AFRICANWARSAND WHITEINVADERS
annexed as the province of Queen Adelaide. A fire-eating colonel named
Harry Smith began to administer it, intent on imposing British civilization
upon its inhabitants.
This new order had scarcely begun, however, when,
responding to the still influential humanitarian
lobby, the British colonial
secretary ordered the abandonment
of the province and appointed Andries
Stockenstrom
as lieutenant-governor
of the eastern districts. 8
Stockenstrom,
who had held official appointments
in the frontier zone
since 1808, sought to pacify the frontier by making treaties with the Xhosa
chiefs and holding the colonists responsible for organizing the protection
of their property. The system did not work. The chiefs had never had
autocratic powers, and by 1836, some of the Xhosa people, battered and
impoverished by the wars and the land losses, were taking to banditry.
Moreover, the government did not provide funds to police the border and
the settlers themselves could not do it. The settlers never favored the sys-
tern. They had hoped to get hold of more land in Queen Adelaide and
raised a clamor for its reannexation."
The tenuous peace collapsed after Stockenstrom was superseded by men
who lacked the will to check the settlers. In 1846, war broke out again. In