[100]. These I describe in the account of another journey to the Transvaal.
[101]. This beautiful building has since been completed.
[102]. Literally, a dram of liquor—meaning a trifle.
[103]. In pondering over the state of matters then existing it was impossible for me not to picture in my mind the change time had wrought! A few short years before, I had seen and listened to Thomas Francois Burgers, full of eager anticipation of the future before him, speak most hopefully of the Transvaal, at a banquet given in his honor at Kimberley, as he passed through to assume the “dictatorship” of that republic. And when, in touching upon some observation I had made in proposing the toast of “the press,” he had emphasized the fact that “the pen was mightier than the sword.” And now, his expectations unrealized, his fond hopes withered, his ambition blighted, broken-down in health and spirits, it was not to be wondered at that he made no strenuous opposition to the advent of British rule.
[104]. Sir Theophilus Shepstone arrived in Pretoria with his twenty-five policemen in January, 1877. He announced to President Burgers that unless he could make arrangements that would be satisfactory to the Imperial government with regard to the government of the Transvaal he was authorized to annex it as a portion of Her Majesty’s dominions. President Burgers called a special session of the Volksraad, and proposed a new constitution, but that did not meet with the approval of the British Commissioner, and on the 12th of April, 1877, as I have mentioned before, the country was proclaimed British territory, and Sir T. Shepstone assumed the administration of affairs. He continued to hold that position until the 18th of December, 1878, when he left for Zululand in consequence of the threatening aspect of native affairs there. The government was administered for a time by the senior military officer before the arrival of Colonel Lanyon. Sir T. Shepstone never returned.
[105]. Mr. Christian Maasdorp, now nominated to a seat on the Eastern District’s bench, but who then held the commission as Attorney General, resigned “when he found it impossible (vide Transvaal Advertiser, November 20th, 1885) to countenance the chicane and tyranny of the Lanyon administration.”
[106]. Sir Garnet Wolseley was assisted by an executive council consisting of Colonel Lanyon, administrator, Colonel Harrison, commanding H. M. troops, Mr. Melmoth Osborne, Colonial Secretary, Mr. C. G. Maasdorp, Attorney General, and Mr. H. C. Shepstone, Secretary for native affairs. There were also three non-official members, viz., Messrs. J. Marais, J. C. Holtshausen, and J. S. Joubert, who with the members of the government composed the Executive Council under the Constitution promulgated on November 8th, 1879. A legislative assembly was at the same time called into being by the Wolseley constitution, and the under-mentioned gentlemen were nominated: viz., Messrs. J. R. White, O. W. A. Forsman, J. A. Esterhuizen, A. H. Stander and J. H. Nel. The last session of the legislative assembly concluded very shortly before the war broke out, which put an end to the constitution and British authority at one fell swoop.
[107]. “To our homes.”
[108]. Convention of Pretoria, Article 23: If not released before the taking effect of this Convention, Sekukuni, and those of his followers who have been imprisoned with him, will be forthwith released, and the boundaries of his location will be defined by the Native Location Commission in the manner indicated in the last preceding article.
[109]. The first Sekukuni war broke out in October, 1876, the treaty of peace being signed February 5th, 1877. The second Sekukuni war, begun under the Shepstone administration in March, 1878, resulted in the complete destruction (under Sir G. Wolseley) of the tribe, and the capture of the chief, who was held a prisoner of war, as I have mentioned, until the convention of Pretoria was signed in August, 1881. The Mapoch (Niabel) and Mampoer war commenced near the end of 1882 and was about ten months in duration. Mapoch surrendered 12th of July, 1883, to General Joubert, who had conducted the operations against both chiefs.