During the occupation period Mr. Kruger took office under the British Government, as also did Dr. Jorissen and Chief Justice (then Judge) Kotze, and indeed all the officials who had protested against the annexation, except Mr. Piet Joubert, who declined to do so, and who, if actions be the test and not words, was the only honest protestant.  Mr. Kruger retained his office for some time after he had concerned himself in the Repeal agitation, but finally resigned his post on being refused an increased remuneration, for which he had repeatedly applied.  There can be but little doubt that had this inducement been forthcoming, he would have remained a loyal British subject.

The effect of the annexation was to start the wells of plenty bubbling—­with British gold.  The country’s debts were paid.  Secocoeni and Cetewayo would be dealt with, and the responsibility for all things was on other and broader shoulders.  With the revival of trade, and the removal of responsibilities and burdens, came time to think and to talk.  The wave of the magician’s wand looked so very simple that the price began to seem heavy.  The eaten bread was forgotten.  The dangers and difficulties that were past were of small account now that they were past; and so the men who had remained passive, and recorded formal protests when they should have resisted, and taken steps to show that they were in earnest, began their Repeal agitation.  All the benefits which the Boers hoped from the annexation had now been reaped.  Their pressing needs were relieved.  Their debts had been paid; their trade and credit restored; their enemies were being dealt with.  Repeal would rob them of none of these; they would, in fact, eat their cake and still have it.  The Zulu question had been taken up, and could not now be left by the Imperial Government to settle itself.  The debts discharged for them and the outlays incurred might, it is true, be charged to them.  They could not be repaid, of course, for the same reason that you cannot get blood from stone; and the amount would, therefore, be a National Debt, which was exactly what they had been trying for years to incur, and the condition of their credit had made it impossible to do.

The causes of discontent before given were serious, but the failure to fulfil promises was not deliberate.  Circumstances combined to prevent Sir Bartle Frere from visiting the Transvaal, as intended and promised.  Native wars (Gaika and Galeka), disagreements between the Colonial and Imperial authorities, the obstructions and eventual dismissal of the Molteno-Merriman Ministry—­the first under Responsible Government—­Natal and Diamond-fields affairs, and, above all, the Zulu War, all combined to prevent Sir Bartle Frere from fulfilling his obligations to settle Transvaal matters.

In the meantime two deputations had been sent to England, representing the Boers’ case against annexation.  The active party among the Boers, i.e., the Voortrekker party, the most anti-British and Republican, though small in itself, had now succeeded in completely dominating the rest of the Boers, and galvanizing them into something like national life and cohesion again—­a result achieved partly by earnest persuasion, but largely also by a kind of terrorism.