svaal.]

As a crowning act in these deeds of shame came the Annexation of the
Transvaal by Shepstone on the 12th April, 1877. Sir Bartle Frere was
sent out as Governor to Cape Town by Lord Carnarvon to carry out the
confederation policy of the latter. Shepstone was also sent to the
Transvaal to annex that State, in case the consent of the Volksraad or
that of the majority of the inhabitants could be obtained. The Volksraad
protested against the Annexation. The President protested. Out of a
possible 8,000 burghers, 6,800 protested. But all in vain.

Bishop Colenso declared that: [25] "The sly and underhand way in which
the Transvaal has been annexed appears to be unworthy of the English
name."

The Free State recorded its deepest regret at the Annexation.

Even Gladstone, in expressing his regret, admitted that England had in
the Transvaal acted in such a way as to use the free subjects of a
kingdom to oppress the free subjects of a Republic, and to compel them
to accept a citizenship which they did not wish to have.

But it was all of no avail.

Sir Garnet Wolseley declared: "As long as the sun shines the Transvaal
will remain British Territory." He also stated that the Vaal River would
flow backwards to its source over the Drakensberg before England would
give up the Transvaal.

[Sidenote: Pretexts for the Annexation.]

Shepstone's chief pretexts for the Annexation were that the Transvaal
could not subdue Secoecoeni, and that the Zulus threatened to overpower
the Transvaal. As far as Secoecoeni is concerned, he had shortly before
sued for peace, and the Transvaal Republic had fined him 2,000 head of
cattle. With regard to the Zulus, the threatened danger was never felt
by the Republic. Four hundred burghers had crushed the Zulu power in
1838, and the burghers had crowned Panda, Cetewayo's father, in 1840.

Sir Bartle Frere acknowledged in a letter to Sir Robert Herbert dated
12th January, 1879, that he could not understand how it was that the
Zulus had left Natal unmolested for so long, until he found out that
the Zulus had been thoroughly subdued by the Boers during Dingaan's
time. Just before the Annexation a small patrol of Boers had pursued the
Chief Umbeline into the very heart of Zululand. But Bishop Colenso
points out clearly what a fraudulent stalking horse the Zulu difficulty
was. There had been a dispute of some years standing between the
Transvaal and the Zulus about a strip of territory along the