A meeting of representatives of all European inhabitants of the Sovereignty, elected on manhood suffrage, held at Bloemfontein in June 1852, never theless declared in favour of the retention of British rule.
Christian De Wet, who had first come into prominence as the captor of Lord Roberts's convoy at Waterval, and was now operating east and south-west of Bloemfontein in order to counteract the influence of Roberts's numerous flying columns which rode hither and thither offering peace, added to his laurels by ambushing Broadwood's mounted brigade and horse artillery at Sannah's Post, just outside Bloemfontein, on the 31st of March.
The two systems, it will be seen, are doubly connected, namely at Bloemfontein and at Kroonstad, and the lines running east from those towns afford the quickest connexion between Cape Town and Durban.
The establishment of a line of defensive posts between Bloemfontein and Ladybrand, though De Wet had three times traversed it, had given Blockhouse Policy.
In Bloemfontein the Constitutionalists had a strong following; elsewhere their supporters were numerically weak.
From Durban) on the main Cape Town, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg railway and is the shortest route between Durban and Cape Town (1271 m.).
In 1900, Bloemfontein and Pretoria having been occupied by British troops, Kruger, too old to go on commando, with the consent of his executive proceeded to Europe, where he endeavoured to induce the European powers to intervene on his behalf, but without success.
The capital, Bloemfontein (pop. in 1904, 33,883), is fairly centrally situated on the trunk railway to Johannesburg.
C.) On the abandonment of British rule representatives of the people were elected and met at Bloemfontein on the 28th of March 1854, and between that date and the 18th of April were engaged in framing a constitution.
In 1881 Mr Reitz had, in conjunction with Mr Steyn, come under the influence of a clever German named Borckenhagen, the editor of the Bloemfontein Express.