te of Napoleon a hundred years ago, has
not been without beneficent influence on our national character and
destiny, and these two years of war have seemingly done more for the
consolidation of the empire than twenty years of peace. Whether he and
Steyn used the Africander Bond as their tool or were themselves its
tools the outcome of the war is the same. To Great Britain it has so
bound Greater Britain in love-bonds and mutual loyalty as to make all
the world wonder. The President of the Transvaal months after the war
began is reported to have said: "If the moon is inhabited I cannot
understand why John Bull has not yet annexed it"; but with respect to
his own beloved Republic he reckoned it was far safer than the moon,
for he added: "So surely as there is a God of righteousness, so surely
will the Vierkleur be victorious."

[Sidenote: _The propaganda of the Africander Bond._]

What that victory, however, would inevitably have involved was made
abundantly plain in the pages of _De Patriot_, the once official organ
of the Africander Bond. There, as long ago as 1882, it was written:
"The English Government keep talking of a Confederation under the
British flag. That will never happen. There is just one hindrance to
Confederation, and that is the British flag. Let them take that away,
and within a year the Confederation under the Free Africander flag
would be established; but so long as the English flag remains here the
Africander Bond must be our Confederation. The British must just have
Simon's Bay as a naval and military station on the road to India, and
give over all Africa to the Africanders."

It then adds: "Let every Africander in this Colony (that is, the Cape)
for the sake of security take care that he has a good rifle and a box
of cartridges, and that he knows how to use them." English trade is to
be boycotted, nor is this veiled hostility to end even there. "Sell no
land to Englishmen! We especially say this to our Transvaal brethren.
The Boers are the landowners, and the proud little Englishmen are
dependent on the Boers. Now that the war against the English
Government is over, the war against the English language must begin.
It must be considered a disgrace to speak English. The English
governess is a pest. Africander parents, banish this pest from your
houses!"

Now, however, that Kruger is gone, and the Africander Bond has well
nigh given up the ghost, English governesses in South Africa will be
given