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large farms and consequent social isolation were necessary. The differences of political and legal system between Colonies and Republics, of which so much has been made, were very slight in comparison with what they held in common – the common impress of Roman Dutch law upon the administration of justice and its embodiment in similar statutes, the common system of local government, etc. Until the friction of the last few years occurred, the process of fusion was continuous and visible everywhere, slower in the Transvaal than in the Free State, in the Free State than in the Colony, but everywhere proceeding at an accelerated pace as railway and other communications gave more mobility to the population, and brought home a genuine identity of interests and the need of growing federation of States, for economic and social, if not for definitely political, purposes. The alleged 'inevitability' of conflict from rooted antagonism of systems is a mere piece of verbiage, the falsity of which was brought home to me most powerfully during my investigation of the political situation on the spot in the months preceding the war. The situation, with its approaching catastrophe, visibly resolved itself, not into externally compelling forces, but