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PRETORIUS , the See also:family name of two of the See also:early leaders of the " Trek " Boers—Andries Wilhelmus Jacobus Pretorius and Marthinus Wessels Pretorius, See also:father and son.
I. ANDRIES PRETORIUS (1799-1853), a Dutch See also:farmer of Graaff-Reinet, Cape See also:Colony, and a descendant from one of the earliest Dutch settlers in See also:South See also:Africa, See also:left his See also:home in the See also:Great
Trek, and by way of what is now the See also:Orange See also:Free See also:State crossed the See also:Drakensberg into See also:Natal, where he arrived in See also:November 1838, at a See also:time when the emigrants there were without a re-cognized See also:leader. Pretorius was at once chosen commandant-See also:general and speedily collected a force to avenge the See also:massacre of Piet Retief and his party, who had been treacherously killed by the Zulu See also: Sir Harry promised the farmers See also:protection from the natives and persuaded many of the party to remain, but Pretorius departed, and on the See also:proclamation of British See also:sovereignty up to the See also:Vaal fixed his See also:residence in the Magalisberg, See also:north of that See also:river. He was chosen by the burghers living on both See also:banks of the Vaal as their commandant-general. At the See also:request of the Boers at See also:Winburg Pretorius crossed the Vaal in See also:July and led the See also:anti-British party in their " See also:war of freedom," occupying See also:Bloemfontein on the loth of the same See also:month. In See also:August he was defeated at Boomplaats by Sir Harry Smith and thereupon re-treated north of the Vaal, where he became leader of one of the largest of the parties into which the trans-Vaal Boers were divided, and commandant-general of See also:Potchefstroom and See also:Rustenburg, his See also:principal See also:rival being Commandant-General A. H. See also:Potgieter. In 1851 he was asked by the Boer malcontents in the Orange River Sovereignty and by the Basuto See also:chief Moshesh to come to their aid, and he announced his intention of See also:crossing the Vaal to " restore See also:order " in the Sovereignty. His See also:object, however, was rather to obtain from the British an See also:acknowledgment of the See also:independence of the See also:Transvaal Boers. The British See also:cabinet having decided on a policy of See also:abandonment, the proposal of Pretorius was entertained. A See also:reward of £2000 which had been offered for his See also:apprehension after the Boomplaats fight, was withdrawn, Pretorius met the British commissioners at a farm near the See also:Sand River, and with them concluded the See also:convention (Jan. 17, 1852) by which the independence of the Transvaal doers was recognized by Great See also:Britain. Pretorius recrossed the Vaal and at Rustenburg on the 16th of See also: In the same See also:year Pretorius paid a visit to Durban with the object of opening up See also:trade between Natal and the new See also:republic. He also in 1852 attempted to See also:close the road to the interior through See also:Bechuanaland and sent a commando to the western border against Sechele. During this expedition See also:David See also:Livingstone's See also:house at Kolobeng was looted. Pretorius died at his home at Magalisberg on the 23rd of July 1853. He is described by Theal as " the ablest leader and most perfect representative of the Emigrant Farmers." In 1855 a new See also:district and a new town were formed out of the Potchefstroom and Rustenburg districts and named See also:Pretoria in See also:honour of the See also:late commandant-general. 2. MARTHINIUS PRETORIUS (1819-19o1), the eldest son ofAndries, was appointed in August 1853 to succeed his father as commandant-general of Potchefstroom and Rustenburg, two of the districts into which the Transvaal was then divided. In 1854 he led his burghers against a chief named Makapan, who had murdered a party of twenty-three Boers, including ten See also:women and See also:children. The natives were blockaded in a great See also:cave in the See also:Zoutpansberg and about 3000 were starved to See also:death or shot as they attempted to See also:escape. Having thus chastised Makapan's See also:clan, Pretorius turned his energies to the creation of a strong central See also:government, and from 1856 onward his dominating See also:idea appears to have been the formation of one Boer state to include the Orange River burghers. In December 1856 representatives of the districts of Potchefstroom, Rustenburg and Pretoria met and See also:drew up a constitution and on the 6th of January the "South See also:African Republic" was formally constituted Pretorius having been elected See also:president on the previous day. Though the Boers of the See also:Lydenburg, See also:Utrecht and Zoutpansberg districts refused to acknowledge the new republic, Pretorius, with the active co-operation of Commandant See also:Paul See also:Kruger (after-wards President Kruger), endeavoured (1857) to bring about the See also:union of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal, and a commando crossed the Vaal to support Pretorius. The See also:attempt at See also:coercion failed, but in December 1859 the partisans of Pretorius in the Free State secured his See also:election as president of that republic. Pretorius had just effected a reconciliation of the Lydenburg Boers with those of the other districts of the Transvaal, and hoping to See also:complete his See also:work of unification he accepted the See also:presidency of the Free State, assuming See also:office at Bloemfontein in February 186o. But the See also:condition of anarchy into which the Transvaal See also:fell shortly afterwards effectually weaned the Free State burghers from any thought of immediate amalgamation with their See also:northern neighbours. Pretorius however continued to intervene in the affairs of the Transvaal and at length (See also:April 15, 1863) resigned his Free State presidency. Acting as mediator between the various Transvaal parties Pretorius in January 1864 succeeded in putting an end to the See also:civil strife and in May following once more became president of the South African Republic—now for the first time a See also:united community. Conciliation was a marked feature of his See also:character and to Pretorius more than any other See also:man was due the See also:welding of the Transvaal Boers into one nation. Pretorius shared the ideas of his father and the Emigrant Farmers generally concerning the See also:title of the state to indefinite expansion north, See also:east and See also:west. Although he had much difficulty in maintaining the authority of the republic over the natives within its recognized See also:borders, yet in April 1868, on the See also:report of See also:gold discoveries at See also:Tati, he issued a proclamation annexing to the Transvaal on the west the whole of Bechuanaland and on the east territory up to and including See also:part of Delagoa See also:Bay. As to Delagoa Bay See also:Portugal at once protested and in 1869 its right to the bay was acknowledged by Pretorius, who in the same year was re-elected president. The right of the Boers to the whole of Bechuanaland was not pressed by Pretorius in the See also:face of British op-position, but in 1870, when the See also:discovery of diamonds along the See also:lower Vaal had led to the See also:establishment of many diggers' camps, an attempt was made to enforce the claims of the Transvaal to that district. Pretorius aroused the hostility of the diggers by granting an exclusive concession to one See also:firm. Realizing his See also:mistake, the concession was cancelled and in See also:September 1870 he issued a proclamation notable as offering to the diggers very large See also:powers of self-government. Pretorius went to the western frontier and in repeated conferences with the See also:Bechuana chiefs attempted to get them to acknowledge the Boer contention and by joining the Transvaal to " See also:save " their territory from the British. His See also:diplomacy failed, and finally, without consulting his colleagues, he agreed to refer the question of the boundary to the See also:arbitration of Mr R. W. See also:Keate, then See also:lieutenant-governor of Natal. The See also:award, given on the 17th of See also:October 1871, was against the Boer claims. Pretorius loyally accepted the decision, but it aroused a See also:storm of indignation in the Transvaal. The Volksraad refused to ratify the award and Pretorius resigned the presidency (November 1871). From this time Pretorius took little further part in public affairs until after the first See also:annexation of the state by Great Britain. In 1878 he acted as chairman of the See also:committee of Boer leaders who were seeking the restoration of the independence of their See also:country, and for his See also:action in that capacity he was arrested in January 188o by order of Sir See also:Garnet See also:Wolseley on a See also:charge of See also:treason. (See the See also:BLUE See also:Borne [C. 2584] of 188o for details of this charge.) He was admitted to See also:bail and shortly afterwards urged by Wolseley to accept a seat on the executive See also:council. This offer Pretorius declined, but he consented to tour the country with a proclamation by Wolseley counselling the Boers to submit, and promising them self-government. In December of the same year he was appointed, with Paul Kruger and P. See also:Joubert, to carry on the government on the part of the insurgent Boers. He was one of the signatories to the Pretoria Convention and continued to See also:act as a member of the Triumvirate until the election of Kruger as president in May 1883. He then with-drew from public See also:life; but lived to see the country re-annexed to Great Britain, dying at Potchefstroom on the 19th of May 19oi. He is stated to have disapproved the later developments of Krugerism, and within four months of his death visited See also: Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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