Sir Owen Lanyon did not. There was
no Volksraad and no coffee, and the popular discontent grew
rapidly. In three years the British had broken up the two savage
hordes which had been threatening the land. The finances, too, had
been restored. The reasons which had made so many favour the
annexation were weakened by the very power which had every interest
in preserving them.
It cannot be too often pointed out that in this annexation, the
starting-point of our troubles, Great Britain, however mistaken she
may have been, had no obvious selfish interest in view. There were
no Rand mines in those days, nor was there anything in the country
to tempt the most covetous. An empty treasury and two native wars
were the reversion which we took over. It was honestly considered
that the country was in too distracted a state to govern itself,
and had, by its weakness, become a scandal and a danger to its
neighbours. There was nothing sordid in our action, though it may
have been both injudicious and high-handed.
In December 1880 the Boers rose. Every farmhouse sent out its
riflemen, and the trysting-place was the outside of the nearest
British fort. All through the country small detachments were
surrounded and besieged by the farmers.
