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the voortrekkers, who had previously taken an active part in the affairs of Natal.
Distracted among themselves, with the formidable Basuto power on their southern and eastern flank, the troubles of the A Transvaal raid into the Free State.infant state were speedily added to by the action of the Transvaal Boers. Marthinus Pretorius, who had succeeded to his father’s position as commandant-general of Potchefstroom, wished to bring about a confederation between the two Boer states. Peaceful overtures from Pretorius were declined, and some of his partisans in the Free State were accused of treason (February 1857). Thereupon Pretorius, aided by Paul Kruger, conducted a raid into the Free State territory. On learning of the invasion President Boshof proclaimed martial law throughout the country. The majority of the burghers rallied to his support, and on the 25th of May the two opposing forces faced one another on the banks of the Rhenoster. President Boshof not only got together some eight hundred men within the Free State, but he received offers of support from Commandant Schoeman, the Transvaal leader in the Zoutpansberg district and from Commandant Joubert of Lydenburg. Pretorius and Kruger, realizing that they would have to sustain attack from both north and south, abandoned their enterprise. Their force, too, only amounted to some three hundred. Kruger came to Boshof’s camp with a flag of truce, the “army” of Pretorius returned north and on the 2nd of June a treaty of peace was signed, each state acknowledging the absolute independence of the other. The conduct of Pretorius was stigmatized as “blameworthy.” Several of the malcontents in the Free State who had joined Pretorius permanently settled in the Transvaal, and other Free Staters who had been guilty of high treason were arrested and punished. This experience did not, however, heal the party strife within the Free State. In consequence of the dissensions among the burghers President Boshof tendered his resignation in February 1858, but was for a time induced to remain in office. The difficulties of the state were at that time (1858) so great that the volksraad in December of that year passed a resolution in favour of confederation with the Cape Colony. This proposition received the strong support of Sir George Grey, then governor of Cape Colony, but his view did not commend itself to the British government, and was not adopted (see South Africa: History). In the same year the disputes between the Basutos and the Boers culminated in open war. Both parties laid claims to land beyond the Warden line, and each party had taken possession of what it could, the Basutos being also expert cattle-lifters. In the war the advantage rested with the Basutos; thereupon the Free State appealed to Sir George Grey, who induced Moshesh to come to terms. On the 15th of October 1858 a treaty was signed defining anew the boundary. The peace was nominal only, while the burghers were also involved in disputes with other tribes. Mr. Boshof again tendered his resignation (February 1859) and retired to Natal. Many of the burghers would have at this time welcomed union with the Transvaal, but learning from Sir George Grey that such a union would nullify the conventions of 1852 and 1854 and necessitate the reconsideration of Great Britain’s policy towards the native tribes north of the Orange and Vaal rivers, the project dropped. Commandant Pretorius was, however, elected president in place of Mr Boshof. Though unable to effect a durable peace with the Basutos, or to realize his ambition for the creation of one powerful Boer republic, Pretorius saw the Free State begin to grow in strength. The fertile district of Bethulie as well as Adam Kok’s territory was acquired, and there was a considerable increase in the white population. The burghers generally, however, had not learned the need of discipline, of confidence in their elected rulers, or that to carry on a government taxes must be levied. Wearied like Mr Boshof of a thankless task, and more interested in affairs in the Transvaal than in those of the Free State, Pretorius resigned the presidency in 1863, and after an interval of seven months Mr (afterwards Sir) John Henry Brand (q.v.), an advocate at the Cape bar, was elected president. He assumed office in February 1864. His election proved a turning-point in the history of the country, which, under his beneficent and tactful guidance, became peaceful and prosperous and, in some respects, a model state. But Brand elected President.before peace could be established an end had to be made of the difficulties with the Basutos. Moshesh continued to menace the Free State border. Attempts at accommodation made by the governor of Cape Colony (Sir Philip Wodehouse) failed, and war between the Free State and Moshesh was renewed in 1865. The Boers gained considerable successes, and this induced Moshesh to sue for peace. The terms exacted were, however, too harsh for a nation yet unbroken to accept permanently. A treaty was signed at Thaba Bosigo in April 1866, but war again broke out in 1867, and the Free State attracted to its side a large number of adventurers from all parts of South Africa. The burghers thus reinforced gained at length a decisive victory over their great antagonist, every stronghold in Basutoland save Thaba Bosigo being stormed. Moshesh now turned in earnest to Sir Philip Wodehouse for preservation. His prayer was heeded, and in 1868 he and his country were taken under British protection. Thus the thirty years’ strife between Settlement of the Basuto troubles.the Basutos and the Boers came to an end. The intervention of the governor of Cape Colony led to the conclusion of the treaty of Aliwal North (Feb. 12, 1869), which defined the borders between the Orange Free State and Basutoland. The country lying to the north of the Orange river and west of the Caledon, formerly a part of Basutoland, was ceded to the Free State (see Basutoland). This country, some hundred miles long and nearly thirty wide, is a fertile stretch of agricultural land on the lower slopes of the Maluti mountains. It lies at an altitude of nearly 6000 ft., and is well watered by the Caledon and its tributaries. It has ever since been known as the Conquered Territory, and it forms to-day one of the richest corn-growing districts in South Africa. A year after the addition of the Conquered Territory to the state another boundary dispute was settled by the arbitration of Mr Keate, lieutenant-governor of Natal. By the Sand River Convention independence had been granted to the Boers living “north of the Vaal,” and the dispute turned on the question as to what stream constituted the true upper course of that river. Mr Keate decided (Feb. 19, 1870) against the Free State view and fixed the Klip river as the dividing line, the Transvaal thus securing the Wakkerstroom and adjacent districts.
The Basutoland difficulties were no sooner arranged than the Free Staters found themselves confronted with a serious difficulty Discovery of the Kimberley Diamond Fields.on their western border. In the years 1870–1871 a large number of diggers had settled on the diamond fields near the junction of the Vaal and Orange rivers, which were situated in part on land claimed by the Griqua chief Nicholas Waterboer and by the Free State. The Free State established a temporary government over the diamond fields, but the administration of this body was satisfactory neither to the Free State nor to the diggers. At this juncture Waterboer offered to place the territory under the administration of Queen Victoria. The offer was accepted, and on the 27th of October 1871 the district, together with some adjacent territory to which the Transvaal had laid claim, was proclaimed, under the name of Griqualand West, British territory. Waterboer’s claims were based on the treaty concluded by his father with the British in 1834, and on various arrangements with the Kok chiefs; the Free State based its claim on its purchase of Adam Kok’s sovereign rights and on long occupation. The difference between proprietorship and sovereignty was confused or ignored. That Waterboer exercised no authority in the disputed district was admitted. When the British annexation took place a party in the volksraad wished to go to war with Britain, but the wiser counsels of President Brand prevailed. The Free State, however, did not abandon its claims. The matter involved no little irritation between the parties concerned until July 1876. It was then disposed of by the 4th earl of Carnarvon, at that time secretary of state for the colonies, who granted to the Free State £90,000 “in full satisfaction of all claims which it considers it may possess to Griqualand West.” Lord Carnarvon declined to entertain the proposal made by Mr Brand that the territory
