necessary here not to lose sight of the fact that the ground,
which according to the Keate award in 1870 had been declared to lie
beyond the borders of the Republic, was now included by Shepstone as
being a part of the Transvaal.

There were, however, other matters which under Republican
administration were branded as wrong, but which under English rule were
perfectly right. In the Secoecoeni War under the Republic the British
High Commissioner had protested against the use of the Swazies and
Volunteers by the Republic in conducting the campaign.

Under British administration the war was carried on at first by regulars
only, but when these were defeated by the Kaffirs, an army of Swazies,
as well as Volunteers, was collected. The number of the former can be
gathered from the fact that 500 Swazies were killed. The atrocities
committed by these Swazi allies of the English on the people of
Secoecoeni's tribe were truly awful.

Bishop Colenso, who condemned this incident, said, with regard to the
results of the Annexation of the Republic, that the Zululand difficulty,
as well as that with Secoecoeni, was the direct consequence of the
unfortunate Annexation of the Transvaal, which would not have happened
if we had not taken possession of the country like a lot of freebooters,
partly by "trickery," partly by "bullying." Elsewhere he said: "And in
this way we annexed the Transvaal, and that act brought as its Nemesis
the Zulu difficulty."

That the British Government had all along considered the Zulus as a
means of annihilating the Transvaal when a favourable opportunity
occurred, is clear from a letter which the High Commissioner, Sir Bartle
Frere, wrote to General Ponsonby, in which he says:--[27] "That while
the Boer Republic was a rival and semi-hostile power, it was a Natal
weakness rather to pet the Zulus as one might a tame wolf who only
devoured one's neighbours' sheep. We always remonstrated, but rather
feebly, and now that both flocks belong to us, we are rather embarrassed
in stopping the wolfs ravages."

And again in a letter to Sir Robert Herbert:--[28] "The Boers were
aggressive, the English were not; and were well inclined to help the
Zulus against the Boers. I have been shocked to find how very close to
the wind the predecessors of the present Government here have sailed in
supporting the Zulus against Boer aggression. Mr. John Dunn, still a
salaried official of this Government, thinking himself bound to