The Klip River Affair in Zulu Policy, 1846–1847

ABSTRACT

The Klip River Affair of 1847 is treated as a footnote in Africa’s regional history and has usually been looked at from the Boer or the British perspective. The aim of this article is to look at it from the perspective of Zulu policy. Why did M’Pande, the Zulu king, give his support to this short-lived republic? What were his goals? And how did this affair fit into the Zulu state’s external policies of the time? Although M’Pande is usually viewed as a weak or mediocre ruler, in fact his policy during the 1840s and 1850s was quite successful, with the Klip River case proving the flexibility of this policy. Finally, it can be viewed as evidence that, at least during the 1840s and 1850s, the Zulus were an equal partner to the Boers and the British in African regional policies. In addition, it may be claimed their policies shaped the regional situation as much as did those of the British or the Boers.

KEYWORDS:

• South Africa
• KwaZulu-Natal history
• Zulus
• Boers
• British
• M’Pande
• relations

Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the National Science Center (Poland) (Grant No. DEC-2012/05/B/HS3/03814).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This is the case despite the argument of John Laband to the contrary. J. Laband, ‘“Fighting Stick of Thunder”: Firearms and the Zulu Kingdom; The Cultural Ambiguities of Transferring Weapons Technology’, War and Society, 33, 4 (2014), 236.

2 N. Etherington, The Great Treks: The Transformation of Southern Africa, 1815–1854 (London: Longman, 2001); P. Colenbrander, ‘The Zulu Kingdom, 1828–1879’, in A. Duminy and B. Guest, eds, Natal and Zululand from Earliest Times to 1910: A New History (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1989), 83–115; C. Ballard, ‘Traders, Trekkers and Colonists’, in A. Duminy and B. Guest, eds, Natal and Zululand from Earliest Times to 1910: A New History (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1989), 116–145.

3 ‘Treaty between M’Panda and Emigrant Boers’, 7 January 1847, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 183; National Archives, London (hereafter NA), Coloail Office Records (hereafter COR), CO 179/3, P. Ferreira to D. Moodie, 21 May 1847; NA, COR, CO 179/3, Statements of Zatshuke and Nonzwenzwe, 4 June 1847; ‘James Melville to A.T. Spies, 18 May 1847’, in British Parliamentary Papers, 1847–1848, Natal: Correspondence Relative to the Establishment of the Settlement of Natal (hereafter BPP 1847–1848), Vol. 42, No. 980, 146; ‘Dabankulu Statement, 2 June 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 145.

4 P.A. Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy: Sir Theophilus Shepstone and the Zulu Kings, 1839–1879’ (PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1976), 59–67; M.Z. Shamase, ‘The Reign of King M’Pande and His Relations with the Republic of Natalia and its Successor, the British Colony of Natal’ (PhD diss., University of Zululand, Empangeni, 1999), 127–143.

5 J. Omer-Cooper, The Zulus Aftermath: A Nineteenth-Century Revolution in Bantu Africa (London: Longmans, 1966); D. Wylie, Shaka (Johannesburg: Jacana, 2011); E.A. Eldredge, The Creation of the Zulu Kingdom, 1815–1828: War, Shaka, and the Consolidation of Power (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2014).

6 S.M. Ndlovu, African Perspectives of King Dingane ka Senzangakhona (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017).

7 J.B. Wright and A. Manson, The Hlubi Chiefdom in Zululand-Natal: A History (Ladysmith: Ladysmith Historical Society, 1983); T.V. McClendon, White Chief, Black Lords: Shepstone and the Colonial State in Natal, South Africa,1845–1878 (Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2010); J. Guy, The Destruction of the Zulu Kingdom (Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 1994); J. Guy, Theophilus Shepstone and the Forging of Natal (Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 2013); J. Laband and P. Thompson, Kingdom and Colony at War (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press, 1990).

8 ‘H. Cloete to J. Montagu, 14 June 1844’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 397; H. Stander, ‘Die verhouding tussen die Boere en Zoeloe toe die dood van Mpande in 1872’, Argief-Jaarboek vir Suid-Afrikaanse Geskiedenis, 27, 2 (1964), 273.

9 ‘H. Cloete to J. Montagu, 28 October 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 296; H. Cloete, Five Lectures on the Emigration of the Dutch Farmers (Pretoria: State Library, 1968), 97–98. This view was later accepted uncritically and repeated in many works. See J. Meintjes, The Voortrekkers: The Story of the Great Trek and the Making of South Africa (London: Cassell, 1973), 154–157; O. Ransford, The Great Trek (Newton Abbot: Readers Union, 1973), 166–167; D.R. Morris, The Washing of the Spears: The Rise and Fall of Zulu Nation (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1986), 151.

10 Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 64–67.

11 NA, COR, CO 179/3, ‘The Patriot’, 23 April 1847; NA, COR, CO 181/1, M. West to M’Panda, 10 June 1847; P. Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries (Johannesburg: Ravan Press, 1983), 57–58; Etherington, The Great Treks, 297.

12 Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 52–56.

13 M.M. Behn, ‘The Klip River Insurrection 1847’ (Master’s thesis, University of Natal, Durban, 1932), 10; Shamase, ‘The Reign of King M’Pande’, 127–129.

14 NA, COR, CO 179/3, Umkhonto (Assagai) Statement, 4 October 1847.

15 ‘Articles of Treaty between M’Panda, King of the Zulu Nation, and the Henry Cloete, 5 October 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 299–300.

16 ‘Statement of James Archbell, 15 July 1847’, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 125; NA, COR, CO 181/1, W. Harding Report, 13 October 1847.

17 Wright and Manson, The Hlubi Chiefdom, 24, 31; J. Lambert, ‘Chiefship in Early Colonial Natal, 1843–1879’, Journal of Southern African Studies, 21, 2 (1995), 270, 274, 276; Guy, Theophilus Shepstone and the Forging of Natal, 109–110.

18 Colenbrander, ‘The Zulu Kingdom’, 100–101.

19 Ibid.

20 ‘Proclamasie van A.W.J. Pretorius’, 14 February 1840, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 322–323; ‘Narrative of W.J. Pretorius’, The Annals of Natal, 1, 237; J.A.I. Agar-Hamilton, The Native Policy of the Voortrekkers. An Essay in the History of the Interior of South Africa, 1836–1858 (Cape Town: Maskew Miller, 1928), 31–33.

21 Evidence of Cetshwayo, Minutes of 7 July 1881, Proceedings of the Government Commission on Native Laws and Customs, 1883 (Cape Town: W.A. Richards and Sons, 1883), 523–524, 530; R. Mael, ‘The Problem of Political Integration in the Zulu Empire’ (PhD diss., University of California, Los Angeles, 1974), 115–145; P.A. Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, Journal of Natal and Zulu History, 4 (1981), 21–38.

22 A. Delegorgue, Travels in Southern Africa, Vol. 1, edited by F. Webb, S. Alexander, and C. de B. Webb (Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 1990), 111–112; ‘Lunguza ka Mpukane’, in J. Stuart, The James Stuart Archive of Recorded Oral Evidence Relating to the History of the Zulu and Neighbouring Peoples, edited by C. de B. Webb and J.B. Wright (Pietermaritzburg: University of Natal Press) (hereafter The James Stuart Archive), Vol. 1 (1976), 337; J. Guyer, ‘Wealth in People, Wealth in Things – Introduction’, Journal of African History, 36, 1 (1995), 84; Guy, Theophilus Shepstone and the Forging of Natal, 31–33; Mael, ‘The Problem of Political Integration’, 106–107, n 36.

23 ‘Baleni ka Silwana’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 1 (1976), 31; ‘Mkando ka Dhlova’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 3 (1982), 180; ‘Socwatsha ka Papu’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 6 (2014), 70; H.F. Fynn, ‘Occurrences among the Native Races’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 1 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 67; Colenbrander, ‘The Zulu Kingdom’, 99–101; G. Waliński, ‘Terytorium a funkcjonowanie państwa Zulusów przed podbojem kolonialnym’ [Territory and functioning of the Zulu state before the colonial conquest] (PhD diss., University of Warsaw, Warsaw, 1996), 228.

24 ‘A.T. Spies to A.W. Pretorius, 24 May 1841’, in H.S. Pretorius, D.W. Krüger, and C. Beyers, eds, Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, 1829–1849 (Pretoria: Staatsdrukker, 1937), 127–128; NA, COR, CO 179/5, Statement by Pangasile, 21 February 1848; NA, COR, CO 179/5, Statement by messengers from Magonondo’s Mother, 21 February 1848; NA, COR, CO 179/5, Statement by messengers from Putile, 5 June 1848; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 49–50.

25 Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 34–37.

26 Anonymous letter to Natal Stad, 30 December 1841, in H.S. Pretorius, D.W. Krüger, and C. Beyers, eds, Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, 1829–1849 (Pretoria: Staatsdrukker, 1937), 151–152; ‘Volksraadsvergadering, 6 January 1842’, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 1, 128–129; ‘Volksraadsvergadering, 22 February 1842’, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 141; ‘Volksraadsvergadering, 26 February 1842’, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 146; E.A. Walker, The Great Trek (Edinburgh: R.&R. Clark, 1948), 260, 267; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 50.

27 ‘Volksraadsvergadering, 6 January 1842’, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 1, 128–129; ‘Volksraadsvergadering, 22 February 1842’, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 141; ‘Volksraadsvergadering, 26 February 1842’, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 146; Walker, The Great Trek, 260, 267; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 50.

28 D. Lindley, letter, 12 March 1840, Missionary Herald, 36, 10 (October 1840), 386; A. Grout, extracts from letters, 14 June 1841, Missionary Herald, 38, 4 (April 1842), 131.

29 A. Grout, letter, 24 September 1840, Missionary Herald, 37, 5 (May 1841), 140; A. Grout, letter, 24 October 1840, Missionary Herald, 37, 7 (July 1841), 246–247; ‘X.Y.Z to Ware Afrikaan, 3 November 1840’, in J.H. Breytenbach, ed., Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Notule van die Natalse Volksraad, 1838–1845, 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times, 1958), 1, 353; P.H. Zietsman, letter to the editor, 5 January 1841, De Zuid Afrikaan, 12 February 1841, 5; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 52; Shamase, ‘The Reign of King Mpande’, 108.

30 ‘A.J. Cloete to G.T. Napier, 4 July 1842’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 41; Cloete, Five Lectures, 140; A. Delegorgue, Travels in Southern Africa, Vol. 2, edited by F. Webb, S. Alexander, and B. Guest (Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu-Natal Press, 1997), 46; Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 31.

31 ‘A.J. Cloete to G.T. Napier, 3 July 1842’ and ‘A.J. Cloete to G.T. Napier, 4 July 1842’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 1 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 37–41; Cloete, Five Lectures, 140–141.

32 P. Seboni, ‘Moshweshwe Diplomatic Relations with the Indigenous Chiefs of Southern Africa, 1822–1870’ (PhD diss., University of the Orange Free State, Bloemfontein, 1994), 239–253.

33 NA, COR, CO 181/1, ‘Statement of A. Spies in Minutes of and Inquiry Commenced at the place of Andries Spies, 26^th–27^th September 1847’; ‘Jato alias Jan Kok and Seyogella statement, 1 October 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 193–194; L. Grout, Zulu–land, or Life among the Zulu–Kafirs of Natal and Zulu–land, South Africa (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Publication Committee, 1864), 211; see also Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 31.

34 Wright and Manson, The Hlubi Chiefdom, 30–33; Colenbrander, ‘The Zulu Kingdom’, 99.

35 ‘T. Smith to G. Napier, 26 June 1846’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 198; ‘Evidence of Mangati ka Godide’, in The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 2 (1979), 216; Mael, ‘The Problem of Political Integration’, 124.

36 ‘T.C. Smith to G.T. Napier, 26 June 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 198–199; N. Adams, letter, Adams, 30 May 1843, Missionary Herald, 40, 1 (1844), 40; A. Grout, letter, 13 July 1843, Missionary Herald, 40, 4, 154; A.T. Bryant, Olden Times in Zululand and Natal (London: Longman, Green and Co. 1929), 42–43, 679; Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 32.

37 Killie Campbell Africana Library, Durban (hereafter KCAL), Fynn Papers, File 9, KCM 98/69/8, H.F. Fynn Miscellaneous Notes on Native Industries, 21; KCAL, James Stuart Papers, File 66, KCM 24355, J. Stuart, Military, Native Customs and Habits, Intelligence; ‘Jantshi ka Nongila’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 1 (1976), 175, 195–201; ‘Ngidi ka Mcikaziswa’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 5 (2001), 88; ‘Nsuze ka Mfelafuti’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 5 (2001), 174, 177–178.

38 ‘H. Cloete to J. Montagu, 28 October 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 293; Mael, ‘The Problem of Political Integration’, 127–128.

39 ‘H. Cloete to J. Montagu, 28 October 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 29; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 54.

40 ‘H. Cloete to J. Montagu, 28 October 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 292.

41 Waliński, ‘Terytorium a funkcjonowanie państwa Zulusów’, 148–159; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 54, in which he presents Cloete’s attitude towards this treaty.

42 ‘Articles of Treaty between M’Panda, King of the Zulu Nation, and the Henry Cloete, 5 October 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 299–300.

43 ‘Proclamation, 21 August 1845’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 466–467.

44 NA, COR, CO 179/3, W. Harding to D. Moodie, 13 October 1847.

45 ‘G. Napier to Lord Stanley, 23 August 1842’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 86; see also A.F. Hattersley, The British Settlement of Natal: A Study in Imperial Migration (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1950), 66–69; Ballard, ‘Traders, Trekkers and Colonists’, 124–125.

46 ‘Letters Patent, 30 April 1845’, in G.W. Eybers, ed., Select Constitutional Documents Illustrating South African History, 1795–1910 (London: George Routledge & Sons, 1918), 184–186; M.C. van Zyl, ‘Luitenant-Goewerneur Martin West en die Natalse Voortrekkers, 1845–1849’, Argief-jaarboek vir Suid-Afrikaanse Geskiedenis, 18, 2 (1955), 125.

47 NA, COR, CO 51/57, Executive Council of the Cape Colony Meeting, 15 August 1845; ‘P. Maitland to Lord Stanley, 1 October 1845’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 471–472; see also Van Zyl, ‘Luitenant-Goewerneur Martin West’, 125; Hattersley, The British Settlement of Natal, 70–73.

48 ‘T.C. Smith to G.T. Napier, 26 June 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 198–199; Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 32.

49 ‘T. Smith to G.T. Napier, 10 July 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 212; ‘M. West to P. Maitland, 24 February 1846’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 42–44; Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 32.

50 ‘Magidigidi ka Nobebe’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 2 (1979), 91; ‘Ndukwana ka Mbengwana’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 4 (1986), 273–274, 276; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 41–43; Etherington, The Great Treks, 274–275.

51 KCAL, Robert Jones Garden Papers (hereafter Garden Papers), R.J. Garden, Swazi History, File 2, KCM 65607, 84, 86–87; H. Kuper, An African Aristocracy: Rank among the Swazi (Oxford: Oxford University Press 1947), 57; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 47–48.

52 ‘T. Smith to G. Napier, 15 October 1842’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 110.

53 R.J. Garden, Swazi History, 84–94; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 51.

54 KCAL, Garden Papers, File 2, KCM 65607, Robert J. Garden, Swazi History, 84–94; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 47–52.

55 NA, COR, CO 48/224, T.C. Smith to G.T. Napier, 15 October 1842; ‘T.C. Smith to J. Montagu, 14 November 1843’, in J. Bird, ed., The Annals of Natal, 1495 to 1845, Vol. 2 (Pietermaritzburg: P. Davis & Sons, 1888), 316–317.

56 Pietermaritzburg Archives Repository (hereafter PAR), Government House Records (hereafter GHR), Vol. 1209, M. West to P. Maitland, 24 February 1846. Thus, we can assume that they were dispatched rather in late January.

57 NA, COR, CO 181/1, M’Panda to M. West, 11 February 1846; ‘Minute of the Import of M’Panda’s Message, 7 February 1846’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 44–45.

58 ‘Minute of the Import of M’Panda’s Message, 7 February 1846’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 44.

59 Reply of His Honour the Lt.-Governor to Panda, n.d., The Natal Witness, 16 October 1846.

60 ‘Eerste Volksraad Notules, Andries Ohrig Stad, 20 January 1846’, in J.H. Breytenbach and H.S. Pretorius, eds, Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Transvaal, Vol. 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times Ltd., 1949), 27; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 54.

61 Western Cape Provincial Archives and Records (hereafter WCPA), Government House Records (hereafter GHR), Government House (hereafter GH) 9/1, D. Moodie to M’Pande, 11 February 1846.

62 Walker, The Great Trek, 260, 267; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 50.

63 NA, COR, CO 179/1, M’Pande to M. West, 6 April 1846; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 53–56.

64 Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 37.

65 NA, COR, CO 179/1, H. Cloete to J. Montagu, 10 November 1843; NA, COR, CO 51/52, The Cape Colony Executive Council meeting, 6 April 1844; ‘H. Cloete to D. Moodie, 10 August 1848’, in British Parliamentary Papers, 1850: Correspondence Relating to the Settlement of Natal, Vol. 38, No. 1292, 40–41; Mael, ‘The Problem of Political Integration’, 116.

66 Wright and Manson, The Hlubi Chiefdom, 31, 33.

67 ‘ … , The Natal Witness, 24 April 1846.

68 ‘M. West to P. Maitland, 24 February 1846’, in BPP, 1848, 42: 980), 43; PAR, GHR, Vol. 1209, M. West to P. Maitland, 24 February 1846.

69 A. Grout letter, 18 November 1842, The Missionary Herald, 39, 4 (1843), 154; ‘Recent Intelligence’, The Missionary Herald, 39, 3 (1843), 140.

70 Messengers played a role somewhat similar to the ambassadors. See ‘Giba ka Sobuza’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 1 (1976), 150; Seboni, ‘Moshweshwe Diplomatic Relations’, 255–256. Diplomatic relations between Nguni chiefdoms were highly ritualised. See, for example, the Zulu practice of sending messengers to the AmaSwazi to ask for rain; ‘Bikwayo ka Noziwawa’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 1 (1976), 67; ‘Mgidhlana ka Mpande’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 1 (1976), 3, 108.

71 ‘Dabankulu Statement, 2 June 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 145; ‘Dabankulu vs. De Lange, 30 September 1847’, The Natal Witness, 15 October 1847; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 59. As to the earlier acquaintance of De Lange and M’Pande see Delegorgue, Travels in Southern Africa, 1, 82–83.

72 WCPA, GHR, GH 9/3, A.T. Spies to H.G.W. Smith, 11 March 1848.

73 ‘Dabankulu Statement, 2 June 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 145.

74 WCPA, GHR, GH 9/1, D. Moodie to H. Hudson, 20 July 1846.

75 WCPA, GHR, GH 9/1, M’Panda to M. West, 6 August 1846.

76 ‘M. West to M’Panda, 6 August 1846’, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 103–104.

77 For example, NA, COR, CO 181/1, Walter Harding Opinion on the Situation in Klip River Region, 16 July 1847; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 56; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 89–90, 96.

78 PAR, Executive Council (hereafter EC), in British Parliamentary Papers, 1847–1848. Natal. Correspondence Relative to the Establishment of the Settlement of Natal. 1848. Vol. 42, no. 980, 44–45.; ‘Memorie aan Volksraad, 8 June 1846’, in H.S. Pretorius, D.W. Krüger, and C. Beyers, eds, Voortrekker-Argiefstukke, 1829–1849 (Pretoria: Staatsdrukker, 1937), 227; P. Bonner, ‘Factions and Fissions: Transvaal/Swazi Politics in the Mid-Nineteenth Century’, Journal of African History, 19, 2 (1978), 225–226.

79 NA, COR, CO 181/1, M. West to M’Pande, 10 June 1847; NA, COR, CO 181/1M. West to M’Pande, 16 July 1847; WCPA, … (hereafter GH) 9/3, A.T. Spies to H. Smith, 11 March 1848.

80 NA COR, CO 179/3, A.T. Spies Statement, 27 September 1847; NA, COR, CO 179/3, Minutes of Inquiry, 4 October 1847; Colenbrander, ‘The Zulu Kingdom’, 101; J. Laband, The Rise and Fall of the Zulu Nation (London: Arms and Armour, 1997), 89–105, 107–121.

81 Stander, ‘Die verhouding tussen die Boere en Zoeloe’, 292; Shamase, ‘The Reign of King M’Pande’, 129.

82 Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 21–38; Colenbrander, ‘The Zulu Kingdom’, 99–103.

83 Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 34–37. Martin West estimated in February 1846, that Zulu Forces numbered 20,000 warriors. ‘M. West to P. Maitland, 24 February 1846’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 43. However, this was probably an overestimate.

84 ‘F. Boys to D. Moodie, 19 February 1846’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 48.

85 Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 33. He appealed amongst others to Moshoeshoe and duly sent the latter some firearms and later even supplied him with some horses. Seboni, ‘Moshweshwe Diplomatic Relations’, 256.

86 WCPA, GHR, GH 9/2, M. West to P. Maitland, 11 November 1846; NA, COR, CO 179/3, D. Moodie to J. Montague, 28 April 1847.

87 ‘The Statement of Dabankulu, 2 June 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 145; ‘N’Dabankulu vs. De Lange, 30 September 1847’, The Natal Witness, 15 October 1847.

88 WCPA, Colonial Secretary Office (hereafter CSO), CO 555, Statement of UmKiywava, 28 August 1846.

89 Ibid.

90 ‘The Statement of M’Pande’s messenger Gebulu’ 6 October 1846’, The Natal Witness, 9 October 1846.As for the dating of the messenger’s arrival and making his statement, see PAR, T. Shepstone Papers, A 96, Vol. 1, Theophilus Shepstone Diaries, 1835–1849, 4 October 1846.

91 The Statement of Boxa and Gambushe, n.d., The Natal Witness, 16 October 1846; PAR, T. Shepstone Papers, A 96, Vol. 1, T. Shepstone Diaries, 1835–1849, 7 October 1846.

92 Reply of His Honour the Lt.-Governor, n.d., The Natal Witness, 16 October 1846. For the date of reply, see PAR, T. Shepstone Papers, A 96, Vol. 1, T. Shepstone Diaries, 1835–1849, 8 October 1846.

93 Kennedy, ‘Mpande and the Zulu Kingship’, 37.

94 NA, COR, CO 179/1, W.C. Armstrong and W. Cowie to D. Moodie, 30 March 1846; PAR, GHR, Vol. 1209, M. West to P. Maitland, 31 March 1846.

95 PAR, T. Shepstone Papers, A 96, Vol. 1, T. Shepstone Diaries, 1835–1849, 11 and 12 October 1846; WCPA, GH 9/2, M. West to P. Maitland, 11 November 1846; WCPA, CSO, CO 555, M. West to P. Maitland, 11 November 1846, The Natal Witness, 13 November 1846 there seem to be two references in one here – should there be a semi-colon after ’11 November 1846’?; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 58; Wright and Manson, The Hlubi Chiefdom, 33.

96 WCPA, CSO, CO 555, Statement of Solondoye, 19 September 1846; PAR, Native Affairs Department (hereafter NAD), Vol. I/6/1, The Statement of Bulane and Kwahla, Swazi Messengers, 17 January 1847; KCAL, Garden Papers, File 2, KCM 65607, J. Garden, Swazi History, 93–94; ‘Title’, The Natal Witness, 13 November 1846.

97 WCPA, GHR, GH 9/2, M. West to P. Maitland, 11 November 1846; WCPA, CSO, CO 555, M. West to H. Pottinger, 5 February 1847; ‘Pietermaritzburg, November 13 1846', The Natal Witness, 13 November 1846; ‘Notes of the Week’, The Natal Witness, 22 January 1847.

98 NA, COR, CO 181/1, Statement of James Archbell, 15 July 1847.

99 NA, COR, CO 179/1, D. Moodie to M. West, 9 October 1846; NA, COR, CO 179/2, The Statement by Bulane and Gevalhla, 27 January 1847; PAR, T. Shepstone Papers, A 96, Vol. 1, T. Shepstone Diaries, 1835–1849, 26 October 1846 and 17 December 1846; WCPA, GHR, GH 9/2, M. West to P. Maitland, 11 November 1846; WCPA, CSO, CO 555, B. Oosthusen Statement, n.d. [December 1846?]; PAR, NAD, Vol. I/6/1, Statements of Bulane and Gwahea, Natives of the Chief Umswazi made before John Shepstone, 29 January 1847; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 60–62; Behn, ‘The Klip River Insurrection 1847’, 9. However, Behn made a mistake suggesting that it happened at the end of 1845 since it could not have happened earlier than the end of 1846.

100 WCPA, CSO, CO 555, B. Oosthusen Statement, n.d. [December 1846?]; PAR, NAD, Vol. I/6/1 Statements of Bulane and Gwahea, Natives of the Chief Umswazi made before John Shepstone, Kaffir Interpreter at Pieter Maritz Burg, 29 January 1847; NA, COR, CO 179/2 M. West to H. Pottinger, 4 February 1847; ‘Passelt’s Report, 9 March 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 136–137; ‘Title’, The Natal Witness, 22 January 1847.

101 ‘A.T. Spies Statement, 27 September 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 192; ‘J.H. de Lange Statement, 27 September 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 192; Stander, ‘Die verhouding tussen die Boere en Zoeloe’, 291–292.

102 M. Leśniewski, ‘Chronology of the Klip River Affair of 1847’, Werkwinkel, 9 (2014), 1, 28–31.

103 NA, COR, CO 181/1, Statement of James Archbell, 15 July 1847; NA, CO 179/3, W. Harding to D. Moodie, 13 October 1847. As for his actions, see PAR, CSO, Vol. 11/1, Statement of Cunyana, 1 July 1847; Stander, ‘Die verhouding tussen die Boere en Zoeloe’, 293.

104 ‘Ndukwana ka Mbengwana’, in Stuart, The James Stuart Archive, Vol. 4 (1986), 315; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 57–63.

105 NA, COR, CO 179/3, D. Moodie to A.T. Spies, 18 May 1847.

106 WCPA, GHR, GH 9/2, M. West to P. Maitland, 11 November 1846; WCPA, GHR, GH 9/2, M. West to H. Pottinger, 5 February 1847; NA, COR, CO 181/1, M. West to M’Pande, 10 June 1847; NA, COR, CO 179/3, M. West to H. Pottinger, 28 June 1847; ‘H. Pottinger to Earl Grey, 13 July 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 142–143; NA, COR, CO 181/1, M. West to J. Monatgu should this be ‘Montagu’?, 20 July 1847; NA, COR, CO 181/1, M. West to H. Pottinger, 31 August 1847; NA, COR, CO 49/41, Earl of Grey to H. Smith, 30 October 1847; ‘J.F. Tredoux Statement, 19 January 1848’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 42.

107 ‘H. Pottinger to M. West, 13 July 1847’, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 139; ‘Statement of the Crown Prosecutor, 16 July 1847’, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 129–130; NA, COR, CO 181/1, Proclamation by M. West, 3 September 1847; Van Zyl, ‘Luitenant-Goewerneur Martin West’, 156–166.

108 N. Mostert, Frontiers: The Epic of South Africa’s Creation and Tragedy of the Xhosa People (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992), 891–935.

109 Behn, ‘The Klip River Insurrection’, 37; Van Zyl, ‘Luitenant-Goewerneur Martin West’, 154–166; Walker, The Great Trek, 360–362.

110 ‘M’Pande to M. West, 16 July 1847’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 178–179; NA, COR, CO 181/1, The Reply received from the Chief Panda, 13 August 1847; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 57.

111 KCAL, Garden Papers, File 2, KCM 65607, J. Garden, ‘Swazi History’, 92.

112 NA, COR, CO 179/3, The Statements of Zatshuke and Nonzwenzwe, 4 June 1847.

113 ‘M. West to H. Pottinger, 4 September 1847’, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 162; NA, CO 179/3, W. Harding to D. Moodie, 13 October 1847; NA, COR, CO 181/1, J. Archbell Statement, 15 July 1847; ‘J. Boshof to D. Moodie, 4 December 1847’, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 204.

114 NA, COR, CO 181/1, M’Pande to M. West, 13 August 1847; WCPA, GHR, GH 9/3, M. West to H. Smith, 17 January 1848; Behn, ‘The Klip River Insurrection’, 23–47.

115 NA, COR, CO 179/3, M. West to H. Pottinger, 28 June 1847.

116 PAR, T. Shepstone Papers, A 96, Vol. 1, T. Shepstone Diaries, 1835–1849, 14 and 20 December 1847.

117 PAR, CSO, Vol. 2295, H.D. Kyle to D. Moodie, 22 July 1847; PAR, CSO, Vol. 7, D. Moodie to H.D. Kyle, 20 July 1847.

118 The whole excursion of H.D. Kyle and J. Shepstone was described by the former in his letter to D. Moodie. See NA, CO 179/3, H.D. Kyle to D. Moodie, 15 August 1847; see also ‘M. West to H. Pottinger, 19 July 1847’, in B.A. le Cordeur, ed., South African Archival Records: Natal 1846/1848, Issue 2, I (Cape Town: National Commercial Printer Ltd., 1960), 161–162; Van Zyl, ‘Luitenant-Goewerneur Martin West’, 159–160.

119 NA, COR, CO 181/1, M. West to M’Pande, 16 July 1847.

120 PAR, NAD, Vol. I/6/2, M’Pande to M. West, 21 September 1847.

121 NA, CO 179/3, M. West to H. Pottinger, 30 August 1847; WCPA, GH 9/3, M. West to H. Smith, 17 January 1848; ‘M’Panda to M. West, 12 February 1848’, in BPP 1847–1848, Vol. 42, No. 980, 223; Behn, ‘The Klip River Insurrection’, 15–17; Van Zyl, ‘Luitenant-Goewerneur Martin West’, 167–177; P. Delius, The Land Belongs to Us: The Pedi Polity, the Boers and the British in the Nineteenth-Century Transvaal (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1984), 30; Bonner, Kings, Commoners and Concessionaries, 54–62.

122 For example, NA, COR, CO 179/3, Sigoyella and Vobo Statement, 2 October 1847; NA, COR, CO 179/3, Umconto (Assagai) Statement, 4 October 1847; NA, COR, CO 179/3, J.N. Boshof to D. Moodie, 24 November 1847; NA, COR, CO 179/3, Jacobus Johannes Uys Statement, 23 November 1847; PAR, CSO, Vol. 40, J.N. Boshof to D. Moodie, 25 November 1847; PAR, CSO, Vol. 11/2, Statement by UmboKwana Messenger from the Chief Nodada, 1 December 1847; PAR, Theophilus Shepstone Papers, A 96, Vol. 1, Th. Shepstone Diaries, 1835–1849, 1 December 1847.

123 PAR, NAD, Vol. I/6/2, M’Pande to M. West, 21 September 1847.

124 ‘Proclamation of Lt.-Governor M. West, 4 January 1848’, The Natal Witness, 7 January 1848; PAR, NAD, Vol. I/6/2, M. West to M’Pande, 10 January 1848; Kennedy, ‘The Fatal Diplomacy’, 67.

125 ‘Rapport van A.W.J. Pretorius van Platberg aan de Raad, den 4 Januarie 1848’, in J.H. Breytenbach and H.S. Pretorius, eds, Suid-Afrikaanse Argiefstukke: Transvaal, Vol. 1 (Cape Town: Cape Times Ltd., 1949), 242–243; NA, COR, CO 48/286, A.W.J. Pretorius to A. Stockenstrom, 20 June 1848; NA, CO 48/287, A.W.J. Pretorius to J. Snyman, 22 July 1848.

126 Laband, The Rise and Fall, 130.

127 Behn, ‘The Klip River Insurrection’. In a few later texts, the Klip River affair was just a side interest for Behn and did not receive enough attention. Therefore, the present author prepared a study of this crisis. See M. Leśniewski, Klip River Affair of 1847 (Poznań: Werkwinkel, 2018).

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Michał Leśniewski

Michał Leśniewski is a professor in the Faculty of History, University of Warsaw. He was awarded his PhD in 1997 (‘The Role of South Africa in Shaping Concepts of British Imperial Policy, 1899–1914’) and his postdoctoral degree in 2010 (‘Africans, Boers and British: A Study in Relations, 1795–1854’). He specialises in nineteenth- and twentieth-century history, especially on European colonialism, the British Empire, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. He is author of The Zulu-Boer War 1837–1840 (Brill, 2021) and Klip River Affair of 1847 (Werkwinkel, 2018).