and obtained possession from Dingaan, chief of the Zulus, of that tract
of territory now known as Natal, the latter, incited by some Englishmen,
treacherously murdered him and his party on the 6th February, 1838; 66
Boers and 30 of their followers perished. The Great Trek thus lost its
most courageous and noble-minded leader. [9] Dingaan then sent two of
his armies, and they overcame the women and children and the aged at
Boesmans River (Blaauw-krantz), where the village of Weenen now stands;
282 white people and 252 servants were massacred.

Towards the end of the year we entered the land of this criminal with a
small commando of 464 men, and on the 16th December, 1838--since known
as "Dingaan's Day," the proudest in our history--we overthrew the
military might of the Zulus, consisting of 10,000 warriors, and burnt
Dingaan's chief kraal.

[Sidenote: No extension of British territory.]

[10] After that we settled down peaceably in Natal, and established a
new Republic. The territory had been purchased with our money and
baptised with our blood. But the Republic was not permitted to remain in
peace for long. The Colonial Office was in pursuit. The Government first
of all decided upon a military occupation of Natal, for, as Governor
Napier wrote to Lord Russell on the 22nd June, 1840, "it was apparently
the fixed determination of Her Majesty's Government not to extend Her
Colonial possessions in this quarter of the Globe." The only object of
the military occupation was to crush the Boers, as the Governor, Sir
George Napier, undisguisedly admitted in his despatch to Lord Glenelg,
of the 16th January, 1838. The Boers were to be prevented from obtaining
ammunition, and to be forbidden to establish an independent Republic. By
these means he hoped to put a stop to the emigration. Lord Stanley