policy of the retrocession of the Transvaal in its entirety; and
proceeding from their own carefully chosen commissioners, can hardly
have been pleasant reading to Lord Kimberley and his colleagues.

The majority of the Commission then proceeds to set forth the arguments
advanced by the Boers against the retention of any territory, which
appear to have been chiefly of a sentimental character, since we are
informed that "the people, it seemed certain, would not have valued the
restoration of a mutilated country. Sentiment in a great measure had
led them to insurrection, and the force of such it was impossible to
disregard." Sir E. Wood in his dissent, states, that he cannot even
agree with the premises of his colleagues' argument, since he is
convinced that it was not sentiment that had led to the outbreak, but a
"general and rooted aversion to taxation." If he had added, and a hatred
not only of English rule, but of all rule, he would have stated the
complete cause of the Transvaal rebellion. In the next paragraph of
the Report, however, we find the real cause of the pliability of the
Commission in the matter, which is the same that influenced them in
their decision about the mode of trial of the murderers and other
questions:--they feared that the people would appeal to arms if they
decided against their wishes.

Discreditable and disgraceful as it may seem, nobody can read this
Report without plainly seeing that the Commissioners were, in treating
with the Boers on these points, in the position of ambassadors from a
beaten people getting the best terms they could. Of course, they well
knew that this was not the case, but whatever the Boer leaders may have
said, the Boers themselves did not know this, or even pretend to look at
the matter in any other light. When we asked for the country back, said
they, we did not get it; after we had three times defeated the English
we did get it; the logical conclusion from the facts being that we got
it because we defeated the English. This was their tone, and it is not
therefore surprising that whenever the Commission threatened to decide
anything against them, they, with a smile, let it know that if it did,
they would be under the painful necessity of re-occupying Lang's Nek.
It was never necessary to repeat the threat, since the majority of the
Commission would thereupon speedily find a way to meet the views of the
Boer representatives.

Sir Evelyn Wood, in his dissent, thus