The farmers of the Vaal in a general way considered themselves one people, but had become grouped in several districts separated by considerable distances. Thus, in 1852, there were four separate communities—Potchefstroom, Utrecht, Lyndenburg, and Zoutspansberg, each having its volksraad and president. There was no co-ordinate action of the whole for internal administration and public improvement, but for defense against the natives there was a sort of federative union—more a matter of mutual understanding and consent than of loyalty to a formal written document. That there was occasional independent action by a single community in reference to outside matters is evident from the invasion of the Orange Free State by the people of the Potchefstroom district in 1857, under the leadership of Mr. Pretorius. The object was to conquer the Free State, and was abandoned only when it was found that the young sister republic was disposed and prepared to defend itself. This invasion resulted in a treaty by which the independence, boundaries and mutual obligations of the two republics were fully defined and recognized. In 1858 a single volksraad was chosen for all the four districts north of the Vaal, and the “Grondwet” on Fundamental Law—an instrument in the nature of a federal constitution—was prepared by delegates specially elected for that purpose. This was adopted at once by Potchefstroom and Zoutspansberg. In 1860 Lyndenburg and Utrecht followed their example. Although it has been contended that the “Grondwet” is not to be regarded as a fixed constitution, like that of the United States of America, the people of the Transvaal have looked upon it as a sufficient federative bond for the union of the four semi-independent districts in one nationality. The practical union of all was delayed, however, by a civil war which broke out in 1862, and had a most disastrous influence on the future of the country. This internal strife grew out of the election of the president of the Transvaal Republic, the younger Pretorius, to the presidency of the Orange Free State. It was hoped by his partisans in both republics that the dual presidency would help to bring about the desired union of the Free State and the Transvaal under one government. While Mr. Pretorius was absent in the Free State, on a six months’ leave granted by the volksraad of the Transvaal, a faction hostile to him began to protest against this double dignity being enjoyed by any one man, and to argue that the advantages of union would be largely with the Free State. Hostility to Mr. Pretorius grew apace until it was strong enough to get a resolution passed in the volksraad forbidding him to perform any executive act north of the Vaal during the six months of his stay in the Free State, and requiring him to give an account of his proceedings at the expiration of his leave.