e majority of the
inhabitants wished for the Annexation, and that it was sanctioned on
that ground. This statement shows the great ignorance that exists in
this country of South African affairs, an ignorance which in this case
has been carefully fostered by Mr. Gladstone's Government for party
purposes, they having found it necessary to assume, in order to make
their position in the matter tenable, that Sir T. Shepstone and other
Officials had been guilty of misrepresentation. Unfortunately, the
Government and its supporters have been more intent upon making out
their case than upon ascertaining the truth of their statements. If they
had taken the trouble to refer to Sir T. Shepstone's despatches, they
would have found that the ground on which the Transvaal was annexed was,
not because the majority of the inhabitants wished for it, but because
the State was drifting into anarchy, was bankrupt, and was about to be
destroyed by native tribes. They would further have found that Sir
T. Shepstone never represented that the majority of the Boers were in
favour of Annexation. What he did say was that most thinking men in the
country saw no other way out of the difficulty; but what proportion of
the Boers can be called "thinking men?" He also said, in the fifteenth
paragraph of his despatch to Lord Carnarvon of 6th March 1877, that
petitions signed by 2500 people, representing every class of the
community, out of a total adult population of 8000, had been presented
to the Government of the Republic, setting forth its difficulties and
dangers, and praying it "to treat with me for their amelioration or
removal." He also stated, and with perfect truth, that many more would
have signed had it not been for the terrorism that was exercised, and
that all the towns and villages in the country desired the change, which
was a patent fact.

This is the foundation on which the charge of misrepresentation is
built--a charge which has been manipulated so skilfully, and with such a
charming disregard for the truth, that the British public has been duped
into believing it. When it is examined into, it vanishes into thin air.

But a darker charge has been brought against the Special Commissioner--a
charge affecting his honour as a gentleman and his character as a
Christian; and, strange to say, has gained a considerable credence,
especially amongst a certain party in England. I allude to the statement
that he called up the Zulu army with the i