Boer History1869 in South Africa: Wodehouse, Brand, Aliwal North, and Pretorius
Wodehouse, the Star of South Africa of March, and Port Nolloth’s Gauge — Colony 1869
Sir Philip Wodehouse still governed the Cape Colony and still held Her Majesty’s high commission in South Africa. He had arrived at Capetown on the 15th of January 1862. The Table Bay dock voted in the session of 1861 was still unfinished inside John Coode’s plan. The Port Elizabeth light still showed from the 1st of June 1861; the Roman rock light from the 16th of September 1861. Ichaboe, with Holland’s Bird and the other west-coast islets, still stood on the colonial roll from the 16th of July 1866. The census of 1865 had counted 200000 in the Colony. A drought of several years still depressed agriculture and trade. The castle year mattered because the same high commissioner who had proclaimed the Basuto British subjects on the 12th of March 1868 would sit with John Henry Brand at Aliwal North on the 4th of February, and because a governor who still sat at Capetown now had to find a line that London and Bloemfontein would both accept. [3]
Port Nolloth, so termed since March 1855, still shipped the copper of Springbokfontein and Spektakel. The Cape Copper Mining Company, which had taken over Philips and King’s Namaqualand property, commenced in this year the construction of a narrow-gauge railway from Port Nolloth to Ookiep. Animal power had not been enough to convey the ore to the coast as fast as it could be got ready: mules had been imported, but their forage had to be brought from distant parts of the colony, and the expense of keeping them was very great. The gauge mattered because Namaqualand copper was already a colonial export, and because a line begun in a drought year was meant to move ore faster than oxen and mules could do it. [3]
Search after Schalk van Niekerk’s pebble of 21 carats, sold to Wodehouse for 500 pounds, had found a second diamond in the Hopetown district and a third on the bank of the Vaal. During 1868 several gems had been found. In March of this year the “Star of South Africa” was obtained from a native who had kept it for a long time as a powerful charm, without the least idea of its value as a stone. It was a magnificent brilliant of 83 carats’ weight when uncut, and it was readily sold for 11000 pounds. Belief in mines so close at hand was still not widespread. Most people held that the gems had been accidentally lost, or that ostriches had brought them from some far interior; that was the belief of a professed expert sent out by a diamond merchant in England to inspect the country about Hopetown. March mattered because an 83-carat brilliant now sat beside Van Niekerk’s pebble, even while the proof that diamonds in large numbers lay along the northern bank of the Vaal still belonged to the close of the year. [3]
Makoma, the most intelligent of the Rarabe chiefs, had been removed to Robben Island after transportation for 21 years, and had been treated there more as a prisoner of state than as a convict, being allowed the company of his favourite wife and as many other indulgences as could be granted. In May, under a promise of good behaviour, he was permitted to return to the country of his birth. The return mattered because a chief who had held the Waterkloof in 1851 and 1852 was back on the frontier under a promise, and because the island still held what the castle had sent until that May. [3]
The Cape parliament of this year showed itself as little inclined as before to take upon itself the enforcement of order in the Lesuto. The frontier police under Bowker in the Lesuto had been reduced to 36 men, and if they were withdrawn there would be no representatives of the British Government left, for there was no revenue out of which salaries could be paid: the only revenue that could be collected was in the form of licenses from European traders, which brought in no more than 6 or 7 pounds monthly. Under these circumstances the legislative council requested the high commissioner to give such information as would show that the employment of a portion of the frontier police in Basutoland was of colonial importance and necessary to its security. The house of assembly, after a lengthy and warm discussion in which the greatest sympathy was expressed with the Free State, passed a resolution by a majority of 27 to 6, in which it repudiated the idea that Basutoland could be regarded as a part of the frontier, or as a territory to be defended, except temporarily, by the armed and mounted police, the finances of the colony being wholly inadequate to sustain such a charge for any length of time. The high commissioner could only reply that the police would be withdrawn without any unnecessary delay. The vote mattered because a colony of 200000 would not take the mountain as a colonial charge, and because Wodehouse still had to hold the Lesuto with 36 police until London ratified Aliwal North. [3]
Aliwal North of the 4th of February, the Convention of the 12th, and Korokoro of the 22nd — 1869
Brand still sat at Bloemfontein. The Free State government had realised how entirely it was at Wodehouse’s mercy: its supplies of ammunition were cut off, while traders were disposing of powder and shot to the Basuto with hardly an attempt at concealment; raids were frequently made into the Free State from beyond the Thaba Bosigo line, and the burgher commandoes could not cross that line in pursuit without defying the British authorities. Under these circumstances the volksraad had been convened for the 13th of January. Immediately after it met it resolved to appoint commissioners to treat with Wodehouse, and instructed the president to make the preliminary arrangements. Wodehouse had hoped to find the president willing to enter into negotiations at Aliwal North not later than the 1st of February. The sitting mattered because Bloemfontein could not chase raiders across a British line, and because a volksraad called for January had to treat if it wanted powder and a settled border. [3]
On the 4th of February, nearly 11 months after the Basuto had been proclaimed British subjects, the high commissioner and the deputies of the Free State met in conference in Mr Halse’s house at Aliwal North. There were present to represent the Free State, Brand, Advocate Hamelberg, and Messrs J. J. Venter, C. J. de Villiers, and A. J. Bester, members of the volksraad. All correspondence since the proclamation of the 12th of March 1868 was considered as withdrawn, and it was arranged that negotiations should be commenced on a clear field. The Free State claimed first a boundary line according to the treaty of Thaba Bosigo. The high commissioner objected, and proposed instead a boundary as before the war of 1865, in which case the Free State might retain any amounts already received for land sold beyond it, and he would undertake to pay the sum of 50000 pounds, which he would raise by the sale of farms. The Free State refused this offer, and proposed instead to cede a small tract of land on its side of the Thaba Bosigo line. The high commissioner declined, on the ground that the cession would be insufficient to meet the needs of the Basuto; but offered a line from Kornet Spruit along the Langebergen to Jammerberg Drift on the Caledon, farther the Caledon river up to Jackman’s Drift, and thence a line enclosing a triangular piece of territory in which the two former mission stations of Mekuatling and Mabolela were situated. The 4th of February mattered because the war of 1865–68 now sat as a map on Halse’s table, and because Wodehouse would not restore the Thaba Bosigo line that Brand’s commandos had won. [3]
The Free State agreed to the boundary between the Caledon and Kornet Spruit, but declined to give up the triangular tract west of the Caledon. The high commissioner then proposed the Caledon river from Jammerberg Drift to its source, provided the volksraad would consent to Molapo becoming a British subject, and the district occupied by him between the Putiatsana and the Caledon becoming British territory. The Free State would agree if the high commissioner would pay 20000 pounds towards the war expenses. The high commissioner declined to pay anything. He refused also to keep old animosities alive by surrendering the murderers of Bush and Krynauw, as the Free State wished him to do. The discussion was carried on for a full week before all matters were arranged. Finally a convention was drafted by Hamelberg, slightly altered by Wodehouse, and signed on the 12th of February. It fixed the boundary as from Kornet Spruit to the junction of the Putiatsana and the Caledon; permitted Molapo to become a British subject on his making a written request to that effect to the volksraad, when the district between the Putiatsana and the Caledon was to become part of British Basutoland; gave such Basuto as were on the Free State side of the Caledon until the 31st of July to cross that river, after which date they could be expelled by force; and secured to the French Mission Society as property which it could hold under Free State jurisdiction, or sell if it should choose to do so, 1500 morgen of ground at each of its former stations Mekuatling and Mabolela. The thirteenth article provided for submitting to arbitration the claims of the Free State for pecuniary compensation for the ground between the new boundary and that fixed by the treaty of Thaba Bosigo. And lastly, there was a clause that the volksraad might adopt, instead of this convention, the first proposal of the high commissioner, namely, the line of 1864, with a money payment of 50000 pounds and the proceeds of the farms already sold. The 12th of February mattered because the Caledon, not Thaba Bosigo, became the line, and because Molapo’s transfer and the thirteenth article still had to be finished before the paper was a settlement. [3]
When the convention was signed, the high commissioner appointed J. H. Bowker and H. J. Halse, with J. X. Merriman as land-surveyor, to act with the Free State delegates in marking out and planting beacons along the new line between Kornet Spruit and the Caledon. They found the line an excellent natural boundary for the greater portion of the distance, consisting as it did of well-defined ranges of hills with streams running in both directions: from the junction of Kornet Spruit with the Orange river along the centre of the former to the point nearest to Olifants Been, from that point by Olifants Been to the southern point of Langeberg, along the top of Langeberg to its north-western extremity, thence to the eastern point of Jammerberg, along the top of Jammerberg to its north-western extremity, and thence by a prolongation of the same line to the Caledon river. His Excellency then set out for the Lesuto, and arrived at Korokoro on the 19th of February. The chiefs with their followers were already commencing to assemble there, and on Monday, the 22nd, a great meeting took place. At half-past ten in the morning Wodehouse took a seat in the shade of a great rock, having with him Bowker, his agent in Basutoland, Sub-Inspector Surmon of the frontier armed and mounted police, and Cripps, his private secretary. At his left hand were seated Letsie, Molapo, and Masupha, the three sons of Moshesh by his great wife. On his right were the reverend Messrs Mabille, Jousse, Maitin, Keck, Duvoisin, and Dr Casalis, of the French Protestant Mission, Dr Allard and the reverend Mr Gerard, of the Roman Catholic Mission, and a few other Europeans. Before him were grouped the minor chiefs Molitsane, Lesawana, Nehemiah, Sophonia, George, Tsekelo, and many others, with 2000 or 3000 attendants behind them, or posted wherever a footing was to be had on the face of the rock. Moshesh was too feeble to leave his residence on Thaba Bosigo. The 22nd of February mattered because the chiefs had to ratify Aliwal as much as the secretary of state or the volksraad, and because Moshesh, who had asked to be taken as a British subject, could not leave the mountain to hear the line. [3]
The object of the meeting was to make the chiefs and people acquainted with the arrangements entered into at Aliwal North, and to secure their ratification of the convention. Through Mabille, who acted as interpreter, the high commissioner explained that he had secured for them as good terms as they could reasonably expect; that the territory within the new boundary was ample for their requirements, as he would make provision in Nomansland for the clans that had migrated to that country during the war; and that their future fortunes rested with themselves. Molitsane was the only one of the chiefs who openly objected to the arrangement. He demurred to giving up his old location west of the Caledon, but ceased opposition when the high commissioner promised him the district vacated by Makwai. Of the three great sons of Moshesh, Molapo was the one whose power was weakened most by the substitution of the line of the Caledon for that of 1864, and he made no open complaints, but confined his remarks to a request that he might be received as a British subject. After full discussion, the chiefs and missionaries professed to concur in the view that the settlement was as satisfactory as under the circumstances they could hope for, and the leading chiefs promised to carry it out. The high commissioner then announced that as soon as the convention was ratified by the Imperial and Free State Governments magistrates would be appointed; the people would be required to pay the hut-tax already agreed to, but in consideration of the circumstances of the country it would be optional with each man to contribute in money, grain, or live stock; the high commissioner would henceforth exercise the right of assigning ground to clans and individuals; the country would be divided into three districts, in each of which one of the principal chiefs would be stationed. To none of these announcements was there any objection made. Next day Wodehouse visited Moshesh, who was as profuse of thanks and expressions of satisfaction as he had always been on similar occasions, though he was so feeble in mind and body that not much value could be attached to what he said. Korokoro mattered because Molitsane took Makwai’s vacated ground rather than keep Mekuatling, and because Molapo asked in public to be received as a British subject while the Caledon cut his power. [3]
The high commissioner then issued a few simple trading regulations, in which the charges for licenses were fixed at 10 pounds a year, or 1 pound a month, and in which the sale of intoxicating liquor was prohibited under penalty of a fine not exceeding 10 pounds for the first offence, and loss of license for the second, together with forfeiture of all spirits in possession of the trader. The police in the Lesuto, 100 men in all, were distributed in four camps, one on the Orange river, one on Kornet Spruit, and two on the Caledon, with the object of suppressing cattle-lifting as much as possible. As nothing farther could be done until the ratification of the convention, the high commissioner left Thaba Bosigo, and passing through rich fields of ripening corn to the Orange river, he made his way over the Drakensberg into Nomansland. There he assigned locations to the emigrant Basuto chiefs Makwai and Lebenya, as also to the Hlubi chief Zibi and the Batlokua chief Lehana. In March he confirmed Makwai and Lebenya in possession of the ground on which they were residing: Makwai in the district which would form the magistracy of Matatiele, Lebenya on the land between the Kenigha and Tina rivers. On the way down he had an interview with Morosi, who requested to be allowed to cast in his lot with the rest of the Basuto tribe; the high commissioner, however, doubted his sincerity, and told him he must take time to consider the matter. Nomansland in March mattered because clans that had left the war now held ground east of the Drakensberg under Wodehouse’s assignment, and because Morosi was not taken at his word. [3]
Maseru of March, Buchanan of April, and Granville of the 22nd of June — Lesuto 1869
It had become necessary to select a site for the permanent residence of the high commissioner’s agent, and as Korokoro was in many respects unsuitable, in March Bowker moved to Maseru, a much better situation. Notwithstanding the nominal assent of the chiefs to the new boundary, in reality most of them were bitterly disappointed with it. They had imagined that on their becoming British subjects Wodehouse would use his power to recover for the tribe all the country that had once been Moshesh’s. Their discontent was fanned by Buchanan, who represented to them that they had been grievously wronged and that if they would send him to England as their agent he would probably be able to prevent the ratification of the convention and obtain for them all the land within the old boundary. Wodehouse’s back was hardly turned upon the Lesuto when intrigues were set on foot to reverse what he had done. Molapo, Nehemiah, and Tsekelo were busy openly stirring up disaffection, and many others were secretly working with them. Letters were written by Tsekelo for his father, promising to collect 380 head of cattle to defray the cost of an embassy to England, and asking Buchanan to go himself and plead with the Queen. Molapo sent Makotoko, his principal councillor, with Tsekelo to Natal, to confer with Buchanan there. Letsie alone among the chiefs, though he was cautiously trying how far he could ignore Bowker, would have nothing to do with the movement, for he could not possibly gain anything by it, and might lose much. March mattered because Maseru became the agent’s seat, and because an embassy was already being raised to undo Aliwal before the ink was dry. [3]
The reverend Mr Daumas was then living in Natal. His judgment seems to have been warped by the troubles he had gone through and by disappointment that his station of Mekuatling, where he had lived and laboured for 28 years, had not been restored to him. His colleagues in the Lesuto, though deeply grieved that the new boundary did not include Mekuatling and Mabolela on the north and Hebron and Poortje on the south, were willing to accept the situation. Without their concurrence Daumas entered into Buchanan’s schemes. A memorial, praying the secretary of state to advise the Queen not to ratify the convention, was prepared in Natal, and though only 16 signatures could be obtained to it, was forwarded through the lieutenant-governor. Preparations were hurried on, and without waiting for the contribution in cattle which Moshesh had promised, in April Buchanan and Daumas sailed for England, taking Tsekelo with them. April mattered because an editor, a missionary, and Moshesh’s son left Natal to stop Aliwal in London, and because Mekuatling’s loss, not the Caledon line itself, drove Daumas into that ship. [3]
Bowker, who described the situation as one of “treason on every side,” now endeavoured to take the first step towards the restoration of order. This was the removal of Molitsane from the neighbourhood of Mekuatling to the district along the new south-western boundary which had been left vacant by the emigration of Makwai. When called upon to move, Molitsane made various excuses. He asserted that Moshesh had ordered him either to remain where he was or to join Moperi in Witsi’s Hoek. Bowker informed him that if he did not move at once the vacant district would be given to Fingos from the Wittebergen reserve, and he would be left, without assistance or a place of refuge, to meet the Free State forces when the term of grace accorded by the Aliwal convention should expire. Molitsane then pretended to submit, and without further loss of time abandoned the district which he had occupied since 1837, and moved to the location assigned to him. His sons, however, remained in the Koranaberg. After the departure of Buchanan and Daumas with Tsekelo, the different chiefs began to vie with each other in protestations of fidelity to the British Government and submission to the orders of the high commissioner’s agent. Moshesh, Letsie, Masupha, the principal minor chiefs, even Molapo, sent messages denying that they had anything to do with the mission to England. Their object was apparent: to keep in Wodehouse’s favour if the mission should fail, to profit by it should it prove successful. The removal mattered because Molitsane left Mekuatling after 32 years rather than face Brand without Bowker, and because the same chiefs who had raised an embassy now denied it. [3]
Bowker looked around for some means of governing the country, and eventually concluded that the simplest plan would be to introduce a body of Fingos and locate them upon the vacant lands. On inspection he found that there was plenty of room for a large number of such immigrants, and they could be depended upon to support the British authorities. He proposed to the high commissioner that a beginning should be made with Josaua, but upon inquiry that petty chief was found to have too small a following to be of any service, and before the plan could be carried farther the course of events was changed. In May Buchanan and Daumas, with Tsekelo, arrived in England, and at once set about securing supporters. The Aborigines Protection Society took them by the hand, and soon the prominent mission societies in England and Scotland were aiding them. The secretary of state for the colonies, upon a request from the directors of the Paris Mission Society that he would grant an audience to Daumas, and a similar request from Buchanan on his own behalf, consented to an interview. It took place on the 22nd of June. Buchanan, Daumas, and Tsekelo were accompanied by several members of the Imperial Parliament. They laid before Earl Granville a memorial signed by 17 members of the House of Commons and the secretary of the Aborigines Protection Society, setting forth Buchanan’s views, and praying that Her Majesty’s Government would annul the convention of Aliwal North. The secretary of state hereupon wrote to the high commissioner, expressing full confidence in him, but asking for further explanations. The 22nd of June mattered because Aliwal now had to be defended in Downing Street, and because a memorial of 17 members could delay magistrates in a country Bowker still could not govern. [3]
While the delay in bringing about a settlement was thus prolonged, the Lesuto remained a scene of confusion and violence. Bowker was without any real power, and each chief was acting independently of central control. Ramanela, ever a prime mover in deeds of violence, had continued depredations upon the Free State farmers, without any regard for the high commissioner’s proclamation and subsequent instructions. Molapo offered to chastise him, but Brand would not consent to his doing so while he remained a Free State subject. Bowker, however, authorised Molapo to punish the robber, which he did by falling upon him, and seizing about 1000 head of cattle. At the end of July the country on the Free State side of the Caledon was still as fully occupied by Basuto as it had been in March 1868. Molitsane himself had moved to Makwai’s old kraal, but his sons were still in the Koranaberg. Parties of Basuto were even crossing from their own side and settling on the other. Wodehouse’s explanations to the secretary of state showed with how little justice he could be accused of wronging the Basuto. He had recovered for them so much more ground than they needed that his agent in the country was proposing to introduce Fingos to fill it and create a balance of power, while Moshesh — that is, his minor sons acting in his name — was actually at this very time renewing overtures to Jan Letele’s people and other subjects of the Free State to come in and ally themselves with his tribe. Bowker computed that there would not be more than 5000 individuals affected by the substitution of the Caledon for the boundary of 1864, but this number was certainly too small. July mattered because the 31st had been the day to cross, and because the Caledon farms were still occupied while Ramanela’s cattle were already in Molapo’s hands. [3]
The secretary of state, being satisfied on these points, next raised an objection to the thirteenth article of the convention, which provided for the submission to arbitration of the claims of the Free State for payment for the land restored to the Basuto. He was not prepared to make any compensation, and if this article was insisted upon by the Free State the convention must be annulled. If it were expunged he would advise Her Majesty to ratify the remaining clauses. As early as the 5th of May the volksraad had ratified the convention. Only one member voted against it, that one preferring Wodehouse’s alternative — the boundary of 1864 with a body of farmers under English rule behind it, and the payment of 50000 pounds in money. And now that the question was opened again, the president, in order to promote a settlement, consented to the thirteenth article being expunged. The chief Letsie, to whose interest it was, more than to that of any other individual in the country, to be under British protection, became alarmed when he heard that there was a possibility of the convention being set aside. His father was too infirm to take an active part in affairs; his brother Molapo was in a position of independence of the other Basuto; he himself was not yet recognised as paramount chief. If the convention were annulled and the war were renewed, he would certainly be ruined. “In fear and astonishment,” therefore, as he caused to be written, he had a memorial drawn up to the secretary of state, declaring that he was fully satisfied with the arrangements made by Wodehouse, ignoring any connection with the mission of Buchanan and Tsekelo, and praying that the English Government would not withdraw its protection. The document was signed by Letsie himself, his eldest son Lerothodi, and his sub-chiefs and councillors. The thirteenth article mattered because London would not pay for the restored land, and because Brand struck that clause rather than lose the Caledon line. [3]
Before this memorial could reach England, Buchanan had proved to the secretary of state that he was unworthy of further attention. In his overweening conceit he spoke of “his intention to lay waste the Free State,” and of “the peace of the Free State being a great deal more in his hands than in those of the high commissioner.” In violent language he abused Wodehouse, and brought charges against him which Earl Granville knew to be contrary to fact. In reply he was curtly informed that Earl Granville “apprehended the law would be found to forbid such proceedings (as those he contemplated), and that it would probably be put in force by the authorities of the Free State and by those of the neighbouring British colonies.” Instructions were sent to the lieutenant-governor of Natal to prevent him from carrying out his threats. This rebuff did not silence him, however, and he continued to make the most extravagant complaints, accompanied by statements altogether misleading. Owing to so many obstructions, it was not until the close of December that the convention was ratified by Her Majesty’s Government. The despatch conveying this information had already reached Wodehouse, when another memorial was presented to the secretary of state, signed by Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Alfred Churchill, 16 members of the House of Commons, and the secretaries of several societies, praying that the convention of Aliwal should not be ratified. Earl Granville replied that after receiving detailed explanations from Wodehouse, the convention had been approved of some weeks before. Towards the close of this year a good many farms in the territory from which the Bataung stragglers had been expelled, as well as the villages of Ladybrand and Ficksburg, had been occupied, so that the clan gave up further resistance, and settled in its new location. December mattered because Aliwal was at last the Queen’s paper, and because Ladybrand and Ficksburg were already occupied on the Free State side of the Caledon. [3]
The Vetberg of the 12th of May, Swinkspan of the 31st, and Arnot — Orange Free State 1869
The Vetberg line, which separated Albania from the remainder of the Griqua ground that the Orange Free State volksraad treated as subject to dispute, was not marked by beacons along its whole course as clearly as it should have been. On the 12th of May, therefore, the volksraad approved of a commission being appointed by the president to examine it and define it distinctly, in conjunction with persons named by Waterboer. Messrs C. W. Hutton, F. McCabe, and D. J. van Niekerk were chosen to form the commission. On his part, Waterboer agreed to a meeting on the 31st of May at Swinkspan, one of the three farms which Adam Kok allotted to him when making the Vetberg line in 1855, but which the government of the Free State kept possession of, as it was held under a British title issued in 1849. The farm was included in the district of Jacobsdal. The 12th of May mattered because Albania’s line still needed beacons, and because Waterboer was asked to walk a boundary that Bloemfontein already treated as its own. [3]
But when the commission reached the place appointed, Waterboer did not appear. In his stead, Arnot was there, and he repudiated the Vetberg line altogether. For his client he asserted a claim to all that portion of the Free State situated west of a line from David’s Graf near the junction of the Riet and Modder rivers to Platberg on the Vaal river, stating that it had once been under the government of Waterboer’s father, and that no one but he had a right to dispose of it. The Free State commission did not attempt to argue the matter, as they might as well have discussed the ownership of the market square of Bloemfontein. Instead, they proceeded to erect beacons along the Vetberg line, William Corner, who was Cornelis Kok’s son-in-law, and who was present when Adam Kok acted as arbitrator in October 1855, pointing out the boundary then made wherever it was doubtful. The other tract of land claimed by Arnot on behalf of Nicholas Waterboer was the Campbell district, west of the Vaal. The Griqua pretensions to the ownership of this ground were treated with every consideration by the president and the volksraad, as the title on which their own claim was based — the deed of sale by Adam Kok as heir of Cornelis Kok — was open to dispute, though they believed their case was a good one. In 1864 Wodehouse had been requested to arbitrate in the matter, and had consented to do so, but Waterboer had declined to sign the deed of submission after it had been drawn up by the attorney-general of the Cape Colony: Arnot had wished to include the land east of the Vaal, and Waterboer would only act by his advice. The 31st of May mattered because Arnot, not Waterboer, met the commission, and because a claim from David’s Graf to Platberg now sat beside Campbell west of the Vaal, still without a deed. [3]
Mapela of February, Pretorius of the Election, and Bloemhof of June — South African Republic 1869
Marthinus Wessel Pretorius still sat at Pretoria. In November 1868 Mapela and his neighbour Matshem had sent messengers to Pretoria to request the government to make a formal peace with them similar to that made with the chiefs on the other side of the district. This was not then acceded to, but in February of this year terms were arranged. Mapela was required to surrender all cattle captured by his people, and Matshem was obliged to leave his mountain and reside on a plain. They were also to furnish a number of labourers to assist in rebuilding some houses destroyed at Potgieter’s Rust. Their women and children were then restored to them. February mattered because Kruger’s attack on Mapela of the 13th of June 1868 now closed in a peace, and because Matshem came down from his mountain before the clans in the ranges turned on one another. [3]
Between the black and white inhabitants of Zoutpansberg there was now a general peace, but the clans in the mountains were engaged in strife among themselves. In March, Pafuri and Lemondo fell upon Sewase, and at the same time Magadu attacked Katlakter. In April, Umzila sent an army of 5000 warriors into the district, and plundered the kraals of Lemondo and other captains. Still greater troubles awaited the Baramapulana. The chief of the Swazis sent an army of 1600 men against them, before whom 20000 of the mountain warriors would not have dared to stand on an open plain. The Swazis were joined by Tabana’s people, and at midnight on the 18th of October one of Magadu’s largest kraals was attacked. The position was a strong one, but a little before noon the Swazis carried it, when a dreadful slaughter took place, neither woman nor child being spared. Other kraals belonging to Magadu were then attacked and destroyed, but the one in which he resided was not taken, though the parties that tried to storm it suffered heavy losses. The conquerors next marched against Pago and Sewase, and created great havoc with the people of those captains. The Swazis then returned to their own country. The 18th of October mattered because a Swazi army did in one night what Pretoria’s landdrost could not do, and because Zoutpansberg’s peace between black and white did not still the mountains. [3]
In this year the term of office of the president expired. The election was contested by only two candidates: the retiring president, M. W. Pretorius, and Mr Marthinus Jacobus Viljoen. It was generally assumed that Pretorius was sure to be returned, so most of the burghers did not take the trouble to record their votes. In all 2094 voting papers were sent in, of which 1493 were in favour of Pretorius, and 601 in favour of Viljoen. During the period embraced in these years three new magistracies had been created in the South African Republic. In March 1866 a district named Waterberg had been formed out of the northern part of Rustenburg and the western part of Zoutpansberg, with the landdrost at Nylstroom; at the same time Heidelberg had been formed out of the eastern part of Potchefstroom. In June of this year the volksraad resolved to create a new district, which was named Bloemhof after a village founded in August 1864. Its western boundary was proclaimed to be the Hart river from the Vaal upwards to a prominent curve. In 1868 the village of Zeerust had been founded as a churchplace, but did not become the seat of a landdrost in this calendar. The country to the westward as far as the road from Kuruman through the Molopo river — usually called the old English road, from its having been first used by English hunters — was formed into a field-cornetcy in December of this year. The election mattered because Pretorius kept the chair on 1493 papers while most burghers stayed away, and because Bloemhof in June pushed a landdrost toward the Hart before the diamond camps of the close. [3]
The power of the landdrosts had recently been increased by the volksraad, and they could now punish with a fine of 25 pounds, 25 lashes, or imprisonment with hard labour for 6 months. The courts of landdrost and heemraden had power to inflict a fine of 50 pounds, 50 lashes, or imprisonment with hard labour for 3 years. No white person, however, could be sentenced to receive lashes. Upon the whole, the laws were as good as those of any other country, and the courts of justice had ample power conferred upon them by the volksraad; but for want of a police it was impossible to enforce justice in all cases. The government was weak, owing to discord among the burghers, and the courts of law were consequently very feeble. Yet great crimes were exceedingly rare. The financial condition of the country was about as bad as it could be: no taxes could be collected in metal coin; the only favourable circumstance was that the income of the state slightly exceeded the outlay. In this year the revenue was 31511 pounds, and the expenditure 30836. Since the first explorations of the country by Europeans, the mineral wealth of the South African Republic was known to be very great, though not much had yet been done towards developing it. Lead was obtained for home use; beds of coal extended over the south-eastern districts; iron existed in vast quantities; one mountain in the district of Lydenburg was composed of nearly pure iron ore, and affected the magnetic needle at a distance of 10 miles. The figures mattered because Pretoria could pay its way on paper and still not collect coin, and because a landdrost’s 25 pounds sat beside a state that had no police to make the sentence good. [3]
In December 1867 Karl Mauch had arrived at Pretoria from the north and had reported rich and extensive goldfields in the Tati district, some 200 miles north-west of the abandoned village of Schoemansdal. Parties of gold-seekers had left the villages of the Republic; exaggerated reports had reached Australia; in England the London and Limpopo Mining Company had been formed in 1868, and in April of this year Sir John Swinburne, its chief manager, reached the Tati with expensive machinery. At this time more than 100 European diggers were at work, and two or three times that number of blacks were employed by them. Gold was obtained, and some specimens of quartz reef were found to be very rich; but on the whole, experience proved that mining there would not pay, and after a short time most of the diggers dispersed. Exploring parties proceeded also into the country of the Matabele, one sent from England being under the leadership of Thomas Baines; but they were not successful in establishing mines that would pay the expenses of working, though gold-bearing reefs were abundant. April at the Tati mattered because English machinery now stood 200 miles beyond Schoemansdal, and because the reefs that had drawn more than 100 Europeans would not yet pay. [3]
The 8th of June, the Treaty of the 20th of July, and Cetewayo of October — South African Republic 1869
The objections raised by Wodehouse and Chevalier Duprat to the proclamation by Pretorius of the 29th of April 1868 had caused the government to recede to a great extent from the claims it had made. The question of the western boundary was left over; the boundary on the east was arranged without difficulty. After some correspondence with the Portuguese consul-general concerning this subject, and the advantage of a treaty of commerce, on the 8th of June the volksraad approved of the negotiations as far as they had been conducted, and appointed a commission to conclude a treaty. The commissioners chosen were President M. W. Pretorius, Messrs Heinrich Julius Ueckermann, Joseph Johannes Fourie, and John Robert Lys, members of the volksraad, Mr Marthinus Jacobus Viljoen, member of the executive council, Commandant-General S. J. Paul Kruger, and Bernard Cornelis Ernest Proes, LL.D., state secretary. On the other part, the consul-general, Alfredo Duprat, was fully empowered by his Majesty the king of Portugal and the Algarves to act on behalf of his government. The 8th of June mattered because Pretorius’s line of 1868 to the sea had been objected to, and because Pretoria now chose men to sign an eastern boundary with Lisbon instead of proclaiming one. [3]
The commissioners on both sides met at Pretoria, and on the 20th of July the treaty was drawn up and signed. It contained 24 clauses: providing for peace and friendship between the contracting powers; freedom for the subjects or citizens of each to carry on trade in the dominions of the other, except in munitions of war and in slaves, on the same terms as the most favoured of any other nation; complete protection of person and property, freedom of conscience, freedom from military service or taxes for military purposes, and full testamentary powers, of the subjects or citizens of each in the dominions of the other; extradition of criminals; liberty to appoint consuls and agents, who were to enjoy many privileges; and other matters of a similar nature. The clauses relating to commerce were to have force for 6 years, and were thereafter to be subject to a notice of 12 months before becoming void; all the other clauses were to be binding in perpetuity. The boundary of the Portuguese dominions in South-Eastern Africa is defined in the treaty as the parallel of latitude of 26° 30′ from the Indian Ocean to the Lebombo mountains, thence along the highest ridge of the Lebombo to the centre of the lower poort of Komati, where the river of that name passes through the range, thence in a straight line about north by east to Pokioenskop on the northern bank of the Olifants river, where it passes through the mountains, thence in a direction about north-west by north to the nearest point of the mountains of Chacundo on the Umvuba river, and thence in a straight line to the junction of the Pafuri and Limpopo rivers. The 20th of July mattered because the Republic now had a paper eastern line with Portugal, and because trade except in powder and slaves was put on the most-favoured terms for 6 years. [3]
The delay of final ratification was occasioned by the arrival at Potchefstroom in December of a Portuguese diplomatic commission, under the presidency of the baron Carlos Pedro Barahona e Costa, governor of Quilimane, which proposed several supplementary articles. The sitting of that commission into the next calendar, and the ratification itself, still belonged to the years that followed. December at Potchefstroom mattered because Lisbon sent a governor to add articles after the 20th of July, and because the 24 clauses were not yet the last word. [3]
In December 1866 43 farms had been inspected and allotted to applicants between the old and new boundaries toward Utrecht, and on the 8th of June of this year — the same day the volksraad approved the Portuguese negotiations — the volksraad directed the president to cause the remainder of the ground there to be disposed of. But when this came to Panda’s knowledge, he sent Gebula to Utrecht with 240 head of horned cattle to buy it back again. The government of the Republic declined to sell it, and sent a commission — with Commandant-General Kruger as chairman — to confer with Panda about it. The sitting of that commission at Nodwengo still belonged to the next calendar. In the meantime the matter had been a subject of correspondence between the lieutenant-governor of Natal and President Pretorius. Cetewayo had represented to the secretary for native affairs in Natal that the people of Utrecht were encroaching upon Zululand, and he had even offered to cede to Great Britain the ground which he was trying to recover. The lieutenant-governor, believing that hostilities were imminent, tendered his services as an arbitrator. On the 30th of October Pretorius replied that the government of the South African Republic accepted with thanks his Excellency’s offer to arbitrate, provided that the losing party should pay all costs. But various obstacles intervened, and nothing farther was done in the matter for several years. The attitude of Cetewayo during this time was professedly friendly, but his white neighbours were fully aware that he was not to be trusted. The 30th of October mattered because Utrecht’s remainder was not sold back for 240 cattle, and because Cetewayo had already offered the same ground to Natal. [3]
Ever since the establishment of the Orange Free State there had been a dispute with the South African Republic concerning the boundary between them. Various attempts had been made to settle it, but all without success. At last, in January 1867, the two presidents and commissions from both states had met on the disputed ground, when it was ascertained that neither party was prepared to give way, and the two governments had then resolved to refer the matter to the decision of Mr Robert William Keate, who had been appointed lieutenant-governor of Natal, but who had not yet arrived in South Africa. Keate, who had reached Natal on the 23rd of May 1867, had consented to act as arbitrator; but some delay took place, and the deed of submission was only signed on the 13th of October of this year. The sitting of the commissions with Keate at Harrismith still belonged to the next calendar. The 13th of October mattered because the Likwa and the Klip now had a deed, and because Wakkerstroom and the road to Natal hung on which stream Keate would call the Vaal. [3]
Mahura of February, the Hart of the 12th of November, and the Vaal at the Close — 1869
For several years after 1864, subjects of greater importance than the debt of Mahura had occupied the attention of the authorities at Pretoria; but towards the close of 1868 an arrangement had been made for a conference between a commission from the Republic and the Batlapin and Korana chiefs, with the object of discussing and arranging matters in which they were all interested. It was agreed that the place for the conference should be the farm of Mr Daniel Verwey, on the bank of the Vaal some miles below Bloemhof, and the date the 10th of February. The commission of the South African Republic consisted of President Pretorius, Mr W. Brest, landdrost of Bloemhof, and Messrs J. W. Viljoen, H. C. W. Vermaas, D. Verwey, and H. C. Weber. The chiefs did not arrive at the time agreed upon, but some of them sent messages that they were coming; and on the 19th of February, Botlasitsi, Mahura, Jantje, and Matlabane, with four Korana captains and 72 councillors, were assembled. The conference continued until the 26th. Both the Batlapin and the Koranas claimed the country along the northern bank of the Vaal above and below the junction of the Hart, and the arguments of each seemed of equal weight. Their government was, in fact, tribal, not territorial. The Koranas, however, were few in number, and were not disposed to object to the supremacy of the white men. Mahura admitted his indebtedness on account of the war of 1858, and the president offered to accept 1500 head of cattle in full payment, if he and the other captains would consent to the Hart river as the boundary. Jantje demurred to this, and promised to assist Mahura to meet his old engagement. Thereupon, on the 26th of February, an agreement was drawn up and signed by the Batlapin captains, in which they undertook to deliver 3000 head of good cattle at Potchefstroom within 2 months, and promised to attend another conference, after the delivery of the cattle, in order to fix a permanent boundary line. The 26th of February mattered because 3000 cattle were promised as the price of a Hart line, and because the northern bank of the Vaal — already named for diamonds — was claimed by two tribes at once. [3]
A fortnight before the expiration of the 2 months, Arnot, as agent for Mahura, wrote to the president, declining to pay the cattle, and proposing to refer all differences and disputes to the arbitration of Her Majesty’s high commissioner in South Africa. But a few days later Arnot ceased to be Mahura’s advocate. The Batlapin were laying claim to the same ground that he asserted was Nicholas Waterboer’s, and would not be satisfied with the territory to the eastward to which he desired to limit them, so that he abandoned their cause. He was succeeded by one Theodor Doms as chief adviser, agent, and representative of Mahura. On the 26th of July, Doms wrote to Landdrost Best of Bloemhof, announcing that the Batlapin had failed to collect the 3000 head of cattle, and on their behalf he offered, as a settlement, to agree to a boundary from Saltpan’s Drift on the Vaal in a direct line to Mamusa on the Hart river, and thence up to the Zwartkopjes beyond the Schoonspruit saltpan; further, to pay 10000 pounds in money in the course of 8 or 10 months, and as security to pass a mortgage bond on all the ground east of the Hart river. Best referred this proposal to the president and executive council, who declined it; but offered to accept 1500 head of cattle, if delivered before the 6th of September, and the line of the Hart river up to midway between Taung and Mamusa. Doms replied that he desired to consult the chiefs, and requested to be supplied with copies of all documents relating to transactions with the Batlapin subsequent to 1857. A copy of the agreement of the 26th of February and some extracts from the minutes of the conference were sent to him; but as the government of the Republic declined to supply all that he asked for, and thus practically reopen the matter, he began to complain that injustice was being done, and the negotiations came to an end. The 26th of July mattered because Arnot left Mahura when Batlapin and Waterboer claims overlapped, and because 10000 pounds on paper did not buy off Pretoria’s Hart line. [3]
Then, as the chiefs had failed to keep their agreement, on the 12th of November Pretorius, with the concurrence of the executive council, issued a proclamation extending the district of Bloemhof to the Hart river from its confluence with the Vaal upwards to the junction of its north-western affluent above the place called the Poort, and thence northward to the Zwartrand. Nothing further occurred in connection with these people in this calendar. Montsiwa’s letter of the 15th of August 1868, and his request of the 28th of August to Wodehouse for protection, still lay without a deed; the farmers at the springs south of the Molopo were not displaced. The 12th of November mattered because Bloemhof now ran to the Hart by proclamation, and because 3000 cattle promised in February had not been delivered. [3]
By the close of this year it had been proved that diamonds in large numbers were to be found along the northern bank of the Vaal, above the junction of the Hart, where some hundreds had been picked up by Koranas. In all parts of South Africa companies of diggers began to be fitted out. First to commence work was a party from Natal, who selected Hebron, close to the kraal of the Korana. The territory along that northern bank was already claimed by more than one: the South African Republic, the Barolong, clans of the Batlapin, a horde of Koranas, and Arnot for Waterboer. A few farmers were scattered over it; there was a large kraal of Batlapin at Likatlong, where the waters of the Hart join those of the Vaal; and between Likatlong and Hebron were several little kraals of Koranas. The close mattered because the Star of March was no longer a single brilliant, and because Hebron now had a Natal party on ground that Pretoria, the Batlapin, the Koranas, and Waterboer all named as theirs. [3]