The Africanders

by Le Roy Hooker

With the growth of population there came changes in the form of government. The earlier governors exercised almost autocratic power, fearing nothing but a possible appeal against their acts to the Colonial Office in London. It should be stated, however, that the colonists [[137]]found as frequent cause to complain of the home government as of their governors. The occasional irritation which broke out into open protest was caused, for the most part, by difficulties with the natives. The Europeans, dwelling among an inferior race, naturally looked upon the natives as existing for their benefit, and bitterly resented the disposition of both the imperial authorities and the governors to give equal civil rights and protection to the blacks. The missionaries were the special objects of this resentment, because they held themselves bound by their sacred office to denounce the wrongs inflicted on the Kaffirs, and to even defend their conduct in rebelling against oppression.

These unfortunate dissensions had the effect of uniting the English and the Dutch colonists in questions of policy and government regarding the natives. After various attempts to satisfy the people with a governor appointed by the crown and a Legislative Council constituted by the governor’s nomination and imperial appointment, the home authorities, in 1854, yielded to the public demand for representative institutions.

A legislature, consisting of a Legislative Council and a House of Assembly, was established, both to be elected on a franchise wide [[138]]enough to include people of any race or color holding the reasonable property qualification. The sole check upon the colonial legislature retained by the imperial government was the right of the British crown to disallow any of its acts considered objectionable, on constitutional or other grounds, by her Majesty’s ministers. The executive power remained, for a time, with the governor and his council, who were appointed by the crown and in no way responsible to the colonial houses. Later, the executive power was taken from the governors and vested in a cabinet of ministers responsible to the colonial legislature and holding office during its pleasure.

The range of industries followed by the people of Cape Colony was not enlarged until the discovery of diamonds in 1869. This brought in a sudden rush of population from Europe and America and so inflated trade that the colonial revenue was more than doubled in the next five years. Then began that unparalleled development of mineral resources in South Africa which created immense wealth and furnished the elements of a political situation whose outcome the wisest cannot foresee.

With this general view of the condition of Cape Colony in the three decades succeeding the [[139]]Great Trek of the Africanders, we turn again to the special study proposed and consider the chain of events that led up to the third unfriendly contact between Boer and Briton—this time beginning in the Orange Free State.

By the conventions of 1852 and 1854 Great Britain formally relinquished all claim to that part of the interior of South Africa lying to the north of Cape Colony, and recognized the republics of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal. There can be no doubt of the sincerity of the British government in taking this action. The prevailing desires actuating both the parliament and the executive were to be rid of the responsibility and expense of governing these regions, and to leave the two new Africander republics to work out their own destiny in their own way.

For a few years the relations of the Cape government and its northern neighbors were friendly. The first occurrence that disturbed the welcome peace and harmony was a serious war which broke out in 1858 between the Basutos under Moshesh and the Orange Free State. The Basutos laid claim to certain farms, held under English titles, in Harrismith, Wynberg and Smithfield districts. These were taken possession [[140]]of by the petty Basuto captains, and when attempts were made to eject the intruders, Moshesh, the paramount chief, and his eldest son Letsie, assumed the right to interfere. This episode, together with other unfriendly acts on the part of the Basutos, brought on a condition which, it became evident, nothing but war could remedy. Accordingly, the Volksraad of the Orange Free State authorized the President, Mr. Boshof, to take any steps necessary to prevent intrusion upon the territory of the State. After much and very insincere diplomatic correspondence, the time of which was used by the Free State government in collecting the forces of its western and northern divisions, and by the Basutos in assembling their warriors, petty raids began the conflict and led on to hostilities on a larger scale near the end of March, 1858.

By the 26th of April Mr. Boshof became convinced that the Free State could not hold its own against the Basutos, and that the salvation of the country from being overrun by its enemies depended upon obtaining aid from some quarter. Acting on this conviction, on the 24th of April Mr. Boshof wrote Sir George Grey, governor of Cape Colony, informing him of the critical condition of the Free State, and imploring his mediation. [[141]]Sir George, after obtaining the sanction of the House Assembly to such a course, immediately tendered his services as mediator to Mr. Boshof and Moshesh, and was unconditionally and cordially accepted by both. Thereupon a cessation of hostilities was agreed to pending the arrangement of final terms of peace by Sir George.

In the meantime, the Free State was being ravaged on its western border by petty chiefs, who saw in the struggle between the whites and the powerful Basutos a favorable opportunity to enrich themselves with spoil. In the distress occasioned by these forays the Free State was aided by a force of burghers from the Transvaal Republic, under Commandant Paul Kruger.

Out of this friendly act there grew up a desire and even a proposition to unite the two republics in one. President Pretorius, Commandant Paul Kruger, and about twenty other representatives from the Transvaal visited Bloemfontein to confer with the Free State Volksraad on the matter of union—a measure considered by many the only means of saving the country from its savage foes.