master of the Orange Free State, so as to secure to himself later on the foremost position in the Transvaal.  A war was on the point of breaking out, but came to nothing, as Pretorius hastily recrossed the frontier in the face of an advance by Boshof, the Free State President, at the head of a commando.  This action, which demonstrated that his courage and resource were less lofty than his ambition, did not however prevent his being elected President of the South African Republic.  In 1860 the union took place.

Notwithstanding his incursion and subsequent flight, Pretorius succeeded in getting himself elected president of the Orange Free State also.  But the Transvaal burghers dreaded absorption by their neighbours, and deposed him.  A petty civil war between his partisans and opponents was the consequence; several presidents were elected and deposed.  Krueger, whom we now see making his appearance, and Schoeman, in turn, chased each other out of Potchefstroom.  In 1864 Pretorius forsook the Free State, and was re-elected President of the Transvaal, Krueger contenting himself with the office of Commandant-General.

The Orange Free State was at war with the Basutos.  The English Government intervened, and finally annexed Basutoland (1868).

In the same year, the Transvaal Government, disregarding the Sand River Convention, issued a proclamation extending their frontier in the east to the seaboard; in the West to Lake Ngami, and in the North to Mashonaland.  The Portuguese and English Governments entered protests and the matter dropped.

No minister of the Reformed Dutch Church had accompanied the Boers in their Trek.  They therefore formed themselves into a separate reformed Church, whose members called themselves “doppers” (round-heads).  They allow no liberty of thought; they believe in literal inspiration.  If they had ever heard of Galileo, they would have looked upon him as an impostor.  They place the authority of the Old Testament above that of the New.  There are three contending sects in the Transvaal, whose hostility is such that both before and after 1881 threats of Civil War were indulged in.

3.—­The Boers saved by the English.

In 1871, the question of fixing the frontier between the Transvaal and the Barolongs, a Bechuana tribe, was submitted to arbitration.  The decision was given by Mr. Keate, Governor of Natal.  President Pretorius having accepted it, the Boers deposed him, and continued to occupy the territory to which they laid claim.  They were at a loss whom next to elect as President.

Overtures were made to Mr. Brand, President of the Orange Free State; but he wisely refused.  They next turned to a Cape Afrikander, a former minister of the Dutch Reformed Church, Mr. F. Burgers, a capable, intelligent man.  It was his desire to correct abuses; to repress the slavery that was being carried on under the name of “apprenticeship”; to introduce railways and schools; he claimed the