Meanwhile Potgieter at Potchefstroom maintained communications with the Hollander, Smellekamp, and attempted to extend his territory to Delagoa Bay. Lydenburg, Zoutpansberg, and Ohrigstad were founded, and the last-named village became the capital of the Transvaal Boers. Sequati, chief of the Bapedi (father and predecessor of the more famous Sekukuni) was forced to acknowledge the Boers' sovereignty. But between the Orange and Vaal Rivers, in the district of Winburg, disorder reigned. At the same time great hardships were caused in Natal by an ordinance calling on farmers to prove occupation of their farms for the twelve months preceding the arrival of Mr. Cloete (who had conducted the annexation). The country had been in a state of anarchy, and in many cases the farmers could not produce such evidence, and saw their lands confiscated. Pretorius went to appeal to Sir Henry Pottinger in Grahamstown, but was refused an audience.

In 1847 Sir Harry Smith, who was well liked by the Boers, came back to the Cape as Governor, and proceeded to the country beyond the Orange River. He saw

Pretorius, endeavoured by redress of grievances to stop the exodus of Boers from Natal, and finally proclaimed British sovereignty over the territory between the Orange and Vaal Rivers (the present Orange Free State). Pretorius and other dissentients established themselves beyond the Vaal, but many of the farmers who remained in the "Orange River Sovereignty" resented the annexation, and determined to resist. Pretorius was summoned to take command of them. Sir Harry Smith at once moved up from Cape Town, and defeated the Boers in a sharp engagement at Boomplats (August 29, 1848). Winburg submitted, and arrangements were made for the government of the Sovereignty, whose capital was fixed at Bloemfontein. Most of the malcontents moved beyond the Vaal, and a considerable number of colonists from Cape Colony settled in the new territory. Pretorius was outlawed,

THIRD SERIES. VOL. VIII.

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and Potgieter was offered a magistracy in the sovereignty, but declined the appointment. Troubles soon came thick upon Major Warden, the Resident. Moshesh, with great skill, played off the malcontent Boers against the British Government. The Basutos gained a success over British troops at Viervoet, and the Republican party at Winburg invited Pretorius to return, and came to terms with Moshesh. The Basutos now confined their attacks to Loyalists, and Major Warden, left without an adequate force, was practically helpless. Pretorius made overtures to Major Warden for a definite settlement. It was evident that if he chose to ally himself actively with the Basutos, it would be impossible to hold Bloemfontein.

But Pretorius was not in a position to speak for the Transvaal Boers as a body. Potgieter and he were at open variance. There was no settled government in the Transvaal. In 1851 the Ohrigstad Raad created four co-ordinate Commandants - General, Potgieter retaining authority in the Zoutpansberg, and Pretorius in the South. At this juncture a meeting was arranged between Pretorius (whose outlawry was repealed) and two British Assistant-Commissioners, Major Hogge and Mr. Owen. On January 17, 1852, the Sand River Convention—the charter of Transvaal independence-was signed. Potgieter and his party resented their exclusion from the negotiations, but were finally reconciled with Pretorius, and the Transvaal Volksraad accepted the Convention.

It is necessary to examine this Convention somewhat closely, because the Government of the South African Republic hold that it should be read with the subsequent Conventions of 1881 and 1884, whereas Her Majesty's Government appear to consider it cancelled by the annexation in 1877.

Article 1. "The Assistant - Commissioners guarantee in the fullest manner on the part of the British Government to the emigrant farmers beyond the Vaal River the right to manage their own affairs, and to govern themselves according to their own laws, without any interference on the part of the British Government, and that no encroachment shall be made

by the said Government on the territory beyond, to the north of the Vaal River; with the further assurance that the warmest wish of the British Government is to promote peace, free-trade, and friendly intercourse with the Emigrant Farmers now inhabiting, or who hereafter may inhabit, that country, it being understood that this system of non-interference is binding upon both parties."

Article 2 arranges, in case of misunderstanding, for a subsequent delimitation of boundaries.

Article 3.

"Her Majesty's Assistant-Commissioners hereby disclaim all alliances whatever and with whomsoever of the coloured nations to the north of the Vaal River."

Article 4. “It is agreed that no slavery is or shall be permitted or practised in the country to the north of the Vaal River by the Emigrant Farmers."

Article 5 arranges for mutual facilities and liberty to traders and travellers on both sides of the Vaal River.

Article 6 allows the "emigrant Boers" to obtain ammunition in British colonies and possessions, "it being mutually understood that all trade in ammunition with the native tribes is prohibited both by the British Government and the Emigrant Farmers on both sides of the Vaal River."

Article 7 arranges for the mutual extradition, “as far as possible," of criminals, and mutual access to courts of justice. Article 8 validates, for purposes of inheritance in British possessions, certificates of marriage issued by the proper authorities of the Emigrant Farmers. Article 9

allows free movement of all persons, except criminals and absconding debtors, between the British and the Boers' territories.

It has been argued that this document did not create a sovereign independent State north of the Vaal, on the ground that Article 4 limits the powers of the Emigrant Farmers. But if a promise to prevent such practices as slavery is held to invalidate the independence of the nation making it, it would be difficult to maintain that the Turkish Empire, for example, is a sovereign State. The Convention is obviously defective, but it seems to have been

universally considered, until lately, that it conferred absolute independence on the Transvaal. Perhaps the most serious defect was the absence of any clause defining the eastern or western boundaries of the Republic. Pretorius afterwards declared that he had been told informally by one of the Assistant-Commissioners that the Republic was at liberty to extend westwards, along the north bank of the Orange River to the sea.

From this point it will be possible to treat the history of the South African Republic separately, although references must be made in places to events outside the Transvaal borders. It must never be forgotten that South Africa is essentially one country, and that its political divisions are artificial.

The Convention drew a line, which has never been quite obliterated, between the Boers north and south of the Vaal River. The farmers of the sovereignty were deserted by their allies, and left to the authority of the Crown. However, difficulties with the Basutos broke out anew, the Home Government, in opposition to the wishes of many of the inhabitants of the territory, determined on withdrawal, and in 1854 the Convention of Bloemfontein gave complete independence to the Orange Free State. There has never been any question of suzerainty over the Free State; on the other hand, the position of Great Britain as the paramount Power in South Africa would, in the absence of any Convention, compel Her Majesty's Government to take cognisance of the proceedings of the two Dutch Republics.

The Sand River Convention was not followed immediately by the creation of any stable government in the Transvaal. But complaints and recriminations between the Boers and the British began early. The Boers were said to interfere with missionaries in Bechuanaland, while English traders were reported to be selling ammunition to Transvaal natives. In 1852 an expedition of the Boers against Sequati inflicted much damage on the Bapedi, but

failed to take their stronghold. In the same year a Boer commando against the Bakwena, a Bechuana tribe, pillaged Dr. Livingstone's house, and the Bakwena prisoners were apprenticed" to farmers. In 1853 both Hendrik Potgieter and Andries Pretorius died, and thus the two ablest men amongst the Boers were lost to the Republic. Great confusion ensued. Hardly any taxes were paid, and there was nothing in the nature of a police. Potgieter's and Pretorius' parties continued their rivalry. In 1855 the Raad threw open the country to immigrants of good character from Europe, fixed the standard for acquisition of full burgher rights at a payment of £15 to the Treasury, but enacted that no non-burgher could own land. Native troubles continued, and excesses were committed on both sides. Ecclesiastical questions caused new discord. Finally, in 1859, the Separatist Reformed Church separated itself from the main body of the Dutch Reformed Church. Its members, nicknamed Doppers," adopted primitive Calvinistic views, and though the "Doppers" have since spread to Cape Colony, and there are many members of the Dutch Reformed Church in the Transvaal, the religious separation has weakened the connection between these two Dutch communities. In 1857 a Constitution was drawn up, which superseded the loosely-worded." Thirty-Three Articles" adopted by the Potchefstroom Raad in 1844Marthinus Wessel Pretorius, son of Andries Pretorius, was elected President of the South African Republic. The districts of Zoutpansberg and Lydenburg at once repudiated his authority. Meanwhile the Orange Free State, under President Boshof, had come into existence, and Marthinus Pretorius proceeded to Bloemfontein, hoping to arrange for a union. An open quarrel broke out, and the forces of Boshof and Pretorius faced each on the field. Finally, a treaty was signed, by which the two Republics acknowledged their mutual independence. While Pretorius was filibustering in the Orange Free State, his deputy, Lombard, had declared the Zoutpansberg farmers