under the impression that Sir Theophilus Shepstone would be permitted
to carry out, and that he therefore would carry out, the promises he
made them. As the programme was open before them, they had everything
to gain and nothing to lose, except the loss entailed by nominal
government by the British. No man, whether Boer or Britisher, who was
living in the Transvaal, or knew the feelings of the Boers at the
time of annexation, would in 1877 have given any other account of the
feeling of the nation; and if I have formed too low an opinion of the
motives of English statesmen at that time, and am not justified in
attributing the annexation to greed instead of to the purer and
nobler desire to protect England's colonies, or even the Transvaal
itself, from the inroads of savages, then my excuse must be that the
failure of England to send out at that time a force equal to the task
of restraining those savages and maintaining peace, has helped
materially to lead me to the unwarrantable conclusion.{03}

And so came the war. The history of it is written that all may read;
and it is not necessary here to refer at length to the details of it.
The utterly unjust treatment of Bezuidenhout at Potchefstroom was the
immediate cause of the outbreak. The armed interference of the
Potchefstroom burghers with the Imperial officials followed on
December 16, to be in turn succeeded by the battle of Bronkhorst
Spruit on the 20th.

The following account of the affair is taken from Mr. Carter's book:

All went well on this day till about 2.30 p.m., when the following
was about the order of march: One mounted infantryman in advance of
the main body next the band; of F company, forty men; of A company,
forty men; then followed the quarter-guard, thirteen men; and