The Act of Annexation is so generally condemned by the friends and sympathizers of the Boers, and is so persistently quoted by them as the cause of the Boer War, that it is only right to show clearly what the opinion was at that time; and if it be deemed that overmuch space is given to this matter, the answer is, that it is quoted now as the crime which gave rise to the present hatred and mistrust of England, and it is all-important that the truth should be clear.

This is what Mr. J.F.  Celliers, the patriotic editor of the Boer newspaper, De Volksstem, wrote in reviewing the work of the special session of the Volksraad, convened to deal with the questions of Lord Carnarvon’s Federation Bill, and the rescuing of the country from ruin and chaos:—­’During the session we have repeatedly had occasion to comment on the doings of the Raad.  These comments have not been favourable, and we regret to say that we have found in the closing scenes of our Legislature no reason to alter our opinions.’  Then follows a scathing account of the ‘work done,’ in which occur such references as:—­’With the exception of a couple of members, no one had the sense or manliness to go into the question of confederation’; and ’The most surprising feature of the whole affair was this—­that most of the speakers seemed not to have the faintest conception of the desperate condition in which the country stood....’  And again, under date of March 28:  ’About three months ago we said we would prefer confederation under the British flag if the state of anarchy then threatening were to continue.  We know that a good and stable Government is better than anarchy any day.’

It is noteworthy that the writer of the above is the same Mr. Celliers who, two years later, was put in gaol by Colonel Lanyon on a charge of sedition, because he attacked the Administration for its failure to keep the promises made at the time of annexation.

Three thousand out of eight thousand voters actually signed petitions in favour of annexation.  In the Raad, President Burgers openly reproached members for proclaiming in public, and for improper reasons, views diametrically opposed to those privately expressed on the confederation and annexation questions; and refused to consult with three out of four members appointed as a deputation to confer with him on these subjects, because they had not paid their taxes, and had so helped by example, not less than by the actual offence, to cause the ruin of the country and the loss of independence.  And on March 3 President Burgers read an address to the Raad, in which the following words occur: 

’I would rather be a policeman under a strong Government than the President of such a State.  It is you—­you members of the Raad and the Boers—­who have lost the country, who have sold your independence for a soupe (a drink).  You have ill-treated the natives, you have shot them down, you have sold them into slavery, and now you have to pay the penalty.’