on the country was perfectly
magical. Credit and commerce were at once restored; the railway bonds
that were down to nothing in Holland rose with one bound to par, and
the value of landed property nearly doubled. Indeed it would have been
possible for any one, knowing what was going to happen, to have realised
large sums of money by buying land in the beginning of 1877, and selling
it shortly after the Annexation.

On the 24th May, being Her Majesty's birthday, all the native chiefs
who were anywhere within reach, were summoned to attend the first formal
hoisting of the English flag. The day was a general festival, and the
ceremony was attended by a large number of Boers and natives in addition
to all the English. At mid-day, amidst the cheers of the crowd, the
salute of artillery, and the strains of "God save the Queen," the
Union Jack was run up a lofty flagstaff, and the Transvaal was formally
announced to be British soil. The flag was hoisted by Colonel Brooke,
R.E., and the present writer. Speaking for myself, I may say that it
was one of the proudest moments of my life. Could I have foreseen that
I should live to see that same flag, then hoisted with so much joyous
ceremony, within a few years shamefully and dishonourably hauled down
and buried,[*] I think it would have been the most miserable.

[*] The English flag was during the signing of the
Convention at Pretoria formally buried by a large crowd of
Englishmen and loyal natives.

The Annexation was as well received in England as it was in the
Transvaal. Lord Carnarvon wrote to Sir T. Shepstone to convey "the
Queen's entire approval of your conduct since you received Her Majesty's
commission, with a renewal of my own thanks on behalf of the Government
for the admirable prudence and discretion with which you have discharged
a great and unwonted responsibility." It was also accepted by Parliament
with very few dissentient voices, since it was not till afterwards, when
the subject became useful as an electioneering howl, that the Liberal
party, headed by our "powerful popular minister," discovered the deep
iniquity that had been perpetrated in South Africa. So satisfied were
the Transvaal Boers with the change that Messrs. Kruger, Jorissen,
and Bok, who formed the deputation to proceed to England and present
President Burgers' formal protest against the Annexation, found great
difficulty in raising one-half of the necessary expenses--something
u