at every
man in the ranks was full of as high a spirit, and as brave as he was
himself. Indeed most people will think, that so far from its being a
rasher action, the occupation of Majuba, bad generalship as it seems,
was a wiser move than either the attack on the Nek or the Ingogo fiasco.

But at the best, all his movements are difficult to be understand by
a civilian, though they may, for ought we know, have been part of an
elaborate plan, perfected in accordance with the rules of military
science, of which, it is said, he was a great student.

CHAPTER VI

THE RETROCESSION OF THE TRANSVAAL

_The Queen's Speech--President Brand and Lord Kimberley--Sir Henry de
Villiers--Sir George Colley's plan--Paul Kruger's offer--Sir George
Colley's remonstrance--Complimentary telegrams--Effect of Majuba on the
Boers and English Government--Collapse of the Government--Reasons of
the Surrender--Professional sentimentalists--The Transvaal Independence
Committee--Conclusion of the armistice--The preliminary peace--Reception
of the news in Natal--Newcastle after the declaration of peace--Exodus
of the loyal inhabitants of the Transvaal--The value of property in
Pretoria--The Transvaal officials dismissed--The Royal Commission--Mode
of trial of persons accused of atrocities--Decision of the Commission
and its results--The severance of territory question--Arguments _pro_
and _con_--Opinion of Sir E. Wood--Humility of the Commissioners and
its cause--Their decision on the Keate award question--The Montsoia
difficulty--The compensation and financial clauses of the report of the
Commission--The duties of the British Resident--Sir E. Wood's dissent
from the report of the Commission--Signing of the Convention--Burial of
the Union Jack--The native side of the question--Interview between
the Commissioners and the native chiefs--Their opinion of the
surrender--Objections of the Boer Volksraad to the Convention--Mr.
Gladstone temporises--The ratification--Its insolent tone--Mr.
Hudson, the British Resident--The Boer festival--The results of
the Convention--The larger issue of the matter--Its effect on the
Transvaal--Its moral aspects--Its effect on the native mind._

When Parliament met in January 1881, the Government announced, through
the mediumship of the Queen's Speech, that it was their intention to
vindicate Her Majesty's authority in the Transvaal. I have already
briefly described the somewhat unfortunate attempts to gain this end