The President was evidently alarmed by the idea that a majority of the Europeans might, under the proposition urged by the British Commissioner, become the rulers of the land, and he stuck to his objection after it was explained that the new burghers who would appear, if the franchise arrangements were made, could have only a minority of seats in the first Volks Raad, and therefore they could not control the State. In fact, the President was not in favor of allowing the Uitlanders any political power whatever without a long intermission after the abandonment by the Uitlanders of their rights as British subjects. The proposition of Sir Alfred was absolutely fair, reasonable and moderate. Its acceptance would have prevented war. There was time given by the Commissioner to the President for full consultation and consideration--that is there was no effort to rush him. Sir Alfred says in his communication to the Colonial Secretary Chamberlain, that he felt here he "had reached the crucial point," and he alleges that the Boer President endeavored to make the matter one of bargaining, wanted to talk away from the real issue, and desired to speak of what he called "grievances," wandering far from the main matter, which was in its simplicity whether the great community of Johannesburg and the surroundings in the gold mines, constituting a very large majority of the Europeans and white men in the Transvaal, should have any representation at all in the Volks Raad. [Sidenote: Self-Government desired by all] President Kruger at the fourth meeting of the conference presented what he styled a "Complete Reform Bill," full, as Sir Alfred says, of "elaborate restrictions." Subsequently Sir Alfred drew up a paper showing what those restrictions were, and that this reform bill consisted of traps and catches, and was a careful, studied evasion, expressive of a fixed resolution to make no concessions whatever to the majority of the white population of the country. Sir Alfred says: "I pointed out that His Honor's proposal differed absolutely from mine, in that it did not provide for an immediate, or even an early, enfranchisement of people who might have been in the Republic for many years, and it made no provision for an increase in the number of seats in the Volks Raad. I, therefore, in view of the improbability of our arriving at a settlement on this basis, suggested that the President should consider whether there was any other way, apart from the franchise, of giving the Uitlanders some powers of local self-government, such as were suggested by Mr. Chamberlain in February, 1896. The President, however, was, if possible, more opposed to this than to my previous proposal. He maintained that the municipality of Johannesburg had already as great powers as could properly be entrusted to it, and said it was no use speaking about self-government, as his people would be absolutely against it." [Sidenote: Lapse of Citizenship]