had created the anxiety, and caused the
paralysis; and that it was his arts and presence that had tightened
and strung up into quivering intensity the mind of the country. He
had broken the spell; he had introduced certainty in place of
uncertainty; and he was congratulated, and very properly so, for the
manner in which he had brought to a conclusion his hazardous mission.

Sir Theophilus Shepstone's despatches record his negotiations with
President Burgers, and the arrangement which allowed him to make a
formal protest against the annexation, so as to satisfy his
Irreconcilables, whilst he in reality not only assented to the
measure, but even assisted the completion of it, and discussed the
details with Shepstone, who in turn had revised President Burgers'
'protest.'

On April 3, 1877, Shepstone had written to Frere:

Mr. Burgers, who had been all along, as far as his conversation and
professions to me went, in full accord with me, had suddenly taken
alarm; he made impossible proposals, all of which involved infinite
delay, and, of course, dangerous agitation. As far as I am concerned,
leave the country, civil war would at once take place, as the natives
would consider it the sunshine in which they could make hay in the
Transvaal; the goldfields are in a state of rebellion against the
Transvaal Government, and they are kept from overt acts only by my
warnings and entreaties.

And eight days later he wrote to Mr. Robert Herbert enclosing his
letter under 'flying seal' to Frere:

There will be a protest against my act of annexation issued by the
Government, but they will at the same time call upon the people to
submit quietly, pending the issue; you need not be disquieted by such
action, because it is taken merely to save appearances, and the
members of the Government from the violence of a faction that seems
for years to have held Pretoria in terror when any act of the
Government displeased it.

You will better understand this when I tell you privately that the
President has from the first fully acquiesced in the necessity for
the change, and that most of the members of the Government have
expressed themselves anxious for it; but none of them have had the
courage openly to express their opinions, so I have had to act
apparently against them; and this I have felt bound to do, knowing
the state and danger of the country, and that three-fourths of the
people will be thankful for the change when once it is made.