They considered that the annexation of the Transvaal had evidently been an injustice, that the farmers had a right to the freedom for which they fought, and that it was an unworthy thing for a great nation to continue an unjust war for the sake of a military revenge.

It was the height of idealism, and the result has not been such as to encourage its repetition.
An armistice was concluded on March 5th, 1881, which led up to a peace on the 23rd of the same month.

The Government, after yielding to force what it had repeatedly refused to friendly representations, made a clumsy compromise in their settlement.

A policy of idealism and Christian morality should have been thorough if it were to be tried at all.

It was obvious that if the annexation were unjust, then the Transvaal should have reverted to the condition in which it was before the annexation, as defined by the Sand River Convention.