Stanley on the Boer President

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2089, 26 March 1898, Page 2

Stanley on the Boer President

As by recent cables we are informed that Krugers attitude is causing grave anxiety among English statesmen, we think the following may be of interest: —Mr H. M. Stanley recently secured an interview with President Kruger, and he does not seem to have been favourably impressed. In his letter from South Africa Mr Stanley says : “ He appears to know absolutely nothing outside his burgherdom; he has neither manners nor taste; his only literature seems to be limited to the Bible and a few treaties and documents about the Republic; he has no intrinsic excellence of character that should appeal to the admiration of the public; but what he does know he knows well. He knows the simplicty of his rude and bearded breth«rn of the veldt; he can play upon their fears and their creed with perfect effect and it is in the nature of his illcomlitioned personality to say ‘no.’ All the rest has fallen to him because he is so unyielding and others so vacillating and so pitifully weak.” This is JJthe man, adds Mr Stanley whom Johannesburgers hope to weary with their prayers and petitions; but they never will dq it.’