The decision was as momentous in its results as the annexation of Basutoland. Without the possession of Griqualand West, the British Government and settlers, and Cape Colony itself, would have been shut off from expansion to the north. The unclaimed country from the Limpopo to the Zambesi would have been open to the raids and eventual occupation of the Boers of the two Republics. The diamond mines of South Africa--with their hundreds of millions' worth of precious stones--would have been in the hands of England's enemies as well as the gold mines. Matabeland and Mashonaland and the empire created by Cecil Rhodes to the north and west of the republics would have been alien ground. The development of British South Africa would, in a word, have been effectually confined to the limited region south of the Orange River and the Drakensberg Mountains. The Keate Award, therefore, and the dispute between the two Dutch Governments and that of Great Britain, turned upon more important issues than the discovery of diamonds. The Boers did not really want the latter, but it is fairly evident now that they fully appreciated the importance of holding the only route to the north which still remained open to British acquisition. Had President Brand shared in the hostile sentiments of many of his own people and of his compatriots over the Vaal toward Great Britain, he would never have sold his claim even for the sum which did so much to place the finances of the Free State upon a sound footing. From this time forward to the end of the century, however, the Orange Free State enjoyed a condition of progressive prosperity. Roads, public buildings and bridges were constructed. A fairly good system of Dutch public schools was established in the villages, though it did not greatly affect the farmers on their wide ranches. [Sidenote: Railway from Cape Town] A railway was run through the country from Cape Town to Pretoria, largely at the expense of the Cape Government, while branch lines in time connected the Free State system with Durban, in Natal, and with Port Elizabeth and East London, on the southeast coast of Cape Colony. President Brand was re-elected to his position until he died in 1888, leaving the highest of reputations as a wise administrator, a warm friend of Great Britain, and a sincere admirer of British institutions. After his time other influences predominated, and the first evidence of this was in the election of Mr. F. W. Reitz--previously Chief Justice of the State--as his successor. [Sidenote: Condition of the Transvaal]