Had I been asked to describe Mr Kruger's character as conceived by me
from what I had read of him, I should have summed him up after the style
of an old author, thus: "What can be more extraordinary than that a man
of no education, no fortune, no eminent qualities of body, should have
had the courage to attempt, and the happiness to succeed, in wresting
back this splendid country from the tenacious grasp of one of the
greatest powers of the earth? That he should have the pluck and skill
to defeat a British general in the field, even while that general was
flattering himself for his successful manoeuvre, compel the British
Government to relinquish what it had gained, and to reinstate the
independence of his country by a Convention; and then upon second
thoughts to cancel that Convention and substitute another which almost
made his country a sovereign State; then, in flat opposition to the
terms of that Convention, dare to disclose his vindictive hatred of the
British race, among whom he was born and whom he often served, oppress
so many thousands of his former fellow-subjects, curtail their
guaranteed rights, trample upon them as he pleased, and spurn those who
did not please his tastes, make every diplomatist who ventured to plead
for them ridiculous for his failures; and while he dealt so hardly with
those whom he characterised as his enemies, could make his friends
understand that he was master, his burghers awe-stricken by his
successes, at the same time make both friends and enemies give ready
credence to his professions of justice and benevolence, to mock three of
the most powerful nations of Europe by turns, and compel each with equal
facility to maintain its distance; to make his illiterate and rude
burghers feared and courted by the Governors of the several Colonies
around him, to make their Governors and Legislatures humbly thank and
congratulate him, to make one sovereign State solicit a nearer
connection with his own, to be the dictator of the colony wherein he was
born, and its Government obsequious to his slightest wish, and lastly
(for there is no end to all the particulars of his glory), have talented
and educated men of the world visit him, and depart for home enchanted
with his condescension, enraptured with his humour and piety, and
overflowing with admiration for his greatness and many excellences of
character; to be able to have himself elected President for a fourth
time, compel his ministers, generals, and rivals to sing his praises in
their election addresses, and keep his burghers firm in the belief that
he alone is the saviour of his country, and the only true patriot whom
they can trust--to do all this is, at any rate, to be extraordinary."