if required, that they invested money immediately after or
in direct consequence of a statement by a Governor of the Transvaal
or a Minister of the British Crown.

"That the towns are almost exclusively inhabited by loyal subjects,
and English farmers and traders are scattered all over the country.

* * * * *

"That most of the loyal inhabitants intend to realise their
property, even at a sacrifice, and to leave the country, but that
those who are compelled by force of circumstances to remain in it
will be deprived of the protection and security afforded by English
rule, and they respectfully submit they have a right to ask that the
fullest and most substantial pledges be exacted from the
contemplated Boer Government for their safety, and for the exercise
of their privileges as British subjects."

In reference to the unfortunate natives, and the humiliating peace,
Mr. Rider Haggard, who had been Shepstone's private secretary, wrote
pathetically to Sir Bartle Frere from Newcastle, Natal:--

"_June 6, 1881._

"I do not believe that more than half of those engaged in the late
rebellion were free agents, though, once forced into committing
themselves, they fought as hard as the real malcontents.... The
natives are the real heirs to the soil, and should surely have some
protection and consideration, some voice in the settlement of their
fate. They outnumbered the Boers by twenty-five to one, taking their
numbers at a million and those of the Boers at forty thousand, a
fair estimate, I believe.... As the lash and the bullet have been
the lot of the wretched Transvaal Kaffir in the past, so they will
be his lot in the future.... After leading those hundreds of
thousands of men and women to believe that they were once and for
ever the subjects of her Majesty, safe from all violence, cruelty,
and oppression, we have handed them over without a word of warning
to the tender mercies of one, where natives are concerned, of the
cruellest white races in the world.

"Then comes the case of the loyal Boers, men who believed us and
fought for us, and are now, as a reward for their loyalty, left to
the vengeance of their countrymen--a vengeance that will most
certainly be wreaked, let the Royal Commission try to temper it as
they will.

"Lastly, there are the unfortunate English inhabitants, three
thousand of whom were gathered during the siege