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THE REPUBLIC OF NATALIA ANDRIES PRETORIUS SETTLES IN HIS NEW LAND - HIS LETTER TO SIR BENJAMIN D'URBAN Meanwhile, Pretorius went to fetch his trek party that he had left at the Sandriver in Winburg in November 1838 before the campaign against Dingane. However, he first visited Henrik Potgieter in Potchefstroom. During his visit to Potgieter, he successfully resolved lingering tensions that arose after the Italeni debacle. He even secured a promise from Potgieter to collaborate with the Natalia Volksraad. Despite Potgieter's commitment to work with the Natalia Volksraad, their relationship did not substantially improve over the next few months. Potgieter was concerned about the presence of British troops in Port Natal, and he feared that a constitutional union of the regions could jeopardise the entire United Boer Republic if Britain were to annex Natal. While at the Sandriver, Pretorius sent a certified copy of Retief's contract with Dingane in a letter to Sir Benjamin D'Urban on 24 February 1839, to demonstrate the Boers' peaceful intentions in Natal. In his letter, Pretorius wrote: "We also notice that the (British) government threatens us much, yet in the first place we know that all proclaim that every man should be free . . . and we know very well that we are a freeborn people, and that we have a right to Natal, which was acquired not only by means of free purchase but for which we had to pay the price of suffering indescribable cruelty...". Pretorius then, with his trek of 138 people, which included his wife, seven of his eight children, and twenty-three other families along with their belongings in sixty-eight wagons, settled in their new land. #Boer #Boers #BoerIdentity #Boeridentiteit #BoerRepublic #BoerRepubliek #Natalia #UnitedBoerRepublic #VerenigdeBoerrepubliek #British