to any arrangement with Sir See also: To admit Uitlanders to the franchise, to no See also:matter how moderate a degree, would destroy the independence of the state. In October 1899, after a See also:long and fruitless See also:correspondence with the British government, See also:war with Great Britain was ushered in by an See also:ultimatum from the Transvaal. Immediately after the ultimatum See also:Natal and the Cape Colony were invaded by the Boers both of the Transvaal and the Free State. Yet one of the most memorable utterances made by Kruger at the Bloemfontein conference was couched in the following terms: " We follow out what God says, ` Accursed be he that removeth his See also:neighbour's landmark.' As long as your See also:Excellency lives you will see that we shall never be the attacking party on another man's See also:land." The course of the war that followed is described under TRANSVAAL. In 1900, Bloemfontein and Pretoria having been occupied" by British troops, Kruger, too old to go on See also:commando, with the consent of his executive proceeded to See also:Europe, where he endeavoured to induce the See also:European See also:powers to intervene on his behalf, but without success.
From this time he ceased to have any political influence. He took up his See also:residence at See also:Utrecht, where he dictated a See also:record of his career, published in 1902 under the See also:title of The See also:Memoirs of Paul Kruger. He died on the 14th of See also:July 1904 at Clarens, near See also:Vevey, on the shores of the See also:Lake of See also:Geneva, whither he had gone for the See also:sake of his See also:health. He was buried at Pretoria on the following 16th of See also:December, Dingaan's See also:Day, the anniversary of the day in 1838 when the Boers crushed the Zulu See also: It was in her See also:grave that the See also:body of her See also:husband was laid. It is recorded that when a statue to President Kruger at Pretoria was erected, it was by Mrs. Kruger's wish that the See also:hat was left open at the See also:top, in See also:order that the See also:rain-See also:water might collect there for the birds to drink. See J. F. van Oordt, P. Kruger en de opkomst d. Zuid-Afrikaansche Republiek (See also:Amsterdam, 1898); the Memoirs already mentioned; F. R. Statham, Paul Kruger and his Times (1898) ; and, among See also:works with a wider See also:scope, G. M. Theal, History of South Africa (for events down to 1872 only); Sir J. P. Fitzpatrick, The Transvaal from Within (1899); The Times History of the War in South Africa (1900-9) ; and A. P. Hillier, South See also:African Studies (1900). Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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