Napoleon once said that France and England would never remain at peace; their peace would be only suppressed war. And it might as truly be said of the Transvaal that, since the great betrayal of British interests which followed Majuba and which gave self-government back to the Dutch Republic, it had never been at peace with Britain, but had for eighteen years maintained barely concealed hostilities against all things British. It had armed, plotted, lied, conspired, intrigued, oppressed, prevaricated for the one great end of domination in South Africa at whatever cost. Like the upas tree of the fable, it had corrupted the soil of South Africa with its poison; it had blasted loyalty to Great Britain in the surrounding territories; it had become a centre, and a rallying point for all that was most bitterly opposed to British supremacy and to the ideals which have made our race so great. The one principle upon which its power was founded was the inequality of the white races--the servitude of the Englishman to the Dutch. [Illustration: MAJUBA HILL. The scene of the disastrous defeat which we suffered at the hands of the Boers on February 27, 1881. At that time there was no railway in this portion of Natal, and the country was even more sparsely populated than at present.] The great principle upon which the British Empire has been built up is that all men are equal before the law, and that all civilised races stand upon precisely the same footing. As we profoundly believe, not that we English are the favoured people of God, but that so long as we are faithful to the noblest call of duty and to the highest instincts which are in us as a race, we are helping the cause of progress, which is the cause of God, we know that, whatever checks, whatever vicissitudes, whatever disappointments may befall, we march to victory. Our cause is the cause of liberty and of the right. [Illustration: FIGURE-HEAD ROCK, MAJUBA.] If we look at the map of South Africa as it stood in the days before the war, we shall observe that in the centre of British territories, cut off from all access to the sea, lay two states, one independent of England--the Orange Free State; the other, the Transvaal, in a position of quasi-independence. For a few miles, it is true, the Transvaal boundary on the east is conterminous with Portuguese possessions; indeed, it approaches very close to the magnificent harbour of Delagoa Bay. [Illustration: KAFFIR WOMEN CARRYING BEER. The natives make a fermented drink from mealies (Indian corn) which is known as Kaffir beer. It is carried from one kraal to another by strings of women walking in Indian file and carrying on their heads great yellow gourds containing their favourite drink.] [Sidenote: 1652-1709.] _Conflict of Races in South Africa._] [Sidenote: Great Britain's Interest in the Dutch Republics.]