His efforts in restraining colonists from moving into Xhosa lands served to make him immensely unpopular among the settlers of the Cape Colony frontier.

On Stockenström's legacy, historian Christopher Saunders concluded: "No man in the 19th century Cape had greater breadth of vision, none gained the respect of a wider constituency, black as well as white.

Inclined to pursue a military career, Andries accompanied the expedition sent in 1810 to inform Ndlambe, the Rharhabe paramount chief, of the government's aim to expel him from the Zuurveld.

Stockenström's military career additionally saw growing disagreement between the leadership of the local Cape forces (the Burgher commandos) and the settlers on the frontier who supported greater imperial control.

While the young Stockenström was a great and sometimes ruthless soldier in the frontier wars, in the coming years he came to develop a growing sympathy with his Xhosa opponents.

His opinion that the Cape Colony colonists of the frontier were unfairly treating of their Xhosa neighbours led to his later conclusion that a strictly-enforced system of treaties must be enforced on both sides in order for peace and mutual respect to develop.

In a rapid and successful campaign in 1813, he struck across the Fish River against Xhosa tribes that had violated the new frontier, and in May 1814 he was appointed a lieutenant in the Cape Regiment.

After swiftly intercepting and defeating the Gcaleka army, he withdrew his commando and stationed his Graaff-Reinet burghers to defend the left flank at the Kat River.

The war ended in October 1819, when Gcaleka agreed to recognise Ngqika's independent leadership of the Western Xhosa, and the area between the Keiskamma and Fish rivers was declared a neutral zone, closed off from both black and white settlement.

In addition, Stockenström was friendly with Acting Governor Sir Rufane Donkin, and since Grahamstown editor Robert Godlonton was a staunch supporter of Col. Somerset, this "meant that the remainder of his public career was characterized by personal and political feuds".

In spite of the many political hindrances to his actions, Stockenström nonetheless set to work to reach an agreement for peace on the frontier and to stabilise the Ceded Territory between the Fish and Keiskamma rivers.

Stockenström ruled that armed parties were only permitted to cross the frontier and recover stolen stock by force if the civil authorities gave permission.

In 1830 Stockenström permitted settlers to launch a punitive expedition against Tyali, having been shown evidence that this Xhosa chief was led raids across the border.

Faced with growing demands for punitive expeditions, Stockenström became increasingly suspicious of the motives of Col Somerset and the frontier settler group.

The issue became critical in June 1831, when the colonial government directly authorised Somerset to launch an attack on the Xhosa, without Stockenström's permission and in spite of his objections.

[5] In his frontier policy, Stockenström was also in disagreement with the liberals and philanthropists of the Cape, in that he believed that the authority of the chiefs must be preserved, and that the relations of the borderlands needed to be strictly regulated and policed.

The Eastern Cape settler movement, which advocated dismantling Stockenström's treaty system and annexing the Xhosa land, was led by Godlonton and Col Somerset.

In February 1838 he started a libel action, after being publicly accused of murder, and requested the new governor, Sir George Napier, to launch a full inquiry.

Certain provisions of the new treaty system, such as those allowing frontier settlers to counter-raid their Xhosa neighbours if they believed that cattle had been stolen, led to a sharp increase in violence.

Faced with increasing losses and a full-scale invasion of the Xhosa armies across the frontier, the British Governor Sir Peregrine Maitland called upon the local Cape Burgher Commandos.

The Cape burghers were mounted frontier gunmen, recruited locally from Boer, Mfengu, settler, Khoikhoi and Griqua populations, and fiercely loyal to Stockenström.

Stockenström's burgher force first cleared the south-western part of the Eastern Province up to the Fish River, inflicting a string of defeats on the amaNgqika, and then advanced to Fort Beaufort, where it was initially ordered that he would invade the Xhosa country.

Paramount Chief Sarhili and his generals agreed to meet Stockenström (with his commandants Groepe, Molteno and Brownlee), unarmed, on a nearby mountain ridge.

Historian Piers Brendon described "Smith, placing his foot on the neck of the Xhosan ruler and proclaiming, 'I am your Paramount Chief, and the Kaffirs are my dogs!

'"[8] Sir Andries publicly condemned Governor Smith's policies, and warned that they would precipitate a further crisis, but Earl Grey, the Secretary for the Colonies, declined to take action.

When Governor Smith called an election in 1850 (the only one of its kind) to get around the difficulty of finding suitable people to serve on the legislative council, Sir Andries received the most votes cast for any candidate from the Eastern Province.

But as a result of his call for an inquiry into Governor Harry Smith's policies, Sir Andries was in turn made the scapegoat for their failure, and was additionally blamed for the Kat River rebellion during the Eighth Frontier War of 1850.

He also supported the passing of the Burgher Force Bill, which placed the local Cape commandos on an equal footing with the already-established military garrison.

In one of his final political acts, he gave his support to the infant movement for "Responsible Government" in the Cape, as a way to curtail what he saw as the ineptitude of direct imperial control in Southern Africa.

Following the takeover of the Cape by the Batavian Republic, Anders was appointed landdrost of Graaff-Reinet by both Governor Jan Willem Janssens and Commissioner-General Jacob Abraham Uitenhage de Mist.