having accepted it, the Boers deposed him, and continued to occupy the
territory to which they laid claim. They were at a loss whom next to
elect as President.

Overtures were made to Mr. Brand, President of the Orange Free State;
but he wisely refused. They next turned to a Cape Afrikander, a former
minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, Mr. F. Burgers, a capable,
intelligent man. It was his desire to correct abuses; to repress the
slavery that was being carried on under the name of "apprenticeship"; to
introduce railways and schools; he claimed the right to impose
taxation, he got to be credited, in the long run, with the belief that
the devil's tail was not as long as it is represented in the old Bible
pictures. When the Boers were defeated by Sekukuni, they looked upon it
as a punishment from God for having a "free thinker" for President. The
commandos disbanded themselves. At the same time Cetewayo, the Zulu
Chief, was threatening the Boers in the south. Caught between two fires,
without resources or organisation, annihilation was before them. Now the
English, for their own security, had the greatest interest in preventing
the extermination of white men by natives; and on that ground, apart
from all sentimentality, they had never ceased to protest against the
methods employed by the Boers, as the surest means of bringing about
that result. Theophilus Shepstone, who possessed great influence over
the Zulus, was sent to Pretoria. Unable, even with the help of their
President, to bring any order into the Government of the Transvaal, he
ended by annexing it on 12th April, 1877. He annexed it in order to save
it. Had the English abandoned it to itself, the Boer territory would
have been occupied by Basutos and the Zulus, and the Boers would have
disappeared from the face of the earth.