the fixed determination of Her Majesty's Government not to extend Her
Colonial possessions in this quarter of the Globe." The only object of
the military occupation was to crush the Boers, as the Governor, Sir
George Napier, undisguisedly admitted in his despatch to Lord Glenelg,
of the 16th January, 1838. The Boers were to be prevented from obtaining
ammunition, and to be forbidden to establish an independent Republic. By
these means he hoped to put a stop to the emigration. Lord Stanley
instructed Governor Napier on the 10th April, 1842, to cut the emigrant
Boers off from all communication, and to inform them that the British
Government would assist the savages against them, and would treat them
as rebels.

Twice we successfully withstood the military occupation; more English
perished while in flight from drowning than fell by our bullets.

Commissioner Cloete was sent later to annex the young Republic as a
reward for having redeemed it for civilisation.

[Sidenote: Protest of Natal]

[11] Annexation, however, only took place under strong protest. On the
21st February, 1842, the Volksraad of Maritzburg, under the chairmanship
of Joachim Prinsloo, addressed the following letter to Governor
Napier:--

We know that there is a God, who is the Ruler of heaven and
earth, and who has power, and is willing to protect the injured,
though weaker, against oppressors. In Him we put our trust, and
in the justice of our cause; and should it be His will that total
destruction be brought upon us, our wives and children, and
everything we possess, we will with due submission acknowledge to
have deserved from Him, but not from men. We are aware of the
power of Great Britain, and it is not our object to defy that
power; but at the same time we cannot allow that might instead of
right shall triumph, without having employed all our means to
oppose it.

[Sidenote: The Boer women]

[12] The Boer women of Maritzburg informed the British Commissioner
that, sooner than subject themselves again to British sway, they would
walk barefoot over the Drakensberg to freedom or to death. [13] And they
were true to their word, as the following incident proves. Andries
Pretorius, our brave leader, had ridden through to Grahamstown, hundreds
of miles distant, in order to represent the true facts of our case to
Governor Pottinger. He was unsuccessful, for he was obliged to return
without a he