[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 hearing from the Governor, who excused himself under the pretext that he had no time to receive Pretorius. When the latter reached the Drakensberg, on his return, he found nearly the whole population trekking over the mountains away from Natal and away from British sway. His wife was lying ill in the waggon, and his daughter had been severely hurt by the oxen which she was forced to lead. [Sidenote: Suffering in Natal] Sir Harry Smith, who succeeded Pottinger, thus described the condition of the emigrant Boers:--"They were exposed to a state of misery which he had never before seen equalled, except in Massena's invasion of Portugal. The scene was truly heart-rending." This is what we had to suffer at the hands of the British Government in connection with Natal. We trekked back over the Drakensberg to the Free State, where some remained, but others wandered northwards over the Vaal River. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 9: Theal, pages 104--130.] [Footnote 10: Theal, 169.] [Footnote 11: Theal, 155.] [Footnote 12: Theal, 179.] [Footnote 13: Theal, 244.] THE ORANGE FREE STATE. [Sidenote: Boomplaats] [14] Giving effect to Law 6 and 7, William IV., ch. 57, the English appointed a Resident in the Free State. Pretorius, however, gave him 48 hours' notice to quit the Republic. Thereupon Sir Harry Smith mobilised an army, chiefly consisting of blacks, against us white people, and fought us at Boomplaats, on the 29th August, 1848. After an obstinate struggle a Boer named Thomas Dreyer was caught by the blacks of Smith's army, and to the shame of English reputation, was killed by the English Governor for no other crime than that he was once, though years before, a British subject, and had now dared to fight against Her Majesty's Flag. Another murder and deed of shame in South Africa's account with England! [Sidenote: Annexation of the Orange Free State] In the meantime Sir Harry Smith had annexed the Free State as the "Orange River Sovereignty," on the pretext that four-fifths of the inhabitants favoured British dominion, and were only intimidated by the power of Pretorius from manifesting their wishes. [Sidenote: Moshesh] But the British Resident soon came into collision with Moshesh, the great and crafty head chieftain of the Basutos.