al by the Boers, and the formation of their
cherished Republic, the Governor of Cape Colony had issued a
proclamation announcing his intention of occupying Natal later on,
and stating that the emigrants--who were then making active
preparations for the attack of Dingaan--- were British subjects. In
Great Britain, however, the authorities had not yet decided to
follow the advice so often given by their representatives at the
Cape. They were still declaring it inexpedient to extend their
territory, and likewise their responsibilities, in South Africa. But
the incursion of the Boers in the neighbourhood of Port Natal put a
new complexion on affairs. The British Government began to open its
eyes to the value of a seaport, with two good harbours on the South
African coast, as a colonial possession. It could not fail to
recognise also that the members of the new State were already bitter
foes to the British and their ways; and that it would be dangerous
to allow them to establish themselves as an independent power on the
coast, and entirely throw off their duty of allegiance. Accordingly
Sir George Napier, the then Governor of the Cape, sent troops to
occupy Natal. He remained undecided as to the mode of dealing with
the emigrant Boers, however, for, while declaring them British
subjects, he yet was not prepared to afford them protection from
attacks of the natives. It is scarcely surprising that this
half-and-half paternity of the Government failed to satisfy the men
whose kith and kin had fallen in their numbers at Weenen and the
Hill of Blood, and the consequent disaffection of the Boers grew
deeper as signs of British authority increased.

But at first, in the rest of their territory outside Natal the Boer
Government remained unmolested. Their district was bounded by the
sea and the Drakenberg mountains, the Tugela and Umzimubu Rivers,
and there for a time things went well. Pretorius was Commandant
General in Natal, Potgieter Chief Commandant in the allied Western
Districts. The legislative power was in the hands of a Volksraad of
twenty-four members, whose ways were more vacillating and erratic
than advantageous. "Every man for himself and God for all" seemed to
be the convenient motto of this assembly, except perhaps on urgent
occasions, when Pretorius and Potgieter were called upon as joint
dictators to settle some knotty problem relating to external
affairs.

At the close of 1840 this Volksraad commenced negotiatio