With this sentiment I am entirely in accord. It is our hope that the
present national awakening on the whole subject of our position and
responsibilities in South Africa will--in case of the re-establishment
of peace under the principles of British rule--result in a change in the
condition of the native races, both in the Transvaal, and at the hands
of our countrymen and others who may be acting in their own interests,
or in the interests of Commercial Societies.

I do not intend to sketch anything approaching to a history of South
African affairs during the last seventy or eighty years; that has been
ably done by others, writing from both the British and the Boer side. I
shall only attempt to trace the condition of certain native tribes in
connection with some of the most salient events in South Africa of the
century which is past.

In 1877, as my readers know, the Transvaal was annexed by Sir Theophilus
Shepstone. There are very various opinions as to the justice of that
annexation. I will only here remark that it was at the earnest
solicitation of the Transvaal leaders of that date that an interference
on the part of the British Commissioner was undertaken. The Republic
was in a state of apparently hopeless anarchy, owing to constant
conflicts with warlike native tribes around and in the heart of the
country. The exchequer was exhausted. By the confession of the President
(Burgers) the country was on the verge of bankruptcy.[1] The acceptance
of the annexation was not unanimous, but it was accepted formally in a
somewhat sullen and desponding spirit, as a means of averting further
impending calamity and restoring a measure of order and peace. Whether
this justified or not the act of annexation I do not pretend to judge.
The results, however, for the Republic were for the time, financial
relief and prosperity, and better treatment of the natives. The