To return: towards the second week in
April, or the week before the proclamation of annexation was issued,
things began to look very serious; indeed, rumours that could hardly be
discredited reached the Special Commissioner that the whole of the Zulu
army was collected in a chain of Impis or battalions, with the intention
of bursting into the Transvaal and sweeping the country. Knowing
how terrible would be the catastrophe if this were to happen, Sir T.
Shepstone was much alarmed about the matter, and at a meeting with the
Executive Council of the Transvaal Government he pointed out to them
the great danger in which the country was placed. This was done in the
presence of several officers of his Staff, and it was on this friendly
exposition of the state of affairs that the charge that he had
threatened the country with invasion by the Zulus was based. On the 11th
of April, or the day before the Annexation, a message was despatched
to Cetywayo, telling him of the reports that had reached Pretoria,
and stating that if they were true he must forthwith give up all
such intentions, as the Transvaal would at once be placed under the
sovereignty of Her Majesty, and that if he had assembled any armies
for purposes of aggression they must be disbanded at once.
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