[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] SIR,—Does not your correspondent,
Mr. Bernard Holland, in the Spectator of October 28th, misstate the cause of variance between us and President Kruger when he says : "The real issue is whether the Transvaal shall form an integral part of the British Empire or shall be a Dutch Republic "? So far as I am aware, there has never been any attempt on the part of the British Government to convert the Transvaal into any- thing which is not a Dutch Republic. We have only tried to secure civic rights for such of our fellow-countrymen as happen to be its citizens, and to prevent the Republic from ousting our own Empire from the position which it has hitherto held in South Africa. In other words, had President Kruger been contented with the place which the Transvaal has occupied ever since its creation as a Republic, all might have gone well; but since he has resolved that it, as a portion of a Dutch Confederation, shall rule South Africa, instead of the latter being ruled as heretofore, we are bound to look after our own interests. That is "the real issue," if ,I am not mistaken.—I am, Sir, &c., W. H. CRAIG.
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