The history of the great Boer trek : and the origin of the South African republics

3 1822 00108 1256

E HISTORY

REAT BOER TREK

3 182200168

7 IQ

THE HISTORY OF THE
GREAT BOER TREK

FIRST EDITION, CAPE TOWN, 1856.

SECOND EDITION (5,000), LONDON, November ; 1899.

THIRD EDITION (2,000) „ December, 1899.

Reprinted (1,000) ,, January, 1900.

Reprinted (1,000) „ February, 1900.

Reprinted (1,500) ,. March, 1900.

THE HISTORY OF THE

GREAT BOER TREK

AND THE ORIGIN OF THE
SOUTH AFRICAN REPUBLICS

BY THE LATE

HON. HENRY CLOETE, LL.D.

HER MAJESTY'S HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR NATAL, 1843-44

EDITED BY HIS GRANDSON

W. BRODRICK-CLOETE, M.A.

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1900

PREFACE

AT a time like the present I conceive that
no apology can be required or expected
from anyone who endeavours to enlighten the
ignorance or to remove the misapprehensions
concerning South African history and affairs
which undeniably exist among great numbers
of our countrymen. It is with that object
that I now republish in a popular form a book
hitherto not easily procurable, which gives a
succinct but adequate and impartial account of
the course of events in South Africa from the
conquest of Cape Colony to the formation of
Natal into a British colony in 1843. The
book consists of five lectures delivered to the
Literary Society of Pietermaritzburg in 1852-5
by my grandfather, the Hon. Henry Cloete,
whose high character and attainments com-
manded the confidence alike of the Boer
farmers, the British settlers, and Her Majesty's
Government ; who was chosen as Her Majesty's

viii PREFACE

Commissioner to negotiate the final settlement
of Natal ; who as regards many other im-
portant events could well say "quorum magna
pars fui" and who delivered these lectures,
within ten years of the date of the Natal
settlement, in presence of a mixed British and
Boer audience in whose minds the occurrences
dealt with were a fresh and vivid memory.

Just because the book is a condensed and
dispassionate statement of facts from which
inference and comment have been excluded
with singular care, it requires to be read with
intelligent attention. But if read with atten-
tion and some moderate exercise of political
imagination, it will enable the candid student
to understand the clash of conflicting interests
and incompatible ideals which has created the
South African question as we know it to-day.
He will see in the conduct of the Colonial
Office much to deplore, but not so much
that can be fairly charged to official blunder-
ing if due regard be had to the conflicting
impulses and ideals of the English people.
He will find in the conditions prevailing in
Cape Colony, when we took it over from the
Dutch, elements of disorder and difficulty

PREFACE ix

with which only the highest sagacity, aided
by good fortune, could have coped with entire
success. While driven to confess that neither
of these agencies was always present, he will
nevertheless admit that the complete tran-
quillisation of Cape Colony and of Natal
under British rule is a not inconsiderable
achievement, and his forecast of the future,
based upon the story of the past, will not be
that of a pessimist.

When this country took over the Cape
Colony, the farmers in the rural districts had
been demoralised by the habit of receiving
grants of blocks of from ten to thirty square
miles for single farms. Civilisation and even
government loses its hold upon a population
so scattered. The farmers had ceased to
cultivate according to civilised methods, and
had relapsed into a purely pastoral and even
nomadic life. The territory had become too
small for this wasteful colonisation, and the
Boers habitually encroached, both temporarily
and permanently, upon the lands of the sur-
rounding native tribes. These tribes not un-
naturally made reprisals, especially as the treat-
ment accorded to them was uniformly severe.

x PREFACE

This is the kernel of the South African
question. The Boer farmers tenaciously
clung to their supposed rights to take as
much land as they pleased, shooting as many
of its owners as they saw fit, in districts
which were not under the control of the
British Government. They expected that
Government, whose treaties they broke and
whose orders they disobeyed, to intervene on
their behalf whenever their proceedings pro-
voked a Kafir rising ; and the Colonial Office
alternately defended them for the sake of the
colony they endangered, and recoiled from
the limitless responsibilities thus entailed. The
right policy, of course, was to set up a chain
of military posts upon the frontier and to do
even-handed justice, keeping the Kafirs out
and the Boers in, until the population of the
colony became sufficiently dense to justify
orderly annexation of new districts. But this
policy actually adopted by one far-seeing
Governor was reversed by his successor, and
the old bad system of marauding on one side
and reprisals on the other went on until it
provoked the great Kafir rising of 1834.

That rising was put down by the British

PREFACE xi

Government, but the effort exhausted its
patience. When the Boers claimed compen-
sation for their losses at the expense of the
British taxpayer, they were told, with perhaps
unnecessary sharpness, that they had brought
the calamity on themselves and must bear the
penalty. They then determined that since the
British Government would not adequately pro-
tect their individual encroachments they would
make a combined effort and would cross the
frontier wholesale to form a new settlement
for themselves, where their peculiar institutions
might flourish unchecked. They migrated in
large bodies into the territory that is now
Natal.

There was another great cause of discon-
tent. The Boers of Cape Colony had reduced
the Hottentot population to the condition of
slaves, and with the Hottentot women had pro-
duced a race of half-castes known as Griquas.
It is true the slavery was of the domestic or
predial type found in many parts of the world,
but the British public, in the heat of the abolition
movement, took no notice of such a distinction,
as a great part of it refuses to do to this day.
Slavery was abolished, rudely, hastily, and

xii PREFACE

without regard to the complete dislocation of
the social machinery which abolition brought
about ; while, to crown all, the promised com-
pensation— part of the famous twenty millions
— turned out ludicrously disproportionate to
the hopes that had been raised. It is not
the only instance in which the British public
have gratified their emotions at the expense
of other people.

Up to a certain point the early history of
Natal offers a curious parallel to the more
recent history of the Transvaal. In the two
concluding lectures the reader will see how
the emigrating Boers came into contact at
once with the Zulus and with a British com-
munity settled at Port Natal ; how they sought
to profit by British assistance and yet to reject
all British control ; how they claimed to be
an independent State making treaties on equal
terms with this country, which however was
to have the unprofitable privilege of defending
them ; how they expected help from Holland,
and were ready to give that country a Pro-
tectorate ; how they cut to pieces a small
British force ; and how they found eventually
that there was more British force to reckon

PREFACE xiii

with, and that Great Britain would never con-
sent to relinquish sovereignty or to permit
foreign intrusion. So far the parallel is com-
plete, though the scale is different. In Natal
it was found that war, instead of accentuating
race hatred, laid the foundation of enduring
peace. Natal is now a prosperous and loyal
British colony, and but for a change of govern-
ors and policy, the Orange Free State would
to-day have been in the same position. There
were irreconcilables of course, and they
trekked into the Transvaal, where we have
missed splendid opportunities of repeating our
Natal success. Let us hope that a united
nation, faced by what has grown to be an
Imperial danger, will not again take its hand
from the plough until the furrow is cut clean
and true.

Under the wise and benign rule of our
gracious Queen, we have witnessed immense
progress in colonial loyalty as well as in con-
ceptions of Imperial duty. Cape Colony, the
essential loyalty of which has been far too
lightly called in question by superficial ob-
servers, forms, together with Natal, a standing
proof that men of Dutch descent as well as

xiv PREFACE

others can find under the British flag all the
conditions of prosperity and contentment.
Once rid of a corrupt and arrogant oligarchy,
largely of extraneous origin, and of its fantastic
dreams of an African dominion, there is no
reason to doubt that the mixed races of the
Transvaal will range themselves peaceably side
by side with their brethren of the Cape and

of Natal.

WILLIAM BRODRICK-CLOETE.

LONDON, October 2gth, 1899.

I

INTRODUCTION
TO THE SECOND EDITION

SINCE the first edition of this reprint appeared
I have received many requests for some
personal information concerning its author and the
men mentioned in the book as more immediately
connected with him in the great work of pacifying
Natal, and persuading the burghers loyally to accept
the supremacy of Great Britain. Solely in deference
to these representations I append the following
observations, which after this warning no one need
read unless so disposed.

The family is of German extraction, and their
ancestry of knightly Saxon origin. They flourished
in the sixteenth century in the Principality of
Nassau. The name was Cloeten — Cloeten as shown
by their coat of arms, " Sachsische Ritter " Sib-
machers Wappenbuch von Jahre 1692, vol. i. p. 171
— Wiesbaden.

Jacob Cloeten having become politically obnoxious
to the authorities, fled to Holland, and to escape
the consequences of his ambitious and rebellious
temperament sailed with Jan van Riebeck — the first

xvi THE CLOETE FAMILY

Governor of the Cape — and landed at the Cape of
Good Hope on the 6th April, 1652. His name heads
the list as one of the first seventeen free burghers ;
and as he was a man of family and education, he
naturally took a leading part in the early settlement
of the Colony; and frequent mention of his name
is found in the early records. In the return made
on the /th May, 1660, Jacob Cloeten appears first
on the list of landowners. The original record in
the Surveyor-General's office testifies he was the
first landed proprietor in the Colony.

His eldest son, Gerhard, born in 1655, married
Catalyn Harmans of Middlebourg, and is mentioned
in the records as having gone on an expedition to the
Berg River to kill hippopotami in November, 1672,
and also in 1686. From a Resolution passed in
Council, dated 2nd November, 1686, he is awarded
captured cattle as "well won booty." He played
a prominent part in the constant struggles with the
natives, which fill the early records of the Colony.

Gerhard's son, Jacob, born in 1675, a man of dis-
tinction and wealth, married Sibella Passman, and
their son, Henry, born in 1726, was a man of great
ability and power, who became the largest landed
proprietor, and by far the most influential man in the
Colony. He married Hester Anne, daughter of the
Landrost Laurence. He was the first of the family
that wrote the name Cloete, having discarded the
final letter "n." He died in 1799, leaving the ex-
tensive properties of Constantia — which was entailed

JOSIAS CLOETE xvii

by special act of Council — Noitgedacht, Zandvleit,
Rustemberg, etc. ; also the great cattle farms at The
Hope in the Swellendam district, and seven other
properties in Graaf Reinet district.

His son, Pieter Laurence, born in 1766, married
Catherine Maria van Rienen, daughter of the
Senator Jacob van Rienen, whose only son became
a General Officer in the Dutch East India Service,
and whose remaining daughters married respectively
General Hawkshaw and Admiral Donald Campbell.
When the Colony was finally taken over by this
country, the Hon. Pieter Laurence Cloete was the
Treasurer-General of the Colony and the first and
senior member of the Legislative Council at the
Cape, and his far-reaching influence and sterling
qualities went a long way to smoothing over the
difficulties attending the change of allegiance.

In April, 1803, his two eldest sons — Henry, born
in 1790, and Josias in 1794 — were sent to Holland
to be educated. When the ship which carried them
reached the Channel war had again broken out, and
it required all the ingenuity of the captain, Stewart,
to escape capture by hostile cruisers. He succeeded
in this by hoisting the Prussian flag and shaping his
course for Emden, instead of entering a Dutch port.
From the Dollart, where the boys were landed, they
were forwarded to their guardian at Utrecht, where
they were at school during 1804 and 1805 ; and in
1806 they were sent to Naarden to the clerical estab-
lishment of the Rev. Ulrick Anosi, an eminent divine

xviii THE CLOETE FAMILY

of the French Protestant Church, and here, under
the tuition of this highly gifted pastor, aided by an
able officer of engineers, Captain Geyler, they re-
ceived the foundation of the education that proved
of such value in after years.

In 1809 orders were sent for the youths to go to
England to the Military College at Marlow, prepara-
tory to receiving commissions in the British Army,
which had been promised. The eldest son, Henry,
having shown exceptional academical talents, it was
considered wiser to complete his education at the
Leyden University, and he was sent there ; while
his younger brother, Josias, whom we will follow for
the present, was with great difficulty transported to
England, in spite of the heavy penalties attached to
any attempt at breaking through Napoleon's " non-
intercourse decrees." A large sum of money was
paid to the agents who succeeded in smuggling him
on to a fishing smack lying in the Maas. Thence
he was forwarded to England, where the Duke of
Cumberland gave him a commission in his own
regiment, the I5th Hussars. He became A.D.C. to
Lord Charles Somerset, who commanded at the Cape,
and was placed in command of the expedition which
took possession of Tristan D'Acunha. In 1817 and
1819 he commanded a field force in the Mahratta
War, and was employed on the staff for forty-six
years, serving in every possible capacity, from an
A.D.C. to the important office of Quartermaster-
General and Chief of the Staff. During three years

HENRY CLOETE xix

of active operations in the field he performed the
combined duties of Adjutant-General and Quarter-
master-General. In 1820 he carried out an exten-
sive measure of emigration along the frontier of the
Colony, and settled a serious question of Kaffir policy
with the envoys of the Zulu chief, Chaka. In 1842
he was specially selected to command an expedition
sent to Natal, where the emigrant Boers under
Pretorius, after defeating our troops, held Captain
Smith's detachment besieged, as narrated in this
volume. Colonel Cloete's success in this expedition,
which paved the way for the final settlement of
Natal, led him to be recommended for the C.B.,
which was subsequently given him by the Duke of
Wellington in person. He had already received the
Hanoverian Guelphic Order from the hands of King
William IV., who was a personal friend of his ; and
in 1850 he was made a K.C.B. by Her Majesty
Queen Victoria.

Henry Cloete, after completing the University
course at Leyden, where he obtained the highest
honours, was captured by Napoleon on his way to
England, but refused to give parole, and escaped by
means of a heavy payment to the owner of a French
fishing smack to sail with him at night. He had a
perilous escape, as his flight having been discovered,
the boat was thoroughly searched as she was starting.
He had been carefully covered up with turf and peat,
and despite the fact that the soldiers thrust their
bayonets into the peat he escaped untouched. The

xx THE CLOETE FAMILY

next morning, when they were well out in the Channel,
an English man-of-war bore down on them, and they
were captured. On being taken on board of the
man-of-war Henry Cloete found, to his delight, that
his uncle (by marriage), Donald Campbell, com-
manded her. Being safely landed in England he
joined Lincoln's Inn, and after the usual course of
study, in which he showed exceptional ability, he was
called to the Bar.

In 1813 he sailed for the Cape in the ill-fated
ship Java, which was captured after a stubborn
fight by the United States ship Constitution, and
then blown up. ( Vide JAMES* Naval History?) On
the Constitution he was treated with the greatest
kindness and consideration by the American captain
and officers, and was taken to Rio Janeiro, where
he was landed. From Rio he succeeded in sailing
to the Cape, where he landed without further
mishap.

In 1816 he married Christian Helen Graham, the
daughter of Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry (the
staunch friend and protector of Robert Burns), and
the lineal descendant of Sir William Graham, Lord
of Kincardine, and of Marjorie, daughter of King
Robert III. of Scotland.

Henry Cloete became a distinguished barrister,
and his career at the Bar was one of pre-eminent
success. He was the leading member of the Legis-
lative Council, and, as stated in the following pages,
was appointed Her Majesty's Commissioner in 1843

HENRY CLOETE xxi

for the settlement of affairs in Natal. After his
work as Commissioner was completed, he was
appointed recorder and sole judge for the newly-
acquired Colony, and, after ten years' service, was
appointed a puisne judge of the Supreme Court
of the Cape, from which he retired at the advanced
age of seventy-two, amid universal expressions of
regret, both from the Bar and the public. As a
judge, he commanded the highest respect, and some
of his decisions may be found quoted in English
text-books. As a man he inspired unbounded con-
fidence, and exercised enormous influence alike over
Dutch and English. He was master of a singularly
persuasive style of oratory, to the force and charm of
which the Boer leaders themselves have borne em-
phatic testimony. By sheer strength of character and
intellectual ability, he became one of the most influen-
tial personalities in South Africa, and but for the want
of foresight of the Colonial Office, would unques-
tionably have settled the Orange Free State in the
same manner as he settled Natal. He was a ripe
scholar, and the classic authors remained the com-
panions of his leisure through life, while he was
no mean proficient in music and in painting. His
abilities were always loyally placed at the disposal
of the British Government, though its inconsistent
and vacillating policy must often have caused him
acute distress. One subject of profound disagreement
was the refusal of the Government to comply with
his repeated advice to take Delagoa Bay, the value

xxii THE CLOETE FAMILY

of which as the key to a large area of the interior he
vainly endeavoured to get them to recognise. His
eldest son, Laurence Graham Cloete, was my father.

The only other actor in the scenes described in
the book whom I need mention is my grand-uncle,
Colonel John Graham, who, by the death of his
brother, an officer in the British Service, killed in
India, became thirteenth of Fintry. He served for
many years during the Peninsular War in the QOth
and 93rd Regiments under Sir Thomas Graham —
Lord Lynedoch — and was afterwards employed in
the Kaffir wars at the Cape, where he gained great
distinction. Grahamstown, the capital of the eastern
province, was named in his honour. His career was
unfortunately a brief one, since he died at the early
age of forty-two of exposure and fatigue, endured
in the conscientious discharge of a soldier's duty. I
may, perhaps, be permitted in conclusion to remark
that the devotion of the family to the British Crown
in the past has been one of the strongest influences
in warding off the aggressions of the Kaffir and
native tribes, as well as quelling the dissatisfaction
and ambitions of the Boer element.

W. BRODRICK-CLOETE.

November ytih, 1899.

CONTENTS

LECTURE I,

THE FIRST BOER REBELLION.

FAGS

An irreparable loss — Boundaries of Cape Colony — A wandering
race — The first Kafir war — A serious grievance — Over-zealous
missionaries — Unfounded charges — A lawless district — The
penalty of obstinacy — Beginning of the rebellion — Failure of
negotiations — End of the rebellion — Execution of the leaders
— An indelible impression — Colonial government . . . I

LECTURE II.

THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES.

Hatred against missionaries — Missionaries and the natives — The
Hottentot difficulty — Bushmen as shepherds — Evil influence^
of missionaries — Slavery in Cape Colony — Unpopular restric-
tions— Protest of slave-owners — Proposals for gradual aboli-
tion— Appraisement of slaves — Grievances of slave-owners —
Results of abolition — Encroachment by Kafirs — A temporary
check — Defeat of the Kafirs — An unsatisfactory treaty — A
reversal of policy — Zulu invasion of Kafirland — A state of
unrest — A Dutch exploring party . . • • 33

LECTURE III.

SEEKING A NEW HOME.

A peaceful policy — The Kafirs invade Cape Colony — Governor
D'Urban's plan — An astounding declaration — Insult and in-
jury— The beginning of the trek — Attacked by the Matabelee
— Pieter Relief — Acquisition of territory — Treachery of Din-
gaan — Attacked by Zoolahs — A fearful catastrophe — Attemp-
ted retaliation — The Boers in distress — Pieter Relief avenged
— Disarmament of the Boers — An unlooked-for event —
Alliance with Panda — Declaration of sovereignty — A sym-
pathetic address — The goal attained . . • • 75

xxiv CONTENTS

LECTURE IV.

THE BOERS IN NATAL.

PAGE

Historical misrepresentation— Boer proclamation of supremacy —
Their strong republican feeling — Preparing a state of anarchy
— Petition to the Governor — Terms of proposed alliance —
Unjustifiable attack on natives — Attempted vindication —
Claim for independence— Protest against British supremacy
— Boer credulity — Appeal to Holland — Arrival of military
force in Natal — Night attack on the Boers — The Boers pre-
pared— Preparing for defence — The British troops besieged
— The last acts of the drama . . . . 123

LECTURE V.

SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN.

Succour for the besieged — Murder by Kafir auxiliaries — Resolu-
tions of the Volksraad — An important declaration — A satis-
factory settlement — Appointment of a Commissioner — His
meeting with the Boers — Activity of the war party — Com-
missioner and Volksraad — The Volksraad divided — Wise
counsels prevail — Withdrawals from the Volksraad — Lord
Stanley's despatch — The terms accepted — Accepting the
inevitable — A new Governor — The blessings of peace . 160

THE HISTORY OF THE

GREAT BOER TREK

LECTURE I.

THE FIRST BOER REBELLION

THE voluntary expatriation of the Dutch farmers
of the Cape Colony, and their wanderings
throughout the wilds of South-Eastern Africa, which
ultimately led to their occupation of this district
of Natal, are so singular in their character, and are
likely to bear such important results upon the ex-
ploration and further knowledge of this vast con-
tinent, that it has appeared to me not uninteresting
to note down, and thus to commemorate, the principal
causes which led to this migration ; more particularly
as, from the party-spirit which always prevails at the
very time of such political movements, the most
distorted, one-sided, and false views are generally
taken of the motives and objects of the principal
actors engaged therein ; and it is only after the lapse
of years, when time has somewhat soothed down the

2 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

passions, and calm reason has resumed its sway, that
it becomes possible to obtain and impart a perfectly
dispassionate insight into such events.

I should also add, that I would at once refrain
from entering upon this subject if anything like
political discussion can be apprehended from such an
inquiry ; but as the chief actors whose names are
mixed up in these occurrences are long since departed
to that "bourn from whence no traveller returns,"
and as the grave questions which mainly produced
that migration have also for ever ceased, I hope that
I may now venture to touch upon them "as mere
matters of history": happy, if a retrospect of those
events may tend to enlighten rulers in general in the
greatest of all human sciences, that of governing a
people for their real welfare; and more happy still,
if my remarks upon them may produce a kindly
spirit of good-will between our old colonists and our
recently settled immigrants ; inform the latter of the
hardships and vicissitudes which the former had to
suffer to obtain possession of this favoured land,
and thus induce them to look, at least without envy
or jealousy, upon the advantages which (as regards
the possession of lands) the former have purchased
by the blood of their parents and relatives.

No one will deny that any causes which would
have led to the expatriation (not of single individuals
merely, but) of entire clans — at the head of which
such names appear as those of Retief, Uys, and
Maritz ; of Potgieter, Landman, and Duplessis ; and

I.] AN IRREPARABLE LOSS 3

of Zietsman, Boshoff, and Otto — must ever be viewed
as producing a serious national calamity upon any
country: that the departure of such men, taking with
them their entire families and properties, has tended
very seriously to affect and impair the strength of
the eastern province of the Cape Colony, in the
contests with the Kafir races ; and that, although
in the course of years some such families may be
replaced, yet the words of the sweet, descriptive
poet will in this case be found fully verified, viz.,
that

" Princes and lords may flourish and may fade,
A breath may make them, as a breath has made ;
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroyed can never be supplied."

Having always felt a deep interest in the affairs
of that colony, having been personally known to
many of those earliest immigrants, among whom
I counted some of my oldest and best friends,
and having, moreover, personally witnessed several
of those events which led to this expatriation, I
may be permitted, I trust, to enter into some of
those details which were so well known to me
without subjecting myself to the charge of making
them now a subject of political controversy, my
sole object being to recall to memory some of
those events which at the time were fraught with
great public interest, and for which I think the
time is fully come to rescue them from oblivion,
as I feel confident that the mere recital of them

4 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

will now tend only to foster between us all a
more friendly spirit, by producing a more correct
acquaintance with each other's public history.

The first cause of the Cape colonists passing
beyond the boundaries of that colony, and entering
as pioneers into the wilds of the South African
continent, is no doubt traceable to the inherent
roving disposition of man in general ; but more
particularly of those descendants of Saxon origin,
to whom, a thousand years ago, the wide range of the
European continent was found insufficient to gratify
their wandering propensities.

The Dutch Governor, Van Plettenberg, had
formally defined the boundaries of the Cape Colony,
in the year 1778, by the Great Fish River to the
eastward, and by an ideal line* running through
(what are now called) the districts of Somerset,
Graaff-Reinet, Beaufort, and Clanwilliam, up to a
little rivulet, " the Koussie," flowing into the Southern
Atlantic, to the north-west ; but for nearly forty
years these boundaries were far better respected by
the colonists meeting at the eastern frontier the
warlike and independent race of the Amakoze"e,
who, far from allowing any inroads upon their own
territories, commenced a system of aggression upon
our colonists, which extended over the greatest part

* By a proclamation of Sir Harry Smith, dated I7th December,
1847, and confirmed by Her Majesty, the northern boundaries of the
Cape Colony have been brought up to the banks of the Great Orange
River.

I.] BOUNDARIES OF CAPE COLONY 5

of the Graaff-Reinet and Uitenhage districts, from
which they were not finally expelled until the
year 1812. This system of aggression they have
never abandoned, but on the contrary have per-
severingly carried on for nearly seventy years, each
succeeding war having only formed them into a
more dangerous, experienced, and vindictive foe.
Along this extensive northern line the colonists
also found little temptation to transgress those
boundaries, from the arid deserts skirting the
southern banks of the Great Orange River, where
a few isolated Bushmen, the very outcasts of the
human race, seemed to verify the fabulous accounts
of the " Troglodytes " of Africa, living, as they were,
in holes and caves, hardly able to procure a scanty
subsistence from the wild animals of the desert and
from a few bulbous roots of the earth. These com-
bined causes kept our Cape colonists for many years
within the prescribed boundaries ; but at the be-
ginning of the present century small parties of a
half-caste breed of European and Hottentot origin,
mixing with the Mantatees, gradually occupied the
lands beyond the Orange River, at the north-east
boundary of the Cape Colony, and from them the
race of what were called the Griquas was formed,
with whom the colonists opened a regular inter-
course, as they soon found that in seasons of
excessive drought within the colony (where their
herds and flocks were dying for want of pasture)
the lands to the northward of the Orange River

6 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

were generally favoured with more frequent and
regular thunderstorms, thus ensuring a better supply
of grass during the summer months than the colony
afforded. From that moment all the grazing farmers
in that neighbourhood began to form establishments
in the country between the Orange and Vaal Rivers
(the Kye and the Knu Gariep), and took possession
of such tracts as they found unoccupied, or otherwise
entered into regular leases with the prior occupants
of those lands ; but they still continued to consider
their domicile to be within the colony, to which
they returned whenever the seasons of drought
had passed away, or whenever called upon to pay
their "opgaaf," or annual assessed taxes, and did
not for a moment consider themselves as absolved
from the duties and ties which bound them to the
old colony.

This wandering habit, thus kept up and promoted
by the vicissitudes and the periodical seasons of
drought, was still further confirmed by the very
tenure and extent of the lands granted to them
within the colony.

The loan farms (subsequently converted into quit-
rent lands) granted in areas never less than 6000
acres, but in those districts frequently to 15,000 and
20,000 acres — while somewhat justified by the aridity
of the soil and the want of permanent springs — yet
confirmed the colonists more and more in their
purely pastoral or nomad habits, which gradually
weaned them from all desire to cultivate their lands ;

I.] A WANDERING RACE 7

and, consequently, deadened that affection and attach-
ment to a particular locality which is the natural
result of agriculture and the improvement of the soil.
On the contrary, with them their flocks and herds
constituted their sole care and delight. Whenever
these increased and multiplied they were content
and happy ; but the moment these suffered they
were as ready as the patriarchs of old to strike their
tents, or rather to pack up their waggons, and to go
forth, either to the right hand or to the left, and
to search for lands where late rains promised more
abundant grass and water for their cattle.

It is important to keep this constantly in view, as
explaining, from inherent causes, the facility and
rapidity with which those migrations took place,
and the unconcern with which, even to this day,
many of our colonists are ready to flit from one
district to another, for the most (apparently) frivolous
reasons, taking their chance to find sufficient or
better lands in the further wilds of Africa ; and from
these data we are, I think, warranted in drawing
this apparently paradoxical conclusion : that the
very possession of large tracts of country in the
hands of single individuals lessens in them the affec-
tion for particular localities, that it fosters and
encourages a wandering and pastoral life, which is
at once opposed to that steady cultivation of the soil,
which alone leads to the permanent improvement
of a country ; that it is opposed to all outlay of
capital and labour, whereby alone even the most

8 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

fertile soils are improved and rendered productive ;
and that, in so far, such extensive grants will ever
prove opposed to civilisation and the true interests
of any country.

But other causes, nearly forty years ago, began
to prepare this important movement : in these I
happened to be somewhat mixed up ; and as these
particulars are not generally known, I believe their
recital will prove of sufficient interest to claim your
attention.

In the year 1813, on my return to the Cape
Colony, I may assert with perfect truth that I found
it enjoying such a state of general prosperity and
social happiness as rarely falls to the lot of any
colony, and has certainly not been felt in that colony
before or after that period. The mild and con-
ciliatory administration of the Earl of Caledon, his
personally cordial and frank intercourse with all
classes of society, and his princely hospitality,
cemented and kept up the most friendly bond of
union between the governor and governed, between
the colonists and the English immigrants, and literally
transformed all ranks of society into one family, to
which the spirit of party, of jealousy, or of distinction
of race was utterly unknown ; and anyone who at
that time would have entertained a thought of
creating such distinctions would have been scouted
and marked as an enemy to the public welfare and
to society. Lord Caledon's successor, Sir John
Cradock (afterwards created Lord Howden), and

I.] THE FIRST KAFIR WAR 9

his fascinating consort, Lady Theodosia, continued
to keep up that hospitality, and to render the
government both efficient and popular.

An end had just been put to the first Kafir war, in
which the Cape colonists, with the aid of a small
military force under the command of my never-to-be-
forgotten brother-in-law, Col. Graham, had expelled
the Kafirs from our own territory, and a line of
stockaded forts placed at a distance of from twenty
to twenty-five miles from each other along the whole
extent of our eastern boundary had effectually
secured our inhabitants from the aggression of a
single marauding Kafir, upon whom instant death
had been solemnly denounced as the penalty of their
transgressing our boundary.

At that time also an army of about 4000 or 5000
men (among whom was one body of cavalry nearly
1000 strong), headed by a numerous staff, effectually
secured our coasts from foreign foes, and our terri-
tories within the colony ; and being maintained in
a high state of discipline, not only tended to promote
the pleasures of society, but entailing a vast military
expenditure, stimulated agriculture and commerce
to such an extent that the colony bore, without
grudging or complaint, an expenditure which at
the present day must appear hardly credible.

The Governor of that colony was then receiving
out of the colonial revenue as —

Civil Governor only . . .;£ 12,000

A Lieutenant-Governor . . . 3000

io THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

A Secretary to Government . . ^3000
A Dep. Secretary ^1500, but with per-
quisites bringing it up to . . 3000
A Collector of Customs . . . 1200
A Comptroller of Customs . . 1000
A Treasurer-General . . . 1200
An Auditor-General • . . 1000
A Paymaster-General . . . 1000

and on this same scale some ten or twelve officials
alone (who were paid in sterling according to the
rate of exchange on the pay day) received out of the
colonial revenue upwards of ^"30,000 per annum ; *
which heavy burthen upon the colony (although not
then seriously felt) no doubt laid the foundation
of great subsequent distress, and of many difficulties
into which the Colonial Government was thrown
when the general peace in 1815 brought about a
vast reduction in the military expenditure, and the
withdrawal of almost all the troops ; when trade

* These appointments emanated from the Colonial Office, and their
salaries were fixed in sterling money, but having to be paid in paper
currency (the only circulating medium within the Colony), these
officials obtained payment according to the rate of exchange at the
time of receiving their salaries. As these salaries became payable
on the first of each month, the Governor (who alone received £1000
per month) directed the Commissary-General to draw bills on England
towards the close of the prior month, and to tender these to the highest
bidders for such bills. The payment of the sterling salaries for the first
of the following month was fixed on an average of the three highest
tenders received by the Commissariat the week before, and it was
remarked that several of these sterling officials having to make re-
mittances to their families or creditors at home, their tenders for bills
were always at the highest rate of exchange (but generally to a small
amount), which invariably helped to fix the average.

i.] A SERIOUS GRIEVANCE 11

became paralysed, and when the repeated and urgent
petitions from the inhabitants at length brought
about a reduction of those extravagant salaries, and
led to a more uniform and well-arranged system in
the payment of public servants.

One serious grievance was, however, generally
felt, which, from the unsettled state in which the
colony had been during the last ten years (having
passed during that time through three successive
and different governments — the British, the Dutch,
and again the British), there had been no fit oppor-
tunity for remedying. This grievance was the want
of an efficient and impartial administration of justice
throughout the country districts. The Supreme
Court at Cape Town could alone take cognizance
of any serious civil or criminal case arising in any
part of the colony : there was hardly any regular
communication with the interior, and although the
boards of Landdrost and Heemraden in each district
could take cognizance of minor offences and civil
suits of a limited amount, yet it was notorious that
from the vast extent of the two districts of Graaff-
Reinet and Uitenhage (which then embraced one-
half of the colony) access to these two tribunals
was exceedingly difficult and precarious. The
absence of the two Landdrosts, who at stated
intervals were required to visit every part of their
districts, and the commandos against Kafirs, Bush-
men, or others, which were frequently called out,
and in which they generally took part, gave any

12 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

suitor a very doubtful chance of ever finding the
Landdrost on his judgment-seat, but on the contrary
his place there was frequently occupied by a worthy
yeoman, who, as one of the Heemraden, officiated
for him, but who was generally totally unfit to decide
any important legal question between man and man.

The time appeared then to have arrived to remedy
this evil, and one of the most important and bene-
ficial acts of Lord Caledon's government was his
directing that two of the members of the Supreme
Court should annually visit as " a Commission of
Circuit " every distict in the colony, and there hold
a court, with all such powers and authorities as were
possessed by the Supreme Court, with liberty to
refer any case for final determination to the Supreme
Court, in like manner as at present prevails in regard
to the District Court here and the Supreme Court
of Cape Town.

But it cannot be denied, and experience soon
showed, that justice, by being brought so much
nearer to their homes, also brought to light various
offences which, from the sparseness of the population
and the difficulty of obtaining redress, had hitherto
remained unexamined and unpunished ; and the very
first circuit which proceeded through the colony was
furnished with a calendar containing between seventy
and eighty cases, of murders, aggravated assault, and
the like, which the missionaries, Dr. Van der Kemp
and the Rev. J. Read, constituting themselves the
protectors of the Hottentot race, and who had then

I.] OVER-ZEALOUS MISSIONARIES 13

established the first missionary school or location
on the frontier (at Bethelsdorp), deliberately brought
forward and transmitted to the local Government
as charges against the members of almost every
respectable family on the frontier.

The Government, of course, referred those charges
to the Commission of Circuit, with directions to
institute a searching inquiry into them all, and
this duty occupied the first commission for several
months ; but from the difficulty of getting up the
witnesses and sifting the preparatory examinations
a number of these cases had to stand over for the
following Circuit Court, and it was not until the
sitting of the third Circuit Court (at which I
officiated as Registrar) that the last cases on that
fearful calendar were finally disposed of; and it is
but just to add that of the long list of atrocious
crimes thus inquired into with the utmost care
and impartiality not one single instance of murder
was proved against the accused, although in a few
cases acts of personal assault and transgression of
some colonial law were brought home to them, and
punished accordingly.

As a curious instance of the extent to which some
of these informations had been received, and had
been readily adopted by the missionaries Van der
Kemp and Read, without properly investigating
them before bringing forward such serious criminal
charges, I may mention that at Uitenhage a widow
of one of the most respectable inhabitants in the

14 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

district was tried on the charge of wilful murder,
for having ordered a young Hottentot some years
before to be brought into her house; for having
directed a boiler of hot water to be prepared, and
for having by force pressed down his feet into the
boiling water until they had been completely scalded
and his extremities destroyed !

This woman had of course to be placed in the
dock and tried as a criminal on this atrocious
charge ; a host of witnesses were brought up and
examined, from whose testimony (and many of
these Hottentots themselves) it was fully proved
that many years before, while this widow lived in
the Lange Kloof district (which is the coldest dis-
trict of the Cape Colony), this young Hottentot had
been sent out to collect some cattle and drive them
home, when he had been caught in a snowstorm ;
that not returning at the appointed time, every
search had been made for him by order of this
widow ; that he had at length been found and
brought home late at night, with his extremities
quite benumbed and frostbitten ; that this widow
had immediately, by friction and bandages, en-
deavoured to restore animation to his extremities ;
and in her ignorance, but from the kindest motives,
judging that injuries of this nature could be best
cured by opposite remedies, she had ordered a boiler
of hot water to be prepared, and had kept the young
lad's feet therein for several minutes, from no other
possible motive than from a feeling of kindness and

I.] UNFOUNDED CHARGES 15

humanity to endeavour to restore animation in his
extremities, in which she however failed ; that the
lad had lived for several years afterwards in her
service, and that of other masters, and had subse-
quently died from disease quite unconnected with
this injury.

This widow was of course acquitted, with every
expression of sympathy by the judges on the
position in which she had been placed ; but it is
evident that such prosecutions, in which nearly
100 of the most respectable families on the frontier
were implicated, and more than 1000 witnesses sum-
moned and examined, and in several of which the
parties accused, although acquitted of the more serious
charges, were mulcted in fines and imprisonment,
and had, moreover, to pay heavy law charges (for
in the state of the law at that time the ex-officio
prosecutors were entitled to claim costs, and in many
instances in which the parties were considered to
have the means, did exact them*), that all those
results engendered a bitter feeling of hostility to-
wards the administration of justice in general, and
more particularly against the missionaries who had
brought forward these accumulated charges against
such a number of colonists.

* The attorney-general or public prosecutor was by law entitled to
claim double the amount of the law charges due to the advocates. He
had to make out a regular "bill of costs," which was subject to the
taxation of the registrar of the Supreme Court, and at the foot of such
bill of costs the public prosecutor charged, pro faco, double, by
multiplying the bill by two.

16 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

This, then, was the state of feeling generally pre-
valent throughout the remote country districts, when
in the month of October, 1815, another Commission
of Circuit, at which I again officiated as the Regis-
trar, held its session at Graaff-Reinet, when one of
those "untoward" events (to use a phrase from a
Royal speech) took place, which set the whole
eastern province in a blaze, drove a great mass of
the population into open rebellion against their
Sovereign, and brought the heads of several re-
spectable families to an ignominious death, thereby
causing an alienation from, and bitterness of feeling
towards, the local Government, which a lapse of
thirty-five years has not been able entirely to
eradicate.

At the opening of the session at Graaff-Reinet,
the Landdrost of that district, Mr. (afterwards Sir A.
Stockenstrom), acting as the ex-officio prosecutor,
informed the court that a farmer named Fredk.
Bezuidenhout, living in the Baviaan's River district,
had refused to appear before the court of Landdrost
and Heemraden on a charge of ill-treatment of a
Hottentot preferred against him, and that he had
threatened to shoot the messenger or sheriff if he
ventured again to approach his premises. He was
known to be a person of a very daring character,
and the Landdrost therefore applied for a warrant
of " personal summons " (as it was legally termed),
ordering him forthwith to appear in person before
the Commission. The court granted this applica-

I.] A LAWLESS DISTRICT 17

tion, and from the lawless habits of the individual,
and his daily intercourse with Kafirs, whom, it was
known, he admitted and dealt with, contrary to the
law then existing, the court gave an order author-
ising the messenger who was sent off with the
summons to call in the aid of the nearest military
force, if he thought it necessary or apprehended
any danger.

The messenger, upon reaching the neighbourhood,
was informed that some Kafirs had been seen at the
Baviaan's River, and thereupon applied to Lieutenant
Rousseau, in command at the Boschberg post (now
the village of Somerset), for his aid, who immedi-
ately, with twenty men of the Cape Corps, entered
the Baviaan's River Poort, towards the residence of
Fredk. Bezuidenhout. To a lover of nature this is
a particularly picturesque spot, which was selected
afterwards by Scottish immigrants, headed by Mr.
Pringle, as their location. They have called it "Glen-
lynden," and I believe it is at present one of the
most favoured settlements to be found in Somerset
or Albany ; but at the time of the occurrence now
detailed it was only notorious for the impervious
nature of the bush around, for the lawlessness of
its inhabitants, and the facilities with which they
maintained constant intercourse with the Kafirs, in
defiance of the strict law forbidding all such inter-
course under the severest penalties.

Upon approaching the residence of Bezuidenhout,
they found him fully prepared to meet them ; for

i8 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

taking up a position (with a powerful half-caste person
in his employ) behind the walls of a cattle -kraal,
both being armed, Bezuidenhout called on them not
to advance, as the first man would be shot ! Un-
deterred by this menace, Lieut. Rousseau ordered his
men to extend themselves in skirmishing order, and
to attack the spot, when Bezuidenhout, for fear of
being surrounded, after a hasty shot, which luckily
took no effect, fled into his house, and, escaping
through the back door, rushed into a thick bush and
jungle close to the house, where, strange to say, for
upwards of an hour this party of twenty active
"track -finders" failed to trace the retreat of the
two fugitives.

After again and again following their track up
to a ledge of rocks where it at once became lost,
they chanced to espy, in a remarkable precipitous
impending rock or " krans," the shining muzzles of
two rifles protruding from a hole in that ledge, thus
announcing the lair into which they had got. Lieut.
Rousseau thereupon crawled with difficulty to the
top of those rocks, and there, being stationed but
a few feet above the aperture of this cavern, he
challenged Bezuidenhout to come out and surrender,
acquainting him with the nature of his errand, and
assuring him of personal safety, upon his merely
engaging to accompany the messenger of the court,
on the summons he was ordered to serve upon him ;
but the only answer he received was, that he (Bezui-
denhout) would never surrender but with his life !

I.] THE PENALTY OF OBSTINACY 19

Finding then all his efforts vain to bring him to
reason, and anxious to get out of these kloofs with
his men before night, Lieut. Rousseau, keeping his
position above, directed his men silently to form in
two files, each party scrambling up in opposite
directions from under the rock ; when the heads of
each column having got a few inches under the
entrance, one party rushed forward and threw up
the two projecting barrels, which were instantly fired
off, but without effect, while the leading man of the
second column fired his deadly rifle straight into the
cave, from whence a cry immediately issued for
mercy and surrender. All firing at once ceased,
when the half-caste Hottentot crawled forth, stating
that he surrendered himself, and that his master
lay mortally wounded within the cave.

The men of the detachment even then with
difficulty got into this grotto, which proved of
stalactite formation, and of goodly dimensions within,
where several guns and a large quantity of balls
and ammunition were found collected, evidently
showing that this place had long been prepared
for a retreat in a similar emergency; and at the
entrance lay the expiring corpse of the unhappy
victim of his own obstinacy, having, in the recumbent
position in which he had placed himself before the
cave, received the fatal shot both through the head
and breast.

Finding that the surrounding bush was occupied
by Kafirs, with whom Bezuidenhout had kept up

20 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

daily intercourse, Lieut. Rousseau hastened to retire
out of these kloofs before nightfall, taking the
half-caste Hottentot in custody, whom he sent up
to Graaff-Reinet, where he was put upon his trial ;
but after a full inquiry into all those particulars
he was acquitted and discharged, and the Com-
mission of Circuit proceeded soon after, passing
by the present towns of Somerset and Graham's
Town, to the town of Uitenhage, where the trial
of several important cases awaited their arrival.

While engaged in the midst of these trials, an
officer stationed at Graham's Town arrived one
evening (having left that town the morning of the
same day) with the astounding intelligence that
the farmers of the Somerset and Tarka districts
were all in arms, and were about to attack Capt.
Andrews' post, . which was stationed along the
northernmost banks of the Fish River, to prevent
any inroads from Kafirs in that quarter ; and that
Major Fraser, in command at Graham's Town, had
immediately proceeded to the scene of action.
Within an hour from the receipt of that intelligence
Col. Cuyler, who was both Landdrost at Uitenhage
and the Commandant of the Frontier, started on
horseback, and within forty-eight hours, to the
surprise of the rebel farmers (who were then still
discussing their plan of operations), informed them
of his presence, and desired to know the cause of
those proceedings.

He then ascertained, that upon the death of

I.] BEGINNING OF THE REBELLION 21

Fredk. Bezuidenhout, his relatives and neighbours
had assembled at his farm, immediately after the
departure of Lieut. Rousseau and his detachment,
to commit his remains to the grave ; and on
that occasion John Bezuidenhout, a brother of the
deceased, had become exceedingly excited, impress-
ing upon all around that an act of gross outrage
and illegality had been committed upon the deceased
by his house having been surrounded and his person
attacked by the military, as every burgher could
only legally be arrested by his field-cornet or the
civil authorities. This address had created universal
sympathy, and all those present had at once engaged
to avenge themselves for his outrage by attacking
the nearest military post and expelling the British
forces from the frontier.

They felt, however, that such plans ought to be
more considered and matured before being carried
out, and they had accordingly resolved to issue
circular letters to the neighbours around, calling
upon them to meet together and consider the
present state of the country ; while Cornelis Faber,
a brother-in-law of the Bezuidenhouts, immediately
started to hold a personal conference with the Kafir
chief Gaika, to solicit him to make a joint attack
upon the military posts, so as to expel the British
forces from the frontier, promising him a full share
in the expected booty. Several meetings were
accordingly held in the more immediate neighbour-
hood by those inclined to join the rebels, and they

22 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

all resolved to place themselves under the command
of Hendrik Prinslo, of the Boschberg, and of John
Bezuidenhout ; and having determined upon this
first step, other circulars were more widely sent
abroad to the adjoining districts, bearing the
signatures of the leaders, inviting and commanding
them to meet in arms at a particular spot on a
day named, to " expel the tyrants from the country."
One of these circulars having providentially got
into the hands of a loyal and well-affected farmer,
he lost no time in transmitting it to the Deputy-
Landdrost of Cradock, Mr. Van der Graaff, who
forwarded it immediately to Capt. Andrews, where-
upon the latter sent out a military party and
apprehended Prinslo, while preparing to leave his
farm to join the first assembly of men in arms.
He was immediately secured and taken in custody
to Capt. Andrews' post, who by this intelligence
had also had time to strengthen his position and
put it in some state of defence, when, two days
after, three to four hundred men in arms appeared
before it and summoned him to give up the post,
and deliver up the prisoner Prinslo. At this time
Faber joined them from Kafirland, with the
unsatisfactory intelligence that Gaika had given him
a most evasive reply, to the effect that he would
call his Pakate* together, and take some time to

* The Pakate are the counsellors who always accompany the Great
Chief, and without whose advice and concurrence no great public
measure is ever determined upon.

i.] FAILURE OF NEGOTIATIONS 23

consider, evidently following out the often ex-
perienced Kafir policy of watching the tide of
events.

Some vacillation was thereby created in the opera-
tions of the Boers, and this became more apparent
when that active officer, Major Fraser, succeeded the
same evening in throwing himself into the post and
opening communications with them, and when Col.
Cuyler also, two days after, arrived on the spot, and
informed them that all their plans were fully known,
and would be signally punished. Before, however,
proceeding to any extremities, a worthy field-com-
mandant, William Nel, volunteered to go among
the rebels, and if possible to avert from them the
impending hazard they were running. He fearlessly
continued to visit them for two days, was on several
occasions in imminent danger of his life from some
of the most violent and lawless of the rebels, who
evidently saw that iie was succeeding in opening
the eyes of some to tie dangerous position in which
they were placed ; when the leaders Faber, Bezuiden-
hout, and others, to comteract this impression, which
they also saw manifesting itself, called the whole
of their host together, and exacted from them a
solemn oath, which they all took while ranged in a
circle, loudly exclaiming that they would remain
faithful to each other uitil they had expelled the
tyrants from the frontier

Col. Cuyler despairing, upon this intelligence, of
bringing about their submssion by peaceable means,

24 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

sallied forth the next morning early, out of Capt.
Andrews' post, at the head of a troop of the 2ist
Light Dragoons, and a troop of loyal burghers
headed by Commandant Nel, and finding an ad-
vanced post of the rebels (which they appear to
have thrown out from their main body), Col. Cuyler
at once ordered the troops to advance upon them,
when about thirty, forming their left wing, threw
down their arms in token of surrender; and the
remainder falling back upon their main body, they
all gave up the hope of further resistance, and
slowly retired with all their waggons and cattle into
the fastnesses of the Baviaan's River, where (they
were well aware) a small force could hardly expect
to dislodge them. Some further attempt to bring
them to submission having again feiled, Major Fraser
on one side, the Landdrost Stockenstrom on another,
and the Deputy-Landdrost of Cradock on a third
point, arranged a combined rcovement, by which
they entered and cleared simultaneously all the
fastnesses of that impervious glen ; the result of
which was, that most of the ibllowers of this band,
now enclosed, contrived at night stealthily to escape
by passes with which they vere familiar; but the
principal leaders still determhed to reject all terms,
broke up with their waggon/ and all their necessary
" materiel," and contrived t» get out of that district
without direct opposition, tnd proceeded as far as
the Winterberg, immediatey bordering upon Kafir-
land, where they expected to meet with safety; but

I.] END OF THE REBELLION 25

Major Fraser with a detachment of the Cape Corps
succeeded at length in completely surrounding them
in a deep kloof, where they were come upon while
outspanned ; but rejecting all offers of surrender,
John Bezuidenhout, Stephs., Corns., and Abraham
Botman, Andries Meyer, Corns. Faber, his wife, and
his young son, fourteen years old, took up a position
behind their waggons, from whence they maintained
a regular skirmish for some time, killing one of the
Cape Corps and wounding another, and it was not
until Bezuidenhout was shot, and Faber and his wife
were both wounded, that the troops succeeded in
taking them all prisoners.

They were from thence guarded by a military
escort, and committed to the gaol of Uitenhage,
where, subsequently, some fifty or sixty more persons
who were traced, and known to have joined in the
rebellion, were secured ; and a special commission,
appointed at Cape Town, soon arrived there to try
the offenders. After some preliminary inquiry,
thirty-nine persons out of the whole party were
selected as the most culpable, who were put upon
their trial on the charge of high treason, and waging
war against His Majesty ; and after a lengthened
and painful trial, a sentence was passed condemning
six of the leaders to suffer capital punishment ; and
all the others, after witnessing the ignominious death
of their leaders, to undergo various degrees of
punishment by transportation, banishment, and fines,
according to the various degrees of their proved

26 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

culpability. Upon this sentence being forwarded to
the Governor of the colony for his "fiat," before
being carried into execution, His Excellency was
pleased to commute the sentence of one of the
leaders into transportation for life ; but with regard
to them all, the sentence directed that they should
be led to a remarkable plot of ground, or plateau,
called the " Slachters Nek," being the very spot
where these leaders had exacted from all their
followers the oath to stand by each other until they
had " expelled the tyrants."

Thither they were taken under a strong military
escort, and on the 6th of March, 1816, under the
direction of Col. Cuyler (upon whom, both as the
ex-officio prosecutor and as commandant, the duty
devolved of seeing the sentence carried out), the sad
preparations were made, in the presence of a large
concourse of the friends and relatives of those about
to undergo the punishment of death, and who were
gathered together from all parts of the frontier to
take a last farewell of those whose lives were to
be forfeited, although it appeared that some hope
was still entertained among them that their lives
would be spared. In these hopes they were, how-
ever, sadly disappointed when they saw the scaffold
prepared to receive the five culprits, who with perfect
resignation and firmness, under the spiritual guidance
of a worthy minister, the Rev. Mr. Herhold, simul-
taneously mounted the fatal ladder, from which, at
a given signal, they were launched into eternity !

I.] EXECUTION OF THE LEADERS 27

But, even then, they were doomed not to find an
end to their misery ; from the hasty and imperfect
manner in which the scaffold had been constructed,
it proved insufficient to bear the weight and dying
struggles of these five powerful men thus thrown off.
The whole fabric gave way, and the unfortunate men,
slowly recovering from the asphyxiated state into
which they had been partially thrown, crawled up
to the officer whose painful duty it was to see to
the execution of that sentence, calling aloud for
mercy. This was responded to by all their friends
placed without the circle, who, viewing this as a
signal dispensation of Providence, were with difficulty
kept from forcing themselves through the military
array, and with screams and shouts joined in the
cry for mercy.

But the stern nature of his duty left the kind-
hearted Col. Cuyler no alternative but to see the
execution carried out to the letter of the sentence.

The culprits were again secured, every preparation
was again hastily made, so as not to allow the day
to pass within which the sentence directed the
execution to take place ; and amidst the cries and
clamour of their friends, the five unfortunate beings
were doomed again singly to mount the ladder, and
the last rays of the setting sun shone gloomily upon
the five expiring sufferers, now dangling in mid-air,
until life became extinct, when they were cut down
and their earthly remains buried under the scaffold
by the hands of the executioner (in the terms of the

28 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

sentence of the law), and amidst the cries and sobs
of their friends, to whom their last request to obtain
the dead bodies was refused.

Thus ended the rebellion of 1815, the most in-
sane attempt ever made by a set of men to wage
war against their Sovereign, the result of which
could not have been doubtful for a single moment :
it originated entirely in the wild unruly passions
of a few clans of persons who could not suffer
themselves to be brought under the authority of
the law : the sentence passed upon them was no
other than might have been expected in a case
of overt rebellion thus committed ; and although
at the present time, with our feelings of humanity
becoming daily more and more abhorrent of the
punishment of death, we may think that the for-
feiture of one or two lives might have amply
atoned for the offence (considering the lives pre-
viously sacrificed), yet the culprits or their friends
could have no cause for just complaint when, for
crimes such as these, the rigour of the law was en-
forced ; on the other hand, we need only call to
remembrance our own feelings at the perusal of the
thrilling pages of the immortal author of Waverley,
to admit that pity and commiseration for the van-
quished are perfectly consistent with the admission
of the unlawfulness of their cause ; for although we
need not exactly assent to the proposition of the
author of the Pharsalia —

" Victrix causa diis placuit sed victa Catoni,"

I.] AN INDELIBLE IMPRESSION 29

yet we may justly, at least, make allowance for the
wounded feelings of those who were left behind.

In fact, I know, from personal interviews with
several of the descendants of those who were then
executed, that these events which I have how de-
tailed, have left in their minds a far more indelible
impression than even their losses by the Kafir wars,
or the abolition of slavery. When here as Her
Majesty's Commissioner, in 1843 and 1844, I
endeavoured frequently, in converse with many
influential farmers, to soothe down the feelings of
hostility which they openly avowed against Her
Majesty's Government ; and when I had frequently
(I hoped) succeeded in convincing them of the
mistaken views which they had imbibed as to the
principles and objects of Government in public
matters, and proved to them satisfactorily, that (as
regarded their future prospects) an entire new system
had been laid down, and was now carrying on, to
give them the enjoyment of the utmost share of
rational liberty in all their political institutions;
when I had succeeded so far in convincing their
minds, I have more than once felt a pang to hear
the embodiment of their inmost feelings expressed
in the words — "We can never forget Slachters Nek!"

Such expressions, coming from the heart, could
not but be respected and sympathised with, and
we might only hope that the rising up of another
generation would gradually obliterate such feelings ;
and that, as in the present descendants of those who

30 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT.

took prominent parts, and " were out," in the Scotch
Rebellions of 1715 and 1745, their feelings of hostility
towards the Government are long since forgotten
in the unity of interests which now prevails : this
would undoubtedly also here have taken place to
a certain extent, if after that date two or three
other events deeply affecting their interests had
not tended still further to keep up and excite that
distrust of, if not hostility towards, the Government,
which more directly preceded and brought this vast
expatriation.

If you, ladies and gentlemen, have felt any interest
in this introductory address, I shall willingly devote
a little more time to collect the materials and give
you the details of those further events ; but before
I pledge myself to carry out that intention, allow me
to throw myself upon your candour, at once to
pronounce whether any here present conceive that
in so doing I can be said to depart from that
principle which I have been the first to impress upon
our Council, that we should not enter upon matters
of present political bearing in the district. If this
be felt by anyone, I shall at once decline carrying
out a task from which I only hope to derive the
pleasure of producing a kindly spirit between our
present immigrants and the Dutch farmers, by their
becoming, as it were, more intimately acquainted
with each other. I have also ventured upon this
course, as I confess I do not view such a retrospect
as in the slightest degree connected with the present

I.] COLONIAL GOVERNMENT 31

political state of the country, respecting which I am
well aware such an entire change has taken place
in the general policy of Her Majesty's Councils, that
so far from wishing to withhold any rights or privi-
leges from any of Her Majesty's subjects here, it can
only be owing to their own indifference to these
matters, or to the improper way of making their
appeal, that such boons would be withheld from
them.

In short, we have only to refer to the memorable
despatch of Lord Stanley of December, 1842 (which
first directed the adoption of this territory), and to
the more recent speeches delivered by Lord John
Russell, and very lately by Earl Grey in the House
of Lords, to feel that the mists which ignorance,
misrepresentation, and party spirit had for some
time cast around our rulers have been completely
dispelled ; and that both they and the British public
in general are only anxious to see us all enjoying
a full share of rational liberty, as most conducive not
only to our own interests, but to those of the empire
at large. On this subject I shall beg to conclude
by quoting a remarkable passage to be found in the
Edinburgh Review of April last, in an article headed
" Shall we Retain our Colonies ? " The words are : —

" The affection of the colonists it is easy to preserve or
to recover, where, through misjudgment or misunderstand-
ing, it has been shaken or impaired. By ruling them with
forbearance, steadiness, and justice, by leading them forward
in the path of freedom with an encouraging but cautious

32 THE FIRST BOER REBELLION [LECT. I.

hand, by bestowing upon them the fullest powers of self-
government wherever the infusion of British blood is large
enough to warrant such a course ; in a word, by following
out the line of policy announced and defended by Lord
John Russell, in his speech on the introduction of a Bill
for the government of the Australian Colonies in February
of the last year, we may secure the existence, and rivet the
cohesion of a dominion, blest with the wisest, soberest,
most beneficial form of liberty which the world has yet
enjoyed, and spreading to distant lands and future ages
the highest, most prolific, and most expansive development
of civilisation which Providence has ever granted to
humanity ! "

LECTURE II.

THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES

IN my last lecture I gave the details of one of
those unfortunate events which frequently mark
the transition from a rude state of society to one
in which the supremacy of the law becomes a
principle acknowledged by all classes, as essential
to the general peace of the community and as
consistent with the very notion of rational liberty.
The feeling of hostility towards the Government
and the administration of justice, which then pre-
vailed among the frontier farmers, would gradually
have been obliterated, as they became more and
more sensible of the advantages which a higher
state of civilisation conferred upon them ; but several
other causes soon arose, which not only fed that
flame of discontent, but became ultimately so
burthensome as literally to drive the great majority
of the inhabitants of the eastern province out of
the pale of the colony, and after that movement
had once commenced, it has since been found quite
impossible to stem the torrent. One cause of
general dissatisfaction was connected with and arose
from the hasty and ill-considered measure directed
D 33

34 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

by the Home Government to redeem the paper
currency, after having allowed a ruinous deprecia-
tion to take place, which judicious measures might
have averted or prevented to a great extent.* That
cause of grievance is, however, more connected with,
and forms part rather of, the general history of the
Cape Colony ; I shall therefore not enter upon that
subject, except only to observe that it tended to
keep up the excitement previously produced on the
frontier, and caused that spirit of disaffection to
become more generally and widely spread than it
otherwise would have been.

But, independent of this, there arose three great
and prominent causes of grievance, which bore less
or more seriously upon the energies and prospects
of the whole colony, but pressed with tenfold hard-
ship upon the eastern provinces. With regard to
these questions, it must also be observed at the
outset that, although, for the sake of perspicuity,
I shall deal with them separately, they were yet
working simultaneously; the one cause preponder-
ating in one year, and in another the second or
the third cause, but all alike tending to accomplish
this one end — that of driving the great mass of
the population out of the further influence of those

* An ordinance sent out by the Home Government was promulgated
on the 6th of June, 1825, introducing British silver money as a legal
tender, and directing it to be taken in exchange for the Cape paper
rixdollar at one shilling and sixpence sterling, which had been originally
issued and recognised as of the value of four shillings for every rix-
dollar.

II.] HATRED AGAINST MISSIONARIES 35

measures which (several have often assured me)
would otherwise again have driven them to open
resistance or rebellion.

These three great grievances under which they
suffered may be styled —

1. The Hottentot Question ;

2. The Slave Question ;

3. The Kafir Question ;

and it will at once be seen from the mere recital
of these names that they all arose from the manner
in which both the local and the Home Government
were considered to be dealing with those three dis-
tinct races by which the European population was
surrounded, and upon a judicious management of
which the peace and prosperity of the colony entirely
depended.

I shall therefore consider the prominent features
of each of these three great questions, as they more
particularly bore upon the interests of the frontier
farmers, and which afflicted them during a period
of twenty years, say from 1815 to 1835, when the
migration out of the colony into Central Africa may
be said to have commenced.

I have stated in my preceding lecture that the
proceedings instituted by Dr. Van der Kemp and
the Rev. Jno. Read, against a great number of
the members of influential families throughout the
country districts, caused at once a deep-seated hatred
against those missionaries who had thus constituted

36 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

themselves the guardians of the Hottentot race, and
also created a sense of distrust of the Government,
from the manner in which (it appeared to them) that
cause had been advocated and supported. In stating
this fact let me not be misunderstood, nor let it be
supposed that I wish to express for a moment any
other opinion than that, in very many instances, it
had become necessary to release that race from the
state of thraldom in which they had theretofore been
kept ; nor do I wish to express any other opinion
than that there were among those individuals who
were devoting themselves to the conversion of the
heathen, and spreading among barbarous nations
the light of the Gospel, many excellent persons,
who may be justly ranked among the greatest
benefactors of the human race ; and that such names
as those of Kicherer, Edwards, Campbell, Moffatt,
Hodgson, and the like, will ever be respected by
every one who regards true religion and virtue as
essential to the happiness and the eternal welfare
of the human race. But, being now enlisted in the
sacred cause of truth, my duty compels me equally
to state that, at the time which I am now consider-
ing, there were among those who assumed to them-
selves the important office of teachers in the
missionary schools within the colony, several persons
so illiterate, and beset by such narrow - minded
prejudices, as to render them totally unfit to direct
the education and moral training of the Hottentot
youths of both sexes ; while there were even some

II.] MISSIONARIES AND THE NATIVES 37

amongst them who, from the disreputable connection
they had formed with females of that race, had lost
all that respect which morality of conduct will ever
command in society.

Such instances were not only marked out as
warranting that dislike to missionaries in general,
but the inhabitants saw, with dread and apprehen-
sion, how the Government gradually allowed the
whole of that population (on which all farming
pursuits on the frontier depended) to withdraw
themselves from all control and agricultural pursuits,
and to put themselves, moreover, under the spiritual
charge of any person who, without reference to
country or nation, announced himself as inclined
to become the pastor of such flocks.

In this manner, within a few years, no less than
" thirty missionary schools," or institutions, sprang up
within the colony — where Dutchmen, Frenchmen,
and Germans joined with English or Scotchmen
nominally to instruct any Hottentots, or descendants
of Hottentots, who felt inclined to congregate around
them.

The younger ones, no doubt, received there the
rudiments of some elementary education ; but the
older ones uniformly declared that they were "too
old" to learn, but yet preferred remaining there,
leading a listless, idle life so congenial to their
habits, and could only be induced in the seasons
of harvest, or upon urgent applications, occasionally
to drive a waggon to market, and thus so far to " lend

38 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

their help " ; but at such extravagant prices as at
once deprived the agriculturist of his legitimate
profits, and rendered such sources of labour so
uncertain and precarious, that (in very many cases)
he was compelled to abandon agriculture altogether,
and to depend solely upon his herds and flocks for
food and support. But even for the protection and
rearing of these some herdsmen and shepherds were
needed, but these duties they also gradually ceased
to perform : so that whenever a farmer was unable,
by the help of his own family, to watch his flocks
by day and by night, losses became fearful, and
many, in despair, were compelled to give up all
farming prospects, and to take up their abode with
some friends or relatives, so as to combine their
resources, and thus eke out a miserable subsistence,
without the chance of improving their condition,
still less of providing for their offspring.

This injury was not so seriously complained of
in the western, or rather south-western, provinces,
near Cape Town, where, for a time, slave labour
was sufficient for the wants of agriculture ; but in
the northern and eastern districts it was intensely
felt. I have myself known farms which had been
completely abandoned, by the last remaining Hotten-
tots having given up service, or retired to the
missionary schools, taking with them the flocks or
herds which they had earned in their employer's
service, and rejecting every offer or bribe to continue
any longer in such service.

ii.] THE HOTTENTOT DIFFICULTY 39

There were even many Hottentot families so
destitute, or otherwise ill -behaved, that admission
to the missionary institutions was refused to them ;
but these, rather than continue in the service of
the farmers, gradually congregated themselves in
the outskirts of various towns, and chiefly about
Graaff-Reinet, Graham's Town, and Somerset, where
they became a perfect pest to society, and a terror
to all the neighbourhood, from the daring thefts
and robberies which were committed by them for
miles around. The difficulty, however, of tracing
and punishing these offenders was so strongly felt,
that nothing but the enactment of a stringent
vagrant law appeared to all practical men likely
to meet and overcome the evil ; but the difficulties
in the way of enacting such a law appeared insuper-
able to the Legislature, and although frequently
promised by the Executive, it was deferred to the
Greek Kalends, thus only increasing the disaffection
by the disappointment of such expectations.

It is a singular fact, that the only relief which
some of the farmers found in those districts was
at places adjoining the Bushman country, where a
humane and enlightened policy soon received its
never-failing reward.

Up to the beginning of this century these Bush-
men had been considered as utterly irreclaimable :
the deadly poison which they dealt out to anyone
approaching them in any suspicious attitude made
them an object of universal dread and abhorrence :

40 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

they were considered as the declared enemies of
the human race ; and I fear that the indiscriminate
slaughter of men, women, and children of that race
was at one time considered not only as perfectly
lawful, but praiseworthy.

However, about the beginning of this century, the
worthy missionaries, the Rev. Messrs. Kicherer and
Edwards, boldly ventured among them, and secure
under the aegis of the Gospel and religion, they
displayed their moral courage in the midst of the
threats and the fearful scenes which they were
compelled to witness, and their sublime sacrifice of
every comfort, and almost of every necessity of
life, in the cause of humanity, was ultimately re-
warded by reclaiming at least some few clans, and
establishing a friendly feeling between them and the
nearest farmers.

Soon after this, also, a custom was introduced,
sanctioned and encouraged by Government,* of allow-
ing some field-cornets of well-established humanity to
visit their country on hunting expeditions, ih seasons
of drought and famine, when the Bushmen were seen
congregating in flocks around them, and thereby ac-
quiring the art of converting into " biltong "f the

* This mode of reclaiming them was first recommended to Govern-
ment by the "Commissioners of Circuit."

t " Biltong " (literally " hamtongue ") consists of strips of raw meat,
cut out of the hams, sirloins, or fleshy parts of cattle, or the larger
antelopes, which, sprinkled over with salt, are exposed to a warm sun,
and thus, sun-dried, constitute the usual food of the pastoral farmers
for months.

IL] BUSHMEN AS SHEPHERDS 41

produce of the chase, thus securing to themselves at
least some animal food throughout those seasons of
starvation.

This humane conduct of these farmers was duly
rewarded, as some of these Bushmen gradually put
themselves under their protection, and entered the
service of the farmers around, thereby further secur-
ing to themselves and their families a certain mode
of subsistence throughout the year. Their natural
intelligence was soon displayed in watching the
flocks; they became most faithful and trustworthy
herdsmen, and I have personally visited farms in
the Sneeuwberg, which had for months been aban-
doned by the proprietors, who had gone off to
Cape Town, or to distant districts, with their entire
families, leaving flocks of six, seven, and ten thousand
sheep under the sole charge of one or two families
of these " tame " Bushmen (as they were emphatically
called) ; and I have been subsequently informed that
such instances were by no means rare, that they
invariably proved themselves fully worthy of the
trust thus reposed in them, and that on the return
of their masters they would, with the help of their
"kerfstok" (or nick -stick) account for the loss of
every ewe, wether, or lamb which had died or been
lost with a distinctness and fidelity truly surprising.

From a note appended to one of the inimitable
chapters of the Antiquary, Sir Walter Scott (it would
appear) notices these " nick-sticks " as peculiar to the
bakers in Scotland two or three centuries ago. It

42 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

may not prove uninteresting to an Oldbuck of
Monkbarns to trace whether the Caledonian bakers
acquired that knowledge from the Bushmen of South
Africa, or vice versa; but to those who feel disinclined
to adopt either theory, it may suffice to consider
how, in a primitive state of society, men will be found
to resort to the same rude means of aiding their
memories and sharpening their intellect, without
reference to latitude or country.

In those few districts then immediately adjoining
the Bushman country some substitute was partially
found for their loss of their Hottentot servants, but
throughout the remainder of the eastern province it
must be acknowledged that the numerous missionary
schools, and last of all the extensive establishment
at Kat River, took from the service of the farmers
every Hottentot or servant of Hottentot descent,
who were not only induced to retire to those schools
as the abode of ease and indolence, but were more-
over taught to consider themselves as a distinct and
separate race, who " ought " not to owe any service to
the Saxon farmer.

And this leads me to notice a far more serious evil
still than the mere loss of labour, which arose from
the system pursued in regard of the Hottentot
race, the effect of which, although long predicted
by many persons, had been only considered as
" Cassandra's " prophecies, until the late events have
exposed them in their fearful reality ; and they
can now, therefore, only be noticed as historical

ii.] EVIL INFLUENCE OF MISSIONARIES 43

lessons, from which rulers may derive useful warn-
ings in legislating for and governing different races
in one and the same country.

I have already noticed that at most (if not in all)
these schools or institutions within the colony the
Government did not claim or exercise the slightest
interference or control ; occasionally, even, disclosures
were made which clearly showed that in some of
them a magisterial authority was assumed to punish
offenders by juries, and modes of punishment were
devised by the missionaries within such schools
altogether inconsistent with the first principles of
justice ; but these even appear to have been passed
by without official notice ; and upon this principle of
the Government becoming more and more apparent,
the missionaries also became the more confirmed in
the authority which they assumed, as well over the
temporal as the spiritual concerns of those who came
to their schools.

With the exception of the simple-minded Moravian
brethren (whom I would willingly distinguish as a
marked exception), I believe, I am bound to state
that almost universally the notion was studiously in-
culcated in the minds of the Hottentots that they
not only had been, but still continued to be, an
oppressed race ; that despite the Magna Charta
granted them by the Government, in the so-called
5Oth Ordinance, the white people were still ready at
all times to injure them ; and such notions, I fear,
were instilled with great earnestness in the minds of

44 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

the large mass of Hottentots who were congregated
in the Kat River settlements. This notion, no doubt,
laid the foundation of the rebellion which has so
fatally complicated the present Kafir war ; but upon
these events it is not my wish to dwell any further,
as I only desire here to state that, many years ago, I
noticed that feeling of " national alienation " (as it
may be called) arising, and anticipated that those
seeds of antipathy and hostility of races would inevit-
ably yield those poisonous fruits from which the
colony has of late been suffering.

This wilt be sufficient to mark how the gradual
withdrawal of the whole Hottentot race from agri-
cultural or pastoral service — and the spirit of hostility
which manifested itself in them towards the frontier
colonists — left the latter no other remedy than to
resort to the sad alternative of seeking elsewhere
for a place where their herds and flocks might be
safe, and where they might obtain labour on more
easy terms.

II. But great and serious as this cause of grievance
became, it proved quite secondary to the intensity of
feeling with which the colonists saw the steps taken
by the Government to deprive them of that labour
over which they claimed an unquestionable right of
property.

It is a singular fact, and one, I believe, not gener-
ally known, or at least not sufficiently considered,
that during the last century, while all other colonies
belonging to European powers were inundated by

II.] SLAVERY IN CAPE COLONY 45

slaves (chiefly imported by British vessels), the
Government of Cape Colony had always been averse
to the introduction of slaves; that by various stringent
proclamations their importation had been prohibited,
and that from time to time (generally once a year) a
special licence was issued only for a limited number
to be imported, upon the earnest representations of
the colonists, and proportionate to their increasing
numbers and the wants in agriculture.

During the short administration of the Batavian
Government, from 1803 to 1806, various proclama-
tions and acts also manifested an intention in that
Government to put a speedy end to the existence of
slavery in the colony ; and thus, during this century,
a very small number of slaves indeed of the negro
race had trodden the colonial soil. The natural con-
sequence was that nine-tenths of the slave population
consisted of house-born slaves, who were looked upon
more as family domestics, and treated like the Vernce
of the Romans. They were trained to various trades
and professions ; were never worked in gangs, and in
fact enjoyed all the privileges and comforts which
free domestics could possibly claim. The value of
such slaves increased daily, with the increase and
greater demands of the free population, and not un-
frequently £400, £$oo, and £600 were readily given
for a single slave well instructed in certain trades.
It was but a natural result, from such a state of
things, that slaves of this value should be well
treated, and also that they knew their rights and

46 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

how to maintain them ; and although, no doubt, in
the course of ten or twelve years, two or three
instances of very severe ill-treatment and even of
murder were brought before the courts and tried, and
were loudly denounced by (what was falsely called)
the philanthropic press, yet it would be as unjust
to infer from such cases a charge of general ill-usage
of their slaves against their masters as it would be
to lay to the charge of the populations of Edinburgh
or of London the murders of Burke, of the Mannings,
of Rush, and the hundred others, accounts of which
pollute almost every English paper.

Soon after the general peace of 1815 it became but
too apparent that the public mind in England was
directed to the total extinction of slavery, the leading
men of all parties having openly avowed that in
having gained the triumph of the abolition of the
slave trade, they only viewed this as a stepping-stone
towards the attainment of the greater measure ; and,
as preparatory to that step, various local laws were
introduced considerably curtailing the authority and
power of masters over their slaves. The most im-
portant one was a local ordinance, passed in 1826, by
which a new office of guardian or protector of slaves
was created, who, by himself and his deputies, had
particularly to look to the protection of their interests.
Every slave thereby acquired a right to compel his
master to grant him his liberty if he could obtain the
means of commanding his price at a fair valuation
by persons indifferently chosen. The hours of labour

II.] UNPOPULAR RESTRICTIONS 47

were fixed, and various other stringent rules were
introduced, at once creating a power which could
interfere on behalf of the slave in all the domestic
concerns of every household. It may easily be
imagined how such a system at once produced an
alienation from that good feeling which existed
before in these relations. The slave, heretofore ac-
customed to receive any favour or indulgence through
his master or mistress, now saw another power arising
which could grant these by virtue of his office ; and
the masters, jealous of that power, frequently with-
held, upon principle, what they would readily have
conceded as a matter of grace.

From that moment, therefore, that kindly feeling
which had before existed on both sides may be said
to have expired, and the whole country began to feel
the ill effects of this undue and inconsistent interfer-
ence. But the Home Government, not satisfied with
these colonial laws, passed in February, 1830, an
Order in Council, by which a host of protectors were
further appointed to be the special guardians of slaves
in every district, and to enforce still more stringent
rules against the slightest act of injustice committed
towards their slaves, who were expressly declared
not to be liable to any punishment for preferring any
frivolous complaints against their masters, "unless
such complaint shall arise from some malevolent or
culpable motive" (vide Section 72 of the Order in
Council), while for any, even the slightest contraven-
tion of any of the provisions of that Order in

48 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

Council, by the master or mistress, a penalty never
less than £10 nor more than £$oo is denounced.
( Vide Section 74.)

But the feature which particularly denounced this
Order in Council was exhibited in the sections by
which every year the proprietors of any slaves em-
ployed in agriculture or manufacture were required
to take out from the office of the protector, or assis-
tant protector, a book styled in the Order in Council
a "punishment record book," in which every such
proprietor was compelled to make himself (if he could
write), or otherwise cause to be made, an entry of
every punishment of whatever kind he may have
inflicted upon every slave, detailing with the greatest
minuteness every particular of the offence, of the
punishment, of the witnesses to it, etc. This book
every such slave-owner was required to take twice
every year to the protector or assistant protector
within his district, and there to swear to the correct-
ness of these entries, and if at any time thereafter
a complaint might be preferred before any of the
protectors of any punishment having been inflicted,
and the " record book " did not show a perfectly true
and correct statement of every circumstance con-
nected therewith, the master was to be tried for wilful
and corrupt perjury, independent of the punishment
he might be liable to in respect of the complaint
itself!

It is impossible to describe the excitement which
pervaded the length and breadth of the colony when

II.] PROTEST OF SLAVE-OWNERS 49

these provisions became known : the slave-owners at
once, with one consent, resolved to resist a law in-
volving so iniquitous a principle, as that everyone
should be called upon to enregister his own misdeeds
and swear to them ; and they sent from all quarters
some delegates to Cape Town, who there joined with
the slaveholders in and near the town to hold one
of the largest public meetings ever held in the colony;
where they unanimously pledged themselves not to
take out these "punishment record books," and in
the enthusiasm of the occasion they passed a resolu-
tion to walk up in a body to Government House to
submit this their firm resolve personally to the
Governor. His Excellency, having been previously
apprised of their intention (by a deputation sent up
in advance), some 3000 to 4000 persons marched up
in procession to Government House, and being re-
ceived by His Excellency Sir Lowry Cole, under
the stately oaks at the Grave Street entrance, the
late Mr. Muntingh and myself having been called
to the unenviable task of being their spokesmen, had
the painful duty of solemnly assuring His Excellency,
in the name of the assembled throng and of all the
slave-owners throughout the colony, " that they could
not, and would not, comply with this law "; that they
were ready one and all to submit to the penalties
therein enacted, but implored His Excellency to release
them from the operation of a law which appeared to
them a violation of every principle of justice. This
step taken by the slave-owners was denounced at the

£

So THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

time by the philanthropic press as an attempt to
intimidate the Governor, but we felt well convinced
that the hero who did not quail under the murderous
fire of the French when crowning the heights of
Albuera, and fixing the victory on that momentous
day, was not likely to be intimidated by 3000 or
4000 persons walking peaceably up to implore his
protection and sympathy against an iniquitous law ;
and the result proved that they had not mistaken his
feelings ; for although His Excellency (as might have
been expected) declared that he could not take upon
himself to annul or even suspend the operation of
the law, he yet promised that he would not fail to
report to the Secretary of State the great excitement
which this provision had created ; and the colonists
had the satisfaction of finding soon after that under
an authority from the Secretary of State, directions
were given to all functionaries not to enforce that
regulation, which thus became a dead letter, and was
only " observed in the breach."

From the manner in which the Government was
thus interfering with the slave question, it became
perceptible to everyone that the early abolition of
slavery was aimed at; and many of the liberal-
minded persons amongst the slave proprietors
accordingly determined to evince their disposition
to concur with the Government in this object as far
as they could consistently with their interests, and
they established a " Philanthropic Society," the
object of which society was to buy up all young

II.] PROPOSALS FOR GRADUAL ABOLITION 51

females just reaching the age of puberty, to emanci-
pate these immediately, but to place them for three
or four years with persons of their own choice as
apprentices until they had procured some little funds,
and had been sufficiently trained to be entrusted with
a state of perfect freedom.

By this means in a few years two or three hundred
young females were purchased and manumitted, thus
at once preventing any increase of slavery, and the
society had so many voluntary applications of
masters or mistresses to confer this boon upon all
young females, that want of funds alone precluded
the society from extending its beneficial influence
all over the colony. They therefore endeavoured
to obtain the support of the Government, and
showed that by an annual sum of £7000 or £8000
being voted by the Imperial Parliament for such an
object, the operations of this institution might be so
enlarged that within very few years all female slaves
would have been reclaimed from slavery, that also
every able-bodied slave who might wish to be
emancipated, and who had acquired the right by
law to insist upon compulsory emancipation, might
have obtained the funds to attain this object, so that
gradually and imperceptibly slavery would have
ceased to exist in nine or ten years, at a sacrifice
to Great Britain of some £70,000 or £80,000 paid out
in a series of years. But the only reply that these
slave-holders, who were thus anxious to see liberty
diffused without serious loss to themselves and a

52 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

disruption to society, was that this would never
satisfy the impatience of the British public, who
were bent upon instant and universal freedom !

In this manner their object was paralysed, and
in the meantime the Order in Council was still
brought into rigid operation ; and for the most trivial
offences a fine never less than £10 was inflicted on
every master or mistress (for sometimes even a mis-
tress would lose her temper and slap a termagant,
whose aim and pleasure it became to bring their
mistress to the utmost verge of passion) ; and in
more serious cases the parties were tried by indict-
ment, and very heavy penalties inflicted ; and such
became the universal detestation of the law and its
effects, that it is not too much to say that the slave-
owners generally became anxious for the day which
was to put an end to the torture which they were
suffering under the lash of this law.

That Act, so wished for, was at length passed by
the Imperial Parliament in August, 1833, and in the
beginning of the following year a new Governor
(Sir Benjamin D'Urban) came out with express
orders to carry it into operation.

By that Act, on the ist of December, 1834, slavery
was for ever to be abolished in the colony ; and the
late slaves, after passing through four years of
apprenticeship, were finally to be free from all
control on the ist December, 1838. During that
interval of four years the arrangements were also
to be completed, by which the .£20,000,000,

ii.] APPRAISEMENT OF SLAVES 53

generously awarded by the British nation as a
compensation to the slave-owners, were to be
apportioned out to each colony, and paid over to
those whose slaves were to be put in freedom.

The amount to be awarded to each colony, and
more particularly to each slave-owner, was thus at
first altogether problematical. Appraisers were
appointed by the Government, who were ordered
to examine personally every slave, and setting aside
every consideration arising from a pretium affectionis
(as lawyers term it), were to bring them all within
certain classifications and fix an average value upon
them.

This appraisement was conducted with perfect
fairness (with the single exception of the district
of George, where it was shown to be palpably
corrupt, and was accordingly revised and amended) ;
and the returns showed that upon 35,745 slaves
found within the colony a sum of about £3,000,000
would be required to pay for them, thus yielding an
average of about £85 a head.

The slave proprietors at once admitted the right
of the Government in the exercise of its dominium
eminens to take from every private person any
property for the attainment of a public good ; and
they appeared generally satisfied, even with this
appraised value, although in very many instances
(from the prices I have already stated that slaves
were readily sold for) it was clear that serious loss
would be sustained, and chiefly by persons who

54 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

possessed the most valuable slaves. But it was soon
seen that this appraisement had still to undergo the
rule of reduction, and that the object of the appraise-
ment was not to ascertain the average amount which
every slave-owner would receive, but only the pro-
portion which would be awarded to each colony out
of the compensation fund of £20,000,000 ; and upon
that computation being made by the commissioners
at home, it soon proved that instead of £3,000,000
which the slave-owners at the Cape expected to
receive, the sum of £1,200,000 only would be avail-
able for them, thus reducing the average value of
each slave per head from £85 to £33 12s. ; and I
cannot give a more striking instance of the loss so
sustained by the proprietors of valuable slaves than
by stating in my own case that for a slave for whom
I had frequently refused £500, and might have
commanded £600, I found, according to the highest
average for that class of slaves, a sum of £60
nominally awarded to me, but by the mode of
payment ultimately received even that pittance
reduced to £47 or £48.

This sudden and extraordinary reduction in the
amount to be received from what had previously
been anticipated proved ruinous to many families,
as the capitalists to whom many of these slaves were
mortgaged, foreseeing that they would not be paid
out of the compensation fund, immediately com-
menced proceedings against the principal debtors
and sureties, sold off their goods and chattels, and

II.] GRIEVANCES OF SLAVE-OWNERS 55

thus reduced many respectable families to distress,
if not to actual want.

But the evils arising to the colonists did not stop
there. When the assistant commissioners in the
colony had so far proceeded in their work as to
make out the proportionate sums which were to
be awarded to each proprietor, it became known
that these amounts could only be received at the
Bank of England, and had to go through various
forms, at various offices in London, before such
payments could be made. This they at once saw
would be placing them at the mercy of certain
agents, through whom alone this could be accom-
plished ; and a very numerous meeting of slave-
owners was again held in Cape Town, from which
emanated a respectful petition to the Government,
praying that the amount awarded to each person
might be paid them "in the colony," either in cash
or by Treasury drafts, thus ensuring to them at
least the certainty of receiving the sums finally
awarded without any deductions. But this petition
was at once rejected as inexpedient or impracticable,
and all the slave-owners (not ten of whom had any
personal agent in England) were driven to the
necessity of resorting to a few persons in Cape Town,
and Graham's Town, who (setting themselves up as
alone acquainted with the requisite forms) bought
up these certificates at 18 to 20, and in the country
districts (I verily believe) from 25 to 30 per cent,
discount, bringing down this paltry pittance — already

56 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

reduced to one-third of the appraised value of their
slaves, as certified by the Government appraisers
themselves — still further to about one-fifth cf that
amount. And can it then be wondered at, that
very many persons thus reduced to absolute want
and ruin should have been unmeasured in their
abuse of a Government which, intent upon one
great and laudable object, yet appeared determined
upon carrying it through, utterly regardless of the
master's rights and interests ; and that some of them
became so incensed against the Government that
they have to this day indignantly rejected the paltry
sum awarded to them, although repeatedly pressed
upon them ; so that the Colonial Government holds
still at this moment about £$ooo unpaid, which
those entitled to receive it will not take, although
tendered to them again and again, as its receipt
would only deprive them of what they conceive to
be a legitimate cause of grievance.

In this state of feeling then, when most of the
slave-owners had seen their nominal compensation
frittered away to the smallest possible fraction, the
sun rose on the eventful ist of December, 1838, to
shed its lustre on a day of universal and unrestricted
freedom to all persons in Southern Africa ; and it is
but just to add that the perfect propriety of de-
meanour with which that blessing was hailed and
accepted by 35,000 individuals, has fully established
their capacity for the enjoyment of those privileges
which they have now possessed for thirteen years.

II.] RESULTS OF ABOLITION 57

Yet no words can adequately convey the effect
which that day produced also on the prospects of
the whole of the agricultural interests throughout
the colony.

In and near Cape Town, where a large population
of free blacks, and persons willing to engage in
service, were found ready to supply the place of
these emancipated slaves, their departure (although
attended with some inconvenience and additional
expense) could in some measure be supplied ; but
no pen can describe how, in the country districts,
this migration was felt. Masters and mistresses
who, up to the evening before, had forty, fifty, and
some eighty persons engaged in keeping up ex-
tensive farming establishments, saw, in one moment,
the whole of their farming pursuits and plans
destroyed : no bribe nor entreaty, 1 believe, did
avail in one single instance to induce any one of
these now free persons to stay over that day ; for
a lady having a pet canary pent up for months or
years in a cage (the object of her most tender care
and affection) might as soon expect to keep it in,
if setting the cage door open, as that the entreaties
of their masters and mistresses would be heeded on
such an occasion ; and as misfortunes, proverbially,
never come singly, the day for this general eman-
cipation, without any thought of, or reference to,
the general interests of the colony, had been fixed
for the very midst of the wheat harvest, which was
seriously affected by it; for although in a very few

$8 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

instances some hands were induced by large rewards
to stay just to cut down the crop, yet they also
immediately followed their companions, all crowding
to the towns and villages, where they could find
ready subsistence and easy work ; so that on that
day not only many of the agricultural farmers saw
themselves reduced to poverty and distress by the
paltry payments they had received, but were more-
over deprived of the only means of cultivating their
farms profitably for the future ; and although this
state of depression has in some measure at present
subsided in and near the capital, where many of
these slaves have again voluntarily returned to those
habits in which they had been brought up, and where
the farmers, from a proximity to the market, could
afford, or at least were compelled, to give somewhat
remunerating wages for labour, yet in the eastern
country districts this was impossible, and the agri-
culturists there found themselves totally deprived
of every vestige of labour to improve or cultivate
their farms, or even to superintend or herd their
flocks.

III. I shall now proceed to the third and last
cause of general grievance felt throughout the
eastern province.

In my last lecture I noticed that after the war
of 1812 the Kafirs had been completely expelled
out of the Cape Colony, and that a number of
stockaded posts, stationed at short intervals along
the whole line of the frontier, effectually secured

II.] ENCROACHMENT BY KAFIRS 59

the country against the inroad of a single marauding
Kafir ; but it was evident that such a system could
only be maintained by unceasing vigilance, and by
a very strong military force, chiefly of cavalry, to
scour the intermediate country; and for upwards of
two years after that period, in addition to the
military detachments, a number of armed burghers,
out of every district, were regularly " commanded "
and kept up under military discipline to furnish
these posts. I have myself seen parties stationed
along the Fish River, from the Worcester and Clan-
william districts, who, for eighteen months, had thus
been kept on this harassing duty. Their incessant
complaints, however, had led to their being gradually
withdrawn ; but unfortunately, in consequence of
the great reduction of the army at the general peace
of 1815, the military force was not only greatly
reduced, but the strong and efficient body of cavalry
which had hitherto maintained a rapid intercourse
between all these posts was also removed from the
colony, rendering it necessary to abandon most of
these stations on the outer line of the frontier, and
to limit the defence of that country to the head-
quarters at Graham's Town, and one or two other
isolated stations.

The Kafirs (and particularly those of the tribe of
T'Sambie and Congo, who had been dispossessed
of their favourite haunts in Lower Albany) at once
watched and seized the opportunity for gradually
recovering that country, and recommenced their

60 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

system of plunder, rendering that country so in-
secure that the inhabitants, in November, 1816,
represented in the strongest terms their distress on
the frontier; how all the advantages of the great
commando of 1812 had been lost, and that they
would be compelled to abandon their farms on the
line of that frontier.

This induced the then Governor, Lord Charles
Somerset, to repair personally to the frontier, and
in April, 1817, he had a formal interview with Gaika,
T'Sambie, and almost all the other great chiefs, who
(as usual) expressed themselves most anxious to
maintain peace, throwing the blame of the depreda-
tions complained of on young warriors, who would
go out on these forays without their sanction ; but
upon receiving the further assurance that no reprisals
were intended, and that the Government neither
wanted their land nor cattle, they seem, for a time,
to have exerted their influence with some effect, for
the country may be said to have again enjoyed a
short interval of complete repose and security.

Many farmers from the interior, in consequence
gradually resumed their lands in the Zuurveld, and
it was remarkable that the tribe of the Amakozee,
under Gaika, who was at that time directed by the
Rev. Mr. Williams, proved themselves to be the most
faithful in carrying out their engagement with the
Government

The herds of the farmers soon increasing afforded,
however, again an irresistible attraction to the tribes

ii.] A TEMPORARY CHECK 61

of T'Sambie and Congo, who under the cover of the
Kap and the Fish River bushes could at any time
get into Albany ; and in 1 8 1 8 the old system of
plunder and forays again commenced, and was
carried on to a great extent ; and what is more
remarkable, either from family feuds or (as they
openly alleged) complaining that Gaika was too
faithful an ally to the British Government, they
openly declared war upon him, and in a single en-
gagement overthrew all his forces, capturing his wives
and his cattle, and thus threw him entirely upon the
Government for protection.

As Gaika had certainly proved faithful ever since
the treaty of 1817, the Government sent a military
force, under Colonel Brereton, to support and restore
him to his authority. A series of engagements
ensued, in the course of which T'Sambie and Congo
were utterly defeated, Gaika was replaced in his
former position as the great chief, and a large
quantity of cattle was taken, which was divided
between Gaika's tribe and such of the farmers as
had been called out in aid of the military.

The force then sent out, although quite sufficient
to inflict chastisement, was still unable to shut up
and guard all the passes into the colony, so that
those tribes soon again recommenced, or rather
continued, their hostilities, displaying then all the
art and ability in the conduct of such wars, at
which they have since become such perfect adepts.
Watching their opportunity from the vantage

62 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

grounds which they held on the eastern banks of
the Fish River, they made two successful sallies upon
two small military patrols marching along that river,
in both of which the commanders (Captain Gethin
and Lieutenant Hunt) and a large portion of the
military fell, the former of whom (Captain Gethin)
was, without exception, one of the finest officers in
His Majesty's service, who had commanded the
forlorn hope in the last daring assault of St.
Sebastian, and had been the first to plant the
British standard upon those walls which had twice
resisted successfully the most murderous and best-
planned storming parties.

To punish such unceasing attacks another "com-
mando " on a larger scale was called out in March,
1819, under the command of Colonel Wiltshire (the
conqueror of Kelat), and this " commando," from the
small military force then in the colony, was to con-
sist mainly of the armed lev/e en masse of the male
population of the eastern and western provinces ;
but while these parties called out from each of these
distant districts were collecting, and their advance
impeded by that fatal disease (the horse-sickness),
which at certain intervals breaks out in the eastern
province (carrying off almost all the horses kept
in the field), these tribes of T'Sambie and Congo,
headed or rather excited (as in the present war)
by one of those witch-doctors,* who occasionally

* The name of this witch-doctor was " Lynx." He was sub-
sequently captured and sent into captivity to Robben Island, from

II.] DEFEAT OF THE KAFIRS 63

succeed in elevating them to a state of fanaticism,
adopted a plan which had hitherto been supposed
as impossible to expect from them. Emerging at
the break of day from out of the Fish River bush,
a force of about eight to ten thousand men were
suddenly seen to blacken the eastern horizon, ad-
vancing in battle array upon the attack of the very
headquarters of the military at Graham's Town.
Two field-pieces (six-pounders) were providentially
ready on the spot, and these, with a small military
force then at hand, immediately advanced out of
the town to repel the invasion, but, surrounded and
pressed by overwhelming numbers, they were com-
pelled to fall back ; the field -pieces had thrice to
be limbered up and take up positions in the rear,
and it was not until they had taken up their last
stand in and among the few houses then forming
that town that the deadly grape and canister dis-
charged upon them took effect and compelled them
to retire.

This display of their force and daring, and of the
precarious tenure on which the frontier was held, at
length forced our rulers to adopt the suggestion
which, years before, had been pressed upon them,
viz., that it was "physically" impossible to protect
the frontier with the dense Fish River bush in the

whence he made a desperate effort, with two or three other convicts,
to escape by means of a boat which they seized, but in endeavouring
to land on the opposite shore of Blauwberg the boat was swamped and
all the runaways perished.

64 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

possession of the Kafirs, and accordingly the order
was at length given to Colonel Wiltshire to expel
the Kafirs from the country between the Fish River
and the Keiskamma, and to seize and occupy that
country, which was more open and easily defended.

This commando (or second general war) was also
crowned with complete success ; a vast colonial force
was at length brought together, and by a series of
able and combined operations the Kafirs were driven
completely out of those fastnesses, and the country
between the Fish River and Keiskamma became
occupied by the Government forces.

But even then the Colonial Government was so
averse to extending this colony that orders had
been already issued to give up again that inter-
vening country to Gaika and his tribe, as he had
ever since 1813 succeeded in impressing upon the
Government that he had been inviolably faithful
to them, and having in fact owed his life and
restoration to power to their assistance in 1817.
Yet in the course of these operations it was found
that his men were engaged among the ranks of
those who had openly attacked Graham's Town ;
that many of his leading guides had taken a
prominent part therein, and that his chief interpreter,
Hendrik Nootka, had been shot in the very act of
attempting to stab Colonel Wiltshire in the attack
on Graham's Town.

Before finally adopting any measure in regard to
that territory, Lord Charles Somerset therefore again

II.] AN UNSATISFACTORY TREATY 65

repaired to the frontier in 1819, and there concluded
a formal treaty with Gaika and all the Kafir chiefs
assembled on Somerset Mount, when he pointed
out to them the absolute necessity which their
incessant attacks during the last seven years had
forced upon the Government of incorporating that
tract of country ; and with their entire concurrence
the terms were agreed upon, by which it was
stipulated " that all Kafirs should evacuate the
country between the Great Fish River and the
Kieskamma, and from the boundary of the colony
on the opposite side to a line drawn from the
Winterberg to the sources of the Kieskamma." It
was, however, further agreed that this country should
not be occupied by the farmers but lie open, form-
ing, as it were, a neutral ground between the two
nations.

It certainly does appear to us now, judging ex
post facto and after a lapse of years, as somewhat
extraordinary, that persons possessed of the in-
telligence which distinguished both our then Gover-
nor and those around him should have adopted
a measure which the most ordinary common sense
of any practical peasant at once foretold was to
be again the cause of endless dispute, and, in fact,
of the undoing of everything that had been done
before.

The Governor had no sooner returned to Cape
Town than small parties of Kafirs again felt their
way into this ground ; and upon the government

66 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

of the colony falling into the hands of Sir Rufane
Donkin, as acting Governor, during the years 1820
and 1821, he immediately saw the folly of such
treaty, and, repairing to the frontier, he effected a
modification in its terms, by which the Kafir chiefs
at once declared, that though they strongly objected
to isolated farmers being settled therein (as these
would be liable to be plundered, which would bring
the nations again at war), they yet agreed that
military posts should be stationed therein, and that
under their protection a body of British emigrants,
who had just then entered the Albany district, should
be placed and concentrated near such posts.

Upon this understanding, then, the military posts
of Frederick's Burg and Fort Wiltshire were estab-
lished in this from that time called "ceded" ter-
ritory, at each of which it was contemplated to
keep an efficient military force as a vanguard for the
protection of our frontier, and in the meanwhile
the attention of the Home Government had been
directed to the capabilities of the Albany district,
and 5000 emigrants arrived under the aid of a grant
from Parliament, where lands were distributed
among them, which, it was hoped, would form the
nucleus of a thriving population, and prevent at
once the reoccupation of that district by the Kafirs.

Everything that an enlightened and humane policy
could devise was now set on foot to promote friendly
relations with the Kafir tribes. Fairs were estab-
lished, where they might come to buy and sell what-

II.] A REVERSAL OF POLICY 67

ever they required or wished to dispose of; passes
were offered to all those who wanted to enter the
colony, and for a short time peace and amity seemed
to prevail. But, unfortunately, on the return of
Lord Charles Somerset the policy of occupying the
" ceded " ground was abandoned : the post of
Frederick's Burg was ordered to be broken up ; the
applications by emigrants for lands in that district
were refused, and those which had been partially
granted or promised were revoked, and to their
surprise the Kafirs saw that the bone of contention,
which they had been compelled reluctantly to yield,
was again given up and virtually surrendered to
them, in consequence of which small parties of
Kafirs were seen again gradually taking possession
of that country ; and although no open rupture took
place, and, on the contrary, every encouragement
was held out to them to attend the fairs and keep
up friendly relations with the recently - arrived
emigrants, who freely entered with them into trade
or traffic, yet not a month passed by that some
cattle were not carried off, and that some life was
not lost, so that the utmost vigilance was required
to prevent a general incursion or attack upon the
frontier. To check any attempt of that kind the
Cape Corps, which was now almost the only pro-
tection for the frontier, was gradually transformed
into a cavalry corps, and they no doubt very
efficiently guarded that boundary line from any overt
attack ; yet this constant state of insecurity soon

68 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

extended itself up to the Winterberg and Somerset
districts, and along the whole line of that country
it became quite impossible for any farmer to consider
his life or property secure. In the year 1828 the
old chief T'Sambie died, and his death was soon
followed by that of Gaika, in 1829; and in a short
time a very perceptible change took place in these
two great clans, which immediately bordered OUT
frontier. T'Sambie's successors were Pato, Kama,
and Cobus Congo ; these had intermixed a good deal
with the emigrants, and, under the able guidance
and instruction of the Rev. W. Shaw, had been
perceptibly improved both in their habits and feel-
ings, and the effect of such improvement was soon
apparent in their more earnest desire to maintain
peace with the colonies.

The Amakozee tribe, on the contrary, now fell
under the sway of Macomo and Tjalee, the first of
whom, although Gaika's eldest son, not being of
such high descent on the mother's side, was not
acknowledged as sole or paramount chief, but seemed
to derive an equal authority with his younger brother
Tjalee. Writing of the former (Macomo), it is
singular that Colonel Scott should have prophetically
stated in 1822 "that he promised to give much
trouble to the colony," although Colonel Scott could
little expect that during thirty years this chieftain
should prove so formidable, as he has continued to
show himself up to the present moment.

However, under their authority the Amakozee

II.] ZULU INVASION OF KAFIRLAND 69

soon became more and more daring, so that the
Government felt driven to the necessity of estab-
lishing a post at Fort Beaufort ; but about that time
a singular occurrence took place, somewhat con-
nected with this district, which ought not to be
passed by unnoticed.

Chaka, the great Zulu chief, having depopulated
this entire district, made, in the year 1828, a most
savage inroad upon Kafirland Proper, with an over-
whelming force. Having first overrun this district,
and ravaged the country of the Amapondas, he
drove the remnant of all these tribes, under the
name of Fetcanee, upon the Kafirs ; and such was
the terror of their name that the latter implored the
aid of the Government against this formidable
enemy. All the burgher forces near the frontier
were again hastily called out to take arms, troops
were collected, and this force crossing the Kye
advanced to the Umtata, where in some partial
engagement the dreaded foe was repulsed, although
I believe it is a matter of doubt to this day whether
the foe thus defeated was part of Chaka's forces,
or only tribes of Amapondas and others which had
fled before him. However, after this harassing duty
was again passed by, Chaka retreated, and was
murdered in this district, near the Umvoti River,
by his brother Umslangaan, and other councillors
who were about him ; and these again, but a few
days after, were all butchered by Dingaan, who thus
became undisputed chief of the Zulus.

70 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

The force then displayed by the Government,
and the aid immediately afforded to the Kafirs,
showed them again the earnest desire of the
Government to promote peace with them ; and of
this they received a striking proof. On an occa-
sion a farmer having reported to a military officer
that 1 20 head of cattle had been taken from him,
a Lieutenant Ross went upon some traces, which
led to a Kafir kraal, where these cattle not being
forthcoming the same number were exacted, and
given up ; but, a few days after, the farmer having
reported that the cattle supposed to have been
stolen had been found by him elsewhere, the whole
number of cattle were immediately again restored
to the kraal from which they had been obtained.

From facts such as these the Kafirs ought to have
seen that nothing but the most friendly disposition
was felt towards them by the Government, but a
cankerous sort of irritation unquestionably con-
tinued to prey upon them, from the false step which
the Government had first taken in regard to the
neutral or ceded territory. The moment the Kafirs
saw that it was not fully taken possession of, nor
permanently occupied, they were unceasing in their
applications to be allowed at least to depasture
that tract of country. This being once conceded
they naturally formed their huts, and in the proper
season planted their gardens, thus virtually taking
entire possession ; but depredations again taking
place within the colony, after incessant and generally

II.] A STATE OF UNREST 71

fruitless patrols to pursue and recover the cattle, a
strong military force had invariably to be sent into
that territory to eject those who had squatted down.
This was uniformly resisted, when the huts had to
be burnt, the gardens destroyed, and the occupants
again driven beyond the Keiskamma ; until, after
one or two seasons, upon urgent applications on
the plea of drought or bad crops, the like con-
cession was again made, to be again followed by
the same train of burning huts and ejectments,
and their expulsion from out of this territory.

In this state of unrest, then, the whole of the
inhabitants of the frontier were kept during fourteen
years.

There was no war declared with the Kafirs, yet
not a week passed that some robbery or plunder
was not committed. In this manner the stock of
the neighbouring farmers was gradually thinned
and swept away by incessant forays, which were
made either by young Kafirs whenever desirous of
possessing themselves of a few head of cattle to
purchase wives, or by older Kafirs, who having
been "eaten up" in their own kraals, were anxious
to restore themselves to wealth or authority : in all
such cases, however, any farmer complaining of
these robberies was generally accused by the
authorities of either exaggeration or of downright
falsehood in his statements ; and when in the
attempt to recover his cattle any collision took
place with the Kafirs the latter were very generally

72 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT.

excused, some blame was uniformly tried to be
thrown on the farmer, and it became but too
manifest that the Government did not wish to
acknowledge the existence of a state of insecurity,
which they either hoped would gradually pass
away, or, if admitted, would only compel them
openly to declare and commence an active war.

Upon this principle, then, the Government would
not admit the extent of these injuries, and seemed
inclined rather to expose their subjects to these
losses than provoke hostilities with an enemy whom
they were not inclined to cope with.

During this same period the capabilities of this
district of Natal had become obscurely known
from the visits of Lieutenant Farewell and Captain
King, and the accounts of several of their com-
panions being brought to the Cape, a society was
soon formed for the exploration of Southern Africa ;
and Dr. Smith, with a very respectable party of
travellers, was fully equipped to examine and
report upon its condition and advantages. He
succeeded in exploring the Bay of Natal and
visiting Dingaan in his chief town of Umkongloof,
and the accounts which he brought back first
attracted the attention of the Dutch farmers to
this district with a view to occupying the same.
They quietly collected fourteen waggons, and a party
headed by Piet Uys, Cobus Uys, Hans de Lange,
Stephanus Maritz, and Gert Rudolph, started from
Uitenhage in the beginning of the year 1834, taking

ii.] A DUTCH EXPLORING PARTY 73

the lower route along the eastern slopes of the
Quathlamba or Drakensberg range, following
nearly in the same track by which Dr. Smith and
his party had explored this district. Their arrival
agreeably surprised the small party of English
who had settled themselves down at the Bay, where
Messrs. Ogle, Toohey, and King (who are now
amongst us, and the only survivors of those settlers)
gave them a hearty reception, from whose accounts,
and from their own explorations of the country,
they soon came to the conclusion that this would
be a country in every way suited to them and
their countrymen ; they loitered here some time,
shooting and examining the country, and would
have pursued their explorations still further if they
had not been suddenly startled by the astounding
intelligence that the Kafirs had made a sudden
general irruption into the eastern province, and thus
provoked a third Kafir war.

This compelled them to beat a hasty retreat,
and they most providentially succeeded in returning
unattacked through the whole of Kafirland, while
the Kafirs, having deserted their own country, ap-
peared wholly intent upon laying waste the eastern
districts of the colony.

Some of the details of that war, as bearing directly
upon the emigrant farmers, and their reasons for final
expatriation in large bodies, must, however, be re-
served for a future lecture, as I fear I have already
too long trespassed upon your time and patience ;

74 THREE GREAT GRIEVANCES [LECT. n.

but in the next I hope I shall be able to conclude
in setting them down in this district, and show-
ing how they ultimately succeeded in attaining that

object.

" Per varies casus et tot discrimina rerum."

" Through such varieties of woe they tend
T'wards fair Natal, where all their toil shall end."

LECTURE III.

SEEKING A NEW HOME

MY last lecture brought us to the first ex-
ploratory visit paid by a small party of
Dutch farmers to Natal with a view of ascertaining
its capabilities, and to the general state of the
eastern frontier at the outbreak of the third general
Kafir war of 1834. That year had been marked
(as I have already said) by Sir Benjamin D' Urban
(without compare the best Governor with which the
Cape Colony has ever been favoured) having assumed
the government of the country. Two very serious
duties were, however, demanded from him im-
mediately upon his taking the administration of the
government : the one was to organise and set in
operation a Legislative Council, which was then just
granted to the colony, as a stepping-stone towards
more liberal political institutions ; the next was to
enact various laws and regulations, incident on the
abolition of slavery and the transition of all the
slave population into a class of apprentices for a
limited period. It will be easily understood that the
time of a Governor who read attentively every paper

75

76 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

that was transmitted to the Colonial Office, and
who generally drew out every document emanat-
ing therefrom, must have been fully engrossed
with these two important duties ; and during that
period (I am personally aware) his mind was much
harassed by the most conflicting accounts he received
as to the state of the frontier and our relations with
the Kafir tribes.

The leading practical men about the frontier, and
the public press at Graham's Town, represented that
frontier as in a very alarming and precarious position,
and that the Kafirs were undisguisedly evincing a
very hostile feeling ; while a party in Cape Town,
under the influence of the Rev. Dr. Philip and of
the editor of the Commercial Advertiser newspaper,
represented them as peaceably inclined, and ready
to enter into any arrangements based on the prin-
ciples of justice and fairness, ascribing all the alarming
accounts received from the frontier not only to fear,
but to the base and unworthy motive of trying only
thereby to have a strong military force, and con-
sequent large expenditure, kept up in that province ;
and the contemptuous view taken by that party of
the representations, both of the colonists and the
former Government, as to the insecurity of that part
of the colony, cannot be better shown than by quoting
the following passage from one of the numbers of the
Commercial Advertiser, published a short time before
the arrival of Sir Benjamin D' Urban in the Cape
Colony, to this effect : —

in.] A PEACEFUL POLICY 77

" The murders by Kafirs, of which the Colonial Govern-
ment prate so fluently, are to be found only on the lips
of lying men or in the imagination of the timid Cockneys
and pin- makers who shrink from the bold eyes of a natural
man.

"We cannot, however, allow a single day to elapse with-
out declaring that the alarm expressed with regard to these
people (the Kafirs) have no foundation, that the accusations
brought against them were false, and that the clamour (we
feel convinced) was raised for the purpose of concealing a
system and series of frauds practised by some of the white
English inhabitants against and upon these people.

"When Government hear of any outcry they have only
to give a gentle hint that Dr. Philip, or the editor of this
paper, are about to make a tour in that direction, and
iniquity will hide its head, sin will be felled like an ox,
and all the enemies of righteousness will be scattered like
sheep ! "

With opinions so directly opposed to each other,
it is not at all surprising that Sir Benjamin D'Urban
should have determined to try, at least in the first
instance, the policy advocated by those inclined to-
wards peace and amity with the Kafirs, and he
accordingly availed himself of the very person thus
held out as able to " scatter the enemies of righteous-
ness like sheep," and authorised Dr. Philip (who was
going to visit the Kat River Settlements and the
London Missionary Institutions on the frontier) to
court a conference with the principal Kafir chiefs ;
to announce to them his Excellency's friendly dis-
position towards them, and his anxious desire to

78 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

settle personally and permanently with them the
future relations which were to be kept up between
the two countries. The reports which his Ex-
cellency received during the middle of that year
from this and other quarters led him still more to
hope that peace would not be disturbed until he
had personally visited the frontier, and towards
the end of that year I accompanied our worthy
Chief Justice, Sir John Wylde, on circuit, when,
after the court business at Graham's Town was
ended, we were led to anticipate a friendly inter-
course with the chiefs Macomo and Tjalee at the
Chumie, where Colonel Somerset had given them
an intimation of his and our visit. But the recep-
tion which we received was marked with such a
spirit of hostility, as compelled the Rev. Mr.
Chalmers himself to admit that the behaviour of
the whole of the clans around him had assumed
so decidedly hostile an appearance as to render it
necessary for the public functionaries to be prepared
for some general outbreak ; and on our return to
Cape Town, at a numerous convivial meeting, to
which Sir Benjamin had invited myself and family
on New Year's Eve, I could not help dilating some-
what at length on the hostile disposition of these
tribes, to which His Excellency appeared to listen
with particular interest ; but nothing else indicated
the slightest disturbance in society, except (what
was only remembered afterwards by some of us)
that Sir Benjamin had occasionally absented him-

HI.] THE KAFIRS INVADE CAPE COLONY 79

self for a few minutes from the party. Good humour
and hilarity prevailed until we had hailed in the new
year, when every one gradually retired to their
homes ; but on the next morning, on returning to
town, I found the astounding intelligence universally
spread abroad that the evening before His Excel-
lency had received the account that the Kafirs, to
the number of 12,000 or 15,000 men, had invaded
the whole frontier from every quarter on Christmas
Day, burning and destroying every farmhouse, mur-
dering the inhabitants, and carrying away all their
cattle and property.

Still doubting this information, from the imper-
turbable good humour which had prevailed at
Government House the night before, I could not
resist applying personally in that quarter for in-
formation, and appealing to His Excellency as to
the truth of that report. He, in his wonted gentle
and yet firm manner, not only confirmed the report,
but jocularly observed that he had received the sad
intelligence while we were assembled there, but that
he had done immediately all that could be done, and
had not wished to disturb the harmony of the party
by divulging such intelligence.

That night already all orders had been given to
despatch every disposable soldier ; to call out all the
burgher forces, and to send off Colonel Smith, the
Quartermaster-General of the forces (and now our
worthy Governor-in-Chief), who had started in the
middle of the night, and in five days reached

8o SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

Graham's Town, where he found everything in an
indescribable state of panic and confusion.

This attack had been so little expected and pro-
vided against that a force of about 750 men, of all
arms, spread in small parties over the whole eastern
frontier, and from uoo to 1200 men, constituted the
whole military force in the colony.

All that Colonel Smith could consequently do
at Graham's Town was to restore some confidence
in the community, to organise some volunteer force
on the spot, and to guard the few military posts,
while another levte en masse of all the young
and able-bodied farmers throughout the colony was
again called out, and those who did not fall within
that "conscription" were still required to furnish
horses, cattle, waggons, supplies of food and the
like, upon a vague promise of being afterwards
indemnified ; and in this manner a very respectable
force marched immediately from every district of
the colony, fully equipped by their own relatives
and friends. And chiefly with this force, animated
by the greatest enthusiasm, and aided by one or
two regiments, which subsequently reached the
colony, Sir Benjamin D'Urban was enabled not
only to expel the Kafirs again out of the colony,
but to drive them across the Kye, where, after the
death of Hintza, he succeeded in dictating the
terms of their surrender, and to lay down the basis
of what was fondly hoped would secure the per-
manent peace and tranquillity of the frontier.

in.] GOVERNOR D'URBAN'S PLAN 81

It is not my purpose, nor does it belong to the
object of these lectures, to enter into a detail of the
military or political arrangements effected by that
excellent Governor.* It will suffice to state that
chiefly owing to the exertions of the burghers, and
the spirit in which they were led by Col. Smith, the
whole of Kaffraria up to the Kye was completely
cleared of the Kafirs, and Sir Benjamin dictated at
last to them the terms upon which he would accept
their submission.

His plan (I have reason to know) was at that time
to give out all the lands between the Fish River and
the Keiskamma (or what was already known as the
ceded or neutral territory) to such inhabitants as
had suffered most of the Kafir war, or to additional

* I cannot resist the pleasure of here introducing the noble and
generous sentiments lately expressed by Sir George Napier (the
Governor of the Cape Colony, who had been sent to supersede Sir
Benjamin D'Urban, and to introduce an entirely new system in our
relations with the Kafirs) in his examination before the House of
Commons, viz. : — To the question put by Mr. Hawes (question 1600) :
Are you, or are you not, disposed to think that, taking a certain
military possession of Kafirland beyond the boundary of the Keis-
kamma— that is to say, establishing military posts there, as has been done
by Sir Harry Smith, with the concurrence both of Sir Henry Pottinger
and Sir Peregrine Maitland — has been so far successful that it has
prevented an irruption of the Kafirs into the colony proper ? Answer :
I think certainly it has. I went out, if I had any prejudice at all,
with a prejudice against the colonists, and against that former occupa-
tion of the ground by Sir Benjamin D'Urban and Sir Harry 'Smith,
and thinking that it would be better not to have them. My own experi-
ence and what I saw with my own eyes have confirmed me that I was
wrong, and that Sir Benjamin D'Urban was perfectly right ; that if
he meant to keep Kafirland under British rule the only way of doing
G

82 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

emigrants or discharged soldiers and officers ; to give
out these lands under the express condition of per-
sonal occupation, and thus to form a belt of a dense
European population in advance of the Fish River
fastnesses. He intended further to allocate the
country between the Keiskamma and the Kye
among such of the Kafirs as had submitted, but
to keep over them an efficient military force and
a magisterial control ; and he intended still further
to urge upon the Local Legislature and the Home
Government to compensate liberally, if not fully, all
those who had been bond fide sufferers in the war.

These losses had been inquired into with the
greatest care and minuteness, and the official returns
showed that those sustained on the immediate frontier
amounted to : —

456 farmhouses burnt and totally destroyed.
350 others partially pillaged and gutted.
60 waggons captured by the Kafirs and destroyed.

5,715 horses, j taken and

111,930 head of horned cattle, and > irrecoverably
161,930 sheep, J lost;

amounting in value to upwards of £300,000, inde-
pendent of the losses by persons who contributed to
the outfitting of the various " commandos " from each
district.

A few thousand recaptured cattle were, however,

so was by having a line of forts and maintaining troops in them. No
doubt it must be so, and if all those forts were well garrisoned and
provisioned it would answer very well.

in.] AN ASTOUNDING DECLARATION 83

all the trophies of the war, and the feelings of the
inhabitants may easily be guessed at when amongst
these many breeding cattle and entire spans of oxen
were recognised by their former owners, but who
upon reclaiming them were told that they could not
be surrendered, as they were to be publicly sold in
order to compensate for part of the expenses of
war, but that "they" were hereafter to get ample
compensation. But what were their feelings, and
those of their gallant commander, when, after having
suffered these losses and encountered the dangers
of a most harassing war of fifteen months' duration,
a despatch was received from the then Secretary of
the Colonies, Lord Glenelg, dated 26th December,
1835 (which had been immediately published by the
home authorities through the Blue Book), containing
the most unreserved condemnation of the whole
policy and operations of the war, abusing in un-
measured language the barbarous manner in which
(the Secretary of State asserted) the war had
been conducted, and concluding with the following
extraordinary declaration (as emanating from His
Majesty's Government) touching the justice of the
war, viz. : —

" Through a long series of years the Kafirs had an ample
justification of war ; they had to resent, and endeavoured
justly, though impotently, to avenge a series of encroach-
ments ; they had a perfect right to hazard the experiment,
however hopelessly, of extorting by force that redress
which they could not otherwise obtain ; and that the

84 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

original justice is on the side of the conquered (the Kafirs),
and not (of) the victorious party ! ! "

A communication more cruel, unjust, and insulting
to the feelings — not only of the commander, who,
wholly intent upon the most pacific and conciliatory
measures with the Kafirs, had been suddenly attacked
and seen the country placed under his authority and
protection invaded, but of the inhabitants, who had
not only been engaged in a twelve months' warfare
of the most harassing and dangerous character, but
who were smarting from a system pursued during
fourteen years by the local Government never afford-
ing them redress for their most serious losses and
grievances on this subject — can hardly have been
penned by a declared enemy of the country and its
Governor; and it at once opened the eyes of the
colonists to what they had long suspected, viz., that
in the estimation of his then Majesty's Government
they were marked as the aggressors in the war and
the oppressors of the Kafir race ; that the latter, and
not " they," were entitled to sympathy and relief.
And that they were not wrong in these conclusions
soon became still more apparent, upon their being
informed that all their applications for indemnity for
the losses they had sustained were rejected ; that all
the grants of land about to be made to persons, even
within the country ceded to the Government ever
since the year 1817, were to be revoked and cancelled,
and that the Kafirs were to be fully reinstated in the

in.] INSULT AND INJURY 85

possession of all the lands which by the terms of the
treaty of September, 1835, they had formally ceded
to His Majesty, his heirs and successors for ever ; and
moreover, when they heard that a Lieut.-Governor
had been appointed, whose opinions (as publicly
expressed in his examination before a Committee
of the House of Commons on the line of policy
to be observed towards the Kafirs) seemed at least
to hold out the prospect that these views of His
Majesty's Government would be carried out to the
letter.

To expect that an entire population thus insulted
and injured should still continue loyally and well-
affected towards the Government was as impossible
as to expect "that of thorns men should gather
figs, or that of a bramble-bush they should gather
grapes."

From that moment, then, the farmers throughout
the eastern province saw that the whole Hottentot
race, who had been their former praedial servants,
had been withdrawn from them, and were fast
assuming a certain "nationality" within the colony.
They had had the few slaves they possessed taken
from them at a ridiculous compensation, which
several had refused to accept ; and they now lastly
found their houses and farms burnt and destroyed,
their stocks and herds taken from them, without a
chance of redress or indemnity ; and from the policy
at once laid down by the Home Government they
further clearly saw that their lives and future pro-

86 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

perties would for ever be endangered, and that even
the day of their again recovering their former wealth
would as certainly be marked by another irruption
and the sweeping away of their newly-acquired herds,
as effects must follow causes.

From that moment, therefore, it may be said that
the determination to quit the land of their fathers
became general and universal, and the leading
families in the Oliphant's Hoek, Gamtoos River,
along the Fish River, and Somerset, forming them-
selves into little knots, at once prepared for this
" Exodus," although there were, no doubt, some
persons or families, who joined this emigration, who
had also some private or personal cause for thus
expatriating, as, for instance, the Greylings, for
having been indicted and severely mulcted at the
Circuit Court at Uitenhage for contravening the
ordinance for the abolition of slavery ; W. S. van
der Merwe, for having a personal quarrel with the
civil commissioner of his district ; the late unfor-
tunate Retief, for having been insulted (as he con-
ceived) by the Lieutenant-Governor of the eastern
province ; and Piet Uys, on account of his wife
having been committed, in his absence, by virtue of
a warrant of a local magistrate, and taken before
him in custody as a prisoner. Yet these were
but " drops " in the ocean of emigration, an ocean
which, from that moment, began irresistibly to flow
into the interior of Africa, and from thence into
Natal.

ill.] THE BEGINNING OF THE TREK 87

The beginning of the year 1836 was marked by
all the farms of those intending emigrants getting
into the market. They were readily bought up by
numerous speculators at Graham's Town, Somerset,
and adjoining places for ridiculously low prices, and
everything showed a settled determination to carry
out this expatriation on an extensive scale. The
local Government did all they could "indirectly,"
through the magistracy and the clergy, to point out
the illegality and dangers of such a step ; rumours
were indirectly spread that the Government could
enforce the provisions of an English writ of Ne exeat
Regno to prevent this emigration, and for a moment
some little hesitation was apparent in their move-
ments, but a reply of the new Lieutenant-Governor,
Stockenstrom, to an address from the inhabitants of
Uitenhage, in August, 1836, upon his assuming his
government, soon removed all doubt on that subject,
for in that reply he made use of these remarkable
words : —

" It is but candid at once to state that I am not aware
of any law which prevents any of His Majesty's subjects
from leaving his dominions and settling in another country,
and such a law, if it did exist, would be tyrannical and
oppressive ! "

This unreserved, though perhaps injudicious, ex-
pression of his opinion at once settled all their
doubts, and soon after this the first party, of about
200 persons, headed by Hendrik Potgieter, crossed

88 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

the Orange River.* Bidding for ever farewell to the
Cape Colony they advanced to Thaba 'Nchu, where
the Barolong chief, Moroko (who at that time was
under the spiritual direction of one whom I am
happy to see sitting near me, as a member of this
society, the Rev. Mr. Archbell), gave them a most
friendly reception, where they obtained every facility
in depasturing their cattle.

These were soon followed by a more numerous
and wealthy party from Graaff-Reinet, headed by
Gert Maritz, and these were again succeeded by
other large parties from the Uitenhage and Albany
divisions, headed by the old patriarch, Jacobus Uys,
by Carl Landman, Gert Rudolph, and others.

Their numbers thus fast increasing in the Barolong
territory soon gave rise to divisions, and the older
emigrants, making way for the later arrivals, advanced
gradually along the banks of the Vaal River (or Ky
Gariep), in a northerly direction, until they came into
contact with the numerous and powerful tribe of the
Matabelee under Mazulekatze.

It is supposed that this sanguinary chieftain, having
been frequently attacked by the Zulu and Griqua
forces in that direction, was always particularly
jealous of any approach from that quarter. But the
farmers, of course, unaware of this disposition, con-

* A small party, headed by Carel Triechard, had preceded these,
and they advanced as far as Delagoa Bay, but were seized with the
coast fever, and only two survived of that whole party, who got back
to this district two years after, and are now still residing here.

III.] ATTACKED BY THE MATABELEE 89

tinued gradually to move onwards, quite unsuspicious
of danger, when their advanced party was suddenly
attacked, and twenty-eight of their number barbar-
ously murdered. After this partial success the
Matabelee attacked another small party, equally
advancing at a little distance from the former, and
these, also being totally unprepared, were unable to
offer any effectual resistance, and some twenty-five
men and women were also massacred, and their
waggons and properties destroyed and plundered ;
but a few of their party fortunately escaped to warn
the numerous little parties, who were still spread
about those vast plains, of the impending danger.
They had scarcely collected themselves in a
" laager " * of about fifty waggons when they were
attacked by the whole army of the Matabelee, who
rushed in upon them, endeavouring to force them-
selves through the waggons, and a most desperate
struggle ensued, in which the Matabelee were, however,
finally repulsed, but not without sweeping away the
whole of the cattle belonging to the emigrant farmers,
which they had been unable to get within the en-

* These " laagers," or camps, were formed by their waggons being
brought up in a square, the poles and waggon " gear " of one waggon
being firmly secured under the "perch" of the next waggon; and
when time admitted branches of the thorny mimosas were also wattled
in under each waggon, so that no entrance could be effected into the
enclosure without forcibly tearing up all these impediments. It is
clear that where the number of waggons collected is not great the
square formed by these waggons is so small that they could barely
secure their persons and families within the enclosure, leaving the
cattle outside.

90 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

campment ; and the Matabelee succeeded in thus
carrying away 6000 head of cattle and upwards of
40,000 sheep as a poor compensation for the loss of
the lives of their best warriors.

From these repeated and desperate attacks it was
evident that the emigrants had encountered a most
formidable enemy in that quarter, and that all hopes
of a peaceable advance in that direction had to be
abandoned ; but the loss of their cattle prevented
them from either advancing or retreating until some
messengers, whom they had despatched to Thaba
'Nchu, succeeded in reaching that place and acquaint-
ing Moroko and the Rev. Mr. Archbell with their
precarious situation. These persons generously pro-
cured and despatched a sufficient number of oxen to
their encampment, from whence they thus effected
their retreat, and returned in safety to Moroko's
residence.

Upon bringing this account of their disasters and
losses to their fellow-countrymen the more numerous
and powerful clans, which had remained peaceably
concentrated about Thaba 'Nchu, resolved to take
ample revenge for these murders and to recover the
cattle stolen from their countrymen, and a party of
about 200 warriors, headed by Gerrit Maritz, crossed
the Vaal River,* and making a flank movement across

* The Vaal, or Yellow River, by the natives called Ky Gariep,
derives its name from the discoloured nature of its stream. It forms
at present the northern boundary of the Sovereignty district, and is
likely to acquire some celebrity by the recent treaty concluded, by

HI.] PIETER RETIEF 91

his western boundaries, attacked one of Mazulekatzes'
principal military towns, named Mosega, where they
killed several hundreds of his principal warriors, and
recovered about 7000 head of cattle, together with
the waggons which the Matabelee had taken to that
town in triumph, after the attacks they had made
upon the first small parties which had incautiously
advanced into their territories.

Shortly after their return from this successful re-
taliation, and while they were discussing their future
plans, disunion and rivalry among their leaders were
again beginning to show themselves, when the ill-
fated Pieter Retief joined them with a small party,
and his name and character (while one of the " com-
mandants " appointed by the Government of the
eastern frontier) stood deservedly so high that by
one consent he was chosen to be their " commandant-
general," to whom all the parties, then in those regions,
gave in their willing submission.

A few details of the life and history of this first
great " martyr " in the settlement of this district may
not prove uninteresting.

Descended from one of those French Protestant
families which found refuge in the Cape Colony on
the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, his grand-
parents had obtained a plot of freehold land in the

having been fixed by the Assistant Commissioners with the Trans-
vaal farmers, as the permanent line of demarcation between Her
Majesty's subjects and those to whom (it is said) entire independence
has been promised.

92 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

beautiful glen of Waggonmakers' Valley, near the
Paarl, where both soil and climate had marked the
spot as favourable to the cultivation of the orange
and the vine, and there his father enjoyed a respect-
able living by the annual sale of some millions of
oranges and a considerable vintage.

Pieter Retief was there born, and brought up by
his father with a view to continue that easy and
profitable living ; but his active and restless dis-
position led him, as he advanced to manhood, to
emancipate himself from the mere drudgery of this
rural life, and he first commenced by carrying on
some trade with the interior, when the arrival of the
first British emigrants into the eastern province in
1820 drew his attention to that part of the colony.
The Government requiring some person of activity
and means to contract for some time to supply these
emigrants with certain allowances and rations until
they had been able to provide for their own sub-
sistence, he was introduced and recommended to the
Government by my deceased parent as a fit and
proper person for that purpose, who, moreover, be-
came his surety for the due and faithful discharge
of his contract. This caused his settling down on
the frontier, where his attention to his contract, and
his liberality of conduct, ingratiated him with the
settlers, and established that good feeling which ever
afterwards prevailed between them.

After the contract for the supply of these emigrants
had ceased he engaged in large contracts for erecting

Hi.] PIETER RETIEF 93

public buildings for the Government, and at first
amassed a very respectable fortune ; but the failure
of some of his sub-contractors, and the number of
his various avocations, afterwards involved him in
serious pecuniary difficulties. But this did not in
any way affect the estimation in which he was held,
both by the community and the Government, having
been appointed one of the "commandants" on the
frontier, a situation which, although of a somewhat
anomalous character, was generally given to persons
who, as field-cornets, had rendered faithful services
to the country, and was always considered to give
the incumbent some kind of magisterial authority in
his district. Having returned to his farm, and being
altogether engaged in agricultural pursuits in 1834,
he had been a very serious loser in the Kafir war
which then broke out ; and after the peace, which
had been concluded towards the end of the year
1835, he saw with dread and fear a system (if not
encouraged, at least) marked out by the local
authorities of allowing Kafirs again to pass through
and congregate at whatever places they thought fit
within the colony. He not only strongly opposed
this, but apprehended such roving Kafirs and
Hottentots wherever he found them lurking about,
and whenever they were unable to give an account
of themselves. But in sending these persons in
custody to the nearest magistrate he found that
they were not only immediately liberated, but he
was officially censured for taking up persons not

94 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

actually apprehended in the commission of crime.
He soon saw, from the tone thus assumed by the
authorities, that there was no longer hope for
the security of property along the frontier, and he
determined accordingly to follow the example set
by the first migrating farmers. He also joined in
some addresses, presented to the newly-appointed
Lieutenant - Governor, Sir Andries Stockenstrom,
complaining of this state of insecurity, which led
to a not very dignified correspondence between them,
in which the Lieutenant-Governor charged him with
misleading others, and threatened him with dismissal
from his " purely honorary " situation of commandant.
These threats, and the system which he thus clearly
saw was about to be again enforced, and which in
his opinion (fully confirmed by consequent events)
would again expose the frontier to harassing forays,
and ultimately to another general war, induced him
to sell off all he possessed, and to combine with a
few neighbours, with whom (as I have before stated)
he joined the emigrant farmers, shortly after Gert
Maritz had returned from his successful attack upon
Mazulekatze and the Matabelee.

Having now been unanimously elected their com-
mandant-general, Retief immediately set about form-
ing regular treaties of friendship and alliance with all
the native chiefs by whom he was surrounded except
Mazulekatze. Moroko, Mosesh, Tonana, and Sikon-
yella entered apparently with cordiality into all his
arrangements ; and upon this footing all the emigrants

in.] PIETER RETIEF 95

spread themselves over the lands situated between
and along the Modder, the Vet, and the Sand Rivers,
and gradually formed themselves into a more settled
form of government. Their numbers were about
that time also increased by another large clan, headed
by the venerable patriarch Jacobus Uys, then about
seventy years of age, and his eldest son, Pieter Uys,
who, having already visited this district before,
cherished the idea of settling down here in pre-
ference to going further into the interior of Africa.
This party issued a manifesto declaratory of their
intention to shape their course towards Natal, and
to secede from all those parties who seemed more
intent to occupy the banks of the Vaal River, or
what is now called the Sovereignty, and even to
proceed eastward to Delagoa Bay. This determina-
tion of the clans of Uys, Moolman, and Potgieter
seems to have induced Retief also to follow their
track, and he sent exploring parties from the Sand
River, who at length succeeded in finding two or
three paths across the Quathlamba or Draaksberg,
which might easily be made passable for waggons ; for
up to that time every attempt to cross that mountain
range by waggons from the Zuurberg to the west
up to the Olivier's Pass, at the extreme north-east
extremity of our district, had failed.

Retief succeeded with his party in crossing at one
spot and reached Port Natal in safety, where he met
with a hearty reception from the British emigrants,
who (strange to say) had also formed themselves into

96 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

a little independent community ; for, upon Captain
Gardiner, of the navy, arriving among them and
asserting a magisterial authority over them, under
the provisions of an extraordinary law passed by the
British legislature, and entitled "the Cape of Good
Hope Punishment Bill," which he promulgated among
them, they at once repudiated his interference and
maintained their independence from all authority
except from such as would emanate from themselves,
in consequence of the then Secretary for the Colonies,
Lord Glenelg, having expressly "disclaimed in the
most distinct terms any intention on the part of His
Majesty's Government to assert any authority over
any part of this territory." This mutual feeling
of independence seemed to serve as a bond of union
between them ; and there can be no doubt that
if a person like Retief had continued to be the
acknowledged head of the Dutch emigrants, that
a more firm and lasting tie would have bound them
together.

Pieter Retief, however, in the conscientious view
which he had always taken of these matters, felt that
as both Chaka and Dingaan had nominally given
away this territory to various other persons before
his arrival, and that the occupation of this country by
him and his followers might thereafter subject them
to disputes, either with the Zoolah chiefs or with
such English emigrants as had received such ill-
defined grants from the Zoolah sovereigns, he deter-
mined to proceed in person to Dingaan's capital to

ill.] ACQUISITION OF TERRITORY 97

negotiate with him a treaty of peace, and obtain a
formal cession of such extent of territory as the
latter might feel inclined to cede to him and the
emigrant farmers. Upon reaching the Zoolah chief's
capital, " Umkongloof," he accidentally found there
a missionary of the Church of England (the Rev. F.
Owen), who materially assisted in apparently dis-
posing the chief to give him a kind reception ; and
upon being made acquainted with the special object
of Retief's mission, he at once promised him a formal
cession of this territory upon his first recovering back
for him a quantity of cattle which Sikonyella, a
Mantatee chief, residing on the sources of the
Caledon River, had recently taken from him. Retief
accepted these terms, and returning to this district
at once called together several of the parties who
were preparing to settle down in this territory.
They determined upon an attack on Sikonyella, but
before doing so sent messengers to him demanding
restitution, with a significant notice that it would be
enforced ; and this communication had the desired
effect, for Sikonyella immediately gave up 700
head of cattle, together with sixty horses and some
guns, which he and his tribe had at various times
captured from small immigrating parties of farmers.
During these proceedings, which took place during
the last months of the year 1837, nearly 1000 waggons
had already descended and passed down the slopes
of the Draaksberg into this district; and the emigrant
farmers finding the country entirely denuded of all

98 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

population (with the single exception of one small
party under the chief Matuan, who now still occupies
nearly the same ground), they spread themselves over
the whole of the Klip River division down to the
Bushman's River, where the remains of thousands
of stone kraals clearly indicated that a very dense
population must have once been settled down ; thus
also giving a promise of the great fertility of the
soil, as it could not otherwise have maintained so
large a population.

Upon Retief's return to that part of this district,
on his way to Dingaan with the cattle surrendered
by Sikonyella, to be delivered to the former, a sad
presentiment seems to have come over many of the
heads of the parties, who, however, then still acknow-
ledged Retief as their leader. Gerit Maritz proposed
that he should proceed to Dingaan with the cattle
recovered, taking only three or four men with him,
arguing, very justly, that the insignificance of such
a force would be its best safeguard. But Retief
appeared to have desired to show Dingaan some-
thing like a respectable force, and insisted upon
taking some forty or fifty of his best horsemen with
him, leaving it, however, optional to any person to
accompany him or to remain behind. This only
induced an additional number of spirited young
men to join, and during the last week in January,
1838, Pieter Retief, accompanied by seventy of the
most respectable and picked men from among the
emigrants, with about thirty young Hottentots and

in.] TREACHERY OF DINGAAN 99

servants riding or leading their spare horses, formed
an imposing cavalcade, with which he crossed the
Umzinjaate (or Buffalo River), and on the 2nd of
February arrived at Umkongloof (Dingaan's capital),
and delivered over the cattle recovered from Sikon-
yella, with the receipt of which Dingaan expressed
himself highly satisfied ; and having collected several
of his regiments from the neighbouring kraals, he
entertained them for two days with their favourite
sham-fights, which give a fearful representation of
their mode of warfare. Dingaan had fixed the
4th of February for signing a formal cession of the
whole of this district to Pieter Retief, for himself and
the emigrant farmers for ever ; and the Rev. Mr.
Owen, still then residing with Dingaan, was requested
to draw out and witness the instrument, which he
accordingly did in English, and to this document
Dingaan and some of his principal councillors affixed
their marks, after the tenor thereof had been fully
interpreted to them by the Rev. Mr. Owen. Retief's
business being thus satisfactorily ended he made
his arrangements to depart the next morning, when
Dingaan desired him to enter his kraal once more
to take leave of him, requesting, however, that his
party should not enter armed, as this was contrary to
their usage ; and this Retief unguardedly did, leaving
all their arms piled up outside of the kraal, while
they sent their "achter ryders" to fetch and saddle
their horses. Upon approaching Dingaan in his
kraal they found him surrounded (as usual) by two

loo SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

or three of his favourite regiments, when, after con-
versing with Retief and some of his leading men in
the most friendly manner, he pressed them to sit
down a little longer, offering them their "stirrup
cup," in some " chuallah," or maize beer, which the
Kafirs enjoy as a favourite beverage. This was
handed round to the whole party, who partook
freely thereof, and while a number of them were
thus sitting down, with the bowls in their hands,
Dingaan suddenly exclaimed, " Bulala matagati," or
" Kill the wizards," and in an instant 3000 or 4000
Zoolahs assailed them with their knobkerries ; and
although many of the farmers, instantly drawing
their clasp knives (which they usually carry by them
and use in cutting up the game they kill or the
viands they eat), made a determined resistance, and
took the lives of several of their assailants, yet they
soon fell, one after the other, under the overwhelming
pressure of the thousands by whom they were charged
and beaten down ; and after a desperate struggle of
half an hour's duration their expiring and mangled
corpses were dragged out of the kraal to an adjoin-
ing hillock, marked and infamous as the "Aceldama,"
or rather the " Golgotha," where the bones of all
victims to the fury of this despot were hoarded up
and became a prey to the wolves and vultures.

Dingaan, following the precept of Caesar, who
deemed nothing done so long as anything remained
undone, ordered instantly ten of his regiments to
march into this territory to attack all the emigrant

in.] ATTACKED BY ZOOLAHS 101

farmers (who, in perfect security, were spread all
over the district, awaiting the return of their friends)
and exterminate them, root and branch. It certainly
is remarkable that the doubts which the majority had
entertained as to the good faith of Dingaan vanished
so soon after the departure of Retief and his party :
the young men were enjoying the pleasures of the
chase, and supplying their friends with the game
that abounded, and the women, seemingly also un-
suspicious, were only awaiting the return of their
husbands, sons, and relatives, when the Zoolah army,
having divided itself into several small detachments,
fell, at break of day, on the foremost parties of
emigrants near the Blue Krans River, and close to
the present township of Weenen, which has obtained
its name (meaning wailing or weeping) from the sad
events of that day. Men, women, and children were
at once surrounded and barbarously murdered, with
horrors which I should be sorry to dwell upon and
detail ; other detachments of Zoolahs surprised in
other places similar small parties, who were likewise
scattered all over the Klip River Division, and who
all fell under the Zoolah assegai ; but from one or
two waggons a solitary young man escaped, who,
hastening to the parties whom he knew to be in
the rear, at length succeeded in spreading the alarm
among them, so that as the Zoolahs advanced
further into the district two or three parties of
farmers had been able hastily to collect a few
waggons and arrange them into a " laager," or en-

102 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

campment, where they made their preparations to
secure their families just in time before they were
also attacked, and they thus succeeded in repelling
the most daring attacks made upon them, not one
of these " laagers " having been forced or penetrated
by the Zoolahs. The latter, however, advanced still
further southward, until they met a still stronger
party of emigrants on the farm now called " Vecht
Laager" (afterwards the property of Mr. Ogle), on
the Bushman's River, where they sustained a very
serious engagement, which lasted throughout the
whole day, but where, when the farmers' ammunition
was nearly exhausted, luckily their last shots from
a three-pounder, which had been rigged to the back
of one of their waggons, struck down some of the
leading Zoolah chiefs, and forced them to a precipi-
tate retreat

The moment these attacks were thus repulsed the
emigrant farmers sallied out from their "laagers" to
rescue (if possible) any of their friends who had been
in advance, and to ascertain the havoc which had
been caused among them, when, upon reaching the
stations which those had occupied, a scene of horror
and misery was unfolded which no pen can describe.
All the waggons had been demolished, the iron parts
wrenched from them, and by their ruins lay the
mangled corpses of men, women, and children,
thrown on heaps and abandoned to the beasts of
prey. Amongst these heaps, at the Blue Krans
River, they found literally amongst the dead corpses

in.] A FEARFUL CATASTROPHE 103

the bodies of two young females, about ten or twelve
years of age, which still appeared to show some
signs of vitality. The one was found pierced with
nineteen, and the other with twenty-one stabs of
the assegai, leaving every part of their little frames
completely perforated, and every muscle or fibre
lacerated. The one was named Johanna van der
Merwe and the other Catharina Margaretha Prinslo ;
they were taken up and tended with the utmost
care and (strange to say) lived for many years, the
sole survivors of the immediate branches of those
families ; but they always remained perfect cripples,
although one of them (still more strange to say)
married, and was the mother of one or two children.
But, with these solitary exceptions, all these small
parties which had not been able to combine and
concentrate themselves in " laagers " were utterly
destroyed, and in one week, after the murder of
Retief and his party, 600 more victims were thus
immolated by the fury and treachery of Dingaan
and his army.

The survivors in this fearful catastrophe, after re-
covering from the panic in which they had been
thrown, resolved to avenge themselves for this
dreadful loss.

The whole clan of Uys, which, from some little
feeling of jealousy of Retief, had lagged behind on
the Draaksberg (and had thus escaped this on-
slaught), on hearing of this destruction, came down
into the Klip River with many other smaller parties

104 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

of farmers who were advancing towards this district,
and their precarious situation was soon made known
to the English party resident at the bay, when the
latter determined upon a movement on Dingaan
to support the cause of the emigrant farmers ; but
they being few in numbers took with them a body
of 700 Zoolahs, 400 of whom were armed with
guns, having learnt to use them in their hunts of
the elephant and buffalo. This party, which placed
itself under the command of Mr. R. Biggar, crossed
the Tugela at its mouth, and advanced a few miles
across that river, when they attacked and destroyed
the town of Tatabasooke, while the Zulu forces hid
themselves in the Matikoola and Imsimdoosa rivers ;
but advancing a little further they were suddenly
surrounded, and attacked at break of day by three
divisions of the Zoolah army. After a desperate
and murderous engagement almost every European
or man of colour belonging to the party here lost
his life ; a fearful number of the Zoolahs were also
killed, but of the English population of the bay,
R. Biggar, Blankenberg, Cane, Stubbs, Richard
Wood, William Wood, Henry Batt, John Campbell,
Thomas Campbell, and Thomas Garden successively
fell, and only one or two Europeans succeeded in
fighting their way through these masses to convey
to the small party who had remained at the bay
the sad result of this engagement. That portion
of Dingaan's army followed up (as usual) their
success, and advanced as far as the bay, but the

in.] ATTEMPTED RETALIATION 105

few English who had survived took refuge on board
of the Comet, Captain Hadden, then luckily lying
at anchor in the bay, when after sweeping away all
the cattle this detachment of Dingaan's army retired
again into the Zulu country.

Dingaan himself, with his principal forces, was,
however, at this time still watching the Dutch
emigrant farmers, who, having now collected about
400 fighting men in the Klip River Division, placed
themselves under the command of Piet Uys and
of Hendrik Potgieter, and advanced about the same
time (in April, 1838) towards Umkongloof, Dingaan's
capital, intent upon destroying it, and expelling
Dingaan from the country.

This wily chieftain allowed the emigrant farmers
to advance to within a few miles of his capital, where
the approach to the town is closed in between two
hills, and there the Zoolah forces first showed them-
selves, but gradually retiring, drew the emigrant
farmers still further into this hollow way, when
another division of the Zoolah forces emerging from
behind one of these hills and cutting off all retreat,
a desperate hand-to-hand fight ensued, the farmers
being so hemmed in that they could not fire, then
fall back rapidly on horseback, and again load and
charge, as was their usual and efficient mode of
warfare. They accordingly, as by one consent,
directed all their fire on one mass of the Zoolahs,
where their fatal aim having cleared a path by
bringing down hundreds in this volley, they rushed

io6 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

through and thus escaped, but their chief (and un-
questionably most gallant commander), Piet Uys,
having taken a somewhat different course in a
country but little known to them, found himself
surrounded with a small party of about twenty
faithful followers and his favourite son, a young
lad of twelve years of age, before a ravine, which
their horses could not get over or clear.

Finding himself wounded, he called to his followers
" to fight their way out," as he could not follow ; all
obeyed his command except his loving son, who
remained by his father until both fell pierced with
wounds. The remainder of their party, and the
great majority of the emigrant farmers, having
ultimately succeeded in thus fighting their way out
of this trap which had so ably been laid for them,
effected a retreat out of the country without any
further great loss of life, leaving, however, the
" prestige " of victory with the Zoolah chieftain,
to whom the loss of several hundreds of his best
warriors was always considered but of little moment,
imparting only an exciting interest to his fiendish
propensities and habits.

The emigrant farmers were, however, so dis-
heartened by the result of their attack, and that
of the English settlers from the bay upon Dingaan's
forces, that they gave up all hope of resuming
hostilities for the present. They had been taught
a lesson of prudence by the talent and daring dis-
played by the Zoolah armies, and they accordingly

HI.] THE BOERS IN DISTRESS 107

kept a watchful eye upon their northern frontier,
and sent messengers out in various directions im-
ploring further accession to their numbers, both from
the Cape and the present Sovereignty. Many
parties, upon hearing of their distressed state, came
to join them, but this at the moment only increased
their misery and wants, as their cattle and herds
having been swept away (these being still in the
hands of the Zoolahs), and having been prevented
from cultivating any lands, they were exposed not
only to the greatest want, but were actually in a
state of famine, when some liberal-minded country-
men of theirs at the Cape, hearing of their distressed
condition, sent them supplies of food, medicine, and
other necessaries of life, which helped them through
the miseries of the winter of 1838, during which
season want, disease, and famine stalked over the
land, making fearful ravages among them.

Dingaan, ever watchful when to attack his foe
with advantage, being fully informed of their
wretched condition, made another attack upon them
in August, 1838, but on this occasion the emigrant
farmers (having their scouts always out to give them
timely intimation of his advance) were everywhere
prepared to give him a warm reception, and at every
laager the Zoolah forces were driven back and
defeated with great loss, only two or three lives
having been lost among the emigrants during several
successive engagements. But although Dingaan was
thus defeated, the emigrant farmers were still con-

io8 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

tending up to the close of that year with the greatest
difficulties. Small parties were pouring in to join
them, but bringing little effectual support, until the
beginning of December, the season appearing pro-
pitious, and a number of young men having come
in by the Sovereignty, 460 fighting and mounted
men put themselves under the command of Andries
Pretorius, who had also recently joined the emigrants,
among whom (having formerly been a field-cornet
in the Graaff-Reinet district) he had made himself
extremely popular.

They were powerfully aided by the brave and
sterling Carel Landman, who also joined them with
all those emigrants who had already commenced
settling themselves down near the bay, and these
combined forces, profiting from the experience of
the past, advanced with great caution, securing their
position every evening, so that when they had nearly
reached the Umslatoos River they were fully pre-
pared, as on the earliest dawn of day on Sunday,
the i6th December, 1838, the whole of Dingaan's
forces, about 10,000 or 12,000 strong, attacked their
position with a fury far exceeding all their former
attacks. For three hours they continued rushing
upon them, endeavouring to tear open all their
defences and force the emigrant camp, until Pre-
torius, finding the Zoolah forces concentrating all
their efforts upon one side of the camp, and their
own ammunition nearly failing, he ordered 200
mounted men to sally forth out of one of the gates

in.] PIETER RETIEF AVENGED 109

at the rear of the line which the Zoolahs were
attacking, and these mounted warriors, charging both
flanks and pouring their deadly volleys upon the
immense masses which were gathered together
within a small space, at length beat them off with
a fearful loss. The emigrants assert that nearly
3000 Zoolahs licked the dust before they retreated ;
and their defeat must have been complete, as
Dingaan fled quite panic-stricken, set fire to the
whole of his town of Umkongloof, and hid himself
with the remnant of his force for a considerable time
in the woods skirting the Umvaloos River.

The emigrants having had only three or four men
killed and as many wounded in this decisive engage-
ment (among the latter of whom was Pretorius
himself), advanced upon the town of Umkongloof,
which they still found partially burning, and on the
awful hillock out of the town they beheld on one
vast pile the bones and remains of Retief and his
one hundred companions in arms, who, ten months
before, had fallen victims to Dingaan's treachery, but
whose deaths they were then in fact avenging.
Many of the straps or riems by which they had been
dragged to this place of slaughter were still found
adhering to the bones of the legs and arms by which
they had been drawn thither. The skulls were
frightfully broken, exhibiting marks of the knob-
kerries and stones with which they had been frac-
tured, and, singular to relate, the skeleton of their
ill-fated leader, Retief, was recognised by a leathern

i io SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

pouch or bandolier, which he had suspended from his
shoulders, and in which he had deposited the deed
or writing formally ceding this territory to the
emigrant farmers, as written out by the Rev. Mr.
Owen on the day previous to his massacre, and
signed with the mark of Dingaan, by which he
declared "to resign to Retief and his countrymen
the place called Port Natal, together with all the
land annexed, that is to say, from the Tugela to the
Umzimvooboo River, and from the sea to the north,
as far as the land may be useful and in my
possession."

These are the very words of the original document,
which was found still perfectly legible, and was
delivered over to me by the Volksraad in the year
1843, and is now (or ought to be) among the
archives of the Colonial Office here.

After decently interring the remains of their un-
fortunate countrymen, the emigrant farmers found
that their horses and ammunition were ill-calculated
to continue a harassing warfare upon Dingaan in
his fastnesses, and they therefore resolved gradually
to fall back, which they did with little loss, taking
with them some 5000 head of cattle, which they
distributed among themselves as the lawful and
hard-earned trophies of this campaign.

On their return from this successful inroad they
were not a little surprised to find that Sir George
Napier (who had succeeded Sir Benjamin D'Urban
in the government of the Cape Colony) had sent a

Hi.] DISARMAMENT OF THE BOERS in

small detachment of Highlanders, under the com-
mand of Major Charters, to take possession of the
Bay of Natal. This measure had been evidently
taken, and in fact was acknowledged in a pro-
clamation of the 1 4th November, 1838, to have
emanated from a desire to "put an end to the
unwarranted occupation of parts of the territories
belonging to the natives by certain emigrants from
the Cape Colony, being subjects of His Majesty,"
and that proclamation gave the officer commanding
these forces the further power to " search for, seize,
and retain in military possession all arms and
munitions of war which, at the time of the seizure
of Port Natal, shall be found in the possession of
any of the inhabitants."

Major Charters returned immediately to the Cape,
when the command of the detachment devolved on
Captain Jarvis, of the /2nd Regiment, and from the
vague and ill-defined nature of his instructions some
serious difference, if not conflict, might have arisen
between him and the emigrant farmers in regard
to the authority and orders he had received to seize
upon their gunpowder and ammunition ; but the
good sense and good feeling of that officer soon
smoothed away every difficulty between them, and
he delivered them up their gunpowder, which he had
provisionally seized, upon their engaging not to use
it in aggressive hostilities against the natives. The
necessity of keeping and maintaining the detach-
ment led to some regular demand for supplies,

ii2 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

which kept up a mutual interchange of wants, and
the most friendly intercourse was ever afterwards
maintained between them. In the meanwhile the
emigrant farmers laid out this township of Pieter-
maritzburg and what is now called the town of
D'Urban. Landdrosts were appointed to both
townships ; they established a more regular system
of government, and with the able assistance of
Mr. Boshof (the present Registrar of the Court),
who about that time arrived in this district with his
entire clan, various laws and regulations were framed,
which gradually redeemed them from the state of
anarchy into which they were fast falling. While
the winter of 1839 was thus taken up by these duties
and labours, Dingaan, somewhat recovering from the
effects of his late defeat, commenced sending in some
special messengers, first delivering up 316 horses,
which he at various times had captured, and there-
after professing every disposition to enter into
amicable arrangements with the emigrants. Their
answer was plain and manly, that they would not
enter into any treaty of peace with him unless ample
restitution had been made of all their cattle and
sheep, and until the value of their property taken
or destroyed by him and the Zoolahs had been paid
for. This led to frequent embassies, promises of
restitution, and fixing places where some at least
of the cattle and some guns were promised to be
delivered ; but the farmers soon discovered that
these messages and promises were mere pretexts

in.] AN UNLOOKED-FOR EVENT 113

to keep up a constant and regular " espionage " upon
them, as one of these pretended messengers or spies
being caught, admitted that he had been sent to
report to Dingaan whether the farmers were
gradually returning to their farms or whether they
still kept near to their laagers, thus clearly showing
that he only waited the opportunity to attempt
another razia upon them. This naturally paralysed
all their agricultural pursuits and prevented them from
spreading themselves about to carry on their farm-
ing operations, as they were kept constantly on the
alert ; when, in the inscrutable decrees of Providence,
one of those events was brought about for which
they were quite unprepared, in which they were
not even the chief agents, but which led to their
undisputed possession of the whole territory of
Natal.

There were only at that time two brothers remain-
ing alive of Chaka and Dingaan : the elder Panda or
Umpanda (as he is called by his subjects), and a
young lad, Clu Clu, who was afterwards murdered
by Panda (in the year 1843), on which occasion their
" Aunt " Mawa, with a great number of Chaka's and
Dingaan's old followers, fled into this country ;
and subsequently settled in this district, chiefly in
the Umvooti and Inanda locations. Umpanda had
just reached manhood, but brought up in the midst
of debauchery and sensuality he was only known
for his unwarlike habits and became an object
of derision to the warriors and of contempt to
i

ii4 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

Dingaan, who seemed for a time to give him full
scope for the indulgence of his passions as most
conducive to his own personal safety, while Dingaan 's
appetite for war was so insatiable that notwithstand-
ing his signal defeat by the emigrant farmers in
December last he had again mustered a strong army,
with which he attacked Sapusa, but in which he was
defeated with fearful loss.

It was, therefore, not unnatural that, even among
the Zoolahs, a party was forming deprecating these
murderous wars and apparently inclined to support
Panda, with a view to bring about peace with the
emigrants and the surrounding nations. From that
moment Dingaan determined to watch the oppor-
tunity of murdering his brother ; but it appears that,
a hint of his intentions to this effect having transpired,
Panda at once fled with a number of followers, and
crossing the Tugela near its mouth, took possession
of some lands near the Umvotee, and sent messengers
requesting the support and protection of the emi-
grants. Some suspicion was at first entertained that
this was but a deep-laid plot between him and
Dingaan to inveigle them into the Zoolah country ;
but after repeated conferences, which were managed
with great tact and ability by the Landdrost Roos of
D'Urban, by G. Kemp, Moolman, Morewood, Breda,
and several others, a formal treaty of alliance, offen-
sive and defensive, was concluded with him, by the
terms of which the emigrant farmers pledged them-
selves to support and defend Panda, while he, on the

ill.] ALLIANCE WITH PANDA 115

other hand, promised to support them in any attack
upon Dingaan.

The beginning of the year 1840 being considered
the best season for commencing offensive operations,
the emigrant farmers again mustered a force of 400
mounted warriors, who, under the chief command of
Andries Pretorius, joined Panda's army, about 4000
strong, and this combined force, in January, again
entered the Zoolah country by the Sunday's River
and Biggar's Mountain ; but with proper caution the
emigrants kept themselves at some distance from
Panda's army, which, under the able guidance of
Nonklass (who continued for many years to be
Panda's chief counsellor and captain), seemed quite
intent upon coming into action.

While this commando was preparing and mustering
their forces in this town of Pietermaritzburg, one of
Dingaan's principal messengers, Tamboosa, arrived at
Pietermaritzburg with one of those specious messages
and offers of peace. He was, however, seized, with
his attendant Combizana, and, upon being rigidly
questioned, frankly admitted that he had also been
sent with a view of reporting to Dingaan the state
of the combined army of emigrants and Zoolahs
under Panda. The latter, evidently embittered
against this person (one of Dingaan's principal
counsellors), charged him with having been the
chief cause of the murder of Retief and his party ;
that he had plotted and advised his (Panda's) death ;
and, in short, brought such a series of charges

ii6 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

against him that (contrary to every usage of civilised
life) he was taken along with the army as a prisoner,
until they reached the banks of the Buffalo or
Umzimjaatee River, where a court-martial was
formed, which, under the excited feelings of the
occasion, soon passed a sentence of death upon
the unfortunate prisoners, and which was carried
into execution within a few hours after ; Tamboosa
not only nobly upbraiding his executioners with
the violation of all usage towards messengers, even
amongst savages, but, expressing his perfect readi-
ness to die, he only implored (but in vain) mercy
on behalf of his young attendant, who was only a
camp follower, and had thus been but doing his duty
in following his master.

This may be said to have been the only blot which
seriously reflected upon the conduct of the emigrant
farmers in their several engagements with the Zoolahs,
for they otherwise constantly endeavoured to spare the
women and children from massacre, and uniformly
conducted their wars with as much discretion and
prudence as bravery.

A few days after this sad execution the Zoolah
army under Panda encountered that commanded by
Dingaan, whereupon a desperate engagement ensued,
in the course of which one or two of Dingaan's
regiments went over in a body to Panda. This
decided the fate of the day : two of Dingaan's
regiments who fought bravely for him being totally
destroyed, the battle ended in his total defeat and

HI.] DECLARATION OF SOVEREIGNTY 117

flight. The emigrant farmers, not having been en-
gaged in this action, followed up this success (as
soon as they heard of it) with great vigour ; they
drove Dingaan over the Black Umvoloos, and from
thence still further to the banks of the Pongola,
where, deserted by almost all his followers, he en-
deavoured with about 100 followers to find shelter
amongst a small tribe living near Delagoa Bay,
named the Amasuree, but who, it is supposed (for
I believe there is no actually authentic account of
his death), murdered him to ensure their own safety
from his constant and fearful forays upon them and
the adjacent tribes.

As, however, no doubt as to his death and the
dispersion of all his army existed, the emigrant
farmers assembled in great state on the banks of
the Umvoloos on the I4th February, 1840, and
there, under the discharge of their guns, Andries
Pretorius proclaimed Umpanda the sole and ac-
knowledged king of the Zulus ; and by a pro-
clamation issued by him, and attested by the other
commandants, they declared their sovereignty to
extend from the Umvoloos Umfana, or the Black
Umvoloos, and the St. Lucia Bay, to the Umzim-
vooboo, or St. John's River ; and in fact, by their
proceedings of that day, assumed a certain authority,
or sovereignty, over Umpanda himself, from whom
they received, as their indemnity, 36,000 head of
cattle, 14,000 of which were delivered to those
farmers who, residing beyond the Draaksberg, had

ii8 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

only come in as allies to their friends, and the
remaining 22,000 (or rather the sad remains of them,
for very many were lost or embezzled on the way)
were brought to the foot of the Zwart Kop, near
Pietermaritzberg, where, at a spot still named the Deel
Kraal,* they were distributed among such farmers
as belonged to this district, and had claims for
losses sustained in the previous wars and engage-
ments.

A few days before the emigrant farmers started on
their last and crowning victory over Dingaan and
his forces, Sir George Napier, having been ordered to
send the 72nd Regiment home, and finding that the
Secretary of State for the Colonies still continued
little inclined to support his policy of occupying this
district, sent a vessel to the bay with orders to
Capt. Jarvis to embark with his whole detachment ;
on which occasion he addressed a letter to the
Landdrost Roos, at D'Urban, which, after referring
to some complaints of natives as to encroachments
on their gardens, contained the following farewell
address and peroration : —

" It now only remains for me, on taking my
departure, to wish you one and all as a community
every happiness, sincerely hoping that, aware of
your strength, peace may be the object of your
councils ; justice, prudence, and moderation be the
law of your actions; that your proceedings may

* Anglice, camp for distributing or dividing.

Hi.] A SYMPATHETIC ADDRESS 119

be actuated by motives worthy of you as men
and Christians, that hereafter your arrival may be
hailed as a benefit; having enlightened ignorance
dispelled superstition, and caused crime, bloodshed,
and oppression to cease, and that you may culti-
vate these beautiful regions in quiet and prosperity,
ever regardful of the rights of the inhabitants whose
country you have adopted, and whose home you
have made your own ! "

From these expressions, enunciated by the officer
commanding the forces on the eve of his departure,
and from the general tenor of the intelligence
received by them at the time from the Cape, there
can be no doubt that the emigrant farmers became
then fully impressed that Her Majesty's Government
had determined, by no consideration, to swerve from
that line of policy which had already declared that
nothing would induce Her Majesty to assert a
sovereignty over these territories. They therefore
conceived that by this act of abandonment of this
territory by Her Majesty's forces, and by their
recent conquest and installation of Panda, as a chief
set up by themselves, they had become both de
facto and de jure the undisputed rulers of the
country. They saw themselves respected and
dreaded by all the neighbouring tribes, every farmer
now had the opportunity of sitting himself down
"under his own vine, and under his own fig tree,"
none making him afraid ; and there is further no
doubt that if they (as a body) had possessed suffi-

120 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT.

cient intelligence to feel the exact position in which
they were placed, Her Majesty's Government would
thereupon have bestowed upon them all the ad-
vantages of self-government consistent with a mere
acknowledgment of their allegiance to Her Majesty
and her heirs.

We may, therefore, here conclude this lecture
(which has brought them down to a quiet and
undisturbed possession of this territory) by apply-
ing to them the lines of the Mantuan bard, where
in his Second Georgia he says of the peasantry of
his country —

" O Fortunatos nimium sua si bona norint,
Agricolas ! " etc., etc.

As the whole of this passage is so peculiarly apposite
to the position in which these farmers found them-
selves placed at that time, I shall conclude with
applying to them the following lines, as translated
by Ring : —

" Blest is the life these rural swains pursue ;
Blest ! ah, too blest ! if all their bliss they knew.
To whom, remote from dangers and alarms,
And from the clashing of discordant arms,
When once their calm and easy toil is o'er,
The bounteous earth pours forth her foodful store.
What though no domes their portals open wide,
To vomit forth a sycophantic tide ?
What though no stately columns they behold ?
Nor sculptured brass, nor garments wrought with gold ?
What though their fleece no Tyrian purple soil,
Nor Cassian odours paint their liquid oil ?

III.] THE GOAL ATTAINED 121

Yet life, to vain delusive joys unknown,
And rest and safety, these are all their own.
And various wealth, a farm, a peaceful cot,
A crystal fountain and a cooling grot ;
The low of oxen in the grassy glades,
And soft repose beneath embowering shades :
Nor open lawns are wanting for the chase
Nor woods to shelter all the savage race,
Nor hardy youth to cultivate the soil,
Content with little, and inured to toil,
Nor sacred altars of the Powers above,
Nor parents honoured by the sons they love."

In these lectures I have now imparted to you,
ladies and gentlemen, a plain unvarnished statement
of the chief causes which led to the estrangement
of a large portion of our fellow-colonists from the
Government, and to their abandonment of the land
of their forefathers, to seek a home in the wilds of
South Africa, and in this district.

In this statement my aim has been "nought to
extenuate, nor to set down aught in malice," but
to show that these emigrants (as a body) form a
most respectable, powerful, and numerous body
of men, who, neither allured by the thirst after
gold, nor the desire to exterminate savage tribes,
only sought for a country which they endeavoured
lawfully to acquire, where they might set them-
selves down in peace, secure as to their lives and
properties.

This object they had fully gained, and if their
true position had be»n well understood by them-

122 SEEKING A NEW HOME [LECT. in.

selves, and appreciated by the Government, nothing
ought to have occurred subsequently to disturb the
friendly harmony between them and a government
to whom the golden rule becomes daily more self-
evident —

"Salus Populi Suprema Lex!"

LECTURE IV.

THE BOERS IN NATAL

I WAS induced in the year 1852 to deliver a
series of lectures containing a succinct, but (in
accordance with my pledge) a truthful and impartial
account of the causes which led a number of Boers
to leave the land of their birth and to wander
through the wild wastes of South-Eastern Africa,
until they acquired a peaceful and independent
settlement in this promising country.

My principal motive for consenting to deliver those
lectures was (as announced by me at the time) to
dispel the clouds which ignorance and misrepresenta-
tion were then but too rapidly accumulating around
the British immigrants, who had been previously
attracted hither by the delusive scheme of Mr. Byrne,
and which were even of a nature to affect the friendly
relations which should ever exist, for the good of all,
between those races who have now virtually made
this country their home.

It is remarkable, that in the very first Blue
Book on Natal, published by order of the House of

123

124 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

Commons (a publication to which we generally refer
for correct official information), the name of my
respected and worthy brother, Colonel (now Sir
Josias) Cloete, appears in several places, either
through a misprint or misapprehension arising in
the Colonial Office itself, as that of the Commissioner
appointed to adjust the affairs of this district — a
circumstance which has (I know) misled several
persons into the belief that he at one time held that
office in conjunction with the post of commander
of Her Majesty's forces, sent to relieve a detachment
which had arrived here under the command of
Captain Smith.*

The great and final triumph of the emigrant
farmers over the power of Dingaan, his death, and
the subsequent installation of Panda as the para-
mount chief of the Zoolah nation, under their
auspices, appeared to me to constitute an appropriate
conclusion to that course of lectures, as I was not
unmindful of the warning (" not to follow contem-

* At the time of delivering this lecture, I had not seen the Rev.
Mr. Holden's recently published work on " Natal," in which (at
page 191) I find that the author has fallen precisely into this error, and
has adopted the "misprint" of the Blue Book published in 1846, by
gravely announcing that " Colonel Cloete " had been appointed a
"Special Commissioner" by Her Majesty, in the year 1843, to adjust
the claims to land at Natal (vide pages 191 and 195), although the
author seems to have had before him the " reprint " of official papers
relating to Natal, edited by Mr. J. C. Chase, in which he would have
found (in vol. 2, page 281) the official announcement of the " Hon'ble
Henry Cloete, LL.D.," to that office, who is there described to be "an
advocate of the Supreme Court, and a member of the Legislative
Council of the Colony of the Cape of Good Hope."

iv.] HISTORICAL MISREPRESENTATION 125

poraneous history too closely at her heels") left to
future historians by Sir Walter Raleigh, who, in his
quaint preface to his History of the World, accounts
for his having confined himself so entirely to ancient
history, in the following remarks —

" I know it will be said by many that I might have been
more pleasing to the reader if I had written the story of
mine own time; having been permitted to draw the water
as near the well-head as another. To this I answer, that
whosoever, in writing a modern history, shall follow truth
too near the heels, it may haply strike out his teeth : there
is no mistress or guide that hath led her followers and
servants into greater miseries."

Following this sage advice, I allowed for a time
" truth " to find its own way, and gradually to clear
up the mists hanging over the modern history of this
district; but I have since become more and more
sensible of the painful fact that every succeeding
day, and every ephemeral publication that has
emanated from the press, have only added to the
misrepresentations which ignorance or party spirit
had originated. It therefore became a duty in-
cumbent on those who were fully conversant with
the correct details of affairs at the time, to inform
the inhabitants of this district (upon good authority)
of the manner in which those events had been
gradually developed, terminating in a peaceable and
unqualified submission to Her Majesty's authority,
and thus introducing that settled government under

126 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

the protection of which we are at present assembled
together.

Although these results were chiefly brought about
by my own instrumentality, I trust I may now be
allowed to refer to them without being justly charge-
able with vanity or egotism, since such reference
will be made merely for the purpose of vouching for
the correctness of facts and occurrences of which
I may truly say with the hero of the ^Eneid —

" Quaeque ipse miserrima vidi,
Et quorum pars magna fui."

I stated in the conclusion of my third and last
lecture of the former course that the I4th day of
February, 1840, may be set down as the grand epoch
whence the undisputed supremacy of the emigrant
farmers over this country is to be dated. On that
day, after the total defeat of Dingaan, and his flight
to the Amazurees' country (where he was subse-
quently assassinated), Andries Pretorius, the com-
mandant-general of the emigrant forces on the banks
of the Umvolosi, formally installed Panda as the
paramount king of the adjacent tribes, and (with
the concurrence of some of the members of the
Volksraad or Council of the People, who had accom-
panied him) issued the following proclamation : —

" I, Andries Wilhelmus Pretorius, chief commandant of
all the burghers of the Right Worshipful Volksraad
of the South African Society of Port Natal, and
commander-in-chief of the army placed under my
command, etc., etc.

IV.] BOER PROCLAMATION OF SUPREMACY 127

"Whereas the Volksraad of the South African Society,
on account of the unprovoked war which the Zoolah king
or Zoolah nation has commenced against the South African
Society, was compelled to incur an expense of Rds. 122,600
for horse and waggon-hire, and other expenses of war ; and
whereas the Zoolah king, according to all appearance and
information, has deserted his territory and crossed the
Pongola, etc., I do hereby proclaim and make known, that
in the name of the said Volksraad of the South African
Society, I seize all the land from the Tugala to the
Umvaloos Umjana (the Black Umvaloos) ; and that our
boundary shall in future be from the sea along the Black
Umvaloos, where it runs through the Double Mountains,
near to where it originates, and so along the Randberg (the
Ridges), in the same direction to the Draaksberg (or
Quathlamba) Mountains, including the St. Lucia Bay, as
also all sea coasts and harbours which have already been
discovered, or may hereafter be discovered, between the
Umzimvubu and the Black Umvaloos mouths."

This proclamation was openly read, and its con-
tents explained to Panda, who, with his chief coun-
sellors, was present on the occasion ; and under a
discharge of twenty-one guns from their little field-
piece (for they had but one), Panda was thus installed
as chief of the Zoolah and other adjacent tribes, but
holding that authority directly from the Emigrant
Society, who thus became in fact his dominant and
protecting power. Twenty thousand head of cattle
were brought into this district as the spoils of that
campaign, and the remnant of them (for a great
proportion was purloined on the journey by the

128 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

dishonesty or negligence of the field -cornets and
guard to whom they had been entrusted), was
driven to an extensive grassy plateau, situate be-
tween the Zwartkop and the Uitspanplaats, Ketel-
fontein, on the summit of the Town-hill, still called
from that circumstance the " Deelkraal " (or coral
of distributing or dividing), where upwards of ten
thousand were given out to the men engaged in
the late expedition ; and the inhabitants soon
spread themselves about and seriously entered upon
their rural and agricultural pursuits, extending them-
selves from the banks of the Tugela to the Um-
zimkulu.

By a singular coincidence, the then Governor of
the Cape Colony (Sir George Napier) had just then
been ordered to send home the /2nd Regiment, of
which a detachment had occupied the harbour of
Port Natal ; and that detachment having been with-
drawn, an opinion generally prevailed that the home
Government had deliberately relinquished all idea
of occupying this territory ; so that the few English
inhabitants then living at the port had no alternative
but to acknowledge the supremacy of a society of
farmers, who were soon to solve the problem as to
their fitness for self-government.

About the same time my highly esteemed friend,
Mr. Jacobus Nicolaas Boshof (subsequently called
to the honourable but arduous post of President
of the Orange Free State), arrived here with his
numerous and influential clan, having determined

IV.] THEIR STRONG REPUBLICAN FEELING 129

to give up the subordinate office he held at Graaff-
Reinet, no longer there

" To bear the oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes."

His merits as a zealous, able, and laborious officer
were, however, immediately recognised in this district.
He was at once made Landdrost of this division, then
comprehending nearly the whole district ; to him the
inhabitants were indebted for the appointment of
a regular Land Board, to inspect the farms and
prepare titles to lands ; as well as for various ex-
cellent local regulations, both at this place and at
the port, and D'Urban. To him was also entrusted
the preparation of some fundamental regulations in
reference to the chief executive and legislative
government of the country ; but on that point
(I have reason to believe) his own sensible and
practical views were overruled or made to succumb
to the stern republican feeling of the majority of
the inhabitants, who appear to have been so inflated
with their own ideas as to their power of governing
the country collectively, that they (almost unani-
mously) resisted every proposition of becoming
subject to any permanent chief or supreme head ;
but determined at least to try the experiment, which,
I fear, the Transvaal Republic is now again re-
peating, and which will more than probably, in their
case, also lead to the same results as before.
K

130 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

This leads me to give my hearers a succinct
account of the kind of government which they intro-
duced. Once every year the field-cornet of every
division into which the country had been portioned
out, sent in to the Landdrost here a list of the
persons whom the inhabitants of that field-cornetcy
or ward desired to become their representatives for
the ensuing year. The district was divided into
twelve such wards, from each of which the names
of two persons were thus sent in, forming a council
of twenty-four members, in which were vested all the
combined supreme, executive, legislative, and judicial
powers. This elective Council or "Volksraad" was
required to assemble here (at Pietermaritzburg) every
three months. At each meeting a chairman was
chosen from among the members present to regulate
the order of their proceedings ; but he had not in
any other respect the slightest addition of power or
authority over the rest. All the members performed
their duties gratuitously; but for the current and
indispensable business of government Landdrosts
were appointed for this place, D' Urban and Weenen,
each of whom exercised a certain limited judicial
authority. At Pietermaritzburg also two or three
members of the Council, who lived in or near the
town, were formed into a Committee of the Council
(called the Commissie Raad), and had power to
decide upon and carry out any executive or adminis-
trative duties requiring immediate despatch ; but they
were bound at the next general meeting of the

iv.] PREPARING A STATE OF ANARCHY 131

Council to report their proceedings and submit them
for the sanction or disapproval of the body by which
they were appointed.

Independently of the mode now described of
governing "this" district, there existed also an ill-
defined federal bond of union with the districts
of Windburg and of the Modder and Caledon rivers
lying beyond the Draaksberg, and now forming the
Orange Free State, by virtue of which those districts,
upon sending delegates to this place, could join in,
and become subject to all laws and regulations made
in their " combined " councils ; but otherwise those
districts were not to be bound by any decisions
of the Volksraad here. The existence and character
of this connection will have to be borne in mind
when we come to the later portions of the history
which will be given in these lectures.

From this statement, I believe every one of my
hearers possessing any knowledge of history or any
practical experience in the affairs of the world will
at once perceive that the inhabitants were preparing
for themselves a state of anarchy, from which the
most deplorable results to themselves must inevitably
arise. Without a head to direct or a power to
control, they were left entirely to those innate
feelings and notions of right and wrong that might
be found in such a community. The Landdrost, the
only paid functionary (whose salary was but the in-
significant sum of £100 per annum) was so constantly
thwarted by the ignorant and busy intermeddling

1 32 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

of the Committee Council (Commissie Raad) that
Mr. Boshof soon resigned the office, and no entreaties
or prayers could induce him to resume it. The
Commissie Raad, on making a report of their pro-
ceedings to the full Council, were uniformly assailed
by or exposed to the most violent attacks from the
so-called " Publiek " (the public), the name assumed
by those who were opposed to the measures that had
been adopted ; and in nine cases out of ten their
acts, after the most outrageous personal attacks (so
that on some occasions the members, as it is now
known, came with arms secreted in their bosoms to
guard against assaults), were again repudiated by a
set of men who, going back to their homesteads the
next day, were ill prepared to resist the reproaches
and taunts of the selfish and the interested. It is
a lamentable fact that upon my arrival here as Com-
missioner in 1843, I was informed by the then
Landdrost that a judgment which he had passed
several months before against a respectable inhabi-
tant living only a few miles from this town (ordering
him to return some head of cattle which he had
illegally withheld from a Hottentot) was still lying in
his office a dead letter ; as this inhabitant had openly
declared he would shoot the first messenger or other
functionary who should come on his premises, and
the Landdrost therefore could find no one inclined to
run the risk of executing his warrant. Several of the
most respectable and worthy inhabitants also assured
me that it was impossible for them to live any longer

iv.] PETITION TO THE GOVERNOR 133

in such a state of anarchy as that into which the
country was fast receding.

However, these sad results were not anticipated
by the majority of the inhabitants in the year 1840,
who were now formed into an independent people,
but still felt that the recognition of that inde-
pendence by Her Majesty's Government was all
that was wanting to give stability to their govern-
ment and institutions. They accordingly addressed
His Excellency Sir George Napier on the 4th
September, 1840, in the following terms : —

" YOUR EXCELLENCY, — By the blessing of God we have
perfectly succeeded in establishing with our numerously
surrounding savage enemies an advantageous, but, for the
so long oppressed people, a lasting peace, which presents
us with the cheering prospect of permanent prosperity, etc.

"This prospect is, however, somewhat darkened by
the conviction that between us and our always beloved
mother country there does not exist that friendly sympathy
in our welfare which we would fain wish to see strongly
and lastingly established.

"This general wish has been frequently under the
consideration of the Volksraad, who have at their last
meeting passed the following resolution, viz. : —

" ' To submit respectfully to your Excellency, as the
honoured representative of Her Majesty the Queen of
England, that it may graciously please Her Majesty to
acknowledge and declare us a free and independent
people (a right so dearly purchased with our blood), and
to concede to us all those privileges which constitute
the boast and greatness of the nation which has the
happiness to live under her noble government.'

134 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

"And to attain that object the Council have resolved
(should your Excellency desire it) that two commissioners
shall be sent to the colony of the Cape of Good Hope
as our representatives, at such time and to such place
as your Excellency shall appoint."

This letter ended by expressing their readiness
to enter into a negotiation " in writing," if His
Excellency should prefer such a course.

To this letter His Excellency, who was then at
Graham's Town, returned a courteous reply, civilly
declining the reception of the proposed com-
missioners, and expressing at once his opinion
that he himself could enter into no arrangements
which might in any respect be incompatible with
the honour of Her Majesty, but also stating "that
much time might be gained by their furnishing
His Excellency with an explicit statement of the
terms on which they were disposed to treat, and
which His Excellency hoped might yet lead to an
amicable settlement of the future relations between
the colony and Natal."

Although events of a more stirring nature sub-
sequently intervened, to which it will be necessary
to direct your attention, I may add here that this
letter of His Excellency's led to another com-
munication from the Volksraad, dated the I4th
January, 1841, in which they embodied, in thirteen
articles, the terms of their proposed alliance with
Her Majesty and her heirs, the chief of which
were : —

iv.] TERMS OF PROPOSED ALLIANCE 135

" i st. That Her Majesty would be pleased to acknow-
ledge their settlement as a free and independent state,
under the name of 'The Republic of Port Natal and
adjacent countries ' ; the boundaries whereof could be
hereafter defined.

"and. That Her Majesty's Government declare itself
willing to treat with the Republic, in the relation of an
ally.

" 3rd. That the said Republic reciprocally declares itself
to stand in the closest alliance with the British Govern-
ment.

"4th. That Her Majesty's Government shall be at
liberty, in case of any hostile undertaking against the
Republic by sea, by any other power whatsoever, either
to interpose itself in a friendly manner or to repel the
same by force.

" 5th. That in case of war between the British Govern-
ment and any other power this Republic shall be viewed
as neutral, and all private commercial vessels lying at
anchor in the ports of the Republic shall be left un-
molested.

"6th. That the British Government shall have the
right to place here an ambassador or representative
agent."

The remaining clauses were intended for securing
a mutual free trade on the footing of the most
favoured nations, and promising to give every
encouragement for the spreading of the gospel ;
to oppose every attempt at establishing a slave
trade, and not to make any hostile movement
against any of the surrounding native tribes, unless
such tribe, by any preceding hostile attack, should

136 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

give the republicans occasion thereto, so that they,
for the maintenance of their rights, or for the
security of their property, should be compelled to
take up arms against such tribe.

The following circumstances which were then in
the course of actual occurrence showed in how far
these professions could be relied on. Towards the
latter end of the year 1840 some of the farmers who
had taken up their residence between the Umkomas
and the Umzimkulu rivers came in and complained
to the Volksraad that some of their cattle had been
carried away by parties of Bushmen who were skulk-
ing in the Draaksberg fastnesses, and urged that they
should be followed up and attacked in their hiding-
places. In the month of December, therefore, a party
of armed burghers was embodied, and their approved
leader, Andries Pretorius, was again appointed by the
Volksraad to the chief command, with express in-
structions as to the course he was to pursue. After
having for some time in vain beat about the sources
of the Umzimkulu and Umkomas rivers, some scouts
who had been sent out by Pretorius reported that
traces of cattle, which they had reason to believe
were the property of emigrant farmers, had been
followed and led towards some kraals of the Amabaka
tribe, under the chief N'Capai. Hereupon it was at
once resolved to make an attack upon that chieftain,
and the forces under Pretorius accordingly attacked
some of his kraals at daybreak, killed several men,
captured about 3000 head of cattle and about 250

iv.] UNJUSTIFIABLE ATTACK ON NATIVES 137

sheep and goats, and carried off into captivity about
seventeen little boys and girls, who were picked up
after their parents had either been killed or driven
away from the scene of slaughter.

Upon the return of this commando it was soon
felt by every respectable member of the Volksraad
that Pretorius had grossly departed from the letter of
his instructions, and that these proceedings had sadly
laid themselves open to the most severe animadver-
sions from the whole of the civilised world. * At the
very next meeting of the Volksraad Pretorius was
called upon to give an account of his conduct, and
one of the members proposed a resolution expressive
of the unqualified disapprobation of those proceed-
ings by the Volksraad ; but Pretorius, being supported
by his powerful clan and a war party, succeeded in
getting this resolution withdrawn, so that subsequently
to this little was said about these untoward events, at
least within this district, but upon the intelligence
reaching the Cape frontier a general burst of indig-
nation arose against the emigrant farmers on account
of this wanton and unprovoked attack, and Sir
George Napier, in a letter addressed to me upon
the subject (and which I have carefully preserved, as
doing credit both to his head and heart), thus

* A memorial had been drawn out and addressed to the Volksraad,
by a number of respectable inhabitants residing chiefly at and near
D' Urban, strongly protesting against this act of aggression made by
Pretorius, contrary to the written instructions which had been delivered
to him when he took the command of this expedition.

138 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

expresses his feelings in reference to that painful
subject : —

"To suppose that yourself, or indeed any man in the
colony, with a spark of humanity in his breast, would
attempt to palliate such a flagrant act of cruelty and in-
justice, would be a libel on my part quite unjustifiable, as I
am well convinced that the moment you read the account it
must have made a deep impression of horror and disgust on
so sensitive and honourable a mind as I believe yours to be,
from the intercourse we have had together, particularly as
regards the conduct of your misguided countrymen and
fellow-subjects, the emigrant farmers of Natal."

He informed me in that letter (which bears date at
Graham's Town, 2$th January, 1841) that Faku and
the Amaponda tribes had now become apprehensive
of similar unprovoked attacks, and that, in short, this
attack of the emigrant farmers upon one of the
peaceable tribes around them had greatly altered
their position, since previously to this they had (as
they professed) only fought for their own safety and
in order to prevent the Zoolah chief, Dingaan, from
accomplishing by force and treachery their total
destruction, whereas they had now, after accomplish-
ing their avowed object and while living in peace,
wantonly sent a commando to attack a native chief
living at least 200 miles from their country and close
to the then existing borders of the Cape Colony.

His Excellency thereupon immediately despatched
a force of 250 infantry, with a small detachment of
the Cape Corps and two field-pieces, with orders to

iv.] ATTEMPTED VINDICATION 139

march and take up a position on the Umzimvubu;
but the difficulties of such a land expedition induced
His Excellency so far to modify his arrangements
that the troops which were placed under the com-
mand of Captain Smith, of the 2/th Regiment,
ultimately took up a position and remained for
several months encamped on the banks of the
Umgazi River, awaiting the course of events.*

From that moment, however, the feelings of Sir
George Napier towards the emigrant farmers, which
had previously been marked by the utmost kindli-
ness and sympathy, were considerably altered ; and
he did not hesitate to express his indignation at
their conduct in a letter addressed to them, which
led to a reply from themselves, bearing date the
7th of April, 1841, in which (it is but just towards
them to observe) they attempt to vindicate their
conduct by stating that they had the undeniable
proofs that some of their cattle had been traced to
the kraals of N'Capai, and that Faku and his people
themselves had given the information that N'Capai
had then some of their cattle in his possession ; but
these explanations only led His Excellency to an-
nounce to them formally, at once, that he declined
any further intercourse with them, unless they dis-

* The Umgazi is a small stream arising in the Umtata or Zuurberg
mountains (being a continuation of the Draaksberg or Quathlamba
range of mountains, running from the Zoolah country to the eastern
frontier of the Cape Colony), and flowing about midway between
the Kie (the present eastern boundary of British Kaffraria) and the
Umzimvubu or St. John's River.

HO THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

tinctly acknowledged their full and entire allegiance
to their lawful Sovereign, the Queen of England,
and further declared their willingness to obey the
lawful authority of the British Government.

A few months after this, after a long interval of
suspense and anxiety, Sir George Napier received
a communication from Her Majesty's Secretary of
State for the colonies, in answer to his several
despatches of the years 1840 and 1841, in which
he had brought before the notice of the home
Government his correspondence with the Volksraad
on the subject of their application to be declared
a free and independent state. About that time an
influential set of politicians had frequently mooted
the question in Parliament, whether our colonial
empire was not becoming far too extensive, and
rather required to be reduced ; and who, by dwelling
upon the Kafir wars and the Canada and the New
Zealand rebellions, and the expenses thereby in-
curred, were constantly urging upon Her Majesty's
ministers the reduction of the colonial establishments
to the lowest scale of efficiency. Under the influence
of such a pressure, it appears that the home Govern-
ment were very reluctant to extend their settlements
in South Africa ; and His Excellency was therefore
left in a great measure to use his own discretion in
regard to the matter in question, having merely
received an announcement "that Her Majesty could
not acknowledge the independence of her own sub-
jects, but that the trade of the emigrant farmers

IV.] CLAIM FOR INDEPENDENCE 141

would be placed on the same footing as that of any
other British settlement, upon their receiving a
military force to exclude the interference with or
possession of the country by any other European
power." This resolution His Excellency communi-
cated to the Volksraad, in a letter dated $rd Sep-
tember, 1841, and there is no doubt that, if this
communication had been entertained in the same
spirit in which it had originated, the emigrants might
even then have secured for themselves all the benefits
of self-government, subject only to a mere acknow-
ledgment of their allegiance to Her Majesty's Govern-
ment, and with the additional advantage of military
protection ; but the very announcement that military
possession would be taken of the bay was sufficient
to impress them with the idea that they were to be
subject to military rule; and under this impression
they sent a reply, dated nth October, 1841, wherein
they state that, having asserted and maintained their
independence as " Dutch South Africans " ever since
they left the Cape Colony, they were fully determined
not to surrender this point, and " as Her Majesty has
been pleased to reject their very fair proposals, they
were inclined to remain on the same footing as there-
tofore," significantly concluding by saying that

"Your Excellency's proposal to enter into a treaty with
us under the influence of a military force, and without being
acquainted with the terms of agreement, appears to us so
unintelligible and undefined, that unless we are further
informed, we cannot comprehend the object of it."

142 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

His Excellency Sir George Napier thereupon,
under the rather indefinite authority contained in
the despatches received up to that time from the
Secretary of State, issued a proclamation on the
2nd December, 1841, in which he declared —

"That whereas the Council of emigrant farmers now
residing at Port Natal and the territory adjacent thereto,
had informed His Excellency that they had ceased to be
British subjects, and refused to be recognised or treated
as such; and whereas they had recently passed a resolu-
tion by which all Kafirs inhabiting Natal were to be
removed, without their consent, into a country lying be-
tween the Umtaphoona and the Umzimvubu, forming part
of the territory of the chief Faku, without having obtained
the consent of the said Faku ; from which measure warfare
and bloodshed were to be apprehended : His Excellency
announced his intention of resuming military occupation
of Port Natal by sending thither, without delay, a detach-
ment of Her Majesty's forces."

And His Excellency further solemnly warned the
inhabitants against the consequences of in any way
resisting or opposing Her Majesty's forces or the
due exercise of Her Majesty's authority, and in-
formed those who resided here, not being British
subjects, that they would be placed out of the
protection of the law and be liable to be dealt
with as the interests of the Crown might require.

This proclamation, on reaching Natal, was viewed
in the light of an overt declaration of hostilities, and
was answered on the 2ist February, 1842, in a very

IV.] PROTEST AGAINST BRITISH SUPREMACY 143

lengthened and elaborate minute addressed to His
Excellency, in which the emigrant farmers recapitu-
lated all the grievances which they had suffered
from successive governments, ascribing all their
miseries to one single cause, viz., the absence of a
representative government, which had been asked by
them during many years past, while still residing in
the Cape Colony, but had as often been delayed or
refused : with regard to the intention to remove the
Kafirs, they declared that the measure proceeded
from real practical philanthropy, to avoid that
collision of different races which would inevitably
result from the continued residence of themselves
amongst the natives ; and with regard to their
intention to remove them to the country between
the Umtaphoona and the Umzimvubu, that it had
been expressly stipulated by their treaty with
Dingaan that their territory was to extend to the
latter river, all that country having been previously
conquered by Chaka ; and Faku having, moreover,
formally acknowledged the right of the emigrant
farmers to it. This document concluded with a
solemn protest against the occupation of any part
of their country by Her Majesty's troops ; and
declared that they thereby held themselves free from
all blame from the injurious consequences of that
step, before God, their own consciences, and the
world !

No doubt can at present exist in any dispassionate
and impartial mind, that this important document,

144 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

which had been drawn up by Mr. Boshof for the
Volksraad, ably answered the proclamation of His
Excellency, to which might justly be applied the
remark or piece of advice given me by an eminent
special pleader of Lincoln's Inn when I took leave
of him on my departure for the Cape Colony, and
when he, rather prophetically anticipating my future
elevation to the bench, said — " Now, Mr. Cloete, you
have entered the law, and may possibly one day be
elevated to the judicial bench. Allow me, therefore,
to give you one friendly advice. Whenever you have
to give your judgments, abstain as much as possible
from giving your reasons ; for your judgments may
often be perfectly right, and yet your reasons alto-
gether wrong."

There is no doubt that in this case the hostile
attitude assumed by the emigrant farmers left the
Governor of the Cape no alternative but either to
admit or deny their independence, and the measure
of sending a military force became the only one
calculated to put that question at once to the test ;
but perhaps the result of that movement might
have been quite different had it not been for an
incident in the history of this district, which exerted
an overwhelming influence on the minds of the
inhabitants generally and of the members of the
Volksraad in particular. The very next month after
their solemn protest had been transmitted to Sir
George Napier, a Dutch vessel, called the Brasilia,
anchored in the port of Port Natal, and the supercargo,

IV.] BOER CREDULITY 145

Mr. Smellekamp, who afterwards resided in the
Orange Free State (as it is now called), informed
the emigrant farmers upon his first arrival that a
number of merchants in Holland had taken a deep
interest in their affairs, and had despatched this
vessel for the express purpose of opening a direct
trade with their country, and supplying them with
" notions " of Dutch produce and manufacture : this
arrival, and the display of the Dutch flag, aroused in
all the emigrant farmers the most extravagant affec-
tion for the country and people to which most of
them traced their descent. Mr. Smellekamp was
received at this place with triumphal honours ; public
dinners were given him ; the Dutch flag became the
ensign of the new republic; and Mr. Smellekamp, led
away by the enthusiasm with which his arrival had
been greeted, gave the inhabitants of Natal the most
exaggerated ideas of the power and influence of
Holland in the council of nations ; moreover, assuring
them of the sympathy and support of the King of
Holland, and finally entered into a formal treaty with
the Volksraad assuring them of the " protection " of
Holland, to which he affixed his signature in these
terms : —

" Accepted in the name of the King of the Netherlands,
subject to His Majesty's formal approval ! "

He further gave them the strongest assurances that
they would soon be provided with ministers and
schoolmasters for the improvement of their moral

146 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

condition, and with arms and ammunition to repel
any hostile attack with which they might be
threatened.

I cannot give a more striking illustration of the
manner in which the Volksraad were misled on that
occasion, as to the support they expected from the
King of Holland, than by relating the following
anecdote. Some days after my arrival here in
June, 1843, I had an interview with several leading
members of the Volksraad, in the course of which I
happened to allude to some political measures going
on in Europe, and to state that such a measure was
under the consideration of the five great powers :
whereupon I was at once asked by the spokesman,
which were these five great powers to which I had
alluded. I replied that those powers were Eng-
land, France, Russia, Austria, and Prussia. The
querist at once exclaimed, " And is Holland not one
of them?" This compelled me to enter at some
length into the modern history of Europe, and to
explain to them how Holland had, since the year
1830, by the rebellion and subsequent formation of
Belgium into a separate kingdom, dwindled into a
third-rate power of Europe ; when the spokesman
significantly and bitterly replied, " We were never told
that before, but the very reverse ! "

The emigrant farmers were, however, so fully con-
vinced at the time that they had now obtained the
countenance of a first-rate European power in support
of their independence, that Mr. Smellekamp had

IV.] APPEAL TO HOLLAND 147

all his travelling expenses paid to enable him to
return to Holland direct (as the Brasilia was
destined for a lengthened cruise to the eastward);
and he was, moreover, made the bearer of a number
of official and other letters to the Ministers of State
of his Majesty the King of Holland, and to many
influential persons in that country, claiming the
interposition of those persons in support of the
independence of Natal ; this was the state of feeling
which prevailed among all classes and both sexes
of the community here, when arrangements were at
length completed to enable Captain Smith to break
up from the Umgazi camp, and to pursue his course
overland to Natal.

I cannot refrain from relating here a remarkable
interview I had with His Excellency Sir George
Napier on this subject. More than a year before
this time His Excellency had disclosed to me (being
then a member of the Legislative Council at the
Cape), in the most frank and confidential manner,
his views with regard to this district, and when his
correspondence with the emigrant farmers assumed
a somewhat serious aspect (after their attack upon
N'Capai), His Excellency even proposed to me to
undertake a mission to this country, which he was
anxious to confide to me ; but I at once respectfully
declined the offer, stating that so long as the home
Government had not determined upon its final
course in regard to this question I could never hope
to accomplish anything satisfactory to either party.

148 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT

His Excellency still continued to communicate to
me every step in the correspondence and relations
between the two countries, and the views of Her
Majesty's Government upon the subject ; and in
the month of January, 1841, His Excellency had
already, in the fullest manner, explained to me his
policy in regard to this question. In the month
of April, 1842, His Excellency informed me that
the necessary arrangements having been now entirely
completed, Captain Smith had, by the last post,
announced his departure from the Umgazi camp,
on his march to Natal. I could not help replying
that I deeply regretted to hear this news, as I
anticipated the most deplorable results from such
a movement. Upon His Excellency pressing me
for a further explanation, I at once said that I
understood the captain's force to consist of 250
infantry, besides a small party of the Cape Corps
and two field-pieces, encumbered, moreover, by a
numerous waggon train ; that such a force appeared
to me just sufficient to show a hostile intention
towards the emigrant farmers, without being suffi-
cient to secure success, if hostilities should ensue,
as they certainly would ; and that if the farmers
were to be aware of the march of the troops there
was not a kloof or a drift which the latter would
have to pass where they might not be cut off without
a chance of even making an effectual resistance.
Upon His Excellency then asking me what steps
I should propose, I stated that if it were intended

IV.] ARRIVAL OF MILITARY FORCE IN NATAL 149

to take possession of the port, this should be done
from the sea, and the troops landed from vessels
which might at once put them on shore. His Excel-
lency, however, replied that he had been informed
that the entrance to the bay was defended by field-
works, which would render the landing dangerous ;
and, in short, that the measure under discussion had
already been decisively settled by the troops having
passed into the Amaponda country ; but the sub-
stance of this interview was forgotten neither by
His Excellency nor by myself when the disastrous
events which I am about to refer to became known
in Cape Town.

Captain Smith was at that time marching his
little army along what is termed the lower or coast
road. The rivers were still much swollen by recent
rains, and as many difficulties were thus to be en-
countered and overcome, it occupied upwards of six
weeks in bringing this force in safety through such a
country, through which only a trader's waggon was
known previously to have passed ; but so sparse was
the population, and so quietly had the march been
managed, that the occupants of the picturesque farm
of Sea View (the late Mr. Dunn and his family)
were suddenly surprised, on the 3rd of May, 1842,
by seeing the detachment enter their grounds at the
head of the bay of Natal. The following day the
troops marched through the hamlet of Congella, and
took up their position in the flat nearly on the same
spot as that where the camp is at present situated.

ISO THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

So far they had fortunately succeeded in taking up
their ground at D' Urban without the slightest opposi-
tion, and a few days after their arrival the Pilot brig
came to anchor in the bay, bringing them an ample
supply of stores and provisions (of which they stood
much in need), as also two iS-pounders and ammuni-
tion ; and this vessel was soon afterwards followed by
the Mazeppa, schooner, so that Captain Smith also
took possession of the spit (where the present Custom
House is now established), and placed a small detach-
ment there to take charge of the goods as they were
landed, and from whence he commenced drawing the
supplies to the camp as occasion required.

In the meantime the Volksraad (then assembled at
Pietermaritzburg), astounded at having been thus cut
off from their only seaport, ordered out the whole of
their armed burghers, under Andries Pretorius, as com-
mander-in-chief, to the number of 300 or 400 men.
Their headquarters were established at Congella, and
messages at first, and afterwards letters, passed be-
tween Pretorius and Captain Smith, the former
insisting upon the troops quitting their position, and
the latter demanding that the armed burgher force
which was gathering around should be withdrawn.
Fourteen days had passed in this state of armed
negotiation, when on May 23rd some of Captain
Smith's cattle (which had always been grazing on the
flats below the Berea Hills) were carried off by some
of the herds of the emigrants; and Captain Smith,
viewing this as an act of direct hostility, determined

IV.] NIGHT ATTACK ON THE BOERS 151

at once to carry out a plan he had projected for some
time, grounded (I fear) upon some well-intended but
erroneous information he had received from some of
the English residents at D' Urban (with whom he
was in constant communication), for making a night
attack upon the emigrants collected at Congella, and
thus destroying their camp, waggons, and supplies.

The result of that " untoward expedition " may be
best gathered from Captain Smith's own despatch,
which I will proceed to give in a condensed form,
but in nearly the very words of the writer, as found
in his official letter to Colonel Hare, commanding
his regiment, and the Lieutenant - Governor of the
eastern frontier.

" In my last despatch," he says, " I detailed the various
steps taken by the farmers to annoy the troops, and my
determination to abstain if possible from hostilities if it
could be done without detriment to the honour of the
service, etc. ; but the receipt of an insolent letter, demand-
ing that I should instantly quit Natal, followed by the
removal, by armed men, of a quantity of cattle belonging
to the troops, rendered it absolutely necessary that some
steps should be taken in order to prevent a repetition of
such outrages.

"I therefore determined, after mature consideration, to
march a force and attack their camp at the Congella,
and set apart the night of the 23rd" (the same day the
cattle were taken) "to effect that object. As the road to
the Congella lies for the most part through thick bush, /
thought it best to cross the sands at low water, etc.

" Fitting a howitzer in a boat, and leaving it under charge
of a sergeant of artillery, I gave directions to drop down the

152 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

channel to within 500 yards of Congella, and there aivait
the troops, in order that they might form under cover of its
fire, aided by two six-pounders, which accompanied the
force I took with me."

[N.B. — That force is then stated in detail to have amounted to
140 men.]

The writer goes on : —

"In order to prevent our movements being discovered, I
put the party in motion at n p.m. (it being a bright moon-
light!}, and arrived without molestation within nearly 800
yards of the place I proposed to attack.

"To my great mortification, I found that the boat had
not dropped down the channel, according to my instructions;
but as I considered it imprudent to wait, I was forced to
make the attack without the valuable assistance which a
discharge of shot and shells from the howitzer would have
afforded me.

" The troops had just moved to where the termination of
a range of mangrove bush opened to a level space in front
of the Congella, when a heavy and well-directed fire was
opened upon us. A destructive fire from the guns for a
while silenced our opponents; but some of the draught
oxen to the guns getting killed, and others wounded and
escaping from their trektouws, rushed among the troops,
upsetting the limbers, causing much delay in reloading and
confusion in the ranks. This circumstance, added to the
partial and at length total silence of the guns, being taken
advantage of, they again opened a heavy fire, a severe loss
resulting to the troops, etc., who reached the camp about
two o'clock in the morning in tolerable order, leaving behind
them, I regret to say, the guns, which the death of the
oxen rendered it impossible to remove !"

iv.] THE BOERS PREPARED 153

This is the substance of Captain Smith's own
official account ; to which he adds : —

"The loss of the Boers it is difficult to estimate, but I
am told it has been severe ! "

There can be no doubt, however, in any reasonable
mind that the whole of this disaster arose from the
captain's utter ignorance of the character of the
people he was going to attack, and of his want of
acquaintance with the particular route he had
selected. He admits that he first sent out a piquet
to skirt the road in front of his position to prevent
his movements from being discovered, while he selected
a bright moonlight for his advance.

Now the fact was that every evening his camp was
regularly surrounded by vedettes or guards, placed
by the commandant of the emigrant farmers, who
watched and reported during the night the most
trifling incident that took place ; and on the night
in question the Field-cornet Joubert, with twenty-
four men, had been posted in the woods through
which we still have to pass in going to Congella,
but which then consisted of far denser bush than
they do at present. This party saw and watched
the march of the troops ; sent word to headquarters
at Congella to put the burghers there upon their
guard, and as the moon shone with almost the
brightness of day, they gradually ensconced them-
selves each man behind one of the mangrove trees
that grew down as far as low-water mark, and there

154 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

waited till they distinctly heard the word of com-
mand given to the troops to draw up in line, when
they commenced and kept up a steady and deliberate
fire, chiefly directed at the guns and drivers, and
soon killing a promising young officer (Lieut. Wyatt)
of the Artillery, who had the charge of the guns.
The troops were thus thrown into utter confusion,
and hastily fell back; the tide having by that time
risen so far as to place them breast-high in water;
and the admitted loss of 103 men killed, wounded,
and missing out of a party of 140 who had marched
out of the camp too clearly showed the fatal effects
of the fire to which they had been exposed ; while
not a single man of the emigrant party had been
hurt.

Equally injudicious were the arrangements of the
English commander, founded on the support he ex-
pected to receive from the howitzer in the boat, for
everyone now knows that at low water there is no
channel affording sufficient depth of water for a boat
with a heavy load to approach the Congella ; so
that, while the ebb-tide enabled the troops to march,
the boat could not possibly accompany them ; while,
on the other hand, the moment there was sufficient
depth of water for the boat to approach, the men
would be up to their waists in water, and unable to
perform any effectual service, so that it was physically
impossible that the one could have acted in support
of the other.

But if the planning and execution of this unto-

iv.] PREPARING FOR DEFENCE 155

ward movement are justly open to the severest
censure, it is equally due to Captain Smith to add
that his exertions, his perseverance, and the example
he set in the time of distress entitle him to the
greatest praise. Reduced to nearly one half of his
original strength by this misfortune, and expecting
every moment an attack on his camp, he applied the
next morning early for a truce of twenty-four hours,
to bring in and bury the dead. This having been
readily granted, he was indefatigable in putting his
camp into a posture of defence. The numerous
waggons he had brought with him were immediately
so arranged as to fortify the place, somewhat in the
fashion of a Boers' laager, and the soft and sandy
nature of the soil enabled him, with the aid of all
the non-combatants, to dig a trench and throw up a
mound around the camp, by which the troops were
in some measure protected. But the commanding
officer also perceived that his only chance of relief
depended upon the rapid transmission of intelligence
to the authorities in the Cape Colony. He consulted
some of the principal Englishmen then resident at
D'Urban, and he happily found in your present
worthy and worshipful mayor (George Cato), a faith-
ful adviser, through whom means were devised to
expedite the immediate intelligence to the Cape
Colony.

Richard (commonly called Dick) King, then living
in a hut at D'Urban, at once offered to take the
despatch (of which I have just given the substance)

156 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

personally to Graham's Town. The following night
he was supplied with two troopers, and the moment
night had spread darkness around Mr. Cato got
Dick King and the horses across the bay to the bluff,
where King, mounting one horse and leading the
other, soon crossed the Umlaas, and before daybreak
passed the Umcomas, where he was safe from further
pursuit, and wended his perilous journey across Kafir-
land, where we shall leave him for the present

The emigrant farmers, elated by their first success
and the capture of two brass six-pounders, next
turned their attention to the supplies which Captain
Smith was receiving from the point and the vessels
in the bay ; and two days after the former night
attack they made another on their side, attended
with complete success. A detachment of their
mounted men went unperceived past the mouth of
the Umgeni, skirted the back beach (as it is called)
at low water, and suddenly rushing upon the small
detachment which was posted at the point, quickly
overpowered it, the officer in command having barely
time to escape by jumping through the back window
of the hut he was occupying. Two men were killed,
two more wounded, and the remainder of the detach-
ment were taken prisoners, and, together with most
of the English inhabitants of D'Urban (who were
naturally inclined to assist Her Majesty's troops),
were all brought up to this town of Pietermaritzburg,
where the present court-house was converted into a
prison, in which they were kept closely confined.

IV.] THE BRITISH TROOPS BESIEGED 157

One eighteen-pounder and a great part of the
provisions still remaining in the Pilot and Mazeppa,
which Captain Smith had not been able to remove,
together with many engineers' tools, were thus cap-
tured ; but fortunately all the ammunition had been
previously removed to the camp and secured in a
temporary magazine. The vessels at anchor and the
point itself were thus taken by the emigrants, and
the troops thereby completely cut off from any
further communication by sea.

The farmers, having thus possessed themselves of
one long eighteen-pounder and two brass six-
pounders, commenced regular field-works around the
camp, and having brought their guns to bear, carried
on for three days a heavy cannonade against the
camp, the guns being well handled by a few Germans
whom they had enlisted for that service, and who
had served in some of the Continental armies before
settling in this district. Their fire was answered by
a howitzer and an eighteen-pounder, which Captain
Smith had been able to get up from the point before
its capture. But ammunition and shot soon failing
the besiegers, they established a foundry, where the
links of a chain cable, taken from the Mazeppa or
Pilot, were severed and covered with lead, of which
they had a tolerably good supply. But this stock
also becoming soon exhausted, as well as their gun-
powder, they determined to await the more tedious but
more certain effect of a rigid blockade, well knowing
that if the troops were effectually deprived of all

158 THE BOERS IN NATAL [LECT.

external aid, they must succumb to the pressure of
famine.

Captain Smith had previously foreseen that this
last would prove to be his most serious enemy, and
he had therefore provided against it with the utmost
care. All the remaining cattle (which he was now
unable to send out to graze) and the horses in the
camp (for which he no longer had food) were
slaughtered and converted into "biltong," and the
troops were placed on the shortest allowance possible.
Two different sorties, made during the month of
June, led to no further result than the loss of a few
lives on both sides ; but the emaciated forms, the
sunken eyes, and the dejected appearance of the
soldiers in the camp indicated but too clearly that
this state of things could not last much longer.
Already had their rations been reduced to the
smallest quantity sufficient to sustain life, and for
some days the biltong of horseflesh had been issued as
their only animal food ; and after having been thus
hemmed in for thirty days, every hour and minute
began to be calculated as to the probability of their
receiving timely succour. At length, as darkness
set in on the evening of the 24th of June, several
rockets and blue-lights, illuminating the sky and
hills to seaward, announced that relief was at hand.

At this juncture I shall at present conclude this
lecture, as I fear I have already trespassed too long
upon your time and patience, and indeed I have
found, as I was proceeding, that to give only a

IV.] THE LAST ACTS OF THE DRAMA 159

summary of events would far exceed the limits of
a single address. If you, then, continue to feel an
interest in the subject, I intend, a few days hence,
to conclude this portion of history in another lecture
in this place, when I propose to exhibit to you the
last acts of the drama in which many fierce passions
and contests were still displayed, but ending in the
final submission of this country to Her Majesty's
authority.

LECTURE V.
SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN

I STATED in my last lecture that Captain Smith,
after his disastrous defeat at the Congella, had
found in the present worthy mayor of D' Urban (Mr.
George Cato) a faithful adviser, and in Richard King
an energetic, public-spirited messenger, who, without
taking any selfish advantage of the circumstances,
responded at once to his call, and went off to
announce the fatal result of the night attack on
the Congella to the authorities in the Cape Colony.
It was evident that the only chance of relief
depended on the speed with which that intelligence
was conveyed, and Dick King (as he is commonly
called), feeling the importance of this mission, got
through the Amabaka* and Amaponda countries
at the extreme peril of his life, and on the ninth
day reached Graham's Town in an almost exhausted
state. On the receipt of this sad intelligence the

* He was surrounded by the Amabakas, who, mistaking him at
first for a Dutch emigrant farmer, were about to take revenge upon him
for the attack made upon them by Pretorius ; but he, happily, could
make himself understood, and explained his errand, upon which they
allowed him to pass.

1 60

LECT. v.] SUCCOUR FOR THE BESIEGED 161

Lieutenant-Governor on the frontier (Colonel Hare)
immediately despatched the grenadier company of
the 27th Regiment to Port Elizabeth, where they
were embarked in the schooner the Conch, then
fortunately lying there at anchor, under the com-
mand of our present port-captain (Captain Bell), who
had already visited, and was well acquainted with,
the harbour of Natal ; and Sir George Napier, upon
receiving the same painful account at Cape Town,
had fortunately at his disposal the 25th Regiment,
which was then only awaiting transports to take
them on to India, but which might not be expected
for some weeks. Admiral Percy (the admiral on
the station) at once gave up his flagship, the
Southampton, of fifty guns, for the proposed ex-
pedition ; and my worthy and excellent brother,
Colonel (now Sir Josias Cloete), having been placed
in command of the whole force, the 25th Regiment
were marched down and embarked at Simon's Town,
and in an incredibly short space of time, on the
24th June (exactly one month from the day of
Captain Smith's disaster), the Southampton arrived
off the bar and found the Conch, which had anchored
off the bay the day preceding, and as the evening
fell rockets and blue-lights were immediately thrown
up to cheer the besieged with the prospect of instant
relief.

The next day, every arrangement being made to
effect a landing, the Southampton brought up as close
to the beach as she could with safety approach, and
M

162 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

a favourable south-east breeze having just sprung up,
Captain Bell, in the Conch, led the way over the bar,
having all the man-of-war boats in tow, the last of
which, as they got on the bar, cast off their lines
and landed, and attacked the Bluff, where the
emigrant farmers had planted two ship guns with
a small force to defend the approach to the bay.
But Captain Wells, of the 25th Regiment, with his
small party soon effected a landing and captured
their guns, while the Conch and the remaining boats
were exposed to a severe cross-fire as they entered
the port ; but the tide and breeze had wafted them
in so rapidly that with the trifling loss of two killed
and four wounded the main body, under the com-
mand of Colonel Cloete and Major D'Urban, made
good their landing near the old custom-house, from
whence the emigrant farmers were soon completely
driven away, their flag taken down and captured,
and their whole force pursued towards the Congella,
thus placing Colonel Cloete in communication with
Captain Smith, and the whole of the country within
the Berea Hills in his possession. The next day,
hearing that some of the farmers were still gathered
at the Congella, Colonel Cloete advanced with 200
men and drove them from that position, when they
retired to Cowie's farm, at the foot of the hill which
now encloses the rising Pine Town, to the south-
ward. But now the commanding officer found
himself placed in a most anxious position ; the
gentle south-east breeze which had wafted them

v.] MURDER BY KAFIR AUXILIARIES 163

on shore on the 25th of June increased the same
evening into a violent and (at that season of the
year) very unusual gale from the south-east. The
Southampton, which had so gallantly placed itself
as near as possible to the bar to aid in the landing
of the troops, after drifting awhile, was obliged to
put to sea with the loss of some of her anchors,
having with difficulty weathered the dangerous Bluff,
and was driven about for four or five days without
a chance of returning to the anchorage. The supplies
on board the Conch and those found at the Congella
were quite insufficient to supply food for the six
or seven hundred men now under, his command,
and Colonel Cloete thus availed himself of the only
means he had at hand to ensure some supplies. A
number of petty Kafir chieftains, attracted by the
hostilities which had been going on for more
than a month, immediately repaired to the camp,
tendering their ready assistance, and Colonel Cloete
requested them to supply the troops as soon as
possible with some cattle, both for slaughter and
for drawing his field-guns, if further hostilities had
to be carried on. These Kafirs soon spread about,
and in search of cattle a party of these appears to
have visited two farms, situate between the Umlaas
and the Llovo rivers (now forming part of the
Umlaazi location), and there meeting two very
respectable farmers, Van Rooyen and Oosthuysen,
who were known for their very peaceable disposition,
murdered them in cold blood, but refrained from

164 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

any act of violence to their wives and children,
who escaped to the camp of the emigrants, and
filled it with dismay and horror at the idea that
the Kafirs had been incited to commit these murders
upon the farmers. Colonel Cloete, on hearing this
report, at once issued a public notice, solemnly dis-
avowing having given even an implied sanction to
such excesses ; but at the same time warned the
emigrants that it was quite impossible for him to
prevent these outrages, so long as they continued in
open rebellion against Her Majesty's authority.

The latter were, however, so disconcerted by these
murders, and they gave rise to such a state of panic,
that all those farmers who were still residing on their
homesteads at once fled with their families and flocks
to this town of Pietermaritzburg, which became the
scene of the utmost confusion.

The Volksraad held an extraordinary meeting on
a Sunday in the church-building (the court-hall being
considered too small to hold the whole of the public),
to take into consideration the present aspect of
affairs. Mr. Boshof was called to the chair, but
it was quite impossible for him to preserve anything
like regularity in their proceedings. The most
violent attacks and recriminations ensued, which
occupied the whole day, until, towards the approach
of the evening, the strength of the loudest declaimers
being somewhat exhausted, Mr. John van der Plank
(who, with Mr. Mesham and Thomas Sheers, were
the only Englishmen who had been allowed to be

v.] RESOLUTIONS OF THE VOLKSRAAD 165

at liberty) proposed a written resolution to the
effect :—

"That in the present state of affairs it was expedient
and necessary to propose to Col. Cloete the following
terms of peace : —

" i. That there should be granted a general amnesty to
all emigrant farmers who had engaged in these hostilities.

"2. That Col. Cloete should put an end to, and support
them in, any attack from the Kafirs."

The chairman thereupon ordered the doors to be
closed to the public, and having put these resolutions
to the Volksraad, they, by a large majority, adopted
them as a basis of negotiation with Col. Cloete, and
appointed a deputation, consisting of the Chairman,
Mr. Van der Plank, Mr. Zietsman, and two more
of the Council, to proceed to D' Urban to enter upon
the terms of this pacification, but so impressed were
the Council, and even their chairman, of the succour
they were to receive from the King of Holland,
and of the effect which their petitions, entrusted to
Mr. Smellekamp, were to have, that the deputation
was directed first to make their stand on the sub-
mission they had proffered of this country to
Holland, conceiving that this would be held even
by Col. Cloete as a bar to any treaty with Her
Majesty.

The deputation met Col. Cloete at Cowie's Hills,
whither he had already advanced with a small party,
but such were the difficulties of obtaining cattle
for transport that on that score alone he could not

166 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

possibly have made a further advance. There the
chairman (Mr. Boshof) opened his negotiations, but
on mentioning the difficulty of their position by
their submission to the King of Holland, Col. Cloete
at once dismissed this plea with ridicule, and stated
that he had already prepared in writing the only
terms which he was willing to grant them. These
were read to them, and the deputation did not
appear to object to their tenor, but stating that
they could only be sanctioned by the Volksraad at
their special meeting, they suggested that by Col.
Cloete's presence at Pietermaritzburg this was likely
to be accomplished far more readily and satisfactorily
than by constant deputations or correspondence. Col.
Cloete at once adopted that suggestion, both with
a view of bringing these matters to a speedy issue,
by showing them this mark of his confidence and
power, and furthermore (and indeed chiefly) with a
view of obtaining by ocular proof and inspection a
thorough knowledge of the country and of the
roads and passes from the bay to this town, re-
garding which they v were all at the camp in the
utmost ignorance.

Col. Cloete accordingly soon followed the deputa-
tion to this place, accompanied by Lieut. Napier
as his aide-de-camp, Lieut Fuller of the Engineers,
and Lieut Maclean of the Artillery. He was re-
ceived with every mark of respect, and a meeting
of the Volksraad was specially convened for the
5th July, 1842, when they formally tendered to

v.] AN IMPORTANT DECLARATION 167

Col. Cloete the following written deed of submission,
signed by Mr. Boshof, as their chairman, and twelve
members of the Volksraad. It was to this effect : —

"We, the undersigned, duly authorised by the emigrant
farmers of Pietermaritzburg, Natal, and the adjacent country,
do hereby tender for them and ourselves our solemn declar-
ation of submission to the authority of Her Majesty the
Queen of England.

"And we do further accept and subscribe to the follow-
ing terms that have been required : —

" i st. The immediate release of all prisoners, whether
soldiers or civilians ;

" 2nd. The giving up of all cannon in our possession,
those taken as well as others, with the ammunition and
stores belonging to them ; and

" 3rd. The restitution of all public and private property
in our possession, which had been confiscated.

"Signed by J. Boshof, President, and 12 members."

Upon this document being delivered to Col. Cloete,
the guns which had been brought up here being
surrendered, and the prisoners, who had undergone
a strict, and occasionally a severe, imprisonment in
the court -hall for six weeks, being immediately
released, — Col. Cloete granted them in writing the
following terms, viz. : —

" i st. Under the authority of His Excellency the
Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good
Hope he agreed to grant them : —

" i. A general amnesty or free pardon to all persons
who have been engaged in resisting Her Majesty's troops
and authority, with the exception of Joachim Prinsloo,

i68 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

A. W. Pretorius, J. J. Burger, Michael van Breda, and
Servaas van Breda, whose cases were to be left for the
special consideration of his Excellency the Governor."

Colonel Cloete, however, after signing and inter-
changing these documents, became so satisfied that
Andries W. Pretorius, although then their military
commander, had so powerfully exerted his influence
to bring about this pacification by satisfying the
great majority of the utter hopelessness of further
resistance, that he withdrew his name from the list
of the proscribed, leaving the four others to await
His Excellency's decision.

He further declared, —

"2. To respect all private property, whether houses,
goods, or chattels.

" 3. That the emigrant farmers were at liberty to return
unmolested to their farms, with their guns and horses.

"4. That the farmers would be protected against any
attack of the Zoolahs or native tribes.

" 5. That the tenure of their lands would not be inter-
fered with, but must be left for the final determination and
settlement of Her Majesty's Government.

"6. That the existing administration and civil institu-
tions, under acknowledgment of Her Majesty's supremacy,
shall not be interfered with till the pleasure of Her Majesty
shall be known. But that the Volksraad was not to
extend any jurisdiction to Port Natal, which was to be
placed for the present under the exclusive control of the
military commandant of Her Majesty's troops. The limits
of Port Natal being defined by the Umlazi River to the
west, the Umgane to the east, and a line along the ridges

v.] A SATISFACTORY SETTLEMENT 169

and crest of the Berea Hills, joining those two rivers to the
north.

"7. That the Kafirs shall for the present remain in the
unmolested occupation of the grounds upon which they
were upon the arrival of Her Majesty's troops, subject to
such future arrangements as the Government may find
necessary to make for general security.

"8. That the port and custom dues remain to the
Crown, and are to be left at the disposal of Her Majesty's
Government."

The principal and most effective force under Col.
Cloete's command, consisting of the 25th Regiment,
being urgently required for India, was thereupon
immediately embarked on board of the Southampton,
in which Col. Cloete also returned to Cape Town,
leaving the command of Port Natal and the country
within the limits of the Berea, as heretofore defined,
and as entirely excluded from any interference from
the Volksraad, under the command of Capt. Smith.

The whole of the proceedings of Col. Cloete were
entirely approved of by His Excellency, and subse-
quently by Her Majesty's ministers, and no one,
possessed of a dispassionate and unprejudiced mind,
can fail to appreciate how satisfactorily, in the space
of two weeks, he had accomplished the settlement of
this very difficult question, and saved this country, as
well as Her Majesty's arms, the sad consequences of
an unnatural civil war.

But there were not wanting in and about the camp,
and among the persons who had undergone the

i;o SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

hardships of imprisonment, several who deeply
regretted that no opportunity had been afforded
them of satisfying or (rather) glutting their feelings
of revenge. These represented the settlement as
not only inconclusive and unsatisfactory, but as
also keeping up a spirit of enmity towards the
emigrant farmers. They made every little complaint
the theme for a renewal of hostilities with them,
as all supplies having to be brought from Port Natal,
some intercourse was necessarily kept up with this
town and Port Natal. The circulation by the
Volksraad of their title deeds to different farmers,
which had been struck off on a small American
press at the Umlazi station many months before the
outbreak of hostilities, and which, prefaced by styling
the Volksraad " The Hon'ble Volksraad, as having
Supreme Power in the Government of the Republic
of the Dutch South African Emigrants at Natal,"
was made the text of a violent and angry corres-
pondence between Captain Smith and the Volksraad,
and matters were gradually leading both parties to
such an estrangement that no doubt they would soon
have ended again in open hostility but for my arrival
as commissioner for this district in the beginning of
June, 1843, of which I shall now proceed to detail
the circumstances.

In discussing with Mr. Boshof and some of the
most enlightened members of the Volksraad the
manner in which the final arrangements for the
settlement of this district could be best effected

v.] APPOINTMENT OF A COMMISSIONER 171

(for neither Colonel Cloete nor His Excellency the
Governor had at that time any authority to enter
upon any definite arrangements involving the per-
manent occupation of the country), they had
suggested that the best mode of attaining that
object would be by the appointment of a special
Commissioner, with whom these matters could be
finally settled ; and Colonel Cloete conveyed this
their wish to His Excellency Sir George Napier,
who, in transmitting an account of all these stirring
events to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the
Colonies, also referred to that suggestion of Her
Majesty's Government if it should be determined
upon to take formal possession of the country.

Nine months were, however, allowed to pass, leaving
all these matters in a state of the most painful
suspense ; and indeed an opinion was getting rapidly
prevalent that Her Majesty's Government would
still eschew all interference in the administration
of this country, when, on the ist May, 1843, I
received a note from His Excellency Sir G. Napier,
stating that he had just received an important
despatch on the subject, and, having determined
to offer me to go to Port Natal as Commissioner,
he wished me to come and peruse the despatch.
I immediately repaired to Government House, and
upon its perusal was so forcibly struck by the liberal
and enlightened policy which Lord Stanley (then
Secretary for the Colonies) had laid down for the
settlement and future administration of this district,

172 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

that I expressed myself very confident of the result
of a mission which would announce such principles
to the inhabitants ; and I willingly gave up tem-
porarily my profession, and accepted the commission,
little aware, however, of the additional difficulties
which at that very moment were arising within this
district to oppose or prevent the attainment of such
an object.

A meeting of the Legislative Council was called
for the 4th May, at which His Excellency read an
able minute, setting forth the substance of the
Secretary of State's despatch; and on the I2th of
May my official appointment was announced in a
proclamation, which fully set forth the extent of
my authority and duties, and the conditions ex-
pressly required from the inhabitants before they
were to be considered entitled to the privileges
vouchsafed to them by Her Majesty's Government.

The Cleopatra frigate soon after brought me to
this place, when, on landing at the bay, I was
informed by the commandant that a fortnight before
the Dutch schooner Brasilia had again made her
appearance off the bar, having the notorious Mr.
Smellekamp and a clergyman of the Dutch Re-
formed Church and a schoolmaster on board, and
wishing to communicate with the emigrants, but
that he had refused them all intercourse with the
shore, and had ordered the vessel away with all
on board, at which he, Major Smith (for the defence
of the camp had earned him a brevet majority),

v.] HIS MEETING WITH THE BOERS 173

understood that- great excitement prevailed at
Pietermaritzburg. I felt the necessity of im-
mediately checking that ebullition, and I sent off
instantly an express to the Volksraad announcing
my arrival, and on the third day after my landing
arrived at Pietermaritzburg. Mr. Boshof, Mr. Ziets-
man, and two or three others came to meet me on my
approach to the town, and in the evening I received
the visits of some of the members of the Volksraad,
with whom I made the arrangements for holding a
meeting in the court-hall. The next morning on
entering the court-room I found about 400 or
500 persons assembled in and around, almost closing
up every approach towards it, even every window.
Mr. Stephanus Maritz, sen., presided on the occasion,
and to the meeting I opened my commission and
gave an outline of the duties upon which I was
about to enter. After being listened to with great
attention for nearly an hour that I addressed the
meeting, a notorious character, Anton Fick, arose,
stating that in the name of the "public" he held
a document, which he desired to present to me.
On asking him the nature of the document he stated
that it contained a resolution not to enter into any
negotiations with me, until they (the public) had
had intercourse with the persons on board the
Brazilia, and had ascertained the replies from the
King of Holland and his ministers as to their
relations with that country.

I at first declined receiving or hearing any such

174 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

document read, but finding the meeting much excited
on the subject, I agreed to its being read, under the
express condition of my being at liberty to answer it
directly, if I deemed it advisable ; and with this
stipulation he proceeded to read a long, rambling
statement of all the grievances and hardships of the
emigrants to obtain possession of this country, full
of complaints at the conduct of Major Smith in not
allowing their clergyman and schoolmaster to join
them, nor even to allow them to hear the replies
from Holland to the treaties they had proposed,
etc. ; the whole ending in a series of resolutions ex-
pressive of their determination not to enter into any
arrangements with me until these functionaries were
restored to them, and they had communicated with
the Brazilia.

I thereupon answered these resolutions immedi-
ately by pointing out that, at my departure from
the Cape, nothing had been known of the Brazilia
visiting this coast ; that the angry tone of their late
intercourse with the commandant had, no doubt, led
to his prohibiting any communication with the vessel,
but that his proceedings were necessarily unknown to
the authorities at the Cape, and that I had, as Com-
missioner, no concern in these matters, except to
assure them that if the Brazilia had touched at the
Cape no doubt an authority would have been given
to these functionaries to land; and I further pointed
out the extreme folly of expecting any support from
the King of Holland, with the hope of which they

v.] ACTIVITY OF THE WAR PARTY 175

were still so impressed. This proposal from the
" public " having been thus set at rest, I addressed
myself to the Volksraad, and requested of them to
know how and in what manner they would signify
their acceptance or rejection of the conditions I
had laid before them ; when their chairman, after
due consultation on that point, declared that there
were only at that moment some half-dozen members
of the Volksraad present, that the decision of such
an important question required their full attendance,
and that their ordinary quarterly meeting being fixed
for the first week of August, they desired an ad-
journment of the question till that date, when a
full attendance of all the members would be specially
called for.

This appeared so reasonable that I at once as-
sented to that adjournment, intending to devote the
intermediate time in inspecting and registering farms
and lands in and about D' Urban, from which the
influence and authority of the Volksraad had been
expressly excluded by the treaty with my brother,
Sir Josias Cloete.

I, however, remained here (at Pietermaritzburg) a
few days longer to explain more fully to the most
respectable inhabitants the policy of Her Majesty's
Government ; and during that time I received the
undoubted information that the "war party" here
(at the head of which Commandant Gert Rudolph
had placed himself) had sent expresses forthwith into
the present Sovereignty and Transvaal country,

176 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

representing that they were about being attacked
by Her Majesty's troops, and strongly urging the
commandants of those districts to be here with all
the armed force they could collect by the beginning
of August, when they expected an outbreak of
hostilities ; and at the same time I received a
memorial signed by the principal inhabitants of this
town, intimating their dread of these hostilities, and
soliciting the support of the Government against
any violence which they apprehended in case they
were to show their loyalty to the Government or
disapprobation of these violent proceedings. This
intelligence I immediately transmitted to His
Excellency, and returned to D'Urban, where the
registration of lands fully engaged my time during
the months of June and July, when on the 2ist
July, Her Majesty's steamer Thunderbolt (the first
Government steamer employed upon our coast, and
subsequently lost on Cape Receif) arrived at Port
Natal with a detachment of the 45th Regiment and
two guns, which His Excellency had despatched
immediately on the receipt of my communication as
to my first reception here, and the expected meeting
in August.

With this accession of force I had flattered my-
self that Major Smith would have been enabled to
advance upon this town before any burgher force
could have arrived from behind the Draaksberg;
that he might thus have imparted such a confi-
dence in the inhabitants, in and about the town, as

v.] COMMISSIONER AND VOLKSRAAD 177

to ensure their presence at the meeting undeterred
by the menaces of those who were bent upon war ;
but Major Smith declined, on what the Czar
terms " strategic grounds," making the advance ;
and his determination (although at the time deeply
regretted by me) only tended in its results to lead
to a far more satisfactory conclusion of this political
drama.

I had, however, determined personally to be
present here, and I accordingly intimated this in-
tention to the Volksraad, and arrived on the 6th of
August on the Uysdorns hill.* I was soon met by
an advanced guard of some twenty men, and near
the town by about eighty or a hundred more
mounted persons, all, however, unarmed, but on
reaching my residence at the house of Messrs.
Behrens (now part of the present Colonial Office),
I was waited upon by Commandant Mocke and five
or six other commandants, and about twenty field-
cornets from behind the Draaksberg, who, with about
800 or 1000 men, had marched into the town a few
days before and had encamped on the market-square,
where about twenty waggons were ranged, containing
all their arms, ammunition, and supplies. The com-
mandants, severally, at once offered me a guard for
my personal protection, which I, however, civilly
declined, expressing my entire conviction that I

* This hill is about five miles from Pietermaritzburg, remarkable
for being densely covered with the thorny "mimosa," and where the
clan of " Uys" had made their first encampment.

N

178 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

needed no such protection ; but I certainly found
the town in a state of confusion and excitement,
which it is quite impossible to describe.

The proceedings of the Volksraad had commenced
the day before my arrival, when, under the influence
of the "war party," the commandants and field-
cornets from beyond the Draaksberg had insisted
upon holding a "combined" Council of delegates from
the two districts on this and that beyond the moun-
tain (as explained in my first lecture) ; and that this
combined Council should consist of sixty members,
for the palpable object thus to give a preponderating
number of votes on any question to their numerous
party. This they had succeeded in carrying, and
the moment they had been elected and taken their
seats the notorious Mr. Fick commenced a personal
attack upon Mr. Boshof of the most virulent
character, charging him with having betrayed their
Council, as they termed it, and with having falsified
a document (referred to in my previous lecture),
by which the members of the Volksraad had
tendered their submission to Her Majesty's authority
in July, 1842.

It appeared that on that occasion Mr. Boshof,
having been the chief (if not the only) person who
could fitly embody their resolutions in writing, had
had the labour of drawing out and engrossing all
the documents, when some duplicates or triplicates
having been required of this treaty, one or two
of the country members, who were anxious to leave

v.] THE VOLKSRAAD DIVIDED 179

the town and return to their families, had signed
one of the copies of the document in blank, which
Mr. Boshof subsequently had to fill in.

This had maliciously been perverted into his
having got some members to sign a document of
which they knew not the contents, and was made the
handle of the most malignant attacks upon his
person and character ; but, fortunately, the members
whose convenience he had consulted in taking their
signatures before he had been able to make all the
copies were present, and at once completely ex-
plained and refuted this base calumny ; while
Mr. Boshof's whole career was so unassailable that
all these objections were overruled, and he was
allowed to take his seat in the Council, where they
were well aware that he could not fail to exert a
commanding influence.

One entire day was occupied with this preliminary
wrangle, and the parties broke up late at night to
recommence their deliberations the next morning
early. During that night, however, a party of the
most violent and unprincipled ruffians among them
held a secret meeting in one of the huts about the
"vley"* in this town, where they resolved upon
coming armed to the meeting of the Volksraad the
next morning, there to bring about a scuffle or out-
break, in the course of which they would make an
attack upon (or, in plainer language, assassinate)
Boshof, Pretorius, and two others, whom they con-

* A swampy part of the town, at that time almost uninhabited.

i8o SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [I.ECT.

sidered the principal heads of the peace or sub-
mission party. Andries Pretorius, who on that
occasion proved himself the true benefactor of this
country, and who by his scouts kept a watchful eye
upon all the proceedings of every party, got very
early intelligence of this plot, and he accordingly
came to the meeting also secretly armed and sur-
rounded by numerous and powerful clans ; and as
the business of the meeting was about to commence,
seeing the party mustering, whom he knew had been
hatching this atrocious conspiracy, he addressed the
meeting in a strain of impassioned extemporaneous
eloquence not unworthy of Cicero himself, and
hardly surpassed by the latter in his first "Catilin-
aria," which, if worked up by a Sallust or Livy,
would have handed down his name to posterity as
a great orator ; in the course of which he informed
the chairman and the meeting of a foul conspiracy,
which he knew had been planned against the friends
of peace and good order, and that he could at once
point out the principal ruffians ; but he disdained
to hand down their names to everlasting infamy,
and (looking to the knot where they were chiefly
collected), stated that their looks already betrayed
the guilt of their consciences ; that he dared them
to show the arms which he knew they were secretly
hiding in their bosoms ; that if force and violence
were intended he and his friends were fully prepared
to repel it ; but if not lost to all sense of shame, he
advised them to hide their diminished heads, and to

v.] WISE COUNSELS PREVAIL 181

retire from a conflict where reason and temper were
required and not brute force, and thus save them-
selves from the everlasting infamy which would
attach upon their names if they once commenced
upon any act of open violence.

Never were the following lines of the immortal
poet more applicable than to the position in which
these persons then appeared : —

" Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought ;
And enterprises of great pith and moment,
With this regard, their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action " :

for not one ventured to answer the challenge. The
whole of that clique, who soon betrayed themselves
by their manner and countenance, silently dropped
off from the assembly, and the meeting subsided
at once into more order and decorum than had been
hitherto observed. Stephanus Maritz, sen., parti-
cularly distinguished himself by the temper, tact,
and judgment which he displayed on that memorable
occasion : he very adroitly got a preliminary question
to be mooted in how far the inhabitants from beyond
the Draaksberg had a right to vote on this question,
viz., whether they were to be affected by any arrange-
ment with me, as they had not been parties to the
treaty with Col. Cloete ; and a deputation from the
Volksraad waited on me at Mr. Behren's residence,
where I was anxiously waiting the result of this

182 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

meeting to obtain a formal answer to a question,
" How far my authority was to extend, or how far
Her Majesty meant to assert her supremacy over
this country?" Although I was then but a few
yards from the court hall and square where those
exciting events were taking place, I was naturally
kept in ignorance of what was passing at the very
moment. As I had determined, as yet, not to take
any part in those proceedings, having only informed
the chairman that I was here ready to answer any
questions they might wish to put, and thus not being
aware of the exact purport and object of the question
when put to me, I yet candidly informed them that
by my instructions the future boundaries of this
district had been left entirely to my decision and
report ; that I was, however, fully aware that Her
Majesty's Government did not wish in any way to
extend her authority over vast extents of country
where an effectual protection to life and property
could not be secured to the inhabitants, and that
I did not therefore hesitate to declare at once that
I was fully prepared to recommend that the extent
of this district should be bounded on the north by
the natural Quathlamba range of mountains, and not
to extend beyond it.

This answer had a great effect upon the delibera-
tions of the Volksraad. A resolution was thereupon
put and carried, declaring that, as the inhabitants
beyond the Quathlamba or Draaksberg mountains
were not to be affected by any of my proceedings,

v.] WITHDRAWALS FROM THE VOLKSRAAD 183

their representatives now here had no right to vote
on questions which did not affect them ; and some
of the commandants and representatives from beyond
the Sovereignty even joined in that resolution, seeing
that they would have considerable difficulty in carry-
ing their original intention. The second day's pro-
ceedings then closed late at night by the whole of the
members who had taken their seats as representing
the Winburg and (now) Sovereignty territory, with-
drawing from the Volksraad ; and Commandant
Mocke, accompanied by De Kock, Du Plooy, and
several other field-cornets, called upon me the same
evening to bid me farewell, Mocke declaring with
a bitterness of feeling (which clearly betrayed the
disappointment and vexation he felt) that he never
again would have anything to do with Natal and
its affairs, that he had been grossly deceived by the
representations he had received, and that he would
now order his men peaceably to withdraw. This
order seemed to meet with the most implicit
obedience. The next day passed by in their making
preparations for their departure, and the follow-
ing day the whole of that division, about 700 or
800 strong, wended their way over the town-hill
on their return to the Sovereignty, encountering
great hardships on the road from snowstorms and
scarcity of provisions.

On the third day of the meeting of the Volksraad
its members were thus reduced to the twenty-four
members representing the Council for this district

184 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

only ; and the calm and temperate tone adopted at
that meeting seemed at once to give promise
of a peaceful and satisfactory conclusion to their
deliberations.

Dr. Poortman happened to have received a letter
from some friend in Holland, in which, alluding to
the letters brought over by Smellekamp, the writer
informed him of the delusion which had been prac-
tised upon them here ; and after this letter had been
submitted to the closest scrutiny by the post-mark
being examined, no doubt remained as to its genuine-
ness, and they appeared at last to become satisfied
that all hope of succour or support from Holland
was at an end, when they took into consideration
the terms of Lord Stanley's despatch of the I3th
December, 1842, which I had brought with me, and
of which I had made a translation, so far as to show
the sound reasoning and the liberal policy by which
Her Majesty's Government were actuated in their
adoption of this territory.

I had caused several copies to be made of this
extract, which I had circulated among them, and a
perusal thereof will, even now, no doubt, interest
my auditors, and confirm the opinion I had formed
on that subject.

One part of that despatch is to this effect, viz. : —

" The question then remains, in what manner to deal with
the district and the numerous population thus brought again
into submission, and under allegiance to Her Majesty.

" Various courses may be pursued, the supremacy of the

v.] LORD STANLEY'S DESPATCH 185

British crown having been established : the existing popu-
lation might be permitted to remain and conduct their own
affairs, withdrawing the British troops, and thus neither
exercising practical control over them, or affording them
efficient protection.

" They may be removed and compelled to return under
the pressure of an overwhelming military force, such as
would leave no alternative but those of submission or
extermination.

" The emigrants may be summoned to return within the
settled limits of the colony of the Cape, deprived of all
protection, in the event of their refusal, against the hostility
of the Zoolahs and other tribes, and of the Kafirs within
their own boundaries, and further, if deemed expedient,
cut off from all supplies by sea, and all regular and uninter-
rupted communication by land ; or, lastly, they may be taken
under the protection of the British crown, their district
recognised and adopted as a British Colony, and such insti-
tutions established, under British authority, as Her Majesty
may think fit.

" All these courses are open to adoption, and all require
thus to be maturely and carefully weighed.

"Two other courses, indeed, there are, to neither of which,
however, could Her Majesty's servants for a moment listen:
the one, to admit the independence of the emigrants, and
to disclaim all responsibility respecting them ; the other, to
permit them to come under the protection or dominion of
any foreign power.

" i. The first course of the four to which I have adverted
is open to very obvious objections. Virtually, though not
nominally, it would be conferring independence on the
emigrants, and the British Government would, in the face
of the civilised world, make itself responsible for the con-
duct of its subjects, whom, nevertheless, it neither assumed

N 2

186 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

to control by legislation, nor to protect by military support.
I fear, moreover, that in the present state of the population,
many of their acts, whether towards each other, towards the
native tribes within their limits, or towards those who sur-
round them, might be such as the British Government could
neither approve nor permit; that disunion and jealousies
among themselves would require the intervention of some
supreme authority, and that Her Majesty could not safely
entrust the emigrant farmers with the unchecked manage-
ment of the Kafirs within their territory, nor repose entire
confidence in the moderation and temper with which they
might repel the aggressions or avenge the occasional depre-
dations of the border tribes.

" 2. I confess, if there were any reasonable probability of
inducing the body of the emigrants to return within the
settled limits of the colony, under your government, either
voluntarily or after a reasonable time, by such methods of
compulsion as I have already indicated, such would be
the result, which, as you are already aware, Her Majesty's
Government would most willingly see accomplished.

" But you and Col. Cloete concur in representing, in the
strongest terms, the impossibility of inducing any consider-
able numbers of these emigrants voluntarily to return to the
colony for the sake of British protection ; and in your des-
patches of the 25th of July and the 24th of August you
assign very strong reasons why, on this subject, no inter-
mediate mode of compulsion should be adopted.

" Her Majesty's Government have carefully weighed the
arguments which you have urged and the difficulties which
you have suggested in opposition to such a measure, and I
am bound to acknowledge that they appear to us to be
almost, if not entirely, conclusive.

"But it appears to us that there are reasons at least
equally strong against the third course suggested, that of the

v.] LORD STANLEY'S DESPATCH 187

employment against the Boers of a force sufficient to compel
their return, or to exterminate them.

" That such a course is within our power, there can be no
doubt ; but notwithstanding all the faults of which the emi-
grants have been guilty, I cannot be insensible to their
good qualities, nor to the past hardships which they have
undergone; nor can I reconcile it to my sense, either of
humanity or policy, to employ a large British force in the
extirpation of a body of industrious colonists, professing
allegiance to the British crown, and inviting the savage
tribes surrounding them to join in the exterminating pro-
cess. Measures so extreme could be justified only by a
necessity which I am happy to think does not in this case
exist.

" There remains then only to be considered the question
of the recognition of the territory of Port Natal as a British
colony, or part of a British colony.

"The Commissioner will be authorised to call together
the principal emigrant farmers and others, and inform them
that Her Majesty having been graciously pleased to bury in
oblivion past transactions, and desirous of being enabled to
rely upon their present assurances of dutiful obedience and
loyalty, is anxious to place the institutions of the colony
upon such a footing, consistent with the maintenance of
her royal authority, as may be most acceptable to the
bulk of her subjects. The Commissioner is therefore to be
authorised to invite the unreserved expression of their
opinions and wishes, in respect to the judicial and other
local institutions, under which they may desire to be placed,
with an assurance that such expressions, when submitted to
Her Majesty, shall receive Her Majesty's most favourable
consideration.

i88 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

" He will cause it to be distinctly understood, however,
that this authority does not extend to the question of legis-
lation ; on which Her Majesty reserves to herself the most
entire freedom of action.

" I think it probable, looking to the nature of the popula-
tion, that they will desire those institutions to be founded
on the Dutch, rather than on the English, model, and how-
ever little some of those institutions may be suited to a
more advanced state of civilisation, it is the desire of Her
Majesty's Government that in this respect the contentment
of the emigrants rather than the abstract merits of the
institutions should guide our decision."

The principles thus laid down as to the future
policy of Her Majesty's Government were so sensible,
and approved themselves so entirely to their own
wants and wishes, that the meeting resolved at once
to adopt them ; but a difficulty then arose as to the
manner in which this adoption should be penned,
and a deputation accordingly again waited upon me,
expressive of their desire to know how their sub-
mission had best be worded. I at once referred
them to the proclamation of His Excellency Sir G.
Napier of the I2th May, which, indeed, only em-
bodied the precise terms of Lord Stanley's despatch,
and informed them that no deed of submission would
be accepted by me which did not embrace and ex-
press their entire acceptance of the three conditions
set forth in that proclamation, and I referred them to
these words, as set forth in that proclamation, viz. : —

"It is also necessary that the Commissioner should
most explicitly make known to the emigrants, that what-

v.] THE TERMS ACCEPTED 189

ever may be the institutions ultimately sanctioned, these
conditions are actually essential : —

" i. That there shall not be, in the eye of the law, any
distinction or disqualification whatever, founded on mere
distinction of colour, origin, language, or creed, but that
the protection of the law, in letter and in substance, shall
be extended impartially to all alike.

" 2. That no aggression shall be sanctioned upon the
natives residing beyond the limits of the colony, under
any plea whatever, by any private person, or any body of
men, unless acting under the immediate authority and
orders of the Government.

" 3. That slavery in any shape, or under any modifica-
tion, is absolutely unlawful, as in every other portion of
Her Majesty's dominions.

" You will take care that it be distinctly understood that
these three conditions are indispensable preliminaries to the
permission which it is proposed to give to the emigrants to
occupy the territory of Port Natal, and to enjoy therein a
settled government under British protection ; and I trust
that no difficulty will be found in obtaining the willing
acquiescence of the emigrants in stipulations so reasonable,
and in our own judgment not more called for by humanity
and justice, than essential to the peace and good order of
the district."

Another deputation soon after followed, expressive
of the entire concurrence of the Volksraad in the
second and third conditions, but stating that they
still thought that the first clause should be modified
in some shape ; it was evident from this that they
were still inclined to suggest some special reserva-
tion in regard to the rights or liberties of the Kafirs,

igo SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

and to lay the foundation for separate class-legisla-
tion for these ; but I repelled all idea of such a
nature by at once declaring that I would not admit
the slightest departure from those terms, and at
length towards the evening the chairman, together
with a deputation from the Council, handed me the
following declaration, which expressed in the follow-
ing words their entire and unconditional acceptance
of all the terms prescribed by His Excellency.
The document, as translated, runs thus : —

" PlETERMARITZBURG, 8//4 August.

"SiR, — We, the undersigned members and representa-
tives of the Volksraad, having had in consideration the
proclamation of His Excellency the Governor, dated i2th
May last, do hereby declare to have agreed to the condi-
tions set forth in the sixth article of the said proclamation,
and to accept the same.

Signed by,

J. MARITZ, President A. J. SPIES
M. J. POTGIETER P. G. HUMAN

P. R. OTTO J. A. KRIEL

P. M. ZlETSMAN M. A. VAN AARDT

B. POORTMAN G. C. VlLJOEN

M. J. PRETORIUS GERT SNYMAN

J. A. ClLLIERS H. J. VAN DEN BERG

G. R. VAN ROOYEN A. Z. VISAGE

G. J. NAUDE M. PRINSLOO

C. F. ROTMAN C. A. RUTHMAN

L. J. MEYER N. J. S. BASSON

G. F. POTGIETER J. BODENSTEIN, Sec. of

P. R. NEL the Volksraad.

"Addressed to the Hon'ble H. CLOETE,

Her Majesty's Commissioner."

v.] ACCEPTING THE INEVITABLE 191

It will be thus seen that this stormy meeting
held in this town in August, 1843, after being
protracted for three days, had ended in all the
twenty-four members of the Volksraad unanimously
signing this formal deed ; and when it is considered
that although Pretorius, Boshof, Zietsman the elder,
and several others of the most respectable inhabitants
who had no seat in the Volksraad, had yet expressed
their entire concurrence in this Proclamation, no
doubt can be entertained that this solemn deed of
submission to, and recognition of, Her Majesty's
authority had been obtained by the deliberate and
unanimous voice of all those who had really any
stake or interest in the country ; and with every
friend of humanity it became a matter of heartfelt
satisfaction, and of gratitude to the Great Disposer
of human affairs, that this had been brought about
by a perfectly free and unbiassed judgment of the
constituted authorities at the time, without any
threats or pressure from without; but I cannot
close this lecture without recording my sincere
acknowledgment that this peaceable and satis-
factory termination of the broils of the inhabitants
with the Government had thus been chiefly effected
by the influence of (the now deceased) Andries
Pretorius, of Stephanus Maritz, of Mr. Boshof, of
Dr. Poortman, and the Zietsmans, father and son,
who proved themselves true friends of the welfare
of this country, which (despite many difficulties
with which it has had to contend) has made

192 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

during these last twelve years a steady progress
in social, agricultural, and commercial improve-
ment.

These persons chiefly opened the eyes of their
countrymen to the delusion under which they had
long laboured, either as to their power of self-
government and independence, or the still more
vain hope of foreign support ; and I trust I may
now venture to express my sincere thankfulness
to them for the aid they afforded me during those
trying scenes.

You have now been informed of the true state
of things in this district from its early formation
until the formal submission of its inhabitants to
Her Majesty's authority ; you will perceive how
errors and faults, committed on both sides, threat-
ened at one time to plunge this country into
an interminable civil war, and how this was
most providentially averted, chiefly by the in-
fluence of reason and good sense actuating the
minds of the leading men in this community,
who became fully impressed that Her Majesty's
Government, bound to assert its authority and
dignity on the one hand, was yet inclined to
confer upon them every advantage consistent with
true liberty ; for liberty (we jurists know) does not
consist in doing everything any individual in
society pleases, but only in doing that which is
not contrary to law and higher authority — " nisi
quod vi aut jure prohibeatur " ; and I cannot give

v.] A NEW GOVERNOR 193

you a more striking proof of the effect which the
dissemination of those principles of Her Majesty's
Government produced, even upon those who, "with
curses loud and deep," had broken up from the
deliberations of the Volksraad, and had returned
to their homes in the Sovereignty, than that four
months after these occurrences had taken place I
was agreeably surprised by a deputation arriving
here, headed by the two most influential inhabitants
of the Modder and Caledon rivers, Van den Heever
and Overholster, who presented me a memorial,
signed by 500 actual landholders in that district,
soliciting that I might also extend my labours to
the country from the Draaksberg to the banks of
the Orange River, and that a very large majority
of the inhabitants there were willing also to sub-
scribe to the same terms as the inhabitants of this
district.

I at once informed them that I had personally
no objection to proceed to their country and arrange
matters there in the same way as I was doing here,
but that the decision on this memorial must rest
altogether with the Governor of the Cape Colony,
to whom the memorial would be transmitted. This
I accordingly did ; but in the meantime " a new
king arose in Egypt who knew not Joseph," or, in a
plainer language, another Governor (Sir Peregrine
Maitland) had come out and superseded Sir George
Napier, whose period of holding a government,
under the Queen's regulations, had long expired.

194 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT.

This Governor, who probably felt no such deep
interest in these matters or countries as his pre-
decessor, or had received more stringent rules to
carry out, simply replied "that the application
could not be entertained."

It is therefore vain now to indulge in speculations
how the affairs of the Orange River Territory would
have proceeded if the same policy had been followed
out towards them ; but the following little anecdote
will show the zeal and prudence with which that
deputation had performed the trust confided to
them. Some days before their arrival at this
place we had heard a report that a deputation
was on its way here, but that they had been
stopped and waylaid by some of the " Ultra-
Radical party" behind the mountain. On their
presenting themselves to me I alluded to this
report, and begged to be informed whether there
was any truth in it, when old Overholster replied
that there was some truth in it, that the signing
of this memorial and its object were necessarily
known throughout the country, and that at the
Sand River Drift (which they were obliged to cross
on their way here), an armed party from the neigh-
bourhood had surrounded them, and declaring them
"traitors" to their country had positively and vio-
lently threatened to attack them unless they
delivered up the memorial to them. But Overholster
proceeded : " We had also anticipated and provided
for such an occurrence, for after a show of resistance

v.] THE BLESSINGS OF PEACE 195

we somewhat reluctantly took out of the front chest
of my waggon the memorial which had been placed
there, and which they carried off in triumph ; but
at the same time we had had a duplicate prepared
of the same document, and signed by all the 500
landowners as the other ; this duplicate I kept in
the bedding of my ' katel,' and now deliver with
its seals quite intact."

This little incident shows at least the earnestness
with which they had set about to have the same
boon conferred on them as had been granted to the
inhabitants of this district ; and the latter would
be ungrateful indeed if they failed now to acknow-
ledge and be thankful for the very many blessings
which have been vouchsafed to them as a com-
munity during the last twelve years.

I fear, at least, that I am not only deeply indebted
to those influential persons whose names I have just
given as the real benefactors of their country ; but,
independent of this feeling, I could not but be
sensible every day during the momentous events
by which I was surrounded, that there was a
Divinity throughout, watchful of the interests of this
favoured country, and whose right hand was then,
and has ever since been, protecting it from the
horrors of the savage wars by which the Cape
frontier and the Sovereignty have been afflicted ;
that here, at least, during all those years, neither
war, famine, nor pestilence has afflicted the country ;
but, on the contrary, with whatever difficulties the

196 SUBMISSION TO THE CROWN [LECT. v.

first introduction of a settled government may have
been beset, it has slowly but surely progressed in
the development of every resource from which the
true prosperity of a country depends.

Everywhere around us we perceive striking signs
of improvement, both in our social, moral, agricul-
tural, and even political relations ; and the ines-
timable blessing of peace, which we have so long
enjoyed, only requires to be continued to bring these
advantages into full maturity.

As I shall probably within a few days terminate
all further connection with the Natal district, in
bidding you an affectionate farewell I may, then,
be permitted, I trust, to express a hope that you
may not only long continue in the enjoyment of
those blessings, but that, by your public acts as a
community, and by your conduct in the relations
of private life, you may render yourselves worthy
of the continuance of those blessings from the
Divine Disposer of events.

Esto ptrpetua I

PLYMOUTH
WILLIAM BRENDON AND SON, PRINTERS

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