 While dependent on the Cape, ordinances had been passed establishing Roman-Dutch law as the law of Natal, and save where modified by legislation it remained in force.On 14 September 1876, the Colonial Office in the UK received a telegram from Sir Henry Barkly in Cape Town of the imminent collapse of the Transvaal, because the Transvaal's President Burger and his men had been routed after their attack on Sekhukhune and his people the Pedi.This galvanized Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon who obtained permission from Disraeli to appoint Sir Theophilus Shepstone (known by the Zulu honorific as Somtseu meaning '’father of the nation'’) who had served for 30 years as a Natal administrator, first as Diplomatic Agent to Native Tribes, then as secretary for native affairs, to act as special commissioner to the Transvaal.