You ask me for the authorisation to publish in a pamphlet Dr. Kuyper's article which appeared in the Revue des Deux Mondes, under the title of "La Crise Sud-Africaine." I hasten to refuse you the authorisation.
I am, Sir, etc.,
F. BRUNETIÈRE.
In this reply I trace M. Brunetière's habitual courtesy. If I do not thank him for his refusal, I yet thank him for the promptness with which it was signified by him.
It had been my desire to enable the reading public to judge for themselves the value of the arguments put forward by Dr. Kuyper and myself; but it was evidently M. Brunetière's wish that Dr. Kuyper's article should be known only to the readers of the Revue des Deux Mondes, and that they should remain ignorant of my reply. This is in itself a confession; for undoubtedly had Dr. Kuyper been convinced that it was impossible for me to refute his arguments he would have requested M. Brunetière to give me the authorisation to reproduce his article.
V.
On April 26th a telegram from the Havas Agency announced that the Queen of Holland had received the journalists of Amsterdam, of whom Dr. Kuyper is President.
I therefore wrote the following letter to Mr. W.H. de Beaufort, the Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs:
Paris,
April 27th, 1900.
To H.E. the Minister for Foreign Affairs.