Orange Free State

Distracted among themselves, with the formidable Basuto pow er on their southern and eastern flank, the troubles of the infant state were speedily added to by the action of the Transvaal Boers. Marthinius 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. As peaceful over tures failed Pretorius, aided by Paul Kruger, made a raid in 1857 into the Free State territory. They found, however, little support ; Kruger came into Boshof's camp with a flag of truce; and on June 2, 1857, a treaty of peace was signed, each State acknowledging the absolute independence of the other. This experience did not, however, heal the party strife within the Free State. The diffi culties of the State were so great that the volksraad in Dec. 1858 passed a resolution in favour of confederation with 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. In the same year the disputes between the Basutos and the Boers cul minated in open war. As the contest went against them the Free State appealed to Sir George Grey, who induced Moshesh, for a time, to come to terms. President Boshof now gave up the strug gle of attempting to rule the country and in Feb. 1859 retired to Natal. His old opponent Marthinius Pretorius was elected presi dent in his stead. 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 in crease 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 Boshof of a thankless task, and more inter ested 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.

Brand's Rule.—President Brand took office in Feb. 1864. His selection proved a turning-point in the history of the country, which, under his beneficent and tactful guidance, became peace ful and prosperous and, in some respects, a model state. But be fore peace could be established an end had to be made of the diffi culties with the Basutos. At length, in 1867 the burghers gained a decisive victory, every stronghold in Basutoland save Thaba Bosigo being stormed. Moshesh now turned to the British at the Cape for preservation and in 1868 he and his country were taken under British protection. Thus the 3o years' strife between the Basutos and the Boers came to an end. The Boers reaped the reward of victory. By treaty of Aliwal North (Feb. 12, 1869), 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. This country, some loom. long and nearly 3om. wide, lies at an altitude of nearly 6,000ft. and forms one of the richest corn-growing districts in South Africa.

The Basutoland difficulties were no sooner arranged than the Free Staters found themselves confronted with a serious difficulty on their western border. In the years 1870-71 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 satis factory neither to the Free State nor to the diggers. At this juncture Waterboer offered to place the territory under the ad ministration of Queen Victoria. The offer was accepted, and on Oct. 27, 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. 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 pre vailed. The matter involved no little irritation between the par ties concerned until July 1876. It was then disposed of by the 4th Earl of Carnarvon, at that time secretary of State for the who granted to the Free State £90,000 "in full satisfac tion of all claims which it considers it may possess to Griqualand West." One thing at least is certain with regard to the diamond fields—they were the means of restoring the credit and prosperity of the Free State. Moreover, it is doubtful if the Free State could at that time have controlled the diggers. The probability is that the alternative to British sovereignty was an independent diamond field republic. At this time, largely owing to the ex hausting struggle with the Basutos, the Free State had drifted into financial straits. A paper currency had been instituted, and the notes—currently known as "bluebacks"—soon dropped to less than half their nominal value. Commerce was largely carried on by barter, and many cases of bankruptcy occurred. But the in flux of British and other immigrants to the diamond fields, in the early '7os, restored public credit and individual prosperity to the Free State Boers. The diamond fields offered a ready market for stock and other agricultural produce. "Bluebacks" recovered par value, and were called in and redeemed by the Government.

Relations with the Transvaal.

From 1870 until the time when it became involved in the second struggle between Great Britain and the Transvaal the story of the Free State was one of steady, quiet progress, marked by cordial relations with its neigh bours. The State has been described as for 3o years a farmers' and transport riders' paradise. At the time of the first annexa tion of the Transvaal, Brand and the volksraad declined the invi tation of Lord Carnarvon to federate with the other South African communities and when the Transvaalers rose against the British in 1880 they had the sympathy of the Free Staters. Indeed, many burghers joined the Transvaal forces in the Majuba campaign and it was due to the tact and statesmanship of Brand that a dangerous situation was prevented from developing. The danger passed and the Free State showed considerable ability in adapting itself to the change, political and economic, which, a few years later, following the discovery of the Rand gold mines, came over the whole of South Africa. Paul Kruger, instead of imitating the liberal policy of the Free State, sought to meet the problem pre sented by the large uitlander population on the Rand by reliance on foreign (i.e., not British) Powers and by an alliance with the Free State. In Oct. 1887 Kruger visited Bloemfontein and tried to induce Brand to enter into an offensive and defensive alliance with the Transvaal "against the common enemy." Brand declined to be drawn into such an engagement. He refused to recognize the British as enemies—indeed, though opposed to federation, he was equally opposed to racial rivalries. He was for full co-operation with the other South African communities, and a few months later arranged with the Cape and Natal for a conference on customs and railway questions. That was in Jan. 1888; in the June following Brand died. He was one of the most upright and enlightened rulers South Africa had known, and he earned the title of peacemaker. The conference he had planned was held in 1889 and resulted in a customs union between Cape Colony and the Free State, while the Cape Government obtained permission to extend the Port Elizabeth railway to Bloemfontein. This agreement was displeasing to the Transvaal, for the ultimate objective of the railway was the Rand, and Kruger had determined that the Rand's outlet to the sea should be through the Portuguese port of Lou renco Marques (Delagoa Bay).