The " annexation " of the Transvaal appears to have
been accomplished very easily. Sir T. Shepstone, after issuing his pro- clamation, appointed himself, under authority from the Queen, Administrator of the State, abolished the war-tax, and offered the Dutch officials their places back again. They all accepted them under the new Government. Sir Bartle Frere telegraphs to the Colonial Office on 1st May that all danger of opposition has passed away. The majority of the Boers welcome the change, being convinced that independence was impossible, and the British troops were transported to the interior in Boers' waggons. It must not be forgotten that the only party affected by the change, the Boers, probably do not number 7,000 families, scattered for the most part over great distances, and hostile to the British only for their treatment of the natives, which strikes the Dutch as feeble. The Immense influence of Sir T. Shepstone among the blacks, as com- pared with their deadly hatred to the Boers, has probably tended to modify that view, as also has the recent series of defeats. The Dutch have still the opportunity of controlling the local govern- ment, which, subject to the Confederation, will be left mainly in in their own hands.
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