"They are perpetually talking about their laws; but practically theirs
is only the law of the strongest. The Bechuanas could never understand
the changes which took place in their commandants. 'Why, one can never
know who is the chief among these Boers. Like the Bushmen, they have no
king--they must be the Bushmen of the English.' The idea that any tribe
of men could be so senseless as not to have an hereditary chief was so
absurd to these people, that in order not to appear equally stupid, I
was obliged to tell them that we English were so anxious to preserve the
royal blood that we had made a young lady our chief. This seemed to them
a most convincing proof of our sound sense. We shall see farther on the
confidence my account of our Queen inspired. The Boers, encouraged by
the accession of Mr. Pretorius, determined at last to put a stop to
English traders going past Kolobeng, by dispersing the tribe of
Bechuanas, and expelling all the missionaries. Sir George Cathcart
proclaimed the independence of the Boers. A treaty was entered into with
them; an article for the free passage of Englishmen to the country
beyond, and also another, that _no slavery should be allowed in the
independent territory_, were duly inserted, as expressive of the views
of Her Majesty's Government at home. 'But what about the missionaries?'
enquired the Boers. '_You may do as you please with them_,' is said to
have been the answer of the Commissioner. This remark, if uttered at
all, was probably made in joke: designing men, however, circulated it,
and caused the general belief in its accuracy which now prevails all
over the country, and doubtless led to the destruction of three mission
stations immediately after. The Boers, 400 in number, were sent by the
late Mr. Pretorius to attack the Bechuanas in 1852. Boasting that the
English had given up all the blacks into their power, and had agreed to
aid them in their subjugation by preventing all supplies of ammunition
from coming into the Bechuana country, they assaulted the Bechuanas,
and, besides killing a considerable number of adults, carried off 200 of