No wonder
either, since, for a while, many of the people refused to accept the new
form of government, and would not vote for a President. They were angry,
at having been thrust forth from their heritage as British subjects. What
nation, they demanded, had the right so to treat a section of its people,
who had done nothing to disqualify themselves from citizenship?
'You have to remember that the movement for throwing over the Colonies,
was rising as an force active in England. They had come into being almost
unbidden; they were regarded with a cold interest. The notion that it
would be a good thing to lop them off altogether, was being accepted
among English statesmen. You could feel the heresy in the air--gusts that
brushed your face like a chill.'
The South Africa thus put foot upon by Sir George Grey, was re-created to
him long after, in a cablegram that he received in New Zealand. The South
African railway system, which he tended in its infancy, had crawled north
to Bloemfontein, as it has since gone farther, and still goes on, the
iron-shod tramp. That auspicious day, Bloemfontein remembered the author
of its Grey College, and gripped his hand across the sea. It made him
very happy. Providence had set him to garden three countries of the
Southern Hemisphere in rapid succession.
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