the emigrant Boers journeyed across the Vaal River,
and after two battles drove Moselikatse and his hordes across the
Limpopo right into what is now Matabeleland. Andries Pretorius had come
into the Transvaal after the Annexation of Natal, and lived there
quietly, notwithstanding the price which had been put on his head after
Boomplaats. The British Resident in the Free State, which at this time
still belonged to England, was compelled to admit in a letter to the
English Governor that the fate of the Free State depended upon the
selfsame Pretorius. It was owing to his influence that Moshesh had not
killed off the English soldiers. People had decided in England--to quote
Froude once more--to abandon the Africanders and the Kaffirs beyond the
borders to their fate, in the hope that the Kaffirs would exterminate
the Africanders.

[Sidenote: The Sand River Convention.]

According to Molesworth, the English member of Parliament, the Colonial
Office was delighted when the Governor received a letter in 1851 from
Andries Pretorius, Commandant-General of the Transvaal Boers, in which
he offered on behalf of his people to enter into negotiations with the
British Government for a Treaty of Peace and Friendship. [23] The price
put on his head was promptly cancelled, and when Sir Harry Smith was
recalled in disgrace, Governor Cathcart was sent out to recognise the
independence of the Boers. The Aberdeen Ministry declared through its
representative in the House of Commons that they regretted having
crossed the Orange River, as the Boers were hostile to British rule, and
that Lord Grey had permitted it out of deference to the views of Sir
Harry Smith, against his own better judgment and convictions. This
policy was almost unanimously endorsed by the House of Commons.

The proposal of Pretorius was then accepted, and two Assistant
Commissioners, Hogge and Owen, were sent out with Governor Cathcart, and
met the Boer representatives at Sand River, a meeting which resulted in
the Sand River Convention, respectively signed by both the contracting
parties.

In this Convention, as in the later Free State Treaty, the Transvaal
Boers were guaranteed in the fullest way against interference or
hindrance on the part of Great Britain, either in regard to themselves
or the natives, to whom it was mutually agreed that the sale of firearms
and ammunition should be strictly forbidden. The British Commissioners
reported that the recognition of the