"I know of only one statesman in modern times who firmly took his stand on the ancient ideal of citizenship, and that one was President Paul Kruger; it has always been my conviction that the real meaning of the Boer War is to be found in the necessary conflict between the two ideals, the English doctrine that all the white inhabitants of the country should be on equal footing, and the Boer doctrine that the Englishman was an inferior creature, just because he was not a citizen, and that he ought not to be allowed the honour of becoming a Boer until he had earned it by years or even generations of acquiescence in a subject position... he forgot that Englishmen could not accept the degraded status of subjects among citizens, and that the British Government could not submit to leave them sitting as suppliants on the lowest step of the altar. (Lord Cromer, interposing: "He forgot Lord Roberts.") The circumstance that the Boers seem now heartily to have accepted the modern doctrine of equality in the sight of the law seems the best augury for the future of the country."