photo #6629046

THE REPUBLIC OF NATALIA THE BRITISH MILITARY AT PORT NATAL - MAJOR CHARTERS' OBSERVATIONS ABOUT THE BOERS IN NATAL The Volksraad, (Citizen Council) sent Carel Landman to engage in talks with Major Samuel Charters. On 14 January 1839, Landman met with Charters and explained to him that the Boers did not recognise British authority but desired amicable relations with the British government. He clarified to Charters that, based on their agreement with Dingane brokered by Piet Retief, the Boers now lawfully owned Natal, including Port Natal. Despite efforts, the talks were unproductive, and Charters refused to return the Boers' ammunition. After the British troops had built a camp, which they called Fort Victoria, Major Charters returned to Cape Town, leaving Captain Jervis in command. During his overland journey back to the Cape Colony, Charters passed through areas with Boer encampments. He later documented the following observations about the Boers in Natal: "...there existed every indication of squalid poverty and wretchedness;... families who, a short time previously, had been living in ease and comfort in the Colony, now reduced to poverty and misery." "They bore up against these calamities with wonderful firmness, however,... showed no inclination to return (to the Cape colony)..." "All they now desired from it (the British government) was to leave them to their own resources, and not molest them again." "This spirit of dislike to the English sway was remarkably dominant amongst the women... who... rejected with scorn the idea of returning to the Colony." #Boer #Boers #BoerIdentity #Boeridentiteit #BoerRepublic #BoerRepubliek #Natalia #UnitedBoerRepublic #VerenigdeBoerrepubliek #British