Close to the neighbouring Xhosa lands, these politicians represented their constituents' fears of the more numerous Xhosa.
As one settler ominously remarked of the Xhosa lands: "The appearance of the country is very fine, it will make excellent sheep farms."
He used his newspapers to condemn Stockenström's treaty system and advocate seizing the Xhosa lands.
There were few hostilities until more Boers pushed into Xhosa lands.
His efforts in restraining colonists from moving into Xhosa lands served to make him immensely unpopular among the British settlers of the frontier.
Maitland's system also involved building a system of military fortifications on Xhosa lands so as to secure the frontier militarily.
The new government held back white expansion into Xhosa lands, while offering equal political rights to Black Africans who were citizens of the Cape.
He was born at Burns Hill in 1820, at which time the Xhosa lands were still independent.
Wherever he moved through Xhosa land he saw the slaughtered cattle, the burning piles of grain.
The word Kaffraria came to refer specifically to the Xhosa lands in what is now the Eastern Cape.