CHAPTER III.
THE TRANSVAAL.—ANNEXATION.
I have endeavoured in the last chapter to tell very shortly
the story of the South African Republic and to describe its
condition at the moment when our Secretary of State at
home took the unusual step of sending a British Commissioner,—not
with orders to take possession of the land but
with orders which have been held to justify the act when
done. I doubt whether there is a precedent for so high-handed
a deed in British history. It is as though the rulers
of Germany were to say that in their opinion the existence
of a Switzerland in Europe was deleterious and dangerous,
and that therefore they would abolish Switzerland as a
Republic, and annex its territory. It will be said that the
case would be different because Switzerland is well governed
and prosperous. But the Germans in such a case would say
that they thought otherwise,—which is what we say here,—and
that they therefore took it. It was we who found fault
with the management of that other Republic and we who
have taken possession of the land. It is well that the whole
truth as to the matter should be understood. If we had
done this act in compliance with the expressed wish of the
inhabitants generally, that would be a justification. But it
