1779-1819] The affair of Schlachter's Nek 779 championed the cause of the native with a zeal which sometimes made them unfair to the white man. The long series of Kaffir wars, which began in 1779 and were renewed at intervals throughout the following century, deeply influenced the attitude of the white settlers, particularly of the isolated backveldt Boers, towards the native. These "wars" always began with an unexpected attack upon lonely farms and the murder of all who were taken unawares. The colonists fought side by side with the troops sent by the British Government, and frequently bore the brunt of the battle; but they were seldom consulted as to the after settlement. The growing strength of the party at home, who, in the French phrase, were "friends of the black man," made it increasingly difficult for the agents of the Government to keep a straight line between justice and weakness. The Boer farmers were ignorant and inarticulate; the missionaries, particularly the rich and powerful London Missionary Society, had the ear of the public in England - and these unevenly matched opponents struggled to dominate the native policy of the Government, with the result that it was vacillating and unsatisfactory. The notorious affair of Schlachter's Nek, which happened in 1815, had its origin in this unfortunate state of things. A farmer named Frederick Bezuidenhout refused to obey a summons issued by the District Court, at the instance of one of his Hottentots. In the attempt made to arrest him by the Government, Frederick Bezuidenhout was killed. Of the thirty or forty men who took up arms to avenge him, his brother Jan was killed, but the majority surrendered; and five of the leaders were hanged under exceptionally painful circumstances. The episode has assumed in Boer annals an heroic aspect to which it is not entitled. No incident in South African history has been made more use of, or has been more distorted, than the affair of Schlachter's Nek; but the unbiassed historian cannot fail to see that the Cape Government was bound to assert its authority sternly, in order to check the lawless spirit of the frontier Boers, who had always been averse from recognising a superior authority, even when the Government at the Cape was of their own race. It should, however, be remembered that the British Government was assisted in its suppression of the revolt by many of the Boers themselves, and that it was the treatment of the rebels after the suppression of the rising which excited, and has continued to excite, intensity of feeling. British emigration to Cape Colony began in 1819; and in the next two years about five thousand people were brought out. The number does not seem large nowadays; but at that time it represented a great effort, since the size of ships available and the time occupied by the voyage made emigration slow and difficult work. The Home Government paid fares, and gave free land to each head of a family, almost all the newcomers being located in the same district, on the eastern frontier between the Fish and Bushman rivers. After considerable weeding out, 780 Modifications in Constitution. Native policy [1825-82 and many trials and troubles, the English colony took root and prospered exceedingly; and to-day their descendants make the eastern province of Cape Colony distinctively English, and in physique and morale show some of the finest developments of the British type. In 1825, an Executive Council was formed to assist the Governor of the Colony, who had hitherto enjoyed almost despotic authority. Soon after this, Lord Charles Somerset, who had held office for twelve years, resigned, in order to escape impeachment on a variety of counts charging him with autocratic action. The reports of a Commission, which had been collecting data on the government of all the British settlements, were presented in 1826. Partly as the result of this enquiry, modifications were made at the Cape. English was declared, and remained till 1882, the sole official and school language, although only a small number of the Dutch-who formed six-sevenths of the total population — had facilities for learning that tongue. There is not very much trace of unwillingness to adopt the English language at this period, for it was the avenue to promotion and prosperity; but the facilities for learning it were so scanty that Dutch, or rather the Taal, remained the true mother-tongue of the Cape Boers. The same period saw the promulgation of an ordinance (1828) ensuring to the Hottentots equality at law with Europeans. This measure, so just and merciful from our present standpoint, seemed revolutionary to the Boer of that time. It certainly had the effect of removing from the native the restraints of ancient custom, while the provisions for securing his obedience were lacking, and before there had been time to teach him respect for the new authority. Discontent as to this measure was still seething, when the news came (1833) that the imperial Parliament had passed a measure for the abolition of slavery. The quondam slaves were to serve a short period of apprenticeship before acquiring full freedom, and, in 1835, the sum of £1,250,000 was allotted to compensate the Cape slave-owners. This sum was quite inadequate, in view of the scarcity of labour in the Cape and the extent to which the farmers depended on their slaves. It was still further reduced by being payable in London, so that farmers sold their claims to speculators and got very little in exchange. Many were entirely ruined, especially as the emancipated slaves often refused to work for their former masters for wages, so that harvests were lost and cattle died from lack of tending. Of course this stage was not reached immediately; but other circumstances combined to make these few years notable and unfortunate alike. A great irruption of Kaffirs into the newly formed eastern province, where the settlers were just becoming prosperous, was only repelled after twelve months' hard fighting (1834-5). For Sir Benjamin D'Urban, sent to carry out the Abolition, this Kaffir war (the sixth) was his first experience. He drove the invaders beyond the Keiskama river and formed a new province, called Queen Adelaide, in which he located the 1836] The Great Trek and its effects 781 Fingo tribes who had placed themselves under British protection. His action was viewed with disfavour at home, owing to the representations of the well-known missionary John Philip. His arrangements were cancelled; the Kaffirs were restored to their land in close proximity to the colonial homesteads; and D'Urban himself was eventually recalled. Both English and Dutch settlers united in indignation against the Home Government, which declared that the Kaffirs were quite right in resorting to force, and that justice was on the side of the conquered and not of the conquerors. An immediate result was the determination of many Boer farmers to leave the colony, and as a large portion of the hinterland (including what is now the Orange River Colony, the Transvaal and Natal) was almost depopulated by the savage wars of extermination waged by the Zulus, the farmers hoped to secure for themselves a new country far away from missionary interference or British domination. In all the history of pioneering there is nothing more remarkable than the Boer treks. They were carried out by a people ignorant of the country to which they were going, who plodded with incredible patience and daring over a trackless land infested with wild beasts and savages. Women and children took part in these marches, sharing the dangers and fatigues and the frightful isolation. The mere extent of the country covered by these slow-moving columns, in which the household goods were packed on the creaking ox-waggons and the able-bodied members of the party went on foot, is almost incredible. The food provided at the start could not last long, and beyond the possibility of occasionally getting mealies from the natives, the only resource was the meat and game shot by the wayside. In these treks the Boers lost many of the distinctive characteristics and customs of their race. The women, divorced from house-keeping, lost their house-pride and sense of cleanliness, as well as the traditions of cookery. The children grew up illiterate, though hardy and daring; the elder people lost all sense of citizenship and broke away somewhat from the ties of church membership. Widely scattered homesteads and the growth of a sturdy local self-government had already tended to substitute for the Teutonic tradition of conformity to established law a love of individual liberty. This tendency was promoted and increased by the treks, and it continues to be a striking feature of Boer character. The first trek took place in 1836, and was made by two parties, numbering about fifty each. After reaching Zoutpansberg they separated, one of the peculiarities of the Boer trekkers being that, even in the isolation of the African wilds, they were jealous of each other. While one band (with the exception of two children) was massacred by the Matabele, the other reached Delagoa Bay, and, after being reduced to twenty-five by fever, was finally transported to Natal. Natal already had a small population of English, who, at the outset of their career, 782 "Dingan's Day."-Boers and British in Natal [1836–43 had christened their country Victoria and their chief town D'Urban. They had, however, vainly petitioned to be recognised as a British colony. This incident, and the fact that the Cape Colonial Courts were authorised by an Act not passed in the imperial Parliament till as late as August, 1836-to deal with offences committed by his Majesty's subjects south of latitude 25° (that is, just north of Delagoa Bay, where Portuguese influence began), must be remembered in connexion with the Boer attempt to escape British jurisdiction. The Colonial Government, however, was not very sure of its ground, and refused for some years to recognise the existence of the new communities. During 1836-40 the Boer treks went on steadily, the total number taking part in them being estimated at 10,000. One of the first of the enemies encountered was the Matabele nation, an offshoot of the Zulus and formidable in fight. Eventually, they were driven across the Limpopo, and the Boer leader Potgieter proclaimed all the territory south of that river forfeit to the emigrants, and concluded treaties with the Bechuana and Basuto tribes dispossessed by the Matabele. Another party of Boers, under Pieter Retief, made their way across the Drakenberg to Natal, where (as we have seen) a small English settlement already existed. Retief and many of his followers were treacherously murdered by the Zulus under Dingan (February 6, 1838); Andries Hendrik Potgieter and Andries Willem Jacobus Pretorius came to assist their kinsfolk to avenge this crime, and with a small force defeated Dingan near the Blood river and slew 3000 Zulus. This event is celebrated in "Dingan's Day (December 16), still kept as a holiday by the Boers. They then dethroned Dingan and founded what they called the Republic of Natalia, with the town of Pietermaritzburg as its capital. Their leader was Pretorius; for, on account of disagreements, Potgieter and his friends had retired to the Transvaal, where they seceded and set up a rival government at Potchefstroom. The word "government" is rather a misnomer, for the emigrant farmers were each a law unto themselves, and it was not until some years later that pressure from without organised them into any semblance of a State. Although the Home Government had previously shown no readiness to accept Victoria as a colony, there was no desire to lose the port or to see a Boer republic established on the coast. Accordingly a small force was sent to take possession, and was besieged in Port Natal by the Boers (1842), receiving relief only after twenty-six days' severe suffering. A memorable incident was the ride of Richard King to fetch help from Cape Colony. He covered the distance to Grahamstown in nine days, fording deep rivers and crossing hundreds of miles of savage country inhabited by hostile tribes. Natal was declared a British colony in May, 1843, the Drakenberg being subsequently taken as the frontier. Immediately afterwards a number of the Boers left Natal and formed settlements in what are now the Transvaal and Orange River Colony. 1812-53] Battle of Boomplatz.-Orange River Sovereignty 783 The Home Government was not conciliatory; and in 1847 the Boer leader Andries Willem Jacobus Pretorius (a man of fine character and ability) arrived to lay the grievances of his countrymen before the Governor at Cape Town. He was denied an audience, with the result that many other valuable farmers were lost to Natal, and their places filled with natives. In 1853 Natal was at length recognised as a separate colony; up to that date she had been managed, or mismanaged, from Cape Town. Meanwhile the efforts of the missionaries at the Cape, who desired to form a chain of protected native States round the colony, had been successful in securing conventions with the Basutos and the Griquas. The latter were a half-caste tribe, descended from Boer men and Hottentot women, who had formed Christianised communities north of the Orange river as early as 1812. Their chief, Waterboer, settled in what is now part of the Orange River Colony and entered into treaties with the Cape Government (by which he was subsidised and provided with muskets) to form a protective frontier against the natives. Another community of similar origin, under Adam Kok, was established at a considerably later date, east of Waterboer's territory and near a mission station of the London Society called Philippopolis. By recognising the independence of Kok, and by fixing his boundaries to coincide with those of Waterboer on the west and those of the powerful and able Basuto chief Moshesh on the east, a barrier of protected States was spread across the north of the colony from the Kalahari desert. This was completed by a treaty with the Pondo chief Faku, whose territory was fixed between the Umzimkulu and Umtata rivers, the Drakenberg and the sea. The arrival, in 1848, of Sir Harry Smith as Governor of the Cape initiated some changes in policy, both as regards the natives and Boers. He was a man of energy and resource, familiar and popular with the Boers. He attempted to turn the tide of emigration from Natal, but, failing in this project, declared the whole of the area between the Orange and Vaal rivers British territory, and named it the Orange River Sovereignty (February 3, 1848). To accomplish this, he was obliged to do away with the so-called Treaty States of Griqualand and Basutoland, a proceeding acceptable to some of the white settlers, who resented the overlordship of a half-caste or a native chief. But it was resented by the Boers who had emigrated to escape British rule. Their resistance finally culminated in the battle of Boomplatz (August 29, 1848), when Pretorius and his followers were defeated and obliged to recross the Vaal river. A British residency, with a small garrison, was established at Bloemfontein. The Orange River Sovereignty (although settled by a good class of farmers, both Dutch and British) was handicapped by the penny-wise, pound-foolish policy of the Home Government, which expected it to be self-supporting and self-defending from the first. The latter responsi bility was especially heavy in view of the proximity of the Basutos under Moshesh. Discontent was met with indifference; and at last, |