As past events throw a good deal of light on the present position in the Transvaal Republic, I have endeavoured to detach the thread of anglo-dutch relations from the tangled skein of South African history, and to give a plain account of the policy of the English towards the Dutch from the beginning. Most of the facts connected'with the earlier part of the story are given on the authority of Mr. George m'coll Thea], Whose personal know ledge of South Africa and its various peoples, and careful study of the Cape archives, has enabled him to compile an inexhaustible mass of valuable information in the five monumental volumes of his History.