Article 9 allows free movement of all persons, except criminals and absconding debtors, between the British and the Boer territories.
As we see, the Convention had declared that slavery would not be practised in the Transvaal, but though the original declaration may have been made in all good faith, the Boer by degrees, and after the lapse of years, found it expedient to acquire native "apprentices," who could not change master nor task without permission. They began to fear that these natives could not be dealt with, as they were in the habit of dealing with them, without fear of comment from such British visitors as came across them; and they therefore attempted to block up the path of travellers, refusing them a passage through the Republic, and in some instances ordering the expulsion of visitors across the Vaal. About this time one of the most gruesome of all the many massacres in which the Boers were concerned took place. One Potgieter (not the Potgieter who was the rival of Pretorius), in charge of a small party of thirty men, women, and children, went forth to barter ivory unlawfully with Makapau, a Kaffir chief. The Kaffirs, owing the Boers a grudge for many a day, pounced on the whole party, leaving not one behind to give an account of the awful tragedy. The chief Potgieter was flayed alive, and his skin made into a kaross or cloak. The Boers were swift to revenge. President Pretorius, with an army of some four hundred, set himself to track down the assassins. The Kaffirs fled at the approach of the enemy, enclosing themselves in a huge cave, where they hoped to escape detection. This cave was blockaded by the Boers. Here the unhappy blacks went through all the horrors of famine and thirst, and when their agony became unbearable, and they sallied forth in desperation in search of water, they were remorselessly shot down one by one. Nine hundred in all were killed outside the cave. Within was more than double that number who had perished in the frightful agonies of starvation. President Kruger himself was a witness of the terrible scene, and took an active share in his countrymen's revenge. And this was not the first nor the last time in which he figured conspicuously in the bloody records of his country's history. It was only on the occasion of the Jameson Raid that Oom Paul awakened to sentimental qualms regarding the spilling of blood.
BLOEMFONTEIN FROM THE SOUTH.
Photo by Wilson, Aberdeen.
THE GRONDWET
To thoroughly grasp the methods of the New South African Republic, it may be interesting to study some of "the Articles" of a Grondwet or Constitution, which superseded those originally adopted by the Potchefstroom Raad. The Grondwet was started in 1857, and was framed entirely to suit the then condition of the Boer community. The ordinary idea of a written constitution was at that time unknown, and the meaning of such words as "rigid" or "elastic" was, of course, beyond their comprehension. These only developed a significance when the judicial crisis of 1897 put a fresh face on Republican affairs.
Article 4 states that "the people desire no extension of territory, except only on principles of justice, whenever the interests of the Republic render it advisable."
Article 6.—"Its territory is open to every stranger who submits himself to the laws of the Republic; all persons who happen to be within the territory of this Republic have equal claim to protection of person and property."