ew would henceforth be utterly untenable
for Englishmen and English sympathisers." Here was another great
trek--a pathetic exodus of British loyalists whom Great Britain had
betrayed. Away they went, these poor believing and deceived people,
to try and make new homes and new fortunes, for as soon as the
Queen's sovereignty was withdrawn houses and land were not worth a
song, and their chances of earning a living were now entirely over,
on account of their mistaken loyalty.

The condition of the town is thus described in a journal of the
period:--

"The streets grown over with rank vegetation; the water-furrows
unclean and unattended, emitting offensive and unhealthy stenches;
the houses showing evident signs of dilapidation and decay; the side
paths, in many places, dangerous to pedestrians--in fact, everything
the eye can rest upon indicates the downfall which has overtaken
this once prosperous city. The visitor can, if he be so minded,
betake himself to the outskirts and suburbs, where he will perceive
the same sad evidences of neglect, public grounds unattended, roads
uncared for, mills and other public works crumbling into ruin.
These palpable signs of decay most strongly impress him. A blight
seems to have come over this lately fair and prosperous town.
Rapidly it is becoming a 'deserted village,' a 'city of the dead.'"

RETROCESSION

The Government, through the medium of the Queen's Speech, had
announced its intention of vindicating her Majesty's authority in
the Transvaal. This was in January 1881. About that time President
Brand, of the Orange Free State, formed himself into a species of
Board of Arbitration between the contending parties--Boers and
British. The reason for this intervention was threefold--first, he
genuinely desired to avoid further bloodshed; second, he as
genuinely hoped, under a mask of neutrality, to advance the Dutch
cause throughout South Africa; and third, he amicably wished to put
himself in the good graces of the British Government. Prior to
General Colley's death Mr. Brand had urged him to allow peace to be
made, and to guarantee the Boers not being treated as rebels if they
submitted. General Colley was no quibbler with words. He would give
no such assurance. He proposed, in a telegram to the Colonial
Secretary, to publish an amnesty on entering the Transvaal to all
peaceable persons--excepting one or two prominent rebels. On the 8th
of February (the day of the battle of the I